Rod Strickland #1 of the Washington Wizards squares off against Stephen Marbury #33 of the New Jersey Nets during the game at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., in 2000.
Rod Strickland was the 19th pick in the 1988 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks out of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
The NBA’s assists leader in 1998, Strickland averaged 13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists during stints with his hometown Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets.
Strickland was a terror on the basketball court. He went toe-to-toe with the greats like Michael Jordan.
Appearing on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Daryl “Truck” Bryant, host of the Truck Bryant Podcast, weighed in on Strickland’s significance to basketball culture.
Check out snippets from our dialogue below:
Truck Bryant on Where Rod Strickland Would Fit if He Played in Today’s NBA Game
“Anywhere. Because he was like the same as Kyrie. Anywhere. And that’s Kyrie’s godfather so….anywhere.”
A Brooklyn, New York native, Bryant played college basketball at West Virginia University under coach Bob Huggins from 2008 to 2012. In his senior year, he averaged 19.4 points, 2.7 assists and 3 rebounds per game.
GettyDarryl Bryant #25 of the West Virginia Mountaineers shoots the ball during practice prior to the 2010 Final Four of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 2, 2010, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Bryant went undrafted in 2012 and played overseas in Greece and Austria for teams like PAOK.
During the coronavirus pandemic and the quarantine that followed, both Bryant’s podcast and his presence on Instagram live where’s he’s counted the Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dion Waiters and other notables as guests.
Quite frankly, the episodes have proven to be both entertainment as well as a cultural lesson for many.
Bryant Said Strickland Was Ahead of His Time
Bryant also weighed on other topics via the Scoop B Radio Podcast but zeroed in on why Strickland was so underrated.
“Because in his time, nobody was doing what he was doing,” he said.
“Everybody don’t love dribbling and this and that, but New York and New Jersey, that’s what we do. We dribble and get to the bucket and score. Nice layup, bad layup but we’re gonna score.”
During his career, Strickland played against Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, was teammates with Chris Webber, Mitch Richmond and Rasheed Wallace.
Strickland arguably should have been an NBA All-Star during the 1997-98 NBA season. Strickland averaged 17.8 points and 10.5 apg that season.
Additionally, he became only the 25th player in NBA history to record 10,000 points and 5,000 assists.
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