Rodney Rogers

Rodney Ray Rogers (born June 20, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played for several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Rogers was the fourth and youngest child born to Willie Wardsworth and Estella Rogers.

He spent most of his childhood growing up in the McDougald Terrace housing project in Durham.

His father, who left the family and moved to Texas when Rogers was a toddler, died when Rogers was eight.

His oldest brother Stacy, who attended the Eastern N.C. School for the Deaf in Wilson and the N.C. School for the Deaf in Morganton, won a gold medal in basketball at the 1981 XIV Deaflympics (aka "World Games for the Deaf" and "World Deaf Olympics") in Cologne, Germany.

After that he worked for the Veterans Administration Hospital in Durham.

Stanley, his other brother, served over 10 years (1981–1991) of a 20-year sentence for armed robbery at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Rogers attended Hillside High School in Durham.

As an athlete, he was known as "the Durham Bull."

Estella Rogers sustained severe head injuries and required two operations when she was nearly killed in an automobile wreck in 1988.

She was in a coma for more than two weeks and remained hospitalized for three more months.

Even after she returned home she still had memory loss and needed extra care.

While his mother recovered, Rogers moved in with Nathaniel Brooks, who was once his youth league coach, spending his last two seasons at Hillside High School with the Brooks family.

His stepfather James Spencer, who was the only man Rogers called "Dad", died of lung cancer in February 1990.

Renita, the oldest of the Rogers children, became a nurse at N.C. Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill.

He was a two-time Greensboro News & Record All-State selection, and was named the 1990 North Carolina state Player of the Year.

As a junior, he averaged 22.5 points and 9.7 rebounds, and in his senior year he averaged 28.3 points and 12.3 rebounds on a team that finished 27-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the state 4-A playoffs.

He was named McDonald's All-American and scored 17 points in the game.

From 1990 until 1993, Rogers played college basketball at Wake Forest University, where he won the 1990–1991 season Rookie of the Year honor (over Grant Hill) and was the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1993, averaging 21.2 points and 7.4 rebounds.

His final college statistics were 19.3 points and 7.9 rebounds, and he was the number nine draft pick in the 1993 NBA draft for the Denver Nuggets.

Rogers was drafted with the 9th pick by the Denver Nuggets in the 1993 NBA draft and spent his rookie year coming off the bench for a team which was the first 8th-seeded team in NBA playoffs history to beat a first-seeded team, the Seattle SuperSonics.

Rogers had one significant game in his rookie year, against the Utah Jazz on February 8, 1994.

Near the end of the game, Rogers hit three 3-pointers in a span of nine seconds to bring the Nuggets from a 94–86 deficit to a 95–94 lead.

However, Jeff Malone hit a jumper with 12 seconds remaining to give the Jazz the 96–95 win.

Rogers became a starter his second season, in large part due to frequent injuries suffered by LaPhonso Ellis.

On March 10, 1995, Rogers grabbed a career-high 21 rebounds, scored 19 points, and recorded 8 assists during a 99–88 win over the Detroit Pistons.

On June 28, Rogers was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, with draft rights to guard Brent Barry, for the draft rights to forward Antonio McDyess and guard Randy Woods.

He spent four years with the Clippers.

Rogers's college jersey #54 was retired in February 1996 by the Demon Deacons.

Rogers signed with the Phoenix Suns in 1999.

He averaged 13.8 points per game coming off the bench and won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2000.

The Suns entered the playoffs that year, but lost to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Rogers remained with the Suns until February 2002, when he was traded to the Boston Celtics alongside Tony Delk for Milt Palacio, Randy Brown, Joe Johnson and a 2002 first-round draft pick.

Rogers signed with the New Jersey Nets as a free agent on August 14, 2002.

During his first year with the Nets he averaged 7 points per game coming off the bench.

The high point of his season was during a playoff game against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 24, 2003.

After missing two free throws, Rogers came back on the next possession to hit the game-winning shot.

The Nets won that series and went on to make the NBA Finals, where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs.

Rogers saw more playing time the next year, mainly due to some frontcourt injuries.

He signed with the New Orleans Hornets on August 3, 2004.