Shooter: Rick Rickert averaging 18 and 13 in Japan

BleedGopher

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Ex-Gopher Rick Rickert, 34, the other day scored his 1,000th point this season, with 762 rebounds, for the Ibaraki Robots in Japan. Two weeks ago, the 6-10, 240-pound former Mr. Basketball Minnesota (2001) from Duluth East scored 39 points with 23 rebounds in a late-season victory over Yamagata. The Robots, about to begin the playoffs, play a 60-game regular season.

Rickert is averaging 18.9 points and 13.2 rebounds playing against some former NBA players. He usually is guarded by an American player.

The former Timberwolves second-round draft pick is in his 14th professional season, having played for 15 teams in nine countries. Before signing to play in Japan, Rickert played in Stuttgart, Germany.

“Coming to Japan was such a cultural adjustment,” he said last week from Japan. “Everything in Japan is mass transportation and (wife) Cici and I were provided with bikes, which makes sense because there’s so much traffic. We had our little (then two-year-old daughter) Pepper riding on the back of Cici’s bike. We’d take bikes to train stations.

“Now, I’ve negotiated a car in my deal.”

Cici is a former Gophers tennis player for the 2003 Big Ten champions. She provides well-appreciated support to Rick.

“I wouldn’t be able to do this without my wife — I’m really a lucky guy,” he said.

Rickert is extremely popular in Japan, where he has two more years on a well-paying contract. The family’s offseason home is in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where he’ll return next month.

http://www.twincities.com/2017/05/06/charley-walters-pohlad-wants-twins-to-fly-first-place-flag/

Go Gophers!!
 



We could have used him last year...
 

15 teams in nine countries. After BB is done for him and he considers other employment a resume of that should catch some corporate eyes.
 


He should be generating better stats; that would be like me going against the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz on an 8 foot basket!!
 




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