Welcome to another episode of the Forgotten Maverick Podcast with Dallas Sports Fanatic, a podcast for fellow MFFLs where we interview former Mavericks players about their basketball career and time with the Mavs.

On this episode, we caught up with Erick Strickland, a hard-nosed guard who played with the Mavs from 1996-2000.  Erick was instrumental in transforming the team from perennial playoff by-standers into true contenders heading into the new millennium.

During our interview, Erick and I discussed details from each of his 4 full seasons with the Mavericks.   Going in depth on the 1999-2000 season, Erick provided some fascinating insight and memories during that memorable Mavericks season, including sharing his thoughts on one time Mav and teammate, Dennis Rodman.

“If we do not sign Dennis Rodman that year, there’s no question in my mind we make the playoffs…”, said Strickland.  It’s hard to argue with Erick there, the Mavericks signed Rodman during a pivotal stretch of the season hoping to provide some rebounding and defensive intensity, but ultimately his presence had an adverse affect as the Mavericks went 3-9 during the 12 games in which Rodman played.   The Mavericks ended up missing the playoffs by only 4 games that season and finished the season by winning 9 of their last 10 games, setting the stage for an unprecedented run of regular season and ultimately, playoff success.

Thank you for listening, we hope you enjoy the episode!