Rod Derline (born March 11, 1952) is a former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

guard for the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA).

Amateur career

Derline played high school basketball at Elma High School in

Elma, Washington Elma is a city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,438 at the 2020 census. Geography Elma is located at (47.005648, -123.406268). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , ...

, leading the Eagles to the Class A state championship game in 1970. He then played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...

. He was inducted into Seattle University's basketball hall of fame in 2003.

NBA career

The Seattle SuperSonics chose Derline in the tenth round of the

1974 NBA Draft The 1974 NBA draft was the 28th annual NBA Draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 28, 1974, before the 1974–75 NBA season, 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur ...

, with the 169th overall pick. Despite his low draft position, Derline made the team, and played two seasons for the SuperSonics until a knee injury ended his career. In 107 total NBA games, Derline averaged 4.8 points per game.

References

1952 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Washington (state) Guards (basketball) People from Elma, Washington Seattle Redhawks men's basketball players Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub