Shareef Abdur-Rahim

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Shareef Abdur-Rahim
Position Forward
Nickname Reef
Height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Team Sacramento Kings
Nationality Flag of United States United States
Born December 11, 1976
Marietta, Georgia
College California
Draft 3rd overall, 1996
Vancouver Grizzlies
Pro career 1996–present
Former teams Vancouver Grizzlies (1996-2001)
Atlanta Hawks (2001-2004)
Portland Trail Blazers (2004-2005)
Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
Gold Sydney, Australia United States

Julius Shareef Abdur-Rahim (born December 11, 1976 in Marietta, Georgia) is an American professional basketball player. He is a member of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and can either play as forward or center. Abdur-Rahim has been a standout player since his high school days and he left college after one year to enter the 1996 NBA Draft. In his early NBA career, Abdur-Rahim was the star of the Vancouver Grizzlies franchise for five seasons. He left the Grizzlies in 2001 and played for the Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trailblazers before joining the Sacramento Kings. Nicknamed "Reef",[1] Abdur-Rahim has been named an NBA All-Star once and represented the United States men's national basketball team which won the gold medal at the 2000 Olympics. Despite his solid career statistics, prior to joining the Kings Abdur-Rahim held the NBA record for most number of games played without making a playoff appearance.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Shareef Abdur-Rahim is the second of 12 children born to Aminah and William Abdur-Rahim.[1] Abdur-Rahim, whose first name means "noble" and whose last name "servant of the most merciful one",[2] is a devout Muslim who values his parents for their guiding influence since young.[1] He credits them with his life philosophy: "remember how you came on all your accomplishments and stay humble."[1] From an early age, Abdur-Rahim has been surrounded by family members who played basketball. His brother, Muhammad, played at the University of Detroit while his younger brother, Amir, played at Southeastern Louisiana University.[3] Abdur-Rahim himself started playing competitive basketball at Joseph Wheeler High School in Marietta. There, he was named "Mr. Basketball" in back-to-back seasons, and led the school to a state title as a junior in 1994.

Abdur-Rahim later attended college at the University of California, Berkeley, where he maintained a GPA of 3.5.[1] At California, he averaged 21.1 points per game (ppg) and 8.4 rebounds per game (rpg) in 28 games.[1] He was the first freshman in Pac-10 history to win Conference Player of the Year honors, and was named Third Team All-America by the Associated Press.[1] Abdur-Rahim also set single-season freshman records for points, scoring average, field goals, and free throws.[1] After a year at California, Abdur-Rahim decided to leave college to enter the 1996 NBA Draft.[1]

[edit] NBA career

[edit] Vancouver Grizzlies

Abdur-Rahim was selected third overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1996 Draft,[4] behind Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby. He made an immediate impact with the Grizzlies, becoming their leading scorer and setting a franchise record of 18.7 ppg and also averaged 6.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists in 35 minutes per game. He finished third in balloting for the Schick NBA Rookie of the Year behind Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and Minnesota's Stephon Marbury and was picked for the All-Rookie First Team.[1] By the end of the 1996-97 season, Abdur-Rahim led the team in scoring on 33 occasions, and rebounding on 23 occasions.[1]

For the next few seasons, Abdur-Rahim remained the centerpiece of the Grizzlies team. In his sophomore season, he averaged 22.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg, and 2.6 apg.[5] He elevated his performance the following season, with 23.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, and 3.4 apg.[5] Despite Abdur-Rahim's best efforts, the Grizzlies remained rooted to the bottom two spots of the Midwest Division in his first four seasons.[6][7][8][9] For the 2000-01 season, Abdur-Rahim finished with a 20 ppg-plus average for the fourth straight season,[5] and was ranked in the top 20 in 13 NBA statistical categories, once again leading the Grizzlies in both ppg and rpg.[1] Abdur-Rahim's importance to the team was highlighted in a game against the Indiana Pacers on 1 December, 2000, when he scored all of the Grizzlies' 20 points in the final quarter of the game.[1]

[edit] Atlanta Hawks

On 27 June, 2001, the Atlanta Hawks reached an agreement to acquire Abdur-Rahim and the 27th overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft from the Vancouver Grizzlies in exchange for Brevin Knight, Lorenzen Wright and Pau Gasol, the third overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft.[10] Abdur-Rahim's return to his hometown, and his expected partnership with fledging sophomore Jason Terry, provided a significant amount of buzz around the league.[11] However, the Hawks finished the 2001-02 campaign with a 33-49 win-loss record, but Abdur-Rahim's performances, including a career-high 50-point game,[5] ensured that he was selected to the NBA All-Star game for that season.[11]

In his second season with the Hawks, Abdur-Rahim achieved another personal milestone on 28 December 2002, when his jump shot against the Washington Wizards made him the fifth-youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000-points.[1] Yet, although Glenn Robinson, Jason Terry and Abdur-Rahim combined to average 57.9 ppg and become the highest-scoring trio in the league for the 2002-03 season,[11] the Hawks failed to make the playoffs again. Abdur-Rahim played in all but one of the Hawks' games, and averaged 19.9 ppg and 8.4 rpg[5] By the end of the season, Hawks General Manager Billy Knight decided major changes had to be made for the franchise to move forward, and Abdur-Rahim was traded the next season.[11]

[edit] Portland Trail Blazers

Abdur-Rahim was sent to the Portland Trail Blazers on February 9, 2004, along with Theo Ratliff and Dan Dickau, in exchange for Rasheed Wallace and Wesley Person.[12] His impact in his two seasons with the Trailblazers was considerably less, as he averaged 16.3ppg/7.5rpg and 16.8/7.3rpg for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 campaigns respectively.[5] At the end of the 2004-05 season, Abdur-Rahim became a free agent.[12]

[edit] Sacramento Kings

During the 2005 off-season Abdur-Rahim was traded via a sign and trade agreement (in principle) to the New Jersey Nets, but on 4 August, 2005, the press conference planned to announce his arrival was postponed, and it was revealed he had failed a required physical on account of scar tissue found in his knee. The trade was put on hold, pending a second opinion from other medical sources. On 7 August, Abdur-Rahim was quoted as saying "I don't feel I want to be a Net".[13] He felt the knee was a non-issue and claimed he never missed a game in his entire career because of the knee injury. Two days later, it was announced New Jersey had decided to rescind the trade.[12]

On 12 August, Abdur-Rahim signed a free agent contract with the Sacramento Kings.[12] In his first season with the Kings, Abdur-Rahim started in 30 of the 72 games he played. As a starter, he averaged 16.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 3.0 apg, while shooting .543 for field goal percentage, .417 from the three point range, and almost .800 from the free throw line.[1] The Kings went on to qualify for the 2006 playoffs, and Abdur-Rahim made his postseason career debut against the San Antonio Spurs,[1] at the same time ending the streak of having played the most number of games in NBA history without participating in the postseason.[14] Now into his second season with the Kings, Abdur-Rahim continues to be deployed as a sixth man.

[edit] International career

Prior to joining the NBA, Abdur-Rahim was the USA's leading scorer and rebounder at the 1994 COPABA Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament held in Santa Rosa, Argentina.[2] Averaging a double-double of 16.8 points and 10.1 rebounds, while also tying for a team high in blocked shots averaging 1.6 blocks per game, he helped push the American squad to an 8-0 record, the gold medal, and a qualifying berth in the 1995 FIBA Junior World Championship.[2] The following May he was named to USA Basketball's 1995 Junior Select Team that captured a 86-77 victory over an International Select Team in the inaugural Hoop Summit Game.[2]

While playing for the Grizzlies, together with several NBA stars such as Kevin Garnett and Tim Hardaway, Abdur-Rahim was selected to be part of the USA Men's basketball team which took part in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.[15] The team won the gold medal.[15]

[edit] Off the court

Abdur-Rahim is married, and has two children; a son, Jabri, and a daughter, Samiyah.[1] In the field of philanthropy, Abdur-Rahim started his own foundation called the Future Foundation which supports United Way and Boys and Girls Clubs of America.[2]

On the silver screen, Abdur-Rahim has appeared on an episode of the Jamie Foxx Show with fellow NBA players Gary Payton and Vin Baker.[1]

[edit] NBA career statistics

Correct as of 4 April 2007
SEASON TEAM GP MPG SPG BPG RPG APG PPG
1996-97 Vancouver 80 35.0 1.0 1.0 6.9 2.2 18.7
1997-98 Vancouver 82 36.0 1.1 0.9 7.1 2.6 22.3
1998-99 Vancouver 50 40.4 1.4 1.1 7.5 3.4 23.0
1999-00 Vancouver 82 39.3 1.1 1.1 10.1 3.3 20.3
2000-01 Vancouver 81 40.0 1.1 1.0 9.1 3.1 20.5
2001-02 Atlanta 77 38.7 1.3 1.0 9.0 3.1 21.2
2002-03 Atlanta 81 38.1 1.1 0.5 8.4 3.0 19.9
2003-04 Atlanta 53 36.9 0.8 0.4 9.3 2.4 20.1
2003-04 Portland 32 22.8 0.8 0.6 4.5 1.5 10.0
2004-05 Portland 54 34.6 0.9 0.5 7.3 2.1 16.8
2005-06 Sacramento 72 27.2 0.7 0.6 5.0 2.1 12.3
2006-07 Sacramento 72 25.0 0.7 0.6 4.9 1.3 9.6

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Shareef Abdur-Rahim Info Page - Bio, nba.com, accessed 20 March 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e Bio - Mens - Abdur-Rahim, usabasketball.com, accessed 20 March 2007.
  3. ^ Five Things You Didn't Know About..., nba.com/playoffs2006, accessed 20 March 2007.
  4. ^ Player Card, sports.espn.go.com, accessed 20 March 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Shareef Abdur-Rahim Info Page - Career Stats and Totals, nba.com, accessed 20 March 2007.
  6. ^ 1996-97 Standings, nba.com/history, accessed 20 March 2007.
  7. ^ 1997-98 Standings, nba.com/history, accessed 20 March 2007.
  8. ^ 1998-99 Standings, nba.com/history, accessed 20 March 2007.
  9. ^ 1999-2000 Standings, nba.com/history, accessed 20 March 2007.
  10. ^ Hawks Transaction Archive, nba.com/hawks, accessed 20 March 2007.
  11. ^ a b c d Hawks History, nba.com/history, accessed 20 March 2007.
  12. ^ a b c d NBA Players, sportsnet.ca, accessed 20 March 2007.
  13. ^ "Abdur-Rahim wants to move on past Nets", sports.espn.go.com, 8 August 2005, accessed 20 March 2007.
  14. ^ DuPree, David, "Kings' Abdur-Rahim courts shot at playoffs", usatoday.com, 28 February 2006, accessed 20 March 2007.
  15. ^ a b Men's Olympics History - 2000, usabasketball.com, accessed 20 March 2007.
2000 Olympic Champions Men's Basketball
Shareef Abdur-Rahim | Ray Allen | Vin Baker | Vince Carter | Kevin Garnett | Tim Hardaway | Allan Houston | Jason Kidd | Antonio McDyess | Alonzo Mourning | Gary Payton | Steve Smith
Coach Rudy Tomjanovich
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