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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
File:Abduljabbar.jpg
Personal information
BornApril 16, 1947
New York, NY
NationalityUSA
Listed height7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
Listed weight225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
CollegeUCLA
NBA draft1969: 1st overall
Drafted byMilwaukee Bucks
Playing career1969–1989
PositionCenter
Career highlights
Six-time NBA MVP
Six-time NBA Champion
Two-time Finals MVP
NBA Rookie of the Year (1970)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
For the football player, see Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. on April 16, 1947 in New York City, New York, United States; typically referred to as Lew Alcindor) is an American former professional basketball player.

Considered one of the greatest players of all time, the 7ft-2in (2.18 m) Abdul-Jabbar played center for UCLA from 1965–69. Later, he played professionally for the Milwaukee Bucks (1969–75) and the Los Angeles Lakers (1975–89), accumulating 38,387 points, the NBA's highest career total. He was famous for his "Skyhook" shot which defenders found virtually impossible to block. His on-court success was superlative, as he won a record six NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, while playing on six NBA championship teams; at UCLA, he played on three NCAA championship teams. His high-school team won 71 consecutive games and his UCLA teams were an unmatched 88-2. After a then-record 20 professional seasons in the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar retired from the game in 1989, leaving a legacy of professionalism, class, and success. Following his success as a professional athlete, Abdul-Jabbar has become known as a successful basketball coach, author, and part-time actor.

Early years

He was born to Cora and Ferdinand Lewis "Al" Alcindor in Harlem, New York City, in 1947, and was 12 pounds, 11 ounces, and was twenty-two and a half inches. [1] He was raised as a Catholic. From an early age he began his record-breaking basketball accomplishments. In high school, he led Power Memorial Academy to three straight New York City Catholic championships, a 71-game winning streak, and a 96–6 overall record.

College

Heavily sought by collegiate basketball programs, he played for the UCLA Bruins from 1966 to 1969 under coach John Wooden, contributing to the team's three-year record of 88 wins and only two losses (it must be noted that in his day, freshmen were not eligible for varsity athletics). During his college career, he was twice named Player of the Year (1967, 1969), was a three-time First Team All-American (1967-69), played on three NCAA Basketball champion teams (1967, 1968, 1969), was honored as the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament (1967, 1968, 1969), and became the first-ever Naismith College Player of the Year in 1969.

Lew Alcindor graduated with a B.A. in History from UCLA in 1969. While playing for UCLA, he suffered a scratched left cornea. This would occur again during his pro career and he would then wear goggles for protection.

Also during his studies at UCLA he converted to Islam and took his current name. The name translates to "noble servant of the Powerful"; al-Karim and al-Jabbar are two of the 99 Names of God in Islamic tradition. He converted after meeting Khalifah Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, a former Nation of Islam leader and founder of a Washington, D.C.-based mosque of the Hanafi Madhhab. In 1973, he traveled to Libya and Saudi Arabia, making pilgrimage. He details this conversion in his autobiography "Giant Steps".

Professional athletics

The Harlem Globetrotters offered him $1 million to play for them, but he declined, and he was picked first in the 1969 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, only in their second season, who won the coin-toss for first pick over the Phoenix Suns.

Lew Alcindor's entry into the NBA was timely, as center Bill Russell had just left the Boston Celtics, and Wilt Chamberlain, though still effective, was aging, at almost 35 years. Alcindor's presence enabled the 1969-70 Bucks to claim second place in the NBA's Eastern Division with a 56-26 record (up from 27-55 the previous year), and he was an instant star, ranking second in the league in scoring (28.8 ppg) and third in rebounding (14.5 rpg), for which he was awarded the title of NBA Rookie of the Year.

With the addition of Oscar Robertson, Milwaukee went on to record a league-best 66 victories in 1970-71, including a then-record of 20 straight wins. Alcindor was awarded his first of six NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, along with his first scoring title (31.7 ppg). In the playoffs, the Bucks went 12-2 (including a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA Finals) and Alcindor was named Finals MVP. On May 1, 1971, the day after the Bucks won the NBA championship, he adopted the Arabic name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, meaning "noble, servant of the powerful one [i.e. of Allah]."

Abdul-Jabbar remained a dominant force for Milwaukee, repeating as scoring champion (34.8 ppg) and NBA Most Valuable Player the following year, and helping the Bucks to repeat as division leaders for four straight years. In 1973, Abdul-Jabbar won his third MVP Award in five years and was among the top five NBA players in scoring (27.0 ppg, third), rebounding (14.5 rpg, fourth), blocked shots (283, second), and field goal percentage (.539, second).

While remaining relatively injury-free throughout his NBA career, Abdul-Jabbar twice broke his hand. The first time was during a pre-season game in 1974, when he was bumped hard and got his eye scratched, which angered him enough to punch the basket support stanchion. When he returned, after missing the first 16 games of the season, he started to wear protective goggles. The second time he broke his hand was in the opening game of the 1977-78 season. Two minutes into the game, Abdul-Jabbar punched Milwaukee's Kent Benson in retaliation for an overly aggressive elbow. He was out for two months.

After a few seasons in Milwaukee under his new name, Kareem said that the city did not fit his cultural needs and requested a trade to either New York or Los Angeles. In 1975, the Bucks traded him and reserve center Walt Wesley to the Los Angeles Lakers for center Elmore Smith, guard Brian Winters, and rookie "blue chippers" Dave Myers and Junior Bridgeman. The trade paved the way for a second Abdul-Jabbar dynasty as the Lakers went on to become one of the most dominant teams of the 1980's, appearing in the finals eight times and winning five NBA championships.

While in LA, he started doing yoga in 1976 to improve his flexibility, and was notable for his physical fitness regimen. [2] He was also a pupil of the kung fu master Bruce Lee, and studied Lee's Jeet Kune Do style. [3]

Film career

Playing in Los Angeles facilitated Abdul-Jabbar's trying his hand at acting. Kareem made his movie debut in Bruce Lee's 1978 film Game of Death, in which his character Hakim fought Billy Lo (played by Lee). However, due to Lee's death during production, the film was never finished, and much of the footage has been lost[citation needed].

In 1980, he played co-pilot Roger Murdock in David Zucker's comedy, Airplane!. In this acclaimed movie, Abdul-Jabbar has a notable scene in which a little boy looks at him and remarks that he is in fact Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Staying in his role, he asserts he is merely Roger Murdock, but the boy continues that he thinks he is "the greatest", but that his dad thinks he does not "work hard on defense" and "never really tries, except during the playoffs". This causes Kareem to blow a fuse, grab the boy and snarl he has heard "that crap since UCLA", he "busts his buns every night" and he should tell his old man to "drag Bill Walton and Bob Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes". When Murdock passes out later in the film, he is carried out wearing Abdul-Jabbar's goggles and yellow Lakers' shorts.

He had numerous other TV and film roles, often playing himself, such as in the hit Chevy Chase movie Fletch, the ABC sitcom Full House, and Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, and Scrubs. He also appeared in the telemovie version of Stephen King's The Stand. He played himself in Slam Dunk Ernest starring Jim Varney and made a brief non-speaking cameo appearance in another David Zucker comedy, 1998's BASEketball. In addition, Abdul-Jabbar was co-executive producer of the 1994 TV movie, The Vernon Johns Story.

House

A little more than halfway into his career, in 1983 Abdul-Jabbar's house burnt down. Without insurance he was forced to play extra seasons to make up for his lost assets. This is the reason for his elongated (19 year) career.

Retirement

On June 28, 1989, after a record-setting twenty professional seasons, Abdul-Jabbar announced his retirement.

On his "retirement tour" he received standing ovations at all the games, home and away. In his biography My Life, Magic Johnson recalls that in his farewell game, many Lakers and Celtics legends participated. Every player wore Abdul-Jabbar's trademark goggles and had to try a sky hook at least once, which led to comic results.

Abdul-Jabbar had been interested in coaching since his retirement, and given the influence he has had on the league, he had presumed that opportunities in that realm would come easily. However, during his playing years, he had developed a reputation of being introverted and sullen, often refusing to speak to the press, leading to the impression that he had nothing to say. In his biography My Life, Magic Johnson recalls instances when Abdul-Jabbar brushed him off when Magic (as a ballboy) asked for his autograph, Abdul-Jabbar froze out reporters who gave him a too enthusiastic handshake or even hugged him, or refused to stop reading the newspaper while giving an interview.

It is widely believed, including by Abdul-Jabbar himself, though he acknowledges his own culpability in creating that impression, that this reputation has contributed greatly to the lack of coaching opportunities that have thus far been presented to him. [citation needed] Since he began lobbying for a coaching position in 1995, he has managed to obtain only low-level assistant and scouting positions in the NBA, and a head coaching position only in a minor professional league.

He has worked as an assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics, helping mentor their young centers, Michael Olowokandi and Jerome James, respectively. Abdul-Jabbar was the head coach in 2002 of the Oklahoma Storm of the United States Basketball League (winning that league's championship that season), but he failed to land the head coaching position at Columbia University a year later. He then worked as a scout for the New York Knicks. Finally, on September 2, 2005, he returned to the Lakers as a special assistant to Phil Jackson to help develop the team's young center Andrew Bynum. Abdul-Jabbar has also served as a volunteer coach at Alchesay High School on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona since 1998.

Player profile

His list of personal and team accomplishments is perhaps the most awesome in league history.
— introductory line of Abdul-Jabbar's nba.com biography

Abdul-Jabbar played the center position and is regarded as one of the best players of all time. He is the all-time leading NBA scorer with 38,387 points, having collected six titles, six regular season MVP and two Finals MVP awards, fifteen NBA First or Second Teams, a record nineteen NBA All-Star callups and averaging 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.6 blocks per game. He is also the second all-time in registered blocks (3,189), which is even more impressive because this stat had not been recorded until the fourth year of his career (1974).

On offense, Abdul-Jabbar was an unstoppable low post threat. In contrast to other low post dominators like Wilt Chamberlain, Artis Gilmore or Shaquille O'Neal, Abdul-Jabbar was a relatively slender player, standing 7-2 but "only" weighing 225 lbs. However, he made up for his relative lack of bulk by showing textbook finesse and was famous for his ambidextrous skyhook shot (see below), which defenders found impossible to block. It contributed to his high .559 field goal accuracy, making him the eighth most accurate scorer of all time [4] and a feared clutch shooter. Abdul-Jabbar was also quick enough to run the "Showtime" fast break led by Magic Johnson and was well-conditioned, standing on the hardwood an average 36.8 minutes. In contrast to other big men, Abdul-Jabbar also could reasonably hit his free throws, averaging a lifetime 72% average.

On defense, Abdul-Jabbar was a terrifying defensive presence, proven by his eleven call-ups for the NBA All-Defensive Teams. He abused opponents with his stellar shot blocking ability, denying an average 2.6 shots a game. As a team mate, Abdul-Jabbar exuded a great natural leadership, being affectionately named "Cap" or "Captain" by his colleagues. He was also known for his strict fitness regime, which made him one of the most durable players of all time: in the NBA, his 20 seasons and 1560 games are performances surpassed only by fellow great Robert Parish.

Abdul-Jabbar made the NBA's 35th and 50th Anniversary Teams and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players of All Time in 1996.

Sky hook

Abdul-Jabbar was well-known for his trademark "sky hook", a hook shot in which he bent his body like a straw in one fluid motion to raise the ball (rather just than moving the arm) and let the ball go at the highest point of his arm's arcing motion. As he stood 7 feet 2 inches tall, the sky hook was nearly impossible for a defender to block without goaltending. It was a reliable and feared offensive weapon and contributed to his high lifetime field goal percentage of .559. As a twist, he was adept at shooting the skyhook with either hand, which made him even more difficult to defend. According to Abdul-Jabbar, he learned the move in fifth grade and soon learned to value it, as it was "the only shot I could use that didn't get smashed back in my face". [5].

Professional basketball career and statistics

Teams and years

Statistics

  • Jersey number - 33
  • Games played - 1560 (2nd most in NBA history)
  • Field goal % - 55.9 (8th highest in NBA history)
  • Free throw % - 72.1
  • Three-point % - 5.6 (Note: he made just one three-point field goal in his career)
  • Rebounds - 17,440 (3rd most in NBA history)
  • Rebounds per game - 11.2 (tied for 24th highest in NBA history)
  • Assists - 5660 (31st in NBA history)
  • Assist per game - 3.6
  • Steals - 1160
  • Steals per game - 0.74
  • Blocks - 3189 (2nd most in NBA history) (Note: blocks were not officially tabulated until the 1973-1974 season)
  • Blocks per game - 2.57
  • Points per game - 24.6 (12th highest)
  • Holds NBA career record for:
    • Most points in NBA history - 38,387
    • Most minutes played (57,446)
    • Most field goals made (15,837)
    • Most field goals attempted (28,307)
    • Most All-Star selections (19)
    • Most All-Star games played (18)
    • Most playoff games played (237)

Athletic honors

Books authored

Abdul-Jabbar is also a bestselling author, the latest of his books being Brothers In Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII's Forgotten Heroes (Publisher: Broadway 2004, ISBN 0-385-50338-5), co-written with Anthony Walton. It is the history of the 761st Battalion, an all-black armored unit that served in Europe in World War Two.

Other books:

  • Giant Steps with Peter Knobler (1987) ISBN 0-553-05044-3
  • Kareem (1990) ISBN 0-394-55927-4
  • Selected from Giant Steps (Writers' Voices) (1999) ISBN 0-7857-9912-5
  • Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement with Alan Steinberg (1996) ISBN 0-688-13097-6
  • A Season on the Reservation: My Soujourn with the White Mountain Apaches with Stephen Singular (2000) ISBN 0-688-17077-3

Trivia

  • Abdul-Jabbar has a prescription to smoke marijuana in the state of California, the result of nausea-inducing migraine headaches [6].
  • Abdul-Jabbar was successful in suing Miami Dolphins running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar because he felt Karim was sponging off of the name he made famous by having the Abdul-Jabbar moniker and number 33 on Dolphins jerseys. As a result the younger Abdul-Jabbar had to change his jersey nameplate to simply 'Abdul' while playing for the Dolphins[7]. The football player had also been an athlete at UCLA.
  • Abdul-Jabbar has twice appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy!, coasting to dominant victories each time. His first appearance was against Larry King and Alexandra Paul in 1994; his second was against Martina Navratilova and Reggie Jackson in a special "athletes" edition in 1998.
  • In The Simpsons episode The Way We Weren't, Homer Simpson, as a child growing up and in an attempt to become more popular, says his name is "Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar" when asked what his name is; a referrence to Abdul-Jabbar's status as a pop icon in the 1970s.
  • The rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers honour him in their instrumental song "Salute to Kareem" and is an "all time great super super star" in their song "Magic Johnson".
  • Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam wrote a song about Abdul-Jabbar based on the urban myth that he lost all of his money investing in hotels for tall people. The song, entitled "Sweet Lew", appears on the band's album of B-sides, Lost Dogs. The liner notes explain that Ament was inspired to write the song after being brushed off by his boyhood idol after meeting him at a celebrity basketball game.
  • Abdul-Jabbar also played Hakim in the film Game of Death. His character was the last and most dangerous guardian that Bruce Lee's character had to face. In the extended footage of the final fight scenes of the film, which last about half an hour, Abdul-Jabbar and Bruce Lee fight on the highest level of a pagoda which Bruce's character had to fight his way up. From Bruce's viewpoint, the highest level on the pagoda is where Jeet Kune Do, represented by Abdul-Jabbar himself, is found. Through the entire fight, both men not only fight with an ease hard to obtain, but they both make it known neither of them fear death.

    Further reading

    • Heisler, Mark (2003). Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1572435771. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

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    • Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kareem_Abdul-Jabbar&oldid=87068420"