Kareem Abdul Jabbar - Superior. California Living

Kareem Abdul Jabbar - Superior

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born April 16, 1947 as Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr) is considered one of the greatest American basketball players of all time. Abdul-Jabbar played basketball professionally for twenty years, from 1969 to 1989. In that time, he scored 38,387 points -- professional basketball's highest career total. He was known for his "Skyhook" shot, which was famously difficult to block because it put his 7 ft-2 in body between the basket and the ball. His on-court success had an early start. In college, he played on three championship teams, and his high school team won 72 consecutive games. As a pro, he won a record six Most Valuable Player Awards. The Harlem Globetrotters offered him $1 million to play for them, but he declined, and 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. He was also chosen first overall in the 1969 American Basketball Association draft by the New York Nets. The Nets believed that they had the upper hand in receiving Kareem's services because he was from New York; however, when Kareem told both the Bucks and the Nets that he would accept one offer only from each team, the Nets bid too low. Thus, Kareem chose the NBA over the struggling ABA. 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 then 33 years old. 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 defense, Abdul-Jabbar maintained a dominant presence. He was selected to the NBA All-Defensive Team eleven times. He frustrated opponents with his superior shot-blocking ability, denying an average 2.6 shots a game. Abdul-Jabbar was well known for his trademark "sky hook", a hook shot in which he bent his entire body (rather than just the arm) like a straw in one fluid motion to raise the ball and then release it at the highest point of his arm's arcing motion. Combined with his long arms and great height in which he stood 7 feet 2 inches tall, the sky hook was nearly impossible for a defender to block without goaltending.

Category: Sports
Uploaded: February 25th, 2008 @ 3:39 am
Author: VeoShock

Length: 05:58
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Views: 10,575

Tags: basketball

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