Shareef Abdur-Rahim

Shareef Abdur-Rahim (born December 11, 1976) is an American retired professional basketball player. He currently works as the director of player personnel for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is the general manager of the Reno Bighorns, the Kings' NBA D-League affiliate.

Abdur-Rahim played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley with the Golden Bears. He was selected 3rd overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1996 NBA Draft. During his time with the Grizzlies, he became the team's leading scorer and set a franchise record of 18.7 points per game. He averaged 6.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 35 minutes per game. He also finished 3rd in balloting for the Schick NBA Rookie of the Year behind the Philadelphia 76ers' Allen Iverson and the Minnesota Timberwolves' Stephon Marbury, and was picked for the All-Rookie First Team. During the next few seasons, Abdur-Rahim was the centerpiece of the Grizzlies team. He improved his performance the following years with 22.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg and 2.6 assists per game (apg) in his sophomore season and 23.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, and 3.4 apg in the next season. Even through his best effort, the Grizzlies were still at the bottom two spots of the Midwest Division in his first four seasons.

On June 27, 2001, the Grizzlies traded Abdur-Rahim and the 27th overall pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Brevin Knight, Lorenzen Wright and Pau Gasol, the 3rd overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft. The Hawks finished the 2001–02 season with a 33–49 win-loss record. Abdur-Rahim's performances, which included a career-high 50-point game, earned him a selection to the NBA All-Star game for the season. On December 28, 2002, he became the fifth-youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000-points with a jump shot against the Washington Wizards. Even though Glenn Robinson, Jason Terry and Abdur-Rahim all combined to average 57.9 ppg and become the highest-scoring trio in the league for the 2002–03 season, the team was unable to make the playoffs again. Abdur-Rahim played in all but one of game for the Hawks.

On February 9, 2004, the Hawks traded Abdur-Rahim along with Theo Ratliff and Dan Dickau to the Portland Trail Blazers for Rasheed Wallace and Wesley Person. At the end of the 2004–05 NBA season, he became a free agent.

During the 2005 off-season, he was traded through a sign and trade agreement (in principle) to the New Jersey Nets for a first-round draft pick. On August 4, 2005, it was revealed that he failed a required physical because of scar tissue found in his knee. The trade was put on hold, pending a second opinion from other medical sources. On August 7, Abdur-Rahim was quoted as saying: "Right now I don't feel I want to be a Net".

On August 12, 2005, Abdur-Rahim signed a free-agent contract with the Sacramento Kings.

During his first season with the Kings, he averaged 16.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 3.0 apg as a starter. He shot .543 for field goal percentage, and almost .800 from the free throw line. The Kings were able to qualify for the 2006 playoffs. He made his postseason career debut against the San Antonio Spurs. At the same time, Abdur-Rahim ended a streak of having played the most number of games in NBA history without participating in the post-season.

On September 22, 2008, Abdur-Rahim announced that he was retiring from basketball because of a constant knee injury. The next week, he joined the Kings' coaching staff as an assistant. He was hired as the Kings' assistant general manager on October 7, 2010.

References

Other websites
 NBA profile 

1976 births
African-American basketball players
American Olympic gold medalists
American Muslims
Atlanta Hawks players
Living people
Portland Trail Blazers players
Sacramento Kings players
Sportspeople from Atlanta, Georgia
People from Marietta, Georgia
Vancouver Grizzlies players
American basketball players
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Memphis Grizzlies players