It is natural that after the undisputed progress showed by Los Angeles Lakers center, Andrew Bynum, television cameras follow his proud mentor every time he connects one of those plays, which reminds us, at least for a moment, of one of the best players in NBA history. Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the player who shined for almost 20 years with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Lakers, has now become a teacher as a special assistant coach in LA.
Jabbar was born in Harlem, New York, on April 16th, 1947, and was named
Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. He was known as Lew Alcindor during his time at Power Memorial High School; his college career at UCLA and his first two years in the NBA, with the Bucks. Even though he was raised by his parents, Ferdinand and Cora, who were catholic, Kareem adopted the Muslim religion during his time at UCLA and he decided to change his name a couple years later in 1971.
As a player, the 7'2'' feet center was a winner in every level. In high school, he led Power Memorial to three consecutive Catholic League titles in New York City, 72 consecutive wins, and an overall record of 96 wins and six losses, while scoring 2,067 points in his career.
He won three championships with the UCLA Bruins in three years; his teams had an overall record of 88 wins and only two losses and Jabbar set several scoring records.
While in the NBA, he won a title with Milwaukee, where he played for six seasons, before being traded together with Walt Wesley for Elmore Smith, Dave Meyers, Junior Bridgeman and Brian Winters (on June 16th, 1975), to the Lakers where he won five other championships. Individually, he won almost every award possible, and ended his career in 1989.
He was a 19-time All-Star; won six MVP awards and was named MVP of the Finals twice. Jabbar was selected to the All-NBA first or second team 15 times and is the all-time leader in points with 38,387, minutes played, field goals made, field goals attempted and playoffs games played. His 3,189 blocks locked him in third place, but it must be considered that the league started counting this stat in 1974, when Jabbar already had played five seasons. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1969-70, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995 and was selected as one of the best 50 players in basketball history.
As a player, Kareem had a reputation of someone timid, unsociable and shy, and maybe this has harmed his desire to become a full-time head coach. He had sporadic jobs with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics, trying to help develop youngsters such as Michael Olowakandi and Jerome James. He was also head coach for the Oklahoma Storm of the "USA Basketball League" and adviser for the New York Knicks. But his most important project started when, in September, 2005, Phil Jackson, the Lakers coach hired him as a special assistant coach to deal personally with Bynum's development.
The 20-year-old kid, who's in his third season, is Jabbar's best cover letter. If Olowakandi and James failed due to a lack of interest and a lack of talent respectively, Bynum shows disposition to learn and physical talent that makes his mentor look good. The starting center for the Lakers has now averages of 13 points, 10 rebounds and more than 2 blocks per game. Some of his moves have Kareem's signature.
But the coach has yet to teach him the most dominant weapon of all-time, the famously known "sky hook", which was an indefensible shot and the weapon Jabbar used to scored most of his points. I think Kareem knows this is an advanced subject and will let some time pass before teaching it to Bynum. Hopefully, we won't have to wait much to enjoy once again the "21st century sky hook".