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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.
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