Did the Hawks Ruin Shareef Abdur-Rahim's Career?

SpeedyG · Post #1 » by **SpeedyG** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 4:51 pm

Coming into the league and during his early years in the NBA, Shareef, along with Kevin Garnett were supposed to be the future prototype SFs in the NBA. The 6'9-6'11 tall lanky guys who can shoot, put the ball on the floor, pass the ball, run a fastbreak, and can finish above the rim. He was consistently a 20 ppg scorer as a Grizz (except his rookie year, when he avg 18.7) and topped at 23 ppg, while rebounding 8 rpg over the five years he played in Vancouver.

Then, he was traded to the Hawks and they wanted him to bulk up and be a PF. He had some good years in Atlanta, but it didn't amount to wins. Soon after, he was traded to Portland and his career really took a downward spiral.

Do you think this was just a case of someone who was polished entering the NBA and capped out talent wise very quickly and then declined? Or was the added weight Atlanta asked him to put on put a quick end to what otherwise would have been a more successful career ?

Post #2 » by **Rooster** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 5:13 pm

The Grizzlies were the ones who ruined him if anything by making him be the star. He couldn't handle it mentally. It's where his choke-artist reputation originated. By the time the Hawks got him, in one of the most lopsided trades ever no less, he already had that mental issue and it wouldn't go away.

Or you can take the more callous approach and say that Shareef ruined his own career by playing horrific defence.

rewill17 · Post #3 » by **rewill17** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 5:23 pm

If everything happens like everyone predicted it would be boring. Plus you never predict injuries.

Serpo · Post #4 » by **Serpo** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 5:41 pm

Maybe his career would have been rejuvenated with the Nets with Kidd in 2005 but that scar tissue in his knee killed the trade. The Nets were absolutly right to rescission the trade considering how it went from there for him.

Hedo05 · Post #5 » by **Hedo05** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 6:31 pm

wow so much hate for the hawks in the last few days.
I heard some people want to replay the nuggets-kings game, because k-mart (the denver version) was suspented and they lost the game and took a big hit at the 3-way playoff race. you know k-mart was suspented because of boris diaw, who forced martin to punch him thanks to the practise he got when he was playing for the hawks...

SpeedyG · Post #6 » by **SpeedyG** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 6:55 pm

Hedo05 wrote:wow so much hate for the hawks in the last few days.
I heard some people want to replay the nuggets-kings game, because k-mart (the denver version) was suspented and they lost the game and took a big hit at the 3-way playoff race. you know k-mart was suspented because of boris diaw, who forced martin to punch him thanks to the practise he got when he was playing for the hawks...

Not hating. In fact a friend of mine is a huge Hawks fan. I was just honestly curious what people thought. Personally, I thought the Hawks should have kept him at SF instead of asking him to gain weight to play PF. IMO, he went from a match-up problem at SF to an undersized PF.

Cruel_Ruin · Post #7 » by **Cruel_Ruin** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 6:59 pm

Serpo wrote:Maybe his career would have been rejuvenated with the Nets with Kidd in 2005 but that scar tissue in his knee killed the trade. The Nets were absolutly right to rescission the trade considering how it went from there for him.

That scar tissue was from an old HS injury. His recent injury was on the other leg. It was pretty stupid for them, but it worked out well.