Showing posts with label Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Show all posts

Friday, May 11, 2018

NBA Stories: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf - the shooting G.O.A.T.

        In many basketball fans opinion, the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) in terms of basketball shooting was/is Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. If you could watch Caesar conquering Europe in real time this is what Rauf looked like when he was dominating the world of basketball. I wish people stopped comparing Rauf to Curry. Why? Because Rauf was unguardable while Curry is but players simply choose not to guard him properly.

           I am so happy I watched the game in his prime in the 90s before the US gov't through the NBA commissioner David Stern decided to kick him out! The NBA invented a new criteria for free throws historical stats just to get rid of Rauf's name as the best FT shooter of all time. That tells you how much (Jew) marketing hated Rauf's beliefs. Remember that Racism is something racist people created along with all the other "isms" invented by hateful people - usually those who had the power in a group or a country. Some people comment on YouTube with this: "They suspended Rauf and barred him from even dressing on the bench even though there wasn't even a rule against not standing for the pledge. And everyone just let it happen to him.  Dude was only exercising his amendment right. America land of the free...". Yep!

         Abdul-Rauf told the website The Undefeated that he views the American flag as a symbol of oppression and racism. He has been silently protesting oppression and racism for more than 20 years. “I hold true to it,” he said last week. All Americans have a right, if not obligation, to draw attention to perceived wrongs, he said. “If you feel there’s something wrong and you want to change it, whether you’re an athlete, whether you’re a doctor, whether you’re a garbage man, we all have been given a voice by God, and we have a right to voice our concerns,” he said. Reasonable people can disagree on how best to voice concerns, he said. Each person must decide a course of action. “Whatever it is, you have to live with those consequences,” he said.

          Abdul-Rauf has. His quiet protests sparked death threats, the burning to the ground of a 2,800-square-foot home in Mississippi and, he believes, being weeded out of the NBA and thus losing several prime years of a pro career. Effectively banned from the NBA at age 29, Abdul-Rauf then played in Turkey, Russia, Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia and Japan before retiring in 2011. This echoed what he told The Undefeated last year. “It’s priceless to know that I can go to sleep knowing that I stood to my principles,” he said then. “Whether I go broke, whether they take my life, whatever it is, I stood on principles. To me, that is worth more than wealth and fame.” “I’m for anybody who wants to bring about a change for the better in society, period,” he said.


         Abdul-Rauf still trains daily. “It’s in my DNA,” he said. “It’s therapeutic.” Exercise provides a respite from the Tourette syndrome that affects Abdul-Rauf. Exhaustion relieves the symptoms of the neuropsychiatric disorder. Abdul-Rauf trains and plays one-on-one against young athletes who have no knowledge of his former on-court achievements. “They seem to be amazed at my quickness and ability to still get off my shot,” he said. “My strength is pretty much still there. My conditioning is still there. I think I'm still pretty quick to get where I want to go. Not the 20, 25-year-old quick. But I'm not complaining.” He is still doing his wizardry on the court at the age of 50(!!) in Ice Cube's BIG3 league. Abdul-Rauf said he participates in the three-on-three games (10 sites over 10 weeks this summer) to see how he can do against ex-pros who are 10 or 15 years younger.


       From one of the YouTube comments about Rauf: "He was blackballed out of the league. Imagine what he could've been if that didn't happen. To me he was a better shooter than Steph cause he was waaay more athletic and he shoots a jump shot. From any angle and has more variety of shots. No hate on Steph, he has range but this weak league allows the offensive player a lot more freedom than back in the day." Forget about Steph Curry, instead watch the best shooter of all time still being on fire in 2018!


       There is a difference between being mediocre and being great. So, are you ready to face death to embrace living at the fullest? 99% of the people would say no. This is how I thought and trained when I was a teenager giving up partying, girls and everything 99% of you, people did. Unfortunately the discs in my spine didn't catch up with the hard training but I didn't give up, took the pain every day and still had become the best I could be. Now sometimes I can hardly walk but I am at peace with myself and in my mind I am flying to magic places 99% of people don't even know they exist. And that's when you meet yourself and god as full package. Rauf, the legend talking sense like no other does today:


             In some of the comments on YouTube: 
         "I grew up admiring and copying MJ's game/moves. But I did kept an eye of this man. He's been robbed. So many times  I've seen him played so great, yet he would be put to bench every time. And at times, he's not even a starter... damn, this man would have change the game earlier, so underrated. Just because of his religion, name & beliefs... the man didn't even complained. What a great man. Salute to you sir. I did practice the way you shoot, the form and accuracy is so high. You should be acknowledged sir... I loved the game so much back then, and you're one of my inspiration... love from the Philippines!!!"

         Unlike the fake super woke athletes of today that are backed by corporate sponsors like Nike and the liberal sports media, he took a truly unpopular stand and did it B4 having made a lot of money.  As far as basketball, in his prime, he was right there with Curry.  I think he made an unwise decision regarding the flag but I understand why he did it.

            If Mahmoud had been allowed to have a full career, the current 3 point revolution the Steph is the center of probably happens much earlier on the NBA timeline.

            Phil Jackson knew exactly what he was saying and to top that he would give Step the business right now at 47yrs of age.

         Another fun fact about Jackson. He was only 165lbs. which makes it a bit more impressive especially for his physical era. There is a very short list of players under 170lbs that had a successful NBA career.

         My favorite player of all time, I had so much fun watching him in the 90s. Considering that Mahmoud had a rough childhood where he overcame a physical disability, grew up in poverty with a single mom, was undersized in a much more physical NBA era than today, played for a small market team with mediocre ownership, never got in any trouble off the court, and then was blackballed by the league for his personal beliefs...it's pretty damn impressive that he still managed to have so many flashes

          Back when you had to have skill to play elite NBA basketball... What a player! Pure shooter, great passer, he was a mix of steph curry and steve Nash. so happy I grew up with this basketball as a kid. Oh and don’t forget the guy who he was coming in to replace at the draft... Big Mike Adams, also underrated. YouTube him, kids.

         A great player blackballed over the Racist Flag! If THEY DIDN'T blackball him, a sure HOF seat was his. A pure shooter with excellent skills.  Shame on the NBA, shame. Bottom line, David Stern robbed us of one the best players in an of the game. This was not the first time a player was blackballed because of his beliefs. Let's not forget they also did Craig Hodges dirty back in the day too, even Kareem wasn't treated too kindly when he converted to Islam, while with the Bucks. I think land of the oppressed and home of the cowards is far more fitting when it comes to social issues and acceptance in the United States."
         
       Don't forget you can play with Abdul-Rauf in NBA 2K11 when using two of my DLCs, the 1995-96 and the 1997-98 NBA seasons that you can download here on this blog. ;)

Friday, February 2, 2018

Levy's PHX Dynasty: The League

3.      THE LEAGUE

There are many great things to say about the whole league and the way it progressed over a few months of simulation. Obviously I played ALL my Phoenix games in this awesome Coach Mode - which makes the game look like a “general manager” basketball sim game. Why nobody really played it like this? I will tell you why. Because if you don’t have the right Roster file with properly and realistically created players plus a well adjusted lineup, trust me it won’t work too well.



As you know, my game uses real contracts and real ratings based on 36 minutes per game stats. Basically you can see some of the greats at work in your virtual reality game. I remind you, I am WATCHING my game as a coach, NOT PLAYING as a player. Seeing Kevin Johnson dunking over Hakeem in one of the recent PHX vs. HOU games this season made my heart skip a beat. It reminded me of that great dunk in the real NBA in 1994 that embarrassed Kenny Smith for playing bad defense on KJ and really upset Hakeem.



THE TRADES

What I liked most about the league was the way it handled the trades. I mean they looked REALISTIC like I have never seen before in any of those 2K12, 2K14 and the rest of the horrible future instalments of the NBA 2K that kids buy these days.

Let me give you some examples of trades the CPU teams did this season before the trade deadline. A few teams simply started signing the free agents available on the market. LAL signed GF-Dontonio Wingfield for 1 year/2.14M then they traded him to WAS for G-Lawrence Moten and a 2nd round pick; GSW signed G-Vernon Maxwell for 1 year/2.18M; HOU signed C-Loren Meyer for 1 year/2.34M; SAC signed G-Lloyd Daniels.

HOU was involved in most of the trades. They sent PG-Matt Maloney and PG-Brent Price to DET in exchange for PG-Joe Dumars and FC-Rick Mahorn. A few days later, DET traded PF-Grant Long for PG-Randy Livingston (ATL). Hawks also traded FC-Alan Henderson and a 2nd round pick for G-Tim Legler from WAS. Then SF-Eddie Johnson for PG-Terry Porter (MIN). They also wanted desperately Big Ghita who is my starting center and whom I signed earlier this season. He is having a double-double with PHX.



LAC had its own good deal of trades. They gave away a 1st round pick for G-Bob Sura and PF-Danny Ferry from CLE, and then later traded PG-Pooh Richardson and C-Stojko Vrankovic for PG-Mark Jackson (IND). After that, SG-Brent Barry went to HOU for C-Loren Meyer and F-Rodrick Rhodes. And F-Rodney Rogers went to (an imaginary but foreseeable in the future) Bobcats team for centers John Amaechi and Amal McCaskill.

CLE made a historical trade acquiring PG-John Stockton from UTH in exchange for F-Carl Thomas and PF-Cedric Henderson. Then they traded three pointer specialist SG-Wesley Person for PF-Lawrence Funderburke and G-Lloyd Daniels (SAC).



DEN traded F-Laphonso Ellis to GSW for G-Vernon Maxwell and C-Felton Spencer.

NJN traded two guards, Kerry Kittles and Kevin Edwards to LAL for PG-Derek Fisher.

NYK traded two of its guards, John Starks and Chris Mills for SG-Hubert Davis and PF-A.C. Green (DAL). And then PF-Charles Oakley and a 1st round pick for PG-Terrell Brandon (MIL). They also made a shocking trade in giving away the heart of their franchise, C-Patrick Ewing for PG-Ron Harper and a 2nd round pick (CHI).  CHI also traded PG-Steve Kerr to IND for C-Mark West.



POR gave away their PG-Kenny Anderson for a 1st round pick and C-Derrick Coleman (PHI). They also traded C-Arvydas Sabonis for C-Dean Garrett and SF-Eric Williams (DEN). And later SG-Isiah Rider went to SAS for SF-Monty Williams.



SAC traded two of its aces: shooting extraordinaire PG-Abdul Rauf for PG-Tyus Edney and PF-Roy Rogers (BOS), then SG-Mitch Richmond for one of the best rebounders in the league in PF-Carlos Rogers (TOR). Later TOR sent GF-Walt Williams to WAS for PG-Rod Strickland and PG-God Shammgod. WAS also acquired guards Bimbo Coles and Brian Shaw from GSW.

SEA gave away all-around player F-Detlef Schrempf for PF-Terry Cummings and a 1st round pick (PHI). They also get rid of the bad mouth of PG-Gary Payton a 1st round pick and PG-Michael Williams from MIN which surprisingly traded F-Kevin Garnett to VAN Grizzlies for a player in a hot shape by the name of Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

THE INJURIES



Some of the NBA teams were less fortunate this season because of injuries. Some of those happened early in the season as well. I remember ATL losing PG-Mookie Blaylock one or two weeks into the season… Then VAN Grizzlies losing their starting PG-Lee Mayberry. Next was TOR Raptors losing C-Marcus Camby. FOR THE SEASON!

The other teams and their players were luckier. They usually missed 1 or 2 weeks, in some case a month or two (Rodman was one of them but CHI still won during his absence).



I strongly believe some of these injuries influenced the way the teams played this season and their win-loss ratio. This is perfectly REALISTIC!


This season coming to a close, I decided to reduce the effect of injury so from now on my sliders have Injury Frequency at 5 and Injury Severity at 0. Players still get injured quite badly sometimes. It might be a 2K bug like many others…

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Levy's 1992-93 DLC is launched (as a tribute to one of, if not the best: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf)



Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf is my favorite - and the only non-Phoenix Suns - point guard in the NBA between Kevin Johnson and Steve Nash. But of all of them, I respect him the most because he transcended the game of basketball with his work ethic, self-discipline (fighting a terrible Tourette syndrome) and profound humanitarian beliefs.


I can listen to this conference over and over again: amazing story telling by the greatest shooter in the NBA! By the way he still holds the record for the most scored points in college. Only Kevin Durant came close before he graduated almost 10 years ago. Jump to 13:40 in this video and find the truth about who was the best player in the history of the game. No, he wasn't Jordan! Actually a very young guy called Chris Jackson back then beat Jordan in a 1-on-1 game at the NIKE CAMP in 1989!


Of course something had to stop him from climbing that genius ladder... Abdul-Rauf was blackballed by the NBA for his personal beliefs so his basketball appearance in USA was shortened along with our pleasure of watching high class basketball.



He went on to show his amazing skills by playing in different leagues around the world and was still an active player in 2011 at the age of 42! Sadly his best years were taken away by the organized basketball circle of the NBA and corporate America. Here's what he has to say in his defense.