http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/13665490p-14508296c.html
If he isn't the happiest guy in camp, check his pulse. If he doesn't appreciate the comparative beauty of his current situation, there's no hope for the man.
But of course he does. Even if Shareef Abdur-Rahim is, as he demonstrated Monday at the Kings' training complex, capable of running the gauntlet of photo sessions and interviews almost without cracking a smile, don't be deceived. The man knows his life just got exponentially better.
Almost a decade of pro service behind him, Abdur-Rahim already has saddled more deadbeats than a trifecta bettor at the track. He's played with more stiffs than an undertaker.
You know that saying, lovable loser? Abdur-Rahim's NBA teams never got that far; they just lost. They lost in Vancouver and they lost in Atlanta and, most recently, they lost in Portland, and they generally did so gracelessly and without the slightest hint of either promise or excitement. The closest Abdur-Rahim has ever come to anything approaching pro success was a 41-41 record Portland put up two seasons ago, and he only joined the team that February.
Or, as Abdur-Rahim's friend Monty Buckley said, "This is going to be rejuvenating for him, because it's a lot different from driving to a game wondering if you'll have any fans in the seats, or wondering how much you're going to lose by."
The question with regard to the Kings, then, becomes obvious even if it's a bit blockheaded: Can a player with nine years of experience on losing teams suddenly discover the winner within?
"People forget that Michael Jordan played on losers, too, until Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant arrived," said Jerry Reynolds, the Kings' player-personnel director. "He (Abdur-Rahim) needs good players around him to be better, and we need better players on our team."
It's a fit, in other words. On paper, Abdur-Rahim is a career 20-point, eight-rebound performer, one who rarely misses games and is capable of playing deep minutes. He's instant offense. You can practically hear Rick Adelman smiling off in the distance.
But Abdur-Rahim has yet to prove he can put up meaningful numbers on a contending team. Funny, that: It is in part because of his arrival that the Kings, first-round playoff losers last season, are considered to be such a contender.
"He has not had a chance to be on a good team yet," Adelman said, "and he has acknowledged that. One reason he was talking to us and New Jersey (in the offseason) is that he wanted to be with good players."
So he is. And now Abdur-Rahim, all these years later, gets to find out what he's made of.
When he blasted out of Cal after one college season (Buckley, the Christian Brothers High grad, helped recruit him), it all laid out so bright and shiny.
Abdur-Rahim was going to Vancouver, true, but the Grizzlies were just getting started. It might be cool to be in on the ground floor. And even if it didn't go well, Abdur-Rahim was a kid. He'd have a million years in the league, play for scads of winners.
Now here he stands, age 28, still looking for a single playoff game of experience. He stands as a player about whom it is asked whether he's just good numbers on bad teams. And he hasn't had one chance to play a game that might suggest otherwise.
"It was tough. It was tough," Abdur-Rahim said when asked about these nine lost years. He paused, then again repeated, "It was tough. (But) nobody is really going to give you no break.
"Vancouver, we were just young teams. Had they kept that (core) together, we might have become a pretty good team. Atlanta, you can make all the excuses for what happened there, and Portland - it just got kind of crazy, you know what I'm saying?"
It happens. Mitch Richmond once found himself traded to a loser in Sacramento and being told by a Kings teammate when he arrived, "Welcome to Hell." What ensued was a test of every fiber of Richmond's professional standing.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim gets the other end of that bargain here now, delivered from years of losing to a franchise whose recent culture absolutely demands victory. "These guys expect to win, and I have to learn the system as fast as I can in order to help that," Abdur-Rahim said Monday. If you looked closely enough, it might have been a smile trying to cross the man's face.
If he isn't the happiest guy in camp, check his pulse. If he doesn't appreciate the comparative beauty of his current situation, there's no hope for the man.
But of course he does. Even if Shareef Abdur-Rahim is, as he demonstrated Monday at the Kings' training complex, capable of running the gauntlet of photo sessions and interviews almost without cracking a smile, don't be deceived. The man knows his life just got exponentially better.
Almost a decade of pro service behind him, Abdur-Rahim already has saddled more deadbeats than a trifecta bettor at the track. He's played with more stiffs than an undertaker.
You know that saying, lovable loser? Abdur-Rahim's NBA teams never got that far; they just lost. They lost in Vancouver and they lost in Atlanta and, most recently, they lost in Portland, and they generally did so gracelessly and without the slightest hint of either promise or excitement. The closest Abdur-Rahim has ever come to anything approaching pro success was a 41-41 record Portland put up two seasons ago, and he only joined the team that February.
Or, as Abdur-Rahim's friend Monty Buckley said, "This is going to be rejuvenating for him, because it's a lot different from driving to a game wondering if you'll have any fans in the seats, or wondering how much you're going to lose by."
The question with regard to the Kings, then, becomes obvious even if it's a bit blockheaded: Can a player with nine years of experience on losing teams suddenly discover the winner within?
"People forget that Michael Jordan played on losers, too, until Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant arrived," said Jerry Reynolds, the Kings' player-personnel director. "He (Abdur-Rahim) needs good players around him to be better, and we need better players on our team."
It's a fit, in other words. On paper, Abdur-Rahim is a career 20-point, eight-rebound performer, one who rarely misses games and is capable of playing deep minutes. He's instant offense. You can practically hear Rick Adelman smiling off in the distance.
But Abdur-Rahim has yet to prove he can put up meaningful numbers on a contending team. Funny, that: It is in part because of his arrival that the Kings, first-round playoff losers last season, are considered to be such a contender.
"He has not had a chance to be on a good team yet," Adelman said, "and he has acknowledged that. One reason he was talking to us and New Jersey (in the offseason) is that he wanted to be with good players."
So he is. And now Abdur-Rahim, all these years later, gets to find out what he's made of.
When he blasted out of Cal after one college season (Buckley, the Christian Brothers High grad, helped recruit him), it all laid out so bright and shiny.
Abdur-Rahim was going to Vancouver, true, but the Grizzlies were just getting started. It might be cool to be in on the ground floor. And even if it didn't go well, Abdur-Rahim was a kid. He'd have a million years in the league, play for scads of winners.
Now here he stands, age 28, still looking for a single playoff game of experience. He stands as a player about whom it is asked whether he's just good numbers on bad teams. And he hasn't had one chance to play a game that might suggest otherwise.
"It was tough. It was tough," Abdur-Rahim said when asked about these nine lost years. He paused, then again repeated, "It was tough. (But) nobody is really going to give you no break.
"Vancouver, we were just young teams. Had they kept that (core) together, we might have become a pretty good team. Atlanta, you can make all the excuses for what happened there, and Portland - it just got kind of crazy, you know what I'm saying?"
It happens. Mitch Richmond once found himself traded to a loser in Sacramento and being told by a Kings teammate when he arrived, "Welcome to Hell." What ensued was a test of every fiber of Richmond's professional standing.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim gets the other end of that bargain here now, delivered from years of losing to a franchise whose recent culture absolutely demands victory. "These guys expect to win, and I have to learn the system as fast as I can in order to help that," Abdur-Rahim said Monday. If you looked closely enough, it might have been a smile trying to cross the man's face.
