Shareef Abdur-Rahim retires!

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September 22, 2008

Shareef Abdur-Rahim retires

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Posted by Sam Amick
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Shareef Abdur-Rahim announced his retirement today, ending his stellar career after 12 seasons.
For the last 18 months, the Kings forward had been unable to recover from two arthroscopic knee surgeries and was faced with the reality of retirement far sooner than he had anticipated. But after saying in July that his body would make the decision for him, the answer was not what he had hoped for.
"I've been in a situation where I've been trying to get healthy over the last year and a half," Abdur-Rahim said in a statement. "I came to grips with the fact that, health-wise, I won't be able to get back to the condition and level that is needed to play in the NBA. My right knee has become arthritic over the years and is to the point where it won't allow me to do the things and play at the level in which I'm accustomed to playing. As tough as it is to come to grips with, it's the reality."
More to come. Keep checking back for more... - Sam Amick

Categories: Sam Amick Tags: Shareef Abdur-Rahim

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/sports/kings/archives/015582.html
 
Shareef Abdur-Rahim Retires

See Kings Blog.....

Shareef Abdur-Rahim announced his retirement today, ending his stellar career after 12 seasons.
For the last 18 months, the Kings forward had been unable to recover from two arthroscopic knee surgeries and was faced with the reality of retirement far sooner than he had anticipated. But after saying in July that his body would make the decision for him, the answer was not what he had hoped for.
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Best Wishes to Shareef. Class, honorable, hope that he plays a significant role in the Kings Organization.
 
Okay, another minor positive this offseason. Doesn't help the cap, but will help take some financial pressure off the Maloofs during an era of half full buildings while they try to get the new arena done. Best end result of the Reef situation from the Kings' perspective.
 
Wish he could have been the 20-10 guy that we needed...just didn't work out. At least he got to the playoffs! And thankfully he seemed like a positive force through it all.

This clears our bench out a little bit as well as things going forward. No offense to Shareef, but a nice cap to the summer...
 
At least it ends one hanging issue and opens up the possibility of actual cap relief in a year when it may do us some good.

I'm not sure how I feel about him becoming the big man coach. I'd sort of prefer a less gifted player who got by on fundamentals like positional defense and rebounding, but he would be good at helping Thompson refine his set of tools into a coherent post game.
 
Just a quick question out of curiousity ... Why would Shareef retire? Is he that nice of a guy that he's just willing to do that instead of be on the inactive list for 2 years and rake in millions?
 
I thought Reef played pretty well for the most part when he started or came of the bench for the Kings. A total class act! Now considering KT is still around, hopefully he can fill that void and at least pick up some slack that's missing with departure of SAR. Oh well, maybe that's too much wishful thinking:mad:
 
Thanks for the effort - always a class act and tough son of a gun. Good luck in whatever the future holds for you.
 
keflanag said:
Just a quick question out of curiousity ... Why would Shareef retire? Is he that nice of a guy that he's just willing to do that instead of be on the inactive list for 2 years and rake in millions?
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He still gets paid, just a portion of it comes from insurance now.

He no longer has to come to practice, travel to games, etc. His knees paid the price, end he worked to come back. Just couldn't do it.
 
Of course we all wish he could have brought more to the table with us, but when he arrived with us he had failed his physical with New Jersey and was already physically breaking down. He did latch on as a sixth man of sorts for us in his first two seasons with us, though. No one will ever be enamored of his defense and rebounding abilities, but he could be a good inside-outside offensive mentor to guys like Greene and Thompson for us. He definitely made his mark in the NBA and was one of the better class acts in the league--it's tough for a 31-year old guy who averaged 20+ ppg six times in his career to retire like that, when others like 38-year old Lindsey Hunter (who has never averaged more than 15 ppg) are still in the league.
 
Warhawk said:
He still gets paid, just a portion of it comes from insurance now.

He no longer has to come to practice, travel to games, etc. His knees paid the price, end he worked to come back. Just couldn't do it.
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ok. Didn't know they still got paid.
 
Oh yes -- and no to the coaching thx. He does not really appear to have either the personality nor game/fundamentals of a natural coach. Now those guys still get hired, but at his peak he played with his athleticism and a nearly unique set of spinning post moves that you really aren't going to teach. He wasn't outthinking the game. He was outtalenting it. Nor does he have enough "Kingness" to just get the job out of all in the family syndrome. He was basically a failed patch brought in after our golden years were over, and only got in a couple of declining years for us before the legs completely gave out.

So good luck and all that to Reef. But I'd just assume this concluded our business as we, and he, head on into new chapters.
 
The Kings plan to hire Abdur-Rahim to fill a yet-to-be-determined job with the organization, Petrie said.
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From the Yahoo article. Looks like he'll still be around doing something in the organization.
 
Bricklayer said:
Okay, another minor positive this offseason. Doesn't help the cap, but will help take some financial pressure off the Maloofs during an era of half full buildings while they try to get the new arena done. Best end result of the Reef situation from the Kings' perspective.
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You're a bit mistaken there....if a player retires due to injury then that salary can come off the books and help the cap situation as well as insurance picking up the tab for the Maloofs.
 
Smills91 said:
You're a bit mistaken there....if a player retires due to injury then that salary can come off the books and help the cap situation as well as insurance picking up the tab for the Maloofs.
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I think what Bricky was trying to say, was that it wouldn't get us under the cap but would free up some money by not having to pay his salary. It certainly moves us away from the luxury tax penalty.
 
The way I understood it from sacbee.com, the Kings still have to pay Shareef's salary this season, but if the league determines Shareef is too hurt to play, then the Kings would not have to pay his salary for the 2009-10 season. It's too bad it didn't work out for him here. He was a professional and even though he was already on the decline when he got here, he was a great mentor to the young players.
 
GameBall said:
The way I understood it from sacbee.com, the Kings still have to pay Shareef's salary this season, but if the league determines Shareef is too hurt to play, then the Kings would not have to pay his salary for the 2009-10 season. It's too bad it didn't work out for him here. He was a professional and even though he was already on the decline when he got here, he was a great mentor to the young players.
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Since he wasn't really able to play last season either, could we be in line for not paying him this year either??? I think that might be a league determination to be made now that he's retired....
 
Warhawk said:
Since he wasn't really able to play last season either, could we be in line for not paying him this year either??? I think that might be a league determination to be made now that he's retired....
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Only if he had actually retired at any point during the last season. At this point, the earliest we can apply for real cap relief would be for the 09-10 season.
 
good for us, a class act he was throughout his time in the nba. The fact he knew his time was up and didnt string it out is a testimony to the great man he is.
 
always sad to see a player of great class to retire... it was just nice to see he finally got to playoffs...

shame he had to retire at 31, which isn't young in the nba, but it certainly isnt too old...

best of luck reef... thanks for the memories...
 
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