The NBA has changed so much over the years and not many would have seen that change better than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem was a force on the court right from his high school days and went on to dominate the NBA for years, after being drafted in 1969.
Kareem held the all-time scoring record for nearly 4 decades before LeBron James finally surpassed him earlier this week. The biggest reason why Abdul-Jabbar racked up all those points was that he had arguably the most unguardable shot in NBA history in the skyhook, which he first learned when he was in 5th grade.
His fundamentals were very strong and were key to all the success that he went on to have. Kareem though somewhat light-heartedly, stated that he feels he was overcoached when he was younger when he watches how Giannis Antetokounmpo plays today.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said Giannis Antetokounmpo’s game makes him feel he was “overcoached” as a child.
“You get the rebound, you better not try to take it down to the other end of the court as a frontline player. That was gospel when I played. Giannis has blown through all that.” pic.twitter.com/zZYGDOOliv
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 10, 2023
“Giannis really as someone who taught himself how to play the game, from what I understand, he just went to the gym and messed around with it till he figured a few things out. And that has made me kinda angry because I feel like I was overcoached. I would have liked to do some of the things that he did.”
“‘You get the rebound, you better not try and take it down to the other end of the court if you’re a frontline player.’ that was like gospel when I played. Giannis is blowing through all of that and opened the game up. So I’m happy he’s done that, but I’m annoyed that wasn’t in time for me to try to get in on the fun.”
Just yet another example of how things have changed in the NBA. No one bats an eyelid now when Giannis grabs the rebound and runs the length of the court to finish at the rim, but it wasn’t the way things were done when Kareem was growing up. You can only wonder how much more he could have done if he was allowed to try out the things Giannis does today. During this media session, Kareem also spoke on how his game would translate to today’s NBA.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Reacted To Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Comments
Kareem was, of course, drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks, and even though he played just 7 seasons for them, it was hard to see anyone displacing him as the greatest player in franchise history. It is debatable, but Giannis might well have surpassed him now and he was asked about Kareem’s comments.
Giannis Antetokounmpo on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wanting to grab & go: “If Kareem could bring the ball down the floor & create for himself, get people out of the way or ask for a pick & roll, he’d probably have 52,000 points & it would take LeBron 8 more years to break that record.” pic.twitter.com/eEvwUoxzdP
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 10, 2023
“Obviously if Kareem could bring the ball down the floor and create for himself, get people out of the way, or ask for a pick & roll, he’d probably have 52,000 points and it would take LeBron 8 more years to break that record. So, thank god he wasn’t able to do that. He was able to do something else (skyhook) that nobody for years can do. That was his gift and somebody else’s gift is something else. So, gotta be okay with what god bless you (with).”
He probably would have gotten quite a lot more points if he was allowed to do that. As Giannis says, everyone has a different gift and Kareem’s ended up being the skyhook.
Giannis is using his gifts to their full effect and has led the Bucks to an NBA-best 10-game winning streak. They had some struggles earlier in the season but look set for a strong finish as they hope to win their 2nd championship in 3 seasons.
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