I still consider Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (formerly Chris Jackson) to be one of the greatest college scorers and best college freshman ever. He scored 48 and 53 in the first month of his college career, 55 a month later and ended his season with the NCAA freshman scoring record.
During his sophomore season, he scored 40+ 11 times and 50+ four times.
I forgot to mention he also has Tourette’s syndrome.
After being drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the third pick (behind Derrick Coleman and Gary Payton) in the 1990 NBA draft, he started his NBA career with a couple of disappointing seasons. Then he lost a few pounds, had a breakout season in 1993, and won the Most Improved Player award.
But it was his controversial 1995-96 season, when he averaged a career-high 19.2 points a game and played like Chris Jackson or (this is going to piss a lot of people off) Steph Curry before Steph Curry, that I rave about the most when people mention his name.
The season started with a 32 and 13 game against the Lakers. He followed that up with 30 and 9 against the Spurs. Then, in mid-November, he exploded for 30 points, a career-high 20 assists, and 8 rebounds in a triple-overtime win over the Suns. It took him 56 minutes to get those numbers, and he missed 15 of 27 attempts, but it was still an exceptional and very entertaining performance.
A week after this game, he put up 39 and 10 against Jason Kidd and the Mavs, and then a week after that, he blew up for 51 with nine 3-pointers in a win against All-NBA 1st Team/All-Defense 2nd Teamer John Stockton.
Unfortunately, the only thing most people remember about this season is him getting suspended for a game for refusing to stand during the National Anthem.
Rauf was then traded to the Kings, where he had a decent season despite playing alongside All-NBA 2nd teamer Mitch Richmond. He left after his second season when the team blew up the roster and had a pretty great Summer of transactions: Traded Richmond for Chris Webber, drafted Jason Williams, signed Vlade Divac, and Peja Stojakovic.
After a short stint overseas and even shorter retirement, Rauf returned to the NBA and played 41 games with the Vancouver Grizzlies.
Everyone remembers Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in Denver, where he was suspended a game for refusing to stand during the national anthem.
But he played 2 seasons with the Kings, went overseas and then came back and played his final NBA season with the Grizzlies. Some highlights… pic.twitter.com/UzX2Kta22L
— David Astramskas (@redapples) December 7, 2023
MAHMOUD ABDUL-RAUF MIXTAPE
— John Brisker (@JohnBrisker2021) November 15, 2021