Before there was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, there was Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., (aka Lew Alcindor). Alcindor was his actual name when the legendary center first came into the NBA and played for the Milwaukee Bucks, before changing his name to Abdul-Jabbar for religious reasons.
But enough about the name and onto the player. The man who remains the leading scorer in the history of the NBA with 38,387 total points dominated his competition immediately as a rookie back in 1969-1970 season. He averaged 28.8 points, 14.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists that year to win the Rookie of the Year award. Unfortunately, there is no account of the number of steals and blocks he recorded in his first four seasons in the league – those had yet to be considered counting stats.
Most people today, aside from knowing that his signature move was the sky-hook, aren’t typically aware of just how good Abdul-Jabbar really was – he did start his career four decades ago, after all. He was young enough to have played against the great Wilt Chamberlain, but also competed against more recent formidable foes (relative to a legendary figure like Chamberlain), such as Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and even David Robinson.
If you do want to see how good he really was, though, and what basketball was like when he first came into the league, Abdul-Jabbar has that for you:
My first NBA Game. #bucks #pistons http://t.co/IG7tJMobtc
— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@kaj33) September 14, 2013
You can actually count the number of steals and blocks he had in his first game as a pro by watching the full game above, if you’re into that kind of thing (I am, so I will update this page with his currently-unavailable stats after watching it myself).
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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.