[Tony_McCarrolllParticipant]

I know I’m older than most of the board…

His final season, every single final road game in every NBA city, a ceremony was held pregame for Kareem where he was given a gift and recognition and a chance for the crowd to see him. I remember his gifts ranging from a gigantic rocking chair to a fancy car. I think the Lakers actually might have been the ones to give him the car, maybe it was a Rolls Royce. Kareem is totally non materialistic and I remember you could sorta tell he wasn’t going to drive it and didn’t give a **** about a fancy car. One thing I’m not sure on, is him coming back for a last season. I think all year long they he said he was retiring, and he came back for one more. ???

This thread is spawned from the news that he is finally getting a statue. About damn time. No doubt about it, he would be a much more visible within the NBA today if his name wasn’t Muslim.

Truth is, considering his dominance in the sport from HS to the pros, it wouldn’t have been strange at all for the NBA to retire his number 33 the way the NHL did 99 the moment Kareem retired.

It’s sad to see the disrespect towards Kareem idiots here are throwing at him. Many of whom are Kobe/Laker fans? Like WTF is that about? It would have been straight comedy to see Kareem play in the game today. MVP’s might have reached the double digits. Scott Skiles said Shaq deserved 8 MVPs. So no I am not joking about Kareem getting 10.

Hopefully the statue ceremony goes off classy, congrats Big Cap. I have a feeling a lot of his old teammates will come to see it happen.

[bobbybParticipant]

My early memories of Kareem are from the movie  AIRPLANE!   It is one of the funniest movies of all time

[LerinErinParticipant]

 Thinks the Kareem statue should be of him dragging 2 defenders down the court….. Airplane inside joke. 

 

I also remember his last game…. Was at our beach house…. My girlfriend at the time asked how someone so tall could rebound so little…. I had to tell her he was close to a decade older than most of the other players.

 

Kareem never my favourite guy but hard not to be amazed at the man.

My lasting memory of him is gonna be when the Lakers won in Magic’s rookie season and when Magic started to celebrate, Kareem’s expression said it all…. "get used to it, we are the Lakers, we do this all the time"

[BrentSuriaga01Participant]

Hope his statue looks like him doing the skyhook. That shot was made famous by him and it’s epic and nobody can’t defend it

[HitsterParticipant]

With all this talk about statues, one for Kareem is long overdue, it has to be the skyhook pose! Looking at his career stats, he was still averaging 23.1 ppg in 1985/86 when he turned 39 during the season and 17.5ppg when he turned 40 the following year, that was amazing longevity especially for a man of his size. His durability was also virtually second to none, only two years where he played less than 74 games and both those years he managed over 60 games, so for all his career he was virtually always available to play.

The Showtime Lakers were great to watch with Magic pulling the strings and Kareem just mopping things up, I can recall him not getting involved in fast breaks as he got older and often playing in his own half but still a huge offensive force if needed.

[ItsVictorOladipoParticipant]

I’ve always said that along with MJ, Kareem has had the most complete career in NBA history.

More longevity than Bird (or really anyone for that matter), more of a winner than the Big O and Wilt, more skilled offensively than Bill Russell, fewer holes in his game than Shaq, more dominant in his peak than TD, considered the best player in the league (MVP) far more often than Kobe and Hakeem, and a better player on the defensive end of the floor than Magic.

He averaged at least 27 PPG and 14 RPG for the first 7 years of his career and then averaged at least 21 PPG for the following 10 years! That’s crazy just thinking about it. 1st all time in career points, 3rd all time in career rebounds and he’s even 3rd all time in career blocks even though the NBA didn’t keep track of that stat until his fifth season in league. He was also an excellent passer for a big man averaging more than 4 APG in nine seasons with a career high of 5.4 APG in 1979.

6 MVP trophies, 6 NBA championships, 10 time All-NBA first team, 19 time All-Star, 5 time All-Defensive first team, 6 time All-Defensive second team. His accomplishments are staggering. I think he has a pretty good claim to GOAT.

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