Where Are They Now: Shareef Abdur-Rahim

There comes those times in a NBA fans mind when they ask "what ever happened to that guy"? Well today that guy is former NBA All-Star Shareef Abdur-Rahim. He played for four NBA teams in his solid career which includes the Vancouver Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers and the Sacramento Kings.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim was the third overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft which was highlighted by Allen Iverson out of Georgetown University. Adur-Rahim played only one season for the University of California, Berkeley. He was a standout player in high school and in college. He grew up in Georgia while playing the game of basketball as a youngster also while watching his sibling brothers develop into college players themselves.

In many peoples opinions the 1996 NBA draft was the second-best to the 1984 draft that had Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and John Stockton. That's not bad company to be in. So for Adur-Rahim to be apart of something historical that's already an accomplishment for him.

Adur-Rahim was a very good player for the most part of his career while putting up 20 per game and grabbing 8 rebounds. He was destined for to become the next great player in the league. But when you're a player that's putting up those kinds of numbers and your team doesn't make the playoffs many times it's thrown out the window.

We all know it's all about the postseason and the greats find a way to get his team there. But the hardest blow for the 6'9" power forward was that he couldn't stay healthy and that was the reason he finally put the ball down and said enough is enough. He retired in 2008 while playing for the Sacramento Kings. If he didn't have those injuries and maybe played for a good team, who knows what he could have become.

For about seven NBA seasons Abdur-Rahim was considered one of the best big men in the game. He was the fifth youngest player to reach 10,000 points. But many of us didn't know that because he played for small market teams that were barely on national television.

Currently Shareef is working for his former team the Sacramento Kings as Director of Player Personnel and General Manager of the Reno Bighorns, the Kings minor-league affiliate. So he might had to put his basketball career to an end in his early 30's but he's showing you he's still apart of something special and that's developing future basketball talent.