Appreciating Newly Retired 'Reef Abdur-Rahim

Yesterday, Kings forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim retired. He was a good man. A kind man. I always figured that he escaped the "piling up stats on bad teams" label because of his personality and good works. After all, who could forget those early years, when Abdur-Rahim was the star of the fledgling Grizzlies and then, the Hawks. Oh wait, anyone could, because no on paid attention.

Thankfully, Ziller, who I suspect also has a soft spot for Reef, has put together a defense of Abdur-Rahim on the court, comparing his blamelessness to that of Elton Brand:

Not 100 players in the history of the NBA have averaged more points per game than Shareef. Only 76 players have a higher career PER, only 78 have more defensive rebounds, only 87 have more offensive rebounds. These are, for the most part, counting stats: numbers you earn by playing a really, really long time. But Shareef didn't play some absurd long time, only 11 full seasons (one of those shortened by the lockout) ... Some referenced that fact as a knock, as in "Shareef will never wow you." Another thing Shareef would never do: disappoint, underperform, fail.

It's also worth noting that, at the time of 9/11, Abdur-Rahim was the only "out" Muslim in the NBA (Shaq and Hedo, anyone?). A lot of people already think NBA players are out to destroy America, but still, Reef handled a potentially awkward situation with great poise, taking it as an opportunity to educate non-Muslims about the real nature of his religion. An all-around class act, and, as his agent Aaron Goodwin tells The Bee, hardly done with his life as an active human being:

"He's one of those people where you just know he's going to succeed no matter what they do, especially if it's in the business of basketball," Goodwin said. "It's actually a good day for me, because I've seen him embarking from a basketball player to the business side - whether it's coaching or whatever he does.

So Reef, this one's for you. Even if it weren't the slowest news day ever, we'd still have love for you.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.