Retired Players I Loved Watching #10 (he suffered from Tourette's Syndrome and legally changed his name after converting to Islam)

Chris Jackson aka. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

As a 6'1" 160 lb. undersized shooting guard, he was basically an early prototype version of Allen Iverson. Same size, same style, even same jersey number.

He could basically only do one thing -- scoring the basketball. But he was so potently adept at it. He was relentless. He could literally score from anywhere on the court, in any possible way. With his unlimited range and pinpoint accuracy, he was a threat from well behind the arc and was a threat to rise up and drill a jumper at any time. Using his elite stamina and endurance, he was constantly moving without the ball, running laps around the floor and curling off screens, so he would constantly find himself wide open 18-feet out at the elbows for an easy midrange jumpshot. And because of his blinding first step and quick handles, he was capable of blowing by any defender off the dribble and going up for an uncontested lay-up. So he was nearly unstoppable. He had that well-rounded skillset that could expose any kind of defensive scheme. if you crowd him on the perimeter, he'll juke you out of your shoes and take it to the lane. And if you give him room, he'll just launch a feathery-soft jumper in the blink of an eye.

He was completely worthless when it came to certain things (play defense, guard bigger players one-on-one, run an offense, control his team's tempo), but he excelled as a pure, cold-hearted scorer. His averages of 19, 18, 16, and 18 points-per-game in his last 4 years as a Denver Nugget can attest to that. He was someone who could heat up in a hurry, strike multiple times from the perimeter in a short amount of time, and was a threat to explode for 30+ points on any given night. He never enjoyed much team success -- and that's because, like Iverson, his very distinct playing style wasn't conducive to overall team coherence and continuity -- but he was always fun to watch. He looked like a hummingbird out there, buzzing incessantly from one end of the court to the other, and then back again. It's like he constantly had Red Bull coursing through his veins. It's as if he took all the debilitating effects of his Tourette's (the twitching, the hyperactiveness, the inability to stay still) and used them to his advantage, becoming an unguardable scorer. All of that pent up energy so entertaining to watch.

But of course, what most people remember Abdul-Rauf for were his controversial political views. He was quoted as calling the American flag "a symbol of oppression" and that the U.S. was guilty of a "history of tyranny," and most notably, he caused a firestorm when he refused to stand for the Star-Spangled Banner as its played before each game. I'm all for free expression, but that shouldn't be accepted as an all-encompassing excuse for being blatantly unpatriotic. Nothing is imposed on anybody here, that's the beauty of this country. However, there still should be a set Mendoza line for common courtesy and dignified decorum. As a free citizen of a free nation, Abdul-Rauf isn't obligated to sing along to the national banner, isn't obligated to recite it, isn't even obligated to place his hand over his heart. That's fine. But if absolutely nothing else, as an American citizen, he owes it to both his country and his fellow countrymen to respect the sanctity of the tradition and for the sake of reverence, to put forth at least the BARE MINIMUM of effort. Simply standing for a mere moment isn't too much to ask. And anything less than that shows an alarming lack of class.

Chris Jackson aka. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf's career statistics