Memphis Grizzlies: 15 best NBA Draft picks of all time
Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. SG. 1996 - Round: 1 / Pick: 3. Shareef Abdur-Rahim. 4. player. 211
Shareef Abdur-Rahim was really the player I associated most with Vancouver before the idea of the Memphis Grizzlies ever existed. He was the first-round pick at third overall going into season number two.
The record books were basically blank when he arrived so he wasn’t breaking records, but Abdur-Rahim essentially wrote the record books while in Vancouver. Over five seasons, he averaged 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds per game and shot 46 percent from the floor.
He scored 23 a game during his best season. 18.7 point per game was the lowest number he ever averaged. Abdur-Rahim was the classic example of a good player on a bad team, but playing on an expansion team, he didn’t have much help.
Abdur-Rahim left for the Atlanta Hawks after the team’s last year in Vancouver. He was deservedly selected to his first All-Star game that season. Although he never played in Memphis, his overall contribution to the franchise still holds up.
In other words: “I would have liked to have known you, but I was just a kid, your candle burned out long before, your legend ever did.”