Bloggystyle -- The Greatest

All summer, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, one of the all time NBA losers in terms of team winning %, tried to work his way onto one of the all time losingest teams in NBA history in the New Jersey Nets. In addition to playing in a sewer, no homo Juelz Santana, Shareef was poised to find himself teaming up down low with Nenad Krstic, which certainly meant gaudy rebounding numbers at the very least.

Abdur-Rahim was so intent on going to the Nets that he turned down a 47 million dollar offer from the Bucks, who promptly spent it on Bob Simmons. Meanwhile, Shareef and his agent worked furiously to pull off a trade by which Rahim could make at least half of the Bucks offer.

And Portland almost pulled it off, until Abdur-Rahim's gimpy body failed a physical. Shareef, of course, was hurt most of last season with a bad elbow; that's a fine combination of injuries for a post player. The Nets promptly nixed their trade and took their draft picks back.

You'd think it was looking bad for Abdur-Rahim's chances after that failed physical. Shareef knew he could only turn to one team. A team renowned for putting chronically gimpy power forwards in the spotlight. A team that makes it cool for a power forward who can't dunk.


As always, the Associated Press finds a way to work itself into a frenzy when dissecting the impact of Abdur-Rahim's addition to the Sacramento Kings for about 5 million a year, half of what the Bucks offered. Who wants to play alongside Bogut, Redd, Mason and TJ Ford when you can play alongside "high-scoring" Bonzi Wells?

The veteran forward has never reached the playoffs -- but that seems likely to change with the Kings, who added him to a starting lineup that now could be one of the NBA's strongest.

Abdur-Rahim joins a projected starting lineup with Wells, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller, along with Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, Brian Skinner and new signees Jason Hart and Jamal Sampson on the bench.

If we were talking about 1998 Abdur-Rahim, 2003 Peja Stojakovic, 2002 Mike Bibby and anyone besides Skinner/Thomas/Williamson/Wells, then I'd see the AP's point.

Instead, I think the Kings have a very good chance of not making the playoffs. Moreover, I also expect that Abdur-Rahim will miss at least 20 games next year. I even think the Kings would be better served to start Thomas at 4, Abdur-Rahim at 3 and bring "high-scoring" Bonzi Wells off the bench.

Even at best, the Kings will not finish ahead of San Antonio, Phoenix, Dallas or Houston.