NBA Draft: Each team’s greatest draft pick of all-time

Greatest draft pick in Milwaukee Bucks history: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Even the best of incoming NBA players require even one or two years before they can fully dominate the rest of the league. Then there’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose early excellence is something the NBA rarely gets the chance to witness.

As a rookie, Kareem averaged an incredible 28.8 points, 14.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Those are the types of numbers one would like to average at their absolute best. For Abdul-Jabbar, they were just a small preview of what was to come.

Few if any players get the coveted “unstoppable” label attached to their games at any point in their careers. At 7’2”, KAJ possessed the single most unguardable shot in NBA history, a poetic sweeping sky hook he could go to at any time over both shoulders. It didn’t matter how close his defender was or how perfectly they timed their contest. There simply wasn’t a single player of his time who could match Kareem’s length and come close to getting a hand on the ball.

It was in just his second season in the pros where Abdul-Jabbar would only add to his greatness, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their first and only championship in the 1970-71 season. He put up 26.6 points and 17.0 rebounds per game and was awarded Finals MVP for his massive contributions.

In the never-ending debate of the greatest basketball player of all-time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is inexplicably left out of the conversation more often than not. Yet, for a guy who, among other things, is a six-time champion and MVP with the most points in NBA history, maybe it’s time the general public rethinks its criteria and inserts him back into the discussion.