Stephen Curry reminds Jalen Rose of Nuggets teammate, who was the 1st option over Shaquille O’Neal at LSU

There was a Stephen Curry in the NBA long before Steph came in, that’s how Jalen Rose remembers his former teammate now.

Stephen Curry is one of the most beloved athletes in the States and around the world. The man who is reportedly going to sign a deal with Under Armour for a mind-boggling $1 Billion, has rightfully done so by proving himself to the world.

The 6’2, 34-year-old Akron, Ohio-born point guard has proven himself to be one of the greatest PGs in the history of the game. The 4x NBA champ is majorly responsible for revolutionizing how the game is played in this era.

His finesse while dribbling the ball, movement off of it, his accuracy from the 3-point line, all of these things make him the unstoppable force that he is.

That breed is rare, and even when you look back at the history of the game, no one person could do it all. But Jalen Rose remembers one person back from his Denver days, who could do some of it, and looked very much like Steph in his groove.

Also read: Stephen Curry’s doppelganger played in the 1990s, and was chosen ahead of Shaquille O’Neal in LSU

Jalen Rose believes Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was very much like Stephen Curry

In his appearance on All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Rose talked about how watching and alongside Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf felt the same when he sees Curry play now.

Looking back at the 6’1 LSU guard’s 9-year NBA career, where he averaged around 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game, which is nowhere close to Curry’s career stat of 24p-4.6r-6.5a in 13 years.

But unlike Curry, Rauf’s career was filled with some deviations and a big controversy which led up to those. The man chose not to stand on National Anthem played before the NBA games because he believed the American flag was a symbol of Tyranny for more than two centuries.

Since then, the most improved player from the 1993 season and Shaq’s senior at LSU who was the first option there over one of the most dominant player ever, didn’t see much success and started getting lesser game time.

Also read: “Stephen Curry’s training looks like a science experiment!”: 4x champ prepares for games through methods right out of science fiction novels

Rauf took his talents elsewhere in 1998 and played around the world and even won a Russian Cup in 2004.

He is and always will be one of those biggest “What Ifs?” of the NBA.

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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