Second Coming of Kareem? : Abdul-Jabbar Jr. May Never Match His Father’s Accomplishments, but Dad Takes Pride in His Son’s Improvement in Classroom

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The name evokes images and memories spanning three decades of basketball.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer. The 7-foot-2 center nicknamed Cap, who led his teams to six NBA titles, including five with the Lakers. The former Lew Alcindor who led UCLA to three consecutive NCAA titles.

Sequestered from the national attention, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jr. practices his jump shot at Brentwood School, a small Westside L.A. prep school. Abdul-Jabbar Jr., a 17-year-old senior, is the second of Abdul-Jabbar’s five children. A 6-4 forward/center, he is the leading scorer for the Eagles, averaging 17.7 points and nine rebounds a game.

Imagine Abdul-Jabbar, the sequel. Can he keep pace with his teammates running up the court on a fast break? Will he be the player to continue leading UCLA back to national prominence? Will he bring back Showtime to the Lakers?

Doubtful.

Although he is being recruited by some Division I schools, he is a longshot to even approach his father’s NBA or collegiate accomplishments. It’s a fact that Abdul-Jabbar Jr. can accept.

“Of course I’d like to play college basketball,” Abdul-Jabbar Jr. said. “If at all possible I’d like to play in the NBA, but I’m prepared to do other things besides that, because it’s a slim chance and only so many people make it.”

A bigger challenge for him is meeting the academic expectations of his father, who was an above-average student at Power Memorial High in New York City and at UCLA.

“I think he has the talent physically. But I’m not sure he has the drive,” the elder Abdul-Jabbar said. “He has to be prepared to do a lot of things and make a lot of sacrifices to be a successful winning athlete.”

Abdul-Jabbar, 46, has had to push his son to give as much attention to academics as he does athletics.

“I used to play a lot of sports--baseball and soccer,” Abdul-Jabbar Jr. said. “And I also was interested in football. And I still go skiing and fishing sometimes. But when I got into high school I didn’t have enough time for schoolwork and things other than basketball.”

Working with his father, Abdul-Jabbar Jr. has steadily improved his grade-point average and scoring average.

“I’ve had to counterbalance his enthusiasm for sports with the reminders that his academic life is something that he will take with him a much longer time,” Abdul-Jabbar Sr. said.

Their relationship continues to improve after Abdul-Jabbar spent so many years away from his son.

Abdul-Jabbar Jr. lived with his mother Habiba, seeing his father only at holidays and during summer months between basketball seasons. That time grew shorter each year as the Lakers routinely made the playoffs.

They briefly lived together before Abdul-Jabbar Jr. moved back to his mother’s home before his senior year at Brentwood.

“When you’re playing catch-up (in a relationship), you can’t get into the depth that you want to,” Abdul-Jabbar Sr. said. “I’m surprised that we have made the progress that we have. It has been bumpy at first because basically for a long part of his life I was like Uncle Daddy. I didn’t get to see him that much. And so that was difficult on both of us.”

It was basketball, however, that drew the two closer.

While his father was holding center court at the Forum, a 5-year-old Kareem Jr. began to show interest in the sport and tried to emulate his father.

“My father used to take me to practice,” Abdul-Jabbar Jr. said. “I’d try to do what I could on the sidelines while the Lakers were practicing.”

At 9, Abdul-Jabbar Jr. began playing in his first organized league, at Pan Pacific Park in Mid-City Los Angeles.

Abdul-Jabbar Sr. said he only pushed his oldest son into learning a martial art and that he discovered a love for basketball on his own. “He was good. I mean he wasn’t exceptional, but he was good and he had fun at it. He had a hoop at his house and he shot the ball a lot. He’s a good shooter. He had fun. That was all that I cared about.”

Abdul-Jabbar Jr. did not think it was unusual that he spent so much time around the Lakers and that players such as Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper were his friends. It was only later, when he became a teen-ager, that he began to understand its significance.

“I didn’t really have the same perspective, I guess, as everybody else,” Abdul-Jabbar Jr. said. “Because to me these were just people I saw every day. And I didn’t watch the games on TV that much so I really didn’t exactly know who they were.

“But my dad would take me to practice sometimes and I’d play with them. And they would teach me how to improve my shot.”

After he retired from basketball in 1989, Abdul-Jabbar began to take a more active role in his son’s education. After completing ninth grade at Burroughs Junior High, Abdul-Jabbar Jr. transferred to Brentwood in 1991 and moved into his father’s Bel-Air Estates home. It was a tough adjustment for father and son.

“I’m stricter on certain things. I’m lax on other things that his mom isn’t. So it probably bewilders my kids for a minute until they get a better read on where I’m coming from.”

Abdul-Jabbar Jr. said he is treated the same as the other students who attend Brentwood. Maybe because in addition to Abdul-Jabbar Jr., Ryan West, the son of former Laker and current General Manager Jerry West, and Michael Cooper Jr. also attend the school as eighth-graders.

“At school I don’t get treated any differently, which I like,” Abdul-Jabbar Jr. said. “On the basketball court usually people either don’t know who I am or they will know and that makes them play harder and that makes me player harder and better.”

Abdul-Jabbar Jr., however, struggled his sophomore year in the classroom and on the Eagles’ junior varsity team. His father was enraged when his son’s first report card read C+, C-, D+, D- and F.

“That was on his five academic subjects,” Abdul-Jabbar Sr. said. “You know I not only hit the ceiling, I hit the stratosphere on that one. I told him if this doesn’t change you can forget about basketball and forget about Brentwood School.”

By the end of the 1992 school year, Abdul-Jabbar Jr. turned in passing grades. The D’s and F’s were replaced by B’s and C’s.

Abdul-Jabbar Sr. also helped his son improve his play on the basketball court. He spent considerable time teaching him how to dribble and shoot left-handed and gave him drills to improve his stamina.

“The only thing I emphasized to him was his ambidexterity,” Abdul-Jabbar Sr. said. “He shoots the ball real well. I just taught him that he needs to be able to handle the ball with both hands.”

During his sophomore season, Abdul-Jabbar Jr. averaged 10 points a game on the junior varsity. As a junior, he averaged 12 points and eight rebounds a game as a part-time starter on the varsity. Now he is the leading scorer for the Eagles (7-4), who expect to contend for the Delphic League title.

“He’s a good outside shooter from middle range,” Brentwood Coach Bob Ingram said. “He’s also good around the basket.”

Although he has attempted only one hook shot during a game, Abdul-Jabbar Jr. has developed a jump shot that rivals his father’s best long-range attempts.

“He can’t shoot the hook,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “He’s got a good jumper though. A serious jumper. He can put it down whether he’s leaning in any direction. He reminds me a lot of (former Golden State Warrior guard) Phil Smith.”

Whether or not Kareem Jr. succeeds as a basketball player, Abdul-Jabbar Sr. doesn’t believe his name has hindered his son’s chances.

“I don’t think it’s going to hurt him at all,” he said. “Despite the fact that we haven’t been able to be close physically until recently, he has very strong identity with me. He’s proud of it and it’s something I’ve always encouraged and tried to nourish. He’s comfortable with being my son.”