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Zen Master Phil Jackson gets deep on Twitter ...

Former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers head coach and current New York Knicks president, Phil Jackson, recently took to Twitter to comment on defending champ Golden State's MVP point guard Stephen Curry's outstanding play, saying, "Never seen anything like SCurry? Remind you of Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who had a short but brilliant run in NBA?"

Yeah, the Zen Master may want to think a bit more carefully before making such a tweet... Since Jackson brought it up, let's compare the two players, shall we?

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

- 9 seasons

- 586 games, 336 started (three different teams: Denver, Sacramento, and Vancouver)

- 3,514-7,943 field goals (.442)

- 474-1,339 3-pointers (.354)

- 1,051-1,161 free throws (.905)

- 1,087 rebounds (1.9 p/gm)

- 2,079 assists (3.5 p/gm)

- 487 steals (0.8 p/gm)

- 46 blocks (0.1 p/gm)

- 8,553 points (14.6 p/gm)

- 15 playoff games (13.0 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 369 FG%, .286 3PT%, .956 FT%)

- 1993 most improved player

- 0 all-star games

- 0 MVPs

- 0 championships


Stephen Curry

- 7th season

- 477 games, 466 started (one team: Golden State)

- 3,686-7,725 field goals (.477)

- 1,479-3,319 3-pointers (.446)

- 1,581-1,754 free throws (.901)

- 2,015 rebounds (4.4 p/gm)

- 3,238 assists (7.1 p/gm)

- 835 steals (1.8 p/gm)

- 102 blocks (0.2 p/gm)

- 10,432 points (22.8 p/gm)

- 40 playoff games (25.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 7.3 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG, .447 FG%, .410 3PT%, .862 FT%)

- 2010 NBA All-Rookie First Team

- 2014 All-NBA Second Team

- 2015 All-NBA First Team

- 2015 NBA Three-Point Contest champion

- 2015 NBA Most Valuable Playor

- 2015 AP Athlete of the Year

- 2015 NBA champion

- 3 All-Star game appearances (2014-2016)

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf wasn't a bad player by any stretch of the imagination. He was was quick off the dribble, had a smooth and quick release, was a solid outside shooter, and was arguably one of the best free throw shooters of all-time. Having said that, however, to say he was in the same league as Stephen Curry would be like to say, "Nickelback is like the Beatles of our time, man." Abdul-Rauf was a decent role player, a good guy to bring off the bench, especially if the team needed some points from the outside or from the foul line, but the guy was largely a one-trick pony. For his career, he averaged a combined 6.3 rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game. Yes, that's all... He also never played in an All-Star game, never made an All-NBA team, was never named the league MVP, and never won a championship. Stephen Curry, on the other hand, has averaged a combined 13.5 rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game, has been invited to three All-Star games, was selected to two All-NBA teams, was named the AP Athlete of the Year once, won an MVP, and also led a team to a championship. The guy is also close to 10% more accurate than Abdul-Rauf from 3-point range. Besides all of that, they're like doppelgangers or something...

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-phil-jackson-stephen-curry-20160229-story.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/abdulma02.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Abdul-Rauf

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/curryst01.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Curry

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