Winning a national championship pays dividends. It adds a credibility to a program that attracts people. Having players drafted by the NBA also adds credibility to a program, whether that program did anything to get those players drafted or not. Having players drafted in the LOTTERY part of the NBA draft adds even more credibility to a program – especially when that player was nowhere close to a projected lottery pick upon entering college.

UVA gets 3-4 star kids 5 star money.

— EmbraceThePace (@EmbracePaceUVA) November 21, 2020

All of this comes into play with Jabri Abdur-Rahim.

Background

Jabri’s father is a man who went from NBA player to NBA executive. His mother is a woman who went from attorney to philanthropist. Shareef Abdur-Rahim played high school ball in Marietta, Georgia, attended the University of California-Berkeley for one year as a prized recruit and earned Pac-10 Player of the Year honors, then was drafted with the third pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies. After 12 years playing, he retired due to nagging injuries to his right knee, and moved into management. He was an assistant general manager for the Sacramento Kings and the general manager of their minor league team. He currently is President of the G League. He knows a thing or two about player development and what an NBA team looks for in a player coming out of college.

He sent his son to play for Tony Bennett at the University of Virginia. Ok, so “sent” is probably a strong word, because it’s not like Jabri lacked agency in the decision. Let’s say he participated in and supported his son’s decision – as did attorney/philanthropist mom Delicia “Dee Dee” Abdur-Rahim.

Jabri attended Seton Hall Prep in New Jersey (where my cousin was a star middle linebacker on state championship football teams in the mid-70s) and then Blair Academy, where former UVA players Mike Tobey and Marial Shayok graduated. He was Gatorade Player of the Year in New Jersey his junior year, but sat out most of his senior year with an injury. He was the #4 scorer in the EYBL at 25.2 ppg. A consensus top 40 player, Jabri had a very long offer list.

Michigan was probably the leader for Jabri until John Beilein left the school for his ill-fated and probably unwise adventure in NBA “coaching”. New Wolverines coach Juwan Howard tried to keep it going with Jabri, but in the end the Abdur-Rahims decided to go with a proven college coach, and Jabri was comfortable at UVA with his future teammates. Virginia offered late, on May 15, 2019, with only Texas offering later. Kentucky came around with flowers a week before Jabri’s June 28 official visit to Grounds, but not even that derailed Jabri from committing to Virginia on July 10, 2019, the last of the vaunted 2020 class to give Tony Bennett the word.

Abdur-Rahim becomes the second highest ranked recruit ever to attend UVA for Tony Bennett (hard to believe UVA’s best ever coach is only its third best recruiter), as he was the #36 player in the 2020 RSCI list, just behind Kyle Guy’s #32 in 2016. He might be Bennett’s highest profile recruit ever.

Strengths

At 6-7, 214 pounds, Abdur-Rahim has good size for a wing forward. In the modern game, he could thrive as a small ball four with the proper training. He can score at all three levels, on standstill shots and on drives. He likes the pull-up jumper, which is very smooth. He also can finish deftly with either hand at the end of his drives.

As would be expected from a player whose early hoops education came from a pro at the highest level of the game, Jabri has good fundamentals and instincts. His foundation is strong, and he came to Virginia because he wants to learn. He came in eyes wide open to what Bennett will demand of him, and for him and his family that was part of the attraction.

Weaknesses

After your eyes recover from the 25.2 ppg figure, what really jump out at you from his EYBL stats are the shooting percentages: 36% from the floor and 30% from the arc. Those numbers fit right in with what his new teammates put up in 2019-20, but they are not going to win any starting spots. Jabri will have to work on being considerably more efficient if he is going to attain the heights to which he hopes to soar.

Director of scouting for 247 Sports Jerry Meyer assessed Jabri as “a versatile defender” who “plays with intelligence on the defensive end”, but Jason Williford had a more critical take after seeing the young freshman with his college mates:

“[H]e’s got to really work on his defense. And that’s just going through the reps, getting a lot of closeouts…. [C]an he defend at a high level and at a level that we’re gonna need him to[?]” 247 Sports, quoting from The J-Willy Show.

Now, very few incoming players are going to get much better of a review from J Willy in their very first August in the program, so don’t despair.

Role

What role Jabri will play in 2020-21 is so hard to forecast due to the lack of video available to me from EYBL and high school, and from the sheer number of unknown variables involved. Based on his tools, Jabri is a pure wing forward who could also be a wing guard – the difference in UVA’s system being primarily who you will guard on the defensive end. Do we want Abdur-Rahim covering guards? Probably not. That puts Jabri at the three, and where he will end up in the pecking order depends on questions about other players as much as it does on his own development.

Reasonable Expectations

No matter how heralded he might be, no matter how many stars are next to his name, no matter how many points he scored in high school and AAU, no player should be expected to walk into Tony Bennett’s program and in his first NCAA game walk out onto the playing court with four other players to start the game. It does not happen very often. Bennett’s program has a notoriously steep learning curve, and the things Bennett demands don’t come easy for freshmen. He also has a preference for experience.

If Jabri came in having been a lights out shooter, it would be easier to project major minutes for him, but he wasn’t. He was a volume scorer. That’s not going to work for him as a freshman at UVA. At this point it is reasonable to expect Jabri to fight for a position at the end of the 8.5-man rotation Bennett generally employs. In a different year under normal eligibility NCAA rules, I would even not be surprised if Tony had The Conversation with him – hell, Tony redshirted the future #4 pick in the NBA Draft.

Reasonable expectations for Jabri, therefore, are to see him make appearances now and then, mostly against the out-of-conference opponents and maybe Wake Forest, but for him to do the bulk of his work in the JPJ when there are no fans in attendance. Oh, wait…. Let me say “not on game day.” Yes, we talkin’ practice.

Optimistic Expectations

Hey, he wasn’t the #36 player in the 2020 RSCI for nothing. It’s not like the veterans in front of him were lights out last year. They have their own issues. So maybe Jabri ramps up that defense quickly and develops some of that discernment J Willy discussed in the podcast episode cited above and the returning players fail to nail down those rotation spots the way the Cerberus failed in 2016-17 and Jabri ends up with a freshman record book similar to 2016 RSCI #32 Guy:

34 games played, 7 starts, 18.6 mpg, 7.5 ppg on 6 shots per game with a high scoring game of 20 points

Final Analysis

Jabri Abdur-Rahim has a bright future: strong pedigree, good frame for the game, nice foundation of skills, and he came to UVA for all the right reasons. If he keeps his head up, avoids discouragement, maintains his positive outlook and works his tail off, he’s going to get there. But it’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be this year.

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