5 questions with NBA G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim
NBA Gatorade League, or the G League, president Shareef Abdur-Rahim walked into Wells Fargo Arena before Wednesday night's game between the Iowa Wolves and Birmingham Squadron with a smile on his face.
"I love it here," Abdur-Rahim said.
The league's top leader sat down with The Des Moines Register for a few minutes to talk about the league's future, its top talent (a familiar face) and how things are going in Iowa.
Here are five questions with Abdur-Rahim.
What have been your impressions of former Iowa Hawkeye Luka Garza?
“He was a great, great college player and I don’t use the word great lightly. He was a great college player. You look at everything he did in college, in a lot of ways, he made himself a good player. He kept getting better. The thing that allowed him to dominate in college isn’t the thing that will make him a great NBA player. I watched him one night in Golden State. He had a helluva game. He’s now transforming and redefining his game. I think he’s been outstanding. His consistency, his work ethic. Our league is about him, players that I think of them as emerging talent, talent that’s coming and developing. Our league is for him. And I think he has a bright, bright future.”
What do you think of Des Moines and the Iowa Wolves?
“I think it’s outstanding. Obviously, there’s a rich basketball tradition here: G League, D-League tradition in Iowa, in Des Moines. We were talking a little while ago: This is the first time in like four seasons where the team has been uninterrupted (due to COVID-19). So, just being able to get the community back engaged and everyone knows when the team is going to be here, its been great. They’ve doubled attendance this year and really engaged in the community in kind of a more direct way. It's just been outstanding. It’s been one of our real bright spots this season.”
Is Des Moines a big part of the G League's future?
“They’re huge. I think you see it from the team. I think it has to start here, locally. It has to start with the team, with (Wolves president of business operations) Ryan Grant and his group with how they continue to engage in the community and build in the community and build in plans to engage the community. From a league standpoint, we try to follow that league; follow from our teams and then figure out how we can be a part of amplifying that.”
How do you see the G League evolving?
“I think the talent will continue to evolve. Players like Luka Garza…D.J. Carton, these are players that are going to be really good NBA players and that connection, when you use those players before (like) Naz Reid, he’s having an unbelievable year with the Minnesota Timberwolves and only two years ago, I was here and he was here playing primarily in Iowa. You have (Josh) Minott this year. I don’t know the Wolves' plans. But young players like that, you will continue to have the opportunity to see. I think that for one. I think we’ll get to 30 teams (affiliated with NBA teams), so you’ll see more integration with the G League teams and just more and more investment in the communities and more and more of our teams, I like to call them community assets, part of the community.”
How do you feel like the G League bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic?
“I think this year, we’ve really bounced back. I think we still have a lot of work to do. But the Wolves, for example, doubling attendance this season, we’ve had a number of teams be able to do that. It’s just communities. Groups are such a big part of our league. Being able to have groups come out, not have restrictions on where people can sit, that’s a big reason. We’ll have kids come out and perform at halftime. All those things that really help.”
Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ex-Iowa basketball star Luka Garza praised by NBA G-League president
