YouTube Gold: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who was known as Chris Jackson when he played at LSU, was a stunning talent.

A 6-1 guard, Abdul-Rauf grew up in deep poverty and came to the game a bit later than a lot of young players. He was discovered playing pickup ball in middle school and eventually became a high school sensation.

Abdul-Rauf played at LSU with Shaquille O’ Neal and Stanley Roberts before leaving for the NBA.

He was a superb guard, almost impossible to guard and he could go off on anyone.

His NBA career sort of petered out at the end but no one could doubt his talents. In this video, you’ll see him go off on any number of defenders.

He had an unusual asset although he might dispute that it was one: Abdul-Rauf has Tourette’s syndrome and occasionally moved in ways that seemed like fakes but they actually were involuntary. This is a guy who was absolutely feared as a shooter and scorer and people were desperate to stop him. Tourette’s probably didn’t help him much in his life in general, but it made him even more unpredictable to desperate defenders.

He left the NBA in 2011 but has never really stopped playing. After an overseas career, he started playing in the Big3 league and apparently still is.

Abdul-Rauf is 55.