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Sweet future for the Kandiman
Michael Olowokandi is a native of Nigeria whose journey to the NBA took him via the United Kingdom where he was discovered dominating the competition at Brunel University in Middlesex. The next stop for the 'Kandi' Man was Pacific University in the United States where he gained more exposure playing Division I College Basketball. After two years of continued development, the league had seen enough for the LA Clippers to pick Olowokandi first overall in the 1998 NBA Draft. The expectations on the number One pick were typically high , and somewhat unrealistic since he had only been playing organized basketball for a short while compared to his US contemparies. As a consequence his rookie averages of 9 points and 8 rebounds per game while solid, were deemed a failure especially by those sports writers expecting the second comimg of Hakeem 'The Dream' Olajuwon. After all, wasn't he a Nigerian? With the pressure of his rookie year out of the way Olowokandi has continued to improve steadily. Now in his fourth year in the league he is finally playing on an LA Clipper team which has a chance to make it to the post season for the first time since 1996. The trade which brought former Co-rookie of the year Elton Brand to the Clippers this season has helped immensely, as Michael now has some help fighting the nightly battles in the paint typical in the Forward dominated Western Conference. This season Olowokandi is having a career year in both rebounding and blocked shots while helping the Clippers shed their unwanted reputation of being the other LA team. |
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