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Awards: One ABA Title, one ABA Playoffs MVP, one All-ABA 1st Team, four ABA All-Stars, ABA Rookie of the Year
Another player from the ABA, 2-guard Warren Jabali he played in the defunct league from 1968 to 1975, earning instant MVP votes in his first campaign when he won Rookie of the Year while leading the Oakland Oaks to the ABA championship. Jabali also took home Playoffs MVP honors in 1968.
In the postseason that year, Jabali was unstoppable, averaging 28.8 points and 12.9 rebounds as Oakland went 8-1 in the Division Finals and the Finals, the championship series against Roger Brown and the Pacers.
Naismith Hall of Famer Rick Barrywho was Jabali's teammate on that 1968-69 Oakland championship team but missed most of the season, including the playoffs, due to injury, had the following for the Wichita State product:
“He is unbelievable. As a security guard, he is in a class by himself. I have never seen a player with so much power. It's very good Oscar Robertson of course, he couldn't come close to matching [Jabali] in jumping and repetition. No one can do it. He can jump and score for the Warriors Al Attles. He is stronger than me; stronger than Robertson. He is so strong that even at 6-2 he can go in and tie 6-7 players forward. And you should see him drive to the basket. He is without a doubt one of the best guards I have ever played with – or against. Just wait until he gets more information – no one will be able to stop him.”
After that incredible rookie year, Jabali would go on to make four ABA All-Star appearances and earn 1st Team All-ABA honors once, though his career ended early as Jabali played until his senior season. 28. In addition, his athleticism was halted by back and knee injuries that slowed him down significantly when he looked set to start a professional career as a rookie.
However, despite the injuries, Jabali developed a reputation as a troublemaker due to fights early in his career and his leading boycott of the Blacks in the ABA All-Star game, which he also participated in during his playing career. it ends when it does. A book Loose Ballswritten about the history of the ABA, the details of how little.
Jabali once stomped on the head of his opponents, he was cut by the Denver Rockets in 1973-74 even though he was an All-Star and led the league in assists at the time – no other team picked him up, which spoke volumes – and he was everything. -around he is feared even by people in his group. However, Jabali took umbrage at being called a “criminal” in the book Loose Ballssays:
Jabali deals with being labeled a “criminal” in Terry Pluto's book Loose Balls, an oral history of the ABA (there is a quote from Bob Ryan on page 286 about Jabali and John Brisker as “thugs” and the chapter entitled “The Gentlest Men in ABA” mentions Jabali and Brisker). “So far we're only beginning to classify it as the result of a criminal life – it wasn't the result of a criminal life,” Jabali said. “I was not a criminal. It was the result of political thoughts. The thing that made me think the way I did was not being a criminal and robbing or stealing or anything like that. It was that the people in charge of the league were confusing me. Why can't insult be called if there is an insult? Here is a person (Jim Jarvis) who tries to take advantage of the fact that he knows that they will not call him an insult. So he will come and attack me because he knows he can get away with it.”
So, yes, Jabali had the potential as a player to be in the NBA and maybe even the big NBA, at least pre-injury, but his declining body and attitude got in the way of that. Still, he should be remembered as one of the best basketball players who never made it to the NBA.
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