Jabari Bird averaged 14 points, 5 rebounds, an assist and steal this season. That’s up from 10.5 points and 3.3 rebounds the two years before, and 8 points, 2 rebounds his freshmen year. He’s an elite shooter with ideal SG size and length, and with his athleticism could rise about the defender to get a clean shot off. He was the best jump shooter on the team, driving, stopping and popping.
Jabari was the emotional leader and took down the Haas with his [COLOR="#2F4F4F"]
[FONT=Impact][SIZE=3]MONSTER[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR] slams.
But that only tells half the story. He started his freshmen year as a talented yet skinny player with poor defense. His stance was upright and Pac12 wings took turns blowing by him as he reached and fouled as they went by. But as a senior, he was chiseled athlete and one of our best defenders, guarding the opponent’s most athletic wing.
As a senior we saw him step forward as the floor leader scoring more than 20 points in eight games (plus 15+ four more games) including 26 and 20 in the Pac12 Tournament.
A key player in the big wins the last four years, including beating #1 Arizona his freshmen season, a blowout win over #23 Syracuse in Madison Square Garden his soph year, shoting 6-10, and 4-5 from 3, hitting the game winner 3 vs a scrappy St Mary’s team, and helped beat #12 Arizona his junior year, and this year, making the game-winning play vs Utah in Double OT as he ran baseline and rose above the defense for a thunder game-winning dunk that brought the Haas down. He was the team MVP for the Pac 12 tournament wins over Oregon State (7-12, 3-6 from 3) and Utah (7-12, 4-6 from 3, 8-9 FTs).
Cal hadn’t been good in late game situations, so with the critical Utah game (again) teetering on the edge of another heart break, Jabari took the big moment upon himself. Instead of passing the ball off, he took the responsibility to dribble the ball to get fouled. When there was no foul, he weaved through two defenders, drew the help defender and hit the clutch shot. Some would say that was a bad decision, but it showed that Jabari was the undisputed leader of this team, and he was going to
[FONT=Arial Black]JUST MAKE A PLAY[/FONT].
Injuries stopped him from soaring to his true potential, missing 4 games in 13/14, 10 games in 14/15, the NCAA tournament game last year, and 8 games this year, including the semi-finals of the Pac 12 tournament in the close loss vs Oregon. But each time Jabari would dig down deep, put in the tough hours rehabbing, working his way back into shape, and putting hours in the gym when no one was watching to get his rhythm back.
[COLOR="#000080"]Jabari Bird: elite basketball player, one of Cal's all-time leading scorers with 1600+ points, great teammate and student-athlete, and leader of men.[/COLOR] Oh, and my fav Cal player.
