# Nazr Mohammed: His late father, Islam, and the effect of fasting on NBA training camp



## Lope31

> Late father fuels drive
> 
> Williams said Mohammed would often call him up and tell him to meet in the gym.
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> "Even in the summer," Williams said, "he'd fly up on his own dime and work on his game with me. That is unusual."
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> The coach said Mohammed gets that drive from his father, Tahiru, who kept a tight rein on his son. Mohammed lost his father in 2000. He was murdered in Chicago, where Mohammed grew up.
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> His father was 55.
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> "My father was a strong man, with a strong will," he told the Lexington Herald-Leader the fall after his father's death. "I thought he would outlive me."
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> He couldn't erase his father's cell phone number from his own phone; he couldn't erase his pager.
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> Earlier that summer, Mohammed was held up outside a breakfast joint in Chicago. According to the Herald-Leader, the gunman took his $8,000 watch and some cash. His friend and Kentucky running mate, Antoine Walker, another Chicago native, was held up, too.
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> Williams said Mohammed often talked about his father, what he did for him when he was younger, how he instilled discipline in him, taught him Islam, and the focus it requires to fast every fall during Ramadan, the holy month during which Muslims abstain from food and water during daylight.
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> The period begins in the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and often falls during training camp and exhibition games. At times, fasting lasted right up to the beginning of the regular season. Because of this, his play some years has been sluggish the first few weeks of the season. But he comes on as he regains his strength.
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> Williams joined Mohammed in fasting in 2004. The coach wanted to learn what it was like. He said it was a sign of respect to his players.
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> "Mohammed worked really hard for us to keep his weight down," Williams said.
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> The coach was returning the favor.
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> Mohammed arrives this week in Detroit as a role player who somehow remains an enigma. His trail has taken him to six teams in his nine-year career. He has shown spurts of reliable, winning play. He has also shown he can be enigmatic.
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> No one thought he'd make the All-Star team when he left after his junior season at Kentucky, where he won two national championships. But he was a big man with a tough streak around the basket and talented enough to be plucked in the late first round.
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> Where does he go from here?
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> He isn't likely to blossom as Chauncey Billups and Wallace and Richard Hamilton did. But maybe he gets back to the form he showed with the Knicks.
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> "You are what you are by this stage of your career," Williams said.
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> Then again, he added, "he is always willing to work on his game. Nazr is a strong guy."


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## JoeD

*Re: Nazr Mohammed: His late father, Islam, and the effect of fasting on NBA training*

I thought the quoted bit was the whole article and didn't read the other part until now. It was pretty good at making me a little optimistic at what Mohammed can do. Good article.


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