Jamal Abu-Shamala
Jamal Abu-Shamala (Arabic: جمال أبو شمالة; born July 25, 1987) is a Palestinian-American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Abu-Shamala played in the NBA Development League for the Sioux Falls Skyforce during the 2010–11 season.
Abu-Shamala first represented the Jordanian national team and began to play internationally in 2008. He joined the Palestine national team in 2011 and has since represented them internationally.
Contents
- 1 High school career
- 2 College career
- 3 International career
- 4 Personal life
- 5 References
- 6 External links
High school career
Abu-Shamala went to Shakopee High School in Shakopee, Minnesota. Abu-Shamala finished his Shakopee career with 1,254 points.
College career
Abu-Shamala came to the University of Minnesota as a walk-on but earned a scholarship after playing in 30 games and starting 10 games during his freshman season in 2005–06. His best season statistically was his sop*re season in 2006–07 when he played in 31 games, started 21 games, averaged 6.5 points per game, and made 44-of-102 three-point attempts. He finished his career with 128 games played, 62 starts, 592 points, 270 rebounds, a field goal percentage of 43.2% (203–469) and three-point field goal percentage of 40.1% (106–264). His career three-point field percentage ranked him seventh all-time at Minnesota. In 2009, Abu-Shamala was named the University of Minnesota's male recipient of the Outstanding Student-Athlete Award for his accomplishments in athletics, academics, leadership and volunteerism.
International career
Abu-Shamala was noticed by the Jordan men's national basketball team while playing in a game broadcast on ESPN. He said he was eligible to play for the team because of his Palestinian father and "65–75 percent of Jordan is Palestinian". Abu-Shamala was not aware of the Palestine men's national basketball team when he committed and only realised the team existed when he played against them in a tournament. Although he felt like he should be playing for Palestine, his commitments to Jordan prevented him from joining the team immediately. Abu-Shamala played for Jordan as they retained their *le at the William Jones Cup.
Abu-Shamala was unable to obtain a Jordanian p*port after his second year with the team and played his first game with the Palestine team at the 2011 Pan Arab Games.
Personal life
Abu-Shamala was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother. His father moved to the United States from Gaza at the age of 21.
References
External links
- Jamal Abu-Shamala at asia-basket.com
- Jamal Abu-Shamala at RealGM