Motaw

Motaw is the secondary antagonist of the 1994 Basketball drama film Above the Rim. Motaw is a homicidal gang member, who is also a talented basketball player, who plays for Birdie's, the local neighborhood drug kingpin, basketball team, the Birdmen. Motaw also serves as one of Birdie's lieutenants in his criminal empire, collecting money from people for him. Motaw is portrayed by Wood Harris, who portrayed, Avon Barksdale in The Wire.

Biography
One night Motaw with Birdie attended a basketball game at Monarch High School, to watch the school's team, The Panthers, play against their rivals, the Tigers. They met with a low-level gang member named Bugaloo, who wanted show them how well his best friend, the Panthers star player Kyle Lee Watson, plays basketball. After the Panthers lose the game, due to Kyle's ball hogging, Motaw berates Bugaloo for wasting their time, then Motaw wants to leave and tries to Birdie to let play for the Birdmen for the Shoot-Out, the local neighborhood basketball competition, but Birdie was nethertheless impressive by Kyle's basketball and tells Bugaloo to bring Kyle to his nightclub, much to Motaw's dismay.