No respect for Kareem

NEW JERSEY – Outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, there are five statues of the greatest sports figures of the city. One of them isn’t even an athlete. Immortalized in bronze are Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Wayne Gretzky, Oscar de la Hoya and Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn.

There’s no question Magic and West deserve the recognition. Gretzky, too, for his hockey exploits. But De la Hoya’s honor may be premature. He hasn’t even been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His reputation was lately tarnished by a confirmation of drug use. As for Hearn, you wonder if any other athlete should’ve been honored before the well-liked announcer. Sure, Hearn deserves credit but what about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? 

Shouldn’t Abdul-Jabbar have been cast in bronze before Hearn or De la Hoya?   

I don’t know if it’s an oversight or a sign of disrespect that to this day, Abdul-Jabbar is widely ignored as a Los Angeles sports hero.  Before retired Lakers coach Phil Jackson brought in Abdul-Jabbar to babysit Andrew Bynum as a special skills mentor, the skyhook artist had done the rounds of three other teams.  He was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers and Seattle SuperSonics and scouted for the New York Knicks. 

Abdul-Jabbar, 64, can’t be considered a risk in any team’s coaching staff. In 2002, he piloted the Oklahoma Storm to the USBL title. Skeptics, however, will downplay the feat as inconsequential and they may have a point. Still, Abdul-Jabbar’s long years of experience in the NBA should account for something, certainly a justification for a job in some coaching staff.

Abdul-Jabbar was once being considered to coach the Columbia University varsity basketball team but even that fell through. It can’t be his lack of communication skills. Abdul-Jabbar is articulate and outspoken. It can’t be his lack of basketball IQ either.

Abdul-Jabbar remains the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points. He played on six NBA title teams and was twice the Finals MVP. Abdul-Jabbar was a six-time regular season MVP and named to 19 All-Star teams in a career that began in 1969 and ended in 1989.

Even before Abdul-Jabbar brought his above-the-rim act to the NBA, he was already quite a game-changer. Abdul-Jabbar was so dominant under the basket during his UCLA years that the NCAA banned the dunk after the Bruins’ perfect season in 1966-67.   

Why was the dunk prohibited? “Because Kareem was indefensible as if that were such a bad thing,” wrote Steve Greenberg in The Sporting News. “Of course, in the end, it was impossible to debunk the dunk. By the time the NCAA lifted the ban in 1976, Abdul-Jabbar had four NBA MVP awards on his mantle and was on his way to securing two more.”

For nine seasons, the dunk was outlawed by the NCAA because Abdul-Jabbar was unstoppable in slamming the ball into the hoop. The fact that one man caused the major rule change was an indication of his dominance. It took nine years before the NCAA realized that the ban robbed the fans of a key entertaining element in the game. 

If former PBA import Keith Smart could be the Golden State Warriors head coach and Bob McAdoo an assistant coach with the Miami Heat, surely there is room for Abdul-Jabbar as a head or assistant coach in the NBA. Working one-on-one with Bynum was probably an accommodation more than anything else.  Assuming it was, why is hiring Abdul-Jabbar such a strain? Is he difficult to deal with? Is his anti-social attitude a turn-off for team owners? Is his IQ too high for players to relate to him?

In a recent interview by Greenberg, Abdul-Jabbar complained that he didn’t get a fair share of the Lakers’ playoff bonus as an assistant coach this year and wondered why his statue is missing in the Staples Center premises.

 “They gave me an opportunity to coach Andrew,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “And that’s what Andrew wanted. I made the best of it and the Lakers certainly benefited from it. Back when I played, all the coaches got a playoff share. For coaching Andrew, I didn’t get any playoff share. I don’t know why?”

As for his missing statue, Abdul-Jabbar said, “It’s either an oversight or they’re taking me for granted… it doesn’t make me happy, it’s definitely a slight, I feel slighted.”

Surely, the Lakers’ Showtime Era wouldn’t have been as captivating without Abdul-Jabbar at the slot. Magic, James Worthy and the rest of the gang were integral participants in the play. But without the man in the middle, the Lakers couldn’t have been as effective.

“I’m not the back-slapping type or the type who sits down in the hotel lobby with the guys all night,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “I’ve never been like that. I’ve always been kind of private so I think that might have been an issue … you know, sometimes people just can’t see through the fog and maybe I’m a victim of that.”

On Abdul-Jabbar’s gripes, Lakers spokesman John Black said the statue will rise inevitably but couldn’t guarantee when and mentioned that the 7-2 center wasn’t a regular assistant coach like Brian Shaw or Jim Cleamons, therefore he wasn’t entitled to an assistant coach’s playoff bonus. But as a special assistant coach who’s not on a full-time basis, Black said Abdul-Jabbar got a bonus as stipulated in his contract – the only thing is it’s lower than what the regular assistant coaches got.

For the years that Abdul-Jabbar served with the Lakers, surely, he deserves more recognition from Los Angeles than what he has received so far. He has every reason to be offended.