Notebook : Bird Says He Doubts That Walton Will Play This Season

Larry Bird, asked if he thought the Lakers needed another big man to compete for the National Basketball Assn. championship, had an idea.

“They can have Bill Walton if they want him,” Bird said Saturday morning after practice for this afternoon’s All-Star game. “We’re not using him.”

Walton has been out since the start of a season with a foot injury, and Bird doubts whether the center will be able to play at all this season.

“If I had to bet, he probably won’t,” Bird said. “I haven’t seen him shoot yet, which is an indication he probably won’t be back.

“Right now, we need a big man, too. If Bill doesn’t come back, we won’t be as strong in the middle.”

As for whether the Lakers need to pick up a big man, too, Bird said: “It probably would be a good move for them if they did.”

Hometown favorite Downtown Freddie Brown was the show in the NBA Legends game, making four of eight shots from three-point range in the West’s 54-43 win over the East.

The 38-year-old Brown, now a sports commentator for a local TV station, finished with 16 points, and Spencer Haywood, the former Sonic who also played with the Lakers, had 11.

Haywood was quoted in a Seattle newspaper story as saying that he was cheated out of a championship ring from the Lakers after the 1979-80 season. Not true, according to Forum publicist Bob Steiner, who was at the game Saturday. “I personally presented it to him,” Steiner said.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said the league is hoping to send a team to an international tournament in conjunction with the International Basketball Federation. The tournament may take place as soon as the next exhibition season, Stern said. The commissioner said that the Lakers, Celtics and 76ers would not be selected for the initial tournament. More details are expected March 1.

Among the players in the Legends game was Paul Silas, the former Clipper coach.

“This is the first and last time I’ll play,” said Silas, adding that he was 20 pounds over his playing weight of 235.

“How do I feel? Give me two weeks and I’ll tell you.”