Is There an Upside to Abdul-Jabbar’s Downhill Slippage?

The most famous sleeper of all time is:

A. Rip Van Winkle.

B. Snow White.

C. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Several thousand points and hair follicles ago, Kareem was in a movie called “Airplane,” in which a young boy tells Kareem that the boy’s dad always says Kareem is lazy.

“Listen, kid,” Kareem snarls, “I’ve been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I’m out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag (Bill) Walton and (Bob) Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.”

Now there are nights where Kareem seems to have a hard time dragging Abdul-Jabbar up and down the court.

You know how Magic Johnson sometimes gets triple-doubles? Kareem has recently inspired a new statistical category--triple-singles.

In recent back-to-back games, the man who went an entire decade without being held under 10 points, scored a total of six (6) points.

Is Kareem fading at 40? Has he become a liability to the Lakers, with his 15 points and 6 rebounds a game?

The problem in evaluating Kareem is the temptation to compare him to his old self, the 25-year-old kid who averaged 35 points and 17 rebounds in Milwaukee. If he could still do that, the Lakers currently would be working on a 57-game winning streak and Jerry Buss would be under heavy pressure from the league to sub-divide his dynasty into three teams.

Is Kareem washed up? You can’t ask any of the Lakers, because George Bush will bad-mouth Ronald Reagan before a Laker lays a bad rap on the sky-hooker-in-chief. So I phoned Marty Blake, head of the National Basketball Assn. scouting bureau, to get an objective opinion, with no age qualifiers. How good is Kareem right now?

“What’s the Lakers’ record?” Blake asked.

Forty-seven and 10.

“I just got a call from a guy who doesn’t think Lou Carnesecca is a good coach,” Blake said. “I asked the guy, ‘How many games has Carnesecca won? Five hundred and some? Your question is over with.’ ”

But many fans, and even some sportswriters are saying . . .

“What do they know? I remember when writers were calling me, saying Brad Daugherty is too soft. . . . The only unstoppable shot in basketball is the hook, and Kareem has the best hook shot in basketball. He’s an excellent passer, which everyone overlooks. He’s a good rebounder. He’s still an important part of their overall machine. He’s terrific. A good center.”

How does Kareem evaluate himself? Is he up for this, his 19th season, or has rigor mortis set in?

“I’m getting tired of the routine,” Kareem said, referring to the grind of workouts and travel. “But I guess that happens to everybody.”

Where has his scoring gone?

“The fact that Byron (Scott) has emerged has meant less shots for me, which is great,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “It’s good for him, it’s good for the team. The team feels that I am helping. That’s what (Coach Pat) Riley tells me. Until he tells me different, I’ll not get too upset.

“(Opponents) still have to respect me inside. They have to pay attention to me, and that helps everybody.”

Does it bother Kareem that some fans and other critics grumble about his diminishing statistics?

“I understand where my value is with the team,” he says. “A lot of people who don’t understand basketball might not see it. If they don’t understand, it’s all right. At this point, I’ve proven everything I’ve had to prove on the court. It’s up to Pat to handle me however he wants to, and I’ll respond to that.

“I’m in good shape, I’m able to run. My conditioning hasn’t been a problem. The flu really whipped my butt, but I’m back in shape. Physically, I’m where I need to be.

“If they let me go against one (defender) in there, I can still score a lot of points. Utah let just (Mark) Eaton guard me (and Kareem scored 21 points). I can still score if they don’t put a lot of people in my lap, and if they do, Byron and James (Worthy) and everybody, they get to do their thing.”

Still, the old debate rages. Are the Lakers so great that they’re able to dominate the league even while dragging Kareem up and down the court? Or is his contribution so quietly meaningful that he makes a great team greater?

Most teams still double- and triple-team Kareem, so it’s obvious that he still provides the fear factor.

In the closing minutes of a tense game, Kareem still is the rarest of commodities: An ice water scorer, a guy who wants the ball, and who, when he gets it can get off a real good shot unless you quintuple-team him.

OK, Kareem is no Akeem Olajuwon. But in crunch time in the NBA finals, who ya gonna call? Mark Eaton? Benoit Benjamin? Alton Lister? James Donaldson? Ralph Sampson?

Also, Kareem gives you two other handy features:

--He is never hurt.

--He is always contented. Last season, when Magic moved down into the low post, even infringing on Kareem’s sky hook patent, did Abdul-Jabbar whimper and pout? Au contraire . He passed the mantle of leadership graciously.

Sunday, in the Lakers’ biggest showdown game of the season so far, at Dallas, Abdul-Jabbar scored 20 points, making 10 of 13 shots and taking down 7 rebounds.

Long ago, someone asked Kareem about a mid-season slump.

“See me in May,” he said.

So set the big fella’s snooze alarm for half past April, and we’ll see if the reports of his athletic death are greatly exaggerated.