This Weekend, Abdul-Jabbar Is Exactly Where He Should Be

It has become the great philosophical debate of our time, our time being the Central zone.

Has Kareem Abdul-Jabbar been jabbed and jobbed and jerked around by the NBA?

Have the league lords demeaned the big fella by inviting him to the All-Star game as a last-minute stand-in for the injured Magic Johnson?

To save you a lot of valuable time and soul-searching, I’ll give you the answer: Yes.

Some background: This is Kareem’s 20th NBA season. He started out playing as if it were his 200th. His skyhook was grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration, which wanted to check for structural defects.

He was overweight and under-inspired.

About a month ago, he decided that this would not do. He launched a comeback, which has been at least moderately successful.

He’s not tearing the league up, but he’s not tearing the Lakers down, either.

He wasn’t voted an All-Star starter by the fans, of course, and he wasn’t voted onto the squad by the coaches. Some time ago, the league asked him to join the West team as a special 13th man, but Kareem declined, because he knew he hadn’t been playing like an All-Star.

When Magic went down with a pulled hamstring, the league phoned Kareem again. This time he accepted.

What the league should have done, of course, is make him a member of the 12-man squad right from the start, because this is his last season and he has scored more points than anyone ever.

This would set a precedent, of course. Anytime a player scored 38,000 points in a career, the league would have to invite him to play on the All-Star team his last season.

The league should have been more decisive, sooner. What could it hurt? These are the Western Conference All-Stars, not the U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Objection to such sentiment has been voiced, most notably in the press, most notably by poison-pen artist Doug Moe, in his “Moe-ment by Moe-ment” Denver Post column (I swear I didn’t make up that title) in Denver, where Doug also coaches the Nuggets.

“Somebody asked me if I thought Kareem should be on the All-Star team for sentimental reasons,” Moe wrote. “You have to like somebody to have sentiment for him. That’s why Dr. J made it (two years ago). . . . Kareem would be the last guy you’d pick for sentimental reasons. Here’s a guy who has been pretty much a jerk almost his entire life. He’s been one of the least-liked guys in the NBA by fans, media, the players.

“If at one time or another you’ve ticked off everybody in basketball, how the hell are you supposed to be voted in for sentimental reasons?”

Wow.

If Kareem kills Moe’s Nuggets in the playoffs, Moe will go down as the most inspirational journalist since David Cone of the Mets/New York Daily News.

Kareem has never been the consummate gentleman and PR marvel that Dr. J was, but who has? If we were going to go on personality, Mother Teresa would start at point guard this afternoon.

“It (being lovable) hasn’t been the first priority in my career, as you probably know,” Kareem said Saturday before the West workout. “It has probably cost me some popularity. Especially with Doug Moe.”

I don’t know what evidence Doug Moe has gathered. But until I see it, I have to go with my own feeling, that Kareem has been pretty good for the game. Twenty years of great ball, less great in the last couple years, but great ball. No arrests, no convictions, solid citizen, bright guy, not a real bad role model.

Probably stiffed an autograph seeker or two along the way, surely stiffed a press guy or two, but can be a decent interview. One of the more thoughtful guys, when you catch him in the right mood.

But I’m getting sidetracked. We’re talking about a basketball game to honor great players.

Kareem seems kind of put off by the attention brought on by his awkward, last-minute addition to the team.

“For a major part of the season, I have not been playing at All-Star caliber,” he said. “I’m not going to try to dance around that. . . . It’s always nice to be honored, but I thought by being honored at the (Saturday night) banquet, that would suit everyone’s desires.”

Kareem accepted the invitation to suit up because--and Doug Moe will dispute this--he felt the league could use the help. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are out of the All-Star game, the league needs some names. Kareem is glad to help.

But he is not a fool.

Of the 13th-man invitation earlier in the season, he said: “I wouldn’t do that. I felt it should have been up to the coaches and fans. I had no problem living with that. . . . Things at the All-Star game are for the stars. I haven’t been much of a star this year.”

However, Kareem has sweated off 15 pounds in the last month. He got his skyhook out of hock, adjusted his competitive attitude, regained some of his form.

“I feel I’m contributing (to the Lakers),” he says. “I don’t have a whole lot of misgivings. I know I’m contributing, I’m not a liability. That bothered me. I didn’t want to come out for the rest of the season and have people feel sorry for me, not do anything on the court.”

That crisis seems past, but now Kareem has to worry about Moe getting a court injunction to stop him from playing.

In a sloppy, roundabout way, the right thing got done. Kareem will suit up, play a little, get a nice reception, add a little luster to the proceedings.

Sympathy? That’s not why the big fella is here. How about merit? How about 10,000 skyhooks, five NBA championships?

How about Kareem returing to the Astrodome, the scene of one of the great college basketball showdowns of all time?

Whatever Kareem does the rest of the season is up to him. Fall on his face or lead the Lakers to the title.

But he’s here, in uniform, and that’s the way it should be.

Now, if he decides to play next season. . .