Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had an impeccable sense of timing on the basketball court during his Hall of Fame career with the Lakers, has run afoul of some Islamic leaders for his cameo appearance in a beer commercial. The Islamic Society of North America on Friday condemned Abdul-Jabbar, who converted to Islam in 1971, for his participation in the commercial for Coors beer, calling the spot "devastating." The timing of the ad campaign could not be more disconcerting to Muslims.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Lakers flew back to Los Angeles Thursday from Phoenix after being involved in an altercation with a tourist who was videotaping the Laker center at a Phoenix shopping center. Abdul-Jabbar will miss tonight's game against the Suns. The incident began when Fernando Nicola, 40, of Frosinone, Italy, refused a request from Abdul-Jabbar to stop videotaping him while he was shopping at the Metro Center, a complex near the team's hotel.

The New York Knicks hired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a scout Wednesday, assigning him to the Clipper-Indiana Pacer game at Staples Center. It's not the coaching job that he so covets, but Abdul-Jabbar said he would be scouting NBA games primarily on the West Coast for the rest of the season. "It's the perfect situation for me, because I can learn a lot of different aspects of management," he said before taking a court-side seat to watch the Clippers and Pacers.

Phoenix Municipal Court Judge John L. Wiehn Tuesday convicted Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of two misdemeanor offenses stemming from a shoving incident in a shopping mall last spring. Abdul-Jabbar could be fined up to $1,750, sentenced to 10 months in jail and put on five years' probation in the convictions on single counts of criminal damage and assault, said Charlotte Berry, a city staff attorney assigned to Municipal Court.

When he was drafted by the Lakers a couple of months ago, Andrew Bynum, 17 and fresh out of high school, announced that his future lay in the past. "I actually want to bring back the sky hook," he said. He'll have help. The Lakers have brought back Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who mastered that shot to a degree that enabled him to become the greatest scorer in NBA history. The Lakers announced Friday that they have added the 58-year-old Hall of Fame center and six-time MVP to their coaching staff.

CBS announced Tuesday that it had hired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a college basketball commentator, although Abdul-Jabbar made it clear during a conference call with reporters that he is still interesting in coaching. Of the possibility of coaching at UCLA, his alma mater, he said, "I haven't spoken to anybody at UCLA, but if things change at the end of the season and there is a position open, I hope they would consider me." He called it "a dream job."

Pat Riley's mind is always working, even when the rest of him is taking time off. The goal-oriented Laker coach spent much of last summer thinking of a productive way to turn the loss of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar into a gain for his team. What Riley finally settled on going into training camp, which opens today at the University pf Hawaii, is a form of a challenge to his players: Unlike other championship-caliber teams, can the Lakers continue to excel after their dominant center retires?

Our image of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, although a good one, is outdated. We still have him frozen in mid-skyhook, his No. 33 as memorable as the grace of his shooting motion. The current image should be of a still-shy man, now 60 years old, hunched over a computer keyboard, pulling words from a mind that has long played second fiddle to a 7-foot-2 body and a pro basketball career that will never be replicated. The leading scorer in the history of the National Basketball Assn.

Earvin (Magic) (Buck) Johnson, an athlete so great he has two nicknames, one for his public and one for his peers, told me the other night about something that happened between him and Kareem (Cap) Abdul-Jabbar while they were taking a shower last Tuesday night, after the Lakers had lost--on the road, of course--to the Sacramento (ugh) Kings. According to Magic, Kareem came up to him and asked: "Buck, what's wrong with me?" Magic gave him a straight answer.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said he is mystified by criticism of his appearance in a television beer commercial, pointing out that throughout his career his photo has been used in beer ads and he has never espoused the use of alcohol. "I played for the Milwaukee Bucks for six years, 'Brew Town,' and Miller Brewing sponsored our radio broadcasts," Abdul-Jabbar said Wednesday from his Century City office. "They did promotions using my picture. I had no control over it. I didn't have any problem with it.