it pays too be nice

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not a ***** like jabbar was during his NBA career

[smazza]

siah Thomas was a wide-eyed rookie who was unaware that one of his basketball heroes had a reputation for surliness. Too naïve to know that the Lakers' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might ignore him, stare him down or say something nasty, Thomas approached Abdul-Jabber with an unusual request at the 1982 N.B.A. All-Star Game.

"I asked Kareem if I could come to his hotel room and speak to him about how you go about winning in this league," Thomas said recently.

Many reporters, team officials, players and even some of Abdul-Jabbar's teammates might have thought Thomas was in for an emotional letdown. Away from the court, Abdul-Jabbar supposedly had time for no one.

But Thomas saw a different Abdul-Jabbar.

"He was very kind and gracious," Thomas said. "He gave me about two hours in his room, just talking. I never saw that side of him that a lot of people talk about."

That is why Thomas, now the Knicks' president, had no reservations about hiring Abdul-Jabbar last month as a West Coast scout for his team.

For Abdul-Jabbar, 57, it was a small but meaningful step toward achieving what has become his ultimate goal in the N.B.A.: becoming a head coach or a team executive.

"I think I could do a good job coaching given a shot at it," Abdul-Jabbar said before scouting a Los Angeles Clippers game early this month. "Now I'm just learning what it is to manage a team. I think that's the real good benefit of me being in this position, because I get to see what happens behind the scenes and understand how to fit in. When you understand that, you can go talk to somebody about a job. If you don't, you're in the dark. So this is a great opportunity for me."

One might have thought Abdul-Jabbar would have had several much greater opportunities since his retirement after 20 seasons in 1989. After all, he is the league's career leading scorer with 38,387 points, the only player to win six Most Valuable Player awards, and a six-time N.B.A. champion. Abdul-Jabbar was smart and cerebral and one of the most recognizable players in the history of the game, even appearing in movies and television shows during his career.

So why has Abdul-Jabbar had only minimal involvement in the N.B.A. since he began lobbying for a return in 1995? It goes back to his reputation, which even he admits was somewhat well deserved.

"People just didn't feel comfortable with who I was personally," Abdul-Jabbar said. "I was quiet and I really didn't want to spend a lot of time dealing with the media. I saw how they tried to crucify people, so I was really wary. I wanted to leave the game and go home and see my girlfriend.

"I wasn't like Dracula. It wasn't anything I did. It was just my general attitude that made everybody leery. It was like no one could approach me. That had a lot to do with me, and I had some adjustments to make. There were a lot of opportunities I had to make friends that I turned my back on, and there were some consequences for that and I have to accept responsibility."

Magic Johnson, who won five championships for the Lakers with Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980's, said many league officials believe Abdul-Jabbar does not have the people skills or the communication skills necessary to succeed in coaching or management.

"I think everybody is just scared because of how his personality was before," Johnson, now vice president of the Lakers, said. "That's everybody's concern: can he relate to the guys of today? I think, first, let's give him a try. Let's not crucify him or ban him before he even gets the opportunity to see whether he can do it or not, because I think he'll be a good coach."

Thomas said he believes Abdul-Jabbar's aloofness was not malicious but rather a result of his sensitivity and shyness. More introspective than the average athlete, Abdul-Jabbar was deeply affected by overt racism and insults about his height and his Muslim religion.

"In spending time with him and getting to know him, the thing I noticed was that he was extremely, extremely shy," Thomas said. "Then he told me a couple of stories about how he used to get treated in certain arenas and the names they would call him. I remember being at a couple of his series in Boston and hearing some hard, terrible things said about him. They'd call him a big freak and things like that."

Abdul-Jabbar said the racism he experienced and witnessed influenced his attitude and his actions.

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"I was just real sensitive to the racial thing when I was growing up," he said. "I'm from another era, the 50's. I remember my mom would say, `Don't end up talking like so and so.' She liked Jackie Robinson because he was articulate. I absorbed all those lessons  Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X  so I had all of that with me, and it was hard to balance.

"When I started playing in the league, there were lots of guys who had had to stay in segregated hotels in Atlanta. Later in my career, I started seeing how things were changing. I ended up in the 80's playing with guys from the South who hadn't gone to segregated schools."

Abdul-Jabbar is surprised that his past mistakes have hindered his quest to coach for so long. But when he retired, he gave no thought to how his reputation might affect him because coaching was the last item on his agenda.

With his keen intelligence and interest in social and political issues, one might have expected him to leave basketball behind. Abdul-Jabbar has indeed distinguished himself as an author, particularly on the subject of African-American history. He has written five books, including "Black Profiles in Courage." The fifth, "Brothers in Arms," to be published in May, chronicles the heroism of a black tank battalion in World War II.

But in 1995, during his induction into the Hall of Fame, Abdul-Jabbar began contemplating the significance of basketball in his life. With a renewed love for the game, he let it be known that he wanted to return to the N.B.A. But over the next few years, he realized he was not wanted.

So in 1998 he lived with the Fort Apache Indians in Arizona and coached a high school team there, an experience that spawned his book, "A Season on the Reservation." Two years later, he worked briefly as an assistant coach with the Clippers, and in 2002 became the head coach of the Oklahoma Storm, leading them to the United States Basketball League championship.

After his surprising bid last year to coach at Columbia University proved fruitless, Abdul-Jabbar was prepared to give up his dream of becoming an N.B.A. coach.

"This past year, I had gotten to the point where I didn't think it was going to happen," Abdul-Jabbar said. "But I know I've mellowed out a little bit. People can approach me now. That used to be real difficult."

Although scouting is a long way from coaching, Thomas says Abdul-Jabbar has all the tools necessary to lead a team.

"I think he's as good a potential candidate as anybody," said Thomas, who will have Abdul-Jabbar work with his big men this summer. "Clearly, the knowledge is there, the intelligence is there. I think what will probably benefit him is just being around people, being around the game, so people get a chance to know him again."

Or perhaps to get to know him for the first time.