NOOZ, OLD AND NEW:

Laker Star, Kobe Bryant turned 34 on Thursday,

August 23rd. He will be in the company of some

mighty great players this upcoming Basketball

Season..namely, Pau Gasol, formerly of Spain,

Steve Nash, formerly a Phoenix, AZ Sun player

and Dwight Howard with the Orlando FL Magic.

Howard, however, is recovering from surgery so

will not be on the playing court floor until probably

late October. Lamar Odom, formerly with the Lakers,

seems to now have been signed on to play with the

L.A. Clippers team and Andrew Bynum, another

of our tall Lakers, is already being courted into

his new team in Philadelphia. This then, is our

fearsome four to be reckoned with certainly.

They do make up quite a formidable team and

are deeper and more skilled as well as more versatile.

So the deal seems to have made sense and will be

giving us all a reason to be ever thankful for these

seasoned players. To have been given a second chance

at upgrading the roster, is hopefully enough

to win the world championship, said Barkley, a former

NBA player and current TNT commentator. Dwight

Howard, alone, is the most athletic big man in the

NBA so it stands to reason, the 4 players will make

the very most of this opportunity for winning another

ring. Magic Johnson said that now, this puts the Lakers

right in the championship hunt and in fact, will be a

better playing team even than Oklahoma. "If the Lakers

are smart, they are better than the Thunder," Magic Johnson

quoted. By the way, in reserve, Mitch Kupchak took two

significant steps to insure the team's bench has more punch

too, signing on forward Antawn Jamison and re-signed

forward Jordan Hill last month.

We have just learned that former deputy commissioner

for the NBA, Simon Gourdine, who became the highest

ranking black executive in professional sports in the

1970's and who served as executive director of the league's

players union, died on August 16 at age 72.

He had undergone back surgery and following that, he lost

his life. Surprisingly, he had no basketball experience. He had

been a lawyer and had worked in many posts with the N.Y.

government including commissioner of consumer affairs under

Mayor Edward I.Koch, deputy police commissioner and chairman

of the city's Civil Service Commission. Gourdine joined the NBA

as its' legal counsel in 1970. He helped forge collective bargaining

agreement with the players union in 1976 and 1979, then he

resigned at the end of 1981. Many of the former players and folks

around bargaining tables will remember him. Rest peacefully now.

Babs Wells