Nay on Abdul-Jabbar and Yea on Russell

Scott Ostler, the great logician, says that NBA All-Star selection should be based on merit (defined as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s “10,000” skyhooks and five NBA championships).

I surrender to no one in my appreciation of Kareem, but I submit that the sole criterion for selection to this season’s All-Star team should be this season’s performance.

Career performance and achievement as the prime considerations?

Come on, in that case, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain should have suited up and gone out to Houston to play Sunday. They would have had as much right as Kareem to be on the court.

HENRY COPELAND

San Diego