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During an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar revealed that he is being treated for a rare form of leukemia.

Kareem apparently learned of the diagnosis nearly a year ago, but held off on making the news public until now.

"The word 'leukemia' is a very frightening word," he said in a phone interview from New York. "In many instances, it's a killer and it's something that you have to deal with in a very serious and determined way if you're going to beat it."

A to Z.

It sounds like the 1952 NBA All-Star Game, which featured Paul Arizin and Max Zaslofsky.

It sounds like the 1971 champion Milwaukee Bucks, who had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Zopf.

It sounds like the history of Lithuanian centers, from Arvydas Sabonis to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

It also sounds like a good way to take a look at the 2009-10 NBA season:

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Friday, there are 18 days remaining.

Most current players don't last as long as the stars of the 1970s and 80s did. As the game becomes faster and stronger, players who reach their 30s have a tougher time keeping up (with some obvious exceptions). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had no such problem.

KAJ was selected for all but one NBA All-Star Game between 1970 and 1989, and he played in an NBA record 18 of them. By my count, there's only two current stars who can catch him.

There was a time when you couldn't ever find a photo of Andrew Bynum on a practice court with that hulking icon of Lakers lore, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, right behind him. When the Lakers drafted Bynum in the lottery in 2005, they attached KAJ to his hip, to be a mentor and basketball sensai.

Bynum has otherworldly talent, and a dominating physique. He has shown glimpses of pending stardom. But it never seemed like his spirit or head were fully on board with the Kareem Sessions, at least from the armchair vantage point. Bynum has always seemed preoccupied with proving he doesn't need help than with actually accepting it.

This is why it's not particularly surprising to see the Los Angeles Daily News's Ramona Shelburne report that Kareem and Bynum have effectively broken up.

During the NBA's slow days of summer, Mirror Mirror examines the connections between hoops stars and similarly-named figures of historical note.

No NBA center broke more barriers than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. (Well, except for Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Scot Pollard.) Similarly, no '80s female pop singer broke more barriers than Paula Abdul. (Well, except for Madonna, Whitney Houston and that lady from Lipps, Inc.)

Eh, let's cut the crap: this Mirror Mirror is based on Google Trends. (It was this or a Rick Bayless/Jerryd Bayless Top Chef mash-up.) Andy Warhol would have done it, too. (Well, probably not, but whatever.) Paula Abdul and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, after the jump.

Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made news Wednesday by complaining via Twitter that he's not being given a fair shake by NBA decision-makers. He wants to become a head coach, and he not only doesn't get interviewed for openings, but rarely even gets mentioned as a candidate by the quick-to-speculate media. Kareem has never been suggested a head coach candidate for any job in our vast considerations here on FanHouse, and a long ESPN.com story by J.A. Adande on Phil Jackson's potential successors eliminated Kareem from the outset.

The tone of Kareem's comments make it sound as if he's owed an opportunity based on his status (top scorer of all-time, legendary player, smart-as-a-whip man). Is he? Does the NBA owe anyone a job?

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Wednesday, there are 69 days remaining.

It's been 40 years since Phoenix Suns executive Jerry Colangelo last called "heads" in a coin flip. And it still haunts the franchise today.

When that Kennedy half-dollar landed on "tails" in the NBA office that spring day, it meant that the Milwaukee Bucks – and not the Suns – would get the No. 1 pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Friday, there are 74 days remaining.

The Milwaukee Bucks were once the envy of – and the beacon for -- every expansion team in any professional sport, winning a championship in just the third year of existence. They returned to the NBA Finals in Year 6, losing this time but still making it all look so easy.

That was 1974, the end of their incredible start -- and the beginning of an incredibly long dry spell that continues today. Yes, they have had some success since -- three more trips to the conference finals -- but everything has paled in comparison to the standard they set in those formative years.

Dwight Howard is on the verge of making history and no one seems to notice. He's averaging 2.9 blocks and 14.0 rebounds a game, putting him on pace to become not only the youngest player to lead the league in blocked shots (beating out Marcus Camby by nearly a year) but also only the fifth player in NBA history to lead the league in blocks and rebounds in the same season.

You may not know what he looks like, who he was and why people felt he was special enough to teach them but Pete Newell was one of the best coaches college basketball has ever seen.

Newell died yesterday at the age on 93.

Newell was a legend and held the respect and admiration of the game's other legends. Newell coached for 14 years at San Francisco, Michigan State and California. He compiled a 234-123 record and won the 1959 NCAA Tournament while at Cal. His final head coaching gig came the very next year when he took an Olympic team with Oscar Roberston, Jerry West and Jerry Lucas to a gold medal.

He also beat UCLA's John Wooden the last eight times they met.

He's legacy lives on with his "Pete Newell Big Man Camp". The camp has been going on for over 30 years and has taught the likes of Lew Alcinder, Bill Walton, Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. The camps have become a mandatory stop for any big man wanting to get into the NBA.