Court Visions: Shabazz Muhammad gets a year older, leaving plenty of questions about his future

In the final stages of his UCLA men’s basketball career, more controversy is shining down on Shabazz Muhammad.

A Los Angeles Times story published Friday profiled the freshman guard and his father, Ron Holmes. It’s a revealing and sometimes sad read about a parent pushing a child, and how Holmes molded Muhammad into the basketball player he is today

It also included this tidbit: Muhammad is actually 20 years old, a year older than was assumed.

Times reporter Ken Bensinger asked Holmes about the discrepancy after finding a copy of Muhammad’s birth certificate (which is linked to in the story) and it led to this exchange.

Asked about the discrepancy, Holmes insisted his son was 19 and born in Nevada. “It must be a mistake,” he said.

Several minutes later, he changed his account, saying that his son is, in fact, 20 and was born in Long Beach.

Holmes expressed concern about disclosure of his son’s true age and his own criminal record and questioned whether either was newsworthy. He followed up with a text message.

“Bazz is going to blow up in the NBA lets team up and blow this thing up!!!” Holmes wrote to this reporter. “I’m going to need a publicist anyway why shouldn’t it be you. We can do some big things together.”

It isn’t clear if Muhammad or UCLA was complicit in misstating Muhammad’s age. The Bruins play in the second round of the NCAA Tournament later Friday and Muhammad won’t be available for comment until after the game.

At numerous times throughout the season, UCLA coach Ben Howland referred to Muhammad as being 19 years old or “a teenager.” Muhammad’s bio on the school’s official website lists his birth date as Nov. 13, 1992, the true date according to the report, but a cached version of the site shows it previously listed his birth year as 1993. The team’s online media guide, published at the start of the season, still has Muhammad as being born in 1993.

What’s the big fuss about one year? Does it matter that Muhammad is actually 20 if he’s about to leave for the NBA anyway?

Yes, it does.

Age controversies have previously involved women gymnasts, whose bodies are more flexible while younger. That involved adding years to athletes’ ages to make them old enough for competition. The opposite type of age doctoring, what Muhammad is reportedly involved in, has been a controversial subject in the NBA before. The most recent example is that of Yi Jianlian, a Chinese player who entered the draft in 2007 to many questions about his true age.

For a domestic example, look to Danny Almonte, the baseball player who ignited a scandal in 2001 when it was uncovered that he was too old for Little League baseball.

It appears that Holmes’ intentions were to give his son a leg up on the competition, and it may have worked exactly as he intended. Muhammad overpowered his peers on the amateur circuit, averaging 29 points per game as a senior at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nev. Those in doubt about his true talent at the NBA level can now point to him being more physically mature than his opposition.

At the college level, Muhammad hasn’t been as dominant. He still looks for the same shots he did in high school, but forces a number of bad shots per game against stronger defenders and even double teams.

Muhammad is still one of the best scorers in the country, has plenty of room for improvement, and will be drafted in June on the basis of those traits.

That brings up another point about Holmes subtracting a year from Muhammad’s age: he could be in the NBA already.

If Holmes’ intention was to get Muhammad to the NBA as soon as possible, he actually cost Muhammad a year. In 2005, the NBA instituted a rule that American amateurs had to be 19 years old and one year removed from the graduation of his high school class to be eligible for the draft. If Muhammad had progressed in school with kids the same age as him, he would have been in college last year and possibly on an NBA team right now. Holding someone back a year in school is something many parents do for a variety of reasons, but usually without fudging the age of the child to match.

One scout told me earlier this season that if Muhammad had been declared ineligible for the whole season by the NCAA as a part of the season-opening investigation, he would have likely been the No. 1 pick in the draft this June, the slot everyone expected him to go at before he put on a UCLA jersey.

His draft stock has only slipped since then, millions of dollars going with it. He will still make money playing basketball, but Muhammad being 20 instead of 19 means there is one less year of potential attached to his NBA lifespan, which teams will surely take into account for his future.

Compiled by Ryan Menezes, Bruin Sports senior staff.