LA Times story on Shabazz Muhammad includes info on false birth year

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And somewhere along the line, a year was shaved off his son's stated age, giving Muhammad an edge over players in his age group.

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According to the UCLA men's basketball media guide, he was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 13, 1993. But a copy of Shabazz Nagee Muhammad's birth certificate on file with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health shows that he was born at Long Beach Memorial Hospital exactly one year earlier, making him 20 years old — not 19 as widely reported.

How and when he lost a year of his life are unclear. But competing against younger, smaller athletes, particularly in the fast-growing years of early adolescence, can be "a huge edge," said Eddie Bonine, executive director of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Assn. "People naturally look at the big, strong kids."

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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."

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Also, his dad is kind of crazy.

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In the early 1980s, Holmes was a 6-foot-5 standout guard for USC. He never made it to the pros. But he was already thinking far into the future.

As a student, Holmes said, he found himself fascinated by the careful breeding of thoroughbreds, the way that two fast, powerful horses could be crossed to create an even faster, more powerful colt.

Around that time he met Faye Paige, a point guard, sprinter and hurdler at Cal State Long Beach. Spotting her at a summer league game, Holmes recalled saying to a friend: "See that No. 10? She's going to be my wife, and we're going to make some All-Americans."

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Just about everyone has said Shabazz was for sale the past two years.

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By his account, Holmes, 51, supports his family with income from rental properties that he and associates purchased in California and Nevada about 15 years ago. Holmes declined to identify the properties, which he said are not in his name.

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How convenient.

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He even picked their names based on what "would sound good and be marketable worldwide," he said in one of several interviews with the Los Angeles Times

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This is all technically not an NCAA violation

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The university's strategy to land Muhammad included hiring assistant coach Phil Mathews from the University of Nebraska in early 2010. Known as a strong recruiter, Mathews gave UCLA a distinct edge in the pursuit of Muhammad — he was friendly with the player and his father.

His son Jordan played alongside Muhammad on the Dream Vision team. That allowed Mathews to attend practices and games that were off-limits to other recruiters under NCAA rules. UCLA last year paid him $205,000. That's about $50,000 more than the school's second-highest-paid assistant and 60% more than what Mathews had been making at Nebraska.

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