Updated: August 23, 2012, 7:41 pm ET  Kobe Bryant is now 34
years old  Basketball News & NBA Rumors  By Reid Cherner, USA
TODAY  Kobe Bean Bryant is not getting any younger. But that
doesn’t mean everything needs to be viewed in the rear-view
mirror.  Bryant, who turns 34 today, should be sipping from the
Fountain of Youth just for the fact that Steve Nash and Dwight
Howard are now wearing Lakers jerseys.  History says that 34 is
not a death knell for an NBA player. Nash, now 38, averaged 15.7
points and 9.7 assists when he was 34.  Larry Bird was riding a
bad back into retirement but did average 19.4 points, 8.5
rebounds and 7.2 assists in his 34th year on earth.  Jerry West?
How about 22.8 points, 8.8 assists and 4.2 rebounds. He was kept
from an NBA title by finals MVP Willis Reed.  Nothing kept
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan from the promised land.
At 34, Abdul-Jabbar averaged 23.9 points and 8.7 rebounds with
the Lakers winning the NBA title. Magic Johnson, retired by the
time he was 34, was the