The Bullets (who never get break in the lottery) have the 5th
pick. The Bullets net GM's are:
Jim Nagle
They Select:
Juwan Howard, PF, 6-10. Michigan
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Yet another disappointing year for WAS. After a respectable NOV, DEC
was oh so cruel and WAS went into an extended losing streak from which
they never really recovered. Again injuries played a significant role
in the lack of success particularly the inability of Pervis Ellison to
return to the form that made him MIP 2 years ago.
For team analysis, I'll start with the PGs and go to C.
PG- Micheal Adams continued to be the Bullets starting PG for most of
the season. He did suffer a hand injury around the 2/3 mark and miss a
number of games. This also coincided with one of WAS' longer losing
streaks of the year but not their longest. Adams takes a lot of blame
for the teams lack of success, some deserved, some not. He accepted a
role as more of a distributor this yearin a changed offensive scheme
of more set plays (ditching the passing O). Many feel he is a SG in a
PG's body, not an unfair evaluation. In any case, statistically he had
a OK year averaging 12 ppg, 6.9 apg, 2.4 TOg on .408 FG and 83% FT.
But in Adams' case the numbers give him perhaps too much credit. He is
quite short at 5-10 and however enthusiastic he might be, he does not
possess the physical tools to be very good defensively. He is a
spirited competitor and a veteran on a very young team. His lack of
height also hurts him on offense. I doubt if too many teams get less
out of the std pick and roll set than WAS does. Adams is easily double
teamed and is forced to lob back to the screener allowing the D far
too much time to recover. He has scaled back from being the total gun
that he was in DEN and for a year or 2 here but he still too
frequently launched ill advised 3s.
WAS' 2 backup PGs were for the 2nd year in a row, Price and Overton.
Overton looked fairly promising after his rookie year, Price less so.
Now the situation is completely reversed. Price looks somewhat
promising and Overton has shown nothing. They both struggled to get
minutes in the ealy season. It seemed as though Wes would use first
one then the other as sole backup for a period of 2-5 games then
switch arbitraily. In an early season loss to BOS I was surprised to
see Price get all the minutes (as backup) against the realtively quick
BOS backcourt of Douglass and Brown as opposed to Overton who is
quicker. In any case, by the end of the year, Price played well enough
to deserve a longer look and Overton really struggled with TOs and the
set offense, his FG% dropped significantly and he will likely be gone.
It is also worth mentioning that at the end of the year, Wes
experimented with a backcourt of CC (Calbert Cheaney) and Rex Chapman.
It was at least partially successful. Mitchell Butler also was given
PG duties at a time when the others were injured or otherwise
unavailable for a game or 3.
2-guard: Rex (chapman) began the year as starter, suffered a badly
sprained ankle vs SAN in January and missed about 20 games.
Offensively he played quite well averaging 18.2 ppg on .498 FG and
.388 from 3 pt land. and .816 FT%. CC began the year as the starting
SF but ended up playing more at the SG. He started for awhile there
while Rex was hurt before tearing the fascia plantar (muscle in the
arch of his foot) and missing about 15 games. He showed some real
promise and could make Rex tradable. He finished the year shooting
.470 FG% at 12 ppg. Not bad for a rookied but I look for him to
improve on those numbers barring injury in his second year. He did
struggle quite a bit defensively frequently losing his man just long
enough to get burned. Back to back 30+ games before getting hurt got
many in DC excited about CC and in spite of him not getting any
recognition on all-rookie teams, I think he be an outstanding player
sooner rather than later. Mitchell Butler also saw some time at the 2
for WAS. He has a temendous 1st step and great leaping ability.
Unfortunately, he also has no outside shot and shot only 57% from the
line. He is very strong and one of WAS' few individually decent
defensive players. If he can develop any kind of outside shot, he
would be a tremendous player. No one his size can guard him tightly on
the perimeter, he is too quick. But they don't have to because he is
unlikely to hurt you from long range. In spite of that, Butler still
managed to shoot .495 from the floor.
Small Forward- CC began the year as starter but the job soon went to
Don MacLean who played very well offensively all year and was named
MIP. MacLean is an aggressive offensive player getting almost 400 FTs
on the year. CC also spent some time as mentioned above at this
position as well as Butler and others. Larry Stewert (not sure if he
is really a 3 or 4, plays like 4, size like 3) missed essentially the
entire season after a foot injury, then re-injury followed by being a
victim of a shooting after his house was broken into. His status is
quite uncertain at this point. He was shot in the neck but was said to
have recovered from that. I've heard nothing about the status of his
foot.
Power forward: Tom Gugliotta had the PF duties for WAS again this year
although it was hoped in preseason that Pervis could play there with
Duck at C. Tom had another very solid year improving his FG% and FT%
slightly but significantly over his rookie numbers. His rebounding
went down just slightly. He also managed to finish 8th in the league
in steals (2nd frontcourt player after Pippen). However, Tom is not a
great post defender, not a good sign for a PF. Kenny Walker made the
team in training camp and was WAS best defensive player all year. He
played all three frontcourt positions and was the teams 3rd leading
offensive rebounder in only 19 mpg. As is well known, Sky is not a
good outside shooter but doesn't shoot much and ended the year at 48%
from the floor. He is known for his hustle and determination.
Center- I saved the worst for last. Duckworth had a very poor year to
say the least 21.5 mpg 6.6 ppg on 42%FG and .667 from the stripe, 4.7
rpg and 1.5 TO/g. He stunk. He was constantly in foul trouble and just
did not play the way you'd want a guy with his size to play. Late in
the year an article in the Wash Post mentioned something about
personal problems but did not elaborate as to the nature of those
problems. He was also overweight. Late in the season, Duck did string
together a series of respectable outings, playing with alot more fire
than he had shown all year. If he were to come back next year and play
that way, he would be an asset, if not why bother. I'm not positive
about whether his contract is guarenteed. He was one of, if not the
highest paid Bullet.
Pervis returned to active duty in early Dec but never really seemed to
catch his stride and had his worst numbers as a Bullet shooting less
than 50% and rebounding at only 5.1/g. Pervis is the biggest question
mark on the team at present. WAS has a option which it must exercise
by July 1 for Pervis to be with the team next year. Many believe his
career to be over. He always had to rely on quickness because of his
lack of bulk/strength. Healthy, he is a poor man's David Robinson but
whether he will ever return to that level is an open question.
Gheorghe Muresan was a 2nd round selection by WAS. He is the largest
player in NBA history at 7-7, 330 lbs. He is exceedly slow afoot.
However he does possess good maybe even outstanding hand coordination
and a soft shooting touch especially for a person that huge. He looks
very goofy but is a crowd favorite at home and on the road. He does
not speak good (any?) english and WAS was forced to rely on an
interpreter for relaying instructions. In spite of this commun-
ication problem, Ghitza (little Gheorghe) made significant
improvements finishing the year with a 20+ points and 13 reb game va
CHA and Mourning. He is an intriguing prospect.
Overall team evaluation: I focused above mostly on offensive aspects.
WAS was a decent offensive team considering how awful they were
defensively. Defensively they were last in FG%, 2nd to last in points,
21st in rebounding differential and 25th in blocks. They did not
commit alot of fouls finishing 8th best, an indication of lack of
physical play. If their defense ever improved, their offense might
just elevate into the league's upper eschelon. Whether their defense
can improve is the question that must occupy new coach Jimmy Lynam's
full time attention. Many of their players are not known for their
defensive prowess and their teamwork was far from compensating.
Atlanta's performance in the year gone by is encouraging looking at
how much their team defense improved.
Team needs: Better defense, rebounding.
Team strength: core of solid young players in Gugs (Googs if you
prefer), Calbert Cheaney, Rex Chapman and DonMacLean. Some interesting
projects in Muresan and Mitchell Butler (and maybe even Price)
WAS will probably take the best player available at the 5th pick.
They most need a center or a PG but none are worth the 5th pick unless
somehow Kidd drops that low which is unlikely. Speculating I see the
likely candidates as Juwan Howard, Donyell Marshall or maybe even
Grant Hill. They would probably prefer Hill or Kidd as either could
fill the need at the 1 but they probably won't be available unless DET
takes Howard, and MIN takes Marshall. Any of these players will help
the team considerably.
My pick in the mock draft-Juwan Howard
Prediction of actual draft:
MIL-BigDawg
DAL-Kidd
DET (?) Howard (Could be Hill but they already have a similar player
in Elliot and they need size)
MIN- Hill or Marshall (would they want yet another Dukie?)
WAS-Hill or Marshall (would prefer hometown guy Hill but so
might MIN)
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