We now start the Usenet supplemental draft.  This consists of all teams without
a first round pick.  The supplemental draft order is determined by the records
of the teams.  This year four teams do not have first round picks (Washington,
Miami, Atlanta, and San Antonio).  The Bullets will pick first.  They traded
their 1st round pick (#12 overall) to Cleveland for Mark Price.  In reality,
the Bullets would not pick until the 55th overall.

The Bullets are net represented by:

  Jim Nagle
  
and they select:

  Doron Sheffer, PG, 6-5, UCONN  

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I'll take Deron Sheffer of UConn. I was hoping that Tony Delk would
slip down to me but since he was just taken I gotta look
elsewhere. Others considered include Johnny Rhodes of UMd, Othella
Harrington (taken), Jerome Williams( taken was before).  Basically I
was looking for PGs with good outside shooting and defensive skills. I
also want to wholely apologize for last years pick and only offer in
my defense that it didnUt seem so good at the time and that McDyess,
who was available in the Usenet draft seemed like an even rawer form
of Chris Webber. My bad. I will also confess that I don't follow
college that well. I do follow the Bullets very closely and would be
more interested in comments that people have concerning my analysis.


The last Bullets team evaluation.

The Bullets are poised to metamorph into the Wizards following next
season, which will also be their last before moving into a new
downtown arena for the 97-98 season.

Brief Summary of what the team should do:
Re-sign Juwan Howard
Re-sign Jim McIlvaine
Re-sign Brent Price

Evaluate health status of Mark Price and Robert Pack; attempt to
negotiate contracts appropriate to relative risk of injury for Pack
and/or MPrice And don't forget to RE-SIGN JUWAN HOWARD.

Although most Bullet fans had their sights reasonably(?) set on making
the playoffs, I think most would agree that the season, in terms of
wins and losses, was a major step forward. The Bullets improved by 18
games from the previous season. This in spite of the lack of
contribution by the 2 players who, at the beginning of the season,
were arguably their best players: Chris Webber and Mark Price. Mark
Price only played in 7 games and Chris Webber in only 15
games. However this was the most successful Bullets season in many
years, most wins (39), a positive point differential(!), yet another
MIP award and the leagues best FG% shooter (Muresan), and the leagues
best 3 point shooter (regular season and AS weekend 3 pt shoot-out),
Tim Legler. This is clearly a time for optimism but there are still
some very obvious question marks. In a nutshell, WAS has a nucleus
consisting of a very strong, talented frontcourt but major questions
regarding their backcourt, specifically who will their PG(s) be and
how much longer should they wait for Cheaney to become the player he
appears to have the talent to become.

Lacking a first round pick which was sacrificed in the Mark Price
gamble, the important questions for WAS all surround the signing of
(mostly their own) free agents, particularly 3rd team All NBA forward
Juwan Howard. There are a number of teams said to be highly desirous,
to put it mildly, of obtaining the services of the 2nd year
player. From local press reports it would seem that WAS has a
reasonably good chance of re-signing Juwan but of course nothing is
certain until he signs on the dotted line.  Some suggest that this was
the primary motivating factor in the surprise firing of GM John Nash
and his replacement by Wes Unseld. Depending on who you believe,
Nash's firing may have had more to do with a power
struggle/personality conflict between Nash and team president Susan
O'Malley who was reportedly upset at Unseld's removal (by Nash) as
coach following the 93-94 season. But the Howard negotiations are not
the only important ones for WAS, just the most important. Other
notable FAs include backup C Jim McIlvaine, PGs Brent and Mark Price,
Robert Pack, backup PG and late season acquisition Chris Whitney (in
other words *ALL* of WASU PGs). One editorial comment, perhaps a
rationalization, concerning the Mark Price trade, IMHO the loss of the
pick (12th overall) was not *that* critical as the player would have
difficulty in getting any playing time. WAS has a solid nucleus of
young talent that needs playing time to develop. Perhaps a more
important loss for WAS was the opportunity to gain some postseason
experience. I would point out that the core of the team
(Webber/Howard) has a demonstrated history of being very poised at the
collegiate level so the lack of professional postseason experience may
not be as severe a factor for them as might be expected. At such time
as they do make the playoffs, they will be ready to go as far as their
talent can take them.


Position by position analysis

Point Guard
Robert Pack was obtained from Denver for Don MacLean and Doug
Overton. Pack played at or near AS level especially at the beginning
of the season tapering off slightly before his season ending injury in
early January. Pack played in 31 games and avg'd an impressive 18 ppg,
7.8 apg. His value was also evidenced by the fact that WAS was leading
the league in team FG% before his injury. My own analysis is that this
teamTs shooting was partly due to Pack's defensive pressure and
overall quickness which allowed WAS to be a very effective fast
breaking team. Pack was the first WAS PG in several years to possess
the quickness to do a reasonable job closing off penetration and
putting defensive pressure on opposing PGs. Brent Price took over for
Pack as starter in January and showed pretty convincingly and for the
first time that he is a legit NBA PG.  Perhaps a marginal starter but
minimally a legit NBA player nonetheless. It remains to be seen how
much more Brent might improve in the future. Brent obviously does not
possess Pack's defensive ability or explosiveness but has a much
better or at least more consistent outside shot. Chris Whitney was a
late season FA acquisition who played pretty well in several
games. Mark Price as mentioned above only played in 7 games. I believe
that WAS would be fine next year with the same group of PGs: Pack as
starter, BPrice as backup and possibly Whitney as reserve. It seems
unlikely that Mark Price could or would be re-signed. Look for him in
ATL playing for his old coach in his college town assuming he plays at
all. Of course if WAS could lure Gary Payton here I don't think anyone
would miss the others at all. I can dream can't I? WAS' primary task
will be re-signing Juwan and negotiations with their various FA PGs
could vary considerably depending on how things go with Juwan and his
agent, Falk.


Shooting Guard
Calbert Cheaney (CC) was the starter for most of the season before
sliding over to SF following the late season injury to Wallace. Tim
Legler was the primary backup and Ledell Eackles also logged minutes
as the starter when Wallace went down with the broken thumb. CC
continued to frustrate WAS fans with what many feel is underachieving
performance. Overall he did NOT perform badly but many see him as the
weak link in this team, My own opinion is that he is good enough to
keep around.  His main failing is an apparent lack of intensity and
consistency. But it's hard to evaluate him for those traits outside of
the context of the Juwan Howard, a very consistent and intense
player. Tim Legler was one of the surprise success stories of the NBA
this season. A career journeyman Legler led the league in 3 point
shooting at 52%.  WAS will miss him for at least part of the upcoming
season as he attempts to rehab from re constructive knee
surgery. Don't look for him before Jan 1997. I gotta admit I was
dumbfounded when Legler was signed to a 2 year deal last summer but
this was clearly an area in which Nash and Bullet scouts had done
their homework. Legler was a good fit off the bench early in the
season playing with BPrice giving the Bullets several 3 point threats
on the floor at the same time a la an ORL. Ledell Eackles was signed
mid season after CC went down briefly and performed adequately but
also erratically.  Mitchell Butler hardly played for much of the
season, mostly due to the play of Legler and BPrice and his own lack
of performance. One other possible scenario involves Latrell Sprewell
who is a FA. Would he be willing to take a relatively low offer and
come to WAS to play with his buddy Webber? An open question. I would
be concerned about his FG% but do like his defensive abilities.


Forwards
For much of the year WAS started a lineup which arguably consisted of
2 PFs and no SF. Until Wallace's thumb was broke by a KMalone style
Jon Koncak karate chop, WAS started Howard with either Webber or
Wallace, Juwan being the short guy in the group at 6'9". Juwan
generally matched up defensively with the opposing SF but it is
interesting to note that during the Bullets playoff push late in the
season, Juwan had become the PF with Wallace and Webber both out. This
was the time when Juwan really (cliche alert) came on strong. Readers
will have to decide for themselves how much of this was pure
motivation on Juwan's part and how much of it was improved matchups
for Juwan at the PF position. Just so no one gets the wrong idea,
Juwan had been playing all year at a consistently high (AS) level at
whatever position he played. At the risk of being cliche (again),
Juwan really did step it up down the stretch in a manner reminiscent
of his junior year NCAA tournament performance. He was named NBA
player of the month for April . WAS *must* re-sign Juwan Howard almost
regardless of the cost. He is a highly motivated and motivational
leader whose value transcends his on the court production. Juwan
worked extremely hard at developing SF skills and his work
showed. (Note to Vijay- Juwan definitely has skills to get his own
shot now).  Juwan's faceup jumper is reliable and he has decent ball
handling abilities from out on the floor and in transition. Just to
say one negative thing so I can show some objectivity, Juwan needs to
work on passing out of 2x teams in the low post. He had far too many
TOs in this situation although these was also partly due to lack of
team movement.  Juwan finished the year at 22.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 4.4 apg,
3.7 TOpg 49% FG and 75% FT.  Damn fine numbers for a 2nd year
player. He also played in 81 games missing 1 game with a suspension
for fighting with MIA's Bimbo Coles. He and Webber are both 23.


Chris Webber re-injured his shoulder in preseason, missed the start of
the season and only played in 15 games before being tackled by Oakley
and reinjurring the shoulder just before New Year's in a game at
Useless Air Arena. With perfect hindsight, perhaps the shoulder should
have been operated on after the injury last year in his return to GS.
I think Russ Smith basically got it right when he pointed out that
some people were going to criticize Chris no matter what he decided to
do. Now that Nelson's inadequacies as a coach have been better
illuminated, perhaps the criticisms of Webber will quiet down to a
dull roar. People who lump him in with the likes of Derrick Coleman
are just clueless. Chris has been a first class act since his arrival
in WAS. As for his play, it was much improved over the previous season
when he basically avgd a 20- 10. This year his FG% was back up at 54%,
he scored consistently well finishing the year at 23.7 ppg. His
rebound numbers were down (7.6) which may have had as much do to with
his shoulder as it did with Muresan's improvement as a rebounder. It
is important to point out that Chris's *fundamentals are now much
better*. He has a variety of good post moves, his face up jumper is
much better even out to 3 pt range where he shot 15- 34, his shot
selection was improved and his FT shooting was up although that area
is still in need of improvement at .594. If Juwan returns, watch for
the great communication and passing between these 2 guys. Chris is no
longer solely dependent on athleticism. Look for him to become a total
monster in a city near you. Disclaimer- I was fortunate enough to see
2 of Chris' best games in Dec, a 37pt effort vs LAL followed by a 40
pt triple double vs GS. Watching Kemp in the finals has reminded me of
Webber like abilities. I think we could see many games like this from
Chris as the years go by but I admit to difficulty in being objective
in this area.

Rasheed Wallace got significant playing time for a rookie, played in
65 games, many as a starter and avgd 29 mpg. Rasheed is very young and
came in with a rep for emotional outbursts. He did very little to
discourage that rep initally and then when he did settle down around
mid season, refs were hyper-sensitive to anything he might do and
continued to T him up for petty infractions. There is little doubt
about Rasheed's physical ability. He can run, jump and shoot *very*
well. His passing and ball handling need a little polish but are
decent for such a young player playing mostly at a power position. The
question's concerning Rasheed all surround his mental approach both
during the game and in preparation and desire . He could become a
major talent but that will in large part be up to him. A bit of weight
training would probably be helpful for Rasheed, especially if he wants
to play any C. If Howard returns, Rasheed will have to work hard for
minutes but WAS would have some pretty scary frontline depth. Bob
McCann got the majority of the rest of the minutes at the PF/C
positions. He is popular with his teammates and has decent postup and
rebounding abilities but is a terrible FT shooter. He may get squeezed
in a numbers situation.

Center

Big Gheorghe was perhaps a surprise to some around the league, but
many Bullet fans had an inkling that he could play before he proved it
this year by leading the league in FG% and getting 9.6 rpg and 2.3
blocks. He will probably always be slow but he will almost certainly
always also be VERY BIG, too big in fact for a large number of
opposing Cs around the league. He still needs to cut down on fouls,
something he also led the league in (per minute) but make no mistake,
Muresan is a force. And he is still young (25).

After Muresan got hurt late in the season, Jim McIlvaine started and
played pretty well.  Jimmy Mac has great shot blocking ability,
leading the league on a per minute basis. He also draws a lot of
charges. He still is frequently foul prone and has limited offensive
skills but generally plays smart. He is an excellent backup C and a
player WAS should try to keep if at all possible. It's hard to say how
this may play out as he may get an opportunity to play and maybe even
start with another team i.e. DAL, DET or MIN. He is still young and
could eventually develop some offensive skills. He has good size, is a
legit 7'.

So that's it for the analysis. Basically you have an deep, big, young
and talented frontcourt with a solid 5 man rotation- Muresan, Webber,
Howard, Wallace and McIlvaine and a questionable backcourt of Cheaney
(and hopefully Legler eventually) and a bunch of free agent PG
possibilities. Depending on health and who they get to play in the
backcourt, especially at the point, WAS could be a strong challenger
in the Eastern Conference or another also ran. If everything ever went
right for this team they could easily finish in the top 4 of the EC.