AT HOME : Moses Malone Likes What He Sees in Atlanta; Hawks Like What They See

Abe Pollin may be interested to know his decision to cast Moses Malone adrift from the Washington Bullets hasn’t earned him a place in the veteran center’s personal Hall of Shame, a doghouse built solely for one, Philadelphia 76ers’ owner Harold Katz.

Although the date of the first meeting in Washington between his present team, the Atlanta Hawks, and the Bullets (Jan. 16) is firmly planted in his head, Malone hasn’t threatened to tear up the highway to get there, as was the case when he went down Interstate 95 from Philadelphia to the Bullets.

After all, business is business and, besides, a huge pile of cards and letters scattered before him in the Hawks’ locker room here at the Omni assures him that somebody in Washington still loves him.

“Look at this,” he says, waving toward the mountain of envelopes. “Fan mail from Bob Ferry.”

That comment drew a few laughs from his teammates, as did the suggestion from one that the Bullets exchanged their $2-million center of a year ago for Charles Jones, earning a sum substantially closer to the National Basketball Assn. minimum.

“Don’t laugh at Charles Jones,” Malone said. “He’s a friend of mine. I hope he gets the 2 (million); if they wouldn’t give it to me--he’s playing my spot--give him the 2. He has to do all the work now, blockshots, play defense--whatever they’re paying him right now, he’s worth more money.”

It’s easy for Malone to be magnanimous. Like the consummate cat burglar, he has made off with the goods and landed squarely on his toes.

An unencumbered free agent at the end of the 1987-88 season, Malone, 33, left a Washington team that was going nowhere this season, with or without him, for Atlanta. Here, he received a 3-year contract with the slightest reduction in pay to play for the Hawks, a contender for the championship.

Said guard Glenn Rivers: “A lot of times a guy will say that he does, but he’s just blowing smoke, but Moses hasn’t cared about being asked to set picks or that Dominique (Wilkins) is the first option. We’ve got guys who want to prove something. With Moses, it’s that he’s not too old ortoo selfish, like people have said he’s been the last couple of years.”

As far as Malone is concerned, such talk came from just one place, Washington, and represented an attempt by the Bullets to diminish him publicly.

How can a man who was just one of four players in the NBA to finish in the top 20 in scoring and top 10 in rebounding be too old? How can a man who often was the only inside threat the team had be too selfish?

“Last season, it seemed like when it started getting close to negotiation time they started going away from me--putting me here, not letting me do that,” he said.

“I can read through lines. You do that to make a ballplayer feel like he’s not that (dominant) type anymore. I’ll always be that type of player.”

Taking no chances, however, Malone reported to the Hawks in perhaps his best shape in five years, weighing in at just over 250 pounds, 10 less than he carried last season with Washington.

“I wanted to bein good shape,” he said. “I thought it would be a problem, but it’s not; they bang me, but it feels good.”

In Atlanta’s opening four games of the year--all victories--he averaged 19 points and 15 rebounds while playing about 38 minutes each night, about five more than he averaged with Washington last season. In Tuesday’s 112-107 victory over the Indiana Pacers, he had 22 rebounds, the most by an Atlanta player in almost 3 years.

During the seasons when he was the game’s dominant player, he often referred to himself in the third person. Such was the case in the 1982-83 season, when he averaged 24.5 points and more than 15 rebounds in winning the most-valuable-player award and leading the 76ers to the title.

Now he is as close as he’ll be to winning a second championship. Atlanta won 50 games last season and just missed the Eastern Conference finals. This year it added Malone and high-scoring guard Reggie Theus from the Sacramento Kings.

Four of the five starters have been all-stars; such is the abundance of talent that some wonder how the team will be able to function with just one basketball. The Boston Celtics start five all-stars, but Wilkins, who shot an average of 25 times a game last season, and Theus have never been confused with Larry Bird and Dennis Johnson. It is a volatile mix, one that opponents can only hope will go awry at any moment.

“I’m still feeling my way through this, trying to get an idea for where you go, when do you go there, what’s the right time to,” admits Coach Mike Fratello.

Malone’s presence makes for an easy comparison with the 1982-83 76ers--Julius Erving, Andrew Toney, Maurice Cheeks and Bobby Jones. That season, Malone’s first with Philadelphia, he acknowledged Erving as the team’s heart and expressed contentment at being an artery. Indeed, most of the plays for that team were run for Erving or Toney, with Malone using his uncanny knack for getting to the ball, doing most of his damage on the offensive boards.

It appears that will be the case with the Hawks. In the closing minutes against the Pacers, Fratello isolated Wilkins, then Antoine Carr, then Theus and Rivers against the Indiana defense. Everyone’s number was called but Malone’s, yet he controlled the latter stages of the game.

With just over 2 minutes left, he pressed point guard Vern Fleming in the back court, forcing a turnover that led to an Atlanta basket. A minute later, he got his 21st rebound, then hustled down court to receive a pass from Rivers, scoring on a dunk. With 4 seconds left, he got his last rebound, an offensive board, then made two foul shots that clinched the game.

“With the team we have, teams have to double-team us and if they double-team us, they have to rotate,” Fratello said. “If not, Theus penetrates to the basket, Rivers penetrates to the basket, Wilkins penetrates to the basket. If someone goes over to help, then there’s no one blocking Malone and I’ll take the best offensive rebounder in the game and let him go to the glass all night.”

The theory worked beautifully in Philadelphia in 1982 and is still sound today. The question is, will Malone be satisfied in that role all year?

“Moses is happy as long as he’s out there playing and getting minutes,” said Dudley Bradley, another ex-Bullet. “He has to play minutes; in Washington he was getting 3 minutes here and 4 minutes there--those aren’t productive minutes for Moses. He’s the kind of guy that’ll beat you down and in the fourth quarter he’s still going and the other guy is saying ‘What am I gonna do with him now?’ ”

Throughout last season, Malone complained about his playing time, especially when the Bullets were on the road. Coach Wes Unseld said that the minutes went to the players who merited them, a jolt that still rankles Malone’s pride.

“Wes knew what I could do; the things he said, people were laughing at,” said Malone. “It was like a big joke. I got to prove myself to get time? I’ve been an all-star player for so many years; what I got to prove to him?

“It didn’t hurt me; I knew what was going on. It had nothing to do with me, they were making excuses (for negotiations). If I took what they wanted me to take, I’d probably still be in Washington. They’d love to have me in Washington, but I’m a better player than that.”

During his time in Washington, Malone suffered the most not because of declining skills but from being a relatively undersized center in a league in which teams employ dual 7-footers as a matter of course.

“I love playing with Carr and Kevin Willis and Jon Koncak,” he said. “The only big man I had in Washington was Manute (Bol). If he wasn’t in with me I’d look up and say, ‘Aw man, I got to battle by myself tonight.’ Now the pressure is off me--other teams have to respect our big guys.”

And in turn, they’ll discover a renewed respect for Moses Malone, one that the center never lost for himself.

“Dominique and Reggie are the men, but I’m Moses; to me I’m No. 1 because I come to play. If you want to win, you come to play; I don’t come to half-step. If you think that you’re No. 2 out there, then you won’t be nothing. You can’t have that. You have to be No. 1. That’s the thing.”