Bullets Taking the Plunge Into a Rebuilding Season

The Washington Bullets have taken the plunge into full-force rebuilding. No one said it would be easy. And the prospects for the 1990-91 squad, which starts play Friday night in Miami, aren’t any better with the absence of two key cogs, John Williams and Ledell Eackles.

In a division where the haves (Philadelphia, Boston, New York) outpace the have-nots, the Bullets could no longer stand pat. So they made a big move in trading Jeff Malone to Utah in a three-team deal, bringing in Pervis Ellison, the first pick in last year’s draft. But since then, Washington’s been bogged down by events outside the team’s control.

Williams has yet to return to Washington from Los Angeles, where he’s seeking more than $276,000 withheld from him by Washington since mid-July. Eackles is a holdout, and though the sides are getting closer to an agreement, the delay has cost the third-year guard, and the team, any chance of a quick start.

Those protracted and public arguments have hovered over the Bullets all summer and fall.

“It’s going to be tough,” guard Darrell Walker said. “It looks like Ledell won’t be here. We’ve got to just go with what we’ve got. We’re not going to scare many teams, that’s for sure. The Pistons walk out there and people turn their heads.”

Eackles was supposed to replace Malone and his 24 points at the off-guard spot. In Eackles’s absence, free agent Larry Robinson, rookie A.J. English and newly acquired Byron Irvin, dealt from Sacramento for Steve Colter Tuesday, have to take up the load.

“To get some quality, you have to give up some quality,” Bullets Coach Wes Unseld said. “We took a risk, trading a known for an unknown, but risks have a way of going up or down. That’s what makes it a risk. We think down the road, this is going to be better for this team.”

Half of last season’s roster is already gone. In five months, the average age of each player on the team has come down from 26.5 years to 25.5. Those numbers would alter with Williams and Eackles on the roster, but it’s nonetheless a dramatic change.

“You look at any successful organization and it has a pretty good mixture of youth and experience,” forward Mark Alarie said. “The trades we’ve made have been experience for youth lately. I guess that’s the strategy they’re taking, and it is a long-term strategy.”

“Even in the short run, things weren’t going that hot,” Unseld said. “What I’m saying is the jury’s still out. I don’t know whether it’s going to cost us or not.”

New general manager John Nash hasn’t wasted any time in shuffling the deck. But two of his three trades since taking over in June -- the other was the Mike Morrison deal with Phoenix for a conditional 1993 second-round pick, which was voided when Morrison was cut -- have involved players. The Bullets are going to tread very lightly in even talking about trading number ones in the future after finishing 31-51 last season and not having a number one pick as a balm.

“The Cleveland franchise took forever to return from a number of desparate deals,” Nash said. “You go forward with what you have. You can’t cure the ills of the world in one day. It just doesn’t seem to work.

“I know Phoenix seemed to turn its team around in a very short period. I admire them for it, I congratulate them, and I wish I knew how to do the same thing here. For every move that Phoenix made there was a disastrous move made by somebody else in that spot.”

So Washington goes into the season not having won in seven exhibitions. Bernard King, ever crafty, will get his points, but scoring from other sources is necessary. Ellison can take some of the load, but his strengths right now are rebounding and shotblocking.

Walker’s tendinitis has subsided for the moment, as the guard has been able to get treatments. But no one is certain how he’ll hold up. Harvey Grant will get an opportunity to show he deserves the minutes he wants and also that he can be a full-time starter.

Tom Hammonds, the first-round pick of 1989, is just recovering from a strained ligament in his left foot. Much better things are expected from him than the in-and-out rookie season he had last year.

Alarie is steady off the bench and remains the team’s most consistent outside shooter. Charles Jones brings his defense back, either as a starter or reserve.

But the Bullets sport five players who are for all intents and purposes rookies -- English, center Greg Foster, Robinson, guard Haywoode Workman (who spent last season in the CBA) and Irvin (who played sparingly for the Trail Blazers last season). After slow starts by all, the first four improved in the final few preseason games.

“They’ve been in a learning stage,” King said. “They’ve really started coming along. When you talk about a passing game there’s a lot of picking involved, a lot of cutting involved. It’s not as simple as just moving the ball. You have to read the situation and read people very quickly. There’s an adjustment from the college game to the pro passing game and I think they’re starting to pick a lot of that up.”

Said Walker: “Some of the younger guys are going to have to step up. I don’t think there’s any secret about that. People are going to have to grow up fast.”