MacLean Again Taking His Shots : Basketball: Former UCLA, Simi Valley High forward is back on the court with the Washington Bullets after series of troubles.

Spin control rarely gets this difficult.

A season after Don MacLean was named the NBA’s most-improved player, he finds himself digging out from under an avalanche of bad publicity caused by bouts with painkillers, bar patrons and new shoes, among other things.

MacLean’s image has taken almost as many beatings as his team, the young and struggling Washington Bullets.

After the former UCLA and Simi Valley High standout suffered a broken right thumb on New Year’s Eve while “defending the honor” of his date, ESPN reported it was the only time MacLean had defended anyone all season. Sports Illustrated liked the line enough to print it.

Other potshots have been aimed at MacLean’s handling of his contract and his revelation earlier this season that, unbeknown to team doctors, he had taken pain medication for more than a year that allowed him to play with tendinitis in both knees. He played himself onto the disabled list.

Even his shoe contract became a source of discomfort. MacLean signed with Adidas before the season but went back to Nike after blisters forced him to miss the first two games.

The problems added up to a swift, stunning nose dive after the success of last season. He has missed 41 games because of injuries and lost his starting job.

Rather than worry about what was lost, though, MacLean has determinedly worked toward regaining his status as one of the league’s top-scoring forwards. He is happy to be playing again in his third NBA season, even if it means coming off the bench.

“I really missed playing when I was out for so long,” MacLean said. “The best thing for me now is to finish the season strong and help the team build some momentum for next year.”

That will take some doing. The Bullets, whose regular lineup includes three second-year players and one rookie, entered the week with the league’s third-worst record behind the Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers. They will play the Lakers tonight at the Forum.

It will be a homecoming for MacLean, who indicated he wouldn’t mind making it permanent. He said he has always wanted to play for the Lakers.

“I’d like to get out to the West Coast, but I’d also like to be on a winning team,” he said. “That’s what I like about the Bullets. We have a chance to be a winning team.”

Of course, the Bullets’ future depends on players who pushed MacLean out of the starting lineup. Chris Webber, acquired in a trade with Golden State, and rookie Juwan Howard are the forwards now, having supplanted last year’s tandem of MacLean and Tom Gugliotta, traded in the Webber deal.

MacLean, accepting his supporting role without complaint, said: “I’m never going to be the leading scorer or the main guy on this team, but I think I do things to help us win.”

How quickly things can change. MacLean, 25, appeared on the brink of stardom, or at least job security, after his breakthrough season in 1993-94. He averaged 18.2 points a game, shot 50.2% from the field and started 69 games.

“I thought he was at his peak after that year,” said John Nash, general manager of the Bullets. “That’s why we made a concerted effort to retain his services at the time.”

The Bullets dangled a two-year, $12-million contract extension in front of MacLean but he turned it down in hopes of getting a more-lucrative deal as a restricted free agent after this season, when he plans to exercise the escape clause in his existing contract. He is in the third year of a six-year deal worth $4.86 million.

“I would have gotten that money at the end of my contract, “ MacLean said of the rejected extension. “Getting $12 million four years from now isn’t the same as getting $12 million now. I decided to tear up the contract and start getting paid what I deserve starting next year.

“The league average (salary) is $1.8 million. I’m making $750,000 this year and I’m scheduled to make 30% more next year. It’s got to be a lot more than that.”

But after MacLean missed nearly three months of the season and lost his starting position, it’s only natural to wonder if the window of opportunity has closed from a monetary standpoint.

“The Washington Bullets and the rest of the NBA are monitoring Don MacLean with a watchful eye,” Nash said. “Any time a player suffers an injury, there are concerns about his future.”

A confident MacLean has no such concerns. Dr. Steve Haas, team orthopedist for the Bullets, said MacLean’s knees are in “good shape” and benefited from the long layoff.

“I’m not any worse of a player,” MacLean said. “I was just out a couple of months. Other teams around the league know I can play.”

Since returning to action Feb. 28, MacLean has averaged 11.7 points, primarily as the Bullets’ sixth man. He made his first start since Dec. 8 in Tuesday’s 111-106 loss to Portland because Howard was out with a sprained ankle. Before Thursday, the Bullets were 9-15 in games MacLean played. They were 9-32 without him.

“He’s a guy that we sorely missed,” said Nash, explaining that MacLean’s scoring, free-throw shooting and size (6 feet 10) at small forward were tough to replace.

Defensively, though, MacLean can be a liability. That was especially true earlier this season when his knee problems contributed to several big scoring nights for opposing forwards. The New York Knicks’ Charles Smith had 23 points on nine-for-14 shooting, mostly against MacLean, on Dec. 3.

“(Knick Coach Pat) Riley was going after Don the whole night,” said Richard Justice, who covers the Bullets for the Washington Post.

A week later, Jamal Mashburn of the Dallas Mavericks scored a sizable chunk of his 45 points against MacLean, who had trouble getting into a defensive stance because of his sore knees. By this time MacLean had stopped taking painkillers after informing team doctors he was concerned his extended and unmonitored use of medication could result in side effects, such as kidney and liver damage.

Unable to play without the medication, MacLean was placed on the disabled list after the Dec. 8 game against Dallas.

Looking back, MacLean said he made a mistake by trying to do too much in the off-season instead of giving his knees a rest. He was able to keep playing and working out thanks to regular doses of naproxen, an anti-inflammatory drug found in Aleve, an over-the-counter pain medication. He said he took it for about 1 1/2 years.

“The naproxen just masks the pain,” MacLean said. “Meanwhile, you keep playing and keep doing more damage.”

MacLean denied reports he had suffered internal damage from the drug.

“There’s nothing wrong with my kidneys or liver,” he said. “I could have had problems, but I didn’t. It wasn’t as big a deal as it was made out to be.

“I heard that doctors say you should take (naproxen) for only four to five weeks, but that’s on the conservative end. A doctor in Denver told me that people on arthritis take this stuff their whole lives. You’re not going to die.”

Haas, the Bullets’ orthopedist, said he advised MacLean to immediately get off the medication after learning the player had taken it for a long period.

“The medication is fine. There’s nothing wrong with taking it,” Haas said. “But if you are taking it long-term, you should be monitored so that nothing is going wrong.”

Haas said tests concluded that MacLean had suffered no side effects from the medication.

With his rehabilitation going smoothly, MacLean was close to playing again until he broke his right thumb in a scuffle outside a Baltimore bar on New Year’s Eve, extending his stay on the disabled list for two months.

Matt Bernhard, 23, of Doylestown, Pa., filed a report with Baltimore police several days after the incident, in which he claims he was struck by MacLean and suffered facial injuries that required medical treatment. MacLean, charged with battery, has a court hearing April 24.

“(Bernhard) saw who I was and now he’s trying to get some money,” MacLean said. “He made up a bunch of stuff. I don’t want to get into it. I did what I thought was right. It’s just unfortunate I broke my thumb in the process.”

According to Tom Douglas, owner of Bohager’s Bar and Grill, the incident took place after Bernhard was thrown out of the bar for harassing MacLean’s date. When MacLean and the woman left, they encountered Bernhard again outside the bar, Douglas said.

“There are two sides to the story,” said Bernhard, who declined to give details. “The truth will come out.”

Since the incident, MacLean said he rarely goes out, choosing to stay close to his rented townhouse in the Washington suburb of Bowie, Md.

“You need to be careful where you go and who you hang out with,” he said. “New Year’s Eve was a freak thing. I’ve always been careful. I don’t have a reputation as a troublemaker. It’s the first fight I’ve been in since probably junior high.”

Nash said the Bullets have no problem with MacLean’s actions that night.

“It was an unfortunate situation that, had any of us been involved ourselves, could have resulted in the same type of outcome,” Nash said. “Hindsight is 20-20. Maybe the answer is to be more prudent about where and when you go out.”

MacLean said he wants to forget the episode and concentrate on helping the Bullets become contenders, something he believes can happen once Webber and Howard gain experience and become more familiar with their teammates.

“They’re both good players,” he said of the former Michigan standouts. “They play well together. We just have to get it so they play well with the rest of us, as a team. It’s tough when you lose. Some guys go off and try to get their own.”

MacLean will try to get his, financially speaking, as a restricted free agent after the season. Despite recent setbacks, he’s confident he can have a long, prosperous NBA career.

“I know the money will come,” MacLean said. “I know my best years are ahead of me.”