Around the League, a Motion Offense

The Chicago Bulls expired.

Dennis Rodman unretired faster than Jimmy Johnson.

Antonio McDyess--and I’m not making this up--was a Nugget at 9 p.m., in limbo at 11 and at 12:20 Friday morning his agent had the gall to call Phoenix to ask the Suns if they were still interested.

The Lakers and Suns wooed Tom Gugliotta so hard you’d think he was an IOC member. To clear cap room for Googs (or McDyess), the Suns renounced nine -- that’s N-I-N-E-players.

Karl Malone and Jazz owner Larry Miller cried like babies at a news conference to announce Malone is staying.

Charles Barkley announced on the 10th hole of the Bob Hope Classic that he’d signed a one-year deal to finish his career in Houston, then told the Rockets to get lost, he’d report to training camp after the golf tournament!

Thursday, Jan. 21, 1999, has to go down as the most bizarre day in NBA history. All the above happened after 2 p.m., when the NBA lockout officially ended. And that list doesn’t even include Billy Owens going to Seattle, or Damon Stoudamire signing for $81 million to stay in Portland, or Warriors management convening in Oakland to rejoice following the departure of Latrell Sprewell to New York.

Blink Thursday and you missed a deal, or a three-way deal, or a renouncing, or recruiting. It was like the Oklahoma Land Run.

Everybody, it seems, had news. Well, almost everybody. Your Washington Wizards have no point guard, no center, and we’re not sure exactly when they’ll have them. Okay, let’s go straight to the issue of Rod Strickland.

To have any kind of season, this season, the Wizards need Strickland. He and Tim Hardaway were the best point guards in the East last season. With him and Mitch Richmond, the Wizards would have one of the best back courts in the NBA. And with Juwan Howard and Calbert Cheaney, the team should be reasonably competitive.

Without him?

Are you kidding? Who can they beat out in the standings? New York, Miami, New Jersey? Not a prayer. Orlando? No. Philly and Boston? Possible but unlikely. With ticket prices having been raised, “reasonably competitive” ought to be a minimum requirement.

Without Strickland, there’s almost no chance to keep Richmond, whom we’ve been told will be the all-star centerpiece of this team.

On the other hand, Strickland is 32 and would be 36 at the end of a five-year deal. And there’s only one guard alive to whom I would commit more than $10 million at 36 years old, but the only stroke he’s working on now involves a pitching wedge. Still, there’s got to be some way to give Strickland enough money early in the deal to make him feel appreciated, but for the Wizards not to be so financially committed to a 36-year-old that they can’t make any personnel moves. (Or load future years with incentives.)

What this cannot continue to be about is Abe Pollin vs. David Falk. At some point, this franchise is going to have to coexist productively with Falk, regardless of past feelings and past deals. Other clubs do. It’s not optional. Plus that, the issue is bigger than Falk/Strickland. The Wizards, at some point, will have to attract some big-time free agents. But if the perception is out there--and it is--that the Wizards are impossible to deal with, the best players won’t beat down the door to come here. You see how the Bulls agreed to sign their departing free agents to maximum amounts they couldn’t get on the open market--even Scottie Pippen who was openly antagonistic toward ownership--then traded them to their desired teams? It was done as much to impress players around the league as it was to say thank you for the multiple championships. Creating favorable impressions for players is part of doing business in pro sports in the era of free agency.

Strickland’s problem is he doesn’t have much leverage since there doesn’t appear to be a team or teams with plenty of cap room pursuing him. If $27 million for three years is the best offer out there, you can either accept it or play somewhere else for less, right? We hear players/agents talking all the time about market value; well, Billy Hunter’s deal seems to have changed the market. Having said that, the Wizards have to be careful not to overplay that hand considering they don’t have a replacement anywhere near Strickland’s effectiveness and other players are watching how they deal with a guy who has played so well for two years.

In other news regarding the Wizards, I guess we won’t be seeing much of Big Gheorghe again this season, huh?

All these big guys keep criss-crossing the country. Can’t Abe and Wes intercept somebody who’s connecting flights at National Airport?

Nobody’s stopping in Chicago, either. The Bulls have gone from six championships to playing zero games on TNT, which has 45 national telecasts. The NBC schedule I saw has the Bulls playing one--that’s 1--regionally televised game. My Chicago Bulls, starting now, will be unthinkably bad. I’ve got them going 10-40, if that.

While retirement killed the Bulls, the labor war ruined the Suns’ plans. Phoenix made a thousand carefully plotted moves to free up money to pursue the top free agents in the summer of ’98. Tops on that list at one point was Pippen. The Suns, it seems, picked the wrong summer. The rules changed, the time to court free agents was reduced to nil, and the Suns were left late last night battling the Lakers for Googs.

If Googs goes to Phoenix, there should be three fascinating teams to watch in the West: the Lakers, Suns and Rockets. The Jazz won’t fascinate anybody, but they’ll still be the favorite. Did you catch Malone (who said he’d never play for Utah again) and Larry Miller bawling like nobody’s business? Miller talked about “our relationship” so much I thought I was watching Thelma & Louise.

It’s easy to identify the best teams in the East: the Pacers, Knicks and Nets. But what coaching manual do you consult on how to handle Latrell Sprewell and Dennis Rodman at the same time? (That’s if Rodman actually signs with the Knicks.) I wouldn’t wish that crew on Pat Riley, Chuck Daly or Phil Jackson, much less Jeff Van Gundy. You think Van Gundy has that sunken-eyed look now. Who orchestrates this band on the court, Charlie Ward and Chris Childs?

Well, if the NBA wanted folks to forget about the embarrassing labor war and start talking trades, and projecting who’ll be any good, this is one heck of a way to start. But exhibition games are only hours away, a whole new wave of free agent signings and trades are still on the way and uncertainty is everywhere. The league had better hold its breath and pray that this week’s excitement doesn’t evolve into the most unsettled time the NBA has seen in years.