Bullets Shun Slogans and Will Let Moses Lead Them This Season

WASHINGTON —  The Washington Bullets have yet to bestow some catchy sobriquet upon the assemblage of bodies that will make up their 1986-87 team.

The rumblings promised by Thunder and Lightning have dissipated with the trade of center Jeff Ruland to Philadelphia and the hazy status of free-agent guard Gus Williams. The previous slogan--”Bullets Fever--Catch It”--fizzled amid sub-.500 finishes.

So, this season the Bullets will attempt a novel approach: Management will rely on talent to provide the punch line.

Once again the team will have a new look as it assembles in training camp at Fort Meade, Md. But the addition of center Moses Malone and forward Jay Vincent, among others, appears more substantive than stylish.

“I thought the moves we made the other years were to get better and that’s really what we’re trying to do now,” said Bullet General Manager Bob Ferry. “I don’t know how good we are. I don’t know how good we can be because I don’t know how good everyone else is gonna be, but I feel much better after making these moves going into this season than I would if I hadn’t.”

He smiled and laughed loudly. “If we hadn’t made the moves we made,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper, “I don’t think I would want to see the season starting.”

The Bullets have been doubly burdened in recent years. Not only have they lost, they’ve been dull in the process. In 1986-87, they will try to solve both problems in one fell swoop.

“They just made a decision--a major decision--that they’re going to restructure the whole thing,” said Laker Coach Pat Riley. “Of all the players in the league that they could pick to turn the whole thing around, they picked the very best in Moses. I think now they’ve gone right to the focus of what it takes to win. They got a great player at center and you’re not going to beat any of those teams in the East unless you have one.”

Malone certainly has the right credentials if the idea is to catch the Boston Celtics. During his four seasons with the 76ers, he averaged 23.6 points and 15 rebounds per game against the Celtics, on a par with his career averages of 23.9 and 14. However, in 1982-83, his first season with Philadelphia, he averaged 27 points and almost 16 rebounds against Boston and led his team to the NBA championship.

That, as well as the fact that Malone’s average against Boston dwindled to a merely mortal 17.6 points and 10.6 rebounds last season, isn’t lost on Riley.

“It seemed as though Moses had lost a little bit of his interest,” he said. “It seemed . . . the inner conflict in Philadelphia (with team owner Harold Katz) perhaps created a barrier that didn’t make him play the way he should play.”

Malone’s NBA most valuable player award during his 76ers’ debut prompts thoughts of what might be accomplished with the Bullets through similar motivation. With the 76ers, though, he had a supporting cast that included all-stars Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks and Andrew Toney.

With the Bullets last season, guard Jeff Malone had a year comparable to Toney at his finest, but Vincent still is trying to approach the numbers of his rookie season four years ago with the Dallas Mavericks, when he averaged more than 21 points a game. And the Bullets’ situation at point guard can best be described as dubious.

“The game has changed dramatically,” Bullets Coach Kevin Loughery said. “Right now, it’s in a position where you must get talent. It’s a little like the college game. It’s a recruiting-type situation, but instead of recruiting players you have to make maneuvers--it’s a necessity to have a good basketball team.”

Although not as essential as talent, another important component for a winning basketball team is chemistry. The fluidity that characterizes the Celtics’ offense perhaps wouldn’t be there if Larry Bird didn’t get along with Kevin McHale or if Dennis Johnson refused to play on the same team as Danny Ainge. It’s also necessary for the players on a team to spend some time together to pick up the nuances of one other’s individual games; when is a forward apt to make a backdoor cut to the basket, when is the guard likely to pass off when he’s driving to the basket?

The Bullets have made big splashes in June with the announcements of their draft-day moves, but there’s been little opportunity for a spirit of togetherness to develop. Frank Johnson, currently a free agent, has been with the team five years, the longest in terms of continuous service. Jeff Malone and substitute forward Darren Daye are entering their fourth seasons.

That contrasts greatly with Boston, where Bird, Robert Parish and McHale have played together for six seasons. That’s one reason another Atlantic Division coach, Dave Wohl of New Jersey, isn’t as positive as other NBA watchers that the Bullets helped themselves so greatly.

“On paper,” he said, “you can look at it one way, say, ‘We’ve gotten stronger here but we’re a little weaker here,’ but I think it’s really tough to say because so many moves, when you give your team a different look, depend on how the players fit in with each other. There has to be a little bit of chemistry formed together.

“If Ruland’s healthy, they’re good, (but) they’ve improved a little bit at center with Moses. But I think they gave up two very talented players in Ruland and Cliff Robinson. Jay Vincent was a good trade for them because I think they were weak at small forward, otherwise they’re putting it all on John Williams to be great his first year and I don’t know if he will be. I think he’s got a lot of potential, but it may take him a year or two.”

That may be all the time the Bullets have. Moses Malone is 31 and there has been considerable wear and tear on his body after years of grinding in the low post. He will earn $2.1 million a year for even more abuse, and that salary could be expected to rise even higher if he fulfills Washington’s expectations.

But the Bullets aren’t worrying about two years down the line right now.

“They feel they’re ready,” said Celtics Coach K.C. Jones. “They’re saying they want to make a big move, not next year, but now. The three-year plan is definitely out the window.”