Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.sports From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Gugliotta looks like ideal pick for Bullets Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 15:30:30 EST Message-ID: \SE D;SPORTS \HD Gugliotta looks like ideal pick for Bullets \BY Tom Knott \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES They booed Tom Gugliotta on draft night at Capital Centre last June. They booed when the Washington Bullets announced he was their first-round pick. At the time, John Nash, the Bullets' general manager, said, "It would be nice if the fans were as enthusiastic with this pick as we are. But six months from now, it won't mean a hill of beans." Nash was off by a month. It has taken only five months for him and the Bullets to be vindicated. Now instead of boos, Gugliotta is hearing "Googs" from the faithful. The reason is simple. Gugliotta has shown he can play the game. With the exception of Shaquille O'Neal and possibly Alonzo Mourning, neither of whom was available after the first two picks, no other player in the draft fit the Bullets' needs as nicely as Gugliotta. Nash compared Gugliotta to Phoenix Suns forward Tom Chambers on draft night. Gugliotta, though, has a quality that has never been associated with Chambers: toughness. His 9.6 rebounding average after seven games attests to that. Gugliotta did lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in rebounding last season. Not that this statistic necessarily meant anything. All kinds of hard-nosed somebodies in college become soft nobodies in the NBA. You never really know with rookies until they are matched against players of comparable skill and size. The glut of disinformation enveloping them is staggering, dispensed by the usual suspects. There's the player's college coach, who claims his star will change the pro game in ways never before seen. Of course, the coach has a reason for saying this. His player becomes an instant recruiting tool. There's Marty Blake, the NBA's director of scouting whose feelings toward rookies change like the weather depending on whether this or that player attends his camps before the draft. Then there are those NBA teams that do not like their position in the draft. They want a certain player but do not know if he will be available when their turn comes. However, if they pass the word, anonymously, that the player is not really as tall as he was listed in his college program or that he has poor work habits or a questionable background, maybe he will drop to their position in the draft. After the draft, you get to hear from the player's agent. Not surprisingly, each agent insists his player is a combination of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and an "all-around great kid." That's how agents talk. Gugliotta, who was listed as 6 feet 10 at North Carolina State, was not much taller than 4-10 by the time he became a member of the Bullets' organization. It's good to see he has grown back to 6-10 in the Bullets' program. Now the player being mentioned in connection to Gugliotta is Larry Bird. This is a serious reach, not unlike Gugliotta being shorter than Muggsy Bogues on draft night. Bird joined a team not unlike the Bullets in 1979. The Celtics were coming off a 29-53 season. The team went 61-21 in Bird's rookie year. The next year, the Celtics were NBA champions. The Bullets were 25-57 last season. At 2-5, they are on a similar pace this season. Gugliotta has not shown he has the arrogance to stamp these Bullets in his image. So far, he has tried to fit in with the team's acknowledged leaders: Pervis Ellison, Harvey Grant and Michael Adams. The only problem with this is that Ellison, Grant and Adams do not always lead. Ellison was on the bench in street clothes the other night, along with LaBradford Smith, giving the Bullets a look that has become awfully familiar in recent seasons. Until Grant scored 34 points against the Celtics on Tuesday night, he was looking like the $17 million heist. Adams has forgotten how to hit the three-pointer. He's shooting on a level with those fans brought out during timeouts to try their luck from three-point range. Gugliotta has not tried to bring any attention to himself, except with his play. He says he's merely trying to acclimate himself to the NBA, trying to become comfortable. Already, though, he has given the Bullets cause for hope. At worst, he's their best first-round pick since Jeff Malone in 1983. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM