THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 28, 1994 TAG: 9411280121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
From the top of his stocking cap, to his impossibly baggy jeans, to the bottom of his spotlessly clean work boots, Chris Webber looks like a kid who belongs on campus.
Which he does.
``I'm only 21,'' he likes to tell people.
You see him dressed like that - Like what? An unmade bed? - and you're reminded that this would be his senior year in college.
We're in a cramped locker room at the Baltimore Arena. It's late Friday night. Webber's Washington Bullets have just been beaten by the Cleveland Cavaliers before a capacity crowd.
Webber, his 6-foot-10-inch frame folded into a chair, looks up and smiles. It's a great smile. The smile of a happy child.
``I hope this newfound interest in the team doesn't make everybody wonder why we lost,'' he said. ``It's only one game.''
Only one night in a Webber-Era three-game losing streak.
``This thing is a marathon,'' Bullets coach Jim Lynam reminds everyone. ``It's 82 games. We're less than 12 percent into this thing.''
It's Lynam's job to balance hope with patience. He doesn't want to rush Webber or Juwan Howard, the Bullets' No. 1 draft pick. He doesn't want expectations to overtake a still very flawed team.
That may be impossible, though. At Michigan, Webber, Howard and the other members of the Fab Five were always in a hurry.
``We dominated the Big Ten,'' Howard said. ``We dominated the NCAAs. Now we want to dominate in the NBA.''
Thinking big. It's not something the Bullets are accustomed to. Now, not even a five-game losing streak can dampen enthusiasm.
``It's going to be a little erratic for awhile,'' Bullets guard Rex Chapman said. Motioning toward Webber, Chapman added, ``He brings an athleticism we haven't had. A lot of things he does, you can't put a statistic on.''
Already, though, Bullet management is calculating what the presence of Webber, and to a lesser degree, Howard, means to everything from playoff potential to gate revenue to merchandising to the ability to fill a new 23,000-seat arena in downtown Washington. It's an arena that, for now, is just a dream.
The addition of Webber allows the Bullets to dream. This is a savior, though, who appears child-like in a lot of ways, including in the development of his game.
Although he was rookie-of-the-year, Webber doesn't have much of a post-up game. He comes with big, soft hands. But he hasn't developed a reliable jump shot. He could hit the defensive boards a little harder, too.
Webber has got time for all of that. So long as the Bullets and their fans don't expect too much, too soon from their man-child, he can be everything they wish him to be.
But if he could find unhappiness in Golden State, who's to say he won't find it some day with the Bullets?
In Washington, it's so far, so good.
``When I played my first game, and Rex came to talk to me about 10 minutes, he made me feel so comfortable,'' Webber said. ``And from that moment on I knew I would be happy here.''
The Bullets are happy too. If not right away, then for the future. They are, at least, for as long as Webber can keep smiling. ILLUSTRATION: Color AP Photo
Chris Webber brings a lot to the Washington Bullets, but it may be
awhile before it all starts to show.
by CNB