Atlantic: 12 Washington Wizards

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Washington player becomes a free agent, demands outrageous sums of money and makes it clear he's intent on leaving town if he doesn't get what he wants. Then, when his multijillion-dollar deal elsewhere falls through, he professes he never really wanted to leave and re-signs with the team for a gaudy sum.

Four years ago it was forward Juwan Howard, who signed a seven-year, $98 million contract with the Heat. When the league voided the deal because Miami had exceeded the salary cap, Howard returned to Washington for $105 million over seven years, saying his heart was never in the Heat. Last summer it was shooting guard Mitch Richmond, whose agent, Mike Sharpe, let it be known that the Wizards should work out a sign-and-trade deal because Mitch's days in D.C. were as good as done. There was interest from a half-dozen teams- Miami first among them—but salary-cap restrictions once again made a deal unworkable. All of a sudden, Richmond decided that Washington's four-year, $40 million offer to re-sign wasn't such an affront to his sensibilities after all.

"We wanted to see what was out there," says Richmond. "That's all a part of negotiations. But we didn't burn our bridges." Still, squeezing the team for $10 million a year places some expectations on his shoulders. If he thinks living up to them is going to be easy, he should ask Howard.

In the four years since becoming basketball's second $100-million man, Howard's numbers have mostly dipped. He averaged 22.1 points and 8.1 rebounds in the 1995-96 season, his last before signing the big deal. He hasn't topped either of those levels since. What's more, in the last 32 games of the '98-99 season, he led the team in scoring only three times and in rebounding just six times. "I'm not the go-to guy, and that's fine with me," says Howard. "I just want to provide leadership on the floor and win."

The Wizards haven't won, though. They've been to the playoffs just once in 11 seasons, in '96-97, and then they were swept in three by the Bulls. Blaming the team's highest-paid player is logical, if not entirely fair. Howard plays hard every night and has kept his mouth shut while being yo-yoed between small forward and his natural power-forward spot. "Not winning is disappointing," he says. "I've seen so many guys come and go through here. You know how good teams win? By staying together."

Alas, if the flow of players were to stop immediately, the Wizards would be a pretty mediocre team for a long time, because Howard and Richmond don't have a whole lot of talent surrounding them. The exception is point guard Rod Strickland, who was second in the league in assists last season despite having to play himself into shape after missing all but one day of training camp in a contract dispute.

New coach Gar Heard, who was an assistant with the Pistons last year, noticed one thing the Wizards were lacking when they faced Detroit: confidence. "Every time they got put in a bad spot and something could go wrong, it did," he says. "I thought the talent was there. But when teams locked in on Rod, Mitch and Juwan, everyone else just kind of shut down." In fact, only one other player—Otis Thorpe, who has since signed with Miami—scored more than 7.7 points per game, making Washington easily the most top-heavy crew this side of Baywatch.

Help may not be on the way. None of Washington's off-season pickups averaged double figures last year. That includes erratic center Ike Austin, for whom G.M. Wes Unseld gave the Magic four players, including his leading rebounder, Ben Wallace. The best scorer Unseld added was Richard Hamilton, the team's first first-round draft pick in four years. At 6'6", 185 pounds, Hamilton is too small to play forward, so most of his minutes will come backing up Richmond. "That's a big plus, having Mitch and Rod to learn under," says Howard. "They've got 22 years of experience. He's in a great situation. I wish I was in his shoes."

Last year Howard thought he would be trying to fill the shoes of departed fellow Fab Fiver Chris Webber, a power forward who was traded to the Kings for Richmond before last season. But when Calbert Cheaney—who was such a bad shooter that he couldn't even make half his free throws, let alone a respectable percentage of his field goals—flopped at small forward, the 6'9", 250-pound Howard found himself back on the perimeter. "I will use Juwan at power forward some, but I'm going to start him at the three," says Heard. "I want him to be able to take advantage of the matchups that creates. I think he's solid defensively at the three spot, and he'd get worn down playing the bigger forwards. I don't want that to happen to him."

As for the Wizards' newest $10 million man, he finds himself looking to regain his scoring touch. After averaging better than 21 points in each of his first 10 seasons, Richmond slipped to 19.7 last year, and his field goal percentage was a career-low 41.2. "No excuses," says Richmond. "It was a down year. A lot of things didn't go the right way. Rod and I didn't flow like we wanted to, because we didn't have the time on the practice court to gel. But my numbers can be the same this year, and if we get the wins, then everyone will say they were fine."