Juwan Howard

SAN ANTONIO -- Ask Sandy Walkowe about Washington Bullets forward Juwan Howard, and she'll tell you about how one of the nation's most popular college basketball stars walked into her life in December 1992 by befriending her AIDS-stricken son, Randy, who wasn't expected to live to see Christmas."

Ever since he left UMBC more than a decade ago, Jeff Bzdelik has been one of those obscure NBA assistant coaches whose nondescript face was rarely attached to his hard-to-pronounce name. Not much has changed for Bzdelik (pronounced buzz-Del-ick) in terms of his profile, except now he is taking obscurity to a new level -- as the still unknown first-year head coach of the NBA's most faceless franchise, the Denver Nuggets. It is a match made in salary cap heaven. Bzdelik, 50, was named last August to succeed Mike Evans as coach of a team that starts three rookies, lists three others on the NBA's lowest payroll and has only two widely recognizable names -- center Marcus Camby and forward Juwan Howard -- on its roster.

Opponent: Minnesota TimberwolvesPlace: USAir ArenaTime: 7: 30Radio: WWRC (980 AM)Outlook: This game will match teams led by talented forward tandems. Former Bullets F Tom Gugliotta (21.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg) and second-year F Kevin Garnett (15.9 ppg, 8.7 rpg) lead the Timberwolves. The Bullets have won two straight, including Saturday's win over Milwaukee. Washington is led by F Juwan Howard (23 points, eight rebounds against the Bucks) and F Chris Webber (20 points, 15 rebounds). The Bullets won both meetings last season.

OK, so it's hard to think of a $15 million-a-year player as a victim, but there's a pretty good chance that Juwan Howard was robbed of a spot in next week's All-Star Game in his own building. Howard, the 6-foot-9 forward of the Washington Wizards, won't show up on anyone's list of elite players, nor should he. But he has had a steady if not spectacular first half of the season that probably should have been rewarded with an All-Star berth next Sunday. It has become fashionable to bash Howard, in the midst of a long-term, big-bucks contract, for not playing up to what he's paid.

Washington Bullets Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Calbert Cheaney and Mitchell Butler will celebrate the Stay in School Jam with more than 6,500 elementary students from Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Howard County at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Baltimore Arena.There will be a performance of "The Tortoise and the Hare" by an acting troupe from Library Theatre and musical entertainment by LaFace singer Usher. The program is a celebration of a four-month reading incentive project, "Pick and Roll," in which students who had read five books outside the classroom between November and March were rewarded with two tickets to a Bullets home game.

Juwan Howard, the Washington Bullets' first-round draft pick, yesterday rejected the team's latest contract offer at a two-hour meeting at the home of Bullets owner Abe Pollin, the club said in a news release.The money offered was unchanged -- a guaranteed $30.7 million over 10 years. Yesterday, however, the club said it included a series of options that would allow Howard to negotiate for more money after his second, third or fourth years. He also was offered an unconditional right to terminate midway through the contract.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- They fielded an NCAA championship basketball team here before the celebrated Fab Five arrived. That group never won a national title, yet it was the style, attitude and enthusiasm of players such as Chris Webber and Juwan Howard that made wearing a Michigan basketball jersey a nationwide fad that remains to this day."My first two years at Michigan, with all the Fab Five together, we really had some great, great times," said Howard, now a second-year forward for the Washington Bullets, referring to the celebrated recruiting class of Howard, Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson.

WASHINGTON - There's a proverb that states that the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. While the NBA playoffs or even a .500 record are a long way away for the Washington Wizards, last night's 115-108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves indicates a baby step in the right direction. The victory, the Wizards' second straight, marked the first time in 39 games that the team has won consecutive games, dating back to last season when Washington beat Boston on March 31 and New Jersey on April 4. More significantly, the win, coming against a quality playoff team at a fairly advanced juncture of the season, seems to indicate that the Wizards (7-25)

ORLANDO, Fla. - Some jokester in the NBA's scheduling department must have gone for a couple of chuckles when he matched the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic in the season opener on Halloween night. One of the jokes, a play on their nicknames, was obvious. And given the opposing directions the two teams are perceived to be headed, the second joke was supposed to be at Washington's expense. But the Wizards almost supplied their own punch line, battling back from a 15-point first-half deficit to challenge the Magic before falling, 97-86, before a sparse opening-night crowd of 13,349 at the TD Waterhouse Centre.

WILMINGTON, N.C. - With so many new components to be added to the mix, it's understandable that the Washington Wizards left training camp yesterday with a number of questions to be answered. Not only is basketball operations chief Michael Jordan making his first sweep through a season in that capacity, but new coach Leonard Hamilton is making his first foray into the NBA after 28 years in the college ranks. So, as Jordan and Hamilton broke camp a day early yesterday, sending the players on to Memphis for tonight's exhibition opener against the Los Angeles Lakers, they left this picturesque town looking for answers.

WASHINGTON - Precedent is no friend of Leonard Hamilton, the 51-year-old North Carolina native who was announced as the Washington Wizards' head coach yesterday during a news conference at MCI Center. College coaches with no professional experience tend to come into the NBA with much fanfare but often struggle. Hamilton has built a sterling reputation over 28 years as a coach - the past 10 as the head man at the University of Miami - but none at the pro level. Nonetheless, Hamilton had teaching credentials that fit the bill for Wizards president of basketball operations Michael Jordan, who met him while a high school player in the late 1970s.

WASHINGTON -- For the second season in a row, the playoff fate of the Washington Wizards comes down to the final day of the regular season. But instead of taking care of their own business -- like they did last year -- the Wizards this time have to rely on the misfortune of others.The Wizards took care of their business last night in the final game of the regular season. Facing elimination for the fourth straight game, Washington came through with another impressive effort in a 112-95 win over the Boston Celtics.

WASHINGTON -- It was, said coach Bernie Bickerstaff, "the culmination of everything coming down." Whatever the reason, fighting for their playoff lives, the Washington Wizards walked off the court with their heads sunk low at the half when they scored a season-low 29 points and trailed by 31."Leaving the court to the boos and with our heads down, we could have thrown in the towel," Wizards forward Juwan Howard said. "We didn't do that."Though the Wizards trimmed a 32-point deficit to 10, it was no time for moral victories.

WASHINGTON -- It was Michael Jordan's first appearance at the MCI Center, and possibly his last in the Washington area as an NBA player. And while he didn't come forth with a performance that was vintage Jordan, that really wasn't necessary against the depleted Washington Wizards.The Wizards looked good -- that is the seven players dressed in suits at the end of the bench looked as if they had stepped out of the pages of a GQ magazine photo shoot. But that high fashion was of no use to the players on the floor in last night's 94-88 loss before a sellout crowd that included President Clinton.

It's been an NBA off-season that has featured major trades and several coaching changes. But when Washington's basketball team begins training camp tomorrow at Shepherd College in West Virginia, the only major difference will be the name.The team formerly known as the Bullets will suit up for 1997-98 as the Washington Wizards.In December, they will have a new place to call home when they move from USAir Arena in suburban Landover into the new MCI Center in downtown Washington.But the faces will be pretty much the same.