Juwan Howard

BOWIE -- One thing Chris Webber has learned by suffering two dislocated shoulders in less than a year is to be cautious. That is why the Washington Bullets forward, feeling that something was not right with his left shoulder, sat out a game against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.Webber was back at practice yesterday -- along with a couple of new faces -- and said he will play tonight when the Bullets face the Milwaukee Bucks at USAir Arena."It feels a lot better," said Webber, before leaving for New York for a taping of "The Maury Povich Show" that is scheduled to be aired on Christmas.

LANDOVER -- It was a chance to get back in the win column for the Washington Bullets, who got a chance to host the expansion Toronto Raptors last night. Instead, the Bullets became a footnote in Raptors history.Toronto won for the first time on the road in its brief history, getting a clutch jumper from rookie guard Damon Stoudamire with 2.5 seconds for a 103-102 win over the Bullets at the USAir Arena.Calbert Cheaney had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but his jumper in the lane just before the buzzer hit the back rim and bounced away.

Opponent: Philadelphia 76ersSite: The Spectrum, PhiladelphiaTime: 7:30 p.m.TV/Radio: Channel 50/WWLG (1360 AM), WTEM (570 AM)Outlook: Both teams sport new looks, although the Sixers are healthy enough to put all their additions on the court. The Sixers (24-58) signed G Vernon Maxwell and F Richard Dumas as free agents, and Maxwell will spend much of his time at the point. But they're most excited about F/G Jerry Stackhouse, who may be (( the league's top rookie. Washington's new look will be at point guard, with newly acquired Robert Pack being pressed into action in the opener.

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.

BOWIE -- Chris Webber is a positive thinker. So when a worse-case scenario was posed about his sore left shoulder -- the same one he separated last season, leading to his missing 19 games -- Webber wanted to think nothing of it."Nothing's going to go wrong," Webber said. "I just have to think that way."And yet for the Washington Bullets there has to be major concern about the injury, which forced Webber to miss the team's three-hour practice yesterday at Bowie State. Webber can't exactly pin down when the injury occurred, but he said it may have been during his brief scuffle with Luc Longley during the 112-87 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday at the United Center.

The Bullets are going to screw this up.They're going to blow a chance to draft Rasheed Wallace if they trade the No. 4 pick in tonight's NBA draft to Portland.They'd give up the pick, plus Rex Chapman or Calbert Cheaney.They'd get Rod Strickland, plus the No. 8 pick or Cliff Robinson.Not enough, if the other option is Wallace.Not nearly enough.Forget all their past lottery misfortune -- this time, the Bullets have no excuses.For weeks, the top four picks appeared set, but the rising stock of high school phenom Kevin Garnett has put the Bullets in a stronger position than they ever imagined.

NEW YORK -- A lopsided first half was drawing to a close, and so appeared to be the Washington Bullets' evening. It was going so bad for the visitors that one of the fans not far behind the Bullets' bench began to let loose:"You guys," the guy screamed, "are worse than an expansion team."With no expansion in the NBA this season, there really is no way to tell. But the Bullets, over the course of the evening, managed to tie the worst losing streak in franchise history with a 110-100 loss before a sellout crowd of 19,756.

It opens with the theme music of "The McLaughlin Group," but the topic of discussion is not politics -- it's basketball. Specifically, the NBA's Rookie of the Year award, with members of the group raving about the skills of Washington Bullets forward Juwan Howard."