Labradford

The Washington Bullets' overcrowded backcourt lost a candidate yesterday when Haywoode Workman signed a two-year contract to play for Pesaro Scavolini in the Italian Basketball League.According to his agent, Frank Capatano, Pesaro more than doubled the Bullets' qualifying offer of $180,000 to Workman, who received the minimum NBA salary of $120,000 last season, when he made the team as a free agent.Workman, 25, was in Italy this week trying out for Pesaro, which was searching for a proven pro guard after failing to acquire John Paxson, who re-signed with the Chicago Bulls last week.

LANDOVER -- Washington Bullets coach Wes Unseld figures he knows a few things about being in Louisville. After all, he grew up there and was an All-American center at the local university.So, Unseld cast a skeptical glance at the team's attempts to draw on the commonality shared among him, Bullets center and former Cardinal Pervis Ellison and new first-round draft choice LaBradford Smith by calling them "Louisville Sluggers.""I'm the only one who's from Louisville, but I know who's going to be slugging," said Unseld.

LANDOVER -- His pro basketball debut is still four months away, but rookie guard LaBradford Smith has faced his first frustration.The first-round selection of the Washington Bullets will not be able to wear No. 23, the uniform number he sported during his Louisville career in tribute to his idol, Michael Jordan. That number belongs to reserve center Charles Jones, the Bullets' least Jordan-like player." 'Dr. J' [Julius Erving] and Michael Jordan are my favorite basketball players," said Smith, appearing at his first Bullets news conference yesterday.

North Carolina State guard Rodney Monroe expected to be drafted by either the Atlanta Hawks or Washington Bullets in Wednesday's NBA draft. It's just that he didn't expect to have to wait until the second round -- and for seven other guards to be chosen -- until he went on the 30th pick to the Hawks.There were the lingering questions among pro scouts about his size and ability to create shots off the dribble, but not since Wake Forest's Charlie Davis in 1971 has the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year slipped below the first round.

LANDOVER -- The Washington Bullets had taken a break in the last couple of years from opening the Capital Centre to the public to watch them make selections in the NBA draft.They reopened the arena last night, but the crowd hadn't forgotten the long-standing tradition attached to the Bullets' selection-making process: booing.In fact, despite its small numbers, the crowd hooted the choice of Louisville guard LaBradford Smith at the 19th slot in the first round so loudly that Bullets general manager John Nash felt a little defensive when he strode to the microphone to explain the pick after the first round ended.