Moses Can Write His Own Ticket : Bullets Have Let Him Become a True Free Agent

PONTIAC, Mich. — The most difficult question facing the Washington Bullets--what to do with Moses Malone--may now be out of their hands. Under the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, all Moses need do to become a free agent, unencumbered to make his own deal with any team in the league, is sit tight and sign nothing until the midnight following the final game of the championship series. After that, the line forms on the left.

Under the old rules, the Bullets would have been entitled to recompense for losing Moses. Most likely, they’d have matched his offer sheet, then accommodated Moses by trading him to the team of his choice, getting players and/or draft picks in return. Compensation is no longer available to the Bullets. Moses can move at no cost to his new team. So, the Bullets can either sign him for themselves or lose him.

“We’re going to attempt to sign him,” Bullets’ owner Abe Pollin said. Having mutually agreed not to negotiate during the playoffs, Pollin said discussions will resume afterward, and he was optimistic about the Bullets’ chances of signing Moses.

“I think Moses wants to stay,” Pollin said. “They bought a big house. He likes the area. I like him. He likes me . . . We’ll try.”

But they shouldn’t try too hard.

They should let their Moses go.

Let him go to a team that’s just a sturdy and productive center shy of championship caliber, like Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle or Dallas. Let him finish his brilliant career playing to packed houses and appreciative audiences. Let him go, thank him for his proud and honest work and get on with rebuilding the Bullets rather than just repatching them.

Admittedly it’s easy for me to say this because my employment as a sportswriter doesn’t depend on winning games. A coach or a general manager might not find a radically long range philosophy of sinking to the bottom and resurfacing through the draft quite as appealing. Their job security might be strained by such a leisurely approach. An owner might be terrified by the prospect of displaying a gelatinous team, especially an owner already dismayed by sparse attendance. It’s always easier to take a long view from outside the compound.

And all this may be moot because Moses may want no part of the Bullets anymore. But the case against signing Moses is based on the supposition that ultimately both he and the Bullets are better off without each other. At 33, Moses is still a great player, the best the Bullets have. He’s their only player capable of dominating a game, and when he’s playing well, his presence alone makes the Bullets competitive with any team in the league. This season, the Bullets were 17-8 in games in which Moses led them in scoring; they were 16-3 in games in which he scored 25 or more. Yet, in his two seasons with them, the Bullets are 80-84. In the two previous seasons without him, the Bullets were 81-83. So what real difference has he made?

He has kept the Bullets in the playoffs, kept their heads above water, just high enough to be banged against the wall. A yeoman effort, but has it benefitted either party? Without him, they are Sacramento or the Clippers--horrendous, but with a chance to rise through The NBA Lottery. With him, they are picking 12th, immobilized in the NBA’s aspic.

Moses probably doesn’t have many outstanding years left. He’s been pounded on for 14 exhausting seasons in the ABA and NBA. He reversed a six-season downward trend by improving his field goal percentage, but his scoring average (20.3) was his lowest in 10 seasons and his rebounding average (11.2) was his lowest in his 12 NBA seasons. He’s 11 points and six rebounds beneath his highwater crest. On offense, he regularly finds himself enveloped by a conspiracy of opposing players; more and more Moses’ scoring has grown dependent on referees putting him on the line. On defense, he bumps and grinds the way the great old infantrymen did, but these kids with their quick feet and their explosive spring, they’re the air force; for the times, they are a’changing.

Moses wants minutes. He’s not like Bill Walton going to the Boston Celtics in a supporting role. He’s more like Oscar Robertson going to the Milwaukee Bucks as a major star in a limited run. On a good team with more diversified scoring and rebounding, Moses could get quality minutes. On the Bullets, he gets quantity minutes. On the Bullets, Moses can justifiably argue that the best way to win is for him to have the ball. On another team, he might be more receptive to sharing that responsibility. He has large hands. There’s room on them for championship rings he won’t get here.

In recent years, the Bullets have remained competitive through the short-term strategy of trading for honored veterans and passing them one more time through the juicer. Gus Williams, Dan Roundfield and Moses Malone were acquired in this manner, and Bernard King was signed in this same spirit. Each move was well-intentioned. Each move demonstrated the organization’s commitment to the fans. But for all their noble efforts at pursuing this course, the Bullets are 20th in the league in attendance, and their alarming 11.59% decline this season was exceeded by only one team. As frightening as it may be to contemplate what support there would be for this team without Moses, it seems clear that this Greybeard Strategy isn’t working. I’d be a nervous wreck, too, if my star center was gone, leaving me with Manute Bol, Jay Murphy and whatever I could scrounge via trade or picking 12th in a weak draft. It’s not a cheery prescription, but perhaps the Bullets ought to let gravity take its course, and hope to find something like a trampoline when they hit bottom.