Haywood's Shrinking Role Could Be Growing Problem

The Wizards held their first practice at Verizon Center in nearly two weeks yesterday, and center Brendan Haywood was an active participant.

That could be a positive sign for a problem that hovered over the Wizards (37-35) during its six-game trip and could persist as they go through the final 10 games of the regular season.

Haywood was replaced in the starting lineup by Etan Thomas before last Monday's win at Golden State and played a season-low six minutes. Haywood, who is averaging 7.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in 24 minutes, then sat out the next night's win at Sacramento with lower back soreness and missed Friday's loss at Houston.

Before the Houston game, Haywood said his back was feeling better and that he hoped to play the next night at San Antonio. Haywood was in uniform and warmed up before the game against the Spurs but watched the 106-99 loss from the bench in street clothes after Coach Eddie Jordan placed him on the inactive list.

"I feel fine," Haywood said after yesterday's practice. "I feel I could have played the San Antonio game. I thought I was going to play but obviously other people didn't feel I needed to play so I didn't play."

Jordan said he deactivated Haywood on Saturday night because he had not played or practiced since Monday's victory at Golden State.

"I wanted to see Brendan go through a practice," Jordan said. "Today he practiced and he looked good. We'll decide before [tonight's] game if he'll be active."

The Wizards host the New York Knicks in the fourth and final game between the teams tonight at Verizon Center. Washington leads the season series, 2-1.

There is no denying that tension exists between Jordan and Haywood; it has been building throughout the season and appeared to reach a new level when Jordan switched Haywood out of the starting lineup for the second time this season last Monday.

In early January, with Haywood struggling and the Wizards playing their worst basketball, Jordan replaced Haywood and forward Antawn Jamison in the starting lineup for games against Atlanta and Indiana.

"We as coaches have tried everything we could try," Jordan said after a 103-72 home win over Atlanta on Jan. 11. "The last thing to try is changing the lineup, so that's what we did."

Haywood wasn't pleased with the benching or by the fact that he learned about it just an hour or so before tip-off and made his feelings clear to reporters after the game. Haywood and Jamison were back in the starting lineup three days later for a win at Atlanta and remained starters until last week, when Jordan turned to Thomas.