By David Aldridge
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 29, 1988

The Washington Bullets, uncertain of the future of free agent center Moses Malone, selected 6-foot-9 Oklahoma forward Harvey Grant with the 12th pick overall in the first round of the NBA draft yesterday. They followed that up by taking two guards, Ledell Eackles of New Orleans and Ed Davender of Kentucky.

The Bullets were trying to fill a major need -- rebounding -- but were not able to come up with the center they wanted, especially when the Chicago Bulls took Vanderbilt's 7-foot Will Perdue on the previous pick. It means Washington still is uncertain about who will be starting in the pivot next season.

Grant can't play center, but he can rebound, something Washington desperately needed. In addition, he impressed the Bullets a great deal by showing them a couple of weeks ago he could do a little more with the ball than post up inside.

"He can score inside," said Coach Wes Unseld. "We knew that, we knew he ran the court exceptionally well. But when we had him in, to actually give him a physical and sit down and talk to him and then work him out, I was extremely surprised at how well he could shoot the ball. I'm talking about a stand-still, three-point shooter. And he did that well."

Grant, whose twin brother Horace was a rookie last season with the Bulls, has had a busy four years. He attended Clemson with his brother for a semester his freshman year, but did not play. He left and then made verbal commitments to both Georgia State and Kentucky. He then changed his mind and played for two seasons at Independence Junior College in Kansas, where he was an all-America player.

He then finished his college journey with two years at Oklahoma, where he averaged 20.9 points and 9.4 rebounds his senior season in teaming with Stacey King. The 35-4 Sooners went to the national championship game this past season, where they fell to Kansas.

Grant's 1,391 points in two seasons put him seventh on Oklahoma's all-time scoring list, and his 19-point average was bettered only by Wayman Tisdale and Alvan Adams.

Of his many decisions on postsecondary education, Grant said yesterday: "It was a learning experience. I was getting recruited by so many people, and I didn't really know how to handle that at the time. But I took it as a learning experience, and I learned from that that sometimes you have to tell people no."

Grant said he thought he would wind up in New York playing for the Knicks until Monday's trade that sent Chicago forward Charles Oakley to the Knicks for reserve center Bill Cartwright. With Washington, Grant won't have the luxury of playing next to Patrick Ewing, and may not get to play with Moses Malone.

"If they lose Moses," he said, "I know I'm going to have to go inside and bang a little bit, and improve my rebounding skills and score a little more."

Unseld said Grant could play some power forward, but his best position might be quick forward. At 205 pounds now, Grant said he'd like to gain 10 or 15 pounds before he starts playing, but not at the expense of his quickness.

But before the regular season starts, Unseld said, Washington has to address its center situation. That means, despite the acquisition of center Dave Feitl earlier in the offseason, Washington still is looking.

"I think it's mandatory that we find somebody," Unseld said, "whether it's Moses or what. We've got to find somebody to fill that position. I think that's a given. I don't think we're in a situation where we can call where we are at the center position a buffer. We've got some people we're looking at {players not drafted Tuesday}, that we will bring in and take a better look at them in a week or so."

Generally, it was a pretty quiet day for the Bullets. General Manager Bob Ferry said a couple of possible deals were discussed, but Washington wasn't as active as it has been on draft days past.

"The worst part about drafting 12th," Ferry said, "is not necessarily the players you select, it's that it takes you out of the action in the league as far as being able to make deals. You can't control things . . . but we had Harvey Grant rated about where we got him and that's all you can ask."

Eackles, the 36th player taken overall, was the most valuable player of the American South Conference, leading in scoring {23.4}.

Unseld wanted to give point guards Steve Colter and Frank Johnson some competition. So he went with Davender, a 6-3, 165-pounder who averaged 15.7 points and four assists last season. He's also the only player in Kentucky history to score more than 1,500 points and have more than 400 assists.

The Bullets were also looking at Vanderbilt's Perdue as a possible pick, but Chica ok the SEC's most valuable player with the 11th selection, just before Washington's.

So the Bullets now have a dilemma: sign Malone to a long-term deal, which he wants, and risk him deteriorating rapidly, or let him go and face losing one of the few consistent scorers {and the only consistent rebounder} they have.

"Nothing has really changed on Moses," Ferry said. "We offered Moses a contract, we talked to him last year. We weren't able to come to terms and that's really where it lies right now."

Ferry said the Bulls' acquisition of Cartwright, combined with their drafting Perdue, may lessen their interest in Malone. But Atlanta, with its decision not to offer a contract to Tree Rollins, may have moved front and center.