Bullets Need Consistency From Guards : Whatley or Adams Will Have to Come to the Forefront

“When Ennis Whatley came into the league he was tougher for me to play than Isiah Thomas. Isiah could embarrass you, but only if you got him mad. Ennis, though, was always attacking, always coming right at you.�

The identity of the speaker, who currently plays guard in the NBA, isn’t important. What is important is that someone would include Ennis Whatley and Isiah Thomas in the same breath.

Of course, this was the Ennis Whatley of 1983, who came into the league after just two years at Alabama, joined a Chicago Bulls team immersed in dissension and thrived nevertheless, averaging more than eight points and eight assists per game.

Today, Ennis Whatley is just trying to keep a job in the NBA, a feeling to which teammate Michael Adams can relate. Adams, 5 feet 11, from Boston College, was cut after playing 18 games with the Sacramento Kings last season and was cut by the Washington Bullets late in the pre-season this year.

But now, Whatley and Adams are manning the lead guard spot for the Bullets, which is a point of disconsolation among many fans. Neither man has played poorly, but apart from Adams’ darting, quicksilver full-court bursts, neither has done a great deal to distinguish himself.

Whatley is averaging 4.4 assists per game, Adams 4.0, both barely ahead of the 3.8 mark registered by Jeff Malone, who often looks upon the pass only as a last resort. In fact, Malone’s 77 assists lead the Bullets, and the lowly Los Angeles Clippers are the only other NBA squad whose team leader has fewer than 100 assists. The Bullets’ total of 433 assists ranks next to last in the league, only three more than the Detroit Pistons, for whom Thomas ordinarily is one of the league assist leaders.

After Moses Malone and Jeff Malone, Washington’s next leading scorer is power forward Terry Catledge, who produces mainly off offensive rebounds. Unlike the Bullets of recent years, this squad has no one coming around a pick to shoot jump shots that could be expected to go in and complement those of Jeff Malone.

That’s why Coach Kevin Loughery has been tolerant about the guard situation.

“I think I’ve been pretty decent,� said Whatley.

“For what I’ve been asked to do -- pushing the ball up the floor, creating havoc with the other team -- I think I’ve done well,� said Adams.

“At this stage we’re satisfied with how they’ve played,� said Loughery. “You consider the circumstances, with Frank (Johnson, the starter who broke a foot 10 games into the season) going down the way he did. Then, too, it’s tough to play point guard for this club. We want full-court pressure and you’re responsible for executing the offense.�

Whatley, better than anyone else, knows it also can be tough playing for Loughery, who coached the Bulls in 1983-84. The next season, Loughery soured on Whatley, cutting his minutes by almost 50 percent. The following June, Whatley was traded to Cleveland, beginning an odyssey from the Cavaliers to the Bullets to the San Antonio Spurs, who released him in February.

Whatley signed this summer with Washington as a free agent and played his way onto the team, although his performance has not returned to the level of his rookie year. Whatley doesn’t constantly attack, often seeming satisfied to go with the flow instead of setting the pace. He says that comes from playing against inferior players.

“When it’s somebody who’s great or better than me, I know that I have to work hard, but when it’s someone who’s not as good, then I get a chance to relax,� Whatley said. “When I’m aggressive, playing hard, I’m pretty decent. When I sit back, I’m only average.�

Largely because of his diminutive stature, Adams is closely scrutinized and knows he must be in perpetual motion. That has worked to the Bullets’ advantage at times, usually when he is on the floor with players who can keep up with him, for instance first-round draft choice John Williams. Other times it appears that Adams is trying to do too much, such as in Tuesday’s 109-106 loss to Utah, when his effort to double-team on defense left him out of position and led to an easy basket for the Jazz.

Given that the Bullets need outside shooting, the point guards may be pressed to help. That was a dimension added by Johnson, although some players argued that he, like Darwin Cook, is better suited to the off, not the lead, guard spot.

Loughery says he expects different things from Whatley and Adams, but wants consistency from both.