Surprise Hotshots

A few weeks before the opening of their season, the Baltimore Bullets be decked the town with posters portraying determined-looking team members and bearing the line, WE'VE GOT A FEW SCORES TO SETTLE. The hoopla sounded nice but, since it was raised by a team that had finished last in its division for two straight years, nobody believed a word of it. Nobody, apparently, except the Bullets. Last week, with a league-leading 24-7 record, the once lowly Bullets were the surprise hotshots of the National Basketball Association.

Split by dissension, unsettled by frequent shifts in owners and coaches, and booed by their followers, the Bullets of old played a brand of ball that was each man for himself. More than anything, they needed the knack of playing together as a team. This year they seem to be doing just that, even while utilizing the highly individualistic talents of a superstar and the remarkable performance of a rookie. The star is Earl ("the Pearl") Monroe. The rookie is Westley Unseld, 22, a relatively small (6 ft. 7 1/2 in.) center playing his first year in the N.B.A.

Tall Bystanders. Monroe, a spectacular player, provides just the right amount of razzmatazz to perk up the team--and the box office. So far, home attendance is up 38,000 over last season. Though tiny (6 ft. 3 1/2 in.) for the N.B.A., Monroe is a jitterbug on the court, feinting four ways as he goes a fifth--and his defender heads off in a sixth direction. Explains Monroe: "The thing is, I don't know what I'm going to do with the ball, and if I don't know, I'm quite sure the guy guarding me doesn't know either."

Bullet fans are equally sold on Unseld. As formidable as Monroe is flashy, the former University of Louisville All-America has been commanding the backboards as though the taller men in the league were merely bystanders. In a recent game against the Lakers, he grabbed 27 rebounds to Wilt Chamberlain's 21. Two weeks ago, against the Boston Celtics, he hauled down 27 to Bill Russell's 14. Off the defensive boards, Unseld gloms onto the ball and rockets it to half court so quickly that the Bullets' chief offensive threat this season is their headstart fast break.

In past seasons there were frequent rumors in Baltimore that the franchise for the hapless Bullets would be moved to another city, where the team could make a fresh start. This year the only hot speculation making the rounds is that the city will soon be the home of two championship pro teams, the Bullets and the Baltimore Colts.

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