Kwame Brown, the first overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft, was arrested Saturday for doing double the legal speed limit on a highway in Georgia.  Reports out of the Washington Times report that Brown was doing 120mph in a 60 zone, racing a motorcycle in his brand new Mercedes S500 before being stopped at a construction zone.

He posted a cash bond of $1,200 and was released.

"He remained calm throughout, but the one thing he did tell us several times was that Michael [Jordan] was going to be mad at him," said Sgt. Kirk Hartwell, the officer who stopped Brown.

He was a workhorse for the Washington Wizards this season, but is Popeye Jones already on the outer in the nation?s capital?  Maybe so.

As the Wizards look towards Kwame Brown to take over the starting role from Jones, Washington has not decided whether they are going to try to re-sign the blue-collared forward despite Michael Jordan liking him.

Should they decide not to, his agent Kyle Rote has already said he?ll test the free agent market, the New York Knicks may be waiting in the wings.  With their chances of acquiring either Raef LaFrentz or Michael Olowonkandi in a sign and trade are slim at best, the Knicks best shot seems to be to use part of their exception on a player like Jones.

"If the Knicks are looking to upgrade in that position, he should get consideration," Rote said.

And all of a sudden we are all back to where we began.  We will all be watching, reading every single piece of news, searching for clues as to whether Michael Jordan will again be back in uniform next season for the Washington Wizards.  He will recuperate and rest his knee, yet we will be eager to learn of progress reports, jumping to conclusion after conclusion as we go.  Will he or wont he, that is the question.

"For [Jordan], the most important thing will be resting for a couple of months," Collins said yesterday. "He told me he feels he needs three hard months to find out if he can play. That will probably be July, August and September. My guess would be that he will lay low, get through the draft, and then start the stuff he needs to do and then make the decision."

In the meantime the Wizards will again approach the draft as though Michael Jordan will not be on the roster.

"Last year we went into the draft with the idea of him not playing, and we drafted with that in mind," Collins said. "He had broken ribs at the time, and he wasn't sure if he was going to be in shape. This year is very similar. We have to draft and do everything in the offseason with the idea that he is not going to play. He is coming off knee surgery, and there has been one more year on his body of wear and tear.?

"If he plays, that would be great," Collins said. "That will be gravy for us because Michael, if he is able to play next year, I think will be even better than he was this year. Before he had three years off, and now his awareness of what he has to do, at this age, to play the way he wants to play, is there now. He never had to go through before what he did this year to try to play. I think he even knows his body better."

The Toronto Raptors defeated the Atlanta Hawks last night, which officially put an end to the Washington Wizards post-season campaign.  And if that wasn?t enough the team?s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers booked the Wizards into the lottery yet again, a place where Washington has visited annually since 1997.

"It really wouldn't have mattered what we did, but we still wanted to get the game. We wanted the win instead of the loss," said guard Courtney Alexander. "Our whole focus is to get these last two at home. We want to end the season on as positive of a note as possible. Just because we didn't make the playoffs we should have enough pride in ourselves and realize we put too much into the season to lie over and play dead the rest of the season."

"We're trying to get better. We're trying to learn. We're trying to prepare for next year, trying to prepare for the future. This ruins our hopes for the playoffs but we can use these last two games to get better," added rookie Etan Thomas, who had his second big game with 12 points and 11 boards.

Who are the most important pieces to the future of the Washington Wizards, and yes, we are talking post-Michael III?  Is it Richard Hamilton?  Perhaps Courtney Alexander?  Wrong.  According to John Mtchell of the Washington Times the most important players may be Etan Thomas, Kwame Brown and Brandon Haywood.

Having already watched star players Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace come and go like ordinary role players the Wizards may already have their frontcourt of the future.  The Wizards? three rookies this year have each gone through a different transition period; Haywood started like a man possessed, Thomas played as if he was scared and Kwame, according to coach Doug Collins, was simply green.  However all three have also given glimpses of the future at times this season, with Thomas and Brown doing so as of late, which has put smiles on the Wizards? managements faces, playoffs or no playoffs this season.

"The toughest thing in this league is to get good big guys, and we've got some good young big guys, which is good," Collins said. "Now we've got to be able to shore up some other areas, but it looks like we're moving in the right direction.?

"We've got a lot of reasons to be optimistic," Collins said with a smile

John Denton of the Florida Today reports: With icepacks strapped to both of his tendinitis-ravaged knees, Orlando forward Horace Grant limped out of the arena following the Magic's morning practice Wednesday and stressed that he still plans to retire at season's end.

And he's recommending the same thing for his former teammate _ Michael Jordan.

Jordan, who has been bothered by knee pain all season and had surgery a month ago, announced Wednesday he was finished playing for the season. But Jordan, who might need further knee surgery this summer, has said repeatedly that he'd like to return next season.

"I know how bad I feel and I'm just 36 and he's 39," said Grant, who returned to the Magic's starting lineup after missing Sunday's victory against New York. "He's been averaging 34 minutes all season, and a guy up in his years like that it's just going to be difficult to last all year. Once he had the surgery this year I sort of thought the writing was on the wall for him."

Grant is hoping the Magic can lock up homecourt advantage in the next week so he can rest his knees prior to the playoffs. Grant scoffed at the notion that the Magic might be able to talk him out of retirement this summer. And he added he has no plans to undergo the same kind of knee surgery that Jordan is banking on to come back next season.

"Michael can get surgery and feel great early in the season," Grant predicted. "But 40 games into the season that fluid is going to come back into his knees and the tendinitis is going to come back. It's going to be difficult for him to make it through a full season."

With icepacks strapped to both of his tendinitis-ravaged knees, Orlando forward Horace Grant limped out of the arena following the Magic's morning practice Wednesday and stressed that he still plans to retire at season's end.

And he's recommending the same thing for his former teammate _ Michael Jordan.

Jordan, who has been bothered by knee pain all season and had surgery a month ago, announced Wednesday he was finished playing for the season. But Jordan, who might need further knee surgery this summer, has said repeatedly that he'd like to return next season.

"I know how bad I feel and I'm just 36 and he's 39," said Grant, who returned to the Magic's starting lineup after missing Sunday's victory against New York. "He's been averaging 34 minutes all season, and a guy up in his years like that it's just going to be difficult to last all year. Once he had the surgery this year I sort of thought the writing was on the wall for him."

Grant is hoping the Magic can lock up homecourt advantage in the next week so he can rest his knees prior to the playoffs. Grant scoffed at the notion that the Magic might be able to talk him out of retirement this summer. And he added he has no plans to undergo the same kind of knee surgery that Jordan is banking on to come back next season.

"Michael can get surgery and feel great early in the season," Grant predicted. "But 40 games into the season that fluid is going to come back into his knees and the tendinitis is going to come back. It's going to be difficult for him to make it through a full season."

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Magic coach Doc Rivers got to know Kenyon Martin during the Goodwill Games in Australia last summer and feels the New Jersey Nets forward isn't quite the dirty player he's been made out to be this season.

Martin has been suspended five times this season for flagrant fouls. In all, he's missed eight games because of suspensions. One of his nastiest fouls came in January when he clubbed Magic star Tracy McGrady in the head to prevent a layup. He was also suspended for clotheslining Karl Malone, elbowing Shareef Abdur-Rahim and hitting Eddy Curry with a shoulder.

"He's had a lot of dirty plays, but I don't think he's a dirty player," Rivers said. "He crosses the line at times but that's because of his emotions. He's not thinking about intentionally taking somebody out. He's thinking he wants to play physical and give hard fouls. He just needs to learn the difference between hard fouls and dirty fouls."

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Magic veteran small forward Jud Buechler was unhappy about being placed on the injured list so Orlando could sign Jaren Jackson. But Buechler was as unhappy with himself as anything.

He admitted he hasn't played well since coming to Orlando in a November trade with the Phoenix Suns. In 58 games with the Magic, Buechler has averaged 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds. He is shooting just 38.3 percent from the floor and 37.3 percent from the 3-point line.

"I understand the nature of this business and I've been around long enough to know that if you don't get the job done there are plenty of guys out there who can play in the NBA," Buechler said. "The disappointment is with myself. I don't feel I've played the way I'm capable of playing. It's disappointing."

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Mike Miller was back in the starting lineup after coming off the bench the past two games. Miller missed three weeks with a deep bone bruise in his left ankle and is still struggling with his conditioning. Said Rivers: "I'm surprised by that. He's been riding the bike and working on the stairmaster. But that just proves that that's not like playing basketball. A lot of his shots are still coming up short because his legs just aren't there yet." . . . Magic general manager John Gabriel was in Virginia on Thursday scouting the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, while Gary Brokaw, the Magic's player personnel director, was at the McDonald's High School All-America Game in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

There are seven games remaining in the Washington Wizards season, and to even have a chance at making the postseason the team must win at least six to even be given a chance.  Despite the long odds, and the absence of one ?Air? loom, the Wizards are not ready to give up just yet.

"Obviously, we're still working toward the future of this franchise, and we need to instill in everybody, 'Hey, don't quit because Michael's missing and it looks like we're not going to make the playoffs,' " forward Popeye Jones said yesterday.

"I think we can go ahead and say that the odds are not with us, but don't stop working. We've worked too hard this year and have come too far to give up now. When you start a race, you want to run that race to the finish line, regardless of whether you win or lose. That's what we're trying to do."