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."