THE BOX OUT PICK AND POPS 1. One reason why the Jazz won't plummet out of the West's playoff picture: Matt Harpring. The free agent signee is averaging a career-best 18.6 points per game, including 22.2 in January to key Utah's 8-2 start to the month. He volunteers the gritty play that Jerry Sloan demands, too. 2. It's just a coincidence, but isn't it interesting that both Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are getting minutes at point guard? QUOTE OF THE DAY “You can't have somebody menacing an official on their way out of the building and threatening to do violence to him. It's just not going to be acceptable. Anyone who thinks it is had better find another place to ply their trade because it is not going to be in the NBA.” —Sheriff, er, commissioner David Stern defending the suspension of Blazers bad boy Rasheed Wallace. NUMBER OF THE DAY 14-0 The Wizards' record this season when scoring 100 points or more. TRASH TALK You had your say. So here are the best comments: As a diehard Warrior fan, I am very happy for Larry Hughes. I think he was given a raw deal here in Oakland, being brought in as a savior for a team and organization with no direction. The expectations were too high -- I can't believe he's only 23. John, Union City, Calif. Hughes is nothing. He is lazy and is not even one-tenth the player Gilbert Arenas. Golden Gilbert, Berkeley, Calif. Hughes is the future. Get rid of Stack and get a scorer like Marcus Moore in the draft. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and learning the trade of the point will enhance Hughes' natural "two" skills. One day when he returns to the two spot, he's gonna be a dangerous scorer and playmaker. Ken Mackey, Japan Trevor, Corvallis, Ore. I believe that the Wizards should experiment with Tyronn Lue in the starting lineup at point guard. It's evident he's a capable ballhandler. This would give Hughes an opportunity at the two spot, Stackhouse at the three spot and Jordan first off the bench to keep him fresh. Tiwan Mills, Baltimore Md. Why is it? Why is so much said about a player's age (e.g., Michael Jordan turning 40) instead of performance on the the court. Raymond Hawkins, Greensboro, N.C.

The Larry Hughes Project has been going on now for two years, taking on its second research team this season in trying to transform the natural-born scorer into a smooth distributor of the basketball.

With Hughes' unimpressive 3.2 assist average this season -- down from his 4.3 a game in an aborted point guard experiment in the Bay Area last season -- any government funding would've been pulled long ago. But at least the Washington Wizards have succeeded in one area where others have failed.

Create an on-court identity for Hughes.

"I'm just a guard," said Hughes, preferring the more generic label of his position. "I'm a basketball player who's getting the job done rebounding, scoring and passing the ball."

Hughes' numbers befit a power point guard. He ranks third on the Wizards in scoring (13.5 points per game) and second in rebounding (5.7) to go with the aforementioned 3.2 assists a night. His career-high 46.9 percent shooting, including a personal-best 38.1 percent on 3-pointers, says more about his comfort level on the Wizards than anything else -- that and the smile on his face when he brings the ball up court and gets to see Jerry Stackhouse on one wing and Michael Jordan on the other.

"The thing that has shocked me about him has been his rebounding," Wizards head coach Doug Collins said. "He had six or eight double-double games and led us in rebounding six straight games.

"He's only 23. So we feel like he's a real core player for us. We have a lot of young players, and we'd like to make the playoffs this year. But not at the expense of where we want to go. We hope Larry is going to be a very big piece of that."

A year ago, when this idea of trying to fit the square peg of a 6-foot-5, 184-pound slasher into the round hole of the one spot began at Golden State, Hughes fit in about as well as Robin Ficker at a Michael Jordan retirement party. He started half the season as the Warriors' starting point guard, then watched most of the season's second half from the bench after then-coach Brian Winters promoted then-rookie Gilbert Arenas.

The eighth overall pick in 1998 and the former St. Louis prodigy that ex-76ers teammate Allen Iverson once predicted greatness for, Hughes found himself drifting into last summer as an unrestricted free agent. The life raft in the form of a three-year contract came from the Wizards, who gladly took ownership of The Project.

"I worked pretty hard (the summer of 2001), but the situation just wasn't there to showcase what I put in," Hughes said. "But this summer I worked even harder. I had a better understanding of what the coach wanted me to do. I just came in and he gave me the opportunity to do it."

He still has the chores of a point guard, but the responsibility of running the Wizards' offense doesn't completely fall on him, as evidenced by Stackhouse's team-leading 4.5 assist average and Jordan's second-best 3.8 assist mark. Hughes not only benefits from double teams on Stackhouse and Jordan but he also has the luxury of abusing smaller point guards with his size and quick first step.

"I think he understands that he's not forced to be on the ball all the time and forced to be the playmaker on the team for the other guys. Michael and myself can be a playmaker for him," Stackhouse said. "It's great to have a guy who's capable of scoring instead of a guy who's out there and not comfortable when the ball comes to him."

"When (teams) are keying on those guys, my ability can take over," Hughes said. "I'm able to make plays, make plays at the end of the game when the focus is on those guys. And I'm glad to have those guys around."

Hughes will be in D.C. next season. The same can't be said about Jordan, who's already deemed this season as his last, or Stackhouse, who's headed for free agency.

Stackhouse maintained his uncertain status when he was asked to assess Hughes' development at the point, prefacing his analysis with "it all depends on the direction of the team."

"I think he can easily continue to progress as a point guard or I can see him becoming a guy who can play off the ball," said Stackhouse, who, out the last four games with a groin injury, may return to the lineup against the Hornets tonight (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET). "Maybe if we get another point guard, he can get back to doing his natural thing and that's being a scorer, an aggressive scorer off the ball."

Point guard. Or shooting guard. Hughes doesn't care. He knows his job description this season involves one thing and one thing only -- something about getting a soon-to-be 40-year-old to the playoffs one last time.

"(At Golden State), we were losing big, and I was putting up big numbers. But it really doesn't matter when you're losing. Anybody can score in this league when you take enough shots and get the ball enough," Hughes said. "But to put that together and win? That's what we're trying to do here."

And build a better point guard.

Joe Lago, the NBA editor for ESPN.com, writes the Morning Shootaround every Wednesday and Friday.