On approach, the massiveness of his 7-foot-7 body screams intimidation. When he extends his right hand -- with a grasp so wide he can grip the top and bottom of a soda can between his thumb and index finger -- you wonder if a handshake is really a good idea.

Then you watch him on the court just left of the foul line, demanding the ball, catching and shooting in one fluid motion. You can close your eyes and listen to the nets snap -- pop, pop, pop -- and remember his skilled, feathery shooting touch.

Once, Gheorghe Muresan put on such shooting displays at NBA arenas near you. For two straight years with the then Washington Bullets, he was the NBA's most accurate shooter. His league-leading percentage of .604 during 1996-97 was a career best.

These days, he's firing shots at the Sinai WellBridge Clinic gymnasium, where he's undergoing extensive rehabilitation in an attempt to resurrect his career.

What was once believed to be an injured Achilles' tendon was diagnosed last year as compressed nerves, resulting in surgery on a vertebra in June. According to a Wizards team physician, Dr. Richard Grossman, all of Muresan's current physical problems stem from a tumor -- previously removed -- on his pituitary gland.

"He will never be able to get his strength back so that he can function at the level that the organization would like him to," Grossman said.

Still, for the last three months, Muresan has traveled from his Anne Arundel County home to Pikesville four times a week for extensive rehabilitation. Shooting alone in the gym,the man without a team hopes -- no, he vows -- he'll be back.

"When you're not playing, when you're not around the guys it's pretty hard to watch the games," says the 28-year-old Muresan. "But I will do everything I can to get back to playing. I'll be back next season, you'll see."

It's no coincidence that the last time Washington made the NBA playoffs was the last time Muresan played. In 1997, the Bullets, led by Muresan, won their final regular-season game to clinch the last postseason berth.

But even then the physical decline of the Romanian native was taking place. Prior to that game, back spasms had kept Muresan out of two straight games.

By the time he entered the playoff series against the Chicago Bulls, the pain had shifted to the right side of his body. What was then diagnosed as a strained right hip flexor limited his mobility. He played only 70 minutes as the Bullets were swept in three games by the eventual NBA champions.

"I played hurt and it was hard for me to move," Muresan says of the pain he felt in his final games, two years ago next week.

That summer Muresan's ailment shifted to his right foot. Before leaving to shoot the movie, "My Giant," with Billy Crystal in the summer of 1997, Muresan was given a special shoe to wear. When training camp started that fall, what was believed to be a strained right tendon put the starting center on the injured list.

The criticism directed at him was heavy.

"To get hurt during the movie, and don't get hurt doing the basketball -- that's pretty stupid to believe," says Muresan, still clearly perturbed about the remarks. "I felt bad before I shot the movie, at the end of the season. Who said it was from the movie? Maybe someone from the team said something."

Said Wizards general manager Wes Unseld: "The organization never did that. I came out to Las Vegas on the set. We know this is a continual, medical problem. The organization never blamed that on Gheorghe."

Muresan missed the entire 1997-98 season, his last year under contract. Frustrated, he sought a second opinion. The diagnosis came back as a problem with his back, not his foot. He had surgery in June during which an overly large vertebra was shaved, relieving pressure on three nerves that were being compressed.

The mild-mannered Muresan raises his voice slightly as he talks about missing two seasons and one year's pay -- which he feels could have been avoided. As he turns his shirtless torso to show the seven-inch scar on his lower back, he complains about his early medical treatment and a team physician's decision to put his foot in a cast for six weeks.

"I had back problems before I shot the movie," Muresan says. "The Washington Wizards' doctors blamed the tendon, and I didn't have pain in the tendon."

"I don't think he understands the ramifications of his disease, the fact that he had this tumor and his bones grew so quickly," Grossman said. "He is basically losing his nerve through his upper extremities, and to a certain extent his lower extremities.

"He was hoping his back surgery would make him well enough where he could play. But with the combination that's going on, it's a progressive disorder for him."

"I started taking new treatments for my gland problem in December, and I feel 100 percent better," Muresan said. "I take a shot every day, and it works very good. I'm much better than I was last year, three years ago. I'm going to play again."

Despite his ill feelings toward the team's medical staff, Muresan said he would still play for the Wizards. He has visited the Charlotte Hornets -- he failed a physical there in February, but the team remains interested and yesterday he visited the New Jersey Nets.

"It would be tough to deal with the [Wizards'] doctors. I cannot trust them," Muresan says. "But this is my home. I would love to play in Washington."

And the Wizards?

"We would love to have Gheorghe back," Unseld says. "Gheorghe is dedicated. I've been around this game around 30 years, and there's no one that works as hard as Gheorghe. That is what's so sad for us, and for him. He really puts in the time and effort to enhance his game."

Stretching out

At Sinai, the workout session has moved from the basketball court to the weight room upstairs. Muresan plops his mammoth trunk on one of the weight benches where Michael Kelly, Muresan's therapist, guides him through various exercises to strengthen abdominal and back muscles.

Then it's on to the exercise mat. "I have to admit, this is my favorite part of the whole thing," says Kelly, the corporate fitness director at Sinai. He twists and turns Muresan's body like a pretzel, yielding screams and grunts that turns heads in the room.

"Thank you, Michael," Muresan says, in his heavy Romanian accent, when the stretching is completed.

"He digs in deep and he does his work," said Kelly, whom Muresan came to on a referral from Wizards strength and conditioning coach Dennis Householder. "He's very determined, I can see that. Many times with professional athletes, it's difficult to get them to train. He's here on a consistent basis. My goal? It's to see him get back to the NBA."

'I'm still young'

It's close to 1 p.m., three hours after his workout began, and Muresan is finally done. Seated on a plastic lawn chair that nearly sends him crashing to the floor as it buckles under his 320 pounds (he was 340 when he began working out with Kelly), Muresan reflects on the changes in his life without the NBA.

"In a way, it's been lonely," Muresan says. "But I have had a lot of time with my wife [Liliana] and I have spent a lot of time with my son [George, now 11 months].

"Before my son was born, I could go out and do anything," Muresan adds. "Now, everything I do I know I have to in my son's best interests. I'm more mature. I have more responsibility."

And he has also been without a paycheck since the 1997-98 season ended, which means he is living on savings. He earned $1.5 million in the last year of his contract.

"Being away, now you realize one day these checks are going to stop coming," says Muresan, who picked up a few dollars making a video with rapper Eminem. "Now, if I make another contract, I know I have to take care of money. Before, I spend my money on everything."

Now he buys necessities to get him back in the game. One is a new, 28-inch mountain bike that cost $4,600. Its builder, John Hollands of Hollands Cycles says, "As far as I know, no one in the world has built a bike this big with a front suspension."

Some items Muresan needs, he can't get. Unable to obtain size 20 aquatic shoes, he wears leather sneakers in the water.

He doesn't mind making do, if that will help him get back to the basketball he loves. "I'm not that far off from getting back on the court," Muresan says. "But I have to go slow and do it right, rather than fast and bad.

"I'm still young, I still have time," Muresan adds. "I will do anything to get back playing. And when I come back, I want to be better than I was before."

Pub Date: 4/22/99