"While his teammates were scrimmaging past the midnight hour on Tuesday, Josh Howard was peddling away on a stationary bike. As they were going over defensive schemes the next day, Howard was on a side court with trainers, stretching and lunging forward on his surgically repaired left leg, and then his right leg. And after each practice, Howard has taken the floor to shoot jumpers.

He is moving around pretty well - with no limp and without a brace - only six months after undergoing surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament he tore in only his fourth game after joining the Washington Wizards in a trade deadline deal with Dallas.

"It feels good," said Howard, a seven-year veteran small forward, "but I haven't done any contact stuff, so I can't just throw myself out there and expect to do things I did in the past. It's just a process."

Howard re-signed with Washington on a one-year, incentive-laden contract after the team refused to pick up his $11.8 million option and is not expected to come back until at least November.

But Howard, a former all-star, has joined his teammates at George Mason's Patriot Center, and at a campus hotel, so that he could be a part of the action - or possibly scout the competition. Because with Howard sidelined, there is an opportunity for someone to assume the starting small forward position until the feisty competitor returns to battle for the job.

For now, Coach Flip Saunders is expected to lean on Al Thornton and possibly natural shooting guard Nick Young, 7-foot Yi Jianlian and training camp invitee/reclamation project Adam Morrison. "