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Your Washington Wizards are determined to make the playoffs after being the only team not to make last season’s playoffs picture in the Southeast Division and head coach Flip Sauders, now in his 2nd season will have the opportunity to prove that the franchise’s hiring of him was not a mistake.
In the offseason, the team had the No.1 overall draft pick and selected point guard John Wall, Kevin Seraphin (17th overall selection), Trevor Booker (23rd overall selection) and Hamady N’Diaye. Their starting lineup includes Wall at the Point, Gilbert Arenas at the two, Josh Howard at small forward, Andray Blatche at the 4-position and JaVale McGee at center.
Be sure to come out and support your Washington Wizards as they attempt to get back in the NBA Playoffs in 2011.
The Washington Wizards basketball club hired on former Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders to lead the team for the 2009/10 NBA season. In the draft, the Wizards traded away their 5th round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves along with Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas and Olesksiy Pecherov. The Wizards received Randy Foy end Mike Miller. The franchise later announced that they had hired former Houston Guard Sam Cassell and Randy Wittman as assistant coaches and in early August signed former Spurs Center Fabricio Oberto.
The franchise had to suspend its star point guard Gilbert Arenas after Arenas admitted to violating both Washington D.C. ordinances and NBA policy by bringing a firearm into the arena. His suspension is indefinite and will undoubtedly hurt the team.
As of this writing, the Wizards have a record of 14-29 and are last in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference.
The history of the franchise now known as the Washington Wizards began in the city of Chicago in 1961/62 as the Chicago Packers. One season later, the team changed their name to the Chicago Zephyrs. They would move to Baltimore Maryland in 1963 and again changed names, this time to the Baltimore Bullets.
It would be two seasons but the Bullets made it into the NBA playoffs in 1965, stunning the St. Louis Hawks in 4 games to advance to the Western Conference Finals where they would eventually lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in 6-games.
In the 1967 and 1968 drafts, the Bullets would select two #2 picks to select Earl “The Pearl” Monroe in 67 and Wes Unseld in 1968. Unseld would win the Rookie of the Year and the MVP Award and both players would make an immediate impact on the team. The team went into the playoffs with a ton of confidence, but was quickly subdued by the New York Knicks in the first round. The duo again led the team into the playoffs the following season but was again eliminated by the Knicks. Monroe would join the Knicks in 1971 and would finish his career there. Wes Unseld would play his entire career with the franchise and retired moving into the front office in 1981.
The Bullets again made it into the playoffs in 1973 but were turned away once again by the New York Knicks. Following that, the franchise relocated to Landover, Maryland and changed their name to the Capitol Bullets. This would last one season as they again changed names the following year to the Washington Bullets.
In 1975, the Bullets produced a record of 60-22 and went into the playoffs for the first time since 1973. They would survive a 7 game first round series over the Buffalo Braves. In the Conference Finals, they took on the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics, beating them in 6-games to advance to their first ever NBA Finals.
The 1975 NBA Championship game matched the Washington Bullets against the Golden State Warriors. While the Bullets were heavy favorites, the Warriors, led by Rick Berry, swept the Bullets to win their 2nd NBA Championship.
The Bullets would squeak into the playoffs the following season but were eliminated in 7-games by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The following season, under the tutelage of new Head Coach Dick Motta, the Bullets would roll into the second round against the Houston Rockets who took the series in 6-games.
The following season, the Bullets finished with 16 fewer wins then their 1975 team but still managed to make it into the playoffs. After defeating the Philadelphia 76ers in 6-games, the Bullets then met the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA Finals. The Supersonics and Bullets would battle for 7 games but the Bullets would emerge victorious bringing the first Pro Sports championship to D.C. The two teams would meet again in the 1979 NBA Finals. This time, the Supersonics would get their revenge, defeating the Bullets in 5-games. The franchise would have other stars play for them, but this would be the last time the franchise would win even a Division Title.
In 1995, owner Abe Pollen decided that because of the violent connotations associated with the franchise name and the assassination of his very good friend Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, that he would change the name from the Washington Bullets to the Washington Wizards. Later that same year, the team changed venues and moved into the MCI Center (Now Verizon Center).
In the year 2000, former Chicago Bull Michael Jordan took the job of the Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations and a minority owner of the club. One year later, in September 2001, Jordan came out of retirement and played for the franchise but ended up on the IR list by season’s end. Jordan would return the following season and at 39 was the only player on the squad to compete in all 82 games while he averaged 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists a game. Following the season, Abe Pollin fired Jordan as team President due to detrimental effects on the team. Former coach Eddie Jordan took over his Presidential duties while Ernie Grunfeld took over the coaching.
Beginning in the 2004/05 season, the Wizards were moved to the Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division. The Wizards clinch a playoff spot for the first time in eight seasons and managed to take out the Chicago Bulls in the first round. In the Conference Semi-finals, they matched up against the Miami Heat, the #1 seed and were eliminated in a sweep. The following season, they would again make it into the playoffs but would be eliminated by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers who swept them again in the 2006/07 playoffs.
The 2007/08 team featured Gilbert Arenas who would hit the IR just eight games into the season to repair a torn meniscus of his knee. Without Arenas, the Wizards would again fall to the Cavaliers in the playoffs for the third straight season. The following season, the team lost shooting guard Roger Mason to the San Antonio Spurs, drafted JaVale McGee with the 18th overall pick. Arenas would go through a third knee procedure. Etan Thomas made his return after missing an entire season but even that would not be enough to avoid a miserable season in which the Wizards would win only 19 games.
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