How The Wizards Got Erased From NBA History

How The Wizards Got Erased From NBA History

If you asked somebody to list all 30 teams in the NBA which ones do you think they’re most likely to miss for some teams even if they’ve had stretches of years where they’ve been atrocious they still have an illustrious decorated history to fall back on some teams are

Iconic not just in the NBA but across the world cultural icons that people recognize whenever anyone mentions the word basketball sometimes all it takes is one player one Legendary player to lift a previously mediocre franchise into relevance for the first time when you think of that player you think of their

Team the impact of that lone player could change the image of your team forever attracting fans everywhere for decades to come even for teams who have a shorter history like the Grizzlies or Raptors they’ve had their fair share of iconic players or a defining play style that we now associate with their

Franchise then there’s the Washington Wizards a team that’s been around since the 1960s a team that plays in a city with a metro population that’s higher than Boston or Miami but has never cracked the top 10 in attendance for decades despite having the fourth largest arena in the entire NBA a team

That has not won 50 games in a season since 1979 even when they’re good even when they’re making the playoffs and have exciting players to watch it’s always and I mean always shortlived and nothing comes from it when they’re bad there’s always someone else that’s worse you

Can’t put a face to this franchise if you do it’s a face that even the most dedicated fans of the sport might not recognize how’s it going folks my name’s Andy and in this video we’re going to take a look at how the Washington Wizards with over 60 years of History

Under their Belt have become the NBA’s most forgotten franchise I mean Wes unale that’s character I mean his character infused a franchise for more than a decade you could look at Wes and just gain confidence by looking at him and being around him he just exuded confidence the NBA’s largest playoff

Crowd ever over 39,000 fans plus millions of viewers over the CBS television network the bullets were ready with a full arsenal facing a must-win situation as the Washington Bullets jubilantly file off the floor and the crowd here to the Washington Bullets the Taps of the world the birth of this franchise came

In 1961 in Chicago believe it or not but seeing a new opportunity in Baltimore the owners moved the team 2 years later back then Baltimore was a booming City with ample opportunities attracting people from all over the country with a strong culture of basketball at its foundation it was the perfect City for

The start of a brand new era it wasn’t too long before they drafted the guy who would change the direction of the franchise for the next decade a man by the name of Wes unel you might recognize his name but maybe not his game Wes unseld was such a unique player in so

Many ways first he was a 6’7 Center it was unheard of back in the day that a guy of his height could play the position effectively second he wasn’t your typical Superstar his numbers never popped out his play style never stood out it wasn’t flashy there weren’t many

Fancy highlights yet his strongest skill was his leadership Wes unseld was one of the greatest defenders in NBA history an incredible rebounder and passer unseld was different you combine these qualities together and you get the perfect guy to lead your franchise the results were better than you could imagine right when he got

Drafted in 1968 he immediately became the leader of this team the Baltimore Bullets went from being a horrendous team winning just 20 games two seasons prior to his arrival in his rookie season unel led the team to 57 wins as he became only the second player in

History to win the MVP as a rookie the only other guy who did it was Will Chamberlain over the following decade the bullets became one of the League’s most inspiring teams led by a young man who revolutionized the way we thought a center should play he made up for his

Lack of height with his intelligence his heart and his drive to succeed unel also said one of the greatest most insightful statements I’ve ever heard a player say I know that night in and night out the guy I play against will have more physical ability but I feel like if I go

Out against a guy and play him 40 or 48 minutes a game or whatever he is going to get tired or beat up or bored for 2 or 3 minutes that will be enough time for me to make sure he does not win the game for his

Team that’s such a powerful quote unseld was as confident as he was stoic from 196 9 until his retirement in 1981 the bullets made four appearances in the NBA Finals winning their one and only championship in 1978 not many people know this but that

Year they won the title with a 44 and 38 record even to this day that’s the worst winning percentage for a championship team ever so to say it was surprising is an understatement despite being an elite team with a streak of 12 consecutive playoff appearances during that era they

Were always overshadowed by someone bigger and better that’s basically the story of the entire franchise and it was represented in the way they played the sport unel was unassuming a guy who led by example and despite having the talents of a star he never had the

Spotlight the 1970s it was a rough era for basketball but there were other stars who always grabbed more attention than him Dr J kareim Abdul Jabar Walt Frasier Pistol Pete Bob McAdoo Bill Walton even his own teammate Elvin Hayes was a far better scorer than he was make

No mistake about it West unseld was the engine the heart and soul of this franchise unfortunately the revenue was coming thin attendance around the league was volatile and it forced the bullets to relocate multiple times eventually settling in the nation’s capital to this day the decade of the 1970s was by far

The best ERA for the this franchise but also the worst era for basketball since un’s retirement in 1981 for the next 10 years the bullets meddled in mediocrity the thing is they weren’t even bad they were always hovering around 30 to 40 wins sometimes a bit lower sometimes higher I honestly don’t

Think 99% of the people watching this video can name five players in that span who played for this team do you guys know who Jeff Malone and Jeff Ruland are they were the guys leading the bullets in the post unsell era but they’ve long been forgotten in history cuz the only

Thing they did was lead this team to five consecutive first round exits they were both Allstars if they played for any other team I feel like they would have been recognized a little bit more also the bullets are the prime example of why tanking is better than staying as

An average team the bullets made numerous trades for washed up stars to try and make a playoff push when whenever they felt close but it’s always been a disaster fast forward to the early 1990s and it looked like they were going in a better Direction with some good trades

They acquired a plethora of high draft picks and young hopeful prospects Hervis Ellison is a great example a former number one pick who developed quite well in Washington until his KNE problems ruined his career but anyway they managed to get multiple High Caliber prospects Jaan Howard in

1994 in a trade they also acquired his fab five teammate Chris Weber also in 1994 they had Rasheed Wallace for a little bit too there was hope and for the first time in decades the bullets had a bright future to look forward to they even kickstarted this new era with

A name change being called the bullets did not give them a good image considering all the shootings and violence going on in the DC area the name gave him a bad look plus with so many years of irrelevance they needed a rebranding some sign of a change it was

A new start for a franchise longing to be more than just mediocre by 1997 the anticipation was growing led by two members of Michigan’s Fab 5 and the most well-rounded roster they’ve had in a long time the Washington Wizards were now on the come up they even recorded the sixth highest

Attendance in the entire NBA that would be a record until Michael Jordan’s comeback in 2001 but that was kind of a special case you know anyway this young upstar team was supposed to be the future of the NBA with some recognizable faces and a fresh new Rebrand this team unfortunately

Faltered the coaching was an issue but it was mainly their off Court escapades that distracted them Joan Howard who grew up on Chicago southside and Chris Weber are accused in the Sun suay night assault an adult woman tells police Howard and Chris Weber sexually assaulted her at a party

Sunday night Monday morning quite frankly I am angry and disappointed because of the lack of judgment that some of our players have used this season now both Weber and Howard who played together at Michigan have had previous scrapes with the law Weber was arrested earlier this year Howard was arrested in

1996 Chris Weber in particular had a plethora of charges six traffic violations three misdemeanors including second deegree assault it led to tension with the front office too they viewed Weber as being immature a non-leader and despite Weber fully committing to the Wizards the team wanted to move on and

Get a real leader that’s why they traded him to Sacramento for Mitch Richmond in hindsights they lost the trade badly Richmond was near the end of his career and Weber blossomed into a superstar in Sacramento just like that their first promising era since the West uncel days

Ended the Wizards faded back into the Shadows I feel like most people don’t even know that Chris Weber used to play for them everyone Associates him with the Sacramento Kings cuz that’s when he found success it wasn’t just Chris Weber either there’s a trend of All Stars sometimes even legendary players who’ve

Played for this franchise but nobody remembers their time here Moses Malone is another example Bernard King as well nobody even knows what the hell they even did here it was all a blur then it happened Michael Jordan’s second comeback infatuated the entire world he was in charge of the Wizard’s front

Office previously and even drafted kwami brown with the first overall pick which yeah all of that was thrown to the side Jordan was back baby and like I mentioned earlier for the two seasons he was there the Wizards attendance and TV viewership skyrocketed their Stadium sold out every single home game in those

Two seasons I mean they weren’t very good but just to have the best player in the world play for your team that’s got to be a huge boost to this franchise right not exactly people watched the Wizards because they wanted to watch MJ they didn’t care about anyone else on

The Wizards no one wanted to see Larry Hughes or Jerry stack house or kwami brown so right after Jordan’s two years were done the Wizard’s attendance plummeted going from 2 to 21st after Jordan left it’s an indicator that this sudden increase in Fame was not sustainable Jordan in his own words

Stated his reason for coming back I’m going to have my imprints and Footprints all over this organization I look forward to turning this thing around the funny thing is despite this being Jordan’s second comeback it’s been brushed under the rug everyone purposely tries to forget his second comeback even

Existed his wizard years weren’t even mentioned in his last dance documentary either heck even Jordan’s time as an owner was forgotten he was such a bad owner in Charlotte that it overshadowed his time in DC years later Jordan admitted he regret coming back to play for the Wizards it

Was actually one of the few regrets he’s ever had there’s a sense of embarrassment for him and that’s why even his biggest fans pretend those years never existed so if the greatest player in history can’t bring this franchise into relevance who can on the plus side in the Years

Following the Wizards acquired several great players to build around namely Gilbert Arenas and Antoine Jameson there was a level of excitement this franchise has not experienced for a a while because this team looked like it could be around for a while you know this was

A group of guys who could be here for the Long Haul and build a foundation for a new era they had a deep roster of talented players and it looked like they could become actual contenders for the first time since the West unseld era in 2005 they reached the second round of

The playoffs for the first time since 1982 I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing but The Saga of the mid-2000s Wizards ended on a bitter sweet note nowadays the only time people bring up this team is when they talk about LeBron’s Legacy in the first few years

Of LeBron’s career his first real rivalry was with the Washington Wizards those first round battles in the playoffs between the Cavs and wizards were memorable and even he admitted it was his first real test Under Pressure the Cavs beat the Wizards 3 years in a row with the infamous locker room

Confrontation between Gilbert Arena and Javaris kitton the Wizards made waves across the league and not for a good reason it’s kind of sad to see such an exciting era of the franchise sabotaged by this incident and now this is what everyone remembers when they think of Gilbert Arenas and this period of Wizards

Basketball over the decades the cycle has continued even in the few times when the Wizards were good and people actually wanted to see them they’ve never been able to maintain any sort of continuity it also doesn’t help that playing in Washington DC is different than most other cities it’s always been

A transient City meaning people move there for work a few years later they move away it’s hard to develop a sense of unity within the city when most people living there are fans of another [Applause] team you ever see what happens whenever the Lakers or any other popular team are

In town the arena gets packed but not with Wizards fans but had a dunk by Gaff the crowd kind of cheer this franchise simply does not have an illustrious history that people appreciate and want to become fans of even though they’ve been around forever they left a tiny footprint in the

Broader spectrum of professional basketball I also feel like this franchise has has had so many unfortunate instances of injuries I’m sure every team has experienced this but for the Wizards it seems like every time their team is making progress an injury to their star sets them back so far and

That’s also the case with John Wall the most recent success the Wizards have seen was during the John Wall Bradley beel era it might sound crazy but for a while I thought they’d become contenders they were a super competitive team and could hold their own against the best of

The best from top to bottom they had a solid roster that fit together very well led by a young superstar in John Wall at his Peak he was a top five point guard in the NBA you combine this young exciting back cour with some experienced veterans they were a force to be

Reckoned with their players were confident some would say arrogant to the point where they believe they were the best team on any given night however like every other time this period was cut short wall suffered numerous major injuries he’d never recover from and with him gone there’s no way this team

Would have went any further with just be soon he would be gone as well earlier in this video I said that the Wizard’s franchise has never been good at accomplishing anything I take that back they are experts at holding on for far too long by that I mean they are

Masters at putting Band-Aids over bad situations whether it’s trading for Westbrook trading for porzingis to try and build something the Wizards always seem to go for the temporary fix as opposed to the long-term solution the result the team ends up fighting for the ninth or 10th seed they should have

Blown it up after Wall’s departure not give Bradley beel a 250 million contract with a no trade clause to pour salt on the wound that’s why they got so little back for him everyone knew beel was not going to lead them anywhere if you look

At the rest of this team they went into a half rebuild yet still want to win some games probably to sell more tickets but it hurt their draft position at least now with the Wizards overhauled front office and new general manager they finally pressed the reset button

For the first time in a long time they started a legitimate rebuild of course that’s going to come with all the pain of losing but if you’re a Wizards fan I’m sure you’re used to that as this video comes to an end what did we learn

From this how can a team with such a long history be this this irrelevant and hopeless what it comes down to is three main reasons one they’ve never truly had a franchise player who captivated the world on a massive scale Wes unel is the greatest player of this team’s history

Cuz he led them to their first Finals and Championship but the average fan doesn’t even know who he is because even in his own era he got overshadowed two they missed the NBA’s popularity boom when the NBA’s viewers ship skyrocketed throughout the ‘ 80s and ’90s the sport became a worldwide

Phenomenon the bullets did not capitalize on this opportunity in those two decades they were insignificant so they missed out on the chance to extend their reach to brand new audiences that’s why even today they don’t really have a strong established fan base like many other teams and three the law of average the

Wizards have perfected the concept of being so average that no nobody cares about them as of this video they’ve played 63 seasons in the NBA in 24 of those 63 Seasons they’ve won 37 to 44 games basically the worst position any team could be in not good enough to

Contend and not bad enough to get a good draft pick they’ve basically been mid for over a third of their Seasons folks that’s how the Washington Bullets or Washington Wizards became the NBA’s most forgotten franchise thank you all so much for watch watching I hope you all enjoyed

The video let me know in the comments and as always I’ll see you next time Peace

In every stage of this franchise’s history…whether they’ve been the Wizards or Bullets, they’ve become the NBA’s most forgotten franchise. Let’s take a look at the complete history of the Washington Wizards/Bullets and how they got into this situation. Enjoy!

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