To complete our grid, Gortat was the top voted comment for Best Role Player.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this! For the most part, this looks pretty accurate to me. What do you all think? Any other superlatives (earnest or otherwise) you want to throw out there?
For me, the big takeaway is that as a fanbase, the most vocal of us probably aren't as well-versed in this franchise's history pre-1990 as we could be. Like, I think we know most of the key names, but I don't think most of us could break down their games. There's obvious respect for the Unseld/Hayes glory days, but there were other role players from the era that we don't really know anything about. And even fewer of us can speak authoritatively about the pre-Unseld era.
by e_milberg
6 Comments
I am a more enlightened wizards fan now
Jordan erasure
I get what your point about this sub not being as versed in the pre 90’s history beyond Wes/Hayes and the contending years, but there’s a couple things I think coming into play on that…
Reddit generally skews younger. I remember Unseld coaching and I feel old around here.
Lack of video from those days. Remember that there’s no video of Wilt’s 100 game, and that the Finals were tape delayed until 1982. Compare that to baseball where we have video of Babe Ruth hitting homers. Younger fans literally can’t watch how great some players were. That’s an NBA problem.
Franchise movement. The team didn’t settle in the DC area until 1973 after moving from Chicago to Baltimore then DC. That’s a year after the Senators moved to Texas and a year before the Capitals joined the NHL. So Washington NBA history pretty much began with Hayes and Unseld.
All that said, thanks for throwing this grid out there, it definitely sparked some good barstool arguments. Every so often one of these Reddit-wide virals leads to some good talk.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to track down decent film on those old Bullets, and we have to go by reputation, stats, and accolades.
Not sure what category or superlatives to use, but Earl the Pearl, and Phil Chenier feel like they should be here somewhere.
I know Phil’s career was pretty much over after his back injury, and he didn’t get to contribute to the championship year, but 5 years around 20 ppg? Maybe “Best 3rd Option”.
Is there even a recorded game that has come down to us from the pre unseld era
Solid grid, everyone makes sense in their square, but there is one block i’d change:
Funniest: Muresan. Great sense of humor and was hilarious in that movie with Billy Crystal, My Giant. Gil was never funny, just annoying.
We’ve had so many talented shooters and post players over the years, so those squares could be filled with a number of different players, and it would still make sense to me.