Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team playing in the NBA and based in Washington, D.C. The team colors are blue, black and gold.

This team was founded in 1961 and was known as the Chicago Packers in 1961-62. For the 1962-63 year, it was called as Chicago Zephyrs. Then, the named was altered to Baltimore Bullets in the decade from 1963-1972. For the year 1973-74, it was called as the Capital Bullets. Further this was modified to Washington Bullets from 1974 to 1997. From 1997 onwards, the team was called as the Washington Wizards.

In the 1965 NBA playoffs, the Bullets surprised the St. Louis Hawks 3-1 and reached the Western Conference finals. In the late 1960s, the Bullets was comprised of two Hall of Famers - Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld. Due to this, the performance of the team was enhanced from 36 wins in the previous season to 57 wins in the 1968-69 season. In the 1970-71 season, the Bullets scored 93-91 over the Knicks and progressed to their first NBA finals. In the 1971-72 season, the Bullets acquired Elvin Hayes and drafted Kevin Porter. In December, the Bullets registered a 10-4 record and captured the Central Division title for the 3rd consecutive year.

In 1985, Manute Bol blocked 397 shots which is a Bullets record. The Bullets in this season had a record of 42-40. In 1987, the Bullets hired Wes Unseld again and reached the playoffs with a record of 38-44.

In 2001-02, the Wizards were led by Michael Jordan to a 26-21 record. In 2002-03, the Wizards had a record of 37-45.

During 1961-62, the home arena of the Washington Wizards was the International Amphitheater. For 1962-63, it was the Chicago Coliseum. For the entire decade, from 1963 to 1973, it was the Baltimore Civic Center. From 1973 to 1997, the home arena was US Airways Arena and from December 1997 onwards it has been the Verizon Center.

The players of the Washington Wizards that have become Basketball Hall of Famers are Moses Malone, Wes Unseld, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Elvin Hayes and Walt Bellamy.

In the 2007-08 season, Washington Wizards lost Jarvis Hayes, Calvin Booth and Michael Ruffin. The team signed Oleksiy Pecherov, Nick Young and Dominic McGuire. The team started the season at 0-5, but then won six straight matches. Although some players had injuries, the team on the regular season had a score of 43-39. This was sufficient for the 5th spot in the Eastern conference. The head coach is Eddie Jordan and the assistant coaches are Randy Ayers, Wes Unseld Jr, Phil Hubbard and Mike O’Koren.

Major achievements

Washington Wizards won the championship in 1978 and the conference titles 4 times. It also won the division titles 7 times.