rpbooks Chapter 346 Bullets and Wizards
Chapter 346 Bullets and Wizards
Chapter 346 Bullets and Wizards
Washington is the capital of the United States, but for Chinese people who watch the NBA, its sense of presence is far less than that of Los Angeles, and even less than that of Houston, which is not well-known in the United States.
Washington is an independent city that does not belong to any state. Its main industries are related to government agencies. It is the seat of most of the US federal government agencies and embassies of various countries in the United States. It is the political center of the United States.
The Verizon Center Arena, home of the Washington Wizards, is located in Washington, D.C. The Wizards has a long history and is the team with the most name changes in the league, and has moved many times.
The Wizards were established in 1961. Its predecessor was named the Chicago Packers for the first two seasons, and then changed its name to the Chicago West Wind.
In 1963, the team moved to Baltimore, where the munitions industry was developed, and changed its name to the Bullets.
In 1973, the team changed its name to the Capital Bullets, and after just one season, it was renamed the Washington Bullets.This name was used until 1997.
In 1997, the Washington Bullets abandoned the team name they had used for more than 30 years and changed their name to the Washington Wizards.The main reason is that the bullet belt has a slightly violent tendency.
After the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a good friend of Washington Bullets owner Abby Poling, Abby Poling, who had considered changing the team name for a long time, finally disclosed his intention to change his name in an interview.He thought the Bullets had some kind of violent tendencies.
When this proposal first appeared, it was opposed by many bullet team fans. They believed that "faster than the bullet" is the real meaning of the bullet, not the so-called violent meaning.Media reporters even took Pete Maravich, nicknamed "Pistol", as an example, and believed that there was no need to change the team name.
Abby Pauline did not listen to the ideas of media reporters, and resolutely promoted the process of changing the team's name.In the process of selecting a new team name, the team received a total of 50 suggestions, with about 3000 different names. In the end, the team selected five names for fans to call to choose the most favorite team name.The five team names are Dragon, Express, Stallion, Veteran, and Wizards.
The announcement of the five candidate team names has received new criticism, because these names have nothing to do with Washington's weather, flora and fauna, landmarks, geographical features, history or city content, and should not be used as new team names.But Abby Pollin ignored public opinion and gave only three weeks to finalize the name of the new team as the Washington Wizards, which is still used today.
The Washington Wizards have won a championship once in history, and that championship trophy came from the 1977-78 season, nearly 40 years ago.
During the period of the Baltimore Bullets, the basic lineup of the team was laid. After several twists and turns, they finally won the cup in the 1977-78 season.They beat the Seattle SuperSonics 4-3 at the time, breaking the curse of being swept twice in the Finals.Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes were the stars of that team.
In the 80s, the league entered a period of yellow-green hegemony, led by Bird Bird and Magic Johnson, basically ruling the 80s.In the subsequent 90s, the Pistons, Bulls, and Rockets took turns to rule, and the Spurs won the first championship in the post-Jordan era.
During this period, the Wizards sank and never approached the stage of the finals.But one thing worth mentioning is that Jordan, the god of basketball, played for the Wizards for two seasons.
The 38-year-old Jordan has achieved fame and has become the undisputed greatest player in basketball, but he decided to come back and join the Washington Wizards of which he was the general manager.At that time, the Wizards were very inconspicuous, and the attendance rate was only about [-]%. The main TV broadcasters NBC and Turner only broadcast one game of the Wizards, which urgently needed to be changed.
The league has regulations that players cannot concurrently serve as management, so Jordan had to sell 10% of the Wizards' shares in order to restore his player status.
Many fans don't understand why Jordan, who has won six championships and retired bravely, returned to the court again?There is no definite answer to the reason, but some kind of shadow can still be captured.
The main reason for the rumors is that after the 911/[-] incident, the U.S. economy was sluggish, and the country was filled with an atmosphere of terror, which led to a depression in the basketball market.In this context, Jordan resolutely chose to come back with the Washington Wizards to save the NBA market.Of course, there is another way of saying that as a shareholder, Jordan couldn't stand the performance of the Wizards and decided to lead the team himself.
NBC and Turner originally only broadcast one Wizards game, and this one was because the opponent was the 76ers led by Allen Iverson.But after getting the news of Jordan's comeback, they did not hesitate to change the original plan and greatly increased the number of broadcasts. Of course, the premise is that Jordan really played as a Wizards player.
Jordan signed a two-year contract with the Wizards, and then Jordan announced that he would donate all his salary for the first season to the victims of the 911/[-] terrorist attacks.This makes Jordan the only player in NBA history to donate his entire salary for the entire year.
Even so, the media at the time were still very puzzled as to why he came back and interviewed him.
The answer Jordan gave at the time was roughly that he loved playing, and the articles in the newspaper talking about Kobe and Carter aroused his desire to win and made him want to compete with these rising stars.As for the real reason for the comeback, there is really no standard answer.
Jordan led the Wizards for two years and failed to make the playoffs, but considering his age, it will not add any burden to his great career.
The Wizards management may have given Jordan some kind of promise, but after Jordan retired from the Wizards, Abby Pollin announced his decision to fire Jordan.In the subsequent official statement, Jordan responded: "It is definitely my wish to return to the Wizards management. But today, without any prior communication with me, the team owner informed me that they unilaterally Decided to change the plans of our long-term cooperation. I am very shocked by this decision, and I am also shocked by their rude refusal to give me any explanation."
Jordan was so obsessed with it that he told CBS in 2005: "I didn't need to go back to the court, but I chose to stand up to help a team, but what gratitude did I get? What I got was - we no longer need your services. I feel taken advantage of."
Xu Tian once saw the rumors of Jordan's third comeback by chance, and he was a little bit disapproving of the Wizards' boss's approach. However, the Wizards changed their new boss in 2010, and this past has become a cloud of the past.
Later, with the help of his friends, Jordan bought shares in the Bobcats, and gradually became the big boss of the Bobcats, completely getting rid of the shadow of being hurt.Jordan's current life is comfortable and leisurely.
After Jordan retired in 2003, the Wizards offered Warriors second-round pick Gilbert Arenas a contract with a starting salary of $850 million and snatched him from the Warriors.This player became the head star of the Wizards by accident.
(End of this chapter)