Washington Wizards Tickets

Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards is a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. They are amongst seven teams in the Atlantic Division of the eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise plays in the Verizon Center also known as "The Phone Booth" and wears jerseys of red, white and blue.

The Wizards started its NBA adventure in the 1961-62 season. They were then called Chicago Packers and they managed to win only 18 games in their first season. They changed their name to the Zephyrs in next season. Then in 1963, they became the Baltimore Bullets as the franchise moved to Baltimore, Maryland. The 1964-65 NBA season saw first success for the team and they reached the playoffs for the first time. In the following season, the Bullets advanced to the Western Conference Finals but lost to Los Angeles Lakers.

The team now known as Washington Wizards began as the Chicago Packers in 1961, spent several seasons in Baltimore, and finally landed in Washington, as the Washington Bullets, in 1974. The logo for the Franchise has a Wizard conjuring up a basketball on a half moon containing basketball threads. Also shown is the white bear that cuts his black shirt forming W. The Packers changed their name to the Zephyrs the following season.

After 2 nicknames in 2 years in Chicago, the NBA’s newest franchise moved to Baltimore. The new team paid tribute to the city’s first NBA team named the Bullets. They were quite different from the older Bullets as they were an up and coming expansion team with the 2 previous Rookie of the Year winners. After 2 last place concluded in Chicago, the Bullets finally escaped last place. But they finished far out of the playoffs with a 31-49 record. This lands them in 4th place in the Western Division.

After losing 61 games, the Bullets during 1967/68 season, were forced to rebuild through the draft. They took a major first step by selecting Earl Monroe with the first overall pick. Earl, also known as The Pearl, was the first player to make the reverse spin on the dribble a trademark move. Other than that, he was a flashy player, a deft ball handler, and a creative, unconventional shot maker. In his rookie season he led the Bullets in scoring with 24.3 ppg.

After getting off to only moderate success for a decade, the Bullets developed into a solid unit in the 1970s. They continued to improve through the draft by picking Center Wes Unseld, a 2-time All-American from Louisville. The team built around rugged center Wes Unseld and talented scorer and rebounder Elvin Hayes. Unseld had an immediate impact and finished 2nd in the NBA.

Washington made it to the NBA Finals four times during the 1970s. In 1973, the team moved to Landover, Maryland and became the Capital Bullets. They changed their name to the Washington Bullets the following season. During the transition, the Bullets also played home games at Cole Field House, the home of the University of Maryland Terrapins. They then began playing on their new arena in Landover named the Capital Centre.

The Bullets defeated the Seattle SuperSonics for the NBA championship in 1977-78. Establishing an NBA record, the Bullets became a model of consistency through the ‘80s. They would won at least 35 games in each of 22 consecutive years from 1967-68 through 1988-89. The Bullets advanced to the playoffs following a seven-year postseason drought ended in 1996-97. However, they lost a hard-fought series to the Chicago Bulls in the final game.

On May 15, the team officially became known as the Washinton Wizards. The decision of giving it a new name was made by owners Irene and Abe Pollin in conjunction with the team’s anti-violence campaign. Meantime, the team prepared for a move from Landover, Maryland to the MCI Center in downtown Washington.

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About the Author:
Peter Cohen calls Boston home and graduated from Brandeis University. He considers travel to be the love of his life and has already traveled to 5 different continents. He also has a passion for languages and has studied Arabic, German and Russian. While devoting his working life to writing for lifestyle magazines, he also takes out time for occasional event reviews.