New team names can be hard for longtime fans to get used to, as basketball enthusiasts in our nation’s capital well know. The Washington Wizards have undergone the most name changes of any franchise in the NBA. The club originated as the Chicago Packers in 1961 when it was added as the NBA’s first modern expansion team following the consolidation of the league from seventeen franchises to eight during the early 1950’s.
After a one-season stint as the Zephyrs (a play on Chicago’s nickname “The Windy City”), owner Dave Tragere moved the franchise to Baltimore, Maryland in 1963 and renamed it the Baltimore Bullets. In 1964 Abe and Irene Pollin (along with former NBA referee Arnold Heft) purchased the Bullets for $1.1 million. When the Pollins became the sole owners in 1968 they moved the team to Washington D.C. And upon completion of the new Capital Centre arena in 1973 the team was called the Capital Bullets.
But in 1974 Abe Pollin changed names once again to the Washington Bullets. This name stuck for over two decades until Pollin made a controversial decision to amend the team’s name for the sixth and final time due to the violent/negative connotation associated with the word “bullet.” A contest was held to choose a new name, and “Wizards” wound up winning the telephone poll that allowed callers to vote for their favorite of five finalists: Wizards, Sea Dogs, Dragons, Express and Stallions. The Bullets officially became the Washington Wizards when they moved into the new MCI Center for the 1997-98 season.
On May 10, 2011 the Wizards unveiled their new color scheme, uniforms and logo, reverting to the traditional red, white and blue colors that harken back to the team’s glory days of the late seventies and early eighties. Some diehard fans remain hopeful that a former name may someday be resurrected too.
The Boston Celtics, with their solid if aging core of four returning All-Stars Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo, will make one last run to the Finals to try and win a second ring for this Hall-of-Fame trio and now veteran PG Rondo. Coach Doc Rivers signed a new five-year deal with the team last spring after rumors of his probable departure. The Green traded one LSU power forward for another, getting 6’8” Brandon Bass for 6’8” Glen Davis. The downsized C’s will miss TNT’s newest addition Shaquille O’Neal, who hung up his size 23’s after a stellar 19-year career, and 6’9” 5th-year Hoya Jeff Green, who was recently diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm that will sideline him for the entire season.
The Miami Heat took more ‘heat’, warranted and unwarranted, from the basketball universe and beyond than any other team in the league. In 2012 they will be looking to not only make the Finals again, but to come out victorious and silence the critics and haters. The Heatles lost PG Mike Bibby, but gained ‘Mr. Glue’ 11th-year defensive savant Shane Battier. With their Big 3 of LeBron, D-Wade and Chris Bosh having withstood a season in the trenches, both physically and mentally, expect the more experienced Heat to come out on fire with an in-sync attack.
The Chicago Bulls, who owned the NBA’s best regular season record in 2011 at 62-20, are the top team by a large measure in the Central Division. The Bulls have locked up reigning MVP Derrick Rose by signing him to a five-year contract extension. Now in only his fourth pro season, Rose is sure to be great again and to continue widening his lightning-quick offensive repertoire. Surrounding the 23-year-old Rose is 10th-year PF Carlos Boozer, 8th-year SF Luol Deng, 5th-year, 6’11”double-double rubberband-man Joakim Noah, perimeter marksmen Kyle Korver and newly signed 3X NBA All-Star G Richard Hamilton. The Bulls, who lost to Miami in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, have depth galore. The question is do they have a consistent and solid 2nd and 3rd man to help Rose when top-tier teams key on him?
The Los Angeles Lakers, who were swept 4-0 by the eventual 2011 champion Mavericks in the Western Conference Semis, thought they had pried PG extraordinaire Chris Paul from the Hornets via mega-trade only to have the deal nixed by Commissioner Stern. Instead the Lakers shipped 13th-year combo forward and reigning Sixth Man of the Year 6’10” Lamar Odom to the champs for a 2012 first round pick and an $8.9 million trade exception. Now in his in his 16th NBA season, Kobe Bryant endures as one of the league’s top talents. But like all athletes he is slowing down with age. The Staples co-habitants still have 11th-year All-Star 7’0” Pau Gasol and 7th-year 7’0” center Andrew Bynum, only 24 years old. But they want Dwight Howard, and he would play in SoCal. So the cast of the 2011-12 Lake Show is by no means set in stone. New head coach Mike Brown, who steps into a giant set of shoes from the departed too-many-rings-for-his-fingers Phil Jackson, will have to weather the perilous tides of change.
The Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the WCF last spring, but gained valuable playoff seasoning and experience along the way. With First Team All-NBA 6’9” 2x league scoring champ 5th-year Kevin Durant leading the exciting Thunder, the OKC bunch finished 55-27 in 2011. With 4th-year 2011 All-Star and Second Team All NBA PG Russell Westbrook running the show and 3rd-year players Serge Ibaka and James Harden providing inside and outside help respectively, the Thunder should again top the Northwest division in the upcoming season. When center Kendrick Perkins is fully healed and ready to anchor the low post defensively, OKC will be formidable and difficult to beat when they’re ‘clicking’. The next step in their team maturation should give them a solid chance at making the 2012 NBA Finals.
The Dallas Mavericks, the 2011 NBA Champs, are back to defend the title with a few changes that may be consequential come the 2012 playoffs. Center Tyson Chandler, Dallas’ 5th leading scorer, top board-man and best shot blocker, was traded via a sign-and-trade to the glow of Manhattan and the NY Knicks. Former Laker 6’10” combo forward Lamar Odom, the 2011 6th-Man of the Year, arrived via trade on 12/11/11. Dallas also signed free agent Vince Carter, a 14-year vet, who can still light up the scoreboard on some nights. Coach Rick Carlisle still has 18th-year PG Jason Kidd running the show and 10x All-Star and 2011 Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki scoring from seemingly everywhere on the court. 13th-year F Shawn Marion is back and 11th-year 7’0” C Brendan Haywood returns, where he’ll be expected to fill Chandler’s important role as defensive-stopper.