Can The Washington Wizards Make Next Year’s Playoffs?

Anthony Jean-Claude is the former president of Maryland Green BioFuel, an East Coast provider of alternative energy, where he organized and traded oil shipments while working on initiatives to increase the use of biofuel in diesel and aircraft engines. Anthony Jean-Claude also has served in several other leadership and sales roles. Away from work, he follows Washington D.C. sports.

Washington Wizards starting point guard John Wall told reporters at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas that he wants to see the team make the playoffs this year. The first pick in the 2010 NBA draft made the proclamation alongside Bradley Beal, a second-year shooting guard and fellow top-three draft pick who will be key if the Wizards want to make the postseason. Big men Emeka Okafor and Nene Hilario will provide the veteran experience necessary for a playoff push, mentoring a young team that added Otto Porter Jr. this summer, the number-three lottery pick.

As a resident of the Washington, D.C., area, Anthony Jean-Claude enjoys following the NBA’s Washington Wizards. The team is owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, and Verizon Center, the area’s top sports venue. While many of its fans, including Anthony Jean-Claude, came on board in 1990s and 2000s, the team dates back to 1961.

The Wizards began as the expansion team called the Chicago Packers, and adopted the Zephyrs as its new name in 1962. The team moved to Baltimore in 1963, again changing its name, this time to the Bullets. In 1965, the young team made it into the Western Conference Finals. In the late 1960s, the Bullets drafted two future Hall of Fame players, Earl Monroe and Wes Unsold, improving the team that would later attract Anthony Jean-Claude and legions of other fans. The Bullets made it to the NBA Finals in 1971 for the first time in franchise history, losing in a sweep to the Milwaukee Bucks, led by Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Oscar Robertson.

The Bullets showed glimpses of greatness in the 1970s, laying the foundation for a loyal base of fans such as Anthony Jean-Claude. The team returned to the NBA Playoffs and Finals in 1975, only to experience defeat once again in 4 games, at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. The Bullets took a poor season record (44-38) into the playoffs and miraculously defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in 7 games to win the NBA Finals in 1978. In all, the Bullets played in the NBA Finals four times in the 1970s, the only team to accomplish this feat. In the 1980s, the Bullets played rather dismally but gained fans in 1987 by drafting the 5-foot-3 Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history.

Chris Webber, joining the team through a trade with the Golden State Warriors, brought the Bullets to life for Anthony Jean-Claude and other fans in the 1990s. In 1997, team owner Abe Pollin changed the name to the Wizards. Recent events that have kept fans such as Anthony Jean-Claude coming back include Michael Jordan coming out of retirement to play for the team for the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons and the Wizards making it into the playoffs for four consecutive seasons, from 2005 to 2008.

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