I'm teammates with Kobe

Chapter 153 Where the Old Gods End and the New Gods Rise

The Washington Wizards is an NBA professional basketball team based in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. It is part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the American Men's Basketball Professional League. It was established in 1961 and joined the NBA.

It can be said that the Wizards is the team with the most name changes in the NBA. It has moved and changed its name many times in history. Chicago Packers from 1961 to 1962, Chicago Zephyrs from 1962 to 1963, Baltimore Bullets from 1963 to 1973, Capital Bullets from 1973 to 1974, and Capital Bullets from 1974 to 1997 For the Washington Bullets. In 1997, the team officially changed its name to the Washington Wizards and is still in use today.

Although the team has many names, it won the first championship in history in the 1977-78 season, which can be regarded as a strong team.

Last season, the team just ushered in the glorious moment of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the team. The famous American sports platform ESPN conducted an inventory of the historical stars of this team and summed up the three major stars.

The number one is Wes Unseld. As the greatest and most loyal star in the history of the Wizards, Unseld has witnessed the frequent migration of this team, and after the team finally settled in Washington, he He led the team to win the only championship trophy in history, and he also won the Finals MVP award.As one of the top 50 players in NBA history, Unseld averaged only 10.8 points and 14 rebounds per game during his time in the Wizards. He looked like a full-fledged blue-collar, but he was a Wizards who also won the NBA regular season MVP An absolute sign of his indomitable spirit.

The second-ranked Elvin Hayes played for the Rockets in the first few seasons of his career, and then dedicated the rest of his career to this team.In the history of the team, his scoring ability and rebounding ability can be ranked quite high. His average 2.4 blocks per game can be ranked second in history, and his total rebounds in the Wizards are also ranked first. Wizards second, second only to Unseld.

No.3 is Gilbert Arenas. "The General" Arenas was once the absolute hero and superstar of the Wizards.He is the star with the most three-pointers in the history of the Wizards. His scoring average now ranks second in the history of the Wizards, and his average steals and average efficiency can both rank fourth and third in history. .

Someone once questioned that there was no "God of Basketball" Michael Jordan on the list. He played for the Wizards from 2001 to 2003. In his first season, he averaged 22.9 points, 5.2 assists and 1.42 steals per game. It is the highest in the team, leading the team to a record of 37 wins and 45 losses. In the 2002-03 season, Jordan announced his retirement. In his last NBA season, he was the only member of the team who played all 82 games. He started 67 games and averaged 20 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Has 1.5 steals while shooting 45 percent from the field and 82 percent from the free-throw line.The Wizards are 37-45 this season.

However, the glory of Jordan's life has stayed with the Bulls. For this comeback, not only his fans are unwilling to accept it, but he himself does not want to recall this history. Naturally, he does not hope that he will become the historical star of the Wizards.

Jordan once confessed to the famous NFL quarterback Aaron Rogers that it was his only regret to come back for the second time for the Wizards and ruin his legendary career as a first team in his life.

Throughout the ages, heroes are always full of stories.As for why Jordan chose to come back in the Wizards?There are also some inhumane reasons for this.

In the summer of 1998, the contract of the Bulls "Zen Master" Jackson had expired, and the champions Pippen and Rodman were about to leave the team. In addition, the league was suspended due to labor issues. For various reasons, Jordan announced his retirement again.

On January 1999, 1, Jordan held a press conference to officially announce his retirement, but he didn't say anything to death at the time, saying that he was "13% sure that he would never play again."When the reporter pressed him why he still had a 99.9% possibility, Jordan said: "I don't want to say 'never'."

At the end of 1999, Jordan spent more than 2000 million US dollars to purchase 5% of the shares of the Washington Wizards and 10% of the shares of Lincoln Holdings Co., Ltd., becoming one of the bosses of the Wizards.

After the "Magic" Johnson retired from the Lakers, the Lakers decided to cede some of the team's shares to the Magic because of the great value he created for the Lakers. He gave him some shares after he retired, but the Bulls were unwilling, which led to a sharp deterioration in the final relationship between the two parties.

At this moment, the owner of the Wizards took the initiative to show his favor and gave some shares of the team to Jordan.

On January 2000, 1, Jordan officially joined the management of the Wizards as the president of basketball operations.After Jordan joined the Wizards management, the team's record has not improved, and it has not been able to enter the playoffs for two consecutive years.As a manager, Jordan couldn't help the team out of the quagmire, which made him have the idea of ​​​​coming back.

At the beginning of 2000, Jordan began to resume training. The training time was nearly 6 hours a day. With such regular and high-intensity training, he quickly lost 11 kilograms and made full preparations for stepping on the NBA court again.

As the manager of the Wizards, in addition to physically preparing for the comeback, he also changed the team's head coach, fired the then Wizards head coach Hamilton, and hired former Bulls coach Doug Collins. Obviously Collins and Jordan Knowing each other better, it is not difficult to see that Jordan is paving the way for a comeback.

In the summer of 2001, more and more media reported that Jordan would come back in the new season, but Jordan kept avoiding it, but he was actually planning when to announce his comeback.Another direct driving factor is the "911 incident". At that time, the United States was almost in a panic, and the sports industry was also hit. The NBA needs Jordan to come back to save the league at this time. This is no exaggeration.

So, after three years, the 38-year-old Jordan officially announced his comeback. This is definitely the biggest news in the NBA. Almost all media immediately announced the news of Jordan’s comeback. The host of a sports TV station shouted excitedly: "The rumors are officially over! The greatest player of all time is back! He's wearing a Wizards jersey!"

David Stern, who was the chairman of the league at the time, also sent his blessings at the first time: "I am very happy to welcome Michael Jordan back, but at the same time I am a little frustrated because it means that in the board meeting We can't see him anymore. Michael always brings joy to fans all over the world. In such a difficult time (referring to 911/[-]), we can finally add some joy to our lives."

Only Kobe suppressed the excitement and excitement in his heart, lowered his head to train desperately, and then drew the date of playing against Jordan on the schedule.

In the end, Jordan single-handedly pulled the Wizards' attendance from 18 last season to third.

Although Jordan was still an excellent shooting guard in the league at the time, it was an iron fact that he could not lead the Wizards to the playoffs. This is a shame for Jordan, who has entered 6 finals and won 6 championships.

Therefore, with unsatisfactory personal data and poor team leadership record, coupled with the age of nearly 40, Jordan had more than enough energy to play on the field, and finally retired with hatred.

The last game of the "God of Basketball", the Wizards played against Philadelphia.

All the fans kept shouting "WE WANT MICHAEL." At 2 minutes and 34 seconds before the end of the game, Jordan finally stood up from his seat, took off his coat, and walked into the arena.

The audience cheered for half a minute to welcome his final performance.

The Philadelphia player Snow intentionally fouled Jordan in the backcourt. The 40-year-old Jordan made the last two free throws of his career.

"I don't feel embarrassed to hold my head up, but it's just, this is not me..." Jordan didn't finish at the end, but everyone knew what he wanted to say-this was not the ending he wanted.

But everything is over. What he left behind is the most legendary color in NBA history, and he also wrote that this is where God ends.

When the Lakers visited the Washington Wizards, the younger generation of fans and players felt that this was where new gods emerged.

On March 2003, 3, when the Lakers faced the Wizards, Kobe Bryant and Jordan completed their last match.

During the game, Jordan fell to the ground and caused an offensive foul by Kobe. Kobe leaned down and hit Jordan with a set of "air combination punches", and then pulled him up. Both of them laughed mischievously.

那场比赛，乔丹出场41分钟拿到23分，科比同样出战41分钟轰下55分，湖人108-94击败奇才。

In the whole game, Kobe made 29 of 15 shots, including 13 of 9 three-pointers and 18 of 16 free throws. He scored 42 points in the first half.

There is no doubt that Kobe is the man who plays the most like Jordan, and at the same time plays his own style of star. The two of them are like passing the torch, and the gods are passed on!

Therefore, when Chu Xiao visited Washington with the team, he felt like visiting a "god".

For most people in the world, referring to the capital of the United States as "Washington" is unquestionable and unambiguous, but in the United States, things are not so simple.

There are 50 states in the United States, one of which is also called "Washington", that is, Washington State. This state is on the west coast. Olympia is the capital of Washington State. The current ambassador to China, Locke, is the former governor of Washington.

In order to distinguish it from Washington State, when Americans generally call the capital by Washington, they must add the word "DC" after Washington.These two words are the abbreviation of District of Columbia in English, that is, "District of Columbia". If translated according to this, the Chinese name of the capital of the United States should be "Washington District of Columbia".

Therefore, the District of Columbia is the official name of the capital.

What is it that is called "Washington" one moment and "The District of Columbia" the next?This is a brief introduction to the history of the capital of the United States.

After the independence of the United States, the north and the south each had their own plans for where the capital should be built. The north liked New York, and the south wanted the capital to be in the south. In the end, all parties reached a compromise. In 1790, the U.S. Congress passed the Capital Act and decided to establish a capital on the banks of the Potomac River, authorizing President Washington to choose a specific place and giving him 10 years to complete the important task of establishing the capital in 1800.Prior to this, the federal government and Congress had offices in Philadelphia, Annapolis, New York City and other places.

At that time, President Washington appointed three site selection personnel and authorized them to choose the specific area of ​​the capital.President Washington had suggested that the new capital be called "The City of the Commonwealth," but three site selectors decided to call the new city "Washington City," and that name stuck, better than "The District of Columbia."

Although Congress passed a bill again in 1871 to determine the capital as the "District of Columbia", people's habit of referring to the capital as Washington has not changed, so the two names stand side by side and have been followed to this day.

(End of this chapter)