Declaration of the Wizards

July 6, 9:17 PMWashington Wizards ExaminerGeorge Panagakos

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Jamison stretches over the Grizzlies' Darrell Arthur for the
basket.  Is Jamison the best #4 the Wizards have ever played?
(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

On June 10th, 1776, America's Thirteen Colonies resolved to postpone whether or not to declare independence from Great Britain until July 1st.  Fast forward to 2009 in the NBA, and the post-July 1st free agency period Washington Wizards have penciled in 13 new players for an upcoming trip to Las Vegas.  Will any of these players join the Wizards' current era founding three?

After a day of world-record competitive eating (68 hot dogs? are you kidding me?), and North Korea headlines, Sunday came and went in a blur.  Roger Federer became the greatest tennis player of all time, and I spent my afternoon playing basketball with friends on campus at GMU.

Mixing world politics and sports can be rather absurd, but the two often mingle.  On June 30th, I cringed when I read an NBA.com article written by Fran Blinebury, in which Fran likened the NBA free agency let-downs of the past to North Korea's missile effort "failures" in his second paragraph.  In other cases, such as when HBO's acclaimed series "Real Sports" covered gambling in tennis, the politics of sports are rather apparent.  Maybe not that close to nuclear warfare, but apparent.

For Washington fans, there aren't many politics to follow with Etan Thomas gone and Brendan Haywood remaining.  What we know is our main three, Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas, and Caron Butler, now have a huge upgrade with Mike Miller, former Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year.  We could use some help in the center/power forward reserve, and we also know Wizards' President Ernie Grunfeld is meticulous, and will not snap at a decision.  He has been quoted as saying Washington will "wait and pick up the pieces" with regards to the free agent rush.

With big names thrown around like Shaquille O'Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Rasheed Wallace to the Boston Celtics, and mid-level names like Charlie Villanueva off to the Detroit Pistons, some say the entire East is becoming a battlefield, but Washington is in a good position.  We know where they stand, and they have a lot of talent for next season (although, Shaq to Cleveland, even if the Diesel is getting leaded by age, is a bit scary, I have to admit).

4th of the Wizards
Last Friday, I thought it would be cool to look-up all of the Wizards whom have donned the number 4 on their jersey for a significant portion of time during their play in Washington.  We all known Antawn, but here is the complete list since 1961, the franchise's inception to the NBA:

• 1979-80: Lawrence Boston, 6'8" 225 lbs. forward out of the University of Maryland.  Boston only played 13 games for Washington but during that span averaged 4.3 point per game over a stretch of just under 10 minutes per game.
• 1980-81: Lewis Brown, 6'11" 225 lbs. center out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  Brown, like Boston before him, didn't quite work out for the then Washington Bullets.  Behind the likes of Elvin Hayes, Mitch Kupchak, and Wes Unseld, Brown only played in two games.
• 1982-83: Joe Cooper, 6'10" 230 lbs. center/forward out of the University of Colorado.  Cooper represented the first #4 with experience, as Boston and Brown came in as rookies.  Cooper's one year of experience with the New Jersey Nets couldn't keep him with one team in 1982, as he bounced from the Lakers to the Bullets to the Clippers, playing only 5 games for Washington.
• 1985-86: Cliff Robinson, 6'9" 220 lbs. forward out of the University of Southern California.  Robinson, a six-year vet, came to Washington the same year 7'6" center Manute Bol entered as a rookie.  Robinson became the first impact #4, scoring 18.7 points per game for the Bullets while Bol averaged 5 blocks per game.  Robinson would only stay a year.
• 1986-88: Moses Malone, 6'10" 215 lbs. center/forward out of Petersburg High School.  Malone, possibly then thought of as the best-ever out of high school baller, came to Washington toward the end of his career having already served 12 seasons of play.  Regardless, he led the Bullets with 24.1 points and 11.3 rebounds per game in his first season, and 20.3 points and 11.2 rebounds in his second.  Malone became the first #4 to play multiple seasons.
• 1993-94: Manute Bol, 7'6" 200 lbs. center out of the University of Bridgeport; Andrew Gaze, 6'7" 205 lbs. guard out of Seton Hall University; Gerald Paddio, 6'7" 205 lbs. forward/guard out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  '93 was an odd year for #4s in Washington.  In fact, the Bullets had three of them over the course of the season.  Bol, after five years outside of a Bullets' jersey, spent only two games with Washington as a #4 before moving on again in what turned out to be only a 14 game season split between three franchises.  Gaze only played 7 games, while Paddio played 8.  Neither would return in '94.
• 1994-95: Scott Skiles, 6'1" 180 lbs. guard out of the Michigan State University. Skiles, an eight-year vet, was the first impact-guard #4 the Bullets had acquired.  With Juwan Howard coming in as a rookie and the tandem of Chris Webber and Gheorghe Muresan as sophomores, Skiles led the team with 7.3 assists per game and also scored 13 points per game, but he would only stay a season.
• 1995-98: Chris Webber, 6'9" 245 lbs. center/forward out of the University of Michigan.  Webber replaced Skiles as #4 in '95 in a sort of Michigan torch-carry.  Webber began with a #2 jersey and a great '94 season, but in his first complete year as #4 Webber only completed 15 games.  In 1996, Webber bounced back, and for the next two years he led the Bullets through their most recent name change as the highest scorer on the squad at just over 20 points per game.  Webber is the only #4 in Wizards history to have played through a franchise name change.
• 2000-02: Courtney Alexander, 6'5" 205 lbs. guard out of the California State University, Fresno.  With Webber gone, Alexander came in as a rookie and averaged a third team best 17 points per game average for the Wizards, but only played in 27 games.  In 2001, Alexander played in 56 games, but his points per game dipped due to the inclusion of Michael Jordan, who returned to Washington in '01 after a four year hiatus.  After the first year of MJ, Alexander didn't fit the bill in 2003.
• 2004-present: Antawn Jamison, 6'8" 223 lbs. forward out of the University of North Carolina.  Jamison had six years under his belt before he got to Washington, and starting next season, will be on his way to his sixth year with Washington.  Since his first year with Washington, he hasn't averaged less than 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds game, and managed a double-double season with 21.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game during the 2007-08 season, numbers not seen in a #4 since Moses Malone and a longevity in that jersey number that has Jamison as the #4 in Wizards franchise history.

Liner Notes
Last month I wrote an article about five things to check out over a Wizardless summer, and one of them, this TV show called Superstars, has moved from Wednesdays to Tuesdays.  Catch the show online at the Superstars' homepage and on ABC tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. ET.  You'll definitely want to see this spat (warning: not safe for work; language) between Terrell Owens and Joanna Krupa, if nothing more.
 

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