Stevenson responded by calling LeBron James overrated, and it eventually got so blown out of proportion that it had rappers taking sides. The now-legendary beef started in 2008 when LeBron James allegedly verbally degraded Stevenson's game. I love DeShawn Stevenson but his ongoing feud with LeBron James, and the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers ousted us from the playoffs three years in a row (2006-2008) makes this a screw-up. Since Eddie Jordan's departure, the Wizards have won only 71 games over the past four seasons and have only won 19 road games during that span. He was finally fired early in the 2008-2009 season after a 1-10 start despite no Gilbert Arenas, no Brendan Haywood and a team full of inexperienced and undersized players around Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. Jordan continued to lead the Wizards to the playoffs despite numerous injuries to his star players and poor draft picks and free agent signings by the front office. Jordan's only losing season would be his first and he would proceed to turn the franchise around, leading the Wizards to four straight playoff berths and their first playoff series win since 1982. He joined the Wizards as their new head coach in 2003 after two successful trips to the Finals with the New Jersey Nets as an assistant coach on Byron Scott's staff. The Wizards haven't been to an Eastern Conference Final since 1979 when they were still the Washington Bullets.Įddie Jordan was perhaps the best coach the Wizards had over the last 20 years and was unfairly pegged as the scapegoat for the horrible decision making in Washington's front office. From 2003 to 2008, the Detroit Pistons made it to six straight Eastern Conference Finals-the second most in NBA history behind the Bill Russell's Boston Celtics (who made it to 13 straight Eastern Conference Finals between 19). The Washington Wizards practically handed the Detroit Pistons a dynasty. They returned to the Finals the next year, only to lose in seven games to the San Antonio Spurs in one of the greatest NBA Finals series of all-time. Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace and Richard Hamilton all had great success in the NBA, combining for 11 All-Star appearances, and were all on the Detroit Pistons team that won it all in 2004 with Larry Brown. He won the Defensive Player of the Year award four times, led the league in rebounding in back-to-back seasons (2002-2003) and made the NBA All-Defensive Team five straight times from 2002 to 2006. Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton were Washington lottery picks in 19, respectively, and Ben Wallace was signed as a rookie free agent in 1996 after not being drafted.Īll three were traded within three years of their stints with the Wizards.īen Wallace became the face and cornerstone of the Detroit Pistons franchise and one of the most dominant defensive players of his era. Three of their five starters were Washington Wizards (Bullets) as rookies. How is another team winning the NBA Championship on the list? The news became public on Christmas Eve, and immediately the league office, local law enforcement agencies and national media were all investigating.Now I know what you're saying. "Like they say, for every action, there's a consequence." ¶ The two players argued aboard a team flight Dec. 19, 2009, and at a practice two days later, Arenas laid out four guns in front of his teammate's locker, prompting Crittenton to reveal that he, too, had a gun. ¶ "It changed the dynamics of a lot of people's lives," said Flip Saunders, the Wizards' coach at the time. What happened was shocking the chain of events that followed, extraordinary. ¶ As improbable as the affair seemed at the time - Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, two teammates for the Washington Wizards, brandishing guns at work - everything that has transpired since has been perhaps even more difficult to predict. That the showdown took place in an NBA locker room and the dueling adversaries were highly paid athletes gave the NBA one of the biggest controversies it had ever seen. It played out like a scene from a spaghetti Western: a beef over a card game escalating into threats and guns and promises of violence.
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