The 1973–74 Capital Bullets season was the team's first in Washington, D.C. area, southwest from nearby Baltimore . Prior to the 1973–74 season, the Baltimore Bullets relocated to Landover, Maryland , a suburb east of Washington, and became the Capital Bullets . It was also their only season under the Capital Bullets name.
28-707: The Bullets finished with a 47–35 record and won the Central Division. Wes Unseld was limited to 56 games due to injuries. In the playoffs, the Bullets fell to the New York Knicks for the fifth time in six years, eliminated in seven games. Following the season, the team was renamed as the Washington Bullets . The new Capital Centre opened on December 2, 1973; the Bullets played their earlier home games this season at Cole Field House at
56-582: A kindergarten -to- eighth grade curriculum. Connie and daughter Kimberly served as teachers at the school. Unseld worked as an office manager and head basketball coach. He was the godfather of Cleveland Cavaliers all-star forward, Kevin Love , as Kevin's father Stan Love was a teammate of Unseld's on the Baltimore Bullets . His son, Wes Unseld Jr. , was a coach in the NBA who became the head coach of
84-523: A 124–116 Baltimore win over the Detroit Pistons . On October 19, Unseld recorded his first double-double of his career after recording 13 points and 20 rebounds in a 124–121 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers . On November 22, Unseld recorded 20 points and a career-high 29 rebounds in a 121–110 loss to the 76ers. As a rookie, Unseld helped lead the Bullets (which had finished in last place in
112-642: A 60–22 record during his collegiate career, making trips to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1966 and the NCAA tournament in 1967 and 1968 . He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity . Unseld was selected as the second overall pick by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1968 NBA draft . He was also selected by his hometown Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in
140-488: A center with brute strength and sheer determination. In 984 NBA games – all with the Bullets – Unseld averaged a double-double in points and rebounds, with averages of 10.8 points and 14.0 rebounds per game. He also averaged 3.9 assists, excellent for a center, in the 36 minutes he played per game. Unseld was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988, and in 1996, he
168-481: A community that didn't, or couldn't, prepare them for it. Writes [ Harvard University sociologist Orlando] Patterson, "The greatest problem now facing African-Americans is their isolation from the tacit norms of the dominant culture, and this is true of all classes." Although widespread, the distinction between integration and desegregation is not universally accepted. For example, it is possible to find references to "court-ordered integration" from sources such as
196-547: The Detroit News , PBS , or even Encarta . These same sources also use the phrase "court-ordered desegregation", apparently with exactly the same meaning; the Detroit News uses both expressions interchangeably in the same article. When the two terms are confused, it is almost always to use integration in the narrower, more legalistic sense of desegregation ; one rarely, if ever, sees desegregation used in
224-572: The Civil Rights Movement on the ( San Francisco ) Peninsula in the '60s ... and ... an African American," wrote that the "term 'desegregation' is normally reserved to the legal/legislative domain, and it was the legalization of discrimination in public institutions based on race that many fought against in the 1960s. The term 'integration,' on the other hand, pertains to a social domain; it does and should refer to individuals of different background who opt to interact." In their book By
252-822: The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. His son, Wes Unseld Jr. , is currently an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls. Unseld was born in Louisville, Kentucky , to Charles and Cornelia Unseld as one of nine children. His father was a prizefighter , construction worker, oilman, and baseball player for the Indianapolis Clowns . Unseld starred for the Seneca High School team that won Kentucky state championships in 1963 and 1964. He
280-1402: The University of Maryland in College Park . They played several home games at Cole during their last seasons in Baltimore. Note: GP=Games played; MP=Minutes Played; FG=Field Goals; FGA=Field Goal Attempts; FG%=Field Goal Percentage; FT=Free Throws; FTA=Free Throws Attempts; FT%=Free Throw Percentage; ORB=Offensive Rebounds; DRB=Defensive Rebounds; TRB=Total Rebounds; AST=Assists; STL=Steals; BLK=Blocks; PF=Personal Fouls; PTS=Points; AVG=Average Note: G=Games; MP=Minutes Played; FG=Field Goals; FGA=Field Goal Attempts; FG%=Field Goal Percentage; FT=Free Throws; FTA=Free Throw Attempts; FT%=Free Throw Percentage; ORB=Offensive Rebounds; DRB=Defensive Rebounds; TRB=Total Rebounds; AST=Assists; STL=Steals; BLK=Blocks; TOV=Turnovers; PF=Personal Fouls; PTS=Points Note: GP=Games played; MP=Minutes Played; FG=Field Goals; FGA=Field Goal Attempts; FG%=Field Goal Percentage; FT=Free Throws; FTA=Free Throw Attempts; FT%=Free Throw Percentage; ORB=Offensive Rebounds; DRB=Defensive Rebounds; TRB=Total Rebounds; AST=Assists; STL=Steals; BLK=Blocks; PF=Personal Fouls; PTS=Points; AVG=Average Wes Unseld Westley Sissel Unseld Sr. (March 14, 1946 – June 2, 2020)
308-455: The 1968 ABA draft. Unseld was offered contracts by both teams but opted to sign with the Bullets of the more successful NBA despite them allegedly offering less money. After signing Unseld, Bullets owner Earl Foreman proclaimed that "this contract represents the most attractive and rewarding contract that has or will be signed by any player in the NBA this year." In his first regular season game, Unseld recorded eight points and 22 rebounds in
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#1732776707800336-482: The 1994 season with a 202–345 record (.369). Unseld became the Bullets' general manager in 1996 (they were renamed to the Wizards in 1997) and served in that role for seven years. He guided the team to the playoffs once during his tenure as general manager. Unseld's wife, Connie, opened Unselds School in 1979. A coed private school located in southwest Baltimore , it has a daycare program, nursery school and
364-632: The Bullets making four NBA Finals appearances from 1971 to 1979, and won the championship in 1978 over the Seattle SuperSonics , in which he was named the Finals MVP. He ended his playing career in March 1981 , and his No. 41 jersey was retired by the Bullets shortly thereafter. Famed for his rebounding, bone-jarring picks and ability to ignite a fast break with his crisp, accurate outlet passes, Unseld made up for his lack of height as
392-457: The Color of Our Skin (1999) Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown also make a similar distinction between desegregation and integration . They write "... television has ... give[n] white Americans the sensation of having meaningful, repeated contact with blacks without actually having it. We call this phenomenon virtual integration, and it is the primary reason why the integration illusion –
420-834: The Eastern division the previous year) to a 57–25 (.695) record and a division title. Unseld averaged 18.2 rebounds per game that year, and joined fellow future Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain to become the second player ever to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the Most Valuable Player Award in the same year. Unseld was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team , and also claimed the Sporting News MVP that year. Unseld
448-419: The Wizards in 2021 and was fired in 2024. Unseld died on June 2, 2020, after suffering lengthy health battles. Source: Source: # denotes interim head coach Racially integrated Racial integration , or simply integration , includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation ), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race , and
476-618: The Year during his rookie season and joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only two players in NBA history to accomplish the feat. Unseld won an NBA championship with the Bullets in 1978 , and the Finals MVP award to go with it. After retiring from playing in 1981, he worked with the Bullets/Wizards as a vice president, head coach, and general manager. Unseld was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988 and
504-475: The belief that we are moving toward a colorblind nation – has such a powerful influence on race relations in America today." Reviewing this book in the libertarian magazine Reason , Michael W. Lynch sums up some of their conclusions as "Blacks and whites live, learn, work, pray, play, and entertain separately..." Then, he writes: The problem, as I see it, is that access to the public spheres, specifically
532-524: The commercial sphere, often depends on being comfortable with the norms of white society. If a significant number of black children aren't comfortable with them, it isn't by choice: It's because they were isolated from those norms. It's one thing for members of the black elite and upper middle class to choose to retire to predominantly black neighborhoods after a lucrative day's work in white America. It's quite another for people to be unable to enter that commercial sphere because they spent their formative years in
560-571: The development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely bringing a racial minority into the majority culture. Desegregation is largely a legal matter, integration largely a social one. Morris J. MacGregor Jr. in his paper "Integration of the Armed Forces 1940–1969", writes concerning the words integration and desegregation : In recent years many historians have come to distinguish between these like-sounding words... The movement toward desegregation, breaking down
588-479: The nation's Jim Crow system, became increasingly popular in the decade after World War II . Integration, on the other hand, Professor Oscar Handlin maintains, implies several things not yet necessarily accepted in all areas of American society. In one sense it refers to the "levelling of all barriers to association other than those based on ability, taste, and personal preference"; in other words, providing equal opportunity. But in another sense integration calls for
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#1732776707800616-495: The random distribution of a minority throughout society. Here, according to Handlin, the emphasis is on racial balance in areas of occupation, education, residency, and the like. From the beginning the military establishment rightly understood that the breakup of the all-black unit would in a closed society necessarily mean more than mere desegregation. It constantly used the terms integration and equal treatment and opportunity to describe its racial goals. Rarely, if ever, does one find
644-477: The word desegregation in military files that include much correspondence. Similarly, Keith M. Woods writes on the need for precision in journalistic language: " Integration happens when a monolith is changed, like when a black family moves into an all-white neighborhood. Integration happens even without a mandate from the law. Desegregation ," on the other hand, "was the legal remedy to segregation." In 1997, Henry Organ, who identified himself as "a participant in
672-564: Was racially integrated . Unseld played center for the school's freshman team and averaged 35.8 points and 23.6 rebounds over 14 games. He lettered for Louisville as a sophomore (1965–66), junior (1966–67), and senior (1967–68), scored 1,686 points (20.6 average) and grabbed 1,551 rebounds (18.9 average) over 82 games. He led the Missouri Valley Conference in rebounding all three years. Unseld earned NCAA All-American honors in 1967 and 1968 and led Louisville to
700-640: Was an American professional basketball player, coach and executive. He spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets . Unseld played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals and was selected with the second overall pick by the Bullets in the 1968 NBA draft . He was named the NBA Most Valuable Player and NBA Rookie of
728-537: Was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time. In 2021, he was named on the NBA 75th Anniversary Team . To commemorate the NBA's 75th Anniversary The Athletic ranked their top 75 players of all time, and named Unseld as the 60th greatest player in NBA history. After Unseld's retirement in 1981, he moved into a front office position with the Bullets, where he served as vice president for six years before being named head coach in 1988. He resigned following
756-460: Was one of the best defensive players of his era, and in the 1974–75 , he led the NBA in rebounding. The following season, he led the NBA in field goal percentage with a .561 percentage. First with star ball-handler Earl Monroe and renowned two-way player Gus Johnson , and later with dominant center-turned-power-forward Elvin Hayes and experienced wing Bob Dandridge , Unseld played a key role in
784-679: Was recruited by over 100 colleges, and became the first African-American athlete to be offered an athletic scholarship to the University of Kentucky in Lexington . Integration leaders in Louisville tried to persuade Unseld to attend the University of Kentucky and stated that "it would be good for Kentucky and the Southeastern Conference ," but Unseld opted to stay in town and attend the University of Louisville , which
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