400 Level Signage Ranked, Part I

If you've been reading this blog at all in the last couple of months, you'll know that there was a significant renovation of Capital One Arena this summer. Heck, you might even accuse me of being a little obsessed with this building renovation and I wouldn't dispute it. A couple of months ago, I posted my ranking of the best new signage installed over the summer at the entrances to the 100 level seating sections. At that time, I figured the lower level of the building would have been the only spot in the building that management (or Capital One, depending on your perspective) would have sprung for some new signage.

Turns out I was wrong. About a week after I published that November post, I made my way upstairs in the building (to pour my own beer, if you must know) and found a whole new set of signage up on the 400 level. So now I have to rank the upper deck signage also of course. The same disclaimers apply: generally basketball beats hockey, events in the building beat events not in the building and concerts and shows usually take a back seat to sports. I'm not making any effort here to provide a consolidated ranking of all signs in the building. Honestly, I don't see the point. I mean, after all, this blog is mostly pointless anyway.

There are 34 signs on the 400 level. I'll be counting down from 34 to 18 in this post and then doing the top 17 in another post. It would be just too long to do all 34 in a single sitting.

34. Keith Urban (426/427)

Keith Urban? Really? There were 56 picture signs installed around Capital One Arena last summer including 12 related to concerts (3 downstairs and 9 upstairs) and they picked Keith Urban as one of those 12? I've seen Bob Dylan in the building twice and he's not one of them but Keith Urban is? And no Madonna either? Although the last omission is likely due to Madge going on stage 2-1/2 hours late for one show which did not make Ted happy. This sign is the worst. 

33. Arena Construction (418/419)

As I mentioned during my first post, posts about the building are not events that happened in the building. Sure the construction was important because without the construction there wouldn't be a building at all but this does not qualify for a sign. They should remove this one immediately. Well, after they take the Keith Urban one down that is. :)

32. International Horse Show (414/415)

31. Disney On Ice (424/425)

Every year it seems the Wizards go on the road for about a week or maybe a little more and either the horse show or Disney on Ice moves in. I've never been to either of these events but they rank this low on this list because they are not in any way unique to the building. Disney gets the nod over horses because horses kind of freak me out. 

30. ArenaBowl Champions (401/402)

I guess I feel happy for these guys who won the ArenaBowl. Most people will never win a professional sports championship even if it was in a four team league and the team's regular season record was 2-6. I also in theory genuinely root for these players in life. This is their shot at glory and some may actually make it out and make it big a la Kurt Warner. But this signs sits at 30th on this list because it's just not a relevant sport. Sorry for being petty but that's how I feel.

29. Harlem Globetrotters (429/430)

The Globetrotters might have been easily ranked with the horse show and Disney On Ice. I elected to put them here because I think Arena Football is more pointless than watching the 'Trotters beat the Washington Generals every night. They can't rank too hight though because it's totally non-competitive basketball. Then again, there have been seasons that you could easily say that about the Wizards. 

28. Foo Fighters (407/408)

27. Andrea Bocelli (420/421)

26. Justin Timberlake (415/416)

25. Bruno Mars (411/412)

I mentioned under the Keith Urban entry above that there are nine signs featuring concerts on the 400 level. I'm electing to group seven of the other eight in the next seven spots, starting with artists that I have not seen at MCI Center/Verizon Center/Capital One Arena. Foo Fighters, Andrea Bocelli, Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars are ranked in the order I would probably go see them. There is one more artist I haven't seen in the building on a sign but they are just head and shoulders above these four (and the next three). Go ahead and mock me for putting Foo Fighters last. 

24. Christina Aguilera (422/423)

23. Bon Jovi (432/433)

22. Lady Gaga (419/420)

And then there are the artists I have seen at MCI Center/Verizon Center/Capital One Arena. Yes, I have actually seen Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga there (I've also seen Britney Spears there but they chose to not give Brit her own sign). These three are listed in the order that I would probably go see them again. I debated about this list a good bit but ultimately Gaga would win out over Bon Jovi.

21. Gus Johnson Number Retired (425/426)

20. Elvin Hayes Number Retired (409/410)

19. Wes Unseld Number Retired (421/422)

When MCI Center opened in 1997, there were three retired numbers from the Washington Bullets hanging from the rafters (there are now five; Earl Monroe and Phil Chenier have been retired since the building opened). The retired numbers of Gus Johnson, Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld are all celebrated in the 400 level signs. If the retirement happened at MCI Center or Verizon Center or Capital One Arena, they would surely be higher on this list. However, they didn't; so they aren't. I've ranked these three based on my perception of their value to the franchise and its history. Debate away. I'm sure if anyone wanted to, they'd have to get through their disgust at my musical artist rankings right before these three. Except for the Keith Urban thing, that is.

18. All-Star (Bradley Beal) (413/414)

More stuff that didn't happen in the building. Sort of; I mean obviously Beal spent half (give or take) of his audition for the All-Star game at 601 F Street NW. In a spoiler alert, there's another one of these for John Wall elsewhere on the 400 level; Wall just gets ranked higher than Beal because I like Wall more than Beal. Although this season is certainly changing my opinion of Brad in a big way.

So at this point in my ranking of signage on this level, there are three retired Bullets players (don't worry - Phil's coming too) and recognition of All-Start appearances by Beal and Wall. There is nothing about the teams in between the Bullets and Ted's 2010-and-after version of the Wizards. And I think this completely sucks. There are a ton of fans including me who watched Arenas, Butler and Jamison play in the building and they get nothing. Not a single sign. No mention. For a team that at one point in 2007 led the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break. Eddie Jordan coached the All-Star team that year. Couldn't that get a mention even? Over Keith Urban maybe? Guess not. The revisionist history here is annoying to me. Those guys deserve better.

End of Part I. Part II next week.

Wes, The Big E, John & Nobody Else

Last year I wrote a blog post about how our current Wizards stand on the franchise leaders list. A few years ago, this wouldn't have even been possible (or it would have been a very short post). The franchise culture in Washington was just a revolving door ever since the Wiz shipped out Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and some others towards the end of the 2009-2010 season. Heck, even the three other players besides John Wall brought to Washington out of the 2010 NBA Draft (Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker and Jordan Crawford) are way way way long gone. There was a period there of incredible instability, which brought with it much losing and absolutely zero resale value for season ticket holders.

Eight years into the John Wall era, we are in a totally different spot. Maybe it's time to do this sort of a check before every season from now on. Or at least until John Wall leaves town, which seems like it's a good way off and which I want in absolutely no scenario whatsoever. I'll go with the same seven categories I discussed in last year's post. Here goes.

Games Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (984)

Current Wizards in Top 10: John Wall (10th; 541)

It's going to take a long time for John Wall to pass Wes Unseld for the number one spot on the franchise list here, if he ever even gets there. Right now, he's 443 games behind, which is more than five full seasons which is when John's current contract (OK, so technically the extension to his current contract) expires. But he should be able to make some noise this year. If John plays a full 82 this year, he'll end up on third place, 28 games ahead of Charles Jones. Barring injury, John should get there easily. He'll also pass Brendan Haywood this year for most games played as a Washington Wizard (not Bullet). Pretty fitting I think. Wondering about Beal? Give it two more years. He's down at 406 right now.

Minutes Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (35,832)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: John Wall (4th; 19,441)

Yes, John Wall is 10th on the all time franchise games played list but already 4th on the minutes played list. That means he's playing a lot more than the guys in the four through nine spots on the games played list. Two seasons ago, John logged about 2,800 minutes over 78 games. He'll need four more of those kind of seasons to get past Elvin Hayes into second place. But he will surely pass Gus Johnson for third place this year since he needs fewer than 300 minutes to pass the Honeycomb. Beal fan? Brad might crack the top 10 this year. If he spends as much time on the court as he did last year, he'll bump Antawn Jamison down to the 11 spot.

Points

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (15,551)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: John Wall (4th; 10,216)

Two years ago, John Wall passed Wes Unseld on the Wizards/Bullets/Zephyrs/Packers all-time steals list. This year, he's going to pass Wes on the points list. John needs just 868 to move past Jeff Malone into the number two position on this list. Along the way, he'll move past Wes too. John's high for a season in total points is 1,805. Elvin Hayes is going to be safe for a while but maybe not more than three years. Brad is likely to join John on the top 10 list this year; a good season will see him sitting right behind Phil Chenier in eighth after passing both Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison.

Rebounds

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (13,769)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: Nobody

And nobody's making it this year. Nobody.

Assists

Franchise Leader: John Wall (5,003)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: Just John

John Wall has just a tad more than 5,000 assists. That's almost 1,200 more than anyone else in the history of the franchise. And for a while at least, that gap's only getting bigger. It's going to be a while before anyone catches John Wall on this list. If I write a similar post next year, we might see Bradley Beal on this list. If he matches last year's total he'll end up eighth at the end of this season.

Blocks

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (1,558)

Current Wizards in Top 10: Nobody

This mark is going to stay in the Big E's name for a while. John Wall has the highest current total of any active player and he's got 367. He needs 40 to crack the top 10 over Etan Thomas. Last year he tallied 45 in just 41 games. I'm pencilling John into the 10 position sometime soon. He might even catch Gheorghe Muresan (443) and Marcin Gortat (449). Unlikely he's catching JaVale McGee at 470.

Steals

Franchise Leader: John Wall (927)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: Just John

There's a pretty good chance John Wall is going to end up first or second in pretty much every category on the all-time franchise leaders board. He's likely to widen this lead this year. Last year, Brad caught him a bit since John missed a bunch of games. If Beal matches his 2017-2018 output, he'll sit at eighth between Rod Strickland and Caron Butler.

That's how things stack up in the major categories. Two years ago, John Wall moved into the franchise leader spot for both assists and steals. It's going to be a while before we see that sort of thing again. For this season, the leaders in these categories all seem competition-free. Six days to tip off. Can't wait.

All-Time Franchise Leader Check

Last September I wrote a post on this blog detailing where John Wall stood on the all-time franchise leaders list and making the case that by mid-season last year, John would be number one on the franchise leader board in assists and steals. He got that easily and now stands atop those two categories where he'll stay for I assume a long long time.

I thought this year I'd do an update to where John stood after last year in the same seven categories I looked at last year (games played, minutes played, points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals).But after looking at our franchise leaderboards, I've decided to not do that. Instead, I've taken a look at where our current roster stands in each of these seven categories and where our current team is likely to be at the end of this season as they continue to make their mark on the team's history.

Games Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (984)

Current Wizards in Top 10: None

Of all the Wizards on the current roster, John Wall is the only one who will crack the top 10 in terms of games played this year and he should make a serious move on this all time list. Right now Kevin Grevey sits in the 10 spot at 530 games. John has 500 under his belt and played in 78 last year. If he plays the same number of games again this year, he'll sit in 7th place, one game behind Brendan Haywood and 18 games ahead of Gus Johnson (who's number is retired; just saying). If he somehow plays 80 or more, he'll be in 6th place with Kevin Loughery up next at 591. From there he's probably one more season away from third place behind just Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld.

Minutes Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (35,832)

Current Wizards in Top 10: John Wall (7th; 18,031)

At the beginning of the 2016-2017 NBA season, John Wall placed 10th on the minutes played list. After last season, he's at 7th and poised to make a big jump after logging 2,836 minutes last year. If he does the same thing this season, he'll pass Gus Johnson (who's number is retired; just saying) and move into the number three position. After that, he's got several more seasons to catch Elvin Hayes at 29,318 minutes.

No other Wizard is going to crack the top 10 list in this category this year.

Points

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (15,551)

Current Wizards in Top 10: John Wall (7th; 9,419)

In addition to hitting the seven spot on the top 10 minutes played list after last season, John Wall also hit number seven on the points scored list, after scoring 1,805 of them in 2016-2017. If he does that again, he'll find himself tied exactly with Wes Unseld for third place with 10,624 points. That will be almost 800 points clear of Kevin Loughery who currently sits right behind Wes. So given a reasonable push this year, John could find himself at number one in two categories on this list and third in two more. Not bad for a guy who's under contract through 2023 who wants to see his jersey in the rafters one day.

For those of you wondering about Bradley Beal on this list, remember he's two full seasons behind Wall. Unless he averages more than 36 per game this year and plays in all 82, Brad's not hitting this list this year.

Rebounds

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (13,769)

Current Wizards in Top 10: Marcin Gortat (10th; 3,074)

Last year I offered the opinion that it would take John Wall three more seasons to have a shot at the top 10 list in rebounding. I'm backing up my statement this year. However, Marcin Gortat's managed to sneak into the number 10 spot after last year's performance. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, Gortat's an awfully consistent rebounder. Last season he finished 11th in the NBA at greater than 10 rebounds per game while also playing a full 82 game schedule. Karl-Anthony Towns was the only other player to do that (although admittedly there were several more who played 81 games).

So how does Marcin project this year? Well, if he puts up a similar number to last year's 849, he'll likely pass Antawn Jamison and move into sixth. Even if he logs more than 100 fewer, he'll still be in sixth by season's end. Seems like Marcin just got to D.C. even though that's not true. Don't sleep on Gortat, folks.

Assists

Franchise Leader: John Wall (4,610)
Current Wizards in Top 10: Just John Wall

What's to say here? John Wall is clear of number two by about 800 assists. This gap is only going to get bigger. No other Wizard is cracking the top 10 this year.

For Beal fans: unless he has an exceptional couple of years, he's three years away from cracking the top 10. Not saying it won't happen next season (meaning 2018-2019) but it's a real long shot.

Blocks

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (1,558)

Current Wizards in Top 10: Marcin Gortat (10th; 388)

It's been a good few years for Marcin Gortat as a Wizard. Not only did he make it into tenth place on the all-time rebounds list, he managed to land in the same spot on the blocks list. That after recording just 61 last year. If he does the same thing this season, he'll be in eighth ahead of Gheorghe Muresan and about 20 behind JaVale McGee (ugh!). Go get 'em Marcin.

If Gortat was no longer a Wizard, John Wall would have a shot at the top 10 list after this season. He's at 322 for his career right now and in his best year he blocked 59 shots. That would approach Marcin's 388 but that number's going to go up also. He'd need 85 to catch Etan Thomas who will slide to 10th once Marcin picks up 20 more swats. Maybe 2018-2019.

Steals

Franchise Leader: John Wall (870)
Current Wizards in Top 10: Just John Wall

John is the franchise leader over Greg Ballard by over 100. He'll be the franchise leader for years and years to come for sure. No other Wizard is cracking the top 10 this year.

For Beal fans: he'll be close to the top 10 after this season assuming similar numbers to last year but not close enough. Give it this season and next, please.

That's the rundown this year. This current group of Wizards players has the opportunity to make a real dent in the franchise record books but after this year, don't expect to see anyone but Wall and Gortat in the top 10 of these categories. The two years after that will get really interesting if this bunch manages to succeed enough for the front office to keep them together.

John Wall In Wizards History

It's getting towards mid-September. That means it will soon be time for training camp and then some meaningful NBA action in the District. It's been a busy August and it will likely be an even busier September for me so this is likely the only post I'll put out there this month although I'll sneak another one in if I can. If not, I promise to get after it in October again.

Every so often I sit back and think about how great John Wall is. I'm serious. Going into his seventh NBA season (all with the Wizards of course), I'm thinking this guy could be one of the greatest players, if not THE greatest player who has ever played for the Washington Wizards franchise in whatever city and under whatever nickname the team happened to play. Of course, I'm talking statistically here. It's going to be difficult to be the Wizards/Bullets/Zephyrs/Packers G.O.A.T. without a ring won with the home team.

So what do I mean "statistically"? Well literally just that. Have you checked out where John sits after just six seasons, one of which was lockout shortened to just 66 games, on the all time leaderboard for the Wiz? Take a look. On second thought, don't. Just keep reading. Assuming a typical NBA season for John, he'll be our franchise leader in two of the key positive individual statistics. And yes, I say "positive" because at the age of 26 he is already the franchise leader in turnovers (primary ball handlers always are). This (and the two other number one spots he'll occupy in team history by about February 2017 assuming full or moderately full health) is both a testament to how good John is and how bad my favorite hoops team has been since it entered the league in 1961.

I'm only digging so deep here. I'll limit my analysis to the five positive stats that make up a typical (or not so typical) triple double (that is points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals) plus games played and minutes played. I think you'll be surprised if you haven't kept track of this stuff closely. All statistics are regular season only by the way.

Games Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (984)

In six seasons with the franchise, John has played in 422 games for the Wizards. That's a long way from Wes Unseld's 984. He'll need more than six more seasons of good health to get even close to the number one spot. Having said that, he stands a very good chance of cracking the top ten in the first half of the 2017-2018 season. If he plays all 82 games this season (and I sincerely hope he does not by his or Scott Brooks' choice) he will have 504 games played all time for the Wiz. Kevin Grevey is 10th in franchise history with 530. Wes is still a long way away.

Minutes Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (35,832)

John has currently logged a total of 15,195 minutes played in a Wizards blue, gold and black or red, white and blue jersey. That's already good enough after almost six seasons for 10th on the all time franchise games played list. If he manages 2,500 minutes this year (a little more than 33 minutes over 75 games which is way less than he's played recently), he'll pass Antawn Jamison for 9th. Up next after that? Juwan Howard at 17,845. If John plays out his contract in good health with a reasonable number of minutes, he'll be number three behind Wes and Elvin Hayes.

Points

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (15,551)

With 7,614 points in his first six campaigns, John is about halfway to the Big E's franchise leading total. He's got a long way to go but it's not unreasonable assuming he re-ups with the Wiz after his current contract expires that he could end up on top of this list. If he manages 1,500 points this year (less than last year's number) he pass Walt Bellamy for seventh on the all time list with Phil Chenier next in his sights. At the end of his current contract he could realistically be challenging Wes Unseld for third place all time.

Rebounds

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (13,769)

No way is John ever catching Wes in rebounds. His career high in rebounds was 379 which he achieved last year. If he does that for three more seasons, he'll be nipping at Rick Mahorn's heels in tenth place. While it seems crazy to even have a discussion about John being a franchise leader in rebounding, it should be noted he's already 10th in franchise history in defensive rebounding.

Assists

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (3,822)

Yes, the Wizards franchise leader in assists is a center. Somehow that makes so much sense for this team. But he won't be for long. As of the beginning of this upcoming season, John is second with 3,779, just 43 behind Wes. So in the fourth, fifth or sixth game John plays this year, he should be the franchise leader. He's likely to stay in that spot for a while considering John's got two more years after this one on his contract and he's been first, second and third in total assists in the NBA over the past three seasons. This is the mark he needs to hold for our franchise and he will pretty soon.

Blocks

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (1,558)

Just like he's not catching Wes Unseld's rebounds mark, John's also not going to beat out Elvin here. After last year's 59 blocks, John has a total all time of 273. Wes Unseld is sitting at tenth place with 367. He'll catch Wes, but not likely this year. Blocks were only counted as a statistic starting in the 1973-1974 season so we are missing a dozen or so years of franchise history on this statistic.

Steals

Franchise Leader: Greg Ballard (762)

For a brief moment during the 2016-2017 NBA season, the Washington Wizards will have four different franchise leaders in the categories of points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. A few months later, they won't because John's going to catch Greg Ballard this year if he plays at least half the season. For the last three years, John has tallied 138 or more steals per season. At 713 in his career right now, he needs just 49 to pass Ballard. Sorry, Greg. Like blocks, steals were not tracked until the '73-'74 season.

I've had the privilege the last six seasons to watch John play night in and night out at Verizon Center from the fourth or fifth row of Section 109. There are about five or six passes John Wall makes per season that absolutely astonish me down at the east end of the building. I think it's appropriate he'll be our franchise leader in that category this year. I'll continue to wear my number 2 home white jersey with pride this season and hopefully for many more to come.

The Hoop Hall

The Washington Wizards 2104 postseason starts today at 7 pm. So before my attention gets totally swayed in the direction of our first playoff run since 2008, I thought I should wrap up my thoughts on my recent trip to New England. I've talked about watching hoops in Springfield and finding what I hoped to find in the D-League in Maine in past posts. I've also covered an important side trip in Portland on my mini-brewery tour up there. But one of the most important reasons I visited New England this year was to make a pilgrimage to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame while I was in Springfield. After becoming a true certifiable hoops junkie, I figured it was time to go.

This was not my first trip to the Basketball Hall of Fame. I'd visited once before when my dad and I were both Knicks fans and my folks lived about 35 miles from the Hall in Connecticut. But it feels like a long basketball journey for me since that visit. I've now been a Wizards season ticket holder for 14 years and schedule my life around the NBA season, something I couldn't say the last time I was in Springfield, Massachusetts. I've become engrossed in the history of my own team and basketball in general with a focus on the pro game through reading books and watching movies in the last dozen plus years so I figured this time around I'd get a lot more out of a visit to the Hall.

After flying to Boston Friday morning, driving straight down to Springfield and making a cautionary, but as it turned out unnecessary, couple of hours long stop in the Mercy Hospital emergency room, I arrived at the museum that celebrates the birth and history of the greatest game ever invented. To be clear, the museum is not the NBA Hall of Fame (there's no such thing…yet) but instead covers basketball in all its incarnations both foreign and domestic and focuses as much on the amateur and collegiate game (yes, I'm deliberately separating those two) as it does on pro ball.

My first impression of the place was that I didn't remember the Hall of Fame this way from my previous visit. The museum is buried in a strip mall with a Subway, Cold Stone Creamery, a couple of bars and some retail stores I'd never heard of. I totally didn't recall all this. And for good reason based on some Googling when I got home. As it turns out, this is the third iteration of the Hoop Hall which opened in 2002 and in fact, I had never been here before. The Hall of Fame I visited with my dad is about a football field's length north of the current location, now converted into an L.A. Fitness gym. I was shocked to learn that the current facility was designed by respected architects Gwathmey Siegel. To me, it looked like a commodity strip mall and until I actually got all the way into the museum, I remained unimpressed.

After entering the museum property, we grabbed some tickets and then looked for the entrance to the Hall, something that required the assistance of a guide after asking for directions; the sequence of arrival is that confusing. Our visit started with an elevator ride, which is never a good way to start the journey through a building to me. It works in the Guggenheim Museum in New York; this is not the Guggenheim. The elevator let us out in the Honors Ring, which occupies the giant silver ball component of the building in the photograph above.

The Honors Ring contains photographs and career details of all the Hall's inductees and while to me this should be at the end of the museum sequence, it at least provides an instant immersion into the history of the game. Eventually, most visitors are going to recognize someone in this room unless they just started watching basketball in the last few years and have managed to remain blissfully ignorant of any and all of the game's pioneers.

For me, the Honors Ring meant seeking out Bullets and Wizards legends from the past. There are a total of 11 former Bullets and Wizards players currently inducted into the Hall of Fame, with a 12th (Mitch Richmond) on the way this fall. Only one of those 11 (Michael Jordan) played for the Wizards and most of the soon to be 12 played their best ball somewhere else. In the interest of time, I concentrated on finding the four who have had their number retired by the franchise, meaning Gus Johnson (class of 2010), Earl Monroe (class of 1990), Elvin Hayes (also class of 1990) and Wes Unseld (class of 1988).

Gus Johnson was selected by the Chicago Zephyrs (soon to be the Baltimore Bullets) in the 1963 draft and played nine years with the Zephyrs and Bullets before being traded to the Phoenix Suns in 1972. Johnson was released by the Suns but went on to win an ABA championship with the Indiana Pacers in 1973. Earl Monroe was drafted by the Bullets in 1967 and spent four years with the team before being traded to the New York Knicks in 1971 and helping the Knicks to their 1973 NBA Championship. Monroe, to me, is more a Knick than a Bullet, although he arguably had a greater impact on the game in Baltimore.

Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld both played on the Washington Bullets' 1978 championship team. Hayes spent the first four years of his career with the San Diego and Houston Rockets before being traded to the Bullets and helping the team to its three NBA Championship appearances in the 1970s. In 1981, he was traded back to the Rockets where he ended his career. Unseld is undoubtedly the franchise's greatest player, spending his entire career with the team from the time he was drafted in 1968 until his retirement in 1981. He won both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors following the 1967-1968 season and presided over the franchise's most successful run ever in the 14 seasons he suited up for Baltimore and Washington. The franchise hasn't been the same since.

After the Honors Ring, we were directed into the History of the Game Gallery, a room whose entrance is presided over by a bronze statue of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. Among major American team sports, basketball is unique in that its origin can be traced back to a single inventor on a specific date and time before which the game absolutely, unquestionably didn't exist.

The game was invented by Dr. Naismith in December 1891 while he was a physical education instructor at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield as a way to keep his students occupied during the New England winters when they were frustrated about having to exercise indoors. Naismith wrote the original 13 rules of the game down and pinned them to the gymnasium's wall before the first game was ever played. He originally requested two boxes for goals from the YMCA's staff but finding no boxes, elected to use peach baskets instead. I'm glad in a way. Although I never would have known it, I think I would have had a harder time being a boxball fan.

The original game was way different from the way it is played today. The first game was played with a soccer ball and dribbling was not permitted. The game also featured two teams of nine, because there happened to be 18 student's in Naismith's physical education class. I imagine the original game would be barely recognizable to fans of the current NBA game. The invention of the game is described in a video behind the bronze statue of Naismith in front of the History of the Game Gallery.

The History of the Game Gallery itself traces the game's spread and development from its beginnings in the YMCA system and then through the American Athletic Union (AAU) when the game outgrew the ability of the YMCA to manage the game's growth. It deals with the early professional leagues and the transfer of the game to the college level and its rise internationally. It also traces the development of the game's equipment, from the balls used to the design and manufacture of uniforms. The early woolen uniforms and smoking jacket like warmups (complete with pockets) on display in the center of the room are crazy. I can't imagine today's players competing or warming up in these things. 

Early gear in the History of the Game Gallery. Love the wool Celtics jersey.

The next room in the museum to the right of the History of the Game Gallery for me did a great job of crystallizing the start of the current NBA. Early on in basketball's development as a professional spectator sport, there were a number of regional leagues formed, mostly in the northeast and midwest, between the two world wars. At this time, before the development of jet travel, it was difficult to get anywhere outside of your immediate geography so most teams were clustered within few states. It's odd to think of Oshkosh and Sheboygan, Wisconsin being able to support teams but that's just where some of the early teams were located.

Eventually, two leagues, the National Basketball League (NBL) in the northeast and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in the midwest became the dominant professional leagues. The NBL was important in standardizing the rules of professional basketball which had been in almost constant evolution since the game's invention. In 1948, the two leagues merged, creating a league which would eventually be renamed the National Basketball Association in 1949 and would continue under that name to the present day.

The same room that chronicles the development of professional ball also describes the NBA game's early days and the introduction of the most important development in the game's history: the introduction of the shot clock. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back to need to speed up the game and stimulate more scoring came in 1950, when the Fort Wayne Pistons and the Minneapolis Lakers played to a final score of 19-18. I know a lot of people who criticize today's NBA game for too much scoring, claiming all you need to do is watch the last five minutes of the game to understand what happened. I can't imagine watching a game in which both teams scored fewer than 20 points. It would be worse than watching playoff hockey!

From this point, the Hall got a lot less interesting for me. We spent some time looking through the Players Gallery, Media Gallery and Coaches and Teams Gallery but the substance contained in the History of the Game Gallery were just not there. There are only so many uniforms and autographed balls and shoes I can look at in one day. The Media Gallery admittedly suffered from some of the interactive displays being inoperable, but ultimately I was there to learn about the history of the pro game and not the guys who covered it.

The last stop on my Hoop Hall tour was the Center Court on the ground level of the museum, a full size basketball court with a museum display on one side chronicling the development and history of the hoop itself, starting with Dr. Naismith's peach baskets and ending with today's NBA hoop and backboard. Since the place was relatively quiet the Friday I was there, I thought this would be a great opportunity to show off my shot on everything from the original peach basket to dropping in some Js from three point land on the main court.

When I lived in upstate New York, my primary source of exercise came from playing basketball down at the Cooperstown Elementary School (next to the addition I designed) and up at the Richfield Springs Central School near where I worked. While there were obvious deficiencies in my game (like my utter lack of ability to play defense), I always had a pretty good shot if I got going on any given day. It's been a few years since I've been on a court but I figured I could get right back into the groove like riding a bike or something. 

Not so much. The years away have not been kind to my game. My performance was quite honestly embarrassing. It took about four or five progressively closer shots for me to drop one in the peach basket and I never hit a shot from beyond the arc. I left humbled and felt the whole exercise in futility the next couple of days in my shoulder. I'm not as young as I once was clearly. At least I could still dribble properly. All in all a pretty humorous end to my trip. We moved on from here to a local bar, far more up my alley at this point in my life.

I know I'll come back here one day. I've promised myself I'll come take in Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend one day but I'm sort of waiting for a Wizards-related induction. Mitch Richmond this year doesn't count, despite him being in a Wizards uniform for a few seasons. Given the Wizards' fortunes of late, know I'll likely have to wait a while, unless somehow Antawn Jamison revives his career and squeaks by in a down year, so I may have to revise my philosophy. I'm not sure I can wait 20 years, assuming there's even someone who would qualify on our current roster. Until that time, I know I got something out of this year's visit and I'm glad I went. And I'll keep learning. I still have five or ten books on my shelves about basketball history I still haven't read.

Strip mall: Not the look I want for the Basketball Hall of Fame.