John Wall prefers old Bullets nickname to Wizards

John Wall would love it if they became the Bullets again. (USATSI)

In the early 1960's, the Chicago Packers were an NBA team that became the Chicago Zephyrs in their second year of existence. Then from 1963 until 1997, this franchise was referred to as the Bullets, no matter where they resided. They were the Baltimore Bullets, the Capital Bullets, and eventually the Washington Bullets. Then to remove such a potentially negative connotation, the franchise became the Wizards for the 1997-98 season and haven't changed since.

John Wall has been a member of the Wizards since 2009, and while he claims to like the Wizards' logo, he apparently wishes the team could go back to the throwback Bullets logo and uniforms.

John Wall on Bullets cap: “The Wizards logo is cool. I like all that, but I wish we could go back to these – I know we're never going back."

— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) March 20, 2014

He's probably just being a good employee when he says he likes the Wizards logo and thinks it's cool. Unless he's a really big Harry Potter fan, it's unlikely an adult thinks Wizards is a cool logo. The franchise point guard who just signed a max contract extension for five years and over $80 million could probably try to push for a change, but a move back toward the Bullets seems unlikely.

(H/T - ProBasketballTalk)

Topics: John Wall, Washington Wizards, NBA

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Dwyane Wade, taking big-picture view, feeling better as playoffs near

BOSTON – Dwyane Wade receives treatment in so many forms, he loses track of how each device affects his knee.

“If they want to hook me up to a car battery, that’s fine with me,” Wade said. “I’m going to jump on it, maybe in the playoffs.”

If all goes according to plan though, Wade won’t need a jumpstart for the postseason. He’ll be hitting his stride then.

Wade has already missed 17 games this season, but he’s feeling better and better.

“Last year at this time, I was going the opposite the way,” Wade said.

It showed in the playoffs, where Wade’s PER declined to 18.7 from 24.0 in the regular season. It’s typical for players’ production to fall as competition stiffens in the postseason, but that drop of 5.3 was the second-largest of Wade’s career. Only the extreme case of 2006-07 – when Wade missed 30 games, returned to play just five before the playoffs, still led the NBA in PER and then couldn’t stop the Bulls from sweeping Miami in the first round – saw a bigger drop.

Regular season in red. Post season in gold.

To avoid a similar fate this season, Wade has committed to the Heat’s plan that includes specialized workouts – and sitting out games he could otherwise play.

“I wasn’t comfortable with it,” said Wade, who’s already missed four more games than he did last season. “I’m sure it was uncharted waters for them as well. But it was something I felt I needed to do.”

The Heat are just 11-6 without Wade, but they see the end game.

“In order for us to contend and win, at the end of the day, he has to be on his A game,” LeBron said. “…Trying to three-peat, it’s not going to happen in June. It happens from the beginning of the season. We have to prepare every single day.”

For Wade, sometimes that preparation means sitting with what might as well be a car battery attached to his knee.

Is that worth it?

“It’s just about this picture we always call the bigger picture,” Wade said. “Who knows if it’s right or wrong? You’ve just got to make a decision and go with it.”