Live Radio
Home » Washington Wizards » Where today's Wizards were then

Where today’s Wizards were then

Noah Frank | nfrank@wtop.com

January 15, 2015, 2:14 AM

Bradley Beal Starting at the youngest end, Beal was just entering the fall semester of his seventh-grade year at Chaminade Middle School in Creve Coeur, Mo., outside St. Louis. (AP Photo/Patric Schneider)
AP Photo/Patric Schneider
DeJuan Blair Prior to his stellar college career at Pitt, Blair was a junior at Schenley High School, in Pittsburgh, where he would go on to finish a perfect 57-0 within the Pittsburgh City League over his prep career. He would go on to be drafted by the Spurs in the second round of the 2009 draft, and spent the first four years of his career in San Antonio and a season in Dallas before landing in Washington. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt
Rasual Butler The LaSalle University product was playing his fourth NBA season, his first with New Orleans/Oklahoma City (remember that?) after beginning his career in Miami. Since then, the sharpshooter has spent time with the Clippers, Bulls, Raptors and Pacers before joining Washington this season. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Drew Gooden The veteran forward had his best shooting season of any year he was a qualified player in 2005-06, dropping 51.2 percent of his buckets for Cleveland. He would go for 10 points and 9 rebounds in a 114-99 win over the Wizards just three days after Washington’s victory over San Antonio. Gooden played with six other teams between his stints with the Cavs and the Wizards, including a 19-game stretch with the Spurs in the latter half of the 2008-09 season. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Marcin Gortat Gortat had been selected by the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the 2005 draft earlier that summer, but continued to play in Europe for Germany’s RheinEnergie Cologne through 2007. He helped that club to the German Championship in 2006, as well as the BBL Cup Championship in 2004, 2005 and 2007. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Nene The Brazilian played all of two minutes and 33 seconds for the Nuggets in 2005 before suffering a season-ending torn ACL in the season opener … against none other than the San Antonio Spurs. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Kris Humphries Humphries was riding the bench as a 20-year-old in his second season with the Utah Jazz. That same night, he logged a scoreless nine-minute stint in Chicago, pulling down three rebounds in a 103-98 loss to the Bulls. After the season, the journeyman would head to Toronto for three seasons, then head to Dallas, then New Jersey, see his New Jersey team move to Brooklyn, and spend a year in Boston before finally landing in the District. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
AP Photo/David Goldman
Andre Miller The veteran was already on his third NBA team in the seventh year of his career. One of the NBA’s iron men, Miller has played in all 82 games of the season nine times, and in all 66 in 2011-12. In all, Miller took the court 733 times between Washington wins over San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)
AP Photo/Brandon Wade
Paul Pierce Already a star in the NBA, Pierce was in the midst of his eighth season in the association and his fifth consecutive All-Star campaign. He went on to score 2,116 points, the second-highest total of his career. His Celtics had just played the Spurs the night before the Wizards victory: He scored a team-high 20 points, but Boston was blown out at the Garden, 103-82.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Otto Porter Just like Beal, Porter was in just seventh grade in the fall of 2005, and also in the St. Louis area. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Kevin Seraphin The forward from French Guiana was just 15 years old at the time. He wouldn’t compete for the French FIBA Europe Under-20 team for another four years, where he would help them to a silver medal. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Garrett Temple The NBA nomad has played for six NBA teams, four D-League clubs and even over in Italy since becoming a pro in 2009, but he hadn’t even played a minute of college basketball at LSU the last time the Wiz beat the Spurs, as just a freshman in Baton Rouge. Temple played in a total of 16 games (4 starts) between his 2009-11 seasons in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)
AP Photo/Darren Hauck
John Wall In the fall of 2005, Wall was still just a sophomore at Garner Magnet High School in North Carolina, not yet even a highly recruited high schooler. The game was played just two months after his 15th birthday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Martell Webster Just a 19-year-old rookie, Webster was the sixth overall pick in the draft straight out of Seattle Preparatory High School a few months prior. His Portland Trailblazers teams would lose the first nine games against the Spurs in which Webster played. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
AP Photo/David Goldman
Randy Wittman Wittman was an assistant coach with Orlando Magic in between stints with the Timberwolves. But his personal exorcism of the Spurs was at least as significant as the Wizards’. After beating San Antonio the first time he ever played against Popovich as a head coach on Feb. 15, 2000, while in Cleveland, Wittman’s squads had dropped 18 straight — three with the Cavaliers, nine with the Minnesota Timberwolves and six with the Wizards. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
(1/15)

Related News

Recommended

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up