Abstract:
The Washington Wizards are one of several franchises to have won a championship in the
National Basketball Association (NBA). Although the franchise achieved this during a
decade of consecutive postseason appearances, it has been recognized more for its
tendencies to falter and underperform. The Wizards have compiled season after season of
losing records with the occasional glimmer of hope that the upcoming season will be
markedly different from seasons past. The purpose of this research is to offer an
explanation as to why the franchise has been among the worst performing in the NBA
when there are systematic opportunities each year to improve either through the NBA
Draft, free agency, or development of players in the off-season. The focus of this research
will be on the Wizards, formerly the Bullets, performance in the 1970s and 2000s. By
analyzing discourse of sportswriters hailing from the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post, themes were generated from their discourse which highlight the franchise’s prolonged
struggles. Research from these selected decades represents key periods at which the team
moved from a perennial playoff contender to the lower rungs of the NBA. The examined
discourse from these decades serves as a basis for understanding how pronounced the
franchise’s struggles have been through the years and presents points suggesting why
they are continually stuck in the rebuilding stage.
