2001–02 Washington Wizards season

2001–02 Washington Wizards season
Michael Jordan plays for Wizards
Head coach	Doug Collins
Owner(s)	Abe Pollin
Arena	MCI Center
Results
Record	37–45 (.451)
Place	Division: 5th (Atlantic) Conference: 10th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	CSN Mid-Atlantic, UPN Washington
Radio	ESPN 980

The 2001-02 Washington Wizards season was the Wizards' 41st season in the National Basketball Association (NBA). They entered the season hoping to improve upon their 19-63 output from the previous season. They did, finishing the season with a 37-45 record. However, the team still missed the playoffs, even with the help of Michael Jordan, who came out of retirement to play for a second time to play with the Wizards.

Offseason

During the offseason, the team fired head coach Leonard Hamilton and replaced him with Doug Collins.

On July 18, the Wizards signed Tyronn Lue, who would be Chris Whitney's backup during the season. A week later, the team waived forward Michael Smith.

On August 1, the Wizards traded Laron Profit and a 2005 1st round draft pick to the Orlando Magic for Brendan Haywood. Haywood would play with the Wizards for almost nine years, until he was traded in February 2010.

On September 25, the Wizards signed Michael Jordan. Jordan, at 39 years old, would be the team's points-per-game leader during the season. He also led the team in assists per game.

On October 8, the Wizards waived small forward Mike Smith.

On October 24, the team released Kornél Dávid.

NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	1	Kwame Brown	Center	United States	Glynn Academy (Brunswick, GA)

Regular season

Michael Jordan

After retiring from the Chicago Bulls in early 1999, Michael Jordan became the Washington Wizards' president of basketball operations as well as a minority owner in January 2000. However in September 2001, Michael Jordan came out of retirement at age 38 to play basketball for the Washington Wizards. Jordan stated that he was returning "for the love of the game." Because of NBA rules, he had to divest himself of any ownership of the team. Before the All-Star break, Jordan was only one of two players, along with Kobe Bryant, to average more than 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists as he led the Wizards to a 26–21 record, and the only player to average more than 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Tracy McGrady would become the only player to average at least 25-6-5 by the end of the 2001-02 season

However, in the last game before the All-star break, Jordan suffered a knee injury in a collision with Etan Thomas on February 7 against the Sacramento Kings. The Wizards would lose 9 of their next 10 games following Jordan's knee injury. It is also worth noting that Rip Hamilton missed 5 weeks of playing time due to a groin injury in the Wizards' 26-21 stretch. Starting with a November 28 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Wizards were 15-1 in the last 16 games that Jordan and Hamilton played together prior to Jordan's injury on February 7. After the all-star break, Jordan's knee could not handle the workload of a full-season as he ended the season on the injured list, and the Wizards concluded the season with a 37–45 record. Still, Jordan had led the Wizards to an 18-win improvement from the previous season.

Standings

Atlantic Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-New Jersey Nets	52	30	.634	–	33–8	19–22	16–8
x-Boston Celtics	49	33	.598	3	27–14	22–19	17–7
x-Orlando Magic	44	38	.537	8	27–14	17–24	12–12
x-Philadelphia 76ers	43	39	.524	9	22–19	21–20	14–11
Washington Wizards	37	45	.451	15	22–19	15–26	12–13
Miami Heat	36	46	.439	16	18–23	18–23	10–14
New York Knicks	30	52	.366	22	19–22	11–30	4–20

Roster

Washington Wizards roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. From SG 4 Alexander, Courtney 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Fresno State PF 5 Brown, Kwame 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 270 lb (122 kg) Glynn Academy SG 24 Davis, Hubert 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 183 lb (83 kg) North Carolina C 3 Haywood, Brendan 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 268 lb (122 kg) North Carolina SG 32 Hamilton, Richard 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 193 lb (88 kg) Connecticut PF 54 Jones, Popeye 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Murray State SF 23 Jordan, Michael 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) North Carolina PF 44 Laettner, Christian 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Duke PG 10 Lue, Tyronn 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Nebraska SF 8 Nesby, Tyrone 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) UNLV SF 21 Simmons, Bobby 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) DePaul C 36 Thomas, Etan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 256 lb (116 kg) Syracuse C 55 White, Jahidi 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 290 lb (132 kg) Georgetown PG 12 Whitney, Chris 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 168 lb (76 kg) Clemson	Head coach Doug Collins (Illinois State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster • Transactions

Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; MPG= Minutes per Game; SPG= Steals per Game; RPG = Rebounds per Game; APG. = Assists per Game; BPG = Blocks per Game; PPG = Points per Game

Player	GP	MPG	STL	RPG	APG	BLK	PPG
Michael Jordan	60		85	5.7	5.2	26	22.9
Richard Hamilton	63		38	3.4	2.7	14	20.0
Chris Whitney	82		72	1.9	3.8	6	10.2
Courtney Alexander	56		35	2.6	1.5	7	9.8
Tyronn Lue	71		49	1.7	3.5	0	7.8
Hubert Davis	51		28	1.5	2.1	3	7.2
Christian Laettner	57		60	5.3	2.6	25	7.1
Popeye Jones	79		50	7.3	1.6	19	7.0
Tyrone Nesby	70		61	4.5	1.3	22	6.3
Jahidi White	71		25	6.3	0.2	75	5.4
Brendan Haywood	62		21	5.2	0.5	91	5.1
Kwame Brown	57		16	3.5	0.8	26	4.5
Etan Thomas	47		17	3.9	0.1	35	4.3
Bobby Simmons	30		13	1.7	0.6	5	3.7

References

• Washington Wizards on Database Basketball
• Washington Wizards on Basketball Reference