1987–88 Washington Bullets season

The 1987–88 Washington Bullets season was the 27th season for the Washington Bullets in the National Basketball Association, and their 15th season in Washington, D.C.

Season summary

Off-season The Bullets had the twelfth overall pick in the 1987 NBA draft, and selected 5' 3" point guard Muggsy Bogues out of Wake Forest University; Bogues would become the shortest player in NBA history, and would also team up with 7' 7" center Manute Bol, who was the tallest player in NBA history. During the off-season, the Bullets signed free agent All-Star forward Bernard King, who previously dealt with knee injuries with his former team, the New York Knicks, acquired Darrell Walker and Mark Alarie from the Denver Nuggets, and later on signed Steve Colter.

For the season, the Bullets redesigned their primary logo; the team removed the city name "Washington", and modified the team name "Bullets" in royal blue, removing the fingers from the two letter "L's" catching a red basketball with white seams. The team also redesigned their home and road uniforms, replacing their previous stars-and-stripes pattern jerseys with white home uniforms featuring a blue and red trim, and red road uniforms with a blue and white trim; both uniforms featured a blue wordmark of the team name on the front of their jerseys.

The team's new primary logo, and new uniforms would both remain in use until 1997.

Regular season With the addition of King, Walker and Bogues, the Bullets struggled losing eight of their first ten games of the regular season, as head coach Kevin Loughery was fired after an 8–19 start to the season, and was replaced with former Bullets All-Star forward Wes Unseld as their new coach. Under Unseld, the team held a 17–25 record at the All-Star break, and posted a seven-game winning streak between February and March. The Bullets finished in second place in the Atlantic Division with a 38–44 record, and earned the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

Jeff Malone led the Bullets in scoring with 20.5 points per game, while Moses Malone averaged 20.3 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, and King provided the team with 17.2 points per game. In addition, second-year forward Hot Plate Williams averaged 12.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, while Terry Catledge provided with 10.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, and Colter contributed 8.0 points and 4.2 assists per game. Off the bench, Frank Johnson averaged 7.4 points and 2.5 assists per game, while Walker provided with 6.0 points and 1.2 steals per game, and Bogues contributed 5.0 points, 5.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game. On the defensive side, Charles Jones averaged 2.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, and Bol provided with 2.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game off the bench.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois, Moses Malone was selected for the 1988 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team. Bol finished tied in eighth place in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

The Bullets finished 20th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 433,376 at the Capital Centre during the regular season, which was the fourth-lowest in the league.

NBA playoffs In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1988 NBA playoffs, the Bullets faced off against the 2nd–seeded, and Central Division champion Detroit Pistons, who were led by the trio of All-Star guard Isiah Thomas, Adrian Dantley and Joe Dumars. The Bullets lost the first two games to the Pistons on the road at the Pontiac Silverdome, but managed to win the next two games at home, which included a Game 4 win over the Pistons at the Capital Centre, 106–103 to even the series. However, the Bullets lost Game 5 to the Pistons at the Pontiac Silverdome, 99–78, thus losing in a hard-fought five-game series.

This would also be the Bullets' final NBA playoff appearance until the 1996–97 season, as what would follow was an eight-year playoff drought. The Pistons would advance to the NBA Finals, but would lose to the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in a full seven-game series in the 1988 NBA Finals.

Aftermath Following the season, Moses Malone signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Hawks after two seasons with the Bullets, while Bol was traded to the Golden State Warriors, and Bogues was left unprotected in the 1988 NBA expansion draft, where he was selected by the Charlotte Hornets expansion team.

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 12 Muggsy Bogues PG Wake Forest 2 36 Duane Washington SG Middle Tennessee State 2 37 Derrick Dowell Southern California 3 59 Danny Pearson Jacksonville 4 81 Scott Thompson C San Diego 5 106 Patrick Fairs Texas 6 128 Dwayne Scholten Washington State 7 150 Jamie Dixon Texas Christian

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Notes z, y – division champions x – clinched playoff spot

Game log Regular season

| Capital Centre | 1–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 5 | November 15 | @ New Jersey | W 113–109

| Memorial Coliseum | 2–6 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 9 | November 21 | @ Seattle | L 103–124

| Capital Centre | 4–11 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 16 | December 8 | @ New York | L 92–116

| Capital Centre | 8–17

| Capital Centre | 8–19 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 28 | January 5 | New Jersey | W 101–97

| The Spectrum | 13–21 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 35 | January 22 | Golden State | W 115–91

| Capital Centre | 14–21 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 36 | January 24 | Philadelphia | W 131–99

| Capital Centre | 15–21 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 37 | January 25 | Philadelphia | W 118–117 (OT)

| HemisFair Arena | 19–29 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 49 | February 20 | @ Houston | L 109–115

1987–88 Washington Bullets season

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