1988–89 Washington Bullets season
The 1988–89 NBA season was the Bullets' 28th season in the NBA. In the 1988 NBA draft, the Bullets selected Harvey Grant from the University of Oklahoma with the twelfth overall pick, and Ledell Eackles from the University of New Orleans with the 36th overall pick. During the off-season, the team acquired Dave Feitl from the Golden State Warriors. Under Wes Unseld's first full season as head coach, and with the addition of Grant and Eackles, the Bullets struggled losing seven straight games in December, which led to a 4–14 start, and held a 17–28 record at the All-Star break. However, the team played above .500 for the remainder of the season, and finished fourth in the Atlantic Division with a 40–42 record, which was two more wins then the previous season, but the team failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing just two games behind the 8th-seeded Boston Celtics.
| 1988–89 Washington Bullets season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Wes Unseld |
| General manager | Bob Ferry |
| Arena | Capital Centre (38 games) Baltimore Arena (3 games) |
| Results | |
| Record | 40–42 (.488) |
| Place | Division: 4th (Atlantic) Conference: 9th (Eastern) |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
| Local media | |
| Television | WDCA Home Team Sports (Mel Proctor, Phil Chenier) |
| Radio | WTOP (Charlie Slowes) |
Jeff Malone led the team in scoring averaging 21.7 points per game, while Bernard King averaged 20.7 points per game, and sixth man Hot Plate Williams provided the team with 13.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game off the bench, and finished in fourth place in Sixth Man of the Year voting. In addition, Eackles contributed 11.5 points per game off the bench, while Terry Catledge provided with 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, Darrell Walker contributed 9.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.0 steals per game, and starting center Charles Jones averaged 2.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, but only played 53 games due to a knee injury. Unseld finished in fifth place in Coach of the Year voting.
Following the season, Catledge was left unprotected in the 1989 NBA Expansion Draft, where he was selected by the newly expansion Orlando Magic, and Feitl was released to free agency.