Media Availability: Wes Unseld Jr., Jordan Poole, and Tyus Jones | 12/26/23

Media Availability: Wes Unseld Jr., Jordan Poole, and Tyus Jones | 12/26/23

Guys shot pretty well but the 21 turnovers how big of a factor were those well I mean think that’s huge I mean um we talked about that pregame that that’s their they’re very handsy and aggressive um they’re high in deflections and steals um and you know those were costly

You know led to a lot of their transition opportunities but um some controllable some I’ll give credit to the defense um but we got to get that number down for sure and what do you think led to Anthony black back having in the offensive night that he did uh he

He got some uh open looks early I think in transition we were you know we weren’t communicating as well as possible uh he was able to get to the corner you know I think he saw his first Corner three go in and um you know guy’s

Going to have nights like that he’s a good player you know I know he’s a young player but uh that’s a quality possession um and you see the ball go in you feel pretty good about it Wes what did you see defensively as you guys were

Trying to close that out after making a a really nice run in the fourth yeah you know to your point I mean move down 17 with about 620 to play cut it to a two possession game with two minutes uh left so we gave ourselves a chance I’m proud

Of the fight um it’s one of those nights where you could easily just say you know what we don’t have it we play tomorrow and and give in so they didn’t let go the Rope uh which is that’s important uh they keep pushing and fighting um uh yeah gave ourselves a chance there

But you know obviously the turnovers offensive rebounds not a ton 7even for 17 and and obviously the paint defense some of that being transitioned but um you know the one-on-one containment pick and rolls um we got to tighten that up um you just talked about

Kind of not letting go I think at at one point in the second quarter Jordan actually looked so frustrated that he walked off the bench and just like took a moment to himself and then um to come back and have 18 points in the fourth

What did you see that he was able to kind of regain control of yeah I think we just uh we were able to get some stops what allows us to get out and run and I know we talked about that is being um something all season that’s been

Vital to you know us playing at a high level but um we had a string of stops there you know I think it was an 110 run um and that obviously got us back in the game so being able to defend rebound and finish those possessions allowed us to

Kind of you know walk them down a bit but how about the way he seemed to recover within the game yeah I mean he’s had stretches where you know there’s frustration or you know whether it’s lack of calls or Miss calls Miss shots um you know I think that goes in line

With that whole um Team resilience he showed his own individual resilience was struggling maybe a little bit frustrated um but he was able to channel that frustration into something positive defensively what was the challenge that they presented and the rotations and helped the helper situations for you especially slipping

Behind that that last line of defense yeah the you know um vogner and Van Caro got going in that second half um and lot of it was pick and roll you know ISO situations and I’ll give the defense a little credit there too they made some

Tough plays tough shots um and you know overall I think schematically we did the right things um clean up you know a handful of those turnovers cut down on um some of the transition opportunities and paint points I think it’s a different ball game and bow even though

His stat line wasn’t body I thought that he really impacted the game when he was in there he did um and that’s a tall task to have to guard a guy with you know that size you know probably got a few pounds on him um and we know he’s

Going to be in a heavy dose of pick and roll so um you know screen after screen just trying to navigate fight get back in front U make those tough contested shots um and some he made but you know I think his effort the intent um you know

Being able to do that without fouling for the most part I think that’s that’s growth it’s positive for him how nice was it to have Dylan back how did he look and how will you guys manage things with the back he looked good he looked a little tired but we expected

That after a a little bit of a stretch um but yeah you we have to kind of slowly bring these guys back into the fold um you don’t want to over overexpose him too soon but I thought he did some good things he played with Tempo um you know made some really good

Reads once he hit the paint kicked out and found some guys on the perimeter so and you know D’s going to bring the defensive side you know he’s ity um you know with his hands and you know he’s very cunning as far as you know creating

Turnovers so it’s it’s good to have that back Johnny Davis uh returned as well tonight but got a DMP uh how do you see him fitting back into the rotation coming back now yeah you know it’s it’s been tough um you know it’s going to be

Difficult because we have a lot of lot of bodies a lot of perimeter players um and it’s tough to play even 10 more or less 11 or 12 um you know the message that we’ve kind of preached with all our guys is just you know stay ready so you

Don’t have to get ready you know and and he’s done a pretty good job of that uh he’ll get opportunity uh it’s a long season and you never know what happens but um there’ll be opportunities to be had and then B good game defensively but

Just one shot I’ll be a a put back lay up off his offensive rebound do you see that as you know a negative in terms of you need to get him more looks offensively or is that just the flow of the game just the flow of the game um we

Don’t run a ton for bow to to begin with you know there there’s some flow offenses that are equal opportunity some um secondary offenses that you know I think allow everyone to get a touch and move and make reads um he’ll score out of those situations he’ll score off um

You know spacing going catching you know driving Closeouts obviously he has the opportunity to rebound and push then absolutely you know play downhill make the right read um I’m not worried about his offense he’s had some big nights for us made shots the ball found him and

He’s you know made threes um didn’t happen tonight but I don’t look at it as a negative uh Denny shot 1 for seven and kma shot 6 for 18 uh how much do you think those two struggling from the field impacted the final result um I mean that’s you

Know obviously you don’t make shots you know you’re a little bit a at a deficit but I thought that most part were quality looks so I’m I’m okay with you know um the process of that how those shots were generated um obviously you want to see those go in but you know I

Think you know once again we gave ourselves a chance um take away some of those other areas we spoke about and I think you know it could have been different what’ you think of the fans tonight they were really into a late chanting defense especially during the

Come great crowd you know I know it’s you know the holiday season this that and the other but I thought um you know their energy kind of helped spur us throughout that you know that stretch and that run there late in the fourth hey Jordan um what went right for you in

The fourth quarter you had 18 points and seem to have it going from kind of all over the place uh how did you feel and what went right for you there um just trying to be aggressive down the stretch um we needed to make one last push around nine minutes or

So uh we strung together a couple stops uh just tried to be aggressive getting get into the basket um taking advantage of the open opportunities the crowd got involved a little bit um so it gave us some energy but U we needed to make a

Push uh if we wanted to win the game late in that fourth you kind of mentioned it but how helpful was it to have crowd behind you it seemed like they were really engaged and really into kind of everything you were doing yeah it’s always helpful um

Whenever we can get the crowd involved get the crowd engaged um whether it’s a small chin or you know just cheering in general uh as players we feed off of that I know I personally do um but they gave us energy down the stretch we kind

Of built off of it that’s a really good team that we played tonight um and they were just able to close out hi Jordan coming into DC you know you have a bigger role teams are going to have different coverages you know specifically designed against against

You it seems like you’ve become a little more you know letting the game come to you as of as of late have you changed anything have you seen anything that has really helped you you know slow the game down and improve recently uh I mean it’s all a work in

Progress It’s all still trying to figure it out um I mean well we’re 30 games into an 82 Game season um rotations are different um some guys are in and out of the lineup some guys are hurt um just figuring out game by game I haven’t changed anything um if anything trying

To be more aggressive but figuring out when to when to get to my spots when to get others involved um ones that need to be aggressive so um still working things out and then coming from Golden State an organization that’s won a lot recently then coming to

The Wizards you guys haven’t been as successful this season has it been a little difficult you not winning as many games as you’re used to uh yeah just being a competitor um you know my entire life um you just want to go out there and win games but it’s all about you know

Building Foundation right now um building something in the locker room that’s sustainable um just playing the right way you know just consistently putting in the work each and every day to try to get better um you know staying in the present and trying to focus on the games that we’re

Winning but also um giving yourself Grace and preparing for the future preparing for later in the season preparing for next year um it’s a process it’s a slow process um just got to stick with it um things will turned around so it just takes time hey

Jordan you and Tai is combined for 52 tonight what have you noticed about the chemistry between you two as the season is going on um yeah tus is a is a great player um being able to play with him he sees the FL so well um um I like how

Aggressive how aggressive he’s been taking his open opportunities but he’s really hard to guard in the pick and roll um and he makes the right play so whenever he can get out in transition whenever he can kind of you know put guys in positions to be successful while

Still finding his shot it’s huge um especially as our point guard and um just playing alongside him and and trying to be aggressive too to kind of take a little bit of pressure off of him um we need him to step up and have big nights and um he’s been playing really

Well the last last couple weeks know all season really but um he’s picked it up the last couple weeks and it’s been helpful what do you think of Daniel gafford’s consistency and stepping his game up of played as well huge um G has been amazing all season I want to say

That I think he leads uh the leagan uh field goal percentage he’s up there he’s up there so um he’s amazing um protecting the paint blocking shots coming over to help us um with contest at the rim and then just getting out in transitioning you know crashing

Offensive glass is huge for us um he’s battling all year he’s been battling we’re undersized most nights so just to see his resilience um the way he’s been playing has been huge for us um and he’s a great player so um definitely can keep it up appreciate the Maryland love with

That no doubt what was it like um having dlon back and having the roster hole for the first time in a while oh it was huge dlon looked really good tonight I’m glad to see him back on the court uh came and he gave us really good impact right away

Offensively defensively um we know what he brings to the table uh being a vet having experience so um it was good to see him back out there on the flo tonight and then I I noticed before the game you had a kid like passing the ball

To you during warm-ups um and you were also getting a lot of love from the kids in the crowd just what was what was that like pre game uh it’s always special it’s always dope um I don’t think I’ll ever get overseeing kids in my jersey

Which is really cool and um little man had the Jersey short socks shoes on today I thought West might have threw him in the game so um no it’s just cool just try to um show love just because um when I was a kid that was something

That I would have wanted and um you know kids look up to you and you know it’s nothing to be a nice person so just try to reach out whenever I can um you know give them a really cool experience when given opportunity what do you want to see

Carry over to tomorrow’s game from tonight’s game yeah just play with the that we play with um Cory had an amazing game too he really kind of helped us in that first half uh spacing the floor knocking shots down um each and every night just continuing

To get better um like tonight we fought really hard in that fourth I think say we were down 17 with nine minutes or something left to go so just to even close that League get it close it just shows the fight you know that the guys

Have um that we’ve been picking up over you know over the course of the season and uh just sticking with that of course we we want to pull the game out but um it’s not going to go that way every time but you look at the positives um luckily

We got another we got another one tomorrow all tus uh you’re shooting 73% from three over your last five games have you done anything differently to get your shot down from deep I have not um just shooting it with confidence trusting in um trusting in my work um

And that’s really it just just taking the shots out of the air for me being aggressive um being confident um continuing to learn the offense learn the system um and that’s really it man not not nothing nothing you know too too crazy and it seems like you have that floater

Down at what point in your career did you really try to you know emphasize working on that making that a signature shot of yours yeah uh I’ve always had a floater um I feel like each level I went up I just had to kind of get to it more

Um just with big men being more athletic taller things like that so from high school to college had to use a little bit more from college to the pros obviously had to really start using it and it was just something that I was able to um know I could kind of get to

Um and yeah so each year I feel like I’ve just kind of gotten better and better at it knowing how to get to it what spots when I’m able to get to and things like that um and so yeah I kind of feel like I got it down down pack

Question for tus senior um uh how nice was it to have Dam back after his long absence super nice uh super nice he’s he’s working uh he’s worked his his butt off to to get back um unfortunate injury he’s had um you know he was telling me last year

It’s kind of like the same situation like he went out pretty early in the season so um you know he worked hard to be back um it was definitely a spark for us um and and good to have him back um he was classic Delon tonight couple steals um couple deflections just

Disrupting um things on defense was able to get to the get to the paint a couple times s get a couple nice buckets um just another ball handler out there decision maker um so it was nice to have him back for sure what was the key to

The push in the second half and the crowd got behind you guys what did that energy feel like yeah it felt great it felt great we needed that uh they the crowd helped us out for sure um Kei was just getting stops um we were rebounding um and getting out and running just

Taking taking the um open looks just playing fast um and that’s that’s one of our strengths so just trying to continue to play with Pace get stops first and then get out um so we just gotta have to you know build on that what challenge did they present defensively for you to

Get you in rotation um they just they got Firepower um they’re able to get downhill um you know they got a couple good actions you know able to get them to the paint um and that puts pressure on your defense makes makes your def kind of breaks your

Defense down makes you scramble um and yeah they got a couple guys that can that can get going I can you know fill it up um you know put the ball in the basket and uh you know but you gota you got to just try to make them work try

Not to give them anything easy um and they hit some tough Shots tonight you just got to tip your cap tus you guys have had um good fights against these guys two out of three times now is the takeway just that when banero and and Wagner get going in the paint it’s hard

To stop them or what do you see yeah yeah like I said they they do a good job of you know um kind of mixing up uh different looks to get them downhill get them into the paint um but obviously they’re they’re talented guys they they know

They strengths they play to him um and there was just a couple couple times like they they hit tough shots and there’s there’s only so much you can do um and we just got to do a better job of continue to try to play physical um

Early and often not let them kind of get into a rhythm things like that um but it happens it’s learning you know and we got to learn from it and grow from it has your son asked you how many assists you’ve got tonight yet would you like to

Tell him how many assists did I have tonight um Sorry to bring it up if he didn’t ask I had six assists tonight okay is that good yeah that’s good yeah all right cuz that’s how many I wanted you to have perfect perfect there we go

Exactly um how do you you know with a from a game that had a lot of emotional highs and lows how do you rebound on the front end of a back to back going into the second leg Yeah you got to um I mean honestly you got to you just got to like

Flush it and regroup like take some some of the good um but take some of the bad too like what didn’t we do tonight um that we want to improve upon tomorrow um it’s a quick turnaround but that’s the beauty of the league um we got another

Chance right away tomorrow to to try to get back in the wind column so um got to get our rest hydrate things like that and then regroup because we got another team coming in here um that’s you know not going to make any excuses for us

They’re coming in to win a ball game too so um you just got to move on quickly um and regroup as you look forward to tomorrow’s game is there any benefit um that you see playing another team that has big physical wings that lead the way

Um like Scotty Barnes and ogan and Obi or is it still just a completely different different team different Dynamics um there’s a some similarities um some similarities for sure offensively um but at the same time they’re they’re different players um so you know I’m not sure if it’s you know

Too much of a benefit um systems different things like that so as professional as you are as much as the team depends on you how are you handling seon you’re not winning as much as you’re accustomed to yeah it’s tough it’s tough honestly um it’s tough um just being a competitor um

You know priding myself on uh being a winner um but at the same time just understanding um just understanding like this is you know part of you know what you know sometimes teams have to go through um you know there’s sometimes there’s Dark Days sometimes there’s um

Periods of growing learning um it’s not just it’s not just easy like you could look at a team at like Orlando for example like it took them a couple years of growing together figuring each other out figuring figuring it out um to really Jael and they’re putting it

Together this year like so sometimes it just takes time um to learn and it’s it’s it’s tough to to stay patient um but just trying to look at the big picture like um that’s just where we’re at right now we we have to Contin to

Learn and continue to grow um as a team as a unit and uh you know but it but it is tough I I would be lying if I’m sitting here saying it’s it’s it’s fine um but I’m a I’m a competitor um I want

To win I want to win games and I pride myself on that and I’m going to keep hanging my hat on that um because I would be cheating myself cheating the guys if I wasn’t um you know competing at the highest level or caring that uh

We weren’t winning as many games as you know we would like so hey tus tases um a lot of times this season and I feel like especially recently you’ve started off the game really hot in the first quarter and that’s been indicative of you being consistent throughout the Game ending

With big numbers do you feel like that’s the case uh yeah um just again trying to just take what the defense is giving me sometimes um early in the game um you know the shots are there and just trying to be aggressive and take them um sometimes getting guys going is is kind

Of how the game you know what the game presents um so it’s honestly not looking too much into that it’s just trying to take what the defense has giving me um and again trying to trying to be aggressive um trying to make plays um

Yeah so I try not to look too into too too much into it uh we’re in January now you and Jordan or almost January you and Jordan combined for 52 tonight what are you learning about him and how’s your Chemistry with him developing um it’s getting better it’s continuing to get

Better um we’re talking the game constantly um figuring each other out um figuring out you know where each other you know how to compliment each other better um how to compliment one another um we’re just trying to continue to improve um you know we still it’s still

Early when you think about in the grand scheme of things like 30 games in um of sharing the court so still just trying to improve take it one game at a time um but we feel like we’re we’re definitely building thanks

Coach Unseld, Jordan Poole, and Tyus Jones spoke to the media following Tuesday night’s matchup against the Orlando Magic at Capital One Arena.

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