Media Availability: Will Dawkins and Michael Winger | 01/25/24

Media Availability: Will Dawkins and Michael Winger | 01/25/24

The first thing I just I want to make sure that we thank Wes for what he’s contributed to this organization in his two and a half years here as our head coach we are we’re a better organization because of Wes our players are individually better because of Wes uh

And the six or seven months at will and I have been here we’re better because of Wes and um I’m really grateful that he was here and I’m particularly grateful that he he’ll take some some time and decide the uh extent of the role that he

Would like uh with us in the front office we’ll have those conversations at a later date but um his his his interest in coming back and our interest our our strong desire in having him back is sort of a testament to his value to the

Organization and so I I I I really want to make sure that I’m uh representing how important he is to us um as it relates to the timing piece the calculus really didn’t even include backto backs or what what game number we are at or anything like that

It was a matter of um inputs and outputs for us um we preached patients at the beginning of the year that was a function of uh an eventual return to hyperco competitive basketball that was really the patient piece there was no sense of urgency right now nothing

Nothing really occurred um will and I met with Wes often and we talk you know we talk basketball a lot we talk about the team we talk about the competitiveness of the team player accountability Joy um our principles and it just it sort of became clear clearer um that there was just

This this sustained something less than our most competitive selves and it was it just you just kept feeling it and seeing it and Wes did too I mean he he saw it he knew it it he felt it and he gave it everything he had um you know the team that he inherited

From from us this season is significantly different than the teams he had the last couple of years the job he took two years ago was different than the one he had this year and I mean he left it all out there in my opinion and the timing I it just didn’t register I

Don’t want to say it didn’t register it it was not part of the calculus where we were in the season the number of games remaining back to back um it was just you know we had a conversation last night which we do often and it was just

One of those where it’s like man like how are we going to get better how are we going to sort of Ratchet up the dial on competitiveness and we came to the conclusion that the fellas just need to hear a new voice and that was irrespective of the timing the

Kind of marching orders you guys both had expressed was it was going this season was going to be about really individual Improvement and and getting better because you knew that the record was not going to necessarily be a winning record but you could find Value in guys getting better it a lot of

Guys have gotten better um and so I wonder how you kind of weigh that against the lack or the lack of consistent competitiveness that you saw because individually the player a player B player C are getting better are being more consistent in their output but it’s obviously not leading to wins well we

Needed both um we needed the individual Improvement and you’re absolutely right a lot of our players if not all of our players have gotten better um all credit go I don’t say all credit but the credit for that is split among a small group of people particularly the athletes

Themselves Wes our coaching staff our Player Development team and then will in the Player Development Group um but yes our players are individually getting better it is a team game and so our basketball team has to get better they have to play competitive team basketball um to your point about wins and losses

Um you know we talk internally a lot about we can tolerate uh losing a game in which we were competitive for 48 minutes uh we can tolerate losing a basketball game where we see the team improving as a collective in the absence of 48 minutes of competitiveness in the

Absence of um Collective team basketball progress over the course of time irrespective of the individual Improvement we have an issue to address and that’s sort of how that conversation unfolded yeah um before I kind of answer that I think I need to at least address

How how um thankful I am for Wes as well when it’s your first time in this role in a new city new environment and you have someone like Wes and his contributions um you’re you’re really grateful for that I am um his collaboration is up there with any head

Coach I’ve worked with and I think he takes some great pride in the player development program that you mentioned when you are at the Forefront of what we’re trying to do and you build those first bricks and you put those down and eventually years down the line you see

What those become like you take pride in that um and we have a lot of pride in knowing that he’s still going to be working with us in the front office uh identifying those things and helping us get to where we want to go but it is a a

Team sport it’s not golf it’s not tennis it’s not become great individuals and there’s things stylistically that we want to see on the court um specifically we we know our energy wasn’t always there we know our competitiveness was not always there and defensively there were nice that were unacceptable and

Those are things that we want to continue to work on and we think that a fresh voice right here right now is what we need and also for the better of a future and we’re intentional we’re deliberate these conversations are never easy no one likes to have them um no one

Likes to have days like this but we talked about it and we feel it’s what’s best for the organization and the plan is still the plan to move forward with that this for both of you what is reasonable in terms of the amount and type of improvement you expect from now

Until the end of the season what’s your reasonable expectation yeah I think I’ll take it back to the first day we got here we we talked about walking in and assessing where we’re at we’re going to assess and we’re going to evaluate everything we do and with that we’ve set

Metrics and measures throughout the year a lot of those things are internal some things have been hit some things have not those are going to continue to be those main things and drivers for us our players are aware of them we’ve met met with them there’ll be a an influx and

Accountability and owning that we all are our record right now and we all need to be better and I think you’ll see that show up in a in a spirit and in a way you compete that will handle some of those internal metrics question for will um Brian Keefe

What does he bring and what do you hope to see from the team with him in charge yeah I would say with Brian it was a natural shift Wes hired a really good staff and he hired Brian this summer to be his lead assistant it’s a natural shift to slide

Over um into that chair obviously I was familiar with Brian before I got here so I I know some of his strengths as a Player Development coach individually I think he’ll be able to kind of tie some of those things you see with the Player Development but also enforce those on

The court become a a more defensive minded team I know he was in charge of the defense at a few different places so I think you’ll see a more defensive mindset um but at at the end of the day it’s the strength of our staff I think

Brian will unlock the group that we have around him Mike Miller will move from behind the bench um and fill the spot vacant on the front of the bench for assistant coaches so have a lot of years of expertise with Mike Miller David Vanderpool Joseph Blair to help support

And guys behind the bench that can rally and pump more juice into the building and we really challenge them to experiment and try new things this is a season of Discovery for the Wizards right now we want to try stylistically new things to do defensively new ways to

Play offensively and the goal is you stumble on some something that two three four years down the line is changing the way basketball’s played and with that mindset that optimism we think we have the experience in the coaching room to make sure we can do that uh how long has

This decision or this process been stewing we talk all the time I mean there’s been no stew um we talked to Wes with Wes with the staff the players I mean all the time it it’s just we’re a very collaborative group and I don’t mean will and I as the

Group I mean all of us as the group and we talk about it a lot you know Wes has raised concerns uh over the last many weeks we’ve raised concerns and those concerns have just like they all have the common threat of competitiveness um accountability and

Joy and so I mean I I I I can’t reflect back on a date when you know our conversations shifted from you know rotations to competitiveness or you know which hotel tells are we going to stay into competitiveness like I I don’t remember when those conversations shifted but you know we’ve been

Addressing the competitiveness piece for a while and sort of taking it back to Josh’s question um you know what are we looking for the remainder of the season a lot of it’s not measurable it’s it it is hard to measure competitiveness it is hard to measure watching the fellas play with

With joy and intent um those are difficult to measure there is sort of a um like a visceral response to a competitive basketball game and a different visceral response to an uncompetitive basketball game and I think that it’s the fewer of those types of responses we have to an uncompetitive

Basketball game that might be a measure um but I mean from a timing perspective we’re always evaluating every single facet of the organization that we’re responsible for and so so I mean day one I guess or two weeks ago like I I just don’t know the date yeah I would think I

Would just say to follow up on that um everything we’ve talked about when we talked about coming in and assessing where we’re out and evaluating we’re evaluating the process not necessarily outcomes of how things happen and when you have those conversations every single day you can see when they’re

Starting to fray or not necessarily adding up and our dialogue with our players our dialogue with our staff um head coach front office like it’s it’s pretty strong here and that’s the culture that Michael wanted when we got here and I think when you have honest conversations you reflect and sit down

And you can realize that where’s the process going how do we get it back on track and we have almost half the season left I think there’s 39 games starting with tonight that’s a lot of time to impact change and give us momentum into the next season so we don’t take that

For granted but we also were intentional and didn’t want to rush a decision we wanted to really give Wes a chance and get to this point and that’s where we’re at last question Josh if you’re evaluating if you’re evaluating competitiveness and and uh Spirit uh how much of the responsibility

For that not measuring up so far is on the players doesn’t doesn’t don’t and they know it Josh I mean these are conversations we have with them um they know it we we’ve we met with them today um there’s not a single player in that locker room happy with this outcome um

They every single one of them raise their hand as you know when the question was asked who in this room is a who who in this room is responsible for this every single player raised their hand um they know it

Will Dawkins and Michael Winger spoke to the media regarding Interim Head Coach Brian Keefe prior to our game against the Jazz at Capital One Arena.

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