Media Availability: Brian Keefe, Kyle Kuzma, Tyus Jones, and Corey Kispert | 01/25/24

Media Availability: Brian Keefe, Kyle Kuzma, Tyus Jones, and Corey Kispert | 01/25/24

Uh coach I know it was a loss unfortunately but your first game as head coach how did it feel um yeah it felt okay uh I thought the guys what I was very proud of our guys is that we didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight and we competed though we

Had multiple runs a run at the end of the first a run at the end of the second then a run at the end of the fourth where we were down and our guys kept fighting and they did that without making shots like and that can be energy energy draining at times

So the competitiveness was there but I think it was just the bar we set for each other as an organization as a group the bar was good but that’s just the first step so we got to get keep going before the game you were talking a

Lot about growing as a team and getting better defensively and competing better when Marvin Bagley steps in like that off the bench and has a very solid performance like he’s done multiple times already does that maybe entice you a little bit more to play a two big lineup with him and Gafford going

Against another two big lineup and marking in Colin um I think everything is always on the table uh we’re still learning our group and we talked about really being in a discovery phase of how to best use the lineups that we have um Marvin’s been a

Great addition for us he’s given us a great spark so we’re we’re thrilled to have him and he’s given us something we haven’t had a guy who can really offensive rebound good score and he’s shown some good stuff on the defensive it protecting the rim so I think all

That stuff is definitely on the table but we I was pleased with our process tonight we didn’t shoot the ball well I think we had 33 assists and we only made 73 so like for that’s good we played at the pace that we wanted to if we made

Those shots it would have been right there but again I was proud of our resilience within the game that was that was really important to me tonight Brian how did you address the guys today when did you first get to kind of talk to them and then you know more centered on

The game are you a big pregame speech guy like what’s your what’s your style there um I get talked with the team in the afternoon like as we usually would on a kind of like a back-to-back situation and we just were you know open with each other I’ll leave that some of

What we talked about as a group in there because I think that’s important to protect our locker room and what we’re doing but we talked about raising our standards and we talked about competing and I really believe I think I saw that tonight um even when it didn’t look

Great offensively because we were missing shots we kept competing and that has to be the bar for us going forward it’s really important for us called a timeout 107 into the game I did why they got a layup and transition defense and that is something that cannot be what we’re about and they

Needed to feel that from me right away and that’s the bar we got set and they accepted it and they understand what what we’re going to be do going forward that that stuff’s not going to be tolerated was it even worse that it came off of a m basket bike of course of

Course Brian can you feels in just a little bit on your background when was the last time you were the head coach for either a game or an exhibition game um summer league probably long time ago in Oklahoma City I had pretty good starting back court I had Russell

Westbrook and James Harden and Serge Ibaka out there playing so we did pretty good um we had two MVPs in the back court and guy who led the league in shop blocks for like five or six years on the court together so I think that was the last time

Josh is that something that’s similar to riding a bike where you never quite lose it doesn’t feel foreign to you when you back when you’re back on the that Ro does that make sense uh I think so um look today I was focused on our group um

And trying to get the best out of our group I tried to take myself out of the equation even though there’s probably a lot of emotion going on with me you know I’m a steward in the voice that’s gets in front in front of the media but I’m

I’m part of the group too so my felt like my responsibility today was to uplift us and get us into a level of competitiveness that has to be the standard and bar um um yes I I probably will think about it at some point that I actually was

Coaching the game tonight but I have bigger responsibilities in that now I have to think about the group The Jazz were kind of going in and out of his Zone a little bit especially in the first half I know you mentioned um just miss shots contributing to a

Lower scoring night but how do you feel like the guys did responding to that zone and when they were going in and out of it and the quality of looks I thought our looks were great I thought we figured out I think we had a little stagnation maybe early and then we

Figured out how to get into the teeth of it and then I felt like we got good shots if I go back on I thought our process was good we had some little floaters in the lane we missed we missed some wide open threes but I felt like

Our process was pretty good as you can see even by our assist level like our guys were doing the right thing the shots just didn’t go in so we’re going to live with that but I felt like the process was good what were your reactions to the news that uh Wes had been

Moved out of his position uh I mean it was it was early in the morning when I found out um obviously it was probably just a tough day overall for us just um physically one because we had a back to back and then M uh mentally as well just with you

Know the um you know the change and staff that we had and um you know going through 40 games um you know our effort our energy that we displayed as a team probably wasn’t up to par and um you know same for that on the other side as well so naturally I guess

Something had to make a change and uh that’s just what the front office decided to do and um yeah yeah piggy back off of what K said um yeah it was early in the morning um just you know it’s it’s a part of the business it’s a it’s an unfortunate

Situation um you know somebody uh you know he put his his time and effort in and and energy um you know but but like CL said um you know there was it was just time time for a new voice um and and yeah we’re just going

To we’re going with BK going to listen to him going to follow his lead um and we’re again we’re 40 40 some games in um we weren’t making the strides that that that were needed um and that the the front office wanted us to be making and

And so we’re we’re continuing to try to try to improve and and to try to do so tus I believe Brian is your assist is your position coach or what does what is he like for people who people who are unfamiliar with him what is he like and

What what are his strengths he’s uh he’s blunt straight uh straight to business um No Nonsense um going to tell you like it is um but he’s very you know respectful he’s um you know he wants wants to see you succeed he wants the

Best you know from you and out of you um and he’s somebody that you know everybody um in the building respects they respect his work ethic they respect what he brings to the table um but yeah again he’s he’s very uh No Nonsense um straight to business um and yeah we’re

Going to follow his lead um for either of you guys the thing people are talking a lot about is the as C mentioned kind of competitiveness not being where it needs to be defense energy effort I think those are all things we associate with like being on

On the players so I’m wondering what a new how a new voice affects that like just having a new person at the head does that energize you guys or what effect does it have on a locker room uh I I just think just the overall organiz organizational approach right now I

Think um a lot of people are focused on you know something that’s very micro which is the coaching but I think as a whole right now we’re looking as a organizational mindset shift and that’s like defense and accountability and I think those are the first two building

Blocks that you know um that’s going to be an emphasis and something that we kind of lacked you know over the past 40 something games so um that’s something that you’re just going to expect and you know when you’re talking about competitiveness and effort the number one teacher of that is the

Bench so um if you’re not doing that if you’re not playing for your teammate if um you’re not giving it your all you know you can come learn on the bench and I think that um that’s going to resonate because that’s everybody that’s me too

If I’m if I’m BSN you know I told be Keef I told tell Tyler time call me out and that that just trickles down to everybody and um that’s just the shift we have for the next 39 games so for Will and and Michael to make that

Kind of shift you’ve been here under a different front office of course what does it say about how they operate or how they’re maybe willing to adjust even if it is in the middle of the season in the middle of a back toback I mean proactive not reactive um I think that’s

Just the biggest thing right there um making changes like this is very tough uh very very challenging and especially to you know let go of a coach halfway through the year that’s puts a lot of stress on the team a lot of emotions a

Lot of change up uh a lot of turnover um so it’s a lot but you know there no crying on yacht so for CZ Winger and Dawkins both kind of Drew the distinction between a lot of guys having good individual years young players taking steps forward both you guys

Obviously having good years and the lack of success for the team overall how can you guys bridge that Gap well I mean that’s what I mean that’s what’s going to happen on Young teams I think that’s what people don’t realize I can just go back to my time with the Lakers my first

Couple years when it was me Lonzo Josh Hart brand Ingram Jordan Clarkson Julius Randle we all were just trying to Slug It Out and fight each other for positioning on the team and positioning an establishment in the league and um I think a lot of what we’ve had the past

Months is been a little bit of that you know just from a standpoint not being selfish but um trying to to improve and have great individual Seasons but you know having a good year doesn’t mean it’s good for the team so you know how can we like you said bridge that Gap and

How can we combine okay well Denny’s having a great year but what can he sacrifice it’s a little bit so the team can do what can I sacrifice a little bit to help you know somebody else pick it up and that’s overall going to make everything better so um I think that’s

Just what we have to look at and think about Shifting the focus a little bit to tonight’s game um this is for either one of you guys what do you think the biggest difference was in the separation tonight we hit shots that’s all like played great effort probably one of our

Best effort effort nights um I shot one for eight um down the line so BK kind of alluded to the same thing and said that he liked your guys’ Poise to make runs towards the end of the first quarter second quarter fourth quarter even in spite of not hitting shots what does

That say about kind of the mentality of the group today especially like you said both physically and mentally coming off of a tough 24 hours we just we’re going to keep going keep going we’re going to be resilient um we’re going to continue to fight that’s something that we talked about um

Today um just one of the things that we have to pick up on is competitiveness you know there there can’t be any lay down there can’t be any point in the game where you know our heads are down we’re sulking um we just kind of concede

You know there’s got to be fight for 48 minutes um and when you look up uh when that final buzzer goes off um you know you can be you can live with the results just knowing that you know we gave it 110% we fought on both ends of the floor

We stick we stayed disciplined stuck to the game plan um and so those are the areas that we’re going to improve on is is our effort um and we did a good job of that in our in the first one tonight so what was your reaction to the

Decision about West uh first of all it’s heartbroken for Wes um he’s a really really really good man um and I’ve learned a lot from him obviously he and I came in together as you know I I was a rookie and he was a rookie head coach

Too and um you know I ow I owe him a lot uh the decisions he made to put me on the floor and give me a chance um was you know was pivotal for my career so I was heartbroken for him but um you know decisions have to be made in this league

And for an organization like us and we wanted to um obviously move in a different direction and us as players our jobs to go play uh matter who coach is do you feel like feel like in conversations KZ has mentioned you know we haven’t really changed that much all

Season things are going well but something isn’t working do you feel like this is a change that will solve some of those like I know I understand it’s hard to pinpoint now but do you feel like the new voice was the thing that was needed yeah I mean we we’re turning over every

Rock um trying everything to to get the season back on track and like I said to play like the team we think we are um we haven’t showed that or haven’t been any any or near showing that uh for the first you know over half of the season

So um I think the a change of voice and a change of um scenery is going to be a good thing for us in the long run and um obviously there’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment period as BK gets used to us and we get used to him being

Our head coach and um but we think in the long term it’s going to be a really good thing

Interim Head Coach Brian Keefe, Kyle Kuzma, Tyus Jones, and Corey Kispert spoke to the media following Thursday night’s matchup against the Utah Jazz at Capital One Arena.

🎥 #ForTheDistrict #Wizards #DCFamily

📲 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 𝗨𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟
𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 → https://www.facebook.com/Wizards
𝗧𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 → https://twitter.com/WashWizards
𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗠 → https://www.instagram.com/washwizards/
𝗧𝗜𝗞𝗧𝗢𝗞 → https://www.tiktok.com/@wash_wizards
𝗦𝗡𝗔𝗣𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗧 → https://www.snapchat.com/add/washwizards

𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧
💻 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲: https://www.nba.com/wizards
📱 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/washington-wizards/id518100653

𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗣 𝗪𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦
🎟 𝗕𝘂𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀: https://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/806042?home_away=home&CAMEFROM=CFC_WWIZ_SOCIAL_TTO_2324SGB
🛒 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗽 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵: https://shop.monumentalsportsnetwork.com/