Wizards Insider Gives The Scoop on Brian Keefe

Wizards Insider Gives The Scoop on Brian Keefe

[Music] with us now Ava Wallace from The Washington Post of course their wizard beat reporter uh hey friend didn’t think I was going to talk to you today nice 5:00 P PM news dump for us all on this Wednesday yeah no absolutely so why ultimately to cut straight to the point did they say uh despite the record and and we’re doing this big expansive search they wind up coming right back to the guy who’s the intern for them in the back half of last year yeah listen the Wizards are a rebuilding team who needs someone who want can kind of handle the room and and whose voice is effective in a locker room that needs a lot of guidance and a lot of kind of ego management there with a bunch of different different types of personalities that’s every NBA locker room but Brian Keef has a shown track record with young players in particular and he really got through to this group This was um a roster that really needed kind of a change of something to get their energy back I saw listen to you guys um right before I was on they were definitely kind of falling apart and just letting themselves get blown out in games for the first half of the season and that was something that Brian Keef came in and changed kind of immediately first it was kind of you know honey moon period something’s new okay let’s see what happens later but it really did last till the end of the season um and he hand a lot a lot of tough conversations in that locker room very well yeah no I mean the the demeanor of the team and kind of the seriousness with which they took the back half of the Season not to mention I think uh Ava something that we talked about during his ability to get more out of guys and specifically in the back half of the Season Jordan pool than was happening prior and some of the tough conversations that had undoubtedly earned him a lot of respect what have you been able to find out about some of those conversations and and how Keef was able to to handle them with such Grace finesse whatever words you want to use to describe uh what ultimately uh turns into efficacy yeah I think efficacy is the right word all the players that I’ve spoken to said that they really appreciated his directness I mean this is a blunt dude who kind of tells you what he’s thinking tells you how it should be and there’s not really accepting anything else there even if you ask him oh you know what what’s the second message or how do you you know what if this breaks down no there’s not really much of that with ryot Keef he’s a really direct Communicator which doesn’t mean he can’t handle sensitive situations but I think he’s really good at talking to players kind of how they like to be talk to as basketball players as someone who he’s coming in and saying you know I want to maximize your potential here he was part of that decision to send Jordan P to the bench and he was the one who had to tell him and you know Jordan P was not happy he made that very clear that he was not happy and Brian Keef kind of moved on and and and let it work itself out and that’s how he played that uh a few more quick minutes here with Ava Wallace Wizards beat reporter for the Washington Post on the heels of the breaking news that the Wizards have hired Brian Keefe as their full-time head coach for moving the interim tag he’s the 26th head coach in franchise history um so that bluntness Ava it’s one thing to do that over a short period of time when you’re the interim and there’s there’s kind of this just hey let’s fight our our way out of this uh mentality in the back half of last season he’s now in charge of the full program for hopefully a decade like that’s that’s of course the goal that that Michael Winger and Will Dawkins would tell us all so how does that play and how do you think this works for him as the guy in charge with a much longer uh you know road ahead of him then just land the plane safely and get us to the end of the season yeah I actually think I would maybe adjust those expectations I think as the Wizards are kind of rebuilding and and getting their feet under under them they’re not as much worried about you know someone Like a Phoenix Suns who needs a face of the franchise who needs someone to sell their teams Wizards definitely need people people to sell their team that’s not necessarily coming from the coach but I would say he’s he is in charge of kind of Landing the plane keeping everything on track um you know bran Keef has a lot of history with Will Dawkins the general manager and Michael Winger the president of monumental basketball they kind of all come from the same place the Oklahoma City kind of um I guess Farm where they all really think and were and grew up in the NBA in kind of the same environments so I think he’s somebody who’s definitely going to work very well with the front office to implement what they want to implement over the next few years and then he can work well with the young guys so for him I don’t want to say expectations are low because I do not think they’re low with this front office but I do think he has a really long leash to like just teach these guys how to play right basketball or basketball the right way how to be good on court how to be professional players and help us grow into a team and I honestly think they’re not saying like worry about the next 10 years or anything like that with the Wizards right now because the uh the long-term planning is staying with the front office I think uh last thing for you uh God bless you you were with this team every day during the season uh so what was your favorite uh what’s your favorite ke story from the time he took over oh that’s a really good question I don’t know if I have a favorite ke story this guy is a real like hardcore basketball guy like he goes into it was it was really funny um being in press conferences with him when he was finally the one talking like he’d walk into the Celtics Press Room and of course he grew up in Boston so he has you know deep history and respect for the Celtics but he’s like shouting out reporters that he knew when he was an assistant in Seattle the first year that they that he was with the Sonic like this guy is a 16-year NBA veteran and he knows a lot of people so it’s very fun kind of just trailing around an NBA arena and he’s really good with remembering faces and names and he’s been around the block for sure that’s great actually and gives you like that is a really important head coaching trait it’s so small but like you have to be good with people and him actually knowing all that stuff is is actually really encouraging as opposed to just being like this basketball heart ass it’s like do it again which is kind of I feel like how some people have have painted him uh AA thank you so much for your time I know you’re very very busy and uh we’ll be looking forward to what you write in the Washington Post thanks so much buddy this is the Hoffman show on the team980 and the Odyssey app

Washington Post Wizards Beat Reporter Ava Wallace joins the show to talk about the breaking news that Brian Keefe is the new man in charge of the Washington Wizards. Wallace dishes on why Keefe was given his first NBA head coaching job and what the expectations are for him as the Wizards rebuild.

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