2024 NBA Draft Media Availability: Will Dawkins | 06/26/24

2024 NBA Draft Media Availability: Will Dawkins | 06/26/24

good evening um thank you all for waiting uh this is a new thing for all of us a two-night draft so we’re trying to figure out I feel like this is a halftime interview because we still got another night to go tomorrow um but we’re really excited we we did some things to add three different players to our roster who all have youth all have athleticism all play on both ends and all want to be here in DC to continue what we have going and we’re excited about that and and I think that uh at the end of the day we’re going to add some good people and I’m really really excited for the way the draft finished tonight for us will you mentioned being able to add three players how important was it especially at the stage that you guys are at to be as active as possible and kind of take chances and that’s not to say you’re just grabbing anybody you can but like I think a lot of people would say this draft is not as Starry but can you kind of speak to the importance of taking swings and just like getting talent in the door yeah for sure I wouldn’t um use the context of taking swings I think the group that we have downstairs in that Arena um I guess it’s our our Lounge that we turned into our draft room is full of qualified people who did a tremendous job preparing us this year we didn’t have two weeks we actually had a whole 12 months to prepare this year and the scouts they worked their tails off um they identify players they scour the streets get information and our strategy group is coming up with ideas and this is kind of that time of year where you can combine and we’ll always be aggressive we’ll always try to be strategic and when you have time to prepare you kind of identify your players and the people you want to go get and do your best to go get them sometimes it works out it takes two to tango as you know but we try to identify people first try to identify talents and if we can get them we’re going to get them so I think you’ve seen the last two years that we’re willing to move and go get who we want to get does the draft being two days did it change anything for you guys yeah it did actually um what exactly was that I can’t give those Secrets away but I think the we’re all still here planning for tomorrow that’s that’s the first one but I think Michael and I we tried to make sure we took some notes on how it was different the second round tomorrow will be a true experiment like the first time we’ve ever done it but we addressed the first round like it was a full night and probably prepared as we would for a normal draft but it definitely feels different Alex s obviously has the size the length and the athleticism what can you say about his intangibles and how you picked up on them throughout the evaluation process yeah I think Alex is a special special young man he has a humility to him but also a confidence so when you put those things together with the work ethic that he’s proven and he’s not afraid to really explore his game and take chances so he left home at 14 went to Madrid played there for a few years went to America tried something new with OT wanted another challenge went and played with grown men in Australia so he’s someone that’s always looking for more always trying to get better and compete and knows who he is so when you talk to him it’s like a quiet confidence that he knows he’s going to continue to get better and has a lot of work to do but he didn’t run away from that so um he’s a true basketball player and kaon George as I understand it was kind of a late Riser Late Bloomer so how long has he been on your radar and just kind of what sold you on making him the first round pick yeah I think Key’s done a really good job um when he first hopped on the scene uh we’ve seen him play overseas before he played at Miami so he played in France as well and one of our Scouts early on in the process was like hey I’m at a tournament in November you need to come see this kid I was like I’ll be there next week and then another Scout was like you probably need to come see this G again so he’s someone that you didn’t know as well but he picked it up really really quickly and same with B start of the season first game is a triple double and he’s on everybody’s radar again you’re like okay let’s keep tracking these guys and again guys that have the length and the athleticism and the playmaking those guys are always going to show up on our radar but they did a really good job of putting themselves on there sooner than later how much Intel did you glean from seeing Alex in OKC’s building and going up get going with his brother and working out and what kind of kid he was and what his work ethic was and how much he wanted to get better it’s a a unique opportunity I guess I would say I had in this draft to see some of the family members from players that I was with in other situations and the best thing is you just have an idea of who they are because you’ve been with their families and you really know where they come from so probably a little bit of Advantage but he’s completely his own person and he’s completely different from Olivier but we know where they come from we know what they’re about and they’re both serious and they both want to get better and physically Olivia grew into a monster um and if you just continue to watch Alex behind him when you first meet him to where he is now you see him on a similar trajectory and Kean was on under 19 team is that right how did he how did he perform in that tournament and how did that kind of maybe start to separate himself I think both him and Alex played international basketball um you have to watch him in their peer group gangly long try to predict what it’s going to look like but we do a really good job of making sure we cover that that’s really important to us important to Travis and our International guys do a really good job of that so um one of our Scouts is headed over there tomorrow to start watching the U7 Championship so it doesn’t really end um but we make sure we cover those things well you spoke about Alex’s intangibles what does he do well on the court right now yeah and what does he need to improve on yeah I’ll leave part of that for when you guys meet him but when we talk he knows that he’s probably going to be a defensive player first and that’s the approach I think you see when you go watch him in a a strong more professional League playing the center spot in a physical League over there in Australia if you watch those playoff games he had meaningful minutes off the bench and it was energy it was talking something that young players don’t do defensively calling things out so you go watch him in practice you go watch him in shoot around and the professionalism sticks out defensively I think he can guard he can switch he can protect the rim he’s got to get better on the glass when you asked about things he can improve upon I think it’s a physicality but also a mindset as he gets older then offensively he’s got a lot of upside on that end too but he’ll tell you that he’s going to be a defensive minded player first the offensive stuff will take some time but 71 74 wingspan get the ball off the rim dribble it up initiate offense space the floor roll make passes off the pocket on the I guess middle pick and roll find the corner from there um there there’s a lot of stuff there but it’s going to start on the defensive then your team got considerably younger tonight uh how do you as an organization navigate that and what does it say about your timeline yeah like we said we’re not going to put a uh specific timeline on on the rebuild here we’re going to just continue to take every night like this as an opportunity when you look at bub who’s still 18 I think he was the fifth player the fifth youngest player taken tonight and I think Alex might have been the sixth youngest player taken tonight don’t quote me on that but I think it’s pretty close and you look at bub and he was 5’11 a couple years ago now he’s 6 five he’s still growing into his body so those guys have a longer opportunity to grow and develop and when you see the people that Michael added into the organization who are about Player Development you see the coach and Brian Keefe and the assistants that we’re going to hire to continue to preach that guys that have a longer Runway um are guys we’re going to take advantage of and try to make sure we provide a platform and just resources for them to do their best work but again there’s a lot of work ahead of them we explain that to them and to a man all three of them want to embrace the Challenge and kind of help push us forward to your right side well um Alex he mentioned that he’s excited to play alongside bow because of the French Connection but knowing what you know about balow and what you know about Alex how do you see them mesing together yeah it’s funny um below’s in Paris I think they’re still at Paris they leave tomorrow to head up to Camp he was FaceTiming me earlier today like who we taking who we taking um and when we discuss the players a little bit cuz he’s obviously knows Alex he said he’s a defensive guy he’s a good guy he’s going to be good in the locker room but I think when you see both lottery picks that we’ve taken um you see the athleticism you see the length you see the defensive first mentality and we’re going to be a defensive team um we’re going to get to that point when we talked at the end of our season presser that wasn’t good enough last year so we’re going to continue to add those guys but I think they all have bright they both have Bright Futures and have the mindset to be patient to to get the most out of themselves so they’re going to be workers they obviously can speak French to each other so that’ll be helping helpful through the rookie transition for Alex but they compete and they both have upsides of two-way players but their mindset are mature players they’re not your your average rookies when it comes in just a mentality and I think that’ll help us but also help them and then bub he said that there was an interest he knew there was an interest um but he was surprised to be picked by the Wizards uh how do you see him fitting in bub he he’s a great kid we uh spent a a really funny lunch just talking football uh talking Sports talking life and just really connecting to see if he can really handle coming back home because that’s not the same from everybody I know Baltimore DC area like we we are uh a proud culture here in DC in the DMV area about basketball and he’s obviously lived the life where he’s seen this area Blossom um from his dad and his granddad and has been a Hooper his whole life so when you have those conversations with someone that’s like DC this is home like I can hand that would be great you got to have those real conversations with everybody so um Bub’s a good kid he’s a good worker and he’s excited to be here I’m glad he was surprised because he probably didn’t know we had the pick of the time we were moving up and a lot was going on but he can play on the ball he can play off the ball I think he grew up playing off the ball more you saw him at the very first game the half of the Season had pit he was playing point guard just to ad more offense they moved him off the ball he still was efficient and once he was off the ball the last half of the season last 15 games he was uh probably shooting close to 40% towards the end of the season from three so he found ways to get people involved but also learned how to play off the ball and like we said we want multiple decision makers we want the game to be um random within a system to where you’re making reads anybody can drive the ball anybody can make a decision and we added three guys who can do that tonight um and three guys who also want to compete on the defensive end so I think that’s how bub but the other two fit in as well if we look towards the near future the first couple weeks of the regular season how think these three guys who do you foresee is you know getting serious minutes maybe and guys who maybe you want to take a more cautious approach with when it comes to their playing time it’s halftime we haven’t even finished the draft yet we might be adding more guys let’s get to Summer League first and then we’ll spend a little bit more time on that um but like Brian told you it’s it’s going to be opportunity we’re going to make sure we put a plan in place for every single player that’s based on their pace and we won’t skip steps in that so our Player Development system each player is involved and each coach is involved but it’s also everyone that’s supports them so we’ll put a plan in place we already have um their performance plan ready for them when they get here tomorrow and the PDF they will get it and we’ll talk about the next steps to prepare for training camp for summer league what we want you to do during summer league after summer league what that Gap is before the season starts and then the ramp up into the season so Danny Medina and our medical staff they’ve got that covered for everybody in the first round that we potentially could have taken and we’ll put a plan in place that makes sense but we’ll get to Summer League first uh with kaan you said the the multiple Scouts told you to take a look at this kid so once you got a look at him what jumped out to you was like man this kid’s really good at doing this and then when he got to Miami what really wowed you about him other than the hair um I think the hair was the first thing that that jumped out we had had breakfast I think the other day before he took off and I were sharing pictures of my son’s hair versus his hair before I cut it um so that popped right away instantly you saw the size um 68 I think it’s a 610 wingspan he’s a second side facilitator but when they had some injuries he played on the ball and again we’re looking for guys who can create and make plays and at the end of the day he’s going to wake up every morning and be 610 play on the wing and 40% three-point shooter I think he finished by the end of the season so that stuff popped quickly um we’ll continue to get him to defend and rebound and play with Pace here and add him with some other guys that like basketball and throw them in the mix well uh we spoke with Gino during the season he mentioned the draft process of dealing with you in OKC um and he not Gino please don’t use him he equated you to the questions that you ask is very unconventional so if you can o open the door for us a bit in what are some of the types of questions you like to ask the guys to get to know them that is not specifically basketball but gives you an insight into who they are yeah he called you an FBI agent I’ve lightened up since since Gino because of that actually um I don’t think say it again No One Believes Me it’s true I promise you it is true uh um I don’t think it’s that different I think I just find different ways to communicate and ask the questions that they’re probably not being asked by surface level um interviews I we want to make sure every player that comes here gets a personal touch so they’re not in Ubers they’re not in car services like we pick them up they’re in my personal car some are eating dinner like with us every single night they’re here we’re not just paying for pum and over that course of time you get to know people so by the end of the visit you can really open up and ask the real questions and I just really want to know what makes people tick like what they’re about um Michael Winger is all about transparency and truth and I try to make sure that we have that throughout the entire organization and I explain this is what we’re about um and we’re unapologetically going to be us and if that doesn’t work for you that doesn’t work for you but if it does let’s make a really good pairing and at the end of the day like I told you our Scouts are are on it um I think the players Midway through realize that we have the Intel and we already have the so you might as well just be honest um but when you have a relationship and you can develop that during the draft process I think it makes it a a cool thing but Ava I’ve gotten a lot nicer in the the draft combine at least the draft combine were a little nicer and with with Alex he had mentioned prior to draft night that he wanted to be in DC he also told us on the conference call that the Wizards were the only team he actually did a draft workout for so knowing that the pick with Atlanta going where they wanted to ended up working in the favor of who you wanted and that kind of coinciding with him only picking one team what does that now tell you about him if you did not realize that you were the only team he worked out for yeah I can’t really control the draft or what happens in front of us or behind us I can only control what we do here in DC and the fact that Alex and his agency wanted to come here and work out and see the city we were more than happy to to put that in um and get that done for him so uh I’m happy he wants to be here I’m happy he came in to visit but at the end of the day we can’t control what happens around us and we just focus on the Wizards uh Hey will over here kind of kind of similar following up on the fact that Alex and I know you mentioned the other two guys drafted tonight wanted to be here as well when you guys have kind of the master plan the big future that you know you and Michael and everybody else in the front office and Visions for this team how huge is it when you’re getting the players you want and they’re buying in to that vision of the future as well yeah for sure I think if you uh reference back to the end of the season when our players did their exit interviews I think you guys touched on it when you guys asked Michael and I in our exit interview about the environment and this place being a place where players got better but also a place where they wanted to be and that from the very beginning when we got here was something we wanted to change and I think you felt that I know we want to make the environment a little bit even more repeatable this year but when you get guys who are aligned um and they have the transparency and level of communication that we have from the outset it makes it a little easier but DC is a great City DC is a a place where guys will get better and we want their agents to understand we’re going to treat them with the highest level of respect and give them resources to maximize themselves and I think there’s a lot of opportunity here for players especially young players um but our current roster players want to be here too and they want to keep pushing this thing forward so for us we just want to create an environment where we treat people well and we give them the resources to work and we hold them accountable to that and I think everybody when you’re up front um can get on the same page and Brian will do a really good job of making sure that happens from the very outset um going into summer league and we’ll have meetings on that this weekend but again when guys want to be here and they’re the right people and the right fit and are also fit the talent bucket you feel good about that and uh just kind of personally for you going through this draft what was tonight like I mean what was it like when you I don’t know if you submit a card or how it works but what was it like when you got to say you know we’re taking this guy at this pick and how did it feel for you and Michael to to really be doing this thing tonight it felt really good um not because of the outcomes like we’ll know four or five years down the line everybody makes mistakes sometimes you get a right you hope we had a good night we feel good about it tonight um but that’s part of the draft it felt good because we were doing it with a group of people um that we kind of went through a lot of the the muck with this time before last year when you walked in you were kind of doing it on our own me and Mike could work together but we felt really connected with the group today and that was the best Feeling by far um we knew each other’s moves we were well documented on community communicating who’s doing this who’s doing that and I think the room to each man and women in there everyone had a role and responsibility and we’re thinking the same so we’re starting to change in the front office and develop a a mentality as well so it was a it was a good night and hopefully these guys work and we work and um it’s a perfect match thank you let’s go with two more hey will uh when we talked to bub just a few minutes ago how was he he was good he was good he talked about uh how being a multiport athlete in high school he learned different things from each game that he felt like were transferable to basketball is that something that you’re interested in in terms of guys with backgrounds in multiple Sports who maybe have pulled different things whether it be IQ from other sports or just intangibles yeah I think the the studies would show people who play multiple Sports um at a young age have an advantage just how you learn and more importantly how you operate as individuals within a team concept so the more team sports you can play I think the more you understand what goes into winning um him and I we we made an agreement we really can’t talk other sports because he’s a deep Ravens fan so we’ve gotten into it a couple times already so we Tred not to talk about his other sports but he’s a competitor he’s an athlete and he’s just a sports junkie so he’s gonna live in the gym so that also is an advantage for sure um hey Will over here um just wondering what what do you make of sort of the amount of talent that’s come out of France the last couple years and what are they doing to sort of get so many guys on the the NBA radar screen I feel like I had that same question a year ago um and it’s only getting better and I’ll be honest it’s going to continue to get better because there’s some more guys coming um I talked with bow before he went back to France just on on what’s going on here I think again it’s the level of teaching they’re getting the the coaching has improved the uh examples that they’ve had in terms of people who have made it the access to just seeing and watching and YouTube and exposure that they’re getting at a young age has contributed to it but at the end of the day they’ve always had athletes they’ve always had talent I think the world um is starting to recognize that but they’re also um starting at younger ages and not necessarily staying in France they used to all go to like inep and one Academy and kind of not beat each other up but it was like one spot now you see guys going to oille you see guys going to Shalon you see guys going to cholet going to a board like trying it on their own and I think they’re going a little faster that way but again I I think the players get most of the credit they compete they get after it and the ones that come to the NBA have done a really good job of proving that they belong and that they can really have a impact and again I think it’s the second year in a row I know for sure this year there’s four International Players first team all NBA the game’s changing the game’s evolving and it’s going to continue to do so and we have to scout globally

Will Dawkins spoke to the media following the conclusion of the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft.

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