Media Availability: Wes Unseld Jr. and Mike Muscala | 01/02/24

Media Availability: Wes Unseld Jr. and Mike Muscala | 01/02/24

Coach what would be the main focal point in terms of offensive cohesion and getting the extra passes well I think you know talking about Cleveland and looking forward um you they’re they’re really aggressive defensive team they they blow through a lot of actions they put a lot of pressure on you um handsy

So um you know it’s one thing to be spacially disciplined but you know being able to get off the ball in a timely manner thought the other night we actually generated a ton of wide openen threes I think 80% of them were assisted so you feel pretty good about the

Process now you generate a lot of open looks specifically below the break I think 11 from the corners we just struggled to step up and make them but um you know then the next layer is if they’re not if they’re not falling then you know we have to probably Drive the

Close outs get to the paint you know maybe create a backside three or get to the rim and potentially the free throw line but I think uh it starts with us being specially disciplined um I think creating leads having a great screening game great cutting game that I think

Opens up the floor for you know teammates it looked like G was out doing work today as he all healed uh he was a partial participant did obviously did a little extra after U but he’s training um is any did anybody else not participate no what stands out to you about just the

The way the Cavs are playing this year well it’s tough you know they’re kind of battling the injury bug a bit um you know two big pieces for haven’t participated in the last handful of games um they’re still very dangerous you got a guy like Mitchell playing the

Point he’s got a ball in his hands um three LEL scorer who also facilitates at a high clip um youve seen Jared Allen’s U usage his touches and his efficiency jump up over these handful of games as well he’s putting a lot of pressure on defenses and and scoring at Elite level

You know in the paint um they’re using him at the top of the floor and they do a terrific job of cutting and moving U which is hard to guard when you have the level shooting that they can put out the floor uh that level of cutting just

Opens up the floor puts a lot of pressure on that back line Wes with um how well tus has been doing lately are you noticing any him actively improving his game or is it him kind of everything that he’s doing now you’ve seen before and it’s just like more of like a

Settling in from I think a little bit of both I think it’s settling in and he’s kind of getting more comfortable with what we’re trying to do um getting more comfortable with his teammates where they want their spots their shots um and he’s he’s been aggressive offensively um

Not as far as hunting you know and trying to actively search out his own looks but taking advantage of what the defense gives him um shooting it better from three which helps and now Forces teams to honor him out on the floor which you know opens up the pick and

Roll game opens up you know uh the rest of the paint when he came in and you knew you were getting him over the summer was that an area where you kind of like okay here’s what part of your game I feel like we can play with or we

Could kind of push you on yeah for sure and I think he’s he’s lean in not only on that but you know he’s he’s showing us some things too some things that he likes uh you know some spots where he’s very comfortable um and you don’t really know

The extent of those you know areas until you have a guy in the fold and you’re able to coach him what are the keys to containing a player like Donovan M who’s averaging almost 28 a game yeah it’s not easy I think the biggest piece is getting him under control um early he’s

Really good at rejecting screens and he you know he’s got the ball in the string so getting into him and taking away his comfort level um at times you’re going to have to get the ball out of his hands and do different things schematically but just

Not a steady dose of one coverage um and there’s some times where um you got to force him to be a facilitator which he’s certainly capable of doing but uh at least you know gets the ball out of his hands all right uh coach uh early on in

The rebuild you guys are trying to solidify culture looking at kle kman he just got an award for a lot of work he does off the court how important is his leadership on and off the court for trying to solidify that culture yeah that’s uh it’s a big piece for us you

Know it’s it’s of course an honor for him U but it’s it’s something he’s done you know here for quite some time and it’s it’s great that he’s gotten recognized for it but uh you know that that goes you know um goes a long way

You know not only for us but just gives you a a little insight on who he is as a person you know what what really matters you he’s able to use his platform and um you know put that to certain causes that mean something to him and he’s done that

Here he he does it back in at home but you know it’s a it’s a big you know kind of like light on the character of this group specifically him like getting good off basketball movement and and getting shots that you want after getting to the second and third sides good question

Um I would say you know knowing our spacing um knowing when to to cut and this goes for me especially like and it’s a big I think uh when you cut and then being able to space back out you know uh being aware of that and just

Being able to shake up I’m sorry out of the corner uh when the balls you know going the opposite way and just watching the film and you know seeing the areas that we can cut and then you know you want someone to be able to adjust off

The penetration but then you also want that good spacing so it’s it’s a combination how tough is this C team especially for players oh yeah they’re tough yeah they got good bigs um they’re a good team it’s always fun to play there in Cleveland so uh it’ll be fun to go play

Two games there in terms of disruption for Donovan Mitchell I know it’s tough he’s averaging almost 28 points a game but what would be the defensive emphasis on him to kind of get him a little uncomfortable yeah he’s a great player um you know it’s going to take a team

Effort uh I think the coaches have done a great job um just trying to uh emphasize being in our help spots uh on the perimeter and being aware of that so I think that’ll be a key Focus for us Mike have you seen improvement from

These guys and and if so just kind of generally from the team and if so where would you say you’ve noticed it most you think at this kind of point in the season yeah I think that our togetherness has improved in terms of how we are moving the ball um and you

Know I think we have been playing better basketball recently and uh you know I think just the the ball’s flowing um I think that guys are you know playing more on selfishly defensively and and giving up like I was talking about earlier being in those F spots you know

That that takes commitment because you know you’re kind of leaving your guy open a bit right so it’s just kind of like a chain reaction in terms of the defense so uh I think that we’ve we’ve improved in those areas obviously we still have a long ways to go but uh I

Like where we’re headed defensively when you talk about kind of filling in those gaps you try guys are trying to get to high up how much what does that take for you mentally not just the trust but Wes has talked a lot about you have to trust

Your help defense and not leave your guy how do you get better at that um by actually being better on the ball so yeah I think that like um those positions are there so that you know um we’re able to try to keep them out of the paint but ultimately the better job

That we do on the ball like the less you have to help there right and so then you can see that he’s not penetrating as much and able to get back out to your guy what’s uh being in an NBA team-wide film session like and what have you

Learned over the years about guess the the best way to make sure that they’re productive good question um that’s where the money’s made to me it’s individually as a team you know for me it’s my 11th year in the NBA I didn’t watch that much film in college to be

Honest you know we would only watch film if we lost you know it didn’t if it didn’t go well and uh I think for me you know I’ve seen the the importance of it and even when things are going well even when we’re winning still learning from

It right still seeing areas you can improve individually and as a team and then I think also it it balances things out like sometimes you might think that oh we played a great game or I played a great game and you watch and it’s like yeah it

Was all right or you think oh we played really bad game or I played a really bad game it’s like no it was okay it’s you know some usually I feel like it’s somewhere in the middle so I think it’s kind of like humbles you in that regard

And is that you’re able to learn and then move on better from it and then like be able to work on things in practice that you saw from the film do many teams watch more films than they More film than they to um it’s a good

Uh I don’t know I mean some the teams I’ve been on it’s it’s all been about the same I would say yeah I understand they they can be naturally uncomfortable right what’s it like being called out in front of your peers and and not you know taking the wrong lessons from oh you

Want to be called I want it like as a player you want to be the one that coaches and the players you know they want that they feel comfortable calling you out because it’s like it shows that you can take it and that they believe in

You that you can do better better you know so I think that’s you know that’s what you want so I think that you know that’s still an area that we can improve as a culture just being able to hold each other more accountable because it shows that you have confidence in each other

Coach Unseld and Mike Muscala spoke to the media following practice on Tuesday afternoon.

🎥 #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/