Washington Wizards Fire Wes Unseld, Jr. | Michael Winger and Will Dawkins Live
What’s up what’s happening on a pretty newsy Thursday here on the hopin show we’re on the team 980 we’re always live as well on the free Odyssey app and of course we are streaming live on YouTube at the team 980 we have a big news day one that I
Don’t think we really expected but also one that’s not particularly surprising when your basketball team has won seven games and it’s January 25th the head coach is always going to be in trouble even if you knew that basketball team wasn’t going to be very good and ultimately the Washington Wizards decide
This morning and the timing is funky as all get out and we’ll get to it but decide this morning that Wes unel Jr is no longer the best man for the role they move him to a front office advisory role lots of flexibility uh in short I would
Say they picked up a contract option on him in October uh that they probably had to pick up based off a deadline um I don’t know that for sure but that’s how those things typically work they pick up the option they’re going to have to pay him his they like him personally his
Insight is valuable he’s not the right man to be in the lead seat right now so they move him to this front office advisory role and really um it’s actually fairly simple why maybe it’s a slightly more complex than hey dummy they’re seven and 36 no kidding they
Fired their coach but there there was two main things that had to happen this year and only one of the two is happening and the two things were not defined by me or anybody else outside the organization they were defined by Wes unel and of course Will
Dawkins and Michael Winger but here was Wes unel Jr on set with me at Wizards media day describing exactly what needed to happen for the zardo in 2024 you know and that you know might not translate to wins um but you want teams to walk away from playing the
Wizards and know that you know what we we had to play to beat this team uh we have to compete at the highest level um you want our guys to enjoy competing you know enjoy the con the connectivity that it takes to be a really good team of
Course you know we have to find small measures you know I think we we’ve measured some things internally but to see the day-to-day Improvement the week to week Improvement you know the month-to-month Improvement individually and collectively I think we keep stacking those we’re we’ll be heading in
The right direction The Good the good news for West unel Jr was that a lot of individual pieces were developing um Bilal kabali has been a bit of a revelation and there’s a chance that he is extremely good like if he Giannis is obviously a pipe dream but the Giannis
Stuff he does the way he affects the game on the defensive end as a rookie the way that he has potential to grow not only uh bigger and stronger like you know physical it wise muscularly the way that Giannis went from a bean Pole to a
Brick house but the fact that he like yanis came here at just 19 years old and theoretically could grow upwards he could go from 69 to 610 611 or even a a seven-footer like if he does that then amazing if can he have the vision and the type of things that Giannis does
Probably not that’s it’s an incredible ask Giannis is one of one in the history of the league in terms of his exact mix of size speed and skill but could you get something that’s a pretty damn good impression out of kabali that maybe is even good enough to be the best player
In a championship team maybe more likely he’s your second best player when eventually this thing pops off if it gets there in the way that we all hope that it does that’s great Denny Avia having a very very good year Kyle kozma is more consistent than he was last year
Continuing to play the the number one role even if he’s probably best suited as a two or three on a true championship team but he’s getting better and all of that stuff you can’t separate from West sunsel Jr and say like hey some whatever he’s doing on some level is working in
That department however the first part of his answer was not daily monthly weekly Improvement it was competitiveness and the Washington Wizards this year have largely been non-competitive they have at times and especially the last couple of weeks I mean their roster is terrible and we know that that’s not that that is
Not something that is West unsell Junior’s fault it’s not this bad though and so there are times where you just go hey you don’t have a second big that’s a problem and since they address that with the Marvin Bagley trade they’ve been much better they’ve been more competitive but more competitive off of
Getting blown out by 35 once a week isn’t good enough they’re better than that and well I think a lot of the or not a lot of I don’t want to put too much on Jordan P I do think that there’s a decent amount of success this season
That’s not happening because they were banking on Jordan pool ref finding a really high level of form that he is nowhere close to approached um then and like those of those people like me like mopa I’ve said this when the rare times we’ve talked about the Wizards over the
Last couple of months because they’ve been so um non- newsy let’s say um I definitely thought that P was capable and he clearly is not there yet hopefully he finds that at some point he’s still young um and I don’t say this meanly or whatever like I everything you
Still hear out of out of there is that uh he works his tail off and he’s a great teammate he just not very good NBA basketball player at the moment certainly not a number one option who I thought could lead the league in scoring because I thought he was going to be
Unleashed so certainly that’s hurt them a lot but even with that like the inability to find a good rotation and to ever seemingly hit the right button late in games there have been games that they’ve closed with the starters games they’ve closed with the bench games
They’ve closed with mix of guys and it always seems no matter what what West chooses it’s not the right move and eventually you go is it because there’s not one available or is because he doesn’t have the pulse of the team and I do think that you’ve also started to
Hear a little bit more grumbling and groaning out of the locker room and sometimes it’s just you need a new voice and I know there’s a lot of new players and and all of that stuff but I think that theyve gotten to a point where you
Have a good locker room a locker room that’s pretty pretty tight actually by by all accounts but one that is not maximizing its current potential even if you don’t really care if you win and you know you’re not going to win in any kind of major way but what you don’t want
When you talk about habits and you talk about culture and all of that stuff is anything to fester and so what you do is go hey Wes this ain’t really your fault but there is a level of accountability and there is a level of whether it’s sternness
Whether it’s uh uh being a little bit more willing to try stuff like he hasn’t really changed his starting lineup all year and he does have the authority to coach this team even if a lot of this is coming uh you know organizationally there’s been some decisions made that
That aren’t at the coaching level that are at the Will Dawkins general manager at the Michael Winger president of basketball operations level like there’s there’s coaching level stuff that hasn’t hasn’t gone well and eventually you got to tr especially when you’re in in this phase of we got to try stuff
Like we’re we’re in the experiment phase you got to experiment and whether that’s billal in the starting lineup whether that is splitting tus Jones and Jordan p and maybe some of that Wes was waiting for the trade deadline and ultimately he’s not going to get there it’s just
Become very clear that as the the consistency of competitiveness hasn’t grown the ability to string together multiple wins the ability to not get blown out by 40 once a week the ability to stop blowing fourth quarter leads you know a game like last night against Minnesota where you’re kind of in it the
Entire time like if that was that was your season fine but every time they got within like six or seven Minnesota just stretch it back out to double digits and the inability to break through now 40 games into this season 43 games into this season over the halfway point is
What ultimately cost Wes unel Jr his job I will say Wes is a wonderful person I have thoroughly enjoyed Wes uh coming on the show I hope that there is a way that we can have him in the future like other shows have former coaches on and if the
Wizards get good in a couple of years and Wes isn’t coaching somewhere else and he’s decided to take a different track with his career and he’s doing Media or whatever and we can get him on the show regularly to talk about a Wizards team that matters I would be
Thrilled with that I I am a big West unseld fan and I have talked real basketball with him like off the Record we’re we’re catching up and we we at we talk and like that dude can talk ball he’s really smart but implementing is different coaching is different and that
You talk to NBA people and they’ll tell you the six inches between the second chair and the head coaching job is the biggest six inches in the NBA and for whatever reason here in Washington it never caught for him and today is not a day that like today’s a
Day that both needed to happen but it’s not a day of Celebration um Wes unel Jr is a good man who lost his job who deserved based off Merit to lose his job but I hate that it didn’t work out for him and that’s where we are uh today
We’ll keep diving into the why as well Ava Wallace has a great beat on it is after all her beat 4:30 today she will join us and then she’ll pop on over into the Press Room and you’ll probably hear Ava’s voice again because coming up live at five o’clock Michael Winger and Will
Dawkins will address the Press at Capital One Arena and we will carry it your here live for you of course on your home for Wizards basketball the team 980 next though your calls 30123 0980 your reaction to West unel Jr getting fired today relocated to the front office for the Wizards your calls Next H He He He He W He The wizard Saw the Sign today and said it’s time uh West unel Jr is out as the head coach 30123 0980 is the Ace law listener line that is the number you call to get your thoughts in on it a couple of other things very very quick uh some of these
Will unpack more uh in more detail later in the show the timing of this is weird as hell um not again it’s not surprising that they made the move considering the record uh and and all the other things that we’ve been talking about but ultimately in the middle of a backto
Back on the same day your owner puts out a a letter Manifesto about why he’s moving the team to Virginia in a couple years and defending that decision and explaining why I would recommend anyone to read that not that it’s going to change your mind just you get a little
Bit more information from the Leona side of it now of course as I said on Twitter uh is it a replacement for Leona actually sitting down with a reporter one-on-one no there’s no replacement for that uh and actually like facing the music but some some level of public
Outreach is better than none but to do it on the day you fire your coach is freaking weird uh and I don’t say that like in a in a damning way I just like I truly don’t understand the decision there maybe there wasn’t any thought in
It it was just two separate decisions so that is weird but also just purely from a basketball sense in the middle of a backtack is weird like you played last night for Wes unel and tonight you’re going to play for Brian Keefe all righty then um last thing real
Quick before we get to the calls we got a couple but we do have some more open lines at 301 230 0980 another clip from the preseason that I think is important to help shape this conversation I asked Will Dawkins about success and also about
How uh how Wes gets to manage and Coach the team in a year where you know you’re not going to be very good and I thought this answer from Will Dawkins back in October was telling how do you work with Wes to create a sty like when when the habits
And the identity is being set so much from the top about like this is what we want to be over the long term how do you work with the coach who’s managing the day-to-day to make sure that stylistically um one of my favorite West phrases is shot diet like the shot diet
Your defensive principles or whatever uh that you guys feel is appropriate for you to have your your hands in how do you work with that and balance that front office and coaching staff yeah when you say the top West is included like he is at the top with us um we don’t get
Into style of play and how the team should look and minutes and all that other stuff like he’s coaching the team he has full autonomy to coach the team um he’s done a tremendous job of adding to his staff this summer he had some vacanies and filled them with u more
Open-minded guys who are built in rooted in development and will push the group towards a style of basketball that we think is more efficient um and also will be more competitive so we talk every day we text every day um the big keys that we’re going to
Force um and Implement and push on our guys we more about them as professionals and the day-to-day stuff on the basketball court he he’s got that that was Will Dawkins um it’s funny because even in that answer like with the benefit of hindsight and kind of just rewatching Rel listening to it it’s
Like yeah like he’s got the the way the the keys to coach the team it just you know he’s going to do what we want um within and that’s how it should work like when you have an idea of how you want to play as a front office and
You’ve been given that power you better have a coach that’s on the same page and I think Wes was again I don’t think Wes is a bad basketball mind a bad person a bad even a bad coach I don’t know that he was a good head coach for this team
Right now it certainly seemed like there was a disconnect and and you know he just never got the accountability and um the types of things that you need to to succeed in this league and whether that was about West about the players we’re going to find out uh but Brian Keefe one
Of those coaches by the way who came in in this offseason spent the last couple years with the Nets but has a long history with Dawkins and Winger in Oklahoma city is and and by the way was kind of one of Kevin Durant’s guys uh
That helped him in a major way at the start of his career is now going to get his shot at the head coaching position for the rest of the year and then the Wizards will embark on a full coaching search this off season let’s go to the
Phones though 30123 0980 the ace law list in her line of course if you’re in a WQ Ace law helps you get a check you call 8888 Ace law let’s go to Aries Tony Tony what’s up man thanks for calling you’re on the Hoffman show hey Craig how you doing man um you
Said it you said it uh you hit the head right nail right on the head right um he was not connecting uh with the players I think uh his substitution was kind of whacked um he would take out a hot player that was um you know trying to
Get the team going and everything and he just didn’t substitute right and and I think uh the players kind of got tired of that kind of scenario and two if they trying to make a move in Virginia and everything they they need to do better than this and they probably was losing
Uh attendance people coming to see the games because they get people getting tired of seeing these blowouts and everything and please um if you can um explain to me why are they taking because when I’m seeing from college I don’t see nobody going to make a major imp
To the to the team like wiama would have made you know but nobody I don’t see nobody in this is this is not a good year um last year would have been the year and unfortunately Ted didn’t pull the plug a year early um and let Tommy try to make
More moves and you know run it back with KP and Brad and czz and we all know how that went um they also by the way it’s worth pointing out Tony bad luck they were one pingpong ball of four away from wanyama they had like going into the
Final pingpong ball they had a better chance at win Bama than anyone else and they got unlucky because that that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes um and also you know sometimes you know you you you I I guess the answer though to your question is because they it wasn’t like
They could have been good you know they were in a bad spot they’re tanking because they had to reboot and there was no alternative path to trying being good there was no way for the Washington Wizards to be good in 2023 24 coming out of last
Season well I think they could have been way better what they are now because again sure but to what end like could they have been on a path to a championship or do they need to fully pull the plug and I think the answer if we’re being honest is they needed to
Fully pull the plug you’re right you’re right so um do you see anything else you see anything else happening uh near the trade deadline that make for sure for sure Tony I got a bunch of other calls and I’m short on time but I appreciate you calling um and call back anytime um
We’ll talk about this over the next couple of weeks for sure um tus Jones is going to be out of here dlon Wright’s going to be out of here if they can get two first for Cous I think they probably jump on that but outside of that I think
They probably wait on Kyle till at least the off season um and there’s other guys as well down the roster it’s like don’t gear up to to for an exciting return the Wizards are going to be involved in a lot of Trades most of them will be
Taking on bad contracts so that they can get second round picks because that’s what the early early unsexy years of a rebuild look like and I think it’s important to Tony’s Point too I don’t know that the guy that’s going to change your franchise is going to be in the
Upcoming draft it might be two years from now um but it doesn’t matter how deep a draft is if you get it right so that’s an important thing to remember as well all right real quick let’s go to Momo Momo what’s up bro long time no
Talk so Craig real quick my mother sing so we watching uh you know you was doing the front office welcome to the front office the wizard front office my mother sees you on this program she says you look like a young male gift and like uh
Like uh terod mad Maxim GI but she was very upset with your outfit with with your with your olive green sweater she was very upset with that she said your wife uh should should have dressed you and you knew you was gonna be on TV and
She listened to your show so don’t talk bad about her oh thank thanks thanks Mom I’m sorry disappointed good thing I’m not wearing that today I got I got like a Jordan hoodie on today that was clip so we’re all right yeah no she said you look like you
Had a Gordon God Trail lastly uh lastly West unfa do do you see Michael Jordan St playing basketball no you do not you know why because he’s not good as Michael Jordan West unss a bum he he got higher to be a defense he is listen he got highed to fix our defense
As our defense no he I’m not trying to tell you he’s been good at this but like West sunsel Jr I realized that in DC specifically there is an air of nepotism to it and we’d also be lying if we didn’t think that that appealed to Ted
Leonis because that is the kind of thing that appeals to Ted leonsis however Wes unel Jr was the top assistant on Mike Malone’s staff in Denver and if he had not been hired here was going to be a head coach somewhere else in the NBA and still might get hired again because I
Think people look at Washington in a not dissimilar way that they looked at the football team and go all right it didn’t work out there but like we like the guy he’s pretty smart I think we can work with him here like I I will I will not
Be surprised if Wes unel Jr has another basketball job next season as a top assistant and eventually maybe even gets another head coaching shot of course because Bernie bicker staff and them is still listen all I’m saying is the guy in OKC very Innovative the guy uh in uh in Memphis very
Innovative the guy in Utah very Innovative you know what I mean they took over bad roosters and and everything I I’m just saying he he he’s a great guy but when it come to ex old of basketball execution which I thought he came here for to to to improve that
Uh in game management uh uh plays out of timeout whatever putting people in better he he is a bum he is I can’t I can’t I can’t sign off on bum because that is personal shots and I try not to do that I will co-sign your your uh
Theory that it has not worked that’s as much as I’m going to give you Momo shout out to you shout out to your mom thank you for calling good to hear from you uh all right unfortunately uh we don’t have any more time for calls right now Ava
Wallace is going to join us next but we might be able to squeeze one or two more in at the end of the hour and we’re going to take calls throughout the entire show today uh interspersed with the live press conference coming up at five and the few select guests that we
Got but this is basically our show today uh we’re talking about Wes unseld getting fired as the head coach of the Wizards here on the show that does more Wizards talk than anyone else even if that hasn’t been a ton lately because they haven’t been very good but today is
A day that we will indulge in our basketball fancies it’s the Hoffman show we’re on the team 980 Ava Wallace from the post joins us Next A Oh He He He [Applause] doin show we on the team 980 we’re always live as well on the free Odyssey app of course you’re home for Wizards basketball uh tonight 6:45 pregame 7:00 the tip time but a new head coach that’s the story of the day and joining us to
Talk about it is Ava Wallace of the Washington Post and you know Ava we did our usual game day routine yesterday we had Dave Johnson on the show Dave and I are yucking it up uh it’s a good time it’s good as you can have in this kind
Of season we’re try we’re trying our best over here and all of a sudden in the middle of a backtack I wake wake up this morning to West unel being relocated like obviously there’s the record as to why this is happening but can you give us some kind of Greater
Context of like what it’s been like with the Wizards this season and why you think now is the time that uh Will Dawkins and Michael Winger make this call yeah I do think the timing is the most interesting part of this but as for
The why um it does in a way make a little bit of sense to me because talking to players this season talking to assistant coaches kind of everybody around the team there are and I know this is this is unbelievable because of the record and because of especially the
Way they were just getting absolutely hammered um particularly earlier in the season and like even in those two games in Cleveland to start the year um the Wizards have not been competitive which is odd because they have kind of been individually doing pretty well like you
Could go down the list like kusma has been a much more consistent scorer this year Cory kissper is doing the right things even if they’re not coming up on paper dny AIA is notably better Bel cool is kind of better than expected so it’s kind of like why isn’t this working out
On paper and why can’t we kind of put this together as a team um and the players themselves have kind of been wondering that just in conversations I’ve had with them in recent weeks something that’s come up is like a lot of guys saying this is the best locker
Room they’ve ever been a part of and and something that has the most chemistry and so a lot of guys then say you know you look at teams across the league that have good chemistry and none of them are losing like we are so something is wrong here and um
To me just looking at it you know the ey test there’s definitely a lack of accountability there’s a lack of accountability on defense there are things like when players do things wrong in the game they don’t get yanked they just stay on the floor and some of that
Is roster construction you know weapon junr didn’t have an abundance of Defenders to work with for example but some of was clearly like okay maybe this team needs a new voice or needs a new leader um and again not saying the lack of competitiveness Falls completely on
West unel Junior’s shoulder but I do think that Wizards are kind of searching for an answer here no without question and I went back this morning and listened to my interviews or at least parts of them with Wes unseld and Will Dawkins from the preseason and there was
A couple of Clips I was trying to find and the one that I was really trying to find out from West was I remember asking him like what’s his definition of success and I’m glad you Ed the word competitiveness because that’s the word he used and he’s like we have to be
Getting better and we have to compete and and I think you look at how many times they’ve been blown out this year and the number of gigantic leads that they have blown and even if you know you’re not going to win a ton of games and all the structural challenges they
Face I I did start to wonder about a month ago like kind of that Toronto game where they blew just the I think that’s the biggest one they’ve blown this year uh certainly in the shortest amount of time where I was like I don’t know if
He’s actually going to last the year for you was there any kind of turning point where you went from like okay this is part of the this very painful and long process to like there might be a change in this process yeah it’s it’s come very recently honestly I’m not going to
Pretend like there was big signs that this change was coming there weren’t I think a lot of people I think most people were caught off guard especially just with the timing of this like you said the middle of a back toback they kind of almost caught a break with with
The Bucks uh firing Adrien Griffin earlier this week I wonder if some people think that this is a usual thing to fire coaches midseason that that are either in a rebu season where winning supposedly doesn’t matter or have a winning record like Griffin did it is not this is
Weird it’s just plainly weird timing um but just conversations kind of recently and like you’re in the locker room and you hear something like Kyle K said the other day where he said you know playing hard isn’t always the answer playing harder isn’t always the answer I feel
Like we’ve had good energy maybe something else needs to change so that’s only recently and and I didn’t follow up and say are you talking about Weston until Junior so I you know that’s me uh kind of interpreting there but um it’s only recently that players have started
Really being like we actually are improving and we actually are getting better so you kind of start you know going down the list of like okay where are the problems here obviously the roster is the biggest one you you need to have players who understand and want
To play defense but um you know when when you have your main player and Kyle kma start talking about you know we haven’t changed anything all year and maybe it’s time to start making some changes you start thinking like oh yeah that’s interesting that that I could I
Could see that Ava Wallace Wizards be reporter The Washington Post is with us so let’s unpack that a little bit more because I do think like the last two weeks they’ve been a little bit more competitive um you know part of that is like since the trade for Bley like part
Of their fundamental problem with the roster is yes they have bad defensive players all over the place but they didn’t have a second big and when Gafford was hurt or even when he was there when he went out of the game like they were screwed Bagley comes in and
And you know some of the insanely bad stretches they would have where they just didn’t have an answer go go away and as you said it did feel like they were improveing so where is the disconnect where there is Improvement but it’s still feels like the right move
When it’s like oh because like you could make an argument based off that right that oh things are changing but why why is that’s still then the right move and kind of that other stuff you’re hearing in the locker room where where these two seemingly opposite narratives are
Happening at once yeah I think that’s also a good kind of central question and the thing that I kind of have landed on it in in my mind and just talking to people this morning is that this is kind of the flexibility you’re afforded when you’re at Square absolute Square
Negative one of a rebuild I think you could go two ways with this honestly where you say okay well winning and losing weren’t supposed to matter so why all of a sudden do they matter I don’t I don’t think it’s necessarily the record that has wrangled a lot of people
Although that certainly um plays a lot into this definitely but it’s it’s just the fact that like you said it’s it’s they’re not competing it’s not games like last night that got West hfil Jr relocated as you said where they actually do pretty well against the Timberwolves and it’s like okay well
You’re not going to overcome 21 turnovers um it’s the fact that they were just getting blown out and I I don’t know if it’s necessarily um I think I do think what I went back to is like they don’t have their big strong number one guy like Kyle kma is
Doing his suc best right now he doesn’t have a ton of help um but these players don’t hold themselves or don’t account for each other’s weaknesses on defense the way that they can show they have on offense um that’s something that’s missing where you’re going to see individual growth and maybe guys not
Playing together as a team or understanding how to play Team defense uh coupled with the fact that like they’re in a place in this organization’s reor where they can say hey let’s thr up at the wall and see what the fck and I don’t I don’t necessarily know if if Michael Winger is
Being that casual about this but I do think there’s kind of a that’s kind of the methodology of this is working this is working this is working okay so what haven’t we tried yet maybe someone at their top needs to go um I think that’s kind of what you’re seeing here and the
Flexibility they’re being afforded and in the status they are as an organization right now Ava Wallace Washington Post is with us okay so a couple of other key things that I want to hit with you uh as someone who knows his team inside and out like you do uh
First thing would be one last kind of roster adjacent thing which is there’s no question the biggest disappointment this year has been Jordan pool The Hope was he would come here he would turn around the just horrible year that he had on and off the floor last year in
Golden state gets flushed he turns back into the guy that helped him win a championship in Golden state two years ago that has obviously not happened how big of a part of his lack of turnaround do you think leads to this decision today I don’t know how much there’s a
One-o-one correlation just because there are you know I I would say for certain if you weren’t seeing um any growth kind of kind of individually like if if those players I mentioned earlier the Denny obus the Cory ker Bal kulali if they weren’t seeing any progress I think that
Would be a much easier thing to say of like look this isn’t working at all and something needs to change I do think Jordan pool tends to be something of an anomaly just because you remember where he came from where he was raised designed to do one thing in a system at
Golden State and he is struggling to do anything else in another system that isn’t as specifically designed where his role isn’t as specifically um as it was out there in the bay that’s something that I don’t know if is necessarily as intertwined with the team’s issues as the rest of the things
We’ve talked about are today um so yeah that’s what I would say about about pool but certainly I think you’re right to say that like that is one of the things that has not gone right for the wizard for sure and like you said um they have
Done a tremendous job of of obviously with kulali and with with uh Denny and those guys have all made leaps so it does seem to be a pool specific thing and I would say on the last thing on Jordan real quick is coming into the
Year I thought he was one of the most important pieces because that’s a guy that could if he turns it around Net you two first round picks in return if not be a part of your future um do they still see him as that or is that like I
Hate to do this because I I don’t want to commoditize a player and like do this haphazardly but in the transactional nature of the NBA is Jordan P essentially a sunk cost at this point for the Wizards or does he immediately become a huge priority for Brian Keefe is the
Interim yeah that’s it’s kind of hard to categorize that I would say the messaging that is coming out of the Wizards organization is that they certainly still believe in Jordan pool and they think he can get back to what he was in Golden State you know a guy
Who can be an absolutely nightmare to try to defend and can really disrupt things um he obviously is not a a natural born Defender and has himself been working on that um so I don’t know if they would categorize it as sunk cost I think one way to measure that is you
Know of course people on the team like when I hear something like oh yeah the Wizards still love Jordan fool and people around the organization and everything he is I understand that because he’s a great guy to talk to he works really hard yeah his teammates
Seem to really like him like he’s a part of that locker room in a successful way um you think okay do you believe in him or is it the fact that yeah well nobody’s gonna want that contract either and the trade deadlines coming up so this is kind of what’s floating around
In the air so Sun cost I don’t know because it’s it’s hasn’t been that long honestly um and he’s clearly still working it out coming over and having a big adjustment year but um that’s something certainly that I think this new front office will absolutely be measured on and partly because that was
All part of the Bradley b Beal Chris Paul whatever Trey like they are going to be judged on that certainly so I think it’s a little bit too soon to give a definitive answer on that just you know it’s only been half a season so right now not good um I’d be interested
To see if they can get some pieces around him to help him and and and uh make it work a little bit more but yeah right now I’m not a good situation yeah no that is something that post trade deadline I do wonder if he like right
Now the the priority is like we got to keep tus out there because he’s gonna be flipped at the deadline let’s maximize his value and it’s like okay second half of the season when the guys that are going to get traded are gone do you build a lineup that is more pool
Friendly if you will that’s something that we’ll find out uh not too long from now it’s only a couple weeks away uh wrapping up with able Wallace here on the Hoffman show of course the Wizards beat reporter for the Washington Post um last thing uh kind of with the current
Team and then I want to ask you about West and and kind of his where he goes um but Brian Keefe is named the interim uh he’s got some okay SE ties because of course he does like what what’s the Brian Keefe story and you know I they
They’ve already said like we’re going to do an extensive search in the offseason but why is he the right guy right now and and kind of what can you tell us about him I think there’s a good Baseline of trust TR built up you know this was someone who uh came from the
Spurs with pry to start OKC you know he was there in 2007 back when they were still Seattle and kind of was one of the founding members of that organization over there so uh Michael Winger first muted him in 2010 I believe when he starts that job so there’s definitely a
Level of trust there um the second big part is the second half of this season is going to be a there’s going to be a really big focus on the Wizards young players um I you know they are not that young and in NBA part but pre 25y old
Players I’ll say um and Brian Keef has that’s kind of his bread and butter he worked with KD James Harden uh he worked with Russell Westbrook in OKC and has has had a huge effect on those guys careers particularly Kevin Durant he was with Kev uh christops porzingis with
Enck he was with Shay for the second time around in OKC like that’s kind of what he does he’s been working with kabali all season very closely um you know just with practice at him every day so I can see if if that’s the direction they want to take this team for the
Second half of the Season why Ryan Keefe would be the right choice but they also believe in him as a schematic guy so uh it certainly makes sense and and he was brought in just this summer coming over from the Brooklyn Nets and players seem
To like him so you know seems like a natural fit yeah no it makes sense and then last but not least like Wes gets relocated to this front office role what’s what’s that mean Ava yeah yeah front office advisory role very specifically so that there’s a lot of
Flexibility in that advisory term that is different from signing on for a a role in the front office where you have a title and a contract and a job um that is a very flexible nebulous thing that I think um linger and Dawkins really genuinely enjoy working with l enel Jr
It’s not hard to see why he’s a lovely person standup guy and he is just an ex’s and O’s no pun intended wizard but he’s a really good basketball mind so I could see why they would want to keep him around um also a pretty good time to
Keep ties with the unseld family at this at this moment when Monumental sports and entertainment is not super super high in the uh Court of public opinion that would be a a pretty tough look I think right now with the arena move and everything and and some factions of the
Community mad about that so I do think it works on both sides I do not think this means Weston Junior will never take a coaching or a head coaching job again I think again the flexibility in that role really allows him to say yeah sure I’ll Stick Around work in the front
Office maybe I Fall In Love with it uh maybe I will go take the first head coaching job for whoever calls yeah no doubt and they picked up that option as you reported back in October so he’s on the payroll so might as well get something out of uh get sending him a
Paycheck uh Ava Wallace you can read her coverage of all of that and you’ll hear her an asking questions of Michael Winger and Will Dawkins in the press conference coming up at five o’clock read her work in the Washington Post washingtonpost.com Sports uh Ava thank
You as always on a very busy day for your time thanks so much all right we’ll continue talking about all of this next on the Hoffman Show A He He He He It’s the Offman show we’re on the team 980 always live as well on the free Odyssey app great stuff from our friend Ava Wallace here on the team 980 we will have more uh of course at top of the hour live when Wes un or sorry when Michael Winger
And Will Dawkins address the firing of West unel Jr the relocation of West unel Jr uh that is coming up at five o’clock um meanwhile oh this is that’s significant uh NFL coaching news this is this is Big Anthony I don’t even know if you saw this yet
Adam shefer reporting that the Falcons are hiring Raheem Morris as their head coach so that is huge that is one of my favorite candidates for sure for Washington if Ben Johnson doesn’t get the job now it does seem what what’s interesting about the timing of this and
Obviously we’ll get back to unell at the top of the hour and and wizard stuff here locally but uh one it looks like Bill Bell is going to be left out of this cycle so you have the greatest coach of all time based off resume uh not being not having interest anywhere
Which is pretty fascinating Atlanta was the spot for him um I guess Seattle could still get involved there uh there are a couple of jobs still open but Washington is not even interviewing him and now Atlanta which is the place where he seemed to be the favorite is going in
A different direction um one I’m thrilled for rahee this dude deserves a job and he should have probably had one already the fact that he was a head coach in his early 30s in Tampa and it went super sideways in ways that were probably not his fault um or and he
Wasn’t also ready for the job but he’s in his late 40s now and and he’s ready and I’m super happy that rahee is getting not just a job but a good job um and so the NFC South gets its coaches today with caneles going to Carolina
Move I also like I just hope that he gets patience that Dave terer hasn’t shown yet uh but a good fit for a quarterback Guru to go work with Bryce young rahee Morris gets a very talented roster in Atlanta they’ve got to figure out quarterback but we’ll see what they
Do um but now Washington is staring at Ben Johnson I it seems like a lot of places seem that may have been interested in Johnson including Carolina are like yeah he’s he’s going to Washington um but Washington now has their pick of of Johnson aing Glen Mike
McDonald like a bunch of people that yes there are some candidates mainly Morris now that comes off the board for the commanders but um they got they picking of Pop flight candidates like this is a an incredible incredible candidate list in the eyes of many myself included and
The top guy in Washington are just staring at each other potentially being the last ones at the dance um now with that said as these coaches get hired it does start to thin out the coordinator pool um so that is something that’s going to be interesting to watch is it’s
Johnson you now he probably gets his OC that he wants um with with Hank fry the offensive line coach currently in Detroit apparently he’s tied at the hip to Johnson and will come here with Ben Johnson if Johnson’s the play here but when you know caneles goes and hires his
Defensive coordinator does he wind up hiring someone that Johnson would have liked to hire these are the kinds of things that you wonder uh and we’ll see ultimately what happens here in DC but we have coaching news of a different kind today West sunel Jr out for the
Wizards the men who made that decision Michael Winger and Will Dawkins talk about it live Next He Oh He He He A He W all right let’s take you live to Capital One Arena where Michael Winger and Will Dawkins are addressing the media the remal of West sunel Jun as competitive basketball that was really the patience piece there was no sense of urgency right now nothing 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 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 mean 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 irr respect I 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 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 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 convers ation unfolded yeah um before I kind of answer
That I think I need to at least address 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 they were nice they 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 the 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 is 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 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 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 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 a few different places so I think you’ll see have 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 I 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 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 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 thank you
Guys 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 West 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 thread 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 hotels are we going to stay in to competitiveness like I I don’t remember when those conversations shifted but you
Know we’ve been addressing the competitiveness 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 comp 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 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 Jos 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 raised 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 thank you everybody appreciate you
All thank you thank you guys all right that is Michael Winger and Will Dawkins with a pretty transparent uh in in my opinion and pretty straightforward press conference about the failures that lead to them making a change with West unell but all those failures certainly not on West
Unell A lot to react to and digest there uh we will do that with you next on the phones 301 23098 just heard the men in charge I’ve certainly got some thoughts so to you 30123 0980 your calls Next He He He He He He Oh He He He What’s up what’s happening it is the Hoffman show if you are just joining us you missed a lot already the good news is we got a podcast for that Offman Show podcast will have our full coverage of the big breaking news that Will Dawkins and Michael Winger ultimately decided
That Wes unel Jr is no longer the right man to lead the Washington Wizards that happened I presume late night last night they announced it around 8:00 a.m. this morning uh kind of rolled over in bed checked the email and you’re like whoa that’s not what I expected to wake up to
Especially on the night where there’s a backto back Wizards have a game tonight they had one last night but it just became clear over the last couple of weeks as they had a series of conversations that uh as Michael Winger put it the fellas needed to hear a new
Voice just moments ago the press conference conference started with our friend Ava Wallace who also joined us earlier in the show if you missed that very worth your time on the podcast uh but Ava asked about the timing of this decision and uh we since we picked up
The press conference live about a minute late just from when we broke and and how radio works I wanted to let you hear that answer as it was one of the most pressing questions that uh we had going into why now uh so many other things at
736 are very obvious but why now Michael with the answer 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 hyper 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 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
Was not part of the calculus where we were in the season the number of games remaining back toback 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 I mean it’s a grown-up decision
It’s a grownup way of going about this that I appreciate from Michael Winger and Will Dawkins and Wes unel like Wes is no dummy let’s be very clear about this Wes unel did not do a good enough job to keep his job he is also absolutely 100% no freaking dummy he
Knew this year was going to be tough I I’ve talked to Wes in the preseason and I asked him him uh basically like how you going to do this defensively and there was there was a chuckle like he knew that the defensive Personnel on this team was not good he had no rim
Protector he had bad people that were in terms of guarding the ball and if you want two things it’s people who protect the rim and people who were good on the ball it’s like literally how the Milwaukee Bucks have been one of the five or the five best defensive teams
Over the last five years is because Drew holiday was on the ball and Giannis and Brook Lopez were protect protecting the rim it almost didn’t matter who anyone else on the team was your rotations whatever everything becomes easier when you have good on ball defense and a rim
Protector and Daniel gafford’s done okay as a rim protector but he’s more of a shot blocker than a rim protector he’s someone that will make a spectacular singular play maybe even two or three times a game but is not consistently a threat to deter shots at The Rim in the
Way that the other Elite Rim protectors Alla Audi goar is and in terms of on the ball like Jordan p and tus Jones are tiny guards so when you’re looking at the the on ball defense unless D wr’s in the game you’re you’re not doing very well out with your ball pressure or
Kabali or some of these other guys that are pretty solid in that department but you can never get enough guys on the floor at once to tie the string together and so Wes and the other thing that I think is is a great quote from this press conference is when Michael or
Sorry Will Dawkins said you know this is this is a season of Discovery and the other big complaint about Wes unseld is he just didn’t change stuff up enough and I I don’t know whether like in the discussions with Dawkins and Winger that were happening constantly that were referenced frequently in this press
Conference that is as the Brain Trust of the team got together was Wes like N I think I think we just keep tinkering within what we’re doing or like hey this is the way I do it if you guys want to do something else like we’re going to
Have to we’re going to have to go in a different direction I don’t know exactly how how that goes down and maybe that gets reported over the next couple of days but the way it’s presented here by two guys that I think are pretty honest
And I’ll get to that in a moment as well is like it it felt like they wanted to start to see some stuff that was different Wes still thought the way they were going about it was the best way and eventually it would turn and that disagreement was starting to cause a
Little bit of friction and that friction was not necessarily even between Dawkins Winger and Wes the the grown adults if you will the older men running the team it was starting to cause friction in the locker room as well as you heard in our interview with Ava Wallace earlier that
Kyle kma all of a sudden was like yeah you know sometimes just playing harder isn’t the thing like we need to change some stuff up you know you wonder if a guy like Bilal is like what more do you want from me to start bro like I’m I’m
Giving you the best defense on the team every single night like I’m playing hard I’m hitting my threes at a rate that you guys even think was possible until maybe my fourth year in the league and I’m doing it as a rookie and and like I should be starting and plus like this
I’m I’m the future of the franchise why am I still off the bench so there’s there’s things like that where you wonder if going into the season they had some plans Wes wasn’t adapting fast enough for the players and ultimately for them and that’s why they look at now
And go like all right we got we got 39 games left let’s let’s do some tinkering and in order to Tinker they needed a different guy to to be pulling the strings and Brian Keefe who comes from a development background and has been tremendous in Oklahoma City and tremendous in Brooklyn
And um you know I wouldn’t like I he was in Brooklyn the last couple years I’m gonna guess I don’t know this for sure but I’d be pretty surprised considering how good male Bridges is if he wasn’t the guy working with male Bridges he was working with Harden and Durant and
Westbrook and all those guys back in the day in OKC he was with Shay gilis Alexander uh as he started to just absolutely blossom in Oklahoma City to the point that you know as I say this out loud the Wizards are going to embark on a head coaching search this off
Season but if some of these guys turn it on in the second half of the Season it seems like one of your top candidates should be right under your nose we’ll see and I know no one will be happy if they go in house because it feels like
Everything in house with the wizard stinks and has for since 1979 but if this dude’s this good as a development coach and he can be your head coach too that would seem like a pretty valuable guy to keep in your organization so the other part of that
This is the Players themselves and I want to get into this more on the phones next at 30123 980 what you guys heard from Dawkins and Winger there I have I can’t think of a time I won’t say I never have heard because I don’t want to be that definitive and declarative and
Have someone tweet me something in 5 seconds when we go to the commercial break of of a time that they remember that I was sitting in the room for um because I’ve been at a lot of these press conferences but I cannot immediately recall a time when a coach
Got fired or there was a significant change and an executive was asked directly a great question by Josh Robbins of the athletic how much of this is on the players and in a way that assigns blame declaratively not in a way that like says oh we’re all responsible
But in a way that directly answers the question Michael Winger like a big boy adult that he is simply goes a lot they know it we talk to them they don’t feel good about this we ask them hey who is responsible and every single H went
Up and to have him go and we’ll play this clip for you as we’re cutting all the audio bites up now we’ll play it for you next as we take some of your calls to for him to go a lot tells you that they also o think that this roster is
Underperforming and they are hoping this coaching change is a kick in the pants and well yes they know they’re not talented by a competitive NBA standard they should be way way better than this and that is a sentiment that I wholeheartedly agree with it’s the Hoffman show we’re on the team 980 we’re
Always live as well on the free Odyssey app and we are taking your calls next 30123 0980 our continuing coverage of the big breaking news Washington Wizards had fired West unel Jr as their head coach and we’re talking about it on your home for Wizards basketball the team 980 H He He He H He Your calls at 30123 09 98301 23098 Wes unell Jr out as the head coach of the Washington Wizards we’re talking about it with you here on the Hoffman show which of course not only is live on your radio on the team 980 but streaming live on the free Odyssey app and the
Podcast is always available at the end of every hour then at the end of the full show we podcast that as well you can listen to it uh in your car Bluetooth style um Apple carplay whatever it is however you listen to your you know whatever it is you listen
To in the car other podcasts we’ll pretend like you don’t you don’t have those we’re clearly your favorite the only thing you listen to um you know your your favorite music all that um hin Show podcast and and all of our shows here the team 980 available to you uh on
Demand on your time and also with your smart speaker at home just ask Alexa or Siri or whatever smart speaker you have to play the team 980 uh we are streaming live on YouTube as well at the team 980 all those places you can find our interview with Ava
Wallace from earlier in the show and of course the full press conference between Michael Winger and Will Dawkins who just spoke at Capital One Arena uh interm coach Brian Keefe just spoke as well and of course he’ll speak to uh Dave Johnson who will join us because it is a Wizards
Game day after all coming up at 6:15 but I I thought a couple more interesting things as we wait on some more calls again 301 23098 is the number um a couple of things that were interesting about this press conference from Winger and Dawkins starting off on kind of how
Long this has been stewing um like how long have they been thinking about this Michael Winger on that decision we talk all the time I mean there 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 hotels are we going to stay in to
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 measured meable 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 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 I mean day one I
Guess or two weeks ago like I I just don’t know the date so that you know I I think that characterization of the conversation is super interesting and it goes back to I I’ll play this I played it earlier in the show but really I mean Wes unel Jr
Laid this out in the preseason when he was with us um he talked about uh what needs to happen this year to be successful for the Washington Wizards and there were there were two categories that he touched on and one was Improvement but the other was that word
That Michael Winger kept bringing up it was competitiveness um here is that from our chat in the preseason you know and that might not translate to wins um but you want teams to walk away from playing the Wizards and know that you know what
We we had to play to beat this team uh we have to compete at the highest level um you want our guys to enjoy competing you know enjoy the conect the connectivity that it takes to be a really good team of course you know we have to find small measures you know I
Think we we’ve measured some things internally but to see the day-to-day Improvement the week to week Improvement you know the month-to-month Improvement individually and collectively I think we keep stacking those we’re we’ll be heading in the right direction and unfortunately they didn’t it just it never changed there were
There were things that changed this year the Wizards lead the NBA in Pace that is a huge deal that they finally started playing like grownup 2023 NBA 2024 NBA basketball uh as opposed to being the slotting PLO or plotting slow team that took a bunch of mid-range jumpers you
Know Wes loved the the phrase I shouldn’t say Wes loves it Wes used the phrase I loved it shot diet their shot diet was a lot better this year but ultimately it comes down to a competitiveness and I think that when you look at when when you stop talking
About rotations and kind of the plan this and I think what it comes down to is the ability to react within a game to understand who’s got it going on any given night to understand hey this dude’s dogging it on defense and we’re trying to build habits we’re trying to
Build culture you can’t let that slide I know we’re trying to to get that guy minutes or maybe we talked about thing X but you know it’s the ability to prioritize and it’s hard this is really hard because when you’re in a game you’re thinking about a million
Different things and it’s hard to have this Long View when you’re just trying to get to the next timeout and the next quarter break and the next half and you know win the game On Any Given night but you had to approach this season in a way that prioritized certain things that may
Maybe you would otherwise tolerate as a head coach like bad habits bad defense not giving required effort when you’re a star player that you kind of let slide in the NBA sometimes because it’s worth it in the end your stars are managing themselves to be the best down the
Stretch and it’s still worth having them on the floor but when you don’t really have a guy and you are managing the habits of what you’re trying to build and the culture that you’re trying to establish you got to have a quicker trigger sometimes and and I think the
Other thing too with along those lines was the lack of consistency with that there were times that guys were on the bench for a long time and it never really felt like it had a Rhyme or Reason there were or wasn’t like a hey that dude got benched or uh Hey that
Dude is performing poorly so he is or isn’t going to get bench sometimes it was that guy’s going to play through it sometimes it’s like nope he’s done for the night and I think that is is a really not only is it is it bad because it doesn’t really give players clear
Incentives and and a clear like understanding of what’s going to happen in both in the short and long term but it becomes a a fright environment where the stress levels are higher than they need to be for reasons that are completely within a control and that’s
Not a way you incubate Talent you don’t you don’t want people walking on eggshells and it’s not you know people aren’t walking on eggshells because Wes is a bad dude and he’s mean to people and he’s yelling at everybody they walk on eggshells because they literally have no consistent expectations if you want
To develop people and this is something that’s going to become really important for the commanders as well if you want to develop people you have to give them clear expectations you have to give them clear standards and the front office does an excellent job of this with the
The advanced metrics and and the analytics and the things that they provide the under the hood metrics behind the scenes But ultimately the like the the main currency in the NBA is minutes and if you just don’t know if your performance is going to lead to you
Getting to play or not and when you’re going to play and and who you’re going to be playing with it’s really hard to be consistent and it’s not an optimal way to develop talent and in a year that’s about developing Talent why would you operate that way and I think that’s a
A longer slightly more in-depth version of the actual pretty in-depth and honest answers that Michael Winger and Will Dawkins gave at that press conference at the top of the hour we’ll let you hear a little bit more of it coming up at 6 o’clock next though we’ll take our one
NFL dip of the day typically in this half hour block on Thursdays Anthony and I have done our NFL tiers we’ll wrap up our tiers for the season next it’s the Hoffman show on the team 980 and always live live on the free Odyssey App He He He He He He He He H He Offman show we’re on the team 980 always live as well on the free Odyssey app uh coming up at the top of the hour we’ll get back to the Wizards news of the day kind of recap the story as it sits uh and that is with Brian Keef taking over
For West unel Jr as the head coach for now Dave Johnson is talking to Brian momentarily uh and we’ll you’ll obviously hear that on the pregame show but you’ll hear from Dave at 6:15 as you do each and every Wizards game day all right now though our one NFL turn of the
Day Anthony uh we got our NFL tiar final edition of the Season couldn’t let the show go uh without recapping how we did this year uh ranking our NFL teams and um this is something we’ve done now each year and uh we’ve had the show all all two football seasons and uh we’ll
Continue to do as long as we have it because I think this is the right way to go about it I think the right way to try to rank teams is not power rankings power rankings are silly they move too much I want to be able to categorize
Teams realistically with who they are who else is kind of close to them and then where’s the line and I think we did a pretty good job overall this year uh the obviously San Francisco and Baltimore were pretty easy to keep in the uh the prime contenders category and
Then the Lions and the uh I feel like I wanted the Lions up more of the year and uh you you pulled them back down looks like they were for real and then the Chiefs we had them in Prime contenders most of the Year even when at times it looked like they didn’t
Belong I think we on that front did pretty well I mean I think the reasoning behind us not you know really having the lines all the way up there was fair you know we look at the Dolphins it was true they hadn’t beaten anybody all season long
What did they do they didn’t do anything the first round well they got knocked out the first round uh you look at the Jacksonville Jaguars who actually didn’t even end up making the playoffs because guess what they hadn’t beaten anybody for real for real the defense was a
Little streaky um but I I think the line just might be the you know the out the outlier here um in terms of going out and you know just not being able to beat the Ravens or you know any of the other good teams that they faced yeah I also
Learn from it yeah I also wonder in hindsight though did we underestimate some of the teams that they did beat you know like they beat the Vikings twice early the Vikings were a lot better than we thought um the Saints okay whatever um you know they split with the Bears
They they the bearss Lost definitely through people for a loop because it was early but like the bears actually wound up being a lot better than people realize um yeah but their defense came on strong late it did but like they still like some of the my point is like once once
The season plays out like you know they beat the Bucks they beat the Packers like these are playoff teams they beat the Chiefs uh to open the season um and sorry the Bears game games were late like the Bears had already kind of turned it on at that point okay um so I
Mean real realistically like this was their season they beat the Chiefs in the season opener yep they lose to the Seahawks in a tight one they then beat the Falcons beat the Packers beat the Panthers uh They smash the bucks then they get trounced by the Ravens and
Everyone’s like oh no the Ravens killed them they’re not for real they beat the Raiders they beat the Chargers in a game that was probably a little closer than it should have been um but then they beat the Bears and then they lose two of three they lose to the
Packers beat the Saints lose to the Bears and people are like ah and what do they do they destroyed the Broncos yep they beat the Vikings they lose on the stupid two-point debacle by the refs to the Cowboys yeah and then they beat the Vikings again and then they’ve obviously
Won two playoff games yeah I guess the loss to the the Packers isn’t as bad it is a divisional game like it’s a divisional game they lost by by seven yeah so I guess I guess that’s more so on us because we Overlook the packs we Overlook the right and and I
Think sometimes that’s what happens is you don’t realize until it’s too late that a team that you thought wasn’t that impressive of a win actually is and you know it’s one thing if you know like the commanders beating the Broncos in the beginning of the year it’s different
Than a team beating the Broncos in the middle of the year when the Broncos were like really playing well right it’s not like all of a sudden it’s like oh that was actually a great win for Washington in week two no the Broncos were at that
Time a team that was ready to give up 70 points to the Dolphins the next week but like when some of the Packers stuff happens you know they lose to the Packers in week like 14 or so let’s see 18 18 17 16 15 14 13 yeah more like week
12 week 13 somewhere in there I don’t know where their bye was um point is like the Packers at that point had started their comeback like the the Packers were were on one at that point and so and the bears were like really hot at that point that’s they’re saving
Flu’s job mhm and so they lost two divisional games one of which was pretty bad that bears loss was bad it was 2813 um but I I think that the lions like they were 12 and five on the year they were a 12- win football team yeah Washington has done that since
1991 they were legitimately really good um and I think obviously when you get down to this and these are the four teams left you feel pretty good about it there is you know like you’re going to have some teams that you had in the prime contenders category for instance
Like we really goofed on Dallas whoops but it’s the playoffs like eventually there’s four teams left and if you have four teams in the other in in in more than four teams in your top category you’re going to have some misses but it is like the Lions or the party crashers
And everyone else I think we kind of anticipated being here maybe maybe Baltimore a little bit less so than the other two but they are who we thought they were yeah I I think everybody’s been beating the the uh the 49ers drum the Chiefs you know they got mom so we never really
Could write write him or them off um but yeah I mean Lamar you know he’s a finalist for the MVP this year I called it um you did do we have our pre-season predictions yeah I have them up we should go through those what maybe Super
Bowl week they go right here who did I have as MVP uh no that’s oh boy Anthony yeah I got to find it I know it’s in here though it’s just over here stick not it’s just that uh I just I don’t in a in the uh what how you
Really got sticky notes yeah I got a lot of them you can’t control F a sticky note no I can’t I can’t find the MVP one but I know Lamar was my MVP guy yeah no I I I remember you saying that yeah I don’t know maybe what what’s
On the sticky notes that you did find we got our predictions we got uh AFC East uh bills Jets wow you had the Jets or I had the Jets uh I had no you had theet I had the bills damn that really died quick yeah uh I had the
Ravens you had the Bengals uh in the AFC North I had the Jags well we both had the Jags whoops AFC West we had the thiefs okay NFC North I had the Lions you had the Vikings damn uh NFC South I had the Falcons you had the Saints oh uh
We both had the Niners coming out of the NFC West and we both had the Eagles repeating for repeating in the NFC east and that didn’t a well we should have we should have known thanks thanks for the the wests that’s it it wasn’t for the West I
Would have got anything right and I still might get the Super Bowl champion right yeah you still might which really all I care about yeah uh um anyway all right that’s that’s the NFL tiers when we get back uh more on West unel Jr being removed as the head coach of the
Washington Wizards including more your calls 30123 0980 it’s the Hoffman show on the team 980 and always live on the free Odyssey App H He He He H He He He Oh He He He He It’s opman show we’re on the team 980 always live as well on the free Odyssey app coming up in about 10 minutes we have uh Dave Johnson joining us from the arena obviously we will talk about the Wizards coaching change with him uh he will have talked to Brian Keefe the new
Wizard interim coach uh at that point as well so excited for that at the top of the hour or sorry not at the top of the hour uh in about 10 minutes from now we’re at the top of the hour uh so we’ll talk to Dave uh and and obviously get
Back on the floor as well for the Wizards on a pretty significant day today they ultimately decide to move on from West unel Jr as their head coach um one thing that’s worth noting uh that wasn’t in the uh the part of the press conference we were able to air for you
Live but it was addressed what West unseld’s role will be and it essentially will be whatever West wants it to be they’ll have those discussions over the next couple of days they have to pay unsell so they probably will be like dude we value your opinion we really
Like you personally you’ve been a part of these conversations that uh all led us to the point that we said this wasn’t the right role for you moving forward so we still want to be able to pick your brain but I also think there is a reality that perhaps they just part ways
Um and maybe he’s around the rest of the year and they give him a call every once in a while and he largely just gets to collect his check and sit at home and wait uh for next season when he’ll be a very coveted assistant uh around the
League but there is like if you were the head coach and now you’re advising like what are you advising on maybe it’s player Personnel stuff um who knows so we’ll see uh ultimately what that looks like for Wes sunell but the reason that West sunel Jr is no longer the head
Coach was because the Wizards were not a competitive basketball team and this goes far beyond but is reflected in the seven and 36 record that they have in the 77 and 130 record that he had as head coach Ava Wallace joined us earlier in the program
And you know she this was before Winger and Dawkins spoke at 5:00 pm but she hinted at exactly why Wes unel was likely being removed and something that we’ uh here confirmed from the horse’s mouth if you will or the horse’s mouths a short while later but here was Ava
Yeah I think that’s also a good kind of central question and the thing that I kind of have landed on it in in my mind is just talking to people this morning is that this is kind of the flexibility you’re afforded when you’re at Square absolute what Square negative one of a
Rebuild I think you could go two ways with this honestly where you say okay well winning and losing weren’t supposed to matter so why all of a sudden do they matter I I don’t think it’s necessarily the record that has wrangled a lot of people although that certainly um plays
A lot into this definitely but it’s it’s just the fact that like you said it’s it’s they’re not competing it’s not games like last night that got westel Jr relocated as you said where they actually do pretty well against the Timberwolves and it’s like okay well you’re not going to overcome 21
Turnovers um it’s the fact that they were just getting blown out and I I don’t know if it’s necessarily um I think I do think what I went back to is like they don’t have their big strong number one guy like Kyle kma is doing his best right now he doesn’t have
A ton of help um but these players don’t hold themselves they don’t account for each other’s weaknesses on defense the way that they can show they have on offense um that’s something that’s missing where you’re going to see individual growth and maybe guys not playing together as a team or
Understanding how to play Team defense coupled with the fact that like they’re in a place in this organization’s rebor where they can say hey let’s bur up at the wall and see what the dicks and I don’t I don’t necessarily know if if Michael Winger is being that casual
About this but I do think there’s kind of a that’s kind of the methodology of this is working this is working this is working okay so what haven’t we tried yet maybe someone at the top needs to go um I think that’s kind of what you’re seeing here and the flexibility they’re
Being afforded in in the status they are as an organization right now Ava Wallace from The Washington Post with us earlier and then you know when you get into the press conference you start to hear directly from Michael Winger and Will Dawkins I thought this answer from Will
Dawkins was pretty telling on kind of that end part of aa’s answer like the competitiveness the amount of times they’ve just been blown out was obviously a huge reason why they decided to make this move from uh West unel but Michael Winger talked about how they
Need to to try some different stuff and it just he doesn’t use the word stale but it felt like things had staled in a way that was no longer a part of the mission 43 games into that year one or is AA put it year negative one of this
Rebuild 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 convers ations 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 that I think is great phrasing and there’s another phrase that Dawkins used another answer that I thought was the quote of the presser which is this is a
Season of Discovery this is a season where they want to try and Tinker with things and you know they got to a point where they want to try different schemes defensively because obviously what they’re doing defensively is um I mean the word unacceptable was used like
There was a a level of brutal honesty in this press conference that I really appreciated and we’ll wrap up with that when it comes to the players in just a moment but the the phrase season of Discovery and then hearing the phrase like unacceptable defense on certain
Nights tells you like no like we can’t they’re we’re willing to deal with a lot but not this and so whether it’s the rotations whether it is a wanting to try some different things different lineup combinations different players starting not starting playing big minutes closing games different guys in different roles
Like do you want kabali on the ball more like there there’s all these different things that you both want to Tinker with but also you need to as Dawkin said at the end there you don’t want to rush you want to give any new tweak that you make
A chance to succeed you can’t be so all over the map that nothing have a chance to work through some initial growing pains and problems and ultimately Implement itself as a as a good part of what you keep moving forward but you do in a in a mode that they’re in right now
You do need to be willing to fail fast and understand what is just a sunk cost and not worth it and it seems like these guys have a really good feel for that and last but not least um this question by Josh Robbins led to one of the most
Honest and I think refreshing answers I have heard from a front office executive in a long long time if you’re evaluating competitiveness and and Spirit uh how much of the responsibility for that not measuring up so far is on the players doesn’t doesn’t don’t a l
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 raised their hand as you know when the question
Was asked who in this room is who who in this room is responsible for this every single player raised their hand um they know it that’s that had big dad energy big disappointed dad energy big like oh they they messed up and they know it I don’t need to punish them there are
They put themselves in timeout that’s the kind of team you want apparently it’s a great locker room you you just hear on the record off the Record that locker room is tight it’s good it’s healthy but you got to keep it that way and it’s got to mesh with the coach and
Even if they like the coach personally I mean this was the Commander’s issue in a lot of ways was 53 deep did they love Rivera no was there a lot of dudes um were pretty vocal about how much they liked Rivera yeah they didn’t they didn’t play hard enough for him and
There wasn’t an accountability and so ultimately these two men just you know for some different reason some similar reasons uh suffer the same fate and that is another coaching change in Washington uh West unseld out today uh where do they go from here that is going to be a
Lot of our conversation with Dave Johnson next he’s had a chance to talk to new interim coach Brian Keefe uh you’ll hear that interview on the pregame show here on the team 98 but Dave joins us from the broadcast Booth the Capital One Arena Next He He He He He It’s Offman show we’re on the team 980 always live as well on the free Odyssey app real things real people said in real microphones coming to close the show but uh it is a Wizards game day and you know yesterday we had Dave Johnson on and we
Were just yucking it up and thinking oh we’re all all good for for tomorrow and and now uh today is a very different day but we still are going to get the radio party started time to get the radio party started block by B oh boy did he stuff them left pull
There oh that’s a pool party the bask slam right there they stealing the slam go intercepted by kissper kissper now foul line oh slam o that’ll draw your preserves it’s time for Dave Johnson on a Wizard’s game day KOA for three oh it’s there it’s there big big shot on the hofman
Show Dave in his usual spot in the broadcast booth at Capital 1 Arena Dave uh you’re you’re in usual spot but there there are changes of foot uh we wake up to the news this morning that Wes uh is going to move into this front office advisory role Brian Keefe is taking over
Um and we haven’t really talked about Keef it all today so I actually want to start there with you I I promise we will Circle back around to West someone you’ve spent a lot of time with over the last three years but theoretically you would have just talked to him because
You have your pregame interview that’s going to be airing here in 30 minutes during the pregame show so what your first impression of Brian GE well actually I’ve not had a lot of interaction with him I’ve had some but not like West unel and actually Wes unel
I’ve known West unel for 28 years since he was a child well since he was a kid so uh it you know it’s a tough day for me because personally yes I did want it to work out for him as a as a head coach and we’ll explain you know part of that
Dynamic but but Brian Keefe is is someone that’s appreciative that Wes unseld is the one who hired him this Summer to be the lead assistant uh and and he’s appreciative of of how Wes you know welcomed him to the staff and and all he did for him he’s someone that I
Guess Kevin Durant earlier today was was raving about him as as a as a coach he he certainly has a lot of experience like you you what jumps off your page right away is is that he started in the San Antonio Spurs organization when they
Won a title back and in 2007 so um I I think there’s some there’s something to developing as a coach in the in the Spurs organization his whole focus is going to be on this team being a a better defensive team as a team and and that’s how we’ve reached this point when
We and we’ve had many discussions where we would break down individual players uh and there’s there’s Improvement I mean Denny Abdi is coming off the season High 25 last night or 24 rather um you can go right down the list of of guys that that have had are improving and are
Trending in the right uh Direction but as a team it it’s it’s been a a lack of competitiveness quite frankly and that’s a word that Michael Winger and Will Dawkins use and I know you you just played some cuts from the the press conference they had when I say Cuts
Sound bites whatever the term is whatever the hip kids are saying now um that that you know mentioned that and I think you know a couple takeaways for me was that that West unel it is a serious situation where they’re going to keep he will be still in involved uh in the
Organization because this has been a very collaborative process they they didn’t expect to be 7 and 36 but they also didn’t expect to be 36 and 7 or whatever we are so in other words this is not a firing because the record because the record the second half I
Don’t know you know how it’s going to go uh but they they clearly were seeing something uh that didn’t pass the eye test and you played and to me this is the the quote uh that says it all that that Michael Winger asked who in this room feels responsible for this talking
About the changing coaches and they all uh raise their hand and I think what to our listeners out there is we all think about our jobs and and I you know I had an earlier conversation today as I I was giving a speech somewhere and they were
Talking about how you know if you ask everyone in a room well are you a hard worker well everyone’s going to raise their hands but they might think think they’re a hard worker they might pass the lie detector test that they’re a hard worker but are they really working
Hard enough and and so that’s why coaching changes happen they clearly this was something also I think it was Telltale that that Michael Winger and uh Will Dawkins described this that that uh you know Wes he could see it and and and so it’s not that simple also you say all
Right they’re not competitive enough or they need the r but but you you don’t just yell at them more uh so it’s it’s not if it was that simple we we could all be coaches and you know what it it also kind of reminds me a little bit uh
Of of uh when the capitals fired Glenn hanin on Thanksgiving Eve and George MC told me this story uh that that Glenn hanlin had come to him several times uh leading up to this game uh saying you know George I I I really feel like I I’m
Not reaching the locker room I’m not connecting I’m not saying Wes this is the same thing but what I’m saying is coaches do sense they know when it’s when it’s just not happening W Wes is a smart guy right he’s not yeah he went to Johns Hopkins University and that’s you
Know uh not talson state where I went which by the way you can still get a good education but the the point being is is George MC said well you know let’s let’s give it you know we had a home stand coming up well that that that game
Thanksgiving Eve uh they lost to at the time the Atlanta Thrashers 5 to one and the next morning Thanksgiving morning glint hanlin walked in to the office and and basically knew uh and George MC they almost didn’t even have to say anything now I this was I I think a different
Situation but I’m just pointing that out that that you know it’s something that that Wes could sense uh and he wants this team he wants this franchise uh certainly to to reach its goals and he wanted to reach the goal as the head coach uh he’s still will be a part of
The franchise but now uh Brian Keefe gets a chance to audition for the role uh of head coach but again they pointed out that uh the offseason search will be a comprehensive one which Kei will be a candidate but doesn’t mean he has a leg up just
Because he coached this team right now yeah his his resume is very impressive in the stretches of success and especially the stretches of Developmental success that he’s had and been a part of as an assistant and I I immediately was like well shoot if this
Is his resume I i’ I’d imagine he winds up being one of the top candidates in a comprehensive search so we’ll see how the rest of the season goes but as as you mentioned Dave like you’ve known Wes unel for almost 30 years at this point
So it’s a tough day and you know I I reflected earlier on on how much I like Wes as a person but also the results are what they are we understand it we we see the competitive stuff but do you have like a favorite when someone comes to
You and is like hey tell me about Wes sunel Jr like what’s a what’s a story that immediately Pops to mind that explains to people that and and and look like on a day like today I understand there’s a pocket of fans that just want
To be like yeah he sucked and he got fired that’s what you get in sports like I get it you people can pipe down I this is a human being who I think served this franchise well so I would like to to get a good West unel story out of you
Because I don’t know how many more times we’ll be able to do that well you you know and you’re right right there really shouldn’t be you understand as fan the fans frustrations when they’re not losing well you know I almost wish we’d say let’s change coaches not fire
Coaches because they really are look they’re human beings and it doesn’t matter you can’t say well they make a lot of money and they’re okay they’ll be fine but you but you know what it’s still their chosen profession or their chosen passion uh you know we just had
It with the football team I mean I I don’t know if anybody thinks Ron Rivera is a bad guy and and by the way uh he’s had success before it just it it didn’t work out for whatever reason in Washington but to your point why I’m you know saddened partially by this that
That uh I understand the decision but what I’m saying is uh sadden that it didn’t work out because this was not uh because his name is Wes unel he gets a job three years into his coaching He Paid Dues like you would not believe and this was goes back when I was doing
Morning radio uh on the road at the same time I was doing Wis ards and I’d be up at 4 in the morning and and this is in the hotel rooms and and this is back when you had to you know go down and get
A copy or or whatever and guess who else was up at 4 in the morning working hard on scouting reports and um so that’s not a funny story about Wes unel but it it shows to who he is he worked his tail off uh to get finally a head coaching uh
Position including you know obviously coming from Denver uh where they they had great success um so that’s that that’s a part that I think people need to know that you know he did not get anywhere because his name is is Wes unseld in fact uh I remember you know
The Wes unseld seniors saying all right well I’ll give him a chance in this basketball thing but he’s going to have the worst boss ever me and you can only imagine that you know that he was never going to give West unel Jr breaks and people say well you know he was supposed
To be this great defensive coach and they not the the the the problem is you still need players uh and and players to buy in you can have this is a league that the league is too good there is not a scheme developed to stop nicoa yic or
It’s not a scheme uh it’s it’s more you know involved in that and and that’s where it gets back to where we started this conversation about uh competitive competitiveness uh and that is that is a mindset and that is that is hard um and that’s what Brian ke talked about and
We’ll talk about you’re here in our pregame show that he wants to get this this mindset right uh over the next 39 games no doubt about it uh very excited to listen to the pregame tonight uh on my ride back home uh to to hear from Brian keth he sounds incredibly
Impressive from everything I can read about him obviously uh didn’t didn’t want to see this day come but I think we all understand it and and we look forward to better days ahead for the Wizards as you always say Dave there is no script so who knows what the final 39
Games have in store it starts tonight with Utah Glenn and Dave on the Call 645 here on the team 980 for the pregame 7 o’clock tip Dave have a great call and we will talk to you next week and you know I’ve been doing this 27 28 years
But you know what what actually makes me feel like a big deal here at Capital One Arena when I walk in in the afternoon my man Kevin Jones and today he had his friend Jimmy they are the hugest fans of the Hoffman show oh and the first thing
They said to me they said hey I heard you you got a hat for Craig hoffin so see people are listening closely so but the point is uh they’re just great and they’re listening right now so that’s my cheap excuse to give a shout out but
They’re but they’re of the show and and and they reminded me that I got to get you a hat so did well I guess that does beg the question because I saw a couple people tweeting that the hat that the Wizards gave away last night the Denny
Advia designed hat is the best giveaway the Wizards have done in years did you actually get me one day well no and see that’s where man Kevin Jones and I will’ll get you one trust me I’ve got connection I have faith in you but when Kevin Jones and Jimmy um said uh get
Them a hat uh today I thought all right I better live up to it all right well I I have faith in you I have less faith in me to remember I will at some point show up to do a broadcast with you and you’ll
Be like hey here’s your hat I’m like oh yeah thanks we’ll get that all sorted out Kevin and Jimmy were all over me today thank you Kevin and Jimmy for remembering things that I cannot right we appreciate it all right Dave have a great call tonight thank you listen as
Always you listen in the afternoons you guys do a great job and thanks for having me on thank you as always Dave johnon everybody the legendary voice of the Wizards with us here on the Hoffman show our pleasure to have him each and every Wizards game day when we get back
Though we wrap up the show final thoughts on the big news story of the day and real things real people said into real Microphones He He He He He He It’s opman show wrapping up here on the team 980 always live as well on the free Odyssey app and streaming live on YouTube at the team9 80 great show today talking about uh obviously West unel Jr getting uh removed as the head coach of the Washington Wizards uh it’s it I mean I
Said this to start the show today this sucks um uh like West sunsel Jr is a good dude he’s a good coach and it didn’t work out and you want like when good people come to your franchise you want it to work out um because you don’t want to squander those opportunities and
I know that there is an air of NEP ISM that inherently is going to leave people thinking that the reason West unel Jr got his job is because his dad is West sunsel Senor who was arguably the best player in the history of the franchise but realistically West sunsel J was an
Assistant coach in the NBA for a long time like when Dave Johnson talks about the fact that this dude had to pay his dues like sure were their doors open because of his name yeah do you have a natural Network because of your name sure but like it wasn’t like he was GI
Did a job in the way that some people are with nepotism like he was decades of assistant level like low-level assistant for a decade high level assistant for the better part of a decade and then he finally gets this job as a head coach and it you know I also think you’d be
Lying if Ted leonis or you didn’t think Ted leonis had a a a a joy in hiring someone with that name but if Wes unel Jr didn’t get hired here he would would have gotten hired somewhere else in the last couple of years like I don’t think
He’s on the staff when the Nuggets uh win the the championship because he would have gotten poached to be a head coach somewhere he was interviewing for I mean when Michael Winger took this job here he talked about how Wes unel Jr was one of the candidates they had
Interviewed for the Clippers like they when they hired tyo like he was high on their list and they wound up going with tyo which I is probably the better option uh but Wes unel Jr was was a truly viable candidate and he’s a great dude today is the way the way that I
Will headline this if you will is today is a sad but necessary day it is not a happy day it’s a day that needed to happen but it was it’s sad but necessary uh and now we’ll see what Brian Keefe can do and maybe maybe he’s
The right guy um maybe you wait till the offseason and I mean you’re definitely going to see this offseason but um you very well could get to this offseason and go in a completely different Direction so I do think it’s it’s cool the last couple of years like there are
More NBA coaches that I’m just like wait that dude’s a head coach right now like if we played a game um Haney had to step out early to to deal with something but uh our guy Ryan Clary uh shout out to to RC coming over uh from from the 1067 the
Fan side and and pinch hitting here I appreciate you Ryan first of all thank you if we did uh a a NBA head coach real or fake game how well do you think you would do I don’t think I’d do all too great Craig I’m not going to lie I just
Have a feeling I wouldn’t do too good yeah it’s like not a it’s not a bunch of former players that you’d heard of and and like you guys that have been around and re like for years we talk about all these retreads in the NFL the NBA is the
Worst retread league in the world it’s the same I mean I guess inter like it’s funny because like international soccer dudes Bounce from Italy to France to Spain to England back to Italy and like they’re at all the same top clubs like there’s guys that have coached the top clubs in like every
Single country and they just bounce around and get fired every two years and you’re like how dides everyone keep hiring the same guy and like that was the NBA forever is you know like you know it felt like I don’t want to name names that feels mean but like there’s
Guys that would get like four jobs and you’re like but would like let I will name a name because he’s he’s one of the best ever in terms of total wins like Lenny Wilkins I don’t know if he ever like made an NBA Finals he might have
Made one but that dude coached in like he won a thousand games like he was one point and might still be the NBA’s all-time winningest coach in terms of sheer number of wins but he coached for like seven teams and you’re like what wh why and now you have all these young
Assistants that are really Innovative and really good and you know I think Nick nurse was like one of the big guys who gotten got that started where it’s like who the hell’s Nick nurse I don’t care he coaches basketball really well and he replaced uh Dwayne Casey in
Toronto and they were awesome and so I I do think that there is is like that kind of name but like Brian Keefe who’s the interim now in Washington also fits that that would be a fun game maybe we’ll do that tomorrow I’ll see how many NBA
Coaches I can name I don’t think I do as well as i’ I’d like to um not been as heavy of a league my my league pass watching lots of NBA basketball kind of starts now we’re we’re at the end of football season I can breathe again uh
So we got that all right uh last but not least uh whether I’m here Anthony’s here clary’s here so else is doing the show the one thing you can rely on pretty much daily is that we’ll close it out with real things real people said into real microphones and that the computer is
Going to be delayed real things we’re not going to Su this year real people1 not very good set into real microphones you know the culture is actually damn good Clary uh for those watching on YouTube we could see you smileing you you heard that imager before I have not
Live I haven’t done it live I have le on the Odyssey app and as well as listening back to the Hoffman show but I’ve not heard it live apparently it’s a party now because darus just walked into your studio darus have you heard the real things imager with all the funny quotes
From Washington history no okay tell you what I’m going to do Clary make sure your mic is off and I’m gonna replay this because I want darius’s reaction to this this is the favorite thing that we do on the show every day real things we’re not going to suck this year real
5 and 11 not very good set into real microphones you know the culture is actually damn good Y what y’all got in Grant Danny land to match that yeah that is a great production that is an amazing production double thumbs up from the crew behind 1067 the fan scenes back there that’s
What we’re talking about we love it that is a Craig Hoffman Vic Ferrera production thank you thank you that is that is what we need now Ryan my question for you is where the hell did you save the thing that we’re actually going to play well I actually I have it
Already pulled up oh you have it on your side of things so yes we can get that played up here okay so uh KJ Henry uh he’s he’s a defensive end for the commanders as you’ll remember he was miked up in the season finale and uh had
A little uh funny exchange with federan matthysse while they were waiting for play to resume during a timeout I want it all it all who don’t I went to a white school boy you crazy this the one right here KJ Henry knows the killers what you know about that now I
Will say Ryan uh I’m I’m happy that you were able to to come and relieve Anthony of his duties um but this would have been better with Anthony who is a young black man who went to Georgetown prep sitting in that chair that clip is is
Kind of me for Anthony to react to not not you me I well I mean I’m not a big Killers guy to be honest I probably couldn’t even tell you the band The Killers is the band oh that’s great there we go this actually worked out
Better than I imagined so yeah I mean I’m just not the killers guys is at the band The Killers The Killers the song is Mr bright side it is literally one of the most iconic rock songs like if you know five rock songs of the last 25
Years when did that song come out now I’m I can’t believe that I I had to go 25 to be safe how long ago did Mr bright side come out you’re asking the wrong guy right now I I that is very apparent uh 20 years ago it was Rel 202 2004 tell you
What I’m gonna I’m GNA play this song there’s one simple Vision we’re gonna we’re gonna have an ad on YouTube that’s what’s gonna happen good point um we’re gonna we’re gonna kill the ad and then we got him you’ve heard this song yeah yeah actually know it you know what
They play this at capitals games I do know this song they play this song Everywhere it’s literally one of the most popular songs I’m going to now pull that down so we don’t get a copyright violation uh literally one of the most popular songs of the last 20
Years I don’t know what to tell you Craig KJ Henry knows it KJ Henry knows it I don’t know it I’m not good with music what music do you know now I’m in treat modern rap Kodak black guys like that who are you know I’m gen Z I’m 24
Years old Craig and I just turned 24 so I’m still young that you are you are actually you’re you and KJ Henry are probably is KJ Henry older than you he might be he was like an older older player coming out KJ Henry doing a lot
Of Googling in this segment he is 24 okay uh when is your birthday my birthday is November 30th 1999 November 30th of 99 damn you are older than KJ Henry it’s January of 99 that’s how we’re closing our show today we’ll see you tomorrow on the Hoffman Show
The Washington Wizards fired head coach Wes Unseld, Jr. on Thursday morning. The team moved him into a front office role. We’ll have Will Dawkins and Michael Winger’s press conference live! Plus, Ava Wallace from the Washington Post joins Craig Hoffman to dish on the move with her insight and analysis.
