Brian Keefe’s Strategy for Turning the Wizards Around | Grant & Danny
Brian thank you for the time you’re live on the fan we appreciate a few minutes how are you great thanks for having me on today oh it’s a pleasure first of all congrats when did this become real for you when did it be kind of set in that hey this is a possibility I’m gonna be an NBA head coach uh I think I found out the middle of the last week um when Will Dawkins and Michael Wing reached out offered me the job so I guess little under a week now Brian when you sat down with them at the end of the season after having had the interim title and that tag on you the remainder of the year what was the the case that you made and what was your pitch to try to get this opportunity and really make it your own moving forward uh I you know it goes back to when I think when I took over um my sole Focus was was to help our players uh play better and show some growth the last part of the year um so we were just solely focused on the process of doing that and trying to put our players in the best position to be successful and to build habits that we thought were going to be sustainable um so you know it’s funny that’s what was my focus and it was my focus to the end of the year and it still is my focus so you know and you you get very lucky and you end up getting the job and I got tremendous gratitude and humbled for getting this opportunity but the the focus was on Improvement and that’s what I’m still thinking about today I’m sure as you your aging your team whoever that is around you kind of sit down and try to sell you and make the best case as they’re looking at other options you’re diving into what went well and some of the things statistically that we saw that the defensive efficiency improved you guys were the number one team defending the three-point shot after you took over on January 25th for the rest of the season so I’m th sure those are high on the list what else was there that you said hey here’s the proof in the pudding we got this done whether it was somebody’s growth or or statistical you know for me it was uh the statistical stuff was important um some of the growth of our individual players but where I could see the growth was in our everyday approach in our everyday habit building um our guys really bought into that and really focused on being in the present and controlling what we can control and what we could control every day was focusing on how we’re going to get better individually and collectively and I think that led to some of the stats improving and some of the guys playing better as the season went along and the guys even they you know some maybe our guys who were in The go- Go who got opportunities with us late in the year those guys played well so I think all those things were really important but it was the day-to-day habits that I was really the most pleased with Wizards coach Brian Keefe with us here on Grant and Danny and and Coach you mentioned this that Player Development being just so essential and at the core of of the mission at this at this point what’s the balance there for you as you head into this upcoming season with you know with a nice young core between making sure these guys are continuing to get better and winning games you obviously competitive and you want to win as many games as possible you wouldn’t get to the NBA without that but to me the essential mission is bigger than just maybe you know squeezing out one more November win it’s about getting these guys to their highest ceiling to form a core of a team that can really compete at a high level what’s that balance for you yeah it’s interest it’s a great question you know that’s what we’re trying to build I think you answered a lot yourself like we’re trying to build something that’s sustainable and that can win in the playoffs and win you know in deep rounds and to do that we’re going to have to continue to build habits but also explore the capabilities of each guy on our roster and putting them in positions to be accessible so there’s going to be some growth to that and I think that’s a really positive thing because at the end of the day we’re trying to build something that lasts so we’re going to continue to work focus on Player Development putting our players in positions to expand and improve their game but still be still work on our core principles that we’re going to you know work on every day at the same time what kind of conversations have you had with veterans guys like Kyle kzmu put up such tremendous numbers as as one of the lead options over the last couple of Seasons here in Washington about buying into that mission I I always feel like that’s such a challenge for a coach to you know you win the veterans and that helps kind of trickle down to the young players what kind of combos have you had with Kyle and some of the other vets yeah Kyle was great I coached Kyle before with the Lakers and yeah I thought he was tremendous the last part of the year he really bought into what we were talking about and the team play the focus on defense more the daily Improvement um because that’s how he got here that’s how he’s been successful in his career so he understood that part already so it wasn’t like a hard adjustment for him this was someone that he already was doing who he is now he’s been in a leadership role to help transmit that to others and I thought he did a really nice job of the second part of the year with that the new head coach although he was the interim coach at the end of last season but officially now moving forward Brian Keefe running this Wizards operation joining us on Grant and Danny similar question for Jordan P about a month after you took over he went to the bench and I remember initially at least publicly he bristled a bit but he was a much better player from that point to the end of the year so I guess Tarter what do you make of of the finish of the season of Jordan p and kind of the turnaround but then also he was not a guy you knew like you did with kozma from La I don’t think in terms of having a long relationship so how did you kind of build that Rapport enough to have him trust you when you made that change so that you could coach him up hard yeah the big thing with Jordan we wanted to get the ball in his hands more to be the lead decision maker in initi year so to do that we thought we needed to change the rotation but one thing that Jordan and I are always been on the same same page is our love for the game I have total in utmost consol and utmost respect for Jordan about how diligent he is about working on his craft and how he much he loves basketball and how much he works on it he’s a great example to all of our guys and all the players in our team so we just wanted to see more and hey those are tough tough decisions but this guy was a total Pro and you know I think we saw him with the the ball in his hands more how successful he can be um but he was he was a toll Pro throughout this whole process and I was not surprised if it speaks to the character who he is as a person already coach seems like you guys really found something in Bow kabali just breaking that injury cut his season short but exciting young rookie last year i’ love for you to talk about his experience kind of you know I’m sure wide-eyed a little bit going from where he came from to you know being in the NBA and taking on grown-ups every night what’s next for him in terms of his growth and where do you ultimately see him yeah I thought he was tremendous this year um maturity wise Beyond his years and we put him out there to guard the best players to make plays on both ends of the court and I think we saw that growth throughout the whole year obviously we were disappointed but he he’s already taken that you know setep back into an advantage and already started working on his game and working on his body um but not surprising because this is a guy who’s High character guy himself who’s all about the work and all about the game so we’re not going to put a ceiling on any of these guys because I don’t think that I think that’d be a disservice to a guy like Bal we’re just going to continue to work with him and develop his game over the years and keep expanding because the biggest key for us is he’s got a guy who loves the gym who loves to work and it’s going to put the time in and we think those type of guys are the ones are going to be the most successful in our organization coach coming over from Brooklyn what was your opinion on Denny abdia from afar and then how much did that change working with him last year he really seemed to flourish yeah I always had great respect from Danny from AAR versatile player but then you you get to know the person um and work with someone on a daily basis and the amount of time they put in and care for their game and their craft so again that you getting to know him and watching him do that in the amount of time he puts into this and how much he cares about the game and the team uh couldn’t have been more thrilled to got the opportunity to coach him then and then obviously continue now I think this is a guy who’s just scratching the surface um he’s going to continue to get better it’s because of the amount of work he puts in coach draft coming up next big milestone here in in the off season uh two part question part number one just sort of generally what’s what what are you sort of looking for in terms of you mentioned some of the the attributes and characteristics you you seem to value in a player but what kind of thing you looking for here in in this draft to kind of transform the team and and part two of that question is who you guys taking it to so first of all I’m smart enough to not answer that question very well you’re well trained I have I have great trust in our front officers they’re the experts on this stuff obviously they’ll probably ask my opinion on stuff at the appropriate time but these guys are the ones who putting the work in they’ve been out watching guys all year I know we’re all excited to add someone at you know both draft positions that we have in the first round um that’s someone who fits into our environment who wants to be a worker who wants to get better and I know we’ll find those type of guys and that’s going to be exciting time for us and all Wizards fan if you could visit a place on vacation France or Yukon which one would you rather travel to Fran the question is which place I’d rather travel France or Utah Yukon like stores Connecticut yeah like right in stores like right around now I’m going to refrain from answering that question I’m gonna make somebody upset whatever way I answer he’s doing guys yeah he’s doing very well actually kidding aside when uh Dan Quinn had just been hired by the Washington commanders he came on the junkies morning radio show and they did a word association with him and that’s our morning show and they said okay we want to do word association he’s like no problem and so they sneak in among like the five people they’re asking him about they sneak in Jaden Daniels Drake May and uh Caleb Williams and it was pretty clear with his answers that of those the guys he liked Jaden Daniels the most and then in a big story about the commanders drafting Jaden Daniels after the draft it was revealed that like the team was kind of worried that he slipped up a little bit so we we sto we stopped short of going word association with well smart I know how to refrain myself well done well well done coach uh coach best of luck thank you and go get some wins thanks guys really appreciate your time
Washington Wizards new head coach Brian Keefe joins Grant & Danny to discuss how he can help the team continue to improve and grow into a successful basketball team.
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