Washington Wizards GM Will Dawkins processes the team’s rebuild

Washington Wizards GM Will Dawkins processes the team’s rebuild

welcome back to Toyota Sports Talk big day for the Washington Wizards new head coach interm tag gone Ryan Keef the new head coach of the Washington Wizards to help kind of talk about the process we have GM Will Dawkins joining us will as always appreciate you taking the time oh appreciate you thank you big day for this organization how did you get to this point of landing on Mr Keith as the head coach yeah I think Michael and I Michael Winger and I spent a lot of time trying to get to know each candidate we thought it was really important for us to spend some time and do elaborate thorough process but at the end of the day we came out with the best person for the job and Brian’s 19-year history with a lot of different players and a lot of different programs at different stages give him a lot of balance and because of that I think he’s ready for the job it was almost like a tri out in a sense from those 30 games or whatever it was here for the Wizards what did you learn from watching Brian operate a team yeah you never know until they’re in that lead position right so the 39 games we got like you said was kind of a trial what we learned and what we were able to to to pull from that is his leadership in terms of his connectability with the players his willingness to have tough conversations a lot of the league now is about development a lot of the league right now is about being able to be honest with players and he proved he can do those things and with that now he can build out his staff and tactically make some improvements and continue to evolve as a head coach but the core characteristics and the attributes that we were looking for he aligned with us from the beginning during the interview process I got to imagine you probably talked to some of the players the current players on the Wizards what was some of the feedback they gave you about Brian yeah mostly positive I would say a lot of the times during exit interviews you sit down at the end of the season you go through coaches you go through support staff and just try to get a feel from the players overwhelmingly positive with Ryan obviously there’s some areas that we all know he can improve upon which is great because he took those and he had the meeing of the players as well but they support we’re always going to at least listen to our players a little bit see where they’re at on things but the staff as well we sat down with the staff and the function leads and they all had positive things just about collaboration and investment into people and when you’re starting with those things I think you can build a couple of buzzword I took away from from the press conference one that stood out aligned Vision why is that so important where everyone is on board from Winger yourself and then Brian yeah I think when everything’s streamlined then there’s when mistakes happen you know why they happen if you’re not necessarily connected or know what’s going on or who dropped the ball or see things differently you can have a hard time pinpointing where you have to course cor at so when you start off a line I think everybody in his in for the right reasons they feel like you have more support and it’s a lot easier I think where we’re at specifically with a team it’s vital and extremely important but as you grow and build that Foundation kind of like a pyramid you got to have the base and those habits really really strong and that’s why being a streamlined and fluid will help us get through that a little quicker tactically what do you think this team is going to look like the identity under a Brian ke team I think that’s should be determined we obviously have a draft coming up it’s going to be some shifting we haven’t really had a chance to tweak the roster but one thing I know it’ll be a defensive minded team you’ll see more consistent effort offensively you’ll see us play with Pace our shot selection the second half of the year just in terms of where we were taking shots was Elite in the top five within the league so now we got to continue to work put some time in and make a little bit more of those but you’ll see a better shot diet you’ll see us playing faster and you’ll see a a team that’s competing on the defensive end during those 39 games what type of improvements did you see from the team under Brian I think a lot started with the individuals so we saw individuals use differently he definitely freed up Jordan got the ball in his hands a little bit more allowed him to kind of make more decisions malow starting him allowing him to guard the best player no matter who was on the floor two three or four he was guarding him Cory continuing to improve and get downhill and Denny the strides he made so individually made a lot of strides as a team we were a little better on the glass we were more connected um speaking the same terminology so a lot of those things when you have the whole summer to kind of continue to double down on I think just see a little bit more team results but the individual stuff is there where this team is at right now Player Development so crucial why is Brian so good at that that’s a good question because he’s had success for a long time yes getting players at different stages of the career starting with rookies um guys that were in their Prime post Prime just pouring into them he sees the game a different way uh a lot of it is black and white it’s like we do this or we don’t do this and when they’re in the gray area you kind of push them back to where they need to be but I think he gets it and he meets people where they’re at and has a vision for where they want to go and he works with the players so they don’t feel like they’re being told what to do but they’re active participants in getting there and once you have one or two or three guys you develop at a high level it gets a little easier um but now I’m excited for like the staff he’s going to hire because he’s going to hire player people like himself that he used to be while also having the development mindset so I’m excited for the wave of talent we’re going to add to the organization on the bench so one year in the books for yourself and Michael Winger give me kind of the state of the Washington Wizards right now Will Dawkins yeah I think we’re still a team in transition okay we’re definitely still a team in transition but we’re a team that’s excited about what’s to come we obviously have the draft coming up and we’re excited about that another chance to add a good young player to the piece but we have some really good guys in the locker room guys that have been working they’ve been back since the second round of the playoffs in the gym sweating working getting after it so we’re we’re building that culture and environment that’s repeatable every single day guys get after it and work so it’s going to take some time but but we’re happy with where we’re at you mentioned the NBA drafts not every day an organization has a number two overall pick great opportunity for this organization take me through the process of trying to figure out who you’re going to take with that number two pick wild uh every day there’s something going on in terms of film sessions meetings zooms player visits in DC we had a lot of options there too which makes me feel pretty good about it Travis flank is kind of leading the dayto day and making sure the scouts are prepared for that but we also have 26 so pick 26 and pick 51 so mult multiple bites at the Apple uh I think it’s a deeper draft than people are leading on you might not find the player early on at the top of the draft that has that instant success right away but two three four years down the line with the right tutelage and the right opportunity to grow and play I think you’ll see some Allstars and some highle Talent with that being said you know as I mentioned you don’t always have that number two overall pick how much pressure is that do you feel to hit like it’s this is not an exact exact science people don’t understand that like it’s hard to find that right fit I mean do you feel like that pressure in a sense like we got to get this right I definitely wouldn’t call it pressure okay I see it as an opportunity to really grow and learn I think the player you take it to is going to be someone that’s impactful and around for a long time and you just want to make sure that um you pick the best player and more so the best person for where we’re at and this area so the way I look at it is there’s a lot of Randomness there’s a lot of luck involved you just got to make the most educated guess and then put the player in a position with a lot of good people and support staff that can push them to maximize themselves so a lot of people get drafted kind of where you’re at but kind of in the news I don’t really care about the a block I’m more the B Block guy oh my God Dr news term me to the weather get me five days out 5 years out seven days out so impressed the weather I am very impressed little Dawkins as as we wrap things up here what kind of message you want to get to wizards fans out there is still a transition period kind of a new era with Brian in control what do you want to tell the fans out there yeah stay with us stay patient we we hear you we see you we appreciate the support when we see you on the in the arena um it’s an intentional process that we’re taking and we’re going to be strategic we’re not going to skip steps but we want to build this thing for something that can last for a long time and it takes time but you can be proud of the the guys we’re going to continue to add and eventually it’ll be worth it all right well Dawkins appreciate your time thank you the NBA draft sounds good much more to come right here on Toyota Sports Talk stay with us

7News Sports Director Scott Abraham sits down with Wizards General Manager Will Dawkins who walks through the process for hiring the team’s new coach, Brian Keefe.

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