- 2 days ago
Washington Wizards head coach Brian Keefe joins the Junks to evaluate preseason progress, discuss managing player minutes, and detail how new roster additions are fitting into the lineup.
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SportsTranscript
00:00we say good morning to brian keith washington wizards head coach coming off another preseason
00:06game last night coach good to hear from you how are you good morning guys how are you
00:13yes good to have you back on so we're getting close to the real thing had a preseason game
00:18last night dropped one to the nets 131 122 one more dress rehearsal at the pelis and then the
00:25real thing starts the 21st of october how would you grade the preseason so far and then how is it
00:32getting minutes for all these guys and you know getting them ramped up for the real thing on the
00:3621st yeah i feel like we've had a really productive uh camp um guys are been really intentional about
00:44what we're trying to do every day in terms of what we're trying to establish on both sides of the
00:48ball
00:48um been very pleased with the at first let's just talk about the offseason very pleased with the work
00:55with our guys putting the offseason individually but i think the collective obviously adding some
00:59new pieces to the team really liked a lot of things they did this summer of getting together
01:03working together building some bonds off the court but really pleased with the camp so far
01:09um got one more game to go and excited to get started i i could tell you from afar obviously
01:15we
01:15don't know what you guys do every offseason but that whole jump season concept all the videos that we
01:20could see i mean just looked incredible like the amount of work that these guys put in the amount
01:26of time that they put in and i know that's going to pay off how unusual is that sort of
01:31around the
01:32league um yeah i think you have obviously guys are doing a lot of work in the offseason you know
01:39for us it's you know we've talked about player development is something that's always going to be
01:43the first number one priority for our organization that and we put a lot of emphasis in that um we've
01:49seen guys make dramatic strides in their game but it's not just our young players it's for everybody
01:55and you know i had like i said we had a really productive intentional offseason um and we think
02:01that's going to help us here as we start to build out here early in the year who's been the
02:06kind of the
02:07leader in practice on on the court is it i would assume it's probably trey and ad but um what
02:13about
02:13some of the younger guys you know i think for our team like obviously we've had some great you know
02:19obviously trey and dd and obviously chris milton coming back and then with deandre aiden and then
02:24we've obviously added trey mann here but we got a we got a team that's very like-minded in how
02:30they
02:30approach things um i think that's maybe what you guys see in some of that those videos from the jump
02:35season stuff that these are guys who love the game uh they love to work they love to work on
02:41their craft um we obviously michael and will have done a great job of selecting guys who kind of
02:48are about that and that there are environments i would say everybody has their own way of leading
02:53but it's you know we're a work environment and it's uh it's fun to be around because these guys just
02:59want to be in there every day and they're pushing themselves to get better and it's you know that's
03:02really is a joy as a coach coach keith were you surprised you were able to land a player of
03:06deandre aiden's caliber during the offseason i mean this is a guy that can come in and back up both
03:11anthony davis and sar give you some nice depth in your front court former number one overall pick
03:17were you surprised you landed him i've been around the nba for a long time so i guess i'm probably
03:23never
03:23surprised by anything but he's been a great addition he brings a you know presence to us on both ends
03:29of
03:29the floor his communication defensively i think you saw some of his his ability to play on his
03:35passing skills last night so he's been terrific but yeah the nba you never know how things are
03:41getting up but he's been a terrific addition uh just seeing uh aj and the videos of his enthusiasm
03:49i think you guys put out the video in the last 24 hours too just how vocal the guy is
03:53um just full
03:55of charisma personality on and off the court how is he blended in with it appears from afar he's just
04:01blended in perfectly yeah the first thing you you realize about him is obviously you see all the
04:07basketball stuff that he can do but it's the character that he has um worker loves the game um
04:17wants to to learn and grow wants to be pushed um and then obviously you see the impact he's had
04:24on
04:24the court already and he's just you know he's just learning like this is still very early for him but
04:28he's he wants to be a good player and he's working on the things that he needs to do to
04:33get there but
04:34this is going to take some time but like the the character the work actor it's the stuff that's you
04:39know been very evident so last night i watched a game and i i've never been more locked in on
04:45the
04:45whiz in the preseason it's been years okay i'm just so just so so exciting um and i love the
04:52way
04:52trey's embraced the city and these guys and i mean i'm hearing some guys talk about the way he's given
04:59up the basketball like he could maybe he wanted to he could average 15 assists if he wanted to
05:03like he really 11 and 28 minutes he really could if he wanted to he had eight turnovers too he's
05:08having turnovers all right all right but he took a three he took a three in the first half
05:13coach near the scorers table that blew me away now he missed it of course it must have been from
05:1945
05:20did that bother you do any do do these guys take any shots that bother you as a coach or
05:25you just
05:25this is the league this out works they're going to take crazy shots no we always want to take great
05:31team shots we have a couple guys he can hit some deep ones he's done that in his career you
05:35probably
05:35saw the one that trade johnson hit last night like you got a couple guys now you want those
05:39uncontested and i think that was maybe probably the shot clock situation but no there's 15 seconds
05:44left coach that one okay that one that one made me crazy i'm watching at home it's a preseason game
05:51doesn't matter but i'm like how what is he doing uh look we're always going to look for the great
05:57team shots but we have some guys who use some unique skills uh he is one but you talked about
06:02the
06:02passing yeah i think he the game the game before he had eight assists in the first quarter
06:07yeah uh his his ability to just find the open man kick the ball ahead that just breeds unselfish
06:14basketball yeah um it just kind of brings energy to your team and you know he's been obviously that's
06:20what he's been doing that all his career it's nice to have him on our side have you sat down
06:23yet with
06:24the guys maybe you'll do it before the first regular season game and kind of carved out with each of
06:30them what you sort of envisioned the role is to start the season for each guy so they know
06:34expectations it's something we all we had these are the running conversations those are things you
06:39start in the off season those are things that you're having on a daily basis with the team
06:44it's always just you know doing what is best for the team so the guys understand that you know how
06:50they need to play what their role is we're always just trying to put them in positions to be successful
06:54play their strengths but obviously you know we're forming a new team and those chemistry things take some
06:59time but like i said we've been really impressed here early we still have a lot to grow um and
07:05we
07:05still got some time here before we start next week and we're going to take that intentionally day by day
07:10talking to the head coach of the washington wizards brian keith the end of last season you saw
07:17blau kulabali's offense really improve and last night guy hits three out of five three pointers
07:25finishes with 19 points in 24 minutes what can fans expect from balal this year he's still even though
07:32he's been in the league for a few years now he's still very young
07:37yeah i think what you know obviously the shots were the direct result of us playing team basketball
07:42um and we want to shoot him to shoot those shots and be aggressive that's what i liked about his
07:47game
07:47last night but the other part that was more important was what he's going to bring what he's always done
07:52is like he is but one of the better defenders in this league he has ability to guard multiple
07:57positions and disrupt the game be a rebounder he got a lot of cuts last night it wasn't you know
08:03he
08:03did hit those threes but he was cutting getting out in transition so it's always going to be his
08:08defensive impact first and then you know if we play the way we should with the ball moves and we
08:14hit
08:14the open man and we expect him to step up he's put a lot of time into his game offensively
08:19through the
08:20years and he's going to continue to get better but we're always looking at his defensive value
08:24his versatility on that end first coach keith uh anthony davis before the season during the off
08:30season said he wants to play all 82 games is that a possibility or is there some sort of a
08:37plan based
08:38on his history of missing games where you guys are going to manage his game who plays 82 games anymore
08:46bob carrington two years in a row good answer that's a great answer coach i like that you had
08:51that ready will riley i think he played 81 last year maybe he just didn't play a game he was
08:57available
08:57every game last year uh you know he's had a great off season it's nice to see him back on
09:03on the court
09:03with us you know we're focused on the day there's no plan to do anything right now it's just you
09:09know
09:09let's get ourselves ready gear ourselves up for the beginning he's been terrific this is a you know
09:14what you learn about guys there's a reason he's a top 75 player the amount of work he has put
09:19in
09:19um how he takes care of himself um he's been terrific in his leadership and how selfless a
09:26person he is on both sides of the floor um but it's day to day we're just getting ready for
09:31the
09:31first game next week can you believe all the sort of like you've gone through the last couple years
09:37and what you had to go through developing the guys to sort of the toys you have right now the
09:42options you have right now i mean you got to be pinching yourself a little bit not that you're
09:46perfect by any stretch but my god you really have some options now yeah i think it was just the
09:52next
09:52step of our our organization um you know we had a lot of it you know obviously we're building through
10:00the draft and we and those guys have grown i think it shows great faith that we think these guys
10:04are
10:04ready for a jump and we wanted to add some veterans who could you know help with that growth
10:10um and help put people in positions to be successful and be more competitive situations
10:16um i think that's what these guys have done and you know obviously we're building our chemistry and
10:20what that work and that's going to take some time but i've liked the intent i've liked how we've
10:25approached things and that's how we're going to you know we're not going to put a ceiling where we're
10:29going to go but it's how we're going to get there's going to be the most important thing and then
10:33intentionality of our group has been terrific i've been really pleased with that the length of your
10:37team um you got to be one of the tallest teams right i mean especially the length and i got
10:43to
10:43think that's going to help defensively and i'm sure that was one thing you kind of focused on from last
10:48year um you got so many different parts now but what have you noticed from the team standpoint on the
10:54defensive side of the ball yeah we have length we have size we have versatility uh and we have depth
11:02so we can play in a lot of different ways um that's what we're learning about right now is like
11:07you know how where we put these guys in position to be successful but you can feel our size on
11:12the
11:12court i'm sure you guys have seen that in the game so far um i've been really pleased except for
11:18probably
11:18the first half of us defensively last night that our defense has been pretty good here in the preseason
11:22uh we have the ability to disrupt the game um with our size and length and you know that's going
11:28to be a
11:28big focus as we get started here is you know keeping established that mentality defensively
11:34by the way how do you keep all the trays in line you got so many trays on your roster
11:38tray man tray young tray johnson yeah what are you calling the guys it's a great it's a great question
11:44if you got i don't know what to do if you guys have anything shoot me uh shoot me a
11:49call let me
11:49know because i it is we got three trades i'm not sure what to call they don't have nicknames like
11:54the like the hockey guy i think you just do the initials tm t y t y t j and
12:00t was it tm
12:02there you go maybe that'll stick they have to have different nicknames what the boys call each
12:08other what is yeah what do they call trey young what is his nickname good question i actually don't
12:14know i think they just call him train i haven't heard them call each other anything other than them
12:20first name very confusing you know like it's just so easy just to do it by initials guys it's always
12:26like carly or really or yeah well you can't do crazy i mean it's but i guess the nba guys
12:32they don't
12:33they don't have nicknames not a thing in the nba some go by initials some go by their name yeah
12:38everybody's got a different thing for sure hey coach uh i i want to see if you would comment on
12:44the
12:44end of game situation here that dan quinn dealt with what is it like when you have a play call
12:51at the end of a game and maybe the players don't execute it how tough is it to get over
12:55with that
12:55and then you know communicate with players afterwards i don't know if you saw the play
13:00at the end of the commander's game do you feel for dan quinn give me the coaching perspective
13:03on something that goes awry at the end of the game first of all i didn't see it so i
13:10don't you know
13:10i really probably can't even come on it because i have no idea really what happened obviously i've
13:14heard a little bit in the news and stuff so i i don't you know i don't really have a
13:18comment
13:18because i didn't it wouldn't be intelligent enough answer because i didn't see the situation but
13:23um that's probably all i have on that one but but when you call plays for end of game situations
13:28oftentimes it doesn't go the way that you draw it up on the uh on the the whiteboard right
13:34are you all that's what can happen for sure in our context you know things can happen or things
13:39change because you are playing against the opponent that some things could be taken away or things
13:42not execution those are always things you're working on as a team as a coach but
13:47no game is perfect um you know that's never going to happen in any sport but i'm not just speaking
13:54for us specifically those are things you work on all the time and you know sometimes mistakes or
13:59execution doesn't happen coach keith thanks for the time man one more preseason game and then the
14:04real thing is wednesday october 21st as you host the milwaukee bucks at capital one arena can't wait
14:10for it we'll talk to you again soon thank you all right guys thanks for having me on yep appreciate