Q. Wondering if either of you can just address the timing of the change. Obviously mid-season but also in the middle of a back to back. I wonder why there's kind of an air of urgency about this.
MICHAEL WINGER: The first thing, I want to make sure that we thank Wes for what he's contributed to this organization in his two and a half years here as our head coach. We're a better organization because of Wes.
Our players are individually better because of Wes. In the six or seven months that Will and I have been here, we're better because of Wes.
I'm really grateful that he was here, and I am particularly grateful that he'll take some time and decide the extent of the role that he would like with us in the front office. We'll have those conversations at a later date.
His interest in coming back and our strong desire in having him back is sort of a testament to his value to the organization, so I really want to make sure that I'm representing how important he is to us.
As it relates to the timing piece, the calculus really didn't even include back to backs or what game number we were at or anything like that. It was a matter of inputs and outputs for us.
We preached patience at the beginning of the year. That was a function of an eventual return to hyper competitive basketball. That was really the patience piece.
There was no sense of urgency right now. Nothing really occurred. Will and I met with Wes often, and we talked basketball a lot. We talked about the team. We talk about the competitiveness of the team, player accountability, joy, our principles.
It sort of became clearer that there was just this sustained -- something less than our most competitive selves. You just kept feeling it and seeing it, and Wes did, too. He saw it. He knew it. He felt it. He gave it everything he had.
The team that he inherited from us this season is significantly different than the teams he had the last couple of years. The job he took two years ago is different than the one he had this year.
I mean, he left it all out there in my opinion.
The timing, it just didn't register. I don't want to say didn't register. It was not part of the calculus where we were in the season, number of games remaining, back to back. It was just we had a conversation last night, which we do often, and it was just one of those where it was like, man, 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. That was irrespective of the timing.
Q. The kind of marching orders you guys both expressed was this season was going to be about really individual improvement 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. A lot of guys have gotten better, so I wonder how you kind of weigh that against the lack of consistent competitiveness that you saw, because individually, player A, player B, player C are getting better, are being more consistent in their output, but it's obviously not leading to wins.
MICHAEL WINGER: Well, we needed both. We needed the individual improvement, and you're absolutely right, a lot of our players if not all of our players have gotten better. All credit goes -- I don't want to 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 and the player development group.
But yes, our players are individually getting better. It is a team game, so our basketball team has to get better. They have to play competitive team basketball.
To your point about wins and losses, we talk internally a lot about we can tolerate losing a game in which we were competitive for 48 minutes. 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 collective team basketball progress over the course of time, irrespective of the individual improvement, we have an issue to address. That's sort of how that conversation unfolded.
WILL DAWKINS: Yeah, before I kind of answer that, I think I need to at least address how 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, you're really grateful for that, and I am.
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, you take pride in that. And we have a lot of pride in knowing that he's still going to be working with us in the front office identifying those things and helping us get to where we want to go.
But it is a team sport. It's not golf. It's not tennis. It's not become great individuals. There's things stylistically that we want to see on the court.
Specifically, we know our energy wasn't always there. We know our competitiveness was not always there. Defensively there were nights that 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 betterment of the future.
We're intentional, we're deliberate. These conversations are never easy. No one likes to have them. No one likes to have days like this. But we talked about it, and we feel like it's what's best for the organization, and the plan is still the plan to move forward with that.
Q. 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?
WILL DAWKINS: I'll take it back to the first day we got here. We talked about walking in and assessing where we're at. We're going to assess, we're going to evaluate everything we do.
With that, we 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 will be an influx in 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 spirit and in a way you compete that we'll handle some of those internal metrics.
Q. Will, Brian Keefe, what does he bring, and what do you hope to see from the team with him in charge of it?
WILL DAWKINS: 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 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 more defensive-minded team. I know he was in charge of the defense at a few different places.
I think you'll see a more defensive mindset, but 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 and fill the spot vacant on the front of the bench for assistant coaches.
I have a lot of years of expertise with Mike Miller, David Vanterpool, Joseph Blair to help support, and guys behind the bench that can rally and pump more juice into the building.
We really challenge them to experiment and try new 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 is played.
With that mindset, that optimism, we think we have the experience in the coaching room to make sure we can do that.
Q. How long has this decision or this process been stewing?
WILL DAWKINS: We talk all the time.
MICHAEL WINGER: There's been no stew. We talk to Wes, with Wes, with the staff, the players all the time. We're a very collaborative group. I don't mean Will and I as the group. I mean all of us as the group. We talk about it a lot.
Wes has raised concerns over the last many weeks. We've raised concerns. Those concerns have just -- like they all have the common thread of competitiveness, accountability, and joy.
I can't reflect back on a date when our conversations shifted from rotations to competitiveness or which hotels are we going to stay in to competitiveness. I don't remember when those conversations shifted, but we've been addressing the competitiveness piece for a while.
And sort of taking it back to Josh's question, what are we looking for the remainder of the season, a lot of it's not measurable. It is hard to measure competitiveness. It is hard to measure watching the fellas play with joy and intent.
Those are difficult to measure.
There is sort of 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 an uncompetitive basketball game, that might be a measure.
But from a timing perspective, we're always evaluating every single facet of the organization that we're responsible for. Day one, I guess, or two weeks ago -- I just don't know the date.
WILL DAWKINS: Yeah, I would just say, to follow up on that, everything we talked about when we talked about coming in and assessing 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.
Our dialogue with our players, our dialogue with our staff, head coach, front office, it's pretty strong here. That's the culture that Michael wanted when he got here.
I think when you have honest conversations, you reflect and sit down and you can realize that where is the process going, how do we get it back on track. 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.
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.
Q. If you're evaluating competitiveness and spirit, how much of the responsibility for that not measuring up so far is on the players?
MICHAEL WINGER: A lot, and they know it. These are conversations we have with them. They know it. We met with them today. There's not a single player in that locker room happy with this outcome. Every single one of them raised their hand when the question was asked who in this room is responsible for this, every single player raised their hand. They know it.
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