76ers 122, Wizards 103
Q. Kyshawn, how have you felt since coming back from the injury?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: I've felt good, just getting back in the rhythm of things, and super happy to get out there to end the season.
Q. Defensively what do you both want to see the team develop -- two games left, but over the course of the last two weeks of the season, what have you seen defensively and what do you want to continue to see over the next two games?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: I think just setting the tone for the next years, just make sure -- we've been working all year to get better, and I think we just make sure that we've got to finish it the right way with the right intentions, and it will carry on for next year.
Q. You look at what's going on with this franchise, in this previous draft, three high-impact players, including you two, and it was considered a weak draft. How excited are you guys as far as the trajectory of this franchise? If you look at the fact that Will Dawkins hit on all five draft, AJ Johnson, Colby Jones, the veterans, this team is headed in the right direction. What do you guys think?
BUB CARRINGTON: Super excited for the years to come. As you said, we have the same opinion you have. We think that we are good enough. We don't think that we're a weak class or anything like that. We know what we're capable of, and we know that given just even a short amount of time what we can be, we know that's going to mean big things for this franchise.
Q. The Sixers didn't exactly play like their A-list lineup tonight. Is there a legitimacy to the struggle of preparing for a team when you haven't really seen the line-up together?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: I think it's more about us than the other team. We're trying to establish ourselves as a team and, like I said, make it carry over for the next years. And I think, yeah, the lineup is going to change. You've still got to know your personnel, but at the end of the day, it's how we approach the game and how we establish ourselves as a team and just go about that.
Q. How do you guys plan to approach your first NBA off-season, both in terms of what you want to improve on but also where you're trying to be and what you're trying to get better at the host?
BUB CARRINGTON: Intentional and just attack it. Like we both have a plan of specifically what we want to work on, specifically what we want to get better at, how we want to change our bodies, our skill, all that. We planned it out, it's going to be intentional, and we're going to attack it.
Q. How much of that is something the organization comes to you and sets out, and how much of it is something that you guys set out?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: I think because it's our first years, they're going to do a good job in guiding us in it. Like we're going to be back in D.C. working out in D.C. and just being familiar with -- actually setting the tone, as well, because we're starting this core franchise, and we're just, like I said, setting the tone and building the habits for the next years to come. So I think we're going to have a great communication with the organization how they're going to work us out and start building it.
Q. What's your favorite thing that the team showed you from their off-season plan for you guys?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: I mean, I have my meeting soon so I don't know exactly, exactly how it's going to look. But I know everything is super structured. Like we have numbers and stuff that are very precise that are just going to help us step by step achieve our goal.
BUB CARRINGTON: I actually had my meeting because I won't be with the team because of some personal things immediately after the season. So I can tell you they are super intentional and everything -- they're kind of -- they're building into you. Like they don't want to do anything outside of anything you don't want to do, even if you work out without the team, they want to set up Zooms with whoever you're working out with just to make sure that your goals are aligning. They're really, like I said, just super intentional on everything that you're working on.
Q. What was the one adjustment for being an NBA player that you didn't realize until you became an NBA player?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: Not fouling.
BUB CARRINGTON: You don't sleep.
KYSHAWN GEORGE: Yeah, just learning what you can do, when you can do it. Like it all depends on the situation and just being able to recognize each situation. It allows you to attack it differently and come with different outcomes.
Q. Kyshawn, what sticks out the most to you about Bub as a player and then Bub for Kyshawn, as well?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: His confidence, his ability to get his shot off when he wants and just like a floor general. Like he gets in the paint at will. He gets his shot if he wants to shoot it. He gets people shots if he wants to -- I think it's an activity as a defender that doesn't necessarily always show on the stat sheet, but you see him flying around all the time just being super active.
BUB CARRINGTON: You said sticks out the most? I mean, what Kyshawn does on the court, you can't really even put a cap on it. This guy is amazing.
I'm trying to think of something that you guys probably wouldn't know. He guards. Kyshawn actually really is actually a really good defender, and he's a better -- honestly, I hate guarding little people, and he honestly might be a better defender guarding guards that are really good in this league, and it's a lot of them. His defense kind of goes underrated, but he can really guard, and he has really good anticipation. He gets his hands on a lot of deflections and blocks. He fouls a lot, too. He does foul a lot. But he can guard.
Q. What is it about shorter people that makes you not like to guard them?
BUB CARRINGTON: They're fast. I don't like that. I ain't going to lie.
Q. Coming close to the end of the season, what are some things that you guys are looking forward to as a team? What are some of the goals for how to finish the season strong?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: Establish especially I think defensively and the effort we put in trying to find the right shot every time down the floor and just, again, building that chemistry while establishing what we want to do for the next few years.
Q. When this team starts winning, what it will it look like with you guys being a key part of it?
BUB CARRINGTON: Like how will the wins come?
Q. How will this team play when it turns the corner?
BUB CARRINGTON: This team is going to be fast. We're going to play with a lot of pace, and we're going to kind of impose our will kind of on teams. We won't -- we have skill, obviously, we're talented, but we're trying to grind games out. We're trying to break you down. We're trying to outrun you, trying to out-tough you. That's kind of the mindset that we're going into the off-season with, the next season with, and that's kind of how we're going to carry it.
Q. Does the physical or the mental toughness provide the biggest challenge to you guys going forward?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: You said which one provides the biggest challenge?
Q. Yeah.
KYSHAWN GEORGE: I think we're all super competitive. We go out there, we want to show that we can do it and they're not putting us out there just because we're the Wizards or whatever; like we can actually play. I think mentally we're ready to attack each game, and now physically we're all young and I think it's going to develop.
For me, as long as the mental is here, which I know we have, I'm really not worried about the rest because we're all in the gym every single day working on our bodies and getting stronger every single day.
We're really not worried about that, so both of them is going to be a problem for that.
BUB CARRINGTON: That's going to come.
Q. Bub, I've got a follow-up question for when he was asking about what the team will look like when you're winning. When you hear a question like that and you think about those days that are going to come eventually hopefully for you guys, how does that make you feel to think about this rebuild and what you guys are building coming to a fruition one day and you guys being the ones leading this team to wins?
BUB CARRINGTON: It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like when I'm, like, 38 and doing podcasts and stuff on the NBA, I'll have a great story to tell. I started out losing, I started out -- now I got eight championships. It makes me feel good just to know that we've got a journey ahead of us, and all of us are super excited to attack that journey. Like we know where we're at, obviously, but we also know what we're capable of, like we said. It just makes me excited. I'm anxious.
Q. As you guys wrap up the season as home tonight, what would you say to the Wizards' fan base that have stuck with you through a pretty tough season?
BUB CARRINGTON: We got y'all.
KYSHAWN GEORGE: Appreciate y'all and make sure you come back.
BUB CARRINGTON: Yeah, we got y'all.
Q. In a season that has been pretty tough wins and losses wise, how have you guys tried to keep your spirits up and keep focused on the work?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: I think, first of all, it comes from the great group of guys and the organization around that made it clear the goal we had as a team. During one of the satellite camps during training camp we had kind of a meeting. It was pre-practice, and we knew there was going to be tough times in the season, and we just have to stick together, and I think we did a good job of that. Obviously it's not fun, obviously we're not happy with the results, but the fact that we had a good group that stick together and worked together to a common goal, which was getting better and establishing ourselves, which I think we did a pretty good part of, I think that's what drove us through the stretches.
BUB CARRINGTON: Having a locker room full of a lot of guys that are just glass half full, that just really helps.
Q. Is this the best young corps in the NBA right now?
BUB CARRINGTON: Yes, 100 percent.
KYSHAWN GEORGE: Yes.
Q. When you guys look at the draft process, you already talked about how a lot of people considered it a weak draft, right, but the fact that you two and Alex got better as time went on, what's it say about culture on this team? How important is culture in a rebuild?
BUB CARRINGTON: Well, first, that's the main thing. You've got to start with that. That's how you start building it. But then it just says that this organization has a lot of trust in us. They were, like I said, just super intentional. They knew who they were drafting, and they knew where they wanted to implement those guys that they were drafting, and they did, and they instilled the confidence in us, and we got the confidence in ourselves, obviously, to go out and do it. I think that says a lot about this organization, it says a lot about Will and our head coach.
Q. There's an interesting stat that came out tonight. Bub, when you hit that three in the third quarter, that broke the NBA record for most threes by rookies on a single team ever. Did you guys expect to -- first of all, how does that stat sound, and did you expect as a unit to be that effective scoring threes in your first year?
KYSHAWN GEORGE: I think it sounds great. When I was looking at it, I wanted Alex to get 100, too, so I know he got that last game, I think, so I was happy he got more than 100. But it just shows that the confidence that the organization has in us and the work we put in behind the scenes like we are in the gym working. I had shooting slump in the beginning. Alex got -- you all see the improvement; I don't need to say much. And Bub has been very consistent, and even his three-point shooting has been amazing all year. It just shows that we're putting the work in and we have confidence and when we're open we're shooting it. That's it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports