ANTHONY GILL: You guys look good today (laughter). Not that you don't look good every day.
Q. Been here since 2020. How rewarding has it been seeing the transition, how exciting has it been to watch this young team grow and really progress?
ANTHONY GILL: It's been a lot of fun. There's been a lot of change every single year that I've been here. Every year there's a lot of learning experiences. Every year we have great people come through this organization.
To be able to be here for the last five years and to watch where we were and to where we are now... We had more wins when he first came in, but right now I feel like we're in a way better situation for the future moving forward. I'm really excited about what's to come.
Q. Can you describe why you said what you just said, why it's a better situation, even though there's less wins?
ANTHONY GILL: We actually just talked about this. We had kind of an exit team meeting before we came in here today.
One of the things that everybody talked about in that meeting was our care factor. We care for one another at a high level.
I remember I was struggling with some injuries at the end of the season. It's so funny that every young guy on our team came in and checked on me. They were either texting me, seeing how I was, or in the facility making sure I was okay. That speaks to how much we want each other to be great and how much we love and care for one another.
So I think the biggest difference, outside of strategically planning the roster and all that kind of stuff, is the fact that we care for one another at a high level.
Q. What would you say is your biggest strength as a player, and how did you use that to help the young guys?
ANTHONY GILL: My biggest strength is I think my vulnerability. I'm willing to be there for guys no matter what. I think that helps create an environment where other people can be themselves, be vulnerable, kind of be free, which then allows them to play high-level basketball.
I guess how that helps me is I am who I am and I accept it. I'm vulnerable with everybody. I have nothing to hide. I just go out there on the court and play my hardest.
Q. What's the biggest difference in the player experience from when you first got to DC to what Will and Michael started creating?
ANTHONY GILL: Like I said, at the beginning we've had great people in this organization from when I first got here till now. Now we have a plan of action, how we're going to go about it. The players are put first in everything.
But more importantly, the people who touch the players are very important, as well. So we are a player-centric organization. Our training staff, medical staff, our coaches, if they're not taken care of, they're the ones touching the players every single day. If they're not taken care of at a high level, then the players won't be taken care of. Everybody will be resenting their job or not looking forward to coming into work every day.
But they're taken care of. The staff is taken care of. Then it makes it easier for them to love on the players.
Q. You said you don't want to be a coach, but have you thought at all about what post playing might look like for you? Is it going to be at home, front office thing?
ANTHONY GILL: I haven't thought about it at all. For me, of course you have dreams. You want to do stuff after basketball. But right now in this moment I'm here. These guys on this team are everything that I look forward to coming to work for. My family and I, whenever that time comes, we'll decide.
As of now, I'm 10 toes down, as they say (smiling).
Q. The role that you kind of carved out for yourself here as being kind of team leader. The importance of that, how that affects not only the new players, who is that person or persons for you that instilled in you the importance of production aside you need to be someone who can be a leader, mentor for other players?
ANTHONY GILL: Yeah, it's funny you say the leader. I don't view myself as that at all. I view myself as a person of high character. Every single day I want to come in and be as consistent as I can.
The people who have spoken into my life have freed me up to be that type of person. With some people we see as a leader, whatever you might want to call it, but the people who allowed me to be the person I am today are obviously my parents. I was fortunate enough to play for great college coaches who have spoken life into me from when I was 18 on.
Then even my high school coaches. I went to a wonderful school, Charlotte Christian School. Shout-out to one of our best players ever to come out of the school, Steph Curry. Those people spoke life into it, which then now allows me to speak life into other people.
Yeah, so I've had great people, been blessed enough to have great people in my life.
Q. How would you describe Kyshawn George both off the court and on it?
ANTHONY GILL: Kyshawn George is extremely professional. He's always seeking knowledge and questioning things. If I tell him cut backdoor on this, he's going to ask me why and look me right in my eyes and ask me why. He authentically wants to learn and be a great player. I respect that so much about him.
I don't think one time he was late for anything this year. Always willing to do whatever it was that me personally asked him to do. There was one time where we had an off day, and I just told him, Hey, we're going to go do something for the firefighters around the corner. He was like, Of course, what are we doing? 'Cause he always asks questions. What are we do and why?
He showed up the next day with his mom on that off day. That speaks to who he is as a person, great character, high-character guy. Kyshawn is an all-around great person.
Q. What do you see from him defensively, given his height, his physical characteristics?
ANTHONY GILL: Yeah, he has everything you want in a defender physically, but more importantly is his mentality, right? He's not one of the people that can be affected by the offensive end. Most people, when they're playing the game of basketball, they're only going to play defense if the offense is going well. For Kyshawn that's the opposite. He wants to play defense first, then everything else falls into place for that for the rest of his game.
His mentality is one that he's going to try to get a stop. If he can't get a stop, he's going to be extremely frustrated on it, then next time on defense, he's going to get that stop.
Q. Five years in one place in the NBA is a long time. When you came over from overseas, did you have any idea you'd be in one place for as long as you have? What has it been like and your family to be here for half a decade?
ANTHONY GILL: It's a blessing to be here for such a long period of time. I don't take it for granted at all. I approach everything with a heart of thankfulness because I know I realistically have no control over where I'm going to be. Even I don't know at the start of the season if I'm going to be here in Washington by the end of next season. I never know that.
But what I do know is I can control one thing, and that's who I am on a daily. I want everyone to see a consistent person on a daily basis. That's paid off with five consecutive years here in Washington. It's been a blessing.
Q. You mentioned when you were injured, the young guys checking on you. Typically that's the type of person you are with everyone in the organization, literally everyone, not just your teammates. How different was that for you to then be the one that was being checked in on, knowing that the character you have and have shown in such a short period of time was paying off and in a way leading these guys to share it the same way?
ANTHONY GILL: It was a great feeling to know that these young guys were checking in on me. Not because, like, I needed to be lifted up or whatever it was. It was more so the fact that I knew we had great guys in this organization. I knew that the future of this organization and all the fans here in Washington, all over the world, all the people all over the world who are fans of this team, that the players they have in this organization are high-level players, but also high-level people as well.
That was the most rewarding part, knowing that the future of this organization is in great hands.
Q. How do you describe Bub to people who don't know him?
ANTHONY GILL: How do I describe Bub to people who don't know him?
If you look at Bub just from an outsider's perspective, if you're watching the game, you tune into a Wizards game for the first time, you probably see a fiery young man who loves the game, has passion. He's talking to the refs, he's talking to his teammates. Sometimes talking to the refs a little bit too much. You may have all this thought of who this person is.
But it's the total opposite, right? He is a person who is extremely kindhearted, a person that loves the game of basketball. It comes out with his passion on the court. But he wants to be great. Sometimes his fire and his passion comes from his want to be a leader on this team.
He is a leader on this team currently. He'll be a great leader moving forward with this team.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports