You talked more about the defensive side of the ball (at your introductory news conference). Free agency and the draft are coming up, and obviously, there will be changes to the roster, but what do you feel like schematically, you can implement to help the defense?Well, I think your best defense starts at the end of your offense. So, the quality possessions, trying to take away some of the no-pass or one-pass possessions. And we talked about it. Great players are gonna (save) tough situations late in the clock, but trying to limit those one-on-one situations in the meat of the possession, where you’ve got nine guys locked in on you spatially — how does that work in your favor?
So, I think those are nuanced things, but they’re important. We always talk about it: possessions that start poorly usually end poorly, so how can we collectively be more efficient in what we’re trying to do?
I was told that the way you coached in Denver was, you would have conversations with players and ask, for example, ‘OK, Jokic. Are you more comfortable playing in a drop (pick-and-roll coverage)? Are you more comfortable coming up to the level of the screen?’ And you would try to mend schemes so that you could maximize players’ comfort levels as much as possible.
How do you establish consistent principles while being able to account for the fact that you might have one guy who likes defending the back end of a pick-and-roll one way and a player at the front end who likes guarding it another way?I don’t think it detracts from as far as, what are your core principles? I think defensively, it’s: what are your definitive rules in certain situations?
You gotta remember, that group (in Denver) was together for the better part of six years. So, it evolves to where everyone knows the basics. Everyone has a true feel for our base defense. So now, it allows us the latitude to tweak things. And whether it’s one or two specific actions on one particular play vs. a special opponent — how can we take this guy out of this action? So, it’s not just that we’re all over the map and we’re just gonna make it up as we go.
We’re gonna play to our base. This is what we do. And that also doesn’t mean we’re hesitant to change if what we’re trying to do doesn’t work.
I always encourage players, make sure you ask yourself two questions: Are we doing what’s right and are we doing it with effort? If we can check those two boxes and we say, yeah, and it still won’t work, then now we have to adjust. With those adjustments, I think it’s also important those things are something we work on. It can’t just be flying by the seat of your pants, because now I think you’re gonna be all over the place.
So, it’s gonna take time to get to that point. I think it’s important early to establish basic rules: This is what we do. This is how we do it. This is what we call it. (Establish) the simplicity of it. You add that component with the daily exercise, where now it’s muscle memory. We’re not thinking. We’re not overreacting. We’re just reading and reacting accordingly. Once you do that, then I think you can build on those other dynamics.
While in Denver, Wes Unseld Jr. worked with 2020-21 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. (Garrett Ellwood / NBAE via Getty Images)The Wizards were in the top half of the league in points allowed per possession after Feb. 1, but obviously, there were schematic flaws and execution flaws, and the [url='https://theathletic.com/team/sixers/']76ers[/url] exposed a lot of them in the playoffs.
Every year, there’s fool’s gold after the All-Star break. You look at some teams that got way better (and it doesn’t carry over to the next season). How much of what occurred over that span do you consider fool’s gold? Do you consider it an improvement or do you feel like there need to be adjustments made?I think you always have to re-evaluate and see where you can find small gains. Is it the pick-and-roll defense, the post defense, your one-on-one containment? If you can find those small nuances, I think collectively, you’ll get larger gains.
I do think in this case, there was just the ‘want factor.’ I felt like, just watching it, there was more care. There was more desire to do what they were supposed to do. The question is, where was that the rest of the season? And some of it can be, you got young guys out there with no practice time, very few reps, didn’t have an opportunity to be on the floor and experience that. (
Note: The Wizards, like most NBA teams, rarely ever practiced during the shortened season.) Now, you’re asking them to do it at a high level in a game.
So, injuries, COVID-19, all those things are reasons, and I pride myself — and this is a thing we were big on in Denver. Coach Malone would say, ‘We’re a no-excuse team.’ So, no, those aren’t excuses; those are reasons, and there’s a difference because we’re not gonna hang our hat on that and say the what-ifs, should-haves, but this is why. Understand the why and try to find a way to fix it.
I heard that you impressed them in your interviews specifically pitching ways to use Beal coming off of traps and that kinda stuff. Could you discuss that?Sure, and I’ve had conversations with Brad. It’s just giving him two or three things or ways I felt could help his overall efficiency. He struggled off the dribble in those pull-up 3 situations, those iso situations. Sure, it’s a shot he can make, but we don’t wanna live and die with those.
I think he’s gonna bail us out many times. But how do we make things easier for him? Because we all know, when you prepare for a guy like Bradley, teams are gonna be aggressive, because the key is to take away his air space, give him no daylight. A lot of times, he’s gonna see two, sometimes three bodies. So, getting him off the ball to get it back, putting him in multiple actions to kinda loosen up defenders I think is gonna be helpful for him.
How do analytics play into your coaching?It’s a huge component. It’s a useful tool, but I think with that tool, it has to pass the eye test. And I say that because it works both ways. There are times that things pop up with the analytics that we just don’t see or what you see doesn’t match up. So, that’s where you have to challenge yourself to continue to educate yourself on what these metrics mean and how can we find the nuances within those tools to help us gain traction?
Westbrook is obviously a lightning rod and just a complete ball of energy. How do you see is the best way to use him?Well, I mean, he’s already had a Hall of Fame career. I think, once again, I’m not gonna put guys in a box and say we have to play just this type of way. For me, it’s just finding a way to tailor things to augment guys’ strengths and try to minimize some of their deficiencies. And he’s aware.
I think his competitive spirit is what drives this group. I think sometimes perception becomes reality from the outside looking in, where he could be problematic. That’s not who he is. You can tell when you talk to the guy. There’s so much more depth and personality. There’s a will to win and I think he’s gonna fight and compete every night. We need that. So, I think it’s a little misleading sometimes when you hear that narrative because that’s not the guy I talked to. He’s a nightmare to prepare for, so I’m certainly happy he’s on my side now.
What can you take away from your preparation of going up against Westbrook and Beal? And what will you try to implement with them?I think it goes back to my previous point. You’re trying to find ways to take the pressure off because they’re gonna command a lot of attention and that’s a credit to who they are as players, who they are as people. They put themselves in a situation where they’re both dynamic offensive weapons. So, trusting their teammates a little bit, it’s not only on the defensive end. I’m gonna ask them to do a little bit more on offense from time to time. And I think when you trust everyone else around you, that’s gonna take a lot of pressure off you later in the game. Now, once again, you’re playing against single coverage, which we all know is very difficult to do with both of those two.
What’s your process for filling the coaching staff?Well, that process is ever-evolving, but it’s already begun.
I was blessed to be in a situation where I was in the running for two jobs. One, I obviously didn’t get in Orlando. But you have to have those conversations and it’s a little awkward because you’re having a conversation about a job you don’t even have yet, but that’s the nature of it. So, you wanna stay ahead of it and make sure to reach out to people not only that you know, but do some background on maybe some that you don’t. Also, get a feel for people, understand their philosophies, get a sense of their personality, their workflow, because we want to try to put together the best staff possible. (Wizards GM) Tommy (Sheppard) and I are gonna work on that collaboratively, and I think in the end we’re gonna be very happy with the results.
