Brooks had a 5 year contract. They let it expire. We'll see how things shape out here. But they were thorough this time around. Last time when they hired Brooks they didn't interview anyone else.
NBA colleagues break down the finalists for Wizards head-coaching job
Wes Unseld Jr.
Denver Nuggets, assistant (2015-present)
Orlando Magic, assistant (2012-15)
Golden State Warriors, assistant (2011-12)
Washington Wizards, scout/assistant (1997-2011)
Washington Mystics, assistant (1998)
What are his defining characteristics as a coach?
The one thing that you want when you’re talking to a head coach or an assistant is for them to be humble and just listen to your ideas, and Wes does all those types of things. Wes doesn’t pretend to know the answers to everything. He’s willing to listen, to hear. And he’s going to explain why he might go with your idea and why (he might) not go with your idea.
He’s very meticulous. Like, he has the answer to every question you can have for a game. So, (for example): pick-and-roll with Russ (Westbrook) and
Bradley Beal; how are we gonna defend it? How are we gonna cover it? And he’s gonna have the best option and the next six options after that. So, he’s prepared every single step of the way, and he’s willing to listen to every member on staff.
Do you have a feel for how he views the game from a strategy standpoint?
When people have asked me about Wes when it comes to X’s and O’s, he’s worked with so many different types of guys. He’s worked in the Princeton offense. He’s worked in fast tempo, up and down. He’s worked with Steph Curry. He’s worked in the San Antonio system with Jacque Vaughn.
He’s a first-time head coach, so when he gets there, I don’t know what exactly he’s gonna determine when it comes to what’s gonna make them most successful in Washington. ‘Are we gonna be a fast, uptempo team like Scott Brooks ran? Are we gonna be a slow-it-down team?’ I don’t know what his final decision is going to be on that end. But I will say this: he’s gonna evaluate every step of the way. Whatever he ends up deciding, it’s going to be because he did the research.
One of the benefits I’ve told people is Wes is one of those very unique people as a head coach because I can see him being successful with a veteran team. I can see him being successful with a young, rookie team and developing that. So, there’s very few coaches in this league that can handle both.
Is there anything the Nuggets have done — whether with a player, a scheme or anything else — that you look at and see his fingerprints on?
I mean, you got guys like
Joker, Jamal Murray,
Michael Porter Jr., where their strength is not defense, and he has them near the top 10 (Denver finished 11th in points allowed per possession this past season). That’s all you need to know.
The fact that he makes them even average defenders in this league is an impressive feat, because a lot of guys would come in and they’ll put those guys in positions that would not be successful. They would try to do things like, we gotta make them superstar defenders. I’m like, no, we don’t need them to be superstar defenders. We need them to be average to slightly above average defenders, and we just need to put them in positions of success. And Wes always puts his players in successful positions.
He’s never gonna ask them to do something they can’t do. He’s gonna ask them, ‘Are you comfortable playing up on screens or are you comfortable playing back on screens? OK, you’re comfortable playing back? Not a problem. Now, how can I adjust our defense to make that work for that certain player?’ So, he’s never gonna put guys in bad situations to embarrass them or to make them uncomfortable.
He wants to get input from the players. He wants to know how they feel like they would be successful and how he can carry it out within his system, which a lot of guys don’t do. A lot of guys come in and like, hey, this is how we play our pick-and-roll defense. This is what we’re gonna do, and we gotta do it every single time. And Wes is like, how can I put my player in the best place to succeed?
Have you had any moments where you saw him do something and you thought, that looks like a future head coach?
Yeah, I see it all the time, just how he communicates with the staff. As I said, I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you’re the head coach or the video guy. You always have input with Wes, and a lot of guys don’t do that. A lot of guys are set in their ways, and Wes speaks to everybody on staff and he wants their honest opinion and he’ll give them their feedback.
You know him well. Let’s say he gets this job. What would you predict is his coaching demeanor?
Even keel. Listen, some of the coaches that he’s worked for have been very intense coaches, and his demeanor is just accepting it. A lot of the time people listen to how the message is being delivered and not what the message is, and Wes listens to what the message is. So, he has a very calm, cool demeanor.
He’s usually the first one in and he’s the last one out of the office. Everyday. Every, single day. Off days, practice days, shootaround days; he does not take days off. Like, he’s always in the office trying to figure out how to help the team. You could see how much (Nuggets head coach) Mike Malone puts on his shoulders, how much trust he has of him to basically run the defense every single play. And when (Malone) wants to change something on the fly, he’ll tell Wes and Wes will just go out there and yell, ‘control it!’ and he’ll be eased with it.
He black. Say no more