The Washington Wizards are keeping it internal for their head coaching staff.
The team is promoting interim head coach Brian Keefe to the permanent job, the team announced on Wednesday. Keefe took over for Wes Unseld Jr., who was moved to the front office in January.
Keefe’s NBA career dates back to 2005, when he joined the San Antonio Spurs as video coordinator under Gregg Popovich and won a ring in 2007. He then went on to work as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Los Angeles. Lakers, Brooklyn Nets and the Wizards, where he became lead assistant last season.
This will be Keefe’s first head coaching job at any level. Before his NBA career, he played in college at UC Irvine and UNLV, then worked as an assistant at South Florida and Bryant University.
From the wizards:
“We are pleased that Brian will be our next head coach. Brian is a proven motivator and connector of people,” said Will Dawkins, General Manager of Wizards. “As a leader in the organization, he will continue to positively grow and invest in the development of our players. His wealth of experience will drive our team forward as we build long-term sustainable success.”
While the Wizards touted their improvement in defensive rating, net rating and opponent 3-point percentage after Keefe took the interim title, the overall change was a marginal improvement from 7-36 under Unseld to 8-31 under Keefe.
Keefe takes over for the Wizards at a moribund time in team history, even by Wizards standards. The team has made the playoffs just once in the past six seasons, and in 2020-21 only made the postseason by going 34-38. The last playoff series win was in 2017 – two head coaches ago.
The team has moved on from longtime star Bradley Beal and is firmly at the bottom of a rebuilding cycle in which winning takes precedence over maximizing draft capital and incubating young talent. The Wizards will get their first real shot at the latter in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft, where they have the second overall pick. Yahoo Sports’ Krysten Peek has them taking rising French prospect Zaccharie Risacher in her latest mock draft.
Of course, the Wizards’ checklist for success is much bigger than looking at one draft prospect. The team has Jordan Poole’s awful contract on the books for the next three seasons, and it will spend much of that time throwing everything it can get at the wall and seeing if it can turn it into a contender can make.
With Keefe, the Wizards simply picked their man on the floor.
