The Washington Wizards have officially turned a page on their franchise history books with their recent signing of new head coach Wes Unseld Jr. For his part, the 49-year-old rookie coach wasted no time in providing his honest take on the partnership of Washington's two superstars in Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook.
Unseld had nothing but praise for his two stars as he shared how open both players were in welcoming him to the team. Unseld also revealed that they are all on the same page in terms of working on the most glaring issue within this partnership:
“I felt like I was talking to the same person, and I say that because the message was clear: They want to be coached, they are looking for the accountability,” Unseld Jr. said on Monday, via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “… I think they both know offense is not the issue right now [for the Wizards]. There is buy-in right now. We'll see as we get into training camp and the preseason, there has to be carryover. [But] there is an alignment there in thought. We are all on the same page as to what is going to be required of them. The best part about that is both of them, as leaders of this team, are committed to being better on that end.”
Unseld did not go into detail as to what exactly he's referring to in terms of the “issue right now,” but it's probably safe to conclude that he's talking about defense here. As he said, the Beal-Westbrook partnership has absolutely no shortcomings on the offensive end. However, it also feels like they need to kick up their defense another notch if they want to reach the next level.
Prior to joining the Wizards, Unseld served many years as an assistant coach for a number of NBA teams. Most recently, he spent six seasons with the Denver Nuggets wherein he played a key role in overseeing the team's defense. This is one of the reasons why the Wizards front office decided to hire Unseld, and it is clear that he's making his presence known as early as now.
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