Wes Unseld Jr. is out as the coach of the Washington Wizards. The team announced Thursday morning that Unseld was moving into an advisory position in the Wizards front office. Brian Keefe, who joined Unseld's staff this season, will be the interim head coach for the remainder of 2023-24, and the team will conduct a "full-scale open coaching search in the offseason," according to ESPN.
Keefe spent the previous two seasons with the Brooklyn Nets. Before that, he was an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder (for nine years across two stints under three different head coaches), Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks. Keefe got his start as a video coordinator with the San Antonio Spurs in 2005.
The Wizards, at 7-36, have the second-worst record in the NBA. They've won just one of 11 games so far in January.
"I am grateful to have served as head coach of the Washington Wizards," Unseld said in a statement. "I look forward to this new opportunity to work toward our organization's continued progress."
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) January 25, 2024
Unseld, the son of a Washington legend -- Wes Sr., a Hall of Famer, won both Rookie of the Year and MVP in 1969, led the franchise to its only championship in 1978 and later served as both coach and general manager -- had a .372 winning percentage in his two-and-a-half season tenure in Washington. He took over ahead of the 2021-22 campaign and went 35-47 in both of his full seasons. The Wizards have not made the playoffs since 2020-21, and the team has not won a playoff series since 2017.
"After several thoughtful conversations with Wes, we determined together that a change was needed for the benefit of the team," team president Michael Winger said in a press release. "Wes embodies the characteristics we value in our organization, and his vast basketball experience will be an asset to the front office as we progress toward our long-term goals."
The Wizards are the second NBA team to change head coaches this week. The Bucks fired Adrian Griffin on Tuesday despite a 30-13 start, and Doc Rivers is set to take over in Milwaukee.
That strange situation is a convenient contrast to this one -- while Griffin was fired by a front office that hired him less than eight months ago, under the weight of championship expectations, Unseld was reassigned to a front office that never hired him in the first place, despite a total lack of short-term expectations. Washington is in the early stages of a rebuild; last summer, the new regime, led by Winger, traded Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis and used the No. 7 pick in the draft on Bilal Coulibaly, a high-upside forward who had not yet turned 19 when he, after his introductory press conference, told The Athletic, "I want to be a franchise player by the next four years."
For most of his tenure as coach, Unseld's Wizards had a reputation for doing the big-picture things right on defense. In 2021-22, they were tops in the league in terms of both preventing 3-point attempts and forcing midrange shots, according to Cleaning The Glass, and last season's numbers were similar. This season, however, with Jordan Poole on the perimeter and Porzingis no longer in the paint, Washington is giving up an average amount of midrange shots and more rim attempts than all but five teams, per CTG. The woeful Wizards have surrendered 120.5 points per 100 possessions, one percentage point better than the Charlotte Hornets' league-worst mark, but it's hard to blame Unseld for that -- his philosophy is evident, and they clearly need better personnel.
If -- if! -- Washington, which was not equipped to be competitive this season, has underachieved, it's on the offensive end. They are 25th in offense, and while they've been efficient in transition, they haven't shot 3s well, haven't gotten to the free throw line much and have been the worst offensive rebounding team in the NBA.
