The choice of the new coach is whether to develop a newcomer or to work in combat power?

Looking back at the Washington Wizards, the last time they entered the playoffs was already the 2020-21 season. For such a rebuilding team, from the conventional timeline, if the core cornerstone rookie can be selected in the lineup and then the right opportunity to cultivate is possible, it will basically be possible to return to the playoffs in less than five years.

But for the Wizards, their timeline is not like this. They are more like a reenactment plot year after year. With a record of neither up nor down, they seem to have accumulated a bunch of new players, but they are occupied by a group of veterans in the lineup position. The team has no record and is completely invisible to cultivate new players to pursue the future.

This is also the biggest problem for the Wizards who are in the reconstruction period in recent seasons. They want to sell instant combat players, but also give them a lot of time, which has caused the team to compress a lot of new players to grow, allowing those talented rookies in the team to get no training opportunities. It was not until the new head coach Brian Keefe that it seemed that people could see a little change.

18 wins and 64 losses, this is the report card of Brian Keefe after replacing former coach Wes Unselder this season. On the surface, Keefe was unable to bring back the Wizards after being ordered to take over the team in a critical moment, and his record is almost the same as his former coach. The team is still at the bottom of the last bus level, but referring to the content of the game in the second half of the season, compared with the slow on-site scheduling response, the new coach Keeff's trading is still more flexible, not sticking to Mesozoic players, but more referring to the players who performed well on the day. Regardless of age and qualifications, as long as you perform well, you can stay on the court. There are also many games that are lost until the last moment when you lose. The big reason is that the team has little experience in the game.

From the lineup, Jordan Poole, who was traded by the Warriors, is still the most important focus of the Wizards in the new season. Of course, perhaps most fans just want to see how good he is after leaving Curry, whether he grows strongly, or becomes a laughing stock.

The reality is indeed the case. During the Wizards' starting lineup in the first half of the season, the exposure rate was naturally quite high. Once there were mistakes and shortcomings, they would almost be amplified by the media. Then he was temporarily placed on the bench, which seemed to confirm many negative voices. But on the other hand, this choice actually gave Poole a turning point in his career.

For the choice to accept the substitute, then interim coach Brian Keefe was the key to making Poole nod. Although many people are waiting to see Poole's jokes, from a realistic perspective, Poole, who started from the substitute, has gradually regained his confidence, which has greatly improved compared to many data during the starting period.

After the substitute lineup was adjusted, Poole's level not only did not decrease, but continued to improve. After the end of the season, he handed in 20.5 points and 4.5 assists, and at the same time increased his three-point shooting percentage to 37.8%. Compared with the low situation in the first half of the season, it seems that he has also regained the successor posture of some Warriors winning the championship season.

From a long-term perspective, it is difficult for Jordan Poole to become the core of the Wizards' team building in the next decade. It is obvious through the Wizards' two seasons. Even as a bad team, it is still difficult for Poole to become the essential team number one. He has the ability to improve his skills to the top level, but unfortunately he does not have the ability to reverse the game by one person, but he can still influence his teammates from the side and share the pressure from others.

His future is more suitable to be the deputy of other superstars, just like assisting the Shuihua brothers back then, rather than putting all the pressure into one. The new coach Keefe does think so about this. This season is obviously adjusting and releasing his load. Although there is no way to make the outside world change his view of him immediately, at least Poole's game burden this season has indeed been reduced a lot. If the subsequent season can be maintained stably, it will naturally be of great help to his future career.

Of course, even though Poole's game load was released, the Wizards still had a lot of problems waiting to be solved, especially after the Wizards introduced many Middle-zoic players, the team's situation still did not improve. After Brogodon, Middleton, Smart and Sadick Bayden took over the core position of the team, the Wizards' future is still in a very troublesome situation.

Judging from the lineup changes in the past two seasons, the team's operations are obviously doing what Sar is doing, trying his best to meet his conditions for playing in the fourth position, and at the same time making up for the shortcomings in the fifth position. Although Thrall's offense still needs to be cultivated for a long time, many inside partners can share a lot of the pressure on his offense. At present, Thal's most direct contribution at the moment is to make up for the defensive disadvantage of the No. 5 position, and the ultimate goal is to become a new generation of Wizards' sweeping defensive unicorn.

However, referring to this wave of operations, the problem of Wizards is still obvious. As mentioned above, there are too many new generations waiting to be trained in the team. Not only second-year students, Kulibaly, but also Sal, Carrington, George, AJ Johnson, Vukocchevic, etc. It is no problem to line up to form a new lineup.

However, the team's midzodiac lineup is still complete, including Poole, Middleton, Smart, Brogodon, and Holmes who renewed the contract to stay in the team, etc., these veterans have to form an old team lineup. In addition, Keisbert, the Wizards are not bad just by looking at the completeness of the lineup, but it is quite embarrassing that for a team during the reconstruction period, such a team is extremely problematic.

2025 is a recognized year of draft picks. The Wizards do not have enough capital to return to the playoffs, and they have achieved a result that is neither up nor down in the lottery. Even if they can choose high-quality young talents, the Wizards are likely to return to the old road..

In order to sell the Mesozoic combat power, they must give them enough playing time to show their value, but if they cannot give enough opportunities to the newcomers, they just unilaterally choose to show the value of the traders, and it is okay to trade smoothly. If the asking price is too high like Kuzma before, it will put the cart before the horse, and let the newcomers waste their time in vain, and even end up completely abandoning like Johnny Davis.

This is the current situation of the Wizards. Although the lineup is complete and there are a lot of reliable combat power, the playoffs are not their next goal. Under the dispatch of the new coach, they need to make a balanced choice between the new players and the middle school generation team, which not only cultivates rookies, but also activates the role of veteran players as mentors, and coordinates the two sides to prevent the team from having problems.

From this perspective, the key to the Wizards' new season does not lie in some specific players, but mainly in the choice of the new coach Brian Keefe.

Judging from the above content, Keefe has had the ability to activate Poole, and he has also brought out a team atmosphere that is completely different from his former coach. Especially the Wizards have not been up or down for several years and have wasted a lot of talented newcomers. From Troy Brown to Johnny Davis in recent years, these advantages and combat powers have been completely buried because of the Wizards' wrong development policy.

Considering that the team currently has a lot of young players, it is best not to repeat the same mistakes. The key behind this is to expect the new coach Brian Keefe to lead a new path.