It was recently reported by ESPN that the Wizards had laid off a good amount of their personnel across multiple divisions. Only interim head coach Brian Keefe and assistant David Vanterpool were retained from the coaching staff. They also let go of staff members from other parts of the organization, like the Public Relations team.
ESPN Reporting with @ZachLowe_NBA: The Wizards let go of a number of staff members Thursday, but interim head coach Brian Keefe and assistant David Vanterpool remain with franchise. Front office is starting formal search that will include Keefe as a candidate for full-time job.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 19, 2024
Jahadi White and I discussed those moves and the implications of such layoffs on the latest Bleav in Wizards podcast. The Wizards have an ongoing head coaching search, including considering Brian Keefe, that could potentially be held up while they look to fill other positions. On the show we discussed whether the lack of a coaching staff is disrupting the organization’s ability to bring in draft prospects and properly evaluate them.
Additionally, we covered Michael Winger’s latest comments about the state of the organization and the positive strides they made this year from a player development side of things. We talked about several key statistics, Deni Avdija’s improvement and his 6th-place finish in Most Improved Player voting, and Bradley Beal and the Phoenix Suns’ playoff struggles.
Jahadi also provided a player’s perspective on the Jontay Porter gambling scandal and whether he ever personally suspected another player of point shaving. The Porter family, which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, is from Jahadi’s surrounding area so he’s very familiar with them. He also had several games refereed by Tim Donaghy, an official who was caught gambling on games, and shared some anecdotes about whether he suspect any foul play there.
Topics:
0:00 - Intro
2:59 - Cleaning house in the front office & hosting draft prospects
20:34 - Jahadi on comradery among players when losing
22:45 - Michael Winger’s comments on the team’s improvements
29:56 - Analytics for the season: shooting around the rim & three-point shooting
46:35 - Deni Avdija’s improvement & MIP voting
51:07- Jahadi’s take on Jontay Porter’s betting woes & referee Tim Donaghy
1:02:22 - Poole & Beal named in poll of most overrated players in the league
1:13:29 - Outro