Wizards' Kyle Kuzma: Coach Brian Keefe 'Has The Attention Of This Team'

The Wizards aren’t expected to do much beyond trying to develop talent this season, along with perhaps making some trades to land a little more.

Kyle Kuzma, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, NBA trade rumors

But they at least seem to have the right man for the coaching job in Brian Keefe.

“[Keefe] has the attention of the team,” forward Kyle Kuzma said, via Varun Shankar of the Washington Post. “When he talks, everybody is all eyes.”

Last week, head of basketball operations Michael Winger said Washington intends to continue to take the next step in its process. That may not mean more wins. But it does mean setting the right culture.

Keefe shared the same message at Media Day.

“It’s process over outcomes,” Keefe said. “I’m a competitor. I want to win, but I want to go into the stuff that gets us to win. … How we prepare, how we handle practices, how we handle shoot-arounds, how we handle film sessions — those are the things that will build us to be a sustainable winner.”

Kuzma, 29, has been linked to trade rumors all season, but the Wizards could not strike anything close to a deal. By all accounts, they’re happy he’s back to help lead the likes of No. 2 overall draft pick and center Alex Sarr, second-year wing Bilal Coulibaly, and rookie guard Carlton Carrington. New center Jonas Valanciunas and point guard Malcolm Brogdon should assist in the leadership areas as well.

Everyone seems to be on board.

“It’s going to be a long season,” Brogdon predicted. “We’re not the most talented team in the league. We have talent and we’re going to win some games, but we’re also going to develop these young guys.”

The Wizards finished 15-67 season, and you’d think they could at least do better than that. The franchise hasn’t reached 50 wins in a season since 1979, the last time it made it to the NBA Finals.

Keefe became interim coach after replacing Wes Unseld Jr. during the season. He landed the job full-time shortly after the season ended.