For years, the Washington Wizards avoided leaning fully into a rebuild. The team would tinker with their roster year over year, in an attempt to continue to compete for playoff spots. Now, under their new front office leadership, the Wizards are fully in rebuilding mode.
“If we’re really to think about it, the phases of the rebuild,” Wizards GM Will Dawkins said. “There’s the deconstruction phase. There’s the laying-the-foundation phase. There’s the building it back up, and then there’s fortifying what you build. We’re still focused on deconstructing and laying that foundation. And I think that’s important to remind everyone, that we’re still early (in the process).”
Dawkins said he’s excited to see what Brian Keefe can do with a full season. Keefe had the interim head coach tag removed when he was hired as the permanent head coach this offseason. The Wizards GM also feels like the current roster is more versatile than in the past.
“I would say our fans can anticipate us using that versatility that we’ve added. We want to play (players at) multiple positions. I think you’ve seen we’ve added bigger, longer guys,” Dawkins said. “We are going to be a better defensive team. We are going to have more of a better disposition. Are we going to make massive strides? Probably not right away. But the intent, the effort, that will be better.”