Brian Keefe Says Washington Wizards Took STEP BACK | Where Was The Step Forward?

Brian Keefe Says Washington Wizards Took STEP BACK | Where Was The Step Forward?

Following a 45point loss at home to the Boston Celtics, it was one of the more disappointed Brian Keefe press conferences we’ve heard in quite some time. He said it feels like they took a step back. My question, where was the step forward? You are Locked On Wizards, your daily Washington Wizards podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. DC family, you’re locked on to the Washington Wizards where you’re part of our family. We thank you for making Locked On Wizards your first listen every single day. We’re part of the Locked On podcast network where it’s your team every day. We thank you to all the Everydayers that stop by the channel every day. If you’re part of the club, let us know in the comments below. If you’re new, we hope you enjoy and come back for more. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. I’m Ben Shrober. I cover the Washington Wizards for Roundt.io. You can check me out on Twitter at Stroberports. I’ll take you through the episode today. Your edition of Wizards wrap-up. A little bonus content for you because things were that disastrous last night for the Washington Wizards. outscored 80 to 42 in the second half at home against a depleted uh for lack of the better word Boston Celtics team without Jason Tatum for the entirety of the season without Jaylen Brown last night. Disastrous disastrous performance, no effort, no energy, terrible in transition game. They look really bad offensively. Questionable coaching decisions. There was a lot of that. But I’m not even going to talk as much about the game today because I want to address the press conference we heard from Brian Keefe last night following the game. And I think he took a little bit of accountability for really what felt like the first time this season yesterday with what was obviously a very unacceptable loss. Regardless of the results that you expect this season in terms of wins and losses, I think every Wizards fan, any sensible Wizards fan out there knew the team would lose plenty of games. They knew that losing Hellet was the objective. I want the team to lose plenty of games. I want this team to have a first round pick next year. I think that’s obviously vital. We know that the lottery is in a position right now where it it could get a little bit tumultuous at some point if um the Wizards actually won too many games just because of how many teams are poor right now in the NBA. But with that aside, you cannot lose by 45 at home. You cannot lose by 30 plus points. now already five times this season through the first 21 games and some of the other losses that aren’t part of the 30 plus point ones. There’s a lot of more 20 plus point there’s a 29 point loss uh they had at one point I’m forgetting against who at this point but the product on the floor has been unacceptable and there’s a lot of things that are troubling from this perspective about where the team is heading in terms of direction from an organization and Brian Keefe after the game he said tonight it feels like we had a step back those were his direct words following the game when he was asked about the performance the question for me is where was the step forward? I don’t feel like there have been many steps forward. I think you’ve seen some of the individual successes that you can point to such as Alex Sar improving a ton this year as an offensive player and albeit he’s been out for the last three games with an injury. Hopefully you get him back in the fold on Saturday. Even with that being the case, even with Keshan George being a pretty bright spot for you, I know he’s had a little bit of inconsistency that’s plagued him as of recently. If you look outside of those two players, where is the step forward? Because I don’t think this team has taken a step forward this year. You know, the whole idea for this season for me personally was I wanted to see the team uh, you know, execute the ethical tank in a way where they would keep its first round pick, where they’d position themselves to select very high in the next upcoming draft. We know it’s a very stacked draft class and now we realize how paramount this 2026 first round draft pick will be because I’m worried there’s not enough buildable pieces on this roster as is right now and the current situation they’re being put in is not building a culture that is inducive to them succeeding anytime soon. I don’t feel like there’s been a step forward in that way because we continue to see the terrible bad habits that have played this Wizards team throughout the entirety of the season and the number one thing for me is effort. The second half of that game was pathetic. Whichever way you look at it, the effort was not there. Overall, a lot of laziness on the defensive side of the basketball, careless turnovers, unforced errors, the team unable to get back in transition. It was embarrassing. It was one of those nights where you almost wish the game could have ended early because with it being a seven-point deficit at halftime, it it seems like everybody went home at halftime. There was no urgency, no effort in the second half of that game. I wrote an art article for Round Table IO this morning, which I just uploaded a couple hours back. I will link it for you guys if you want to check into it. So, in the Washington Wizards season, that’s not defined by wins and losses. The losses are expected and it’s the objective. Everybody in the building is aware of that and losing is frustrating. Everybody knows that. But not all the losses are created equal. Washington said it was determined to lose games in competitive fashion this year, that they were going to be pesky. They were going to be one of those in-your-face teams that is tough to get by each and every night. They’ve been a walk in the park for almost everybody they’ve played. Not only was it the season worst margin of defeat for the Wizards last night, 45 points, it was the worst in the entire NBA. And that’s going to be tough to beat. I don’t even remember off the top of my head how much they lost that Indiana game by last year. Maybe it was like 57 points or something like that. Somebody can correct me in the comments uh later on about that. But for a game that was once within striking distance because of a 19 to6 run that the Wizards team went on and then you’re outsc scored 80 to 42 is completely unacceptable. And Keith’s comments bother me in a way. And I understand like it’s kind of him taking a little bit of accountability. Him realizing that these fans understand that there’s a lot of frustration uh that comes with this tumultuous rebuild that the Wizards are in right now. But this like standard that they talk about, one of the direct quotes, “It’s painfully obvious we didn’t meet the standard we want to play at.” Keef said, “We have to own that. Buckle down and get better.” We’ve kind of been hearing the same thing for weeks and weeks. There’s been no change. There’s been no adjustment. The rotations are still questionable. And it begs the question to me, why are we continuing to do the same things over and over again without any different results? If the goal was really to be competitive in these games, I feel like there would have been some more drastic changes in terms of the rotations, the lineups, we’re not really seeing that because CJ McCullum and Chris Middleton are still playing the most minutes on this team. And I ask why. Why are those two playing the most minutes on these teams? And McCullum has had his really fantastic flashes, two 40point performances. uh he’s been pretty consistent uh since the first two weeks of the season where he really struggled and I understand that you’re trying to showcase what he has to NBA executives, but that’s not necessary to me. I think it’s completely unnecessary and the way they’re playing offense right now with McColl and Middleton on the floor. It’s unacceptable from the realm because they’re just lost offensively. They don’t move the basketball. There’s nothing happening offensively. It’s not conducive to building a team that’s going to succeed in the future right now. They’re learning awful habits and then by the time those guys come out, you see them running a lineup of four bench guys with CJ Mcome and it’s disastrous. Bob Carrington’s regression has been a big story for a lot of Wizards fans this year and it’s been really bad. It’s been really tough to watch. And I’ve said it multiple times that I’m not giving up on Bob Carrington. I feel like he needs some sort of reset at some point. whether or not that’s him taking more extended time on the bench or him maybe even getting reps to the go- go at some point, but something is not right with Bob Carrington in terms of his mentality, I think, because physically we’re not seeing those results on the floor. And with that being the case, nobody has bought in to what they’re doing defensively. maybe one out of every like 10 performances you get them to buy in and play some decent defense and buy into what this Wizards organization says it wants to be about. I know the goal was to lose plenty of games this season, but you can’t be losing them like this. I’m genuinely starting to feel concerned that these guys are not going to develop properly and they’re not learning good habits based on this current situation that they’re playing in. It gets really tough to watch. It’s tough to be in the arena when you have Let’s Go Celtics fans raining down the majority of the game and it’s just it feels lifeless in there. The team looks lifeless and Verun Shunker used the word listless as one of them. You’ve had a couple of performances like that in the past week. Yeah, you got two wins. You got a nice win over Atlanta. That was your first win in 14 games. That’s good. Uh then you won another game against Milwaukee. 16-point comeback. Good effort there. But outside of those games in the Chicago game, there’s been a lot of pathetic, emotionless, lifeless efforts out there. And it just begs the question, how badly do these guys want it? How badly does the organization want to prove that it can compete with the young core of players that it has right now while still competing in this ethical tank? It’s a really tough debate and I think about it from a different perspective almost all the time. Like I try to be glass half full for the majority of time that I talk about this Wizards team because I I really truly do believe that there’s a lot of reasons to have hope that this organization is going to have some luck in the lottery in the coming future, land a potential franchise player in this upcoming draft and go from there. If that’s the case, then maybe things can get back on course. But right now, I’m concerned that the bad habits are something that could bleed into the next season and beyond if corrections are not made soon. I got some other things I want to detail about this situation. We’ll be right back here in just a minute on Locked on Wizards. 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Next time someone goes off for 50, use promo code NBA50 the next day to get 50% off on Door Dash with Dashpass, plus your shot of the bag. Dash Pass members only. 50% off up to $10 the day after. 50 point game with promo code. Terms apply. No purchase necessary. Ends April 13th. Open US residents 21 or older. Visit door dashinyoubag.com for full details. Door Dash in your bag all season long. It’s just disheartening for the Wizards to be in the situation that you’re in. At the end of the day, this is what we signed up for. This is what I pleaded for years ago for this team to go through a full rebuild. So when I look at it from that perspective, I say, okay, this was the necessary step the Wizards had to take to get out of the absolute hell of a situation they were in before the Will Dawkins era. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be critical of where we think the direction is heading right now. Heck, I’m happy that the team has a direction, that they’ve taken this approach, and that they’re trying to develop the team the way they are right now through a young core of players. And to be honest, I thought bringing in veteran players like McCullum, like Middleton would be helpful for this young core of players. But if you have them out there trying to get theirs, the majority of nights the way they are and the amount of minutes that they’re playing compared to young guys right now, you said you brought the veterans here because you wanted to be more competitive. You thought these guys would help you compete more. And maybe outside of a couple performances like the Detroit game where uh CJ McComem has 42 points, the Atlanta game where Mcome drops 46, he helped you compete in that game. And you can say he helped you compete against Milwaukee. Middleton comes up clutch in that one as well. Outside of those games, you’re non-competitive for the most part. Even with those guys playing minutes, so what’s the point? What is the point of them playing that many minutes and potentially taking up floor space and opportunities for young guys that genuinely need opportunities on the floor? Will Riley to me seems like a guy that needs the basketball in his hands more to properly develop. He’s looked good in some of the catch and shoot opportunities we’ve seen him get, and I’m sure the Wizards have a plan for how they’d like to integrate Will Riley into the lineup more and more as the season goes along right here. But it just gets really tough to watch every single night where you have CJ McComem and Chris Middleton playing as many minutes as they are and no changes, no adjustments. I just feel like it’s been so abysmal. Got some great stats here from Bullets Forever. Shout out to them. Um in the first half, the Wizards defensive rating per 100 possessions was 137.5. The league average is 115.8 for reference. In the second half, their defensive rating was 163.3 per 100 possessions. It’s just unbelievable how bad they were defensively in that second half and how bad they they’ve been def or how bad they’ve been defensively throughout the entirety of this season. We know at the NBA level a lot of these guys can defend, but there’s a want to aspect of it. And additionally, the Wizards want to push so much in transition, and they’ve been doing that. But with that being said, when they push, they’re not getting back. There’s nobody hustling back in transition. They’re allowing way too many uncontested looks from the outside. Another 23s the Wizards gave up last night to Boston on 43% shooting for the Celtics. You’re never going to win a game when you defend the perimeter the way the Wizards have right now. They don’t pick up the ball handler in transition. They don’t match up uh in offensive situations where somebody needs to get marked up. There’s a lot of miscommunication. Uh they don’t use screens properly. They they don’t hedge well enough. The Wizards just don’t do anything well at this current standpoint. And they’re constructed to be a relatively bad team record-wise. But damn it, we were sold the idea that this team would compete and give you some fight every single night. We’re not seeing that. I don’t know where the step forward they’re getting right now is. And if they’re going to point to just primarily individual success as a reason for saying that they took a step forward, I mean, you could say it like that. Say, I think we’ve made some individual accomplishments. I understand that. Like, I can agree with you that there have been some big individual strides that this team has made, but at the end of the day, there have been some regressions and the team is not playing a cohesive brand of basketball. There’s no chemistry being established right now within the current state of the team. Something’s got to change. There needs to be something that lights a fire under these guys because the way they’re playing right now, it just becomes almost too like an embarrassment factor for this team. And I know they ended up winning two games in the last week. So you avoid losing 25 games in a row or whatever it could have got to if the Wizards didn’t win any of those games. But even the opportunities where you’ve had these games where maybe you view as a measuring stick because the other opponent is not very good like Brooklyn, you lose by 23 at home to a really bad Brooklyn Nets team that’s not even playing a lot of its young core of players and then losing by 33 on the road following a win against Indiana. Now, I’m not saying you had to even win any of these games, but for them to look lifeless in these situations has been really, really tough to see. The Wizards turnover rate last night, 38.6%. There’s no point guard on the roster right now, and that’s why their offense is so stagnant and so bad. It’s really become a thing where you feel like the development is hindered in a way because you don’t have anyone to set up or create for other other people. Look at the way Boston played offense last night. They were out there swinging the ball until the Wizards head was spinning. I mean, I was getting dizzy watching it because every possession, everyone touches the ball for Boston. The Wizards are frantically running around trying to rotate and eventually somebody gets wide open. The Wizards do none of that. Every offensive possession seems to be a dribble handoff or occasionally you see them operate out of the pick and roll, but that’s been a lot worse since Alex Sar hasn’t been in the lineup. And then usually you see McCullum end up taking a shot whether he drives to the basket uh and and puts up a runner or he’ll take a step back three or you end up having Keshan George have to try to create his own shot late in the shot clock or Middleton fading away from the basket. There’s just nothing happening for them offensively right now. And I just so how are a guy supposed to get better? How are they supposed to get better at playing team basketball? Individual stats mean nothing to me on a team when you’re losing the way this Wizards team is right now. And individual stats are maybe a good way of measuring like guys improving. Like I look to the efficiency of Alexar and say that’s been a lot better this year because he shot under 40% last year on a bad team. This year the efficiency is a lot better. But just because someone’s scoring a good amount of points doesn’t necessarily mean they’re playing great basketball. And because the Wizards are playing terrible team basketball right now and that’s really what concerns me the most moving forward. I don’t know. Let me know what you guys think because I feel like Keith’s comments saying it was a step back. To me, I don’t think they ever took the step forward this year. I’m still waiting on them to take the step forward. And maybe something like that happens at some point. We haven’t seen that so far. Something’s got to change and something’s got to happen soon because things have really, really fallen out of favor for this Wizards team very, very fast. All right, everybody. We thank you for making Lockdown Wizards your first listen every single day. For your second, check out the Lockdown NBA fantasy basketball podcast hosted by Josh Lloyd. He’ll get your fantasy lineup right. Check me out on my socials at Stroberports for all of your Wizards content that you need. DC family will be back in action tomorrow. Wizards take on the Hawks at home at Capital One Arena. We’ll have the coverage for you on Lockdown Wizards postgame as always. DC family, stick with it.

Washington Wizards Humiliating Loss to Celtics | Wizards Rebuild Concerns & Brian Keefe Press Conference Reaction

The Washington Wizards suffered a crushing 45-point defeat at home to a depleted Boston Celtics squad. In this episode, Ben Strober dives deep into the aftermath, breaking down Brian Keefe’s brutally honest postgame press conference, and asking the question every fan is wondering: Where has the step forward actually been this season?

We analyze the lack of effort, questionable rotations, and concerns about developing young talent like Bub Carrington and Will Riley. Is the current rebuild stalling the growth of the Wizards’ promising core? Have veterans like C.J. McCollum and Chris Middleton really helped the team, or are they just taking up minutes?

Key topics covered include:

Full reaction to Wizards vs. Celtics blowout loss

Details from Brian Keefe’s postgame press conference

The troubling trends in the Wizards’ rebuild

Problems with coaching, effort, and team culture

Defensive stats that highlight the team’s struggles

The usage of veteran players vs. developing young stars

Why individual stats don’t tell the whole story for a struggling team

What needs to change for the Wizards to finally take a step forward

Fans, let’s talk: Are you concerned about the Wizards’ direction? What changes do you want to see? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Don’t miss detailed Wizards coverage, postgame reactions, and honest analysis from Ben Strober every week! Subscribe for more Wizards news, updates, and deep dives.

#WashingtonWizards #NBA #WizardsRebuild #BrianKeefe #CelticsVsWizards #LockedOnWizards #WizardsPodcast #CJMcCollum #KhrisMiddleton #nbaanalysis

00:00​ Wizards vs. Celtics blowout reaction

02:00 Brian Keefe press conference breakdown

04:00 Rebuild concerns & team effort issues

08:00 Veterans vs. youth development

17:00 Moving forward & fan Q&A

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