Washington Wizards

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Highlights from Bilal Coulibaly's rookie year during the 2023-24 season.

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2023-24 Season Highlights | Bilal Coulibaly

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Bijan Todd (@bijan_todd)

WASHINGTON – The grand ballroom of the Pendry Hotel in Washington D.C.'s Wharf was packed. Wizards executives Will Dawkins and Michael Winger, owner Ted Leonsis, dozens of media members, TV cameras and about a half-dozen rostered players were all in attendance to watch the official introduction of the star of the show: Brian Keefe.Keefe, after a 39-game tenure as interim head coach this past season, was officially named the team's next full-time head coach last week after a comprehensive search for the right candidate led the Wizards' front office to a familiar face.Keefe's wife and two daughters were front row, with general manager Dawkins beside him on the podium. The first thing Dawkins brought up when asked about the coach – and a theme that popped up almost every 30 seconds for the remainder of the press conference – was the fact that Keefe's personability was a huge reason for the hire.“My first time that I met [Keefe] in 2008, what really I remember is how much time he took to get to know me as a person,” Dawkins said. “He's genuine, he invests in people, he puts himself last, he puts the players and the team first and we're really, really excited about that.”

Keefe's longevity in the NBA for now 19 years can largely be credited to that effort in relationship-building. He started as a video coordinator, as many head coaches like Erik Spoelstra did, with the San Antonio Spurs. After helping the Spurs to the 2007 NBA championship, Keefe spent eight years with the Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder, where he first met Dawkins. Keefe then had stops with the L.A. Lakers and New York Knicks before returning to OKC in 2019, shortly before Dawkins was named the team's VP of Basketball Operations.After a two-year stint with the Brooklyn Nets, Keefe landed in Washington before this past season as a member of Wes Unseld Jr.'s staff. Now in year 19, Keefe's decades of team-building culminate with his first full-time head coaching position. He choked up when discussing what his family has meant for his journey, then was asked what the No. 1 order of business is as a head coach. It rang a bell.“I think the biggest thing – I think Will said this, this is the stuff that I believe in – is pouring into the relationship part,” Keefe said. "I've already talked to all of our guys. They reached out to me as soon as they found the news. We want to pour into them as people and invest into them as people first, and then into their game. That's how we're going to operate as an organization, that's what Michael and Will believe in, and Ted.“This is a relationship business, and when you develop these relationships, then you can really dig into the stuff that we need to improve on. We're already into that, that's what we've been focusing on, and that's what I've focused on from day one. The basketball stuff, we're going to go tackle that, and we're not going to run from where we are, but the relationship stuff is always going to be number one for us because that's how you're going to make the most movement to reach these guys to help them realize where we can go as a team and how we can grow.”Keefe's relationship-building will enter another stage later this month when the NBA Draft takes place on June 26th and 27th. The Wizards currently hold three picks (Nos. 2, 26, and 51), which, barring a trade, will bring three highly-touted prospects to Washington. Keefe already has one of the most stacked player development resumes in the league (having helped develop Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook in OKC, as well as Bilal Coulibaly in Washington), so the new arrivals should receive the same in-depth treatment.

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Brian Keefe's relationship-building key to ascension

Brian Keefe and GM Will Dawkins spoke to the media for the first time after announcing that Brian Keefe was named the Wizards' 26th Head Coach in franchise history.

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Introductory Press Conference | Head Coach Brian Keefe and GM Will Dawkins

Kyle Kuzma hit new career-highs in PPG (22.2), FG% (46.3) during the 2023-24 regular season. He is one of six NBA players in the 2023-24 regular season to amass 450+ rebounds and 150+ 3PM. Kuzma also had 11 30+ PT games and 45 20+ PT games during the 2023-24 regular season.

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2023-24 Season Highlights | Kyle Kuzma

Marvin Bagley III averaged 13.3 PPG and 9.0 RPG with the Washington Wizards during the 2023-24 season. Bagley also shot 58.2% from the field and 47.1% from the three-point line this season. Bagley recorded nine double-doubles this season with the Wizards.

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2023-24 Season Highlights | Marvin Bagley III

After the All-Star break, Poole averaged 20.9 PPG and 5.8 APG, with a 43.4% FGP, a 35.9 3P%, and 91.4 FT%. Poole was also one of eight players in the NBA to average 20.0 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 1.0 SPG since March 1st.

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2023-24 Season Highlights | Jordan Poole

Corey Kispert recorded single season career-highs in points (13.4) and assists (2.0) per game during the 2023-24 season. Kispert also had 17 games with 20+ points this season, marking a career-high. Kispert's 459 made three-point field goals since entering the league in the 2021-22 season rank as the second-most by any third-year player.