The Washington Wizards and their fans haven't had much of anything positive to talk about up to this point in the season.
Sitting at the bottom of the NBA standings with a league-worst record at 10-47, Washington leads the race for the No. 1 overall pick for the coming NBA Draft. With prospects like Duke's Cooper Flagg and Rutgers' Dylan Harper headlining this draft class, the Wizards seem to be in a good place to finally find a star they can build around as their long-awaited rebuild continues.
However, along the way, head coach Brian Keefe has quietly made plenty of moves on and off the court that has helped the team in their rebuilding process.
Many may be wondering "how has Brian Keefe helped this team if they have a record of 10-47?" And while that is a fair question, the first-year head coach has made a number of tough decisions, even dating back to last year as the team's interim head coach with both the team and players best interest in mind.
Don't believe me? Ask Jordan Poole.
Poole's resurgence could be due to a simple change
Following the All-Star break last season, interim head coach Brian Keefe made the bold decision to move Jordan Poole to the Wizards bench. In large part the move was because of the guard's inefficient play and struggles to find his rythym, but also in hopes that being demoted to the team's sixth man would allow for him to get more opportunities as the primary ball hander.
At the time, Tyus Jones' manned the Wizards front court and it was clear the team had a glaring hole at the point guard position with Jones not being the future answer. However, making such a big move to bench the player that the team just landed in arguably one of the busiest offseason in Wizards recent memory, could backfire.
Instead, Keefe felt that the move would motivate Poole to bounce back in a bigger way. Though, that doesn't mean the Michigan product agreed with the decision.
"I think I made it pretty clear that I felt like we could've went about it in other ways in order to get me going instead of having to bring me off the bench", Poole told The Athletic's Josh Robbins. But with B.K., he made it very clear, and he was very adamant."
However, since the move, Poole has bounced back this season in the exact way that Keefe hoped he would respond. The 25-year-old put his head down in the offseason and used the demotion as motivation to better himself not just for his team, but for his career. The Warriors had already essentially gave up on him, and it likely felt the Wizards were too.
So far this season, the former first-round pick has showed the potential Keefe saw in him last season, putting together a career-year averaging 21 points, 4.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds, while shooting 41.8% from field goal range and 37.1% from three.
The work and determination to prove he was worthy of the starting job showed early, which led to Keefe naming Poole the starting point guard and primary ball handler before the season even began.
Now, he looks like he could very well be apart of the Wizards plans moving forward and if not, he's done a great job rejuvenating his career and quieting the "inefficient shot chucker" noise down for now.
The Wizards could certainly use Poole's contract and improved play to capitalize on his trade value and push forward their rebuild in the offseason, but moving him would be more of a credit to his improved play considering his contract this time last year looked like one of the worst deals in the league.
Only time will tell, but for now, Poole's success this season seemingly can be tracked back to Keefe's surprising decision that arguably could have cost him the chance to earn the team's full-time head coaching gig last offseason.