When the Washington Wizards decided against re-signing Scott Brooks after his five-year contract expired last summer, it meant turnover in the assistant coaching department as well. Despite many holdovers including the promotion of Alex McLean to director of player development, that meant David Adkins would not return to the organization that he has been with since 2014 prior to Brooks. Adkins, of course, worked closest with Deni Avdija during his rookie season out of Washington’s coaches meaning a noteworthy change for Avdija entering Year 2.

When Wes Unseld Jr. put together his staff of assistant coaches, he looked to find complementary pieces that could fill in for his own deficiencies. Described as a defensive-minded coach by Unseld, assistant Pat Delany was tasked foremost with developing Avdija. Although a short-lived one-game tenure as interim head coach before joining Unseld in health and safety protocols last month, Delany shed some light on his growing relationship with the 21-year old.

“Deni’s a young player who’s getting better and is into the game, loves the game, wants to work,” Delany described in mid-January. “Sometimes you have to pull him back from that in terms of sometimes less is more. To see the strides that he’s had through the early part of the season. Now again we’re talking about consistency on both ends of the floor. I’m excited to watch him as he grows here in D.C.”

Avdija had previously described the abundance of game film he watches as much more than his Netflix intake and Delany is oftentimes tasked with the teacher role for hours a week. When asked if he ever gets tired of Avdija’s constant desire to watch film, the former Hornets and Magic coach was a good sport.

“It’s part of the routine, especially in the pregame part of it,” Delany described watching tape with Avdija. “Early in the season, it was showing him more and now as we’ve gotten to the halfway point here, it’s what are the main things that he needs to see, hear, both good and bad. He’s got a great approach to it in seeing and asking questions on why and how. It’s one thing to tell a player, this is right, this is wrong, but also the why part of it is a big piece in trying to get them to understand so we can play more consistently at a higher level.”

To no surprise given Avdija is always trying to make those around him, teammates or coaches, happier and better, the Wizards forward has enjoyed his new relationship with Delany.

“Me and Pat have a really good relationship. We like to talk not only about basketball, but also a lot of things about life. He’s a really smart guy and coach and I think I’m learning from him a lot. We just love working together,” Avdija described. “He’s not afraid to tell me the truth if I played bad or did something wrong. He’ll never come in and try to like always give me compliments. He’ll tell me the truth and that’s very important for a coach, especially a coach that works with you a lot is to tell you the truth and tell you want you need to improve on and I think he does that very good and I respect that about him.”

The Wizards (24-29) are struggling mightily having lost 8 of their last 9 games and with the trade deadline rapidly approaching on Thursday at 3 pm ET, anything is possible. Ownership has maintained they are not interested in a rebuild and hope to convince Bradley Beal to re-sign at five years, $246 million meaning general manager Tommy Sheppard is a buyer at the deadline. That could certainly mean Deni Avdija is part of a larger package to acquire Domantas Sabonis from the Indiana Pacers, but only time will tell. Should Avdija’s time in D.C. come to an end after just 15 months, his future in the NBA remains bright for reasons Delany details best.

“I think he’s a really confident player. He puts a ton of work in. He has the full support of our staff and the organization,” Delany began about the ups and downs for a young player in the NBA. “He asks a lot of questions. He wants to know how, when, why, which is part of his growth. Sometimes I tell him, there’s just nights that there’s not something you did wrong. We’re trying to find a group or something to kind of get us over the top. Deni’s going to be a good player in this league for a long time and we know that. I know he’s going through a little bit right now. He wants to stop everybody on every possession because he cares about winning.”