{"id":51076,"date":"2022-02-08T07:47:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T07:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/?p=51076"},"modified":"2024-11-03T09:31:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T09:31:11","slug":"inside-the-relationship-of-deni-avdija-and-wizards-assistant-coach-pat-delany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/inside-the-relationship-of-deni-avdija-and-wizards-assistant-coach-pat-delany\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the relationship of Deni Avdija and Wizards assistant coach Pat Delany"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.
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Pat Delany – Photo Credit: Washington Wizards<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cDeni\u2019s a young player who\u2019s 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\u2019s had through the early part of the season. Now again we\u2019re talking about consistency on both ends of the floor. I\u2019m excited to watch him as he grows here in D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.
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Deni Avdija – Photo Credit: Washington Wizards<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019ve gotten to the halfway point here, it\u2019s what are the main things that he needs to see, hear, both good and bad. He\u2019s got a great approach to it in seeing and asking questions on why and how. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Pat have a really good relationship. We like to talk not only about basketball, but also a lot of things about life. He\u2019s a really smart guy and coach and I think I\u2019m learning from him a lot. We just love working together,” Avdija described. \u201cHe\u2019s not afraid to tell me the truth if I played bad or did something wrong. He\u2019ll never come in and try to like always give me compliments. He\u2019ll tell me the truth and that\u2019s 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.\u201d
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Deni Avdija – Photo Credit: Washington Wizards<\/p><\/div>
\nThe 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s 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\u2019s just nights that there\u2019s not something you did wrong. We\u2019re trying to find a group or something to kind of get us over the top. Deni\u2019s going to be a good player in this league for a long time and we know that. I know he\u2019s going through a little bit right now. He wants to stop everybody on every possession because he cares about winning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":51087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4074],"tags":[37,4823,1872],"class_list":["post-51076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jews-in-sports","tag-deni-avdija","tag-pat-delany","tag-washington-wizards","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nInside the relationship of Deni Avdija and Wizards assistant coach Pat Delany - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/inside-the-relationship-of-deni-avdija-and-wizards-assistant-coach-pat-delany\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside the relationship of Deni Avdija and Wizards assistant coach Pat Delany - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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