Unseld Jr. had a great nickname as Wizards assistant coach originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Before Wes Unseld Jr. became the 25th head coach in Wizards franchise history, he got his start in the NBA as an assistant coach with the team in 2005 under head coach Eddie Jordan.
Unseld Jr. spent three years on Jordan's staff and six years in total with Washington, but in his early years with the organization, he earned himself a nickname within the coaching staff.
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"Well, we had a veteran staff with Michael O'Koren and Randy Ayers, Tom Young, Phil Hubbard, and we all said we're going to name him 'The Genius,'" Jordan told NBC Sports Washington's Chris Miller. "So that was his nickname from Day One. The first week we said, hey, he is sharper than we thought, his reputation preceded him, he was good, so we called him 'The Genius.' Every day he was 'The Genius' to us."
Unseld impressed Jordan and the other assistant coaches on the Wizards with his preparation and overall communication skills with the players. He knew what needed to be done on the floor, and he made sure the players knew what was expected of them to go out and execute.
"His messaging, he started out as a scout. But when he was on the bench, his messaging was clear, concise, no-nonsense," Jordan said. "And he was astute, he was just detail-oriented and he could deliver that to the players. He'd deliver that to us at our coaches meetings."
Another quality that stuck out to Jordan, was that a younger assistant like Unseld Jr., who was just 33 years old at the beginning of his coaching career, was his ability to be firm with players when the situation called for it.
"He didn't have a bailout for the players," Jordan said. "You know, players will always look for a bailout with an assistant coach or a younger guy on the staff. He says, 'Look, this is how it is. This how it should be.' When he did his on-court teaching or scouting or walk throws, he said 'This is how we're going to play it, this is the best way to do it and we're going to try this. No matter what you said or what you may say, players, we're going to do it this way.'
"So he's not a bailout guy. You know, as a young assistant on staff. He was sharp and we relied on him to deliver the message in the walk-through and in the meetings."
Unseld Jr. will now take on the challenge of not only getting the Wizards to the playoffs but winning in a postseason setting. He helped the Nuggets get out of the first round in 2019 and 2021 as well as reach the conference finals in 2020.
If you ask Jordan, he thinks the Wizards made a great choice.
"The Wizards are fortunate to have him because he could have gone to any other team," Jordan said. "He's been a sought-after assistant for a long time. Everyone is blessed that it's the Wizards who chose him and he accepted and he's going to do a great job for them. It's just it's meant to be. It's a perfect fit."
