Washington has moved into its second round of interviews for its vacant head coaching position and the franchise will interview Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr. on Thursday and Mavs assistant Jamahl Mosley on Friday, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. The team previously interviewed each candidate once before.
The Wizards reportedly narrowed down their candidates heading with Unseld Jr. and Mosley as just two of the names that advanced into the second round. Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee remain in contention as well, though neither is expected to interview with the Wizards again until after the NBA Finals conclude.
The Wizards interviewed Kevin Young ahead of their second round of interviews, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Young is currently serving as an assistant coach for the Suns.
Scotto tabs Young as a possible name to monitor as teams continue looking to fill coaching vacancies. The Suns are in the NBA Finals this year, and their coaching staff deserves a ton of credit for that. Young has been instrumental in the team’s success thus far and could continue to draw interest in the near future.
Latest Draft Buzz
As things currently stand, the Wizards hold the No. 15 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. That draft slot has the team linked to one of the most prolific young scorers in this year’s class.
LSU’s Cam Thomas was the subject of a recent NBC Sports article by Tyler Byrum. Thomas, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard, averaged 23.0 points per game on 40.6% shooting from the field this past season. He has a bag filled with scoring tricks — pull-ups, side-steps, step-backs — and could specialize in isolation scoring in the future. He also works hard when playing off-ball and relocates better than most players in this class.
Connecticut guard James Bouknight is another prospect in the mold of someone like Thomas. He may not be available when the Wizards pick but if he is, his scoring prowess would be difficult for Washington to pass on. Byrum compared the hypothetical selection of Thomas to that of Bouknight in his report.
“He would be an electric scorer off the bench, more so than even what Bouknight would provide. A microwave scorer would be huge to add to a Wizards squad that lacked depth for much of the past several seasons. Additionally, there’s potential to be a catch-and-shoot option if rotated into the starting rotation. He may be a volume shooter but has shown to do well even in short spurts.”
Thomas boasts an attacking mindset and a clear floor as a volume scorer. With that said, he does need to work on his vision and secondary playmaking abilities in order to reach his ceiling. He lacks great size for a shooting guard and displays varying effort on defense. Nevertheless, he’d be a lethal addition to the Wizards’ backcourt.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post
