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Off-season Film Practices and the Washington Wizards (Revisited)

By Bullet Nation in Exile

A few weeks back I posted a speculative piece on film practices over the summer and possible positive impact on the Wizards' culture.  As ZonkerBL astutely pointed out, how did I know they weren't doing this already?  Fortunately, we have the most accessible owner in all of sports.  I asked:

So my question to you (short form) is are there any organized, player or otherwise, film sessions going on?  And (long form, if you have the time) what are the current offseason film practices you’re aware of?  As always, appreciate everything you do for the team and the fans.

And Ted responded: 

In our exit interviews-- we provide an indepth teaching session and season in review ; then hand a stat book and a Ipad update  with film clips and  instructions and what worked--what plays worked-- how the players ran each play correctly and incorrectly.
 
It is very comprehensive.
 
During off season--each player goes and work outs with their own coach-- or one we provide for them; we monitor all sessions.
 
We probably do more than most  teams in terms of video sharing--video coaching as Flip's son is very tech savvy and we were first to use real time  updating on iPads; and we use teh film clips to our benefit personalized to each player.

Wow.  Analysis after the jump.

Well, I think it's safe to say that when we hear the phrase 'exit interview' in the future, it's going to have a whole new operational definition.  There's been a lot of agonizing over blown plays this year, Andray Blatche's blown pick and roll defense against the Celtics stands out, but that also discounts the physical efforts on defense he put in toward the end of the year.  You might even argue that he simply knew Rajon Rondo wanted to pass to Kevin Garnett, seeing as how Rondo did end up missing a runner from four feet away.  But however you felt about it, you wanted to know that it did not pass without comment, and Ted is telling us that if we noticed it, chances are the coaching staff has addressed it.

I also asked how recently the practice was instituted:

We pushed it more diligently this season but Flip and his staff are very innovative; and this is being done all on i[ads so it is realatively a new practice.
An exit interview is one thing.  Integrating the practice with an Ipad's video streaming capability means a player can always reference back to exactly what the coaches want them to work on well after the memory of the exit interview has faded from short term recollection.  This integration of technology was also facilitated by Saunders' son, which shows a little extra of what he brought to the table.  Perhaps this kind of coaching is inevitable, but it's nice to be on the forefront of innovation for once.
This offseason is huge for our current core, and it's good to know the team is reinforcing the importance of staying sharp.