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Joseph Blair’s stint coaching the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Summer League team has ended early but for good reason. According to Fred Katz of The Athletic, Blair is joining the Washington Wizards coaching staff.
The Wizards are hiring Joseph Blair to join Wes Unseld Jr.’s coaching staff, sources tell @JonKrawczynski & myself. Blair spent 2020-21 as a assistant with the Timberwolves & was an assistant with the 76ers before that. He joins Pat Delany & Mike Miller on the front of the bench.
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) August 9, 2021
This will be Blair’s third different assistant coaching job in as many seasons. He spent the 2019-20 season with the Philadelphia 76ers before a one-year stint with the Wolves. Before that, he coached in the G League and was a graduate assistant for the Arizona Wildcats for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 Elite Eight seasons.
Blair, who played at the UA from 1992 to 1996, helped turn around the defense of a Minnesota team that started the 2020-21 season 7-24 but went 16-25 after replacing head coach Ryan Saunders with Chris Finch.
Blair is joining a Wizards’ staff that is now led by first-time head coach Wes Unseld Jr. Washington made some big roster moves this offseason, most notably unloading Russell Westbrook to the Lakers and signing Spencer Dinwiddie to a massive contract.
The Wizards, who turned down trade interest for Bradley Beal, went 34-38 in 2020-21 before losing to the Sixers in the first round of the NBA playoffs.