All Wizards Talk
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All Wizards Talk
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SPEAKER_04Welcome back to All Wizards Talking Podcast on the All Sports Talk Network. I'm one of your co-hosts, Bryce Nickens, joined alongside, as always, by Henry J. Brown. Ladies and gentlemen, Wizards just lost another basketball game, but we have a lot more exciting news to talk about besides just the game. So it's going to be interesting. It's pretty exciting to lost the game, though. That's always necessary. It's always necessary to lost the game. It got heated for a little bit during that game. We have a pretty big, you know, feat that was done by Trey Young today as well. That we'll talk about. Um, but you know, some stuff to talk about regarding Trey on his future in DC, the game itself tonight, where they lost against the Rockets, and then some other, you know, some you know, little news that we got to talk about. But first, the game. If you guys were watching, you may have noticed. We uh we had a few ejections.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there was I thought there was only one of there were two ejections. There were two ejections. Um, why don't you give us that Trey Young stat? Because he hasn't made his debut yet, but he was involved in a little scuffle.
SPEAKER_04So I tried, you know, looking it up after I saw that he got ejected to see, okay, um, are there any other players in NBA history that got ejected before they played a minute with their current team? And I couldn't find anyone. So it seems like Trey Young is the first player in NBA history to be ejected without playing a single minute for his current team. And good for him.
SPEAKER_03We said earlier before we started recording, uh, Tony Brothers was ready for him. Uh oh, he was stepped off the sideline. He was on the court for like four seconds and got the boot immediately. I looked over at mid-court, Justin Champagne was waiting to check in, and he just never moved from his tiny little box. They were they were ready. Trey Young has been extremely expressive since becoming a wizard. He's one of the first guys off the bench at all times. Uh, and he's a he's a pro. So they were ready for him to do something, and unfortunately, uh he fell right into the trap. The the Houston Rockets trap, the Tari Eason trap.
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, to be fair, this is not on Trey whatsoever. This is on Tari Eason and the officials tonight because A, it should have never gotten to that point. If you guys saw the clip, Tari Eason was running back on offense. Uh Jameer was guarding him, and all of a sudden, Tari just shoved him. Like, it wasn't even like a little like trying to get ground, you know, basketball move kind of shove. It was full on hands extended at half court, shoves him to the ground. It's like you can't do it all over. Like Watkins like fell on his butt after that. You you can't do that. Come on now. And the officials let it go, they they let it just play on and thought, yeah, no big problem. And they let them shove each other three more times before they actually got into it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you can't let it go on that long. Anyone who's watching knew that Watkins was gonna come back. Like he was looking at it, he was already talking, and I was thinking in my mind, like, give it five seconds. And it wasn't five seconds, it was closer to ten. But they came back, and uh, yeah, this is Tari Eason's uh second, I guess, altercation, if you want to count whatever happened in Utah last week in like a week. Um he ended season for one of those guys with what he was doing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, like like this is this is Atari Eason thing. This is not like it's it's bad because Tari Eason acted like this last season as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, with that being said, um I I was I was I was happy to see that the Wizards guys uh got right in the face of uh Kevin Arant and some of the other rockets because of course KD was right there as soon as things went down. It reminded me of last season. Um Draymond was specific about this. He he got into it with like Keyshawn and Bub. And after he talked about that and just said, like, those guys are they don't care how bad they are. I'm sorry, they don't care how bad the team is. Uh they're ready to talk and they're ready to go at it in a moment's notice. And Bub and Watkins this time, uh, right there in the middle. Oh, I love signs of backing down.
SPEAKER_04Did you did you see Bub at the end rage bait KD into a tech?
SPEAKER_03I didn't see the rage bait. I saw KD kept turning the ball over in really dumb ways. It looked like he was getting really tired.
SPEAKER_04So it was the end of the game, final bucket. Bub scored, open layup, and uh after he scored, he was standing in front of the ball, not letting KD get it, and KD shoved him down.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and he like threw it away, like he like threw it away from KD, and then he also felt like completely sold the fall, and he just laid it like a dead guy for a few seconds. Then the whole bench got up to try to like bring him up and he went limp. Okay, that was good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's not like Whitmore was up there too. This is what I love about this team is the fact that we talked about it. They're not gonna take any crap, like they like Draymond said, they don't care, they're still gonna you know talk their talk, they're gonna do what they want. And to be honest, the guys have been proving that they can with some of these games and performances. Like today, we gotta if we're talking about the game real quick, we gotta shout out one dude who has absolutely balled out the past few games. Bilal Kulabali. I mean, like 23 points, nine to sixteen from the field, five and seven from three.
SPEAKER_03Career high in threes made. Again, sorry for the listening, audience. My voice sounds terrible. I'm coming down with something, but yeah, it's okay.
SPEAKER_05You sound amazing.
SPEAKER_03Um, Balal, five threes made. Um, came into this one over his last 11 games. He was averaging, I think about 11 points on the dot. Um, shooting like in the low to mid 30s from three. And uh this game was everything like that and more. Uh, he was quick getting to his release. He had a pull-up when like he just had the shot. Why not? Top of the key. Um aggressive going to the basket. It had just been everything you want.
SPEAKER_04If you I think in his last five games, I I think in his last five games, he's shooting around 50% from three right now, which is of course that's not gonna continue.
SPEAKER_03You know, nobody can feel it. Like he's you he's willing to end these end these possessions and he's doing a good job of it. He's like so.
SPEAKER_04I'm I'm watching, and his form has improved from when I was there in January and end of December watching some games. His form has improved since then to where he's getting the ball out quicker. It's not like the kind of yeah, he's it's not like he's dipping a ton anymore. There's a slight dip still, but he's gotten rid of like the big one where he went all the way down below his knees and brought it back up. It was almost like and you know how Katie does his free throw routine where he holds it really down low and then comes up. Yeah, it was almost like Bala was doing that on every catch and shoot opportunity and just allowed defenders to get back where you don't see that as often anymore. And you notice it with the past few games, especially in February, where his shooting numbers have went up quite a bit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and he's the guy who like he's now like the star of whatever's left of this wizard season in the sense of he has the most to gain by a strong finish. Um, they they already picked up their team option on him and Whitmore, but they're the two guys who are first round picks from the 2023 draft who are now gonna be up for uh rookie extensions this summer. And uh with Sar and Keyshawn on the horizon, gonna get paid next time, um, a few other recent signings. Balal's the guy who has the most to gain from getting a little bit more security, fitting in with whatever's next for this iteration of the Wizards.
SPEAKER_04No, no doubt. I mean, he he needs to he needs the ball out uh with the rest of the season on the line. I don't think he's gonna get any major extension no matter what he does to end this season. He could he could average 20 points in March, and I still don't think it's gonna change what his extension is gonna look like. You're right. I'm in I'm envisioning something in the four-year 80 million dollar range. That's 80. Oh, that's high. Well, it's that would be around 20, that'd be 20 mil a year, but once again, I think what a lot of people look at when they when they talk contract extensions, salaries, that type of stuff, the NBA, you don't you can't look at at the dollar amount, you gotta look at it percentages. That's around like eight percent of the cap.
SPEAKER_03You're right about that, but like both Denny and Kispert signed for four years, 55, 56 million. I just don't know if Balow make that much more. I'm not sure Bilal has proven anything more than they had by this point in their careers.
SPEAKER_04I I think I think his defense alone is something that kind of you you look at, and I think the you also gotta imagine. I I hate using this as like, imagine what he can do with Trey Young. And hopefully we're gonna see that a little bit, but I think Trey Young is really going to elevate him as a player because it's not like Bilal is the catch-and-shoot guy you want. He's someone you want cutting. He wants, he wants someone off ball where you're driving in, you notice he's cutting baseline, you hand it off to him real quick. And he's got some hops. You can throw up some lobs to him. I'm not, and I don't want to use this as a direct comparison, all right? But you could kind of look at it and be like, it could be a little, you know, Trey Young, John Collins action when they were in Atlanta, where he just has a good lob threat that doesn't really have to set screens for him to get open where he can go baseline right there with him.
SPEAKER_03That's the obvious comp. I actually talked to Bilal and Coach Keith after the game about this exact topic because I mean there's there's a clear this is a Treyong kind of guy. You mentioned John Collins, that's like the comp that we're all gonna think of, like the four who you know dunked sort of space to floor sometimes. He's a better space for now than he was then. Um, but there was one like inbounds play where today where Bilal just caught to the basket, flushed it. After the game, they both talked about activity. I think he's the guy who can gain the most from Trayung's upcoming debut. He's you know would benefit from more narrow rolls.
SPEAKER_04We'll we'll see if the debut's on Thursday, depending on what the NBA decides to do. That'll be so funny if it gets postponed. Because technically, he has to serve a at least a game suspension once you get ejected. You have to serve a game suspension with no pay. I don't know if they're gonna do it once he becomes active off of injury, or if tomorrow's game against the match will be like this is your suspension.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it could happen. Um outside I didn't even think about that. Yeah, because this is such a weird unprecedented situation that he has to do. Right. Um, one more guy before we move on to the trailing thing um about this game. Uh, this was also uh Juju Reese's first game in the NBA. He was on Maryland for years, and I I I saw a fair amount of him, and they also shouted him out after the game. And if the Wizards front court continues on with this unhealthy streak, um no star, no ad, no Vuk, no Gill tonight. They apparently sounded really sick. Um I expect to see a bit more of that. He scored his first bucket. Hey, that's what you got. You got the Gillness.
SPEAKER_04That's what you got the Gillness. Damn it, Gil! Maybe I'm down bad right now. But no, I mean, it's it's not like he did anything like super impressive in his debut, but I mean, like, he he star he started immediately. His NBA debut, he had to start. Yeah, and Shane's the only center of the front court in the torture chamber. I know. What can you do? What what what can you do when someone gets you know 11 free throws against you? What what can you do? What can you do? Which like that's uh I I'm just gonna go off on this real quick because I've been dying to hear the rant. Come on. The the Wizards only lost by five points, like which is impressive. Shot one cheese at the end had something to do with it. They they shot 54% from three, they made 19 threes, 19 and 35. Yes, yes. You want to hear why the wizards lost? Turnovers. No, really? No, I wouldn't say turnovers say yeah. The uh Rockets had more turnovers. They had more.
SPEAKER_03Wizards only had 12. Yeah, Katie and Shangun both had some awful turnovers in the fourth game. Um, it's the free throws. Free throws, yeah. Shangoon was at the end of the road.
SPEAKER_04They shot 28 free throws compared to the Wizards 14. 28. Katie by himself shot 11. That was almost the same amount as the Wizards. You're not you're not gonna win any game when you don't get some of these calls that the other team does, obviously. And of course, late in the game, close game, you're gonna foul a little bit. But like the fact that it was double, I mean, wizards wizards just don't get any love on you know with the whistles because no, obviously, however, they're the wizards, they're not gonna have a whistle like other teams.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's the problem. They are the wizards, and I have a stat nugget just about this. I pray to God I didn't say this in the last podcast, but I think they do lead the league in shooting fouls, and uh, I think like 12% of their possessions end in them fouling an opposing shooter, and they also lead the league in and one's given up. So this is just sort of what they do.
SPEAKER_04It's sort of what they do, but like that was the big difference where like it was the free throw differential. It's not like they shot bad. 48% from the field, 54% from three. Like, you take that. No, usually you win those games when you shoot like that.
SPEAKER_03It could have been a lot uglier. I will say, like, they could have had so many more points at the beginning. They set up so many great plays that bigs couldn't finish. The amount of times where like Katie and Shengud would pass on the short roll to some cutting center and they would bobble the ball. It was like Capella or Amen Thompson a few times. They weren't super clean down there. This could have been way worse than it was. Um, and also again, the last five minutes had something to do with it. That was a really weird end of the game. Really weird game in general.
SPEAKER_04I mean, another thing was like, of course, the rebounding battle. That's another reason why they lost. I wouldn't say it's the main reason. When you look, the main reason is the free throw differential. I mean, let's just be honest. The fact that they got you know 13 more points than you just at the line alone, and you lost by five, that that's gonna kill you. You know, like it's uh that sucks. Always does. Um, but I mean 59 to 27 rebounds is not great either. It's not good. It's not it's not good given the circumstances. Um, I mean, they almost had more they had more offensive rebounds than the Wizards had defensive rebounds. Which wow, and no Steve Adams. No, no Steven Adams. It was it was mainly uh Singoon and Thompson. It was freaking Shingoon.
SPEAKER_03Um with that being said, on the game, a lot of trailing news today outside of his you know now infamous ejection. Um, there's been some extension buzz that I believe you wrote about. You have a brief for us?
SPEAKER_04I I have covered it. I can go ahead and pull up that article. And some of what we have heard is just speculation when we're talking the dollar amount. There is no guarantee on the dollar amount. Let me be clear on that. Let's talk about that immediately. Yeah, Mark Sniper's clear on that too. Yeah, he doesn't want anyone misconstruing that. Yeah, because a lot of people are talking uh tagging him and Troy Halliburton uh in the same post and signaling like Troy Halliburton is expecting it to be a three-year,$120 million deal, which is what I kind of envision it will be as well. I think it's gonna be in that 105, 120 range. Yep. Just being realistic about it. Yeah, it's gonna be team friendly. I think you know it's a good deal uh as well, considering the kind of player Trey Young is. I think it's a good deal. And so, but Mark Stein reported today that he is being advised from his sources to be ready during this summer to get that notification that he signs a three-year extension with the Wizards. And it's not for not any other amount. He has been told it is going to be three years.
SPEAKER_03That's the number we were sort of imagining. Short term, yeah. He's like gonna be around 30 when that expires.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah. And then you have another year, you know, then you can renegotiate and be like, look, like we really like what you've been doing here with us. Let's try to get you back on here and go for a similar deal if if he's still up that grid, like, hey, look, you're older now. It's obvious you've been starting to decline a little bit. Maybe we go a little bit cheaper and go the 30 million a year route.
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SPEAKER_03I can see that happening. I there and I believe there's also like a deadline until these kind of extension talks can really happen. That has to be a summer conversation. So that's part of why everyone has to be really careful about what they're saying for what they're hearing about a potential training extension. But that's one of the reasons why. There's a few reasons why I think he's gonna be debuting hopefully soon. One of them is I think they just want Adam Silver off their back just to show, hey, we are willing to play some guys. You know, the tank is more ethical than the other.
SPEAKER_04Well, I think it is. I think there's two reasons why they decided to make his debut uh uh, you know, right now against the Jazz. Who knows what happens with what the NBA decides to do for his punishment for the ejection because standard protocol is he gets suspended one game without pay. Well, is that gonna be when he's finally listed as healthy? Is it gonna be you know tomorrow's game at the time recording this against the Orlando Magic? What's it gonna be? We don't really know. Still figuring it out. We'll see once more time passes. But I mean, Sean reported it today that um he will make his team debut on Thursday against Utah Jazz at home. It isn't a he, you know, it is expected, you know, uh it is rumored he will. It was a clear cut. This is when he's making his debut. And Keith talked about it pregame. You were there, um, how he's gonna be out of minutes restriction. It's gonna be 17 to 20 minutes, as which it makes sense because the two reasons I see him playing against Jazz is a it's a good first team to play against when you're coming back from an injury. Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, at least I I get it. Some some fans were not happy, spoils the tank off. Um, for trans purposes, I like it. Get loose. This game has as few stakes as honestly that's not true. These tank off games actually do have stakes, but there's not much in the sense of no not much competition to be to be worried about.
SPEAKER_04Well, I and for the ones that are worried about the tank, that's why he has that minutes restriction in place. Okay, you're gonna see other players randomly get put on minutes restrictions as well, like we have seen them do against other tanking teams. For some reason, Keyshawn George, Trey Johnson, Bub Carrington, they're not gonna play that fourth quarter and half of the third quarter. So don't worry about the tank being spoiled by what I've seen some people say on the timeline of Trey Young being back, and just because he's back does not mean he's playing every game to finish the season.
SPEAKER_03No, and as you said, this is not your grandma's minutes restriction. Other teams that I think are in more win-now situations would backload the minutes where the Wizards are not afraid to bring out the G Leaguers at the end of these games after playing all the time.
SPEAKER_04They'll they'll play 14 of those 17 to 20 minutes in the first half alone, and then he'll finish out his minutes restrictions in the third corner. You see him sub out with six minutes left in the third and not come back in, but he'll give you a smooth 15 and like eight and his first game back. Yep. Finish the game watching Sharif Cooper with the rest of us. Oh, yeah. And the second reason I think they're making his debut against the Jazz is kind of what you said to get the monkey off the back of, like, hey, like, look, we're not outright taking here. We're playing our star. Look at this, but it's against the Jazz, so like who really cares?
SPEAKER_03If he plays on Thursday, I'll be very bummed if he doesn't play on Thursday, because then I'd have to wait a while longer to see him in person.
SPEAKER_04I know, and so I have been blessed to see him in person a few times. He is an electric player to watch. I'll I'll say that. He is a very electric player to watch. But I mean, like looking at the upcoming schedule, I could see him play against Utah, maybe that game against the Pelicans as well, because he'll have three days of rest. And so um just looking at it, games I see him play this season. Utah, New Orleans, those two I think make sense. I think Boston makes sense as well. I think because like that'll be like his first, like, okay, you are now a almost two weeks back from your injury. Let's see how you do against you know, tougher competition. And I would say the same thing with one of the games against Detroit, probably that first one, the game against the Thunder. I want to say he wants to play against the Knicks because I mean Knicks fans just hate him. I think that'd be electric to watch him play against the Knicks. Is that in the garden? But uh yes.
SPEAKER_03Oh, sweet.
SPEAKER_04I I think that'd be electric to watch. And so I hope for that. So that puts us at one, two, three, four, five, six. Um uh another game against Utah with a lot of rest, seven. And then maybe like the Portland game, eight, maybe the Philly or Miami game, one of those two. You'll now be at nine, and then probably one of the Chicago games to end the year, ten. So he's he's gonna play around 10 games realistically at the end of the year. And so, and that's almost half of them, but it's not like the majority of these games are against the tanking teams. Good amount of them are against teams that are fighting to make the play-in, fighting to get out of the play into the playoffs, or trying to remain as the one seed of their conference.
SPEAKER_03Yep, a lot of East Scum, I'm hearing. Um, a lot of potential other tank-offs down the line. As hard as the Wizards' remaining schedule is, um, at least about the between 10 and 12 games you're you're outlining. That's sort of what we had when he first got traded here. We assumed he wouldn't be maxing out the games. We were like, this guy's gonna play a little bit at the end. Um, nothing that should foil the pick.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, nothing, nothing that should foil the pick. So, like, just being honest, and we can go ahead and look at the schedule of what I envision as wins and losses to in the year. And we can go through this together as well to just show you that the tank is. Not dead. So right now the wizards are 16 and 44 now. Alright. Next game is against the magic. I think we can agree that is a loss because it's tomorrow, second night of back to back.
SPEAKER_03Expect a lot of guys out for it. They better. The magic, the magic stink though. So I wouldn't be surprised. If you get strategic in the wrong night, they can look really not good. I know.
SPEAKER_04But let's say magic, it's a loss. Okay. They're now 16 and 45. Right? We agree. Math checks out. Um Utah. Let's say they win this game. All right. Let's say Trey Young is just that good to where they get to a 30-point lead after the first half for some reason. Good lord. All right. Let's say that. They win against Utah. There's now 17 and 45. Loss against New Orleans, because New Orleans got to try to win. Yep. Okay. 17 and 46. Miami, I think that's a loss as well. 17 and 48.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04Another game against Orlando. I would assume that's a loss. Unless Orlando just completely craps the bed again. Wouldn't shock me. It wouldn't shock me. Let's say it's a loss, 17 and 49. Boston, obvious, 17 and 50. Golden State, it's kind of the same thing as the Magic thing, but I think the Warriors are a better team than the Magic.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I guess I guess. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I I think I I think it depends if Curry is back by then, and I would assume he would be back by then. The Warriors probably win, I think. Yeah. And so Warriors probably win 17 and 51. Uh Detroit, 17 and 52. Detroit again, 17 and 53. Warriors are not going to get him again. They already got their one to two. OKC, 17 and 54. New York, 17 and 55. Utah, let's give them that win as well. Why not? 18 and 55. Golden State again, probably going to lose that. 18 and 56. Portland, probably going to lose that because they're trying to fight in that play-in right now. Yep. 17 and 57, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_0417 and 58. Wait, wait, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_03It's 18 because you gave both Utah wins.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah. 18 and 57. Lakers, 18 and 58. Philly, 18 and 59. Miami, 18 and 60. Brooklyn. Let's give him that win. Why not? 19 and 60. Uh Chicago, 19 and 61. Chicago again, 19 and 62. Miami, 19 and 63. Cleveland, 19 and 64. Is my math right on that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was Utah, Utah, Brooklyn.
SPEAKER_04My math's not right. My math's not right. It'd be 19 and 63 to make it 82 games. That's what I heard. Maybe I've dismissed 82 games.
SPEAKER_03But still, that is a horrid record. I feel like if any teams are gonna get you, that Miami and Chicago cluster, they're gonna burn you. Like you're gonna lose one, maybe multiple of those games. Also, one of the Orlando or Golden State games. I can see those swinging.
SPEAKER_04So let's give them let's give them three more wins then. That puts them at 22 wins. Yeah. Alright. That just means Utah can only like if Utah wins four more games, which is very possible for them, all right, they're still below the Wizards in standing. Yep. If New Orleans only wins three more games, they're still below them in standings. Dallas, it doesn't matter. They're gonna be above them no matter what now because they have 21 wins. Memphis, they got 23, wouldn't it matter? Chicago, they got 25, wouldn't it matter? Milwaukee, like that's the thing. There's only two teams that you really got to worry about, and one of them is actively trying to win.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's good that you mentioned Dallas has 21 already because Dallas is actually like really threatening some other tank teams. And also, Chicago, I just want to mention I saw Chicago lead the league and wins uh over teams above 500. So Chicago's actually really good at losing the teams like the Wizards. So keep an eye out for that.
SPEAKER_04Definitely keep an eye on that. But like that's my point with people that are worried about the tank with the amount of games left this season and how many realistic wins they have. Wizards only have five to six more realistic wins. That puts them in the 21 to 22 range. So that means there's only three teams that can't surpass them now at that rate, if that is their rate to win 20 to 22 games realistically. And like I said, let's give them 19 wins like I was predicting. Okay, that means Utah can only allow one more win this season if they want a chance to surpass the Wizards.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'll be I'll be that the hate watch will be on.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and so like that's just my whole thing with this. Like with people that are worried about with Trey Young now back, the tank is over, that's seriously threatened. It really isn't.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know you're right in theory. I just I just struggle mentally with that with that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_04I know, and it's scary to think about losing that pick. I get it, guys. It is really scary to think about losing that pick. I I know it is, all right. However, like I said though, it's actually in their favor right now to retain that pick because, like I mentioned, we can look at Utah's schedule coming up because, like I said, we give the Wizards five wins. Realistically, they could get five more wins. Okay. Let's see what Utah has coming up before they get to 21 wins. They're at 18 right now, which means they only got three more. They're playing the Nuggets right now. I know earlier it was close. The Nuggets are freaking out themselves right now.
SPEAKER_03I'm not surprised.
SPEAKER_04They they lost by three.
unknownJesus.
SPEAKER_04The Jazz did. But looking at some of these games coming up that they, you know, have on their schedule. So they got Washington twice. I would assume Washington drops one of those games. But let's say for our scenario where we said Washington picked up both against them, they don't. All right. They still got Milwaukee. They still got Sacramento. I think they beat Sacramento because Sacramento has just been hot garbage. That wouldn't shock me.
SPEAKER_03However, actually, I would I would I don't know. That could be a real toss-up. Sacramento's been winning games recently. They they have been.
SPEAKER_04That can be a real toss-up, but but still, like let's say, let's give Utah that one because they're the worst team in the league. All right. That now puts Utah at 19 wins right there. They have um a game against Memphis. That's another 120. A game against New Orleans. New Orleans, even though they're trying to win, they've also still been bad. And Utah, it's not like they don't have a competent team either.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Thank God the Jazz had like a decent start to the season. They were like beating good teams for a while, and that's the Cush and the Wizards are back down right now.
SPEAKER_04But like I'm just being honest. I mean, the Wizards are gonna like I think the Wizards and Jazz split. I do. I do that in the in the scenario. I gave Washington both wins. I just think one of those games is gonna be an utter tank-off between the two, and I think the Wizards are gonna do everything that they can to lose one game. If that means only having eight players active, by God, only have eight players active, you split with Utah. You do not do what you did with Indiana and let Indiana take the series, you don't do that.
SPEAKER_03No, they can't do that with multiple of these other tanking teams.
SPEAKER_04You you gotta you gotta split the series with Washington. So if that does happen, that then went our with our prediction. You take one of those wins away from um Washington. Washington's now at 20 wins. That means the Jazz would only be allowed to win two more games to still have a chance to pass Washington in the standings. If they win three, they're automatically below. So this this is just my whole point. The numbers are in the wizards' favors right now. They are.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I just I yeah, you just can only hope as a as a fan of like the tanking process that uh if such a you know concept exists, a fan of tanking. Um, a fan of the Wizard's tank job, that uh the traying experiment doesn't end up just turning them into a halfway decent team for whatever's left. But uh, I guess we'll have to see. Um we'll we'll have to see.
SPEAKER_04And then like with Brooklyn, um, because that's the only uh because that's a team ahead of them right now. I just want to talk about them coming up with their schedule to show that the tank is still alive. Do not worry. I mean, their next two games are against Miami, and we know Miami, they're a really fringe team. Um, Atlanta's picking it up now. Jonathan Gaminga looks really good with them. I won't. He does, he's he looks free, but I mean, they have uh two games against Miami, one against Memphis, they got one against Sacramento, or no, they got two against Sacramento. They still got one with Washington, like they got another one against Indiana, to where like realistically the Nets could finish in the 20 to 22 win range because of how easy their schedule is left. So, like, that's that's the point I'm trying to make here is like even though Trey Young is back, everyone else's schedule kind of shows like, hey, it's still in the Wizards' favor to finish with a bottom four record.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yeah, and that's I I think they still have a good chance of doing that. I'm just a scared guy. Um, one more bit of housekeeping before we forget. Um we didn't mention uh another signing that happened between the training weird rumors and uh the Vuksevich extension. Uh Jamir Watkins also demanded uh his first pro contract signed last week. He's gonna have I believe next year on a team option. And good for him. And good for him.
SPEAKER_04Good for him to get that ext uh that team option on that as well. They're definitely gonna have to make decisions because I mean, I think after the draft, if I was looking at the roster correctly, let's say they pick up Jameer's team option, they'll be up 15 exactly. And so I'll be really intrigued to see what they do on draft night because you know they they have the opportunity to trade back up into the first round, but if they do, that means someone's gotta go.
SPEAKER_03I don't think it would be Watkins, though, because we talked about this.
SPEAKER_04I don't think so either.
SPEAKER_03Because they also signed him to the deal when he'd played about 30 games, there's about 20 left, and I feel like you wouldn't do that deal if you didn't want to keep a two-way deal. I would think so as well.
SPEAKER_04I I think if anyone else goes, it would be like you know, I'm I'm sorry to say this, it might be Cam Whitmore. I agree, and so it feels bad to say it considering everything he's gone through. But I mean, Jaden Hardy's looked really good in the same role that Cam Whitmore was asked to do at the beginning of the season. Yeah, you don't need both of them, you don't need both. You got to make the decision who do you want to keep, especially if you try to trade in the end of that first round. But if you don't, it doesn't matter then because you have 15 with both of them on the team, so it's fine. It's just a matter of like, man, like what what do you want to do with them? That's that's the question.
SPEAKER_03We'll have to keep tabs on that. Um, I I'd rather hurt you by a hair, but again, we're more thing, it just went so poorly, uh, in a way that he couldn't control. I feel for the guy.
SPEAKER_04His fault.
SPEAKER_03No, but some move is gonna have to be made uh at the end of the season, and I wonder how that goes now that they've extended a few of the fringe guys. But that's that's all I really got right now. Entertaining game and some other actual wizards protagonist-y news going on elsewhere.
SPEAKER_04I know. I I really enjoyed it. This stretch that we've seen, I've really enjoyed from players, prospects we you know that we're looking at, uh the tank itself, news about Trey Young has been really nice in the stadium.
SPEAKER_03Like, there's there's like there's a lot of fans sometimes who show up and they're fans of like another team and just there to watch them play the wizards. Um, even when a team with the Rockets was there with a guy like Kevin Durant, you could still feel like the Wizards energy was there, and this place is just just bubbling, waiting for Trey Young and Anthony Davis and exciting hoops. Like they're they're getting really ready.
SPEAKER_04No doubt. And then the fan hit the half-court shot. That was awesome. 10k in the pocket. 10k. He said he's spinning it all on Wizards gear, though. So uh I don't think that's a great use of your finances, but go for it, man. Well, you do the same thing. I can see all the jerseys uh above your bed right now. Hey, buddy, buddy, buddy, buddy, buddy. That's called DHK. That's that's called DHkate, man. You you think you think I'm going to fanatics to spend damn near$150 on a jersey that they're just gonna iron press on and might get the name wrong on the back, mess up. I'll have, you know, already like it's stretched out a little bit, and it's gonna be cuts in the jersey already because fanatics is a horrible company that doesn't know how to treat their customers right. No, I ain't doing that. Nah, screw that. I'll go I'll go through DH Gate to like die.
SPEAKER_03I can't wait till next year when I look above your bed and I just see like there's a Jaden Hardy jersey, uh Sharif Cooper. Oh my David. Oh my goodness. And uh what's it?
SPEAKER_04Hopefully, hopefully next year I got a new apartment where I can like have an actual office.
SPEAKER_03There we go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Will you still invite the cat in by that point? I mean, like, the cat the door is open, the cats are allowed in.
SPEAKER_03Or is this like is this the cat's apartment when you just live there?
SPEAKER_04Come here. You want to make an appearance? You want to make an appearance? Say hi. Say hi. He's not gonna say hi. But they're still allowed in, see? They're still allowed in here. Kitty cat. But yep, and so but that's an episode. We did it. We're gonna close out the podcast. What a way to close it out with a cat coming on here and not saying anything. But that's all we got. Thank you guys for listening. As always, we appreciate we appreciate each and every single one of you. There we go. Words are hard. All right. But like I said, thank you guys for always tuning in. We'll see you in the next one. Peace.
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