All Wizards Talk
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All Wizards Talk
The Sam Merrill Nightmare...
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SPEAKER_05Welcome back to All Wizards Talk, a podcast on the All Sports Talk Network. I'm Bryson Aggins, joined alongside, as always, by Henry Brown. Ladies and gentlemen, Wizards just lost another basketball game. Common phrase we've been saying on the pod here a ton whenever we do these post-game videos. But uh like we were talking about before we started recording, it was relatively uh like competitive. You mentioned like the meat of it, second and third quarter was competitive, but like overall, it wasn't a bad loss.
SPEAKER_03It some some starts are hard to overcome. That got so nasty to start that I'm just I'm just happy that that was that was competitive and gave us things to talk about because those first I think they scored 25 points in five minutes to start the game, and I was like, this is gonna be instantly unwatchable. I text you that. I was like, what are we gonna do for the next like two hours? But that was that that was actually that was salvageable. They they semi-salvaged that, and then just the better team won. I can't be mad at that. Yeah, no, you can't.
SPEAKER_05I mean, Donovan Mitchell had 30. And no, I think Harden had a rough night. I'll be honest.
SPEAKER_03Who did Harden. He Harden did have a rough night. However, man, he like he's gonna get the Wizards every time of drawing those fouls. He had so many free throws in this game, and even Mitchell.
SPEAKER_0510 of his 13 came from the line, dude.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this is this is three losses in a row for the Wizards. I just checked. Um, even Mitchell, I thought Keyshawn defended him well uh at a few points, but again, can only do so much. Like the Wizards are missing Saur and a few other all-stars, and these are the Cavs. Cavs have been really good recently.
SPEAKER_05Cavs have been red hot. I think oh, I I can't remember what time frame it was, but they said it on the broadcast where like yeah at some point they have been like the best team in the league by record. Yeah, I'd assume they're one of they're one of the three or four best teams of the new year, I'd assume. Oh, definitely. And they're I they're definitely one of the teams that won the trade deadline. I mean, upgrading to James Harden from an injured Darius Garland. Oh my goodness, having a dude that can lob it up to him a little bit and knows how to play with a post.
SPEAKER_03Wizard's got a guy uh in the trade too. We saw him today. What did you think of uh the hardy party?
SPEAKER_05The Hardy party, my good friend Marcel Martin over at Mavericks Digest. Anytime I would what he always does these little live stream watch alongs for the games. Anytime Hardy would go in, he would say it's it's time for the Hardy party. And it was a hardy party. It was a party. It was. I mean, quick 15 minutes of action, but he had 11 points on three of five shooting from distance. That's like and you you wrote about it. You talked about him as well, how like you're getting you're getting an instant score in hard. Hardy. That's that's that's what you you're getting.
SPEAKER_03His first shot was the kind of shot that you only take it if you're the if you're the kind of guy who can make this kind of shot. It was like sprinting into the corner, three on the move, made it. His form is a little weird. I think I forgot about that. I haven't watched Jaden Hardy at all this season. I watched him in the past seasons. He has this sort of weird form where he shoots sort of low, but it goes in. I was comparing him actually in my mind to uh Cam Whitmore, actually, because I think he's just taking that role. We said that on our last pod with uh Greg Sandberg. Um but I think Hardy's actually a much better fit because he's not only a better shooter by the stats, uh, he also just his game is simpler. Like he's a pure play finisher, some of these possessions, and he doesn't do more than he has to. He shoots threes if he's open, doesn't do this stupid sidestep into like a harder three. Um he can make them 37% for his career, and I felt it tonight.
SPEAKER_05He he's he's never been a I say key contributor. He did have a decent role with the Mavericks during their championship run when they made it to the finals. Now they got destroyed because that Celtics team was practically unbeatable, but he did he did play a major role for the Mavericks in that playoff run for them. And I'm not saying Hardy is going to have the same role in Washington. I I'm not, but I'm just I like I'm thinking of it. If he can just improve defensively, because you don't got to ask Hardy to be, you know, someone that's gonna get you three assists a night. You like he's the type of guy where you like you know you'll be lucky to get one assist. Yeah, and then so he's a score, all right? He's not gonna go in there fighting for boards. If you can just get him to buy in defensively a little bit, you you have a solid rotational player in him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's I I can I can see the vision. I can. He he fit pretty quickly, and he has the kind of aggression that the starting lineup definitely didn't have when they got rolled to begin with. Like I think Bilal was the only guy who was taking any shots to begin with, and he disappeared. Bilal had a good game too. He did, and I didn't think he was going to because he got sort of banished to the bench when uh the wizards sort of got back in the game, but at least he's aggressive, and sometimes that's what you need when you're against superior competition.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, like only 13 points, but he he was uh you know guarding hard in a good amount in the game as well. He limited Donovan Mitchell to two seven from three. I mean, like he is just a perimeter presence where like no matter like where you are on the floor, you're going to feel him. And he had two steals as well. And like what I'm finding most impressive is his his field goal percentage is gradually getting better. He's never he's he hasn't been a good scorer this season, especially from distance. I mean, one for four from distance tonight, but five of nine from the field, like I'll take that from him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm looking at his numbers now. It is getting a bit better, uh, even though it's still so rocky. But he has these games where he pokes his head above water and you feel those.
SPEAKER_05Oh, and like that's all you like, all you gotta ask of him is, and I think some of it is going to change with Trey Young as oh yeah, you know, I feel like Balal has the leaping ability and athleticism to be this cutter and you know, rim runner. Having a guy like Trey Young being able to find a guy like that constantly now, I think that will increase his efficiency a little bit next season, as we know. Trey Young, if he does play this year, it'll be like five, maybe, maybe ten games, maybe if we're lucky.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And I mean, like, how much do you even need Trey Young? You saw Sharif Cooper tonight. Oh my goodness, Sharif Cooper. Where were you when Sharif Cooper and uh Sam Merrill battled it out?
SPEAKER_03I can't believe the duel that that that just happened. Like the Merrill stuff was I mean, only certain kind of shooters get in that kind of zone. He missed one shot the entire game. And what a relief that shot was. I I couldn't believe that missed these don't hit the rim. He had like two two two-pointers. It was yeah, he only had two.
SPEAKER_05Dude, it he was the leading scorer for the Cavs tonight. I'm not surprised. He hit nine threes. What are you gonna do against that? But no, Sharif Cooper, I mean, it's a little bit of a resurgence for him.
SPEAKER_03It's uh it can be wild, but when he's on, he's really helpful because he also knows what to do with the ball, even though sometimes it just ends up with the wrong team. He has a vision, and at least there you can say that.
SPEAKER_05I mean, like four of nine from the field, three of five from deep. He had six boards and five assists. Now, granted, he did have three turnovers, which I don't like. You know, like it gotta limit turnovers, of course, but it's not like he was the only one that did that. Bub also had three. Oh, yeah. Uh Keyshawn had two. So it's like it's not like he was the only one that turned the ball over a decent amount tonight, like a few guys did, but I mean, it's it's been surprising. It's just I don't know if it's enough to like quantify giving him a standard deal or bringing him back.
SPEAKER_03Probably not a standard deal, but I don't think he's how many years in the league is this like his second season? He was drafted in 2021. Yeah, I know he's drafted a while ago, but I think so.
SPEAKER_05I think I I don't know if he can have a two-way contract anymore, is the thing after the season.
SPEAKER_03Has he been in the league all those seasons? I think this is his second season. He can still he has one more season. He was a rookie with the Hawks in after the 21 draft. Didn't play for three years in another league. So this is his second season, so I think he's always worth one more after this. If he's on a two-way.
SPEAKER_05Maybe. I'm checking it out right now, his contract history. Uh one, two. This is his third two-way.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it's a third two-way. Okay, then wait, a third two way, like really Yeah. 21, 22, and then this year. Oh, mine doesn't say 22. Well, there we go. Um so they'll have to get creative. Balls in your core, Dawkins.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's unless I'm just reading it wrong. I could be reading it wrong, but I mean, even then. Like, even then, is it enough to justify bring bringing him back a two-way player that's gonna be 25 years old?
SPEAKER_03I mean, for I don't think age matters much for as long as you're eligible for a two-way, I don't care how old you are because I mean you're already on the fringe, you're not like a core piece, you're just here to help. Maybe you will, maybe you won't.
SPEAKER_05Well, they're they're definitely gonna feel fill one of those thoughts in the draft. I I think we can agree they'll at least use one second round pick to take someone, especially in a draft class like this, where you know, like a guy like JT Toppin might not even go the first round, which is insane to think. Yeah, a player of his capabilities might drop to the second round. That's how stacked this class is, and so you of course want to use a second round draft pick. He might even use two, keeping that in mind. And so that's where it gets tricky, where it's like, do you like can you quantify giving him another two-way deal next season? Considering you can get some younger guys in the draft that are projected to have three second-round picks right now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and you know Vuksevich won't have a two-way deal because he's already ready to the season.
SPEAKER_05He he can't have a two-way deal anymore. And so, yeah, and that's like there's a bunch of conversations that Dawkins and the team is gonna have to have regarding do we give this guy a two-way? Do we move him up to standard? It's like that's the thing with Tristan is he, I remember Mark Stein posted about it the other day. He only has nine regular season games left on this two-way deal.
SPEAKER_03They're creeping up, he's he's being deployed like every game right now, which is the last thing I want to say about this game. Did you notice the weird little they're basically alternating Watkins and Anthony Gills, like the small ball center? I thought that was that's it's a really interesting strategy where Watkins has like the strength, um, and Gil has has the size, and they're gonna suffer against like someone like Jared Allen when you can't fake size against a guy like that. But yeah, I'm gonna keep tabs in that because if you're rotating the third place and trying hard on the boards, they're they're they're hustling, just trying to create extra possessions and it's showing, and it didn't pan out as poorly as it might if you're just looking at physical measurements.
SPEAKER_05And like, I just want to take a moment to shout out Gil. I mean, like in these kind of taking games, he's he's been kind of nice.
SPEAKER_03He is. He's just go up strong by the rim, uh just connect on the passes that you get from the outside, and we'll take it. Try hard. I mean, try hard.
SPEAKER_05That Detroit win, he played 30 minutes and had 11 points. Like, yeah, he's been he's been solid. Like, I I gotta give flowers when they're two. I mean, he he like I unfortunately view him as like the mascot of the team. If that may like Yeah, he's like Nick Collison, your boy. Exactly. Like, you know, like what Jay Will is right now with the Thunder. When that team is healthy, he doesn't play. But like he like when you think of like, you know, like oh, like you know, who is like kind of like the especially for like people in the area, who is the face of this team? Okay, like sure they'll they'll say Shay, but a lot of people are gonna say Jaywill because just he's active in the community, he's hilarious. I mean he's he's never he's never upset. He's got the gift, the gift of Gab, some people would say.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, I guess that's that's that's Gil. He sets a good example off the court and on because again, he's at least in the right places and he's he's doing his part. I mean, the Brooklyn loss, you played 28 minutes at nine and five.
SPEAKER_05Like he's solid, he's he hasn't been bad, is the thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for a for a 15th man bumped up to 10th man status. You take that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, though the Lakers lost, the loss, he almost had a double double.
SPEAKER_03That game was an hour of garbage time, I feel like. But good for Gill.
SPEAKER_05He he's he's been a tank commander, and like I feel bad that I called him the mascot, but that's just what it feels like. It's like he he's you know, he's the pros pro. He's gonna go in there, do his work, and I love how he wears like no accessories. He wears like baggy shorts, bad baggy jersey. He's going out there, and like it is truly you're seeing some like 6'3 old man at the rec league at like 60 years old with this giant beer gut, and all he's doing is banging you down low, just uh, uh, uh, and then just going up for like a routine, you know, like bump shot where like perfect form.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for the record, that's not what Gil looks like, but but with accessories, Bryson is imagining a uh a guy with a beer gut.
SPEAKER_05Yes, I am, but like that's just how he plays. Like, pro is pro. He plays like you're at the rec league, you're going against this dude that just has the bigger body than you, and he's gonna do like he's gonna be super mechanical.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. And and I think we're gonna see even more of that uh with the rotation going forward. And I know you and I both have some thoughts on what these guys have to improve over the back 30 games. Would you like to start with that? With like uh, you want to draft our our best ideas?
SPEAKER_05I want to do, I want to talk about one more guy real quick because you briefly mentioned him. Okay, and so Jameer. I give him a standard. Oh, Jamie Spot. Yeah, yeah, I love it. I give him a standard. I mean, seven to sixteen tonight. The three-point shot still has to improve. He went two of eight. That's gonna be something that they're gonna have to work on him with. But I mean, like the defense is there where like he give him a standard, see what happens. I mean, 16 points tonight, seven to sixteen, like I mentioned. He didn't have any counting stats, but you could definitely feel his presence. You could feel his presence on that end.
SPEAKER_03He's strong, he's six six, uh, and he knows where to go, he's mature. And I'm actually gonna cut in line and just get one of the things I'm most excited about for them to do for the rest of the season out of the way and say, I like that he's going up strong and just trying to do more on offense because I think it'll be easy for some people to sort of put him in this box as a guy who only plays defense and uh shoot the occasional corner three, maybe it'll sky the rim, maybe it'll go in. Because in college, he did toward his latter days average like 16-18 a game when he was when he was a senior in college. And I feel like it's good for him to tap back into just trying. If you're by the rim, you have a good chance of being stronger than someone else that you're up against. So I like the idea of him just being an option in the dunker spot. That's something I want to see more of over the next few months.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I definitely want to see that. He's been going up stronger over the next few months. I do, like I said, I want to see his three-point shot improve. We know defensively, like you could arguably make the case he is the best perimeter defender on this team. It's him or Bilal. I think it's Jameer. So, like you like, you gotta make but like I said, if you think it's him, it's a great case to make. He's he's been elite defensively. It's just that three-point shot. I mean, if you're gonna be good on defense as a guard, you have to have a three-point shot on the other end if you want to be successful, and so it's and that's the problem that Bilal has. But we can go ahead and get into it now, talking about it. My my first thing really is I uh as much as I love watching the guys like Sarr and Keyshawn play together, as soon as March 1st hits, I don't want to see them play more than 20 minutes a game. I'm gonna be honest. I don't play him more than 20 minutes a game because A, I don't want to risk them getting hurt because look what happened to Keyshawn the other night. Look what happened with Trey, where he had to sit out six games before coming back tonight and had an absolute stinker because of all that rust. I don't want these guys to get an injury that's also going to potentially sideline them for at the start of next season as well. It's just I am on the boat of look, play them a little bit. I'm fine with that. Given their run in the first half, then second half, I don't want to see them at all.
SPEAKER_03Don't luckily for you, the team's already sort of inching in that direction, and the rest of the league is has has taken notice of how little the snarters have played in some of these losses. But I think when they're and and in this game, they were down by so much so quickly. So I'm surprised they did end up playing as much as they did.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was surprising. Like Bilal played a decent amount. Uh, and so like it's it's stuff like that. But like I said, as soon as March 1st hits your first game is on March, you know, and month March is March 2nd against Houston. I like either go you play one game and you rest two games, play one game, rest two games, or be like, look, you'll keep playing. If we want to play it safe, we'll go ahead and rest you a game here, but you're not getting more than 20 minutes. You'll get your run so you don't get rusty. You can still try to improve a little bit, go against top-tier talent because they do have a stretch where like there will be teams fighting for that one seed or have you know home advantage in the playoffs. Yeah. Like, you know, like Detroit, Cleveland, and New York are going to make a push for them. Detroit's, you know, like they're gonna have to win some games. Same with Golden State, they're gonna want to make the playoffs. They're gonna play their guys against the Wizards. Same with Boston, same with Orlando. I mean, there are a bunch of teams like that that are going to be making that playoff push or try to get a higher seed. Los Angeles, Portland could make that playoff push as well. And so why risk the you know, playing your top five guys and like Sarr, Trey, Keyshawn? Uh, I'll throw Bilal in there for you know for now, and then um probably go bub. But you know, like those those five guys you know, specifically, just be like, why risk getting them injured?
SPEAKER_03Why? Yeah, you might see a lot of these starts and then vanishing acts, weird line us to start the third. I wouldn't be surprised if that started popping up at some point.
SPEAKER_05But that's that's my biggest thing is like a part of it is because you know, like tanking right now. Um, as it sits, we're still waiting on some other games to finish up, like Sacramento, who is currently losing by 31 to the Utah Jazz. Yeah. And then the Pacers won tonight, which now means the Wizards have the second worst record in the NBA.
SPEAKER_03It's been a good week for that sort of thing. Because I saw a few days ago, the Wizards lost in the same day, like the Pelicans, Nets and Kings, all the other teams they've been up against. They all won at once. So after sort of that that early February boon, they've definitely come back down to where a lot of the fans uh would would rather see them at the very bottom.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and so like like I, you know, that's one of the reasons is because I want them to have the worst record in the league because then the lowest you drop is five, and you still secure you're gonna get a guy like you know, Keaton Waggler, who I absolutely love in this draft. I wrote about it the other day. If you fall to four, uh I think you take Waggler over Wilson, in my opinion, because I think the bench is going to need a score first guard with his kind of upside. I understand they had they traded for Hardy. They might have Whitmore as well. I view Whitmore more as a you know, like slashing three or four, in my opinion. Whitmore's huge waggler, yeah. Waggler, though, I see him as a guy that can do everything scoring-wise. He's not, you know, a great playmaker, but you're gonna have bub as the your you know point, you know, pass first kind of guard off the bench. You need someone that's gonna get you a bucket. And I just think Waggler is the pick over Wilson because soon this forward group is gonna get clouded, and then I just I just don't see him really fitting into that role at four. That's when you go best fit. But that's like I was saying, do it for the tanking purposes, but also because I god forbid Alex Saar or Keyshawn George or Trey Johnson get an injury that sideline some for a year. God forbid.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Trey, yeah, Trey was gone for like uh uh two weeks, and it felt like really long two weeks. It did. It's great to see him back tonight. Um, because he again had no problem shaking off the rust. But yeah, that this team would even with some of their inconsistencies, I just I just they're the the floor has so much room to fall if they were to sit. Sorry, Keyshawn. Yeah, anyways, what do you have? Anyways, yes. Um I think the thing that I want to see most out of out of the guys in general, I want to see more disciplined hands. And that's that's that comes in into two parts where I they are so bad at throwing entry passes and just taking care of the ball. The turnovers were one of the big reasons why they lost tonight. Like they got outclassed by in terms of talent. Um, they definitely fouled a lot, but man, like like Bub, Sharif Cooper, Keyshawn for that matter, um, and anyone else who isn't a point guard but you know tries to fling a pass sometimes, like Champagny's not a point guard, but he tries to pass sometimes. All these guys get picked off so often. And I just there's not a whole lot of of toys on that end, especially for a team that I think has come a long way and looking more acclimated to the to playing big league NBA teams every night. And I also want better hands on the boards. There's so many second chance opportunities lost because they're bumping into each other, or just maybe getting bumped out of the spots by again bigger guys they're you know botting up against. There's there's a whole lot of uncoordination, and it all just starts with making sure they're in the right place and knowing where everyone else is at at the same time.
SPEAKER_05Okay, I like that. I think a lot of that you know stems from uh Alex Sarr not being able to catch an entry.
SPEAKER_03And there's there's such a young team. Sarr is a big culprit, but also again, like sometimes like Bub threw one pass to no one tonight. Did you see that where he he was in trouble, lifted his pivot, and he like threw like a bobbler to the corner, bounced like four times, and there's no one home. And that sort of thing happens happens really often. One right at the gut of the defense, or one that you know was never gonna make it.
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SPEAKER_05Yeah. Okay. So my next thing up that I would like to see them do is I want to see them take more threes. I know this sounds kind of outlandish. They're taking 36 tonight right now and they're shooting 35.5% from distance, but I want to see them take more because I think this team, when you look at them a little bit, they could potentially be one of like the best three-point shooting teams in the NBA. When you look at some of these young guys that they have. So you have Bub, for example. He's been one of the better three-point shooters in the NBA, especially from pull-up off the dribble. He's been really good. Trey Johnson, we know what Trey does. Keyshawn George has been really good three-point shooting wise as well. You're adding in Hardy, who's a good three-point shooter. And then in the draft, you know, like I mentioned, you get Keaton Wagler, he's another good three-point shooter. You get Darren Peterson. That's another good three-point shooter. I want to see them take more threes and see if that can become their identity, especially when you add in Trey Young and in the mix next season as well, coming off screens. I want to see them take more threes and just to I because it's kind of like a how I look at it is a, oh, can this work? And taking, you know, you know, Missoula ball kind of set, you know, for say of taking 43s a game and knocking down 37% of your attempts, can that work and win, you know, this team games, especially when it's a game where like you can kind of deal with winning, where like you're playing Atlanta, for example, and not like Indiana, where oh, we lost, you know, we beat the Pacers and the Pacers now jumped us in the standings, and that's the game that makes you fall from third to seventh. Yeah. And so but I would I would like to see more three-point you know attempts per game just to see if it can translate to, you know, how I say, like, you know, more points. Because I think defensively, this team's gonna be fine. I just want to see offensively what is like what's the ceiling for them?
SPEAKER_03They're gonna need to be one of the highest volume shooting teams from three in the league next season, I believe, because your three best players are gonna be Trey Young, Alex Starr, and Anthony Davis. And none of those guys are really that good three-point shooters. Like, Trey takes a lot. Um, and his his numbers aren't a disaster, but they've definitely need to prove themselves back to the public. They they've they've slipped in the last few years. Um, Sar started the season hot, not quite there anymore, but again, I haven't seen him play in a few games. Um, and Anthony Davis, you know, the book's already out on him. So I think they're just gonna get everyone else to pick up the slack on that front. But again, they again they have the complimentary guys, or I can see that happening. I can see them being like a top 10, 3. Next year on like also top 10 volume. Yeah, right now they're 19th in attempts and 17th in percentage.
SPEAKER_05And that's I want to I want to see them jump into top 10 and attempts. I know that's a big jump, but I want to see them do it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because they're not going to be able to maintain that with the fact that none of they don't have any like real go-to guys in the perimeter. Like, Keyshawn can shoot him, but he's streaky, and he also gets like thrown off his spot sometimes. And there's games like this where he doesn't do anything for a while.
SPEAKER_05And like statistically, his best shot is from the corner.
SPEAKER_03The corner three is his best shot. He shoots a lot of threes from like three or four feet beyond the wing, and I feel like they have not gone in in like a month.
SPEAKER_05No, but I want to see him keep taking them because how else are you gonna improve if you're not taking him in games, especially during the stretch where like we don't like? Let's be honest. Do you think Dawkins cares if this team wins or loses to finish out the stretch? Yeah, I have some ideas. But like, just being honest, like, do you think he cares if the team only wins two games to finish out the year? No, because that means realistically, you probably now have the worst record in the league, and the lowest you could drop is five. And so, why not be like, look, guys, if you have an opportunity to shoot, shoot that. Like, just go ahead, let it rip. Who cares if you miss?
SPEAKER_03Go ahead and take the shot if you're open. Don't be scared. It'll help some of the younger guys. Uh, Riley and Watkins both have some room to grow from three. So they're also guys to monitor. Can you fit into this kind of scheme?
SPEAKER_05Exactly. Like, I just think the I I really think this team, and I say top 10, when you look at the youth and how good of three-point shooters they already have on the squad, and guys like I mentioned Trey, Bum, and Keyshawn, if you can just hit down, hit that, you know, wing three a little bit more. You add, like I said, imagine adding in Darren Peterson or even AJ DeBonto, who's not a bad three-point shooter either, into the squad next season. You have Trey Young as well off the bench. You know, like you have Bub, like I said, you also have Hardy, who's a good three-point shooter. Why not see if you can, you know, especially for next season, if you can actually win games off of you know 40, 41 attempts per game because the league is trending upwards of like, hey, three-point shots, that's the way to go.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And of course, they're very aware that their modern front office. Um, I'm excited about that. I because I think they're actually gonna angle towards that. And I think they know about their fit concerns and they have the personnel to address it. Yeah, understood. Um I want to talk about um Bub because you mentioned earlier, and this has been sticking with me, how you mentioned how you want to see everyone's menace decrease, all the starters, as the season goes on, starting in March. And you know, we're gonna see that with all of them anyway. With that being said, Bub has never missed a game in the NBA, and I feel like he's probably gonna keep keep that up. Um and we're probably gonna see limited appearances sometimes, who knows? Yeah, I I want to see him, of course, all of us want to see him become more of like a you know, take more layups, do more stuff downhill. You can be a better point guard if you're at least a threat to uh do his thing in the paint. But more than that, just like a baby step, just uh do more drive and kicks where I think he's been good whenever he actually penetrates and kicks out to the corner. That that that works pretty often because defenses aren't always ready for that, they're not always set. Yeah, and he's a good passer on the move. It can be a little wild sometimes, but the good outweighs the bad. And I I think him uh I think uh capitalizing on that aggression and that sort of uh focus to at least try down there would would be a huge step in the right direction of being a true three-level score.
SPEAKER_05I like that. I like that. I'm looking at his stats right now. Did you know he's shooting 40.1% from the field in both of his seasons so far? It is the exact same number. And the midis haven't gone in this year, but the threes are better. So again, that's how it bounces out is that dude the like I'm looking at it. The threes, he jumped from 33.9 to 39.7, and he's taking more threes a game right now.
SPEAKER_03He's taking more. Um, and he he definitely is already the kind of guy who I think can lend himself well to an aggressive uh shot diet. I feel like most of these games he makes the first shot he hits, and it's often like a pull-up three, so he's not afraid to get his game off.
SPEAKER_05But if he's like truly, I think I I like I've I've seen it float around. The stats do say he is one of the best pull-up three-point shooters in the NBA right now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so it's like let's see a leverage that, let's see whatever comes next.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I don't have anything else. Those kind of my two main things is like it's it's truly like I rarely want to see the starters play, like, and if they do play, I don't want to see them go over 20 minutes because, like, like I mentioned, like we saw Trey Johnson with the ankle sprain. You don't want to see him go down with something even worse, especially with a guy like Alex Sarr or Keyshawn. You don't want to see that. Also, I'll be honest, part of it is tanking as well. Lose baby, lose.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we all know we're all in the same boat. Uh, we can tell there's definitely tanking um instincts with within some of the things you're saying, and that's the smart thing to do. Sorry.
SPEAKER_05It's it's it's uh like I got in an argument with this dude the other day, and he was saying how you know, like he's fine with the jazz, how they're tanking, but he's not okay with how the wizards are tanking. And his whole argument is like, you're not playing Anthony Davis or Trey Young. Dude, Trey Young sprained his MCL in Atlanta and they tried to have him play through it, and clearly he couldn't. And Anthony Davis was consulted for surgery four weeks ago. Of course they're not gonna play.
SPEAKER_03And what do they care? They're tank cheats, and they picked above the Wizards last year anyway.
SPEAKER_04Like, who who cares? Who, like, oh my god.
SPEAKER_03Yes, there are the Utah Wizards fans listening. Uh Utah Jazz. Yeah, Wizards fans in Utah. Uh, yeah, I get what you mean now.
SPEAKER_05I get what you mean now. My bad. But like, that's my whole thing. Like, I got an argument with him the other day and was like, look, you can't be fine with the Jazz tanking and not be fine with how the Wizards are tanking. Because hey, some of these guys have legit injuries. I've seen people bring up how, like, you know, when Trey Johnson did, you know, sprained his ankle, they were like, they're not playing Trey Johnson, he was your sixth overall pick. That had to be. I don't know. Maybe he just got injured. Yeah, that wasn't hard to find.
SPEAKER_03Like, people were tweeting about that. Oh, it's like, oh, yeah, it looks like Trey Young, Trey, Trey Johnson's down. That was that wasn't hard to find.
SPEAKER_05Like, it's it's really not that difficult to see.
SPEAKER_03There's an old saying, don't hate the player, hate the game. Everyone knows that. Blame Adam Silver because if you don't give the worst teams the best players, this is just gonna keep going. It's been said a million times. Exactly. It's wild that some fans are forgetting that.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. My whole solution to tanking, I don't know how other people feel about this. Why not just make the draft like how it is in the NFL? Worst team gets the best pick. You see it, it's helped out the Bears immensely. Yeah, like truly, like they they were rebuilding for what three seasons? Truly like a rebuild. Yeah, the fields era was tough. So like they might have to do it. They tried to have fields, it didn't work. They shut it down, they decided to start the rebuild over again. In three seasons, they made the playoffs, and next season they might win their division.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and again, Caleb, it's only Caleb's only been here for two seasons. So it was such a quick thing. I like that. No, I've no, I have no I have no qualms. I I think that is that or baseball. Anyone does it better than better than basketball, probably.
SPEAKER_05Uh everyone. I saw someone. Oh my goodness. I'll read this one off to you because it is interesting. I want to get your thoughts on it. Um, but he mentioned how he would change the draft. Um I'm trying to find this dude. I I need to find him. I can't remember what it was. Oh my goodness. I can't remember his account, but he mentioned how he wanted to do it like hockey, and like the actual odds there made sense. I just gotta find the dude's account. I shouldn't know anything about hockey. I had no idea how they do the draft. I never actually thought about it. Well, like that's the thing. It's like I'm trying to find his account because it was actually a really good idea. It was oh my goodness. I need to find like how they do the odds. Luckily, Tankathon does it. So if you have the worst record, the lows you can drop is third.
SPEAKER_03Oh. I mean, how different was that from just the way that the lottery was done like a decade ago in basketball?
SPEAKER_05You you I think you could still drop to five.
SPEAKER_03Really? Okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. But like for this one, you have a the team with the worst record has a 25.1% chance at first, 18.6% chance at second, 56.3% chance at third. Anything that just that that that doesn't make it so hard for the team to get out of the mud. I'm I'm all for it. Yes, and the thing I like about this, if you were, because like their lottery system is different, and you could do it for the NBA, where like if you are a play-in team, you can't pick inside. Uh you know, you can't get the first pick. If you that's good. If you had if you were 16th in the lottery odds, you either have the 16th pick or a 1.1% chance at six. Okay, yeah, that's that's better than the Mass. You can't exactly you can't jump into the top five. No one in the NHL can jump, uh, jump into first overall until uh 11th, where they have a three percent chance out at it.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I think what's it is it back to back seasons to play in team has won the lottery? Yes, I think the last true lottery team to actually win it was like the Spurs when they got Wambayama. They were like had the third best odds or whatever it was.
SPEAKER_05It like it's crazy looking at, but like I said, and then for example, um like it like like I said, like if you're first overall, those could drop two is three, second, fourth, third, fifth, so on and so on. And so it just makes it where truly you have a chance, like realistically, where like if you and it limits tanking to where like if you are 12 to 16, why tank if you can't jump to first?
SPEAKER_03There you have it. There's there's the issue. There's the issue. It's it's it's a flawed system, and uh it's good that we're calling this out because some of this stuff is just it's it's a product of its own failure, the fact that these teams are stuck for so long.
SPEAKER_05It is, and then like even looking at it, the fourth worst record in the league for NHL, do you only have a 9.5% chance at first compared to the NBA? It's like what 12 point something.
SPEAKER_03Really? Okay, wait, so that was the fourth worst team you said, yeah. Okay, so it is it is weighted in favor of like the worst teams to truly have it is like a noticeable.
SPEAKER_05Like I said, 25.1% chance for the worst team to land first, and then 13.6% chance for the second worst team to land first. Okay, and so like it truly does it truly does favor them, but it all like I said, you know, in a in the NHL, even if you have the worst record, you have over a 50-50, you know, over you know, better odds than a coin flip to jump to drop to third. But even then, I would much rather, you know, like be have the first odds and jump to you know, fall to third than have the second best odds and fall all the way down to six. Yeah, of course it stinks. Last last year was a was a shot in the heart. And so, but like this is a system I'd be fine if they tried to incorporate.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I I I co-sign so many systems besides what I don't want to sound like a doomer. Um, but I there's work to be done. I'll leave it at that.
SPEAKER_05It's just uh and then I don't like how they go for like you know determining if a team has the same record, you look at how they did against each other. Just go by total point differential for the season.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I sort of like okay, I that that makes more sense. That's probably the better way to do it. I I just I personally like the matchup stuff.
SPEAKER_05Because sometimes a team might have someone's number, like the Wizards had the Bucks number this year. Yeah, they did. And the Grizzlies feel like that might come in handy. And the Bucs had a better point differential uh throughout the season so far. Yeah, they're a better team, but just beat them all the time. You're right in that sense. It's a long season. Like it's it's a long season. I think it should be total point differential, not who won the series. That that's my personal thought with it. I agree.
SPEAKER_03Then the Wizards get in trouble if they're kicking the butt of these other tanking teams if they lose to the good teams, because then you're not losing when it counts.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and so like, but like I said, like you have the same record with Indiana. Indiana's point differential is minus 322, but the Wizards is minus 34. Wizards, you know, had a worse point differential, so they move up. And they know the Wizards can't beat Indiana, so that's just really funny that that's the way it's panning out. But like, like I was saying, like you know, that's just an example. But I saw this dude post about it. I wish I knew what his account was so I could mention him because it was a really good idea to do that. I'm already all in. I've heard all I need to hear.
SPEAKER_03But that's an episode. Anything else you want to say? I'm all good when you find whatever that is. Um, tweet that out with like uh the episode notification when it drops, because I'm I'm pretty curious. But I think I like the hockey diagram that you're talking about.
SPEAKER_05Oh, I can I can actually post the graphic of it. Like because Tankathon does it for the NHL as well. And so like that's where I was looking at it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, you did say that was your resource. Yeah, that's all I really got. Any rants for us besides what you already did basically over the last few minutes about the grass?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, just that. It was evergreen. It was just that. I mean, I don't I don't really got any rants right now. I I'll be honest. Like it's just uh that too. It's truly like you cannot be mad at one team tanking and then be fine with another team tanking. You either don't like tanking or you're fine with it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, sorry guys.
SPEAKER_05Like that's all that's all there's said, and like like I said, his reason was like at least they play JJJ and don't sit there rookie in Trey Johnson. And I was like, Trey Johnson is injured right now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's in bad faith. I have nothing to say to bad faith or things like that.
SPEAKER_05And so, like, it's just stuff like that. People, people that want to say it's the oh my goodness, and I can't remember the dude's name either, where he said Tristan Vuksevich was the Wizards' best young prospect. Oh, and he was like HP basketball. Yeah, he was like, I have League Pass, I I watch the games on League Pass.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I remember after I think it made it the cut in last in last week's episode where me and Greg were talking about that, how they did the offseason.
SPEAKER_05Like, like oh, just because you watch League Pass does not mean you're actually watching and understanding the games. Yeah, I don't I don't love that opinion.
SPEAKER_03Like, oh my goodness. Yeah, listen back to uh All Wizards talk for uh my my version of that same rant from two days ago. Yes.
SPEAKER_05Anyways, that's an episode. Thank you guys for tuning in and listening as always. We'll see you guys in the next one. Peace.
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