All Wizards Talk
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All Wizards Talk
Another Game and Another Loss...
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SPEAKER_03Welcome back to another episode of All Wizards Talk. I'm one of your co-hosts Bryce Snake and a show alongside. As always, by Henry Brown. Ladies and gentlemen, Washington Wizards just lost another basketball game. This feels like a regular statement we've been making on the channel here. Wizards lose. Let's talk about it once again. But this one, it's kind of like if we're if we're being honest, this isn't a bad loss. When you look at some of the circumstances that happened, of course, like it sucks. If some things didn't happen in this game, maybe the wizards come away with a win. However, it's not like a loss isn't on the end of the world. I I feel like this is a loss you can kind of live with if you are the Wizards.
SPEAKER_05Of course. There's there's a term that we're throwing around a lot called uh good tank losses. Um, where sometimes you gotta beat the other guys contending for lottery picks. And they showed some stuff. It was an interesting game. They made it from like a it was like a 20-point game for most of the meat of it. They were down by 24 and the third. Yeah, then it became sort of close. And it's like you you showed some good clutch stuff. We we saw some good signs, but at the end of the day, it's another loss. Four straight. Um, winless with Trey Young in the locker room. No, maybe this is the way it's supposed to be though. Not mad at it all.
SPEAKER_03No, uh, this feels like it is definitely the way it's supposed to be. And the Clippers, they are a team that needs to win, if we're being honest, they don't have a first-round pick this year. Yeah, they don't, and their first round pick goes to the Thunder unprotected, so they really got to try to win and make it to the playoffs, and they've been on a nice little stretch. They're now 17-23 going to this game against the Wizards. They were eight and two in their last 10. So, of course, they were a hot team. They're finally getting healthy a little bit there with the unction. It was the league's youngest team going against the league's oldest team, but you can tell that experience really mattered down the stretch. I mean, the Wizards only scored. Yeah, they have closers that fourth quarter. They have closers. You felt Kawhi.
SPEAKER_05You felt hardened.
SPEAKER_03You really felt Kawhi. Like, I feel like the Wizards felt Kawhi in this game, and it really sucked because it's not like Bilal was you know playing bad defense against him when he was in. He got injured in that first uh second quarter, I think. Early in the second quarter, he got injured. Low back tightness. Of course, if a guy has any tight, you know, sort of something going on on a you know team that's rebuilding, he's one of your young guys. No matter who it is, you're gonna be like, look, shut it down. We're not risking it. It's not like we absolutely have to win this game. It's not like we're a game back from the playing right now. They they are now 10 and 29. This this was a game where it's like, look, we know like we get your injured, rest. We do not care about winning this game at this point.
SPEAKER_05No, no, but you compared the the clip, the clippers, as you pointed out, don't have the first round pick. Same goes for the Pelicans. The Wizards sort of rolled over for that game last week when they lost big time. Yeah. Uh, and this one, at least you'd like to see every now and then. Um, they have one with Keyshawn back in lineup, which is sort of a bummer, but we like to see every now and then he can show that he can be the guy who can take the offense into his hands a bit. If the shot isn't falling, he can just get to the foul line. Like, that's just a thing that not a whole lot of wizards have as an asset. Um, here are the signs. This is this is what you think about when you're picturing Trey Young in the lineup next year. How do they look without him?
SPEAKER_03Well, and like there are some signs that you see like does Trey Young fit and well, I think with Alex Sarr specifically, we've talked about it before. That's the guy that's going to benefit the most. I think everyone realizes it. Every center Trey Young has played with has instantly gotten a back.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_03He they get an extension, they look like they've taken another step offensively, when really it's just Trey Young, and he just knows how to play off center so well. Using screens, knowing how to, you know, use the pick and roll to an advantage, looking for his big man, cutting down low for a lob, that sort of stuff. He does it really well. There, I don't think there's another guard in the league that can have that kind of pick and roll action with a center like him. And yes, that might sound kind of crazy to say when you have likes of like Luka Doncic, but I will down the hill. Like when it comes to passing out of the pick and roll, I think Trey is the best at it with his centers.
SPEAKER_05There's a point you made in what you're saying that that Trey makes easier reads. Luca does it more on they both they're both the kind of passers who do things on their terms. Um, but Trey probably is more natural in the flow of the offense, finding the rolling big and putting it right where you can get it.
SPEAKER_03You can tell there's not a second thought. Yeah. Like it's all instinct for him, and he's you know what he's thinking about, maybe throwing one up for his center right there, maybe kicking it out to a guard. As soon as he comes off that screen, it's like instinct, he's he knows what he's going to do. He can see the entire floor and he makes that read. And that's why maybe Trey Johnson excels with him in the lineup. Maybe he sees, you know, like he comes off that screen and automatically notices, like, oh, Trey Johnson's defender's coming to help a little bit. He's up in the corner. Let me dish it to him real quick while his defender is off bounce. Keyshawn George as well. Balal Kula Bali cutting, a bunch of this stuff, dome in the starting lineup, and there's a lot of differences being made, especially offensively, for a team that has really struggled on offense.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and as we pointed out before we started recording, um, Ansar, uh, he didn't play much of the game. What do you what did you see out of his ejection? You want to give us a breakdown?
SPEAKER_03I think I think it was a soft ejection. Let's let's be honest about this one. How many times has a player slammed a ball into the ground this season and not gotten in tech because of it? How many times? Many. Many, many times. It happens probably what, 10 times a game?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, great.
SPEAKER_03And because he didn't catch it that one time, you decided team up for his second one right there on a soft call, mind you. One where it's like, are we really calling this? And by the way, something that annoys me. All right, please. James Harden had 10 free throws tonight. Gwyn Leonard had eight. The two of them shot more free throws combined than the wizards did total.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but it's that's that's tough to evaluate because even though I actually did some like like some of what the wizards were doing, I feel like Bub and Keyshawn both got to the line a few times, and that made me happy because that's not a thing they always do when they lack structure. But those guys like demand, you know, all of the defensive attention from the wing unit. And they fell sometimes. Um, and I feel like they were just sort of the Wizards were doing what they could to contain those guys and they just couldn't in the world.
SPEAKER_03They were trying, but like it's it's kind of clear they know how to manipulate the reps to their bidding a little bit where it's like they can they can make phantom contact all of a sudden it appear because of how they move their body and how you know they get defenders up in the air a little bit and they accept contact. Like Kawhi Litter, he loves to accept contact because he knows he's stronger than a lot of players in the league. So if he accepts contact, he's gonna he knows okay, I'm going to the line. He got eight free throws right there. James Harden, on the other hand, a lot of it is just kind of contorting his body to make it look like a foul happened, even when there are times when there's no contact whatsoever. A lot of this game was lost in the free throw battle. The Wizards went 13 to 17 from the free throw line. The Clippers went 27 to 27.
unknownWhoa.
SPEAKER_0327 free throws. All right, and they're shooting some of the most free throws in the NBA, if I'm not mistaken. And the Wizards rank in the bottom five.
SPEAKER_05Makes sense. They don't have a whole lot of guys who can challenge the rim. But these are good reps for the young guys. They're they are they're taller, a little ganglier than uh Kawhi is like 6'70, Harden's 6'5. Um, neither of them are super, they're they're thick. Bilal is sort of on the skinny side. Keep don't look at me like that. Keyshawn is that thick, and I Keishon's still trying to make sure he's not fouling out at every game. Um, and again, if they're gonna be a real serious team next year or whenever they want to be, then they're gonna need to know how to get this potential starting tandem defensive wing unit to lock down on the guys who they need to pay the most attention to.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I like I said earlier, when Bilal was playing, he left the game early, two to an injury. I I felt like he was guarding Kawhi Leonard pretty well.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, from the field, Kawhi Leonard did not have a great game whatsoever. He shot nine to twenty two.
SPEAKER_05No, and a lot of those buckets were were honestly in the clutch.
SPEAKER_03No, a lot of them were in the clutch, and but he went 7-11 from from absurd. I I don't ever remember Kawhi Leonard being that kind of three-point shooter, ever.
SPEAKER_05So that's the thing. These are what the Wizards have to know. There were times when like their rotations were actually sort of all right, but Kawhi shoots so quickly, they just weren't always ready for that. And that's the thing, like they just they just almost had to see it to believe it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's it was just kind of crazy to see them, you know, him shoot that well from three, and then Harden go two of nine from three. That happens sometimes. Well, like it's kind of crazy, but like I said, a lot of it, you know, I will die on the hill. Main reason the Wizards lost this game is because of free throws. It's not necessarily a turnover battle or rebounds. You know, Wizards had 41 re out rebounded the Clippers.
SPEAKER_05Yes, you could feel that. That's that's actually how I felt they got back into the game was by doing things on the inside, blocking the occasional shot, and bagly cleaned up a lot of uh loose boards.
SPEAKER_03Now, the Clippers did have nine steals, so the Wizards five, which isn't a huge difference, but the Wizards had more offensive rebounds, more total rebounds, same amount of assists, not that many more turnovers than the Clippers either. I seriously think it just comes down to the free throw battle where you, you know, let's say you give the Clippers 17 free throws as well, that takes away 10 points. Final scores 109, 105 right there. You know, like it's it's a closer game because of that. Wizards did shoot horribly from three, but like I said, free throws. When a team shoots 10 more free throws than you, it's gonna be really hard to like have any sort of you know, like way to win that game. And especially like we mentioned with or I mentioned Harden and Kawhi being able to contort their body and make it where the contact seems more than it is at times, like especially Harden. The fact that nine of his 17 shots, over half his shots came from beyond the three-point line, but he shot 10 free throws a night, kind of shows you that he still has that kind of you know bag of getting to the line from his MVP season in Houston.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he's he's the greatest free throw manipulator there's ever been. Um and again, no, no Trey, Trey Young would probably be pretty good at getting the line. Um, Star is big enough, he demands a lot of contact sometimes. So I don't know, they didn't have they didn't have the the hands to change blows with this kind of team. But I want to go back to the thing you just mentioned. Um, because if I could transition to the team that this these guys have been for the last week, um a lot of turnovers, you said, and couldn't any shots. The Wizards uh Telecast showed a pretty good stat that showed in the last few games since they started losing again, um, they have the worst turnover percentage and the worst offense in the league because you lost CJ McCollum, and that just took such we we were sometimes critical of him at the start of the season, but he was so important in just organizing the young guys and just shooting when he had to, scoring when he had to, and they are just you know, sort of you can tell you you can tell once they started playing together a little bit, it was like the start of December.
SPEAKER_03You could tell something was a little different about that team where everyone kind of knows how each other plays, yeah, everyone's starting to get in their groove a little bit, shaking the rust off. That stretch of basketball in December until like what January 5th, somewhere around there, was really good basketball.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was really good. Yeah, the older guys they would start as always, they would do their thing, and then they were sort of, I've said this before, they were sort of unintrusive during the middle part of the game. Um, they just sort of picked their spots, they weren't super ball dominant, and then the clutch, if they had to, they were a lot cleaner than they were at the start of the season. Now with no CJ, uh Chris Middleton has has tried to do both the jobs of old Middleton and CJ at the same time. And he had a pretty hot start, but that's just not easy to rely on that guy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's and we can all agree Chris Middleton is not the player. God bless him, he once was, but get back in his bag a little bit tonight. 7-14 from the field, three of seven. It reminds me of the meme of the dude on the ground with the jump rope, like the jump rope scrolling around. Unk still got it. Unk still got it.
SPEAKER_05Every now and then, once every now, I mean it's not like Bill Samus, but like once a once a week or once every other week, he can still dig into the bag and and give us like 16.
SPEAKER_03Every now and then you see Chris Middleton almost revert back to his ways when he won a championship with the Bucks and be like, oh my goodness, this guy was actually kind of elite at one point. Like that jump was pretty smooth. You see it sometimes. Yeah, you you see it sometimes, like, man, he was a legit second option on championship team. You can see it. That mid-range J a little bit at times you're like, oh my goodness, is that butter?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it really was sweet. And that the those first two minutes could fool you into thinking some sort of legacy performance was coming. Um, but they needed all they could get. Um, after they lost the ball handlers, and this is something we're gonna see a lot more. Um Trey Johnson, the other Trey, uh sort of tried filling the rim challenger uh ball handler role. And he might he's got like real vision, but you can tell he's a rookie sometimes. Can you see this? Where like he just like falls on the ground sometimes, just loses the ball. Like he's making these sort of slightly rookie mistakes.
SPEAKER_03I feel like he wants to go too fast. I feel like that's what it is. That's not it's not just with him. I feel like it's with a ton of guys on the team where they feel the need to push the ball, especially considering how young they are. And speed can be a blessing, but it can also be a curse because with if you try to constantly play fast, you're naturally going to be get you know tired, you know, faster than the other team. Naturally, you're gonna get more gas, you're gonna lose momentum at times, you're gonna have to, you know, have you know extended minutes on the bench just to catch your breath a little bit compared to these teams where like they know when to go fast and they know when to slow it down. A lot of these guys are just so young, they don't know when it's like, okay, let's take it down a step, let's calm down, relax, and then we'll pick our time to go fast a little bit. Whereas Trey Johnson, when he likes to handle the ball, you can tell he wants to push it down the court as fast as possible, get a bucket, kind of like a seven-second offensive system, is what he has this kind of vision to try to run for himself a little bit. You see it with Balal Kulabali when he would handle a little bit as well. Alex Saarr, when he's forced to take it down at times, he went to Coast to Coast one time against the Suns just the other day. Yes, he made the bucket, but there are other times when he does that and he loses the ball. And like I said, it's because the team wants to go too fast. And when they had CJ McCollum, who was handling the ball, he he was acting as a point guard, even though he's never really been that in his career. No, he's he has the experience to be like, look, I'm gonna take it slow here. And on fast and on a fast break, if we have to go fast, we'll go fast. If I recognize we're not gonna get a good look off of this, I'll slow it down. We'll set up an offense.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was the sort of thing that was bugging the bub earlier in the season where you you felt he was going a little too fast for his own good. He settled in and Trey Johnson. Um, I keep using his government name because I feel like we have to now, he's got plenty of time. The next the uh what's the timeline with Trey Young? They said like they're gonna check in another month.
SPEAKER_03They'll check after the all-star break to see where he's at. So a lot of time. Let's let's be honest, they're gonna check. They're you know, and quotations, they're going to check to see where he's at and see if he can return to play or not. Yeah, I I know Josh Robbins talked about it in the athletic the other day when the team did trade for him. You're like, don't expect him to play much. It could be a situation like the Raptors last season with Brandon Ingram where this ankle sprain just won't go away. A sprain for four months. Are you kidding me? Yeah, my goodness, maybe it's worse.
SPEAKER_05Unlike them, they didn't have the Knicks breathing down their neck that time. Have you seen how angry New York fans have been about this Trae Young thing?
SPEAKER_03It's not just, it's just not Knicks fans either. It's Brooklyn Nets fans as well that are pissed. What's the problem? Because they're like, oh my goodness, take away their pick. This is bad for the league. This is unethical, dude. I saw you guys had Cam Thomas listed as out for an ankle problem against the Wizards on January 2nd. You I saw him in pregame warmups. No ankle tape, no brace whatsoever, going 100%. That dude did not have an ankle injury. Might as well be he did not.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's pretty criminal.
SPEAKER_03Half their team was injured against the Wizards, and they want in quotation, injured against the Wizards, and you know, they lost by 20 because oh, lo and behold, they're just two games, you know, two losses away from overtaking the Wizards and lottery odds. I might as well try to lose this game and get even closer. Yeah, like every team does it, like every team tanks to an extent, and it's just kind of crazy how with Trey Young and the Wizards, because people don't actually watch Wizards basketball. Let's be honest, no one watches Wizards basketball really in the mainstream media.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, not quite, but I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_03Because everyone just kind of thinks, like, what's the point of watching the Wizards? People consider the Wizards basketball purgatory.
SPEAKER_05It's still considered like a niche thing. If people go on Twitter and they'll mention a Wizards guy, it's still sort of like, Oh, look at you, you did your research. You actually dug down there and found something interesting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but like if people actually did realize they see Trey Young out with injury, they'd be like, Oh, they've been taking the entire season. We've had clean sheets a ton in this season. This team could have sat, guys. Yeah, they all played. Fun fact CJ McCollum's only missed game was the night he got traded.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that was cool. And Bob still hasn't missed one.
SPEAKER_03Bub still hasn't missed one, all right. Alex Sarr, he had an injury, all right, and it was a legit injury to look at. Corey Kisper, he had surgery on his thumb. Um Cam Keyshawn had surgery as well. Balakul Bali had surgery to start the year and kept getting, you know, re-injuring that same hand. As you said, Whitmore has blood clots. Yeah, Whitmore has a blood clot. Like if the team has put you know, rested a guy besides Chris Middleton because he's old, older fella, right? That's you know, like he's an older fella where like he can't go back to back like he once could, all right. But these young guys can. If they're good to play, Dawkins has been playing them. Whereas the Nets, like I said, a January game where they sat half the team and it was clear what they were doing, and but people want to complain about the Knicks because they don't actually watch them and they think, oh, Trey, you just traded for Trey Young. Why aren't you gonna play him? Dude has it sprained as his MCL. It's not like this is a new thing that popped up as soon as he was traded. He's had this in since December.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, never thought I'd see New Yorkers defend Trey Young in any kind of way, but sort of what it feels like.
SPEAKER_03It's because they don't want Trey Young to screw him over one more time.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, sorry, fellas. Like it's going to be a good one. He's got our pick. Um you mentioned the Nets. I'm doing a little tank check right now. Um they both lost tonight, the Wizards and the Nets. So the Nets still remain a game up on the Wizards. So the Nets have the fifth worst record in the league. The Wizards have the fourth. The third worst record.
SPEAKER_03The Kings recently I thought you said four for the Wizards. Sorry. I misheard.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, sorry. Wizards have the fourth worst still right now. Um no, they have the third worst record. So mine says they're 27th.
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unknownNo.
SPEAKER_03Who's ahead of them for you? Uh right now it's Indiana with worst record at 9.35. Oh, the Pelicans bumped up. Yeah, mine have an update. Pelicans at 10 and 33, Wizards at 10 and 29, Sacramento has 11 wins, so they Oh the fourth.
SPEAKER_05They've included the Kings win. I'm at NBA.com. That explains.
SPEAKER_03Always use Tankathon if you're looking at the biggest.
SPEAKER_05That's on me. So let me let me sim this real quick. I'm interested. We played the Kings sim. We play the Kings uh next on the 16th. Um great way for was to build their tank case. Uh getting an advantage over those guys. Keep the weed building.
SPEAKER_03Tankaton. I assume Tankathon.
SPEAKER_05Did we fall five spots or six? That's really mean.
SPEAKER_03Like that's the lowest they could fall. Worst case scenario. Lowest they could fall. But when they always had the fourth best odds, it's almost every single time they were top three.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. We have to make room for the Spurs, sorry. Oh my goodness. League mandated uh Spurs top two pick.
SPEAKER_03They the the Wizards were the only top five team to fall in this walk in the simulation. Sure. Of course, of course. Let me do it again. Oh, they fell to seventh again in the next one I did. And guess who jumped up? Guess who jumped up to first? Portland. Oh, great. Portland. Great. Oh they don't deserve that. They don't deserve it. Let me do it again. Hey, they jumped up to first. It just took three tries. Let's hope they do three tries in you know the lottery room. Seven seven price.
SPEAKER_05Oh my god. Yeah, these are more or less the wizards we're gonna uh get used to seeing. The winning was fun. Um it was, but I had a good time with that. I I had a great time. I'm glad you got to be in town for some of those. Those competitive games. They cleaned up at home during their day, but this is what it's going to be from now on. A lot of uh seeing what the other trades got as a ball handler, um, seeing SAR keep doing his thing as the scorer and enjoy the assets while they're here, whether they're Bagley or Middleton or whoever.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was just just fair warning to Wizards fans for the next 10 games or so, do expect losses. I like I hate to be this guy, but and this is kind of the time you're gonna start to see teams starting to like clearly show that they are tanking because we're halfway through the season. Crazy enough to think about it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it really stuck up on me.
SPEAKER_03Like we are we're practically halfway through the season at this point for some teams. The Wizards have only played 39 games. Some teams have already played over like 42 games.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like some teams are halfway through their season right now, and this is when you start to see teams really start to tank and make sure they're getting the best lottery odds as possible. You'll probably see healthy rosters against teams like you know, the Denver Nuggets, and you know, probably like the Los Angeles Lakers coming up, New York Knicks, but you might see some, you know, like we said earlier, funny injuries, some guys resting, like when they played the Sacramento Kings on Friday, who right now have the fourth best odds at first overall. Might as well give them another win while you lose. Uh-oh. All of a sudden we have the second best odds at first. Because when they dropped to six. Oh, and the Kings now they have the fifth best odds at first overall, and they you know have a higher chance of dropping now. Oh my goodness. Like, let's hold on a second. This is kind of smart. Oh, Portland, Charlotte coming up, Milwaukee. Hmm.
SPEAKER_06Hmm.
SPEAKER_03Let's go, let's go in and give them some wins and make their fan base happy a little bit. Why not? Yeah, we've already got two Milwaukee wins.
SPEAKER_05We don't need any more.
SPEAKER_03No, already got two. I'm happy. It'd be nice to win the season series. That'd be really funny. It'd be really funny to do that. A little less, you know, like hurrah against Kyle Kuzma. He was on that show, I can't remember what it's called, but where like they do the dance walkout. Yes. Um you know what I'm talking about. Is it the Jennifer Hudson show?
SPEAKER_05I think so. Yeah, someone said Kuz never misses. And felt that way.
SPEAKER_03That was their caption. That was their caption posting and walking out. It was at Kyle Kuzma never misses a shot. And everyone was quote twinning him and being like, Oh, I guarantee you, he misses.
SPEAKER_05Oh, poor bastard. He usually hits the side of the backboard, too.
SPEAKER_03I thought I kind of felt bad for him.
SPEAKER_05Uh he'll be fine. He'll be fine. He'll be fine. He's making it back.
SPEAKER_03He's making, he's making a millie.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he gets booed, but it happens. Um, I don't think I've gotten to talk to you on a podcast about this yet, though. Um, during the Pelicans game, Poole got booed quite a bit too. It didn't sound like that. Oh my goodness, I loved it. Yeah, I figured I figured you'd have a strong opinion on that one.
SPEAKER_03I was sort of surprised. Well, like I made a tweet about it and I was like, man, Wizards fans really hate Jordan Poole. Like, what could he do? It's not like he insulted the fan base at the start of the season, right?
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_05See, I I didn't know that was so well circulated. I didn't know everyone knew about that. I didn't I thought that that didn't really leave the media circle by that much. But yeah, it was big.
SPEAKER_03People knew. It was it was big because he said like he was comparing Pelicans games to Wizards games, and it was like, how's your experience? And you know, what was the Smoothie King Center? I think. Yes, that's right. Like they were like, What's your experience in Smoothie King Center compared to Capital One? And it was like, Oh, it was dead there. It was it was dead there. I loved I love New Orleans, but it was it was dead over there.
SPEAKER_05That was always so weird to me because New Orleans is probably the only place with like worse attendance numbers than we have.
SPEAKER_03They had very similar attendance numbers to the Wizards last season, very similar, yeah.
SPEAKER_05And they've been like sort of almost a little bit competitive. Not this year as much.
SPEAKER_03They made the playoffs in 2024, and they still weren't having high attendance numbers.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you remember that.
SPEAKER_03Like the fan base just isn't really there in New Orleans. It's not.
SPEAKER_05I don't really know what they do with the Zion thing.
SPEAKER_03You just gotta get away from the BBL. They keep it away from the BBL, so that's what you gotta do with Zion.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, listen, I'm sure there's some SCSI Instagram account that can hook him up with whatever he's looking for. Um, I'm sure there's some weird um weird guy on Grail or Deep who can get him just the kind of I'm not gonna say the word, but uh a kind of uh uh outfit with some sort of I don't know, Gunnar pictures on there. It's a big internet out there, and I'm sure he's uh prepared to explore it. But he's gonna become like a weird victim of the of the market that Trey Young sort of set last week.
SPEAKER_03Like it's there's a bunch of guys, maybe even Sabonis, if we're being honest, might be.
SPEAKER_05I saw the Wizards were allegedly uh trying to get on that. I don't believe that for a second.
SPEAKER_03I know, I know like a month ago. I know a month ago.
SPEAKER_05No, I saw like a week ago, like after Trey Young saying they're gonna put him with Tray. I'm like, all right, yeah, good idea.
SPEAKER_03I wouldn't have bet on that because what can you trade now at this point? Do you think the teams want to take on Chris Middleton?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I also don't believe rumors about the wizards, but yes, you're right. It's like I don't know what they're gonna give unless you just unless they want a Marvin Bagley reunion, in which case, be my guest.
SPEAKER_03But even then, money, you like you gotta pair up the money.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, because Sabones. And then it's only Middleton. It's Middleton and a guy, a bunch of guys who make no money.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like that's all it is. And I guarantee you, Middleton has like no value on the trade market.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, was it you or someone else who showed me on next season's books? The second highest earner is projected to be whoever we pick in the first round.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. If the Wizards get the first overall pick, the second highest earner on the team will be that first overall pick.
SPEAKER_05Who will be first? There's no KISPR right now, right? Because Middleton will be gone and there's no KISPR. So who's first? Trey Young. Trey Young, duh. Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah. By like 40 million.
SPEAKER_03Like, this is the crazy thing. Like, if the Wizards get their draft picks, they use all of them, they Trey Young picks up his player option, they're still gonna have like 35 million in cap space. Yeah, that's crazy! Like, then you could actually get a dude with that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and free agency isn't for stars anymore, but hey, a valuable role player uh would always be nice. A nice little screen set up.
SPEAKER_03Give me a valuable role player million a year, yeah.
SPEAKER_05That that lob catcher rim runner to to back up star with.
SPEAKER_03Honestly, Marvin Backley.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, man. Hold on to him. His value's gonna be higher next time around. Every time we sign him and trade him, he gets a little bit higher.
SPEAKER_03Well, like he could still be traded this season, is the crazy thing. Yeah, they got a few weeks. There, like, he is a center that people are going to be looking at when you're like just looking at his past games and everything. He's on a minimum contract, which makes him very tradable. Yes, where you can get a you know, bust and a pick out of him.
SPEAKER_05I'll start getting creative, yeah.
SPEAKER_03But like that's what I'm saying is like teams that consider their players bust because they never were the player that they were with them, like a Dillingham, yeah, Uzmanjang.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like those trying to get creative with like what kind of weirdo will end up on the wizards. That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03I know, I know, and like honestly, Rob Tillingham on the Wizards. I wouldn't mind giving him a chance.
SPEAKER_05You know, we we could do the point guard for a couple months, you know, low risk, low reward kind of thing, or low risk.
SPEAKER_03It's low risk, low reward. I mean, medium reward, low risk, high medium reward, you know, like one of those things. But like tonight, Marvin Backley had a pretty good game. 15 points, 7 to 10 with 11 rebounds.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he's good just when he's when he's got someone on him and he's just waiting for his moment to pump. Oh my god, he usually finishes on that.
SPEAKER_03He he like he's been great as a backup center this year, and that's what I'm saying. Like, he has legit trade interests where I think you get a pick out of him if you trade him.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, they would. Yeah, he's he's he's an asset. He's he was the best asset they had, and and he still is, as far as like a tradable contract.
SPEAKER_03Like this season right now, he's averaging 32 games and 19 minutes tonight. He's averaging 10 points and five and a half rebounds on 62% shooting. Bad like almost a block per game as well, and that low of minutes. Like, like I said, he has been one of the best backup centers in the NBA this year, which is it's crazy to say like the Wizards have truly had one of the best center rotations in the NBA.
SPEAKER_05Backup centers are hard to find. Competent backup centers who can play with other NBA players are hard to find.
SPEAKER_03Like the only center rotations that I can confidently say off the top of my head right now that have been definitely better, where you like there's not even an argument for it, would be the Thunder and the Spurs. Knicks, yeah. I forgot about the Knicks a little bit. Towns and Mitch Rob. I'm trying to think. Those three for sure.
SPEAKER_05I would give it you said the Spurs, right? Yeah, I said the Spurs and the Thunder. Um there's a chance you could give it to the Heat, but BAM has been sort of like Sorry's been having a way better season than him. I agree with that.
SPEAKER_03Like way better.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. Where's good, but the the the SAR versus BAM thing has has spread outside of DC. Like national people are saying, hey, look at this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because like he's had a better season.
SPEAKER_05He has. Yes, you're right.
SPEAKER_03Like, it's because people like, you know, and let's be honest, like, why should the Wizards get in nationally televised games? Not like they've proven that they should. Like, if you look at the last two seasons, it's not like they have, but if you are a true basketball sickle sicko that keeps up with the young prospects in the NBA, you would realize Alex Saar is a top 10 center this year.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we ran through this on a pre-I don't know what episode, but I ran out of other centers in the conversation quickly. That's what I remember. I was trying to challenge you, but I ran out of ideas quicker than I thought I would.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like I'll go and say it. I I think Saar has been the third best center in the East this year. In the East?
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Jalen Durant.
SPEAKER_05Hold on. So we already said eliminated Bam. Um I'm probably taking him over into the magic guys. The Hornets guys. Uh taking him over turn. Oh, I'm definitely taking him over turn. Um, I'm taking him over Vooch. The Mobly thing. We talked about the Mobly thing. We think we would take Sorrow over. He's been better than Mobly. He has. Um anyone else out Central? I can't think of anyone else out central. Um, I'm taking him over. Purtle, sorry. Um I love I love Yacht, though. Whoever the hell the Celtics trot out there.
SPEAKER_03Um who has it been lately? It's I think it's been Luca Garza.
SPEAKER_05It's been like they like their Garza. Garza's been actually shooting pretty well from three.
SPEAKER_03Um, it's not a lot of attempts, though. He's taking one attempt a game.
SPEAKER_05That's true. Uh Keda is is yeah, you're right. I guess Saar is the third best center. Yeah, I ran. Yeah, because again, I ran out of the way.
SPEAKER_03Only one that we haven't mentioned is Embiid. Embiid's played 20 games, and the only category Embiid has been better in is points per game. And part of that is due to the fact Embiid is shooting almost eight free throws a game and making seven of them.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he's on a heater right now. He wasn't always doing that, but yeah, I guess Embiid has the legacy points over SAR. But yeah, like you know, at worst he's fourth best, though. You're right.
SPEAKER_03At worst, he's fourth best, but like legit when you look at what Embiid has done this year, he's been trashed defensively. He has like I I hate to be like I I'm not trying to like harp on the dude because he has an MVP, you know. He's unfortunately he has been plagued by injuries his entire career, and I feel bad for him because of that. Because when you look at him like fully healthy, Embiid is one of the best players in the NBA. But because these injuries, he's fallen off a hill.
SPEAKER_05I haven't seen that guy in a while.
SPEAKER_03And so, but like he's averaging 23 points a game, which is cool and all, but he's averaging like five rebounds, six rebounds?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I'm looking at some stats right now. Um, the defense doesn't really know whether or not he's on the floor, um, as far as the on-off numbers go. Sort of doesn't really move the needle. Um I guess he's averaging any any blocks.
SPEAKER_03Maybe one, I think. I looked at it the other day. I I looked at it the other day, like three days ago or so.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he's averaging a block a game. 1.2. Yeah, it's down quite a bit. It's I feel it for the guy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I I do feel for the guy because it's like like I said, when he's you know, like when he was healthy for that stretch there for a little bit, uh, you know, what four years ago? Four or three years ago, something like that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was the last time he was real embiad was two years ago. Then he got hurt halfway through the season. I think Kaminga fell on his leg.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he just keeps getting hurt, and it's really like you can see it's affected his career. I feel bad. Like you you hate to see that happen with any guy, but I'm just saying, like outside, you know, the points, and like I said, some of this is due to the fact that Embiid had, you know, he gets the free throw line a ton. Like I said, eight free throw attempts a game right now, and SAR is taking, I think, three or four free throws a game, which sounds kind of crazy considering how much he's been living down low. Yeah, he gets hit too. He gets hit a lot, like it doesn't get a lot of fouls. He doesn't have the whistle some of these superstars have because they're superstars. They're you know, they got they got shoe deals. Cool.
SPEAKER_04Wait till the SAR ones come out. The SAR ones with Skechers. Cap one's gonna be bumping. Who who who is it that has a deal with Skechers?
SPEAKER_03There's there's a dude Is it Randall? It's I think it's Julius Randall. Hold on. I think it's Hartenstein actually. Oh, is it who has a deal with Skechers? I'm looking it up. Let's see. Jolem Beat has one.
SPEAKER_05That's right, that's right, yeah. I heard about that.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yeah, that sounds correct. Oof. Oh my goodness it is a lot of former Knicks guys as well, or current OG Ananobi, Julius Randall, Hartenstein. I think.
SPEAKER_06Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness. An MLB star, Clayton Kershaw. No, my goats.
SPEAKER_05A former, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_03Former, oh, and Harry Kane, no, what are we doing, Harry? What are we doing? But like I said, like I I think if you look at you know the stats that actually watch the games as well, you can tell Saar has been a better center than a beat this year.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Star's coming. That's right. And if we could just cap off this episode by again saying we know that this is what Wizards basketball is gonna be, more or less. Yes. Um, so I guess get used to seeing uh what star can do with the expanded pool of ball handlers, seeing that will be interesting go up stronger by the I just and each he got ejected tonight, but um, he's getting the coaching staff is getting pretty creative with their defensive assignments that they're putting star on. Um just remember nights like this where you're on hard and he's gonna trick you. It's gonna happen sometimes if you're a young guy.
SPEAKER_03It's it's gonna happen. I am just I'm really excited to see him next to Trey Young, and everyone's been talking about it. Like Trey Young elevates every center he's ever played with. He's gonna be the big one. All of them look much better than they ever been. And you could legit next season see Trey Young with Alex Saar. You could see it be a 25 and 10 season for Saar. I'm I'm not exaggerating.
SPEAKER_05That's the upper limit of what it can be, but that is in the cards. I was thinking about what like the range is gonna be, and that's I'm comfortable guessing between like around 22 a game for Saar next year. Yeah, yeah, 25 is.
SPEAKER_03That's an all-star. They make the playoffs, that's an all-NBA player.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, all-star. We'll we'll keep building the case.
SPEAKER_03The tonight was the last night, votes are over. Oh, really? Yeah. With it being with it being USA versus world format, though, for the playoffs, or not playoff, uh, all-star game, yeah, there is a slim chance he could get in with injuries, and there's not like there's a ton of international centers getting a vote right now.
SPEAKER_05I feel like the league plays really fast and loose with that. Like I remember Donovan Mitchell ended up on like the world team last year because they just had to make the numbers work. And Brunson was a good one. Because of the even though he's like 29 years old.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Oh, some well, some of it was because like they drafted the team.
SPEAKER_05So why'd they draft a guy who isn't oh, that's right. They hadn't made the theme official yet. They just sort of they knew what the message was gonna be. Okay, got it. All right, yeah.
SPEAKER_03They they drafted the like, you know, it was all the NBA on T guys, they drafted their teams, yeah. And it just turned out to be like that. But like, you know, international centers, like it's you know it's Jokic, he's injured right now. There's no telling if he's gonna be back for the all-star game or not. I think he will. He could be, he could not. He could decide to sit it out as well.
SPEAKER_05Could decide he definitely hates the all-star game, so I wouldn't be shocked by that.
SPEAKER_03Joel Embiid, he's getting votes because of his name. He could sit it out as well because he's getting injured quite a bit.
SPEAKER_05Could happen that LeBron probably will be.
SPEAKER_03The only other international center I can think of is Victor Wemanyama. He'll play if he's healthy.
SPEAKER_05Or actually, we'll get votes. Yeah, Sabonis' days are probably done.
SPEAKER_03Sabonis' days are done. So, like, it leaves a legit case for Sarr to be like, man, because of like you know, injury reserve kind of guys, he might get in there.
SPEAKER_05Not bad at all.
SPEAKER_03Not bad, not bad, kid.
SPEAKER_05Not bad, but yeah, they kept us up late, but uh it was a fun time. It's 150 on my hand. What is it, 1250 for you?
SPEAKER_031250 for me, and I still gotta write this postgame.
SPEAKER_05No dear guy.
SPEAKER_03All right, it like it won't be uploaded till the morning, though, because I know no one is gonna be up to write this or edit it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. Good luck hammering that out. Will do, and thanks for staying up uh uh for the game with us.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I did it. I I did it, don't worry. Oh my goodness. But that's an episode. Thank you guys as always for listening, and we'll see you in the next one. Peace.