What is the Story with Cam Whitmore

Bryson Akins and Henry Brown hop back on the pod to discuss the news that came about Cam Whitmore over the weekend, and what they know and have heard from around the league. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

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SPEAKER_04 0:30

Welcome back to the All Wizards Talks podcast on the All Sports Talk Network. I'm one of your co-hosts, Bryson Aikens, joined alongside, as always, by Henry Brown. And ladies and gentlemen, if you aren't living under a rock and you keep up with the Wizards, even though they are not doing great this season, you'll notice that there was a you know decently sized story that came out about a certain Wizards player over the weekend, and it led into Monday as well. We're talking about Cam Whitmore. We we discussed it a little bit after the Atlanta Hawks game when they lost. How Cam Whitmore uh did not play in that game whatsoever, even though he was made available. He was questionable that game with an illness going into it, made him available, but he is not played, especially in a game that was close at times where felt like they could have used the scoring capabilities of Whitmore.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Yeah, I mean his whole role is just the punch. Can you just inject a little juice in into what we got going on? And we definitely noticed the pattern, everyone noticed the pattern of his minutes just steadily decreasing as uh as the the shots started getting really wily, like he shot like four for 22 over the span of a few days or whatever, but then some of this happened.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

It's so uh Varun, we talked about it the last pod how you know it was mentioned after the game, and I can't remember if we recorded immediately after if you were covering the game that night, Henry.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

The last game that was the Hawks. That was the next day.

SPEAKER_04 1:53

That was the next day, yeah. Okay, I couldn't remember because I know Varun tweeted something about it because he asked Brian Keefe a question about it, and um, he asked him on why Camp More Cam Whitmore didn't play that night. And Keefe, word for word, said we have certain standards that we have for our team. He has to live up to those on the better, and he'll have a chance here, but that's gonna be up to him when that time comes. Rune followed up and you know asked what he meant by standards, and he said that's the stuff we talk about internally, so it's more stuff we saw in the game, but I don't have anything more to comment on that. And you know, of course, I want to trust whatever Keith says, I want to trust whatever the wizards say as we cover them. Of course, you know, and there's you know, why would they lie? That sort of stuff. And I'm not trying to, you know, start any conspiracies like, oh my goodness, the organization is lying, because that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm just saying, odds are when he's talking about the internal stuff, you mentioned the game, you know, stuff that they've seen in the game. And you mentioned at the beginning, Henry, he shot four of 22 and a two-game stretch before that Hawks game.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Not good. And uh I I thought it was all it's just hard to know what's going on behind the scenes sometimes. And uh it's interesting that he clarified on court standards because that was my initial response was like, were standards on the court or off the court? It sounded like it was how he's approaching the game, which uh definitely has left him.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

I I do think some of it is, of course, how he was playing. He he did take a little bit of a you know step back a week or week, week and a half before that Hawks game. You notice he started to fall down a little bit, looked how he was in that first you know, week or two of the season. Then he noticed, you know, three weeks after that he was doing really well. He looked like one of the better players. Some people, you know, I even remember people were asking, like, is he gonna get a starting opportunity because of how well he's playing, especially when players were going down with injury, never did, and eventually, you know, came. I don't want to say came back down to earth as he is a streaky guy. I I don't want to use that. It was almost like standards, yeah. It's like a relapse a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Because this this is this is like the worst version of how he's been, and this was the the at the top of the reclamation project, knowing that he has these habits sometimes, and he sometimes can just be as about as destructive of a ball stopper as you can really have. Um and we we knew that we knew the Whitmore thing was gonna be a marathon, not a race. And I guess this was just gonna happen. It's a quarterway through the season, and for him to reach the highs that he was once projected to hit, he's just got a lot of these demons to knock out and how he approaches the game.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

Team team took a chance on him. Like that's you know, and he's a young guy, 21 years old, third year in the league. He has all the capabilities to be a you know good basketball player. It's just a matter of is he going to realize that he has all the talent in the world? It's just can he actually you know get it to be there on a consistent basis? Well, the timeline of all this is kind of interesting because then you know what was it a day or two later, I think it was on Sunday, I think it was when it was reported. Um, I am bringing it up right now. I'm gonna I'm trying to find the article itself so I can read it word for word for you guys.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

It was big enough to the point that like the national aggregators got it. I saw like NBA.

SPEAKER_04 5:15

And so Greg even talked about it a little bit. Um, he said noteworthy reporting from Grant Afseth on Cam Whitmore's benching. Says it has to more to do with poor practice habits than body language slash effort issues. If you're trying, and this is a quote from his article that a source told the company he was writing for, RG, if you're trying to establish yourself in the NBA, you need to show up to practice. One source told RG.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

So that's the thing. That kind of question, that kind of quote seems really open-ended. Because showing up to practice, that can mean like you're not bringing it every day 100%, like you're just sort of going through the motions, or that can mean you're playing hooky.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

And that's that's what I wrote about when I heard this news. It was uploaded, article about it was uploaded today. And I'll pull it up real quick so I can tell you exactly what I said word for word in the article. Boom, boom, boom, going down there. So the report, you know, the full paragraph that included that quote at the end there, uh, it goes as follows. Inside the organization, the concern has been the day-to-day work amid a 3 and 19 start to the season. Washington has emphasized establishing firm practice habits and a consistent approach across its young roster, um, which I think is something we can agree on. You've been at practices, you know, home games, you've been following them more closely than I have been able to this season, as I can't be there in person like you are for a majority of the events. So I'm sure you can agree that is something they're trying to preach, is establish good habits with this team, especially if how young they are.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

That's been I haven't been to as many practices as of recent. Um, the Ravens have just been insane. But um, that is, you know, what the, you know, some we've like laughed at it sometimes with just the meritocracy of the lineup because they were always talking about, you know, nothing is given, everything's supposed to be earned. So whatever's supposed to happen for any people trying to make a name for themselves with the wizards, uh, you gotta just show that you're gonna translate whatever you hope to do in the game in practice. You have to be that player, you have to give us a reason to believe in what we're putting on the court.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

Yeah, and I think that was shown with some players getting some minutes, like Will Riley lately has been getting a lot more minutes because Watkins. He's been putting Watkins as well. And it's clearly because they're giving it, they're all in practice. When they get the opportunities with the Capital City go-go, they're giving you it all the over there, and the teams recognize like this is what they're gonna give us at the NBA level. Let's see if it translates to the same rate. And I think with Riley, we can say it has been translating. Watkins is still a little bit iffy, and you got to keep in mind this was just his, you know, when you're talking about real minutes he played. This was against the Hawks, I was like his second game where he was playing real rotational minutes. First start, probably. Yeah. Uh first start was that game before against the Celtics, which I wasn't insanely upset about it. Yeah, because you know, you're still, you know, you need to find a way to bolster this defense. Watkins going into the team this year as a rookie, he was you know, supposedly going to be one of the better defensive players. We saw it over summer league when he set a summer league record or tied it with most steals in a game with eight.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Yeah, either an hour crazy. I was at yeah, I was at that game in Vegas. That was insane. Just a just a you can't shake that guy.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

He has a great defensive mind, and this is something the team has needed. So I'm not mad at that start whatsoever. Hustle, but they've been they've been hustling, just like you said, they've been hustling and practice in the Capitol City Goku. So clearly, they're going to get the opportunity at the NBA level. That's what was going to go on there. The end of this part from the article, though, goes, and Whitmore has not consistently met those expectations. In quotes, this is where it brings up if you're trying to establish yourself in the NBA, you need to show up to practice. So, like we mentioned, that could mean anything. It could mean he's not giving it his own practice, or it can mean he wasn't at practice at all. It could mean one of those two things. Well, first off, all right, from Wizards PR, this uh Troy was on at first, Troy Halburn. I'm sure you guys know our good friend by now, as he's a friend of the pod, was on here uh earlier in the season. Yeah. So he replied even more context per Wizards PR when asked if Whitmore had an unexcused absence. No, that is false. He had an excused absence due to illness, which this makes it feel like it's high school a little bit. That's real reporting. He he brought he brought in his doctor's note. Don't worry. He brought it up.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Yeah, you have to fold it along, make a line in the middle, so it looks like it came out of your pocket.

SPEAKER_04 9:46

Yeah. And so, but that's what Wizards PR said. That's what the team said. It's false. He was really sick that day. We told him not to come. And I get that because going into that you know, Hawks game, they had what, nine or ten guys healthy? It's getting really nasty. Yeah, what if happens if he comes to practice and he's like really sick and catches on, and all of a sudden you have three guys with the flu, or God forbid, even though I forgot it was still a thing at this point, COVID. I was gonna say play games all over again. Yeah, you know, play game you know all over again, and you only have seven guys good to go for this game.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Yeah, and none of the good players.

SPEAKER_04 10:24

That starting lineup, like let's let's say let's say Keyshawn George and CJ McCollum got sick because came whitmore practice. You're not gonna start the starting lineup would have been Bub Carrington. All right.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Yeah. Okay, okay, so Bub starting. All right.

SPEAKER_04 10:44

Will Riley. Okay, Chris Middleton.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

All right. 30 shots.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

Probably it probably would have been Jameer.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Yes. And then Bagley Penny, one of those two. Those are only really two options.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

Yeah, well, only two options. And off the bench, you really only have Vukzevic. All right, Bagley or Champagne, whoever starts, or not Bagley or Bagley Champagne. Yeah. Uh no, he's good to go. He was playing last game. Yeah. Um, I didn't mean to say Bagley there because I had him starting. Uh Champagne or Watkins, whoever didn't start, they're coming off the bench. And then Malachi Branham. That is your rotation. The thin team. You're gonna need 30 players you had healthy. Like, what do you do? Because AJ Johnson, I don't think, was playing that game either.

unknown 11:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Healthy scratch, support G League, actually. I think he's been, he keeps doing it.

SPEAKER_04 11:29

G-League, a bunch of G League games, which really frustrates me a little bit, which we can talk about. Let him get his reps. Let him get his reps. But it's just like so, and I wrote about this in the article where it's like, man, if he really was sick, like I get what he'd miss, especially with the team low on players. If a lot of guys were healthy, if you only had like two guys on the injury port, like if it was only Kispert and Johnson on the injury port, yeah, okay. Try to go through practice, at least be here, see what's going on. All right. See, you know, try to work through it, see how sick you really are. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

At least this like sort of implies that uh he only missed the one because they he just Keith just instinctively knew which practice he was talking about, right? Is that is that how it sounds?

SPEAKER_04 12:10

Uh that's what it's sounding like. It's sounding like they're talking about that Friday practice on December 5th before against you know, before they play the Atlanta Hawks. And I even mentioned what Keith said though does confirm the reason Whitmore did not play against the Hawks, though, is due to internal reasons, not because he was sick, because that's what he said after the game. If he didn't want him to play because he was sick, they would have left him out. Yeah. And then it probably wouldn't have turned into this big of a deal, if we're being honest.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

So that's actually where I'm at right now. I'm trying to think like what about it caught the attention of all the major aggregators. Is it just the idea that here's a player who's a big name and was once a blue chip prospect who can't get minutes on the three-win wizards? Is that is that what there's a story, or is it something else? I think I think A, it was I think it mainly was what Keith said. Because they laugh at the Wizards all the time on those NBA central accounts. Like those are just a dunk on us.

SPEAKER_04 13:01

They do. But I think I think it really was what Keith said, because if you remember for the past two years in Houston, Houston fans and you know media members were talking about some of the problems Whitmore did have in Houston.

unknown 13:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 13:15

Like they were talking about, you know, like personality issues, you know, effort, that kind of stuff. It was a common theme that they were talking about in the Houston media space, amongst fans, even reporters were talking about it. So I think that's what sparked it. It's like, man, we know what he's you know, we know what it is. Like, come on now. Like, we know this is a thing. My thing, you know, like the the practice thing though really annoys me a little bit because it reminds me of the Alan Iverson quote. We're talking about practice here. And it it is important, and like practice, you know, like I know a lot of people are gonna say, uh, it's just practice. Come on now, it's not that big of a deal. When you're a rebuilding team, though, practice is a big deal because that's when you get together, that's when you're actually starting to bond with your teammates a little bit, especially with these young guys who are majority of this team will probably stick together, would be my guess. That that's the goal. Majority of this team will stick together. You're probably gonna see you know, Trey Johnson, Corey Kisper, Alex Arr, Bilal, Bub, Will Riley. At least those six guys stick together. Did I mention Keyshawn George too? No, but now you did. Keyshawn George seven. So at least those seven guys are gonna try to stick together. That's half your team. Yeah, and so this is why practice is important because you need them to be there so they can kind of bond, get to know how to play with each other, really start a relationship and build a team identity. And Cam Whitmore has the potential to be part of that group that is here for the long term, yeah, if he can just put it all together. And I think some of it is because of his effort thing.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Yeah, it's it's not it's the effort, it's the attentiveness, um, it's inconsistent motor. Because I think if he never gave any effort, then we'd see him any like even less. But I think he's that much more frustrating because you can see when he uses all that weight he's got, and he he's got a really physical NBA body, and he uses it sometimes, but not other times. And when you're on a team like the Wizards, where everyone is like a first round pick and they're all picked within the last few years, um, then you need those practices to to show why you know this team just uh made a good call taking a chance on you, right? Like you're just not as high in the totem pole here.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

Yeah. And so it's just it's really interesting because if he really is sick, and that's what it's sounding like, he really was sick, it makes sense to, you know, not be at practice for the day to actually heal. It's also the middle of cold season, so like the odds are that he got sick, probably you know, probably pretty high that he did get sick, take the day off. If he wasn't though, and this is just a hypothetical, if he wasn't sick though, and could have been at the game, or not the game, the practice, I mean, it would have been a really bad look. Because taking if you're a contender and you decide, you know what, we need to rest up because we're banged up a little bit, we're sore, let's take it easy a day or two, you know. Like you, you, you, don't come to practice, just go to the training room and get some, you know, rest in, you know, uh hydrotherapy, massage, all that good stuff, cupping, whatever you need to do, get that done. All right. That's all, you know, well if you're a contender. How many wins do the wizards have, Bryson? Three. Three. Like, it is it's it's insane. There, there's a team that doesn't even have three losses right now. Like, that's that's how like this team is.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

They're gonna get 75 wins, man.

SPEAKER_04 16:46

They are. And right now they have the third best odds at the first overall pick.

SPEAKER_03 16:51

There's something really wrong with that situation.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

It's bad. It's bad.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Jesus. But yeah, this whether or not he has a cold, the fact is this just feeds into what we know about him, and that's what really is exactly.

SPEAKER_04 17:02

Yeah, like that's that's the thing, and like it unfortunately feeds into the narrative that was around him in Houston, and he's trying to beat that narrative. He's trying to beat that. Oh, you know, I am a good player, I am a good teammate, I'm gonna show up and do my work. And we saw that for a bit for three weeks. It seemed like Keith and everyone got through to him. It did, he was playing well, yeah. But now all of a sudden it's just kind of gone. It doesn't, it doesn't make a lot of sense. And this is why questions arise for this, is because A, it it fits the bill for what he was in Houston, what kind of player and what kind of person he was in Houston. All right. And B, it's frustrating because he was playing well before that two-game stretch before Atlanta. He was playing well, he looked like the team's best bench player.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

Again, that's that's the issue. It's like the fact that you can see the potential makes it that much more frustrating that it can't be honed on a on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_04 17:53

Uh, yeah, like it's the frustrating part. It needs to be there on a regular basis, see what's gonna happen. Yeah, you know it's in there. That's the thing. You know it's worth investing in. And like I can bring up his game log and see exactly what he has done in the past.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

Yeah, the and the minute logs agree with it too.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

So right now he's almost averaging 10 points a game, nine points per game on 46% shooting. That's that's solid. 46's actually pretty high. I thought it would be lower because the three ball hasn't really been there. His three ball is the thing that is not there. His three ball is 28.6%. There was a lot of that is because of the transition threes. I remember against the Mavericks game in Dallas when I was there. Brian Keith mentioned how something they really want to focus on is you know, not being afraid to take transition threes. He mentioned to his players if they're open, take it in transition. We're not gonna be this team where like you have to go in there and go get the two, get the easy bucket. If you feel confident you're gonna make it and transition, go ahead and shoot it. Yeah, and you know, for a young team, you've got to build confidence.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

Yeah, you can't try to limit that teams have to take that shot to survive.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

Yeah, and so the game against the Bucks before he played against the Sixers, where he went two of 11, where the bad stretch really started there for two games before the DNP. Yeah, he scored 17 points, eight of 14 from the field and five rebounds. Good game off the bridge. In 19 minutes as well, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Yeah, he was really valuable because uh the starting lineup did most of the scoring damage there, and he was really helpful in stretching to the to the second year.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

He helped out a ton. He helped out a ton uh against the Bulls in 18 minutes. He shot seven of ten, twenty points, seven rebounds. Real like he has these games, we see it all the time. Even an average game for him isn't bad. In 16 minutes in the loss against the Pacers, three of six, three rebounds, eight points. Like, still a solid game off the bench.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Yeah, it's just it's we're before the season started, he was one of the main X factors people were looking at when sort of poking through the main storylines that could dictate the first quarter of the season. And it looked at times like he was sort of settling in, but yeah, he's right back to the top of uh the topic list. He's at the point where these, you know, national reporters are are poking their head and trying to figure out what's going on, and so are we.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

Yeah, we're we're just trying to figure out what actually is going on with this situation. Like the first game of the year, he didn't look bad. The three-point shot was horrible. There, there's no hiding that one. One of five from three is never.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

The whole team shoot that game, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:23

Whole game couldn't shoot the first. The whole team couldn't couldn't shoot that game, but he he still shot six of twelve and finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Like he has these games, the potential is there. It's just it's you know, it's the person, it's the personality, it's the effort kind of thing, is what it is. Because you do notice at times when things don't get his go his way, if he's in a little bit of a slump, or if he doesn't get a touch every, you know, in you know, three possessions, the body language is clearly there where he's getting frustrated, he's upset.

SPEAKER_03 20:51

Yeah, it's the approach.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

Yeah, that's you know, it's the little things. Like that's that's what it is from what I'm seeing. It's the little things, and so not giving a second or third effort on defense as well. Where it's like, you know, I remember someone posted a montage of all the times Whitmore allowed his defender to score, and a lot of them are like transition where he misses a shot, he doesn't hustle back. Like there's one specific clip where he threw his hands up in the air, like put his head up, and then just started walking back. And like like it's stuff like that. If you it I'm telling you, if you limited that stuff, he wouldn't have got the DNP.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

You're probably right. Yeah, just you know, don't don't don't, you know, force the coaching staff's hand and just filter out those habits ahead of time.

SPEAKER_04 21:39

Yeah, it's just but I think I think we cover that whole situation pretty well.

SPEAKER_03 21:46

Yeah, you played out a pretty good timeline, and where we're at right now is uh the the the questioning stage. And you know there's a long time off before the Wizards play basketball again. NBA Cup action is Friday, December what, twelfth?

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SPEAKER_04 22:31

That's it. It'll be the 12th. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Yeah. Is that the next game? Next game. They have like a six, five-day stretch in between where they just have rest, and that's the next game.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

Oh gosh. Which game is that? I'm looking at my calendar. I can't. No, I got it. I got your good. Um that's gonna be the next game I have on here is Wednesday. Cavs. Cavs, I don't have did that get flexed or something?

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Probably my schedule's old. Because of the cup. Because they didn't make the cup playoffs.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Is that in Cleveland or in DC?

SPEAKER_04 23:05

Uh DC.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

Woo! Okay, good to know. I gotta get a new schedule.

SPEAKER_04 23:11

And so it's well we'll see how that one goes. But going away from that topic a little bit, we're a quarter of the season in now. 22 games. We're and this is usually when you learn stuff about teams. It's the quarter of season mark. That's when you start to learn what teams are gonna be, you know, what the potential is, what the goal is for this team. And I think we knew what the goal was for this team going into the season. Yeah. And you know, I don't think we got to say it. I think we all know what the goal was, but they're sitting at 319 now. Second best odds to get the first overall pick. Should fall in the top four at this rate, if you look at it. Yeah, we're probably keeping that pick. Probably keeping that pick because it's top eight protected in New York right now. Gotta be top eight to keep that pick. And like one simulation we chop down to fourth, and Charlotte jumps to one.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

I have a feeling there's no winning.

SPEAKER_04 24:07

There's two winning.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

Well, I was listening to Bill Simmons today, and he said that um he thinks he said the Kings are gonna get it because they've just all they've screwed up and they just gotten in their own way and just be dumb at every turn. And he was like, they're probably gonna get rewarded if Dallas tells us anything.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

No, what's gonna happen is OKC is gonna get that pick. We all know what's happening. We we all know it's going to happen. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely I don't know why we talk about like, oh, the Clippers need to step it up. Like, we can live if OKC has like, you know, 14 through eight. We know even they have like the seventh best odds, they're jumping up to the top three at the bare minimum.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Yeah, we all know this.

SPEAKER_04 24:45

I don't know why we talk about like we don't know that's happening. We know this is happening.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Yeah, just spare ourselves the hurt ahead of time.

SPEAKER_04 24:52

You're right. Like the next one I did, they jumped up to second overall.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

Hey, like wait, the Wizards or the Thunder?

SPEAKER_04 24:59

Uh Thunder. Oh gods jump to five.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

Oh, for God's sake.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

I don't know what I would do with that. Yeah, stayed at second here, but uh OKC got the first pick. Like this, we know what's happening. So epic the Wizards, like, no matter what, they're not winning the jaft because either it's going to be a team that's a playoff team or can Tender get the first overall pick because of all the trades, because of New Orleans trading their first overall pick to Atlanta. Yep. And then uh, you know, OKC owning the Clippers pick. Like, we we we all know this. This is happening. We we all know that. Like, it's it's frustrating.

SPEAKER_03 25:32

Well, I've got you, by the way. You mentioned New Orleans. I want to pitch you this question that I that I saw people talking about online because Queen popped off yesterday, had like a 33-point triple double. I saw some people were saying like the Wizards should have totally gotten this guy because Trey Johnson hasn't made noise in like a month, he's been hurt the whole time. Where do you stand on this?

SPEAKER_04 25:49

My thing is in theory, does it sound great putting Saar and Queen next to each other? It does, and it probably would work. Like, I I won't deny that it probably would work. We've barely seen Johnson because he got injured early on the season. Okay, all right. We he doesn't have a true point guard to help him out a little bit at the moment because Bub Carrington's been struggling and coming off the bench, so it hasn't really done you know much for him in those regards.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Nothing.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

So we haven't seen the full extent of Trey Johnson. We've seen 50% of Trey Johnson's potential, and we've seen like 90% of Derek Queen's potential. So it's not a fair judgment.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

It's not, it's not. Uh it just really bums me out because like Queen's a Maryland guy, he was awesome at the time.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

I think I think that's another reason people wanted Derrick Queen on the Wizards, where it's like, he's local, draft him.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

He's local people love Baltimore guys, and they already got a few Baltimore guys. Like, I I I really respected the idea. But uh yeah, it's I I I miss Trey Johnson, and I I think just the lack of any updates in a very long time have already made some difference.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

I just I think it's too early to have these conversations in four years. Can we have them?

SPEAKER_03 26:57

Yeah, and he's got the keys to the offense, by the way. Like, Trey Johnson's like an afterthought right now. He is. He is. He started what two or three games, something like that. Yeah, it didn't really, yeah. We're gonna talk about that in our in our quarter season review, but yes. Oh, yeah, yeah. Not a ton of emphasis in the offense.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

It's it's one of those things where like you you really can't put too much concern and thought into if they made the wrong pick with Johnson, if they should have taken Queen. Was Queen going top eight? No.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

He's gonna be. No, but I have I I remember thinking I did a mock draft and I had him going five.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

Because I really that was hey, I will say he was my number one center in the draft. I I will say that.

SPEAKER_03 27:37

I agree. He was my yeah, yeah, he was my top center too, if I'm thinking.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

But was this was this draft really center focused though? Not at all.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

That's why I had to think.

SPEAKER_04 27:45

No, no, like it was really forward focused and guards, yeah, everything but center. Yeah, which is the same thing for the 2026 draft. Yeah. But my like my reasoning for why it's not you know a bad decision at the moment. Four years from now, if this is still a conversation, we can have that and discuss, you know, what have they done so far for their prospective teams? You know, we we could do that, all right. But for now, let's not have that conversation. Also, uh another thing you got to keep in mind. What sounds better in your head? A sar and queen combination, or sar and boozer, or sar and debonsa, or sar and peterson, like sar and wilson, even like what sounds better in your mind too because to me it sounds like the latter four I said, and not sar and queen.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

I will say, I don't some of those are really good. I personally love the idea of star and queen together. I think that would be like a match made in heaven. I think Queen would be wonderful alongside a space in the city.

SPEAKER_04 28:45

I'm not saying he wouldn't either.

SPEAKER_03 28:46

I'm like, I think I just I just I'm really high on that combination, even compared to some of the high end ones. Like, of course, you know, some of the like the the like I guess boozer would would probably be like the the that's the dream, or you know, Peterson, he's more of a as much of a point guard as we're hoping for. Um maybe I wanted him. I wanted I wanted them to find a way to get both of them, but you know, a wishful thing.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

And I think I think there could have been the potential to get them if you trade up in the draft.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Yeah, but that they they do most of the trading up in the in the back part of the first round, it would appear.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

Back part of the first round, second round as well. So like it's so like I'm not mad at them not getting in whatsoever because we haven't seen the full extent of Trey Johnson. And you could also potentially get better players in this year's draft, especially if you land top three, which the wizards should land top three. You know, get Boozer, Peterson, or DeBonsa, one of those three guys. I think it's a better pairing than Boozer or not Boozer, uh, Queen and Sar. Yeah, I do so.

SPEAKER_03 29:39

Yeah, sorry, off track. Go back to where you were. Where was I, man? I think we were gonna talk about like just reviewing the first 20 odd games now that we have a sample size.

SPEAKER_04 29:48

Yeah, reviewing that. So, and no, shout out Greg for posting this idea at first. Totally gonna steal it because it was a great kind of form to you know get people engaging into it. He asked people, you know, to grade the wizards season so far. Quarter season review, grade the season. I want to ask you, what grade would you give the wizards right now?

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Well, if I just think about what the criteria would be. Like they are they're about where we thought they'd be, like a little worse, probably like two games worse than where we thought. Because I don't think we realized they'd be this bad. Um yeah, I think there's their order was around 20 games. Or their their their line was at about 20 games. It was 18 and a half, is what the original one was. I saw 20 and a half, yeah. So eight even eighteen and a half, like this is still this is still a few games, this is still about five games short. Or two games short of where we're supposed to be. Um but I think the players some players have risen above the rest to show that they're worth keeping and building around. Um they've had opportunities to try a bunch of different roles. Um there's been some competitive games, even though the competitive spirit hasn't been as ever present as some of us, you know, were led to believe that they'd emphasize this year. Um it's tough because there's a few guys who just have not lived up to I guess this is gonna sound so like just milk toast, but like I guess like a B minus or a I guess a B minus.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

That's that's a fair in my opinion, it's a fair assessment. Okay, what would you say? Well, I'm looking like before I give this, a lot of people are answering like D plus, F, D minus, and the C's as well. Or rebuild. That's a thing, though, is because I'm not going to say it's that bad of a grade. This team was trying to be if this team had contending aspirations heading into the season, is it a D? It is off the grade chart. You have to make up a new grade for how bad it was been then.

SPEAKER_03 31:51

Yeah, you were the Pelicans, you also have three wins.

SPEAKER_04 31:54

Yep. And so but like, you know, and I'm seeing people say like B plus. And there's one person that actually gave a good explanation for it under Greg's post where they said B plus, and they listed the positives and negatives, and the positives were accomplishing the tank, that's the goal. Solid mix of competitive games, tanking will involve blowouts, and that's natural. But there have been competitive games, and that's the key thing we gotta look at. Is like, even though there are losses, how many of them are you know, like late losses where it is a close game in the fourth quarter? A decent amount of them, I feel like.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

Yeah, they have of the 19 losses, I believe you said. Um, I guess this is this is just the worst kind of moral victory, but like you know, a bunch of those did go until like late in the game. Some overtime losses as well, which like I said, you know, like we said.

SPEAKER_04 32:41

It's a good tank game, though. It's a good tank game because you're being competitive and you have the chance to win it. Yeah, it's a learning experience, is what it is. They also said player improvement from George and Saar, good signs from rookies, Trey and Riley. They listed negatives, defense, and turnovers.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

Obviously, that is, you know, so those are like definitely like you know, byproducts of the team they have right now. But as far as what they're building going forward, I feel like I would also not give them points because I'm just not convinced that some of the players are being put in the best position to succeed.

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Like I've already said every freaking output that's Trey Johnson has not been put in the best position to succeed, and he still looks solid.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

Yeah, but also like exactly you're right about that. Um, but the bub stuff, it's like it's one thing for bub to have a disappointing start to the season, but you feel like they haven't actually made any real adjustments besides benching him.

SPEAKER_04 33:24

And you just dude also mentioned the bub regression in his grade as well.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

Yeah, you want to see a bit more creativity with how they counteract the ebbs and flows that are gonna come with a player's young career.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

He mentioned injuries as well, which I'm not gonna count that towards a grade. That's just that just comes down to luck. Yeah, I'm not gonna count that. And he did talk about what we opened this pod with is the Whitmore attitude. Like that's you know We all knew that'd be weird, but you're right. That was that was always gonna be a huge main point. But but he gave him a B plus, which I honestly, you know, I I get someone said C, but honestly, tanking wise, it's an A. Like, you know, C plus.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Yeah, so anything I was between B minus and like a C, but I just figure anything below a B minus. The fact is in the long term, they're in the draft-oriented picture they want to be in right now. Like the team doesn't look quite as I don't know, they haven't found that crazy hidden talent that I think they were hoping some teams get lucky with to boost the rebuild forward. Um, but that's not, you know, I don't I think any giving anything lower than a B, the fact is they have three wins, and they weren't trying to win games this year.

SPEAKER_04 34:26

No, they weren't trying to win games this year. I honestly am giving them like a B minus. Oh, yeah, like that would be my grade, a B minus for them right now. One person also mentioned how uh tanking wise it's an A plus, which obvious this is an A plus tank at the moment. Like there's when you're looking at like you know, trying to get your pick back and getting a top three pick, this is an A plus Yeah, it's like they're on track for an 11-win season. Player development B, but he said he also said it's understandable they got this grade because you need to showcase vets to increase trade value, which CJ, especially CJ or Chris, gotta trade one of those two and get something in return. Yeah, let's talk about that though.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

You said they gave development a B. So I feel like there, so if we're looking at player development, there's what they did over the summer to change their approach. Like, you know, SARS already talked about how he, you know, looked to get different more shots up, more shots up at the rim, um, not lean on as much on the shots that were sort of lower efficiency in general. Um, but there's also what the coach are doing, what the other players are doing. And I think you and I have both had problems with some of the coaching staff decisions and also the imbalance between the older fellas and uh the young players trying to share late game reps. Yeah. And uh it's like that feels it doesn't feel really smoothed out. I I still don't feel like they've cohesively figured out who has yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:48

They're they're still learning, you know, who's done what. It's still really early in the season to get a good look. Like we have no clue what happened with H.J. Johnson because he's not really playing much for some reason, which really does confuse me a bit why that's the case. What do you mean? Like we don't know what happened. I I think Well, like his development-wise, we saw him in summer league.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Yeah, okay. I get what you mean. Like development-wise, we have no clue what he improved upon. It might not even be like what he's doing that much wrong. It just might be that he's just not as high on the on like the depth chart compared to these other guys who were higher intrigue, actually drafted by the Wizards, or just more qualified than these players right now. Like Will Riley at least was drafted by the Wizards and was like a few picks higher.

SPEAKER_04 36:30

Well, like last season when he was on the team, I feel like he was turning heads when he was traded to him.

SPEAKER_03 36:37

Yeah, but he also was traded and he only really played, of course, after the trade deadline when things were even more over than they were at the beginning. And he was getting like 20 minutes a game, which I forgot. I was looking through his stats the other day and I forgot.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

Last game of the season, he played all 48 and scored you know 14 points. Like the Miami game. Yep. Eight assists. Like he played all 48 minutes and looked solid against the Kings end of this you know year last you know, end of the season last year, 19 points, 7 to 14, 2 to 6 from 3.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

Yeah, but who was playing in those games? Um, Sar, I believe, was in and out, and basically every vet wasn't playing. There was no Pool, no Kispert, no smart. He was on the team. Um no middle, like there was there was like the team was so emptied out. Like we were getting the two-way guys getting like 20 minutes a game.

SPEAKER_04 37:23

King's game, he started alongside Jordan Poole and Alex Tarr. I remember that game.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

Yeah, that was a big Vukzevich game, I believe. He got in a fight with Sabone. Anthony Gill got 31 minutes that game. All right, so that tells us something, all right? Like, so he he's not gonna get as many minutes when the team is like fully staffed.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

I also want to see who he was playing against in that game as well. Hold on one sec. He was playing against pretty much a healthy Kings team. Yeah, that makes sense because like he's gonna be able to get a lot of things against Sabonis, never go Rosen, Levine, Jonas, Foltz, Malik Monk, like Keon Ellis. He was Keegan Murray, he played against the the Kings team. Not like they were injured or anything, he played against the actual Kings team. All right, yeah. Good for good for AJ. My my thing though, like I'm trying to get at with AJ Johnson is after he was traded to the Wizards, we kind of saw what he can be you know with that team a little bit. Yeah. He's just insanely raw.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

And I'm insanely raw, but how do you know if he's going to progress if you don't play him? Well, that's the G League. So that's where they sent Riley for a few.

SPEAKER_04 38:32

But is he even playing in the G League? I know he's been practicing with him. Has he been playing games though?

SPEAKER_03 38:37

Hasn't he? Hold on.

SPEAKER_04 38:38

That'll be hold on, let me do some research on my own. Because I don't know if he has been, because I haven't seen like stat lines posted for him. That'll be something.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

Yeah, well, or he's played two games with them. I was trying to find that. And we haven't heard any of them. Only two. Only two games with him. Leaky players. Uh okay, I got it. So it looks like solid.

SPEAKER_04 39:04

Because he's averaging 19 and a half points for them in two games right now. 48% shooting, 30% from three. Like solid stats all around. Two and a half turnovers and uh 29 minutes of action. Solid.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Yeah, but it it hold on, it says he's and his shooting splits aren't that bad. It would appear. Yeah, he's he's got a 61.6% true shooting. That's above average. And he's getting real usage, 26.7%.

SPEAKER_04 39:38

So it's just it's frustrating because you know, like he has we mentioned the raw potential, all right. He can be good, and it seems like he's doing well in the G League. In the two games he has played, and they've played more than two.

SPEAKER_03 39:51

I think every G League team's played around 10 games so far this season. I mean, Riley was in three, and most of those he didn't even cross paths with AJ Johnson.

SPEAKER_04 40:00

It's just like I don't I don't get it. Like sending him to practice, cool and all. Like, I'm good for him practicing, but if you want to send him to the G League as well, and you're not gonna play him at the NBA level.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

So let's talk through this. So his options, he has three options. Either he gets minutes on the wizards, gets minutes in the with the with the go-go, or he just rides the bench for the wizards. And your your alternative, your your preferred option is that he gets minutes with the wizards. So how so whose minutes would he take away from? Like Bub? Uh let me look. Because he's like the obvious statistically he's the obvious one, he's like the worst statistical player in the league of qualified players, but he of course has just a lot more clout within the organization. Yeah. Um he's already off the bench. I'd honestly manage it. Because they have a weird logjam where there's not a whole lot of guys who actually can handle minutes.

SPEAKER_04 40:57

Yeah, it is a weird logjam. Uh, if Whitmore continues to have, you know, personality issues, I would take away some of his minutes, give them to AJ. Because I feel like offensive potential, they're kind of similar. So that's when you look at offensive.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

That's exactly how I see AJ Johnson. He's like a mini Whitmore.

SPEAKER_04 41:13

And so maybe, you know, as much as you love Champagne, gotta let the young guys go. Gotta let the young guys play. I don't know. Right? If we want to develop them, yeah, but you need the defense. Who would you rather would you who would you rather have playing, though, if you want to develop your team?

SPEAKER_03 41:31

Champagne's a 23. Like Champagne's not an old fart. I gotta find out how old he is.

SPEAKER_04 41:36

Oh, he all he looks so old to me. I can't lie. Well, he has old face, doesn't mean he's gonna be like 24!

SPEAKER_03 41:42

Like he's he looks so old. I think he's just the only it just so happens that he wasn't drafted. So I I think we need the defense, and I you need guys who've set the tone.

SPEAKER_04 41:53

He just looks old to me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Champagne. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 41:58

If if you hear this, I'm so sorry, man. I hope he hears me. I've been I've been I've been defending him so hard. Yeah, so he's been he's been at least since he was 20, and this is his fifth season. So it seems like he's been around because he's also been on three teams.

SPEAKER_04 42:14

Yeah, he's already a journey, man.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

He's ours. It reminds me of the thing. Because Champagne's also multiple. What?

SPEAKER_04 42:24

They went to I can't remember it was the if it was a school or hospital that they visited, but they visited one and a kid said that Gil looked like he was like 37, 38. Feel bad for the guy.

SPEAKER_03 42:45

Kids are mean. Kids are mean. They are, they're mean. Yeah, and these kids aren't even the same like screen agers we've been getting recently. They all they all have iPads and stuff, but these kids aren't like poisoned by the COVID generation. So they're just mean.

SPEAKER_04 43:05

Parents, what are we doing? What are we doing? Like, learn them something, please.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

Do you have any other pitches for who would uh who do who do you want to see minutes reduced from?

SPEAKER_04 43:19

Uh like I said, it kind of is like personality thing. You know how I feel about Tristan. You know how I feel about him.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Yeah. So you'd rather have AJ than Tristan out there.

SPEAKER_04 43:30

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 43:33

I can't get with that. I I uh I I just I I value I value the shooting.

SPEAKER_04 43:38

Well, you're a Tristan view you're a Tristan fanboy.

SPEAKER_03 43:40

Oh, yeah, there's only two sides of this, I see. Well, I definitely remember getting annoyed at at some of like the nerds who I I've probably gone on this rant already in this podcast. There's some nerds who I can guarantee did not watch the wizards. Or there were some of these like contrarian Twitter that said Tristan was a better long term prospect than Sark. Yes, I saw that all the time. And I Was like you guys.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

What do you always tell me you can't trust everyone on Twitter?

SPEAKER_03 44:03

You can't take what they say word to mouth. You can't, and you're right. And that's the thing. So you were getting like rage-bated by just guys who don't watch anything. And I was getting rage-bated by nerds trying to make it sound like they watch every Wizard's game, and they're just trying to get this gigabrain point on me. They only they only care about the stats, is what they were doing.

SPEAKER_04 44:20

That's what you look at is an efficient field goal percentage. Yeah, and I think Vučkovich is actually a better prospect than Saar if you look at efficient field goal percentage. Because Vuk only takes four shots per game and makes two of them, whereas Saar was asked to take around 15 per game and only made six.

SPEAKER_03 44:35

Yeah, and he had like the least efficient season ever. But yeah, I still I think I still value uh the Vukzevich's because I don't know, there's there's more upside for I feel like I'd rather have uh Vuksevich as a maybe not a defender, but someone who can do things in the he can pass from the front court. I value that. Um he can shoot, of course. Sort of rebound, sorta. I don't know. I I I get the bet. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go to war for him, but I just think A.J. Johnson is a bit more one-dimensional right now.

SPEAKER_04 45:05

Like I said, you know how I feel. I do. Yeah, you know how I feel about him, the situation. I will say he's a goofy looking dude. And not like not like in a bad way, but like I'd get a beer with him. Oh, that's okay. Yeah, I thought you were saying he looks weird. That kind of goofy dude. There's also a great picture of him from Media Day that I absolutely love. I'm sending it to you real quick. Uh like fantastic picture from Media Day. And that I think summarizes what kind of player he's like what kind of guy he is. Yeah. When they asked him to like take over for like a single post, he posted that. Just a picture of him like really up close to the camera. And like those are the kinds of pictures I take as well when I'm sending with someone. And like that's when I'd say, like, he's a goofy dude. I would want to get a beer with him.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

Yeah. Okay, I I I love what you mean by goofy. Um, if I can ask you another uh question about just um whatever's left of the season. Um there, I I think they've they have three wins through 22. So I I estimated they're on track for about 11 wins. I don't know if that's true, but that sounds sort of right. Um Do you think they they stay at this rate or do they have like one of those weird jumps later where everything clicks, or do they get worse?

SPEAKER_04 46:14

I think naturally you're going to have a weird jump at the end of the season. Love it. I think I think that's what it is because end of the season, they're playing against some teams that arguably are contenders this year, or you know, are one move away this trade season from becoming contenders. Because this is how we will start when I could potentially potentially be up there to cover some games during my spring break that I have for school. All right, we'll start with March 14th, all right? Boston Celtics, which you know, they're gonna be on the fringe of being a playoff team. They're gonna be playing teaching a play-in team. They should be able to play.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

At this rate, they're gonna be a playoff team.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

Golden State. Back to back against Detroit.

SPEAKER_03 46:58

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_04 46:59

OKC, Knicks, Jazz, okay, cool. Golden State, Jazz, Portland, Lakers, Sixers, Heat, Brooklyn, back to back against Chicago, Heat, Cavs. Which I feel like half the teams I name, maybe even over half of them, they are contenders or playoff teams that are one move away from being contenders.

SPEAKER_03 47:23

Yeah, I heard the Bulls and Jazz. Outside of that, every see, this is the thing that I I was I was sort of noticing at the start of the season, but no, just did not want to mention it because we lost like a million games in a row. But like our schedule's actually been pretty cushy to start.

SPEAKER_04 47:36

It's been cushy, but like this is what I'm trying to get out. Matt, with the in the schedule, there are teams in this list that are going to guarantee they are a top seed in the playoffs by then. And by those teams, I mean Detroit with at the rate they're going at, they're gonna secure a top three seed. Okay. And they know this would be a game that they can rust their guys. I hate that. All right. So honestly, you might be able to squeeze one against Detroit considering they're both home games.

SPEAKER_03 48:07

That is sweet. That could happen.

SPEAKER_04 48:09

Um, this is where I get out, where like at the end of the season, they could actually pick up wins because the team's rusting their main guys so they don't get injured before the playoffs.

SPEAKER_03 48:18

Yeah, I mean the Boston game, that was the first game Jalen Brown's missed all season. Like that's probably gonna happen more often.

SPEAKER_04 48:23

Then you have OKC, and which we should know, by that point, OKC should have the one seed lockdown.

SPEAKER_03 48:29

They're gonna have a lockdown like next week at this rate.

SPEAKER_04 48:32

Yeah, at this rate they will. Uh, it just kind of comes down to do they want to go for the all-time win record or not? That's what it comes down to.

SPEAKER_03 48:38

Well, the funny thing is, they rested like half their team a few days ago, and they still beat the Jazz by like 30. So they're gonna get it no matter what.

SPEAKER_04 48:47

Absurd. And I'll talk about them in a second because I do want to go on a rant about that for a minute. Oh, please. Uh, Knicks, arguably, they will have a top seed lockdown by then as well. Yeah. That is like one like last 10 games of the season is when that is. Um, Lakers, kind of iffy about them. I don't know what they're gonna do quite yet. Probably be very good. Probably be very good. They might make a move. Luca led team. But they're I mean, every team's been hooping. Usually makes every LaBron team makes a playoffs. They're probably a top seed. They might rest their guys in that game as well, which is one of those things where it's like, man, you might be able to scrape that one. All right. Uh, Chicago, back to back, might be able to scrape one of those as well. Cleveland, last game of the year. Cleveland is a playoff team. They're trying to be contenders again, and they probably are contenders in the season. They're a weird team. That last game of the year, they're gonna be in the playoffs. Do you think they're playing their guys?

SPEAKER_03 49:44

No, probably not, probably not.

SPEAKER_04 49:45

We're probably which is one of those games where it's just like weird you can squeak by. And so, like I said, weird games that you can squeak by, team dressing their guys right there. That's like four games I just listed.

SPEAKER_03 49:55

That's the funny thing. It's like the Wizards maybe Which is more than the game out of games they've won so far. The Wizards may end up getting hot, and like they just might do that against the hardest part of the schedule. That'll be a real shame.

SPEAKER_04 50:06

It's uh and but and so like it's a weird schedule. And there's also some games where like I look at there's a you know, nice cushy stretch for a minute here where it goes Utah, New Orleans, Miami.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

Yeah, Utah and New Orleans is that's about as good as you can ask for for a back-to-back. Yeah. Back to back, like literally back-to-back nights, Indiana at home. We should really get one of those. Like after they, you know, freaking broke the wizards' backs like two weeks ago. You gotta, you gotta get something.

SPEAKER_04 50:39

Not a sound like Brooklyn, February 7th, another game that you can win.

SPEAKER_03 50:44

They could, but like they had a Charlotte, January 24th.

SPEAKER_04 50:47

Like, there are games that they can win where they can finish with like 16, 17 wins, something like that.

SPEAKER_03 50:52

This that would be crazy. That would be insane, by the way. If they finish so hold on. So they have they have so 82 minus 22. I had to use why did I use calculator for that? 60. Um, so you're proposing they win 13 more games. Which is about like a 20 per so they'd have to win one of the every five games from here on out to hit that.

SPEAKER_04 51:14

Which doesn't sound impossible.

SPEAKER_03 51:17

For this team, it does for me. Like, I just have to they have to show me like I'm just you have to show me something.

SPEAKER_04 51:22

So I did make a bet with a friend about this wizard's team, and I want to read it off to you. As at this rate, I think it's cashing. I I think it's hitting.

SPEAKER_03 51:35

I have a guess for what it is. Let me hear it.

SPEAKER_04 51:37

Wanna make a friendly wager, the wizards will not finish with the worst NBA record this year. I would be game.

SPEAKER_03 51:44

Oh, that's not what I thought they were gonna say. I don't think they get that. Like the worst record on a per win basis is like under under 10%. So if they get double digit wins, I think they they they they cash out. Because the worst record by a win rate was the Bobcats in the lockout season, but that was No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 52:02

No, like the worst record by a team this season, not all time. Oh this season. Oh, yeah, they got that. Okay, yeah, okay, okay, okay, okay. He thought they were finishing even this was on the 17th.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

Of what month? This month? November. Wait, last yeah, we haven't even hit 17 yet. Yeah, that was dumb. Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 52:20

And he made that bet. And the bet is a jersey of your choice. Oh man. What are you game planning? I know you already got a ton of jerseys. I don't know yet, because I just shout out DH DH Gate for the cheap jerseys that I got incoming so I can have a nice backdrop finally. Is that where you got that sweet wizard's hoodie? No, no. NBA store actually had a sale on this, and I got it for 15 bucks.

SPEAKER_03 52:45

I love when the NBA store just does that.

SPEAKER_04 52:46

Um, I always check like once a week to see what items are on sale to see what I can get for like 15, 20 bucks real quick and be like, yeah, let me add that to the collection. Yep. And so I don't know that. I like that's a the wizard are gonna imagine that. I'm meaning either I get like a part of me wants to do it an absolutely obscure jersey. Like, what if I just got a Johnny Davis jersey for just for the fun of it?

SPEAKER_03 53:10

I love Johnny. So sad. But I I always he'll always have a fan in me. He won't ever know it.

SPEAKER_04 53:17

But like being realistic, I think I'm either going the classic white John Wall jersey. Okay. I think that's a classic, or I really love the gray jerseys that they have and get a Westbrook one of that. And the Rust season.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

So that's that that was an awesome. So there were some good, if you want obscure, there were some good obscure wizards who played rotational minutes. So you like uh like you can get like a Howl Netto jersey.

SPEAKER_04 53:42

I I was thinking obscure, but part of it is like I do need another Rust jersey to my collection. How many do you have? Three or four. Three. Oh no, wait, I was right.

SPEAKER_03 53:51

Uh are they all from uh OKC or different teams?

SPEAKER_04 53:54

All of them. All of them from OKC. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 53:59

Is it just the the standard white one, the standard blue one?

SPEAKER_04 54:02

Uh standard blue one. Well, one of them is in a jersey as the shirt when he broke the triple-double record. Or not. I knew it, the orange one? No, um. Oh, that's from the point. The shirt was when he won MVP, when he um you know, like actually has him on it and his stats on the back, like all his stats for the season. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:20

I actually have a Russ shirt that I also got from the NBA store sale where it's uh it's Russ and Beal. It's like the video game.

unknown 54:27

What's it?

SPEAKER_04 54:28

I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

Yep. Yeah, I got that.

SPEAKER_04 54:30

But the two jerseys I do have of him are the classic blue one. Uh, and then you remember the OG Native American Heritage jerseys that they had? Were they called Native American Heritage jerseys? Hold on.

SPEAKER_03 54:45

They're they're city edition, but they based it off of Native American Heritage. Okay, I I'm just gonna make sure I'm talking about the right one. Thunder Native American jersey. So I didn't know that's what that was called. I thought I've never been a huge fan of this one, if I'm being honest.

SPEAKER_05 55:01

Whoa!

SPEAKER_03 55:02

Yeah, the font has never really done it for me.

SPEAKER_05 55:05

Whoa!

SPEAKER_04 55:06

No one never wants that. That's arguably the best jersey in franchise history for the Thunder. Oof. I'm trying to make it. Everyone loves him. When they brought him back this year, the city went crazy.

SPEAKER_03 55:20

I did see, I did see the revamped version of that. It's got a little gradient on it. Never been a fan personally.

SPEAKER_04 55:25

I love him.

SPEAKER_03 55:27

But when you're talking about Russ jerseys, that's one of the first ones I thought of.

SPEAKER_04 55:30

Yeah. It's a classic one. There's so many great pictures of him in that jersey. Yes. My my favorite all-time Thunder jersey, and probably my favorite jerseys ever. You remember the navy alternates that they had that said thunder across the side? That's that's one I they're so basic, but somehow they're so clean.

SPEAKER_03 55:46

Well, because no one else really uses navy blue that often in the NBA.

SPEAKER_04 55:50

No one really uses navy blue, and they don't have their team name just going down the side. Usually it's across the chest or something.

SPEAKER_03 55:55

Yeah, and it was going down the side.

SPEAKER_04 55:58

That's what like threw it off. It's like very simple, but it's clean.

SPEAKER_03 56:01

Don't always land it, but that that was a good color. The blue and the white was was a nice combo. I had a KD version of that one. So that's actually the first guy I think of. When I think of that jersey, I think of uh Kevin Arantz. I think of him and the last or last season there. I think it was his last season there.

SPEAKER_04 56:15

It's I think of him and Nick Carlson when I think of those jerseys. Yeah, that makes sense. Cantor. And so love Nick. Love Nick to death. He's a good guy. You ever met him? Uh once. Nice. Once. And so I met a lot of Thunder guys in my past when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_03 56:31

At like community events or like acting?

SPEAKER_04 56:33

Community events, just chilling around, games. That's really like just walking the city. Like I say, walking the city, like going up to the city, doing stuff. Like you see them out and about because you gotta keep in mind there's not much doing OKC, so of course.

SPEAKER_03 56:44

So that's what I factored in. Like DC, like I just don't think I'd get that lucky.

SPEAKER_04 56:48

No, but it is it's so much bigger than OKC. Yeah, when I say when I say bigger, like you know, it's easy to take the metro and avoid them. You know, it's DC. It's so easy just to get around somewhere quick. Okay, see, you gotta take a car. And everything like that's you know, like if you need to go shopping, everything's in one centralized area. So of course, if a player's out shopping, especially like grocery shopping, you're going to run into them.

SPEAKER_03 57:12

Yeah, I've seen like the I've seen people who like run into Russ around there. They all take pictures of it.

SPEAKER_04 57:17

It's he still has a house there in OKC.

SPEAKER_03 57:19

I'm sure he does. Maybe that's where he'll go when he's uh when he's when he's when he's he has a house there.

SPEAKER_04 57:24

He's funding the um construction of their soccer stadium they're building in OKC.

SPEAKER_03 57:29

He's a good dude. I I I quite enjoyed his his time in DC.

SPEAKER_04 57:33

Good dude. That's kind of when my like wizard's appreciation started, was when he got traded over there. That's when I really started keeping up with the team, and I feel like that was a bad time to start keeping up with the team, but it actually wasn't.

SPEAKER_03 57:43

That was that was a pretty fun Wizards year. Um, they were one of the best second half teams in the league for a while. Brad Yeah, because they started out terribly, like the whole team got like killed by COVID. Um, and they ended up just winning every game they needed to to make the playoffs. And uh Brad averaged like 30 points a game. It was pretty fun.

SPEAKER_04 58:04

Yeah. Well, it's a podcast episode. We did it. We're back. Autocan whip more stuff. Yeah, quarter season to the bottom.

SPEAKER_03 58:14

And they're grades are in okay.

SPEAKER_04 58:16

Yeah, very okay. Nothing, you know, absurd, kind of. You know, when you actually look at what the team's trying to do, they aren't trying to contend, the grades make sense.

SPEAKER_03 58:24

They do. Yeah, it's just a matter of like whether or not the process lines up with what we want. Yep, and that's the only difference. But you know, they're where we want them to be from a record standpoint, generally, sort of.

SPEAKER_04 58:34

Exactly, exactly. Well, that's all we got for you guys. We'll uh probably next episode will be post game Friday. Probably be the next episode, would be my guess.

SPEAKER_03 58:44

Yeah, that's yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_04 58:46

And so Friday, post game, we'll hit that. We'll see you guys then. Take care, everyone. Peace.