All Wizards Talk
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All Wizards Talk
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SPEAKER_05Welcome back to All Wizards Talk a podcast on the All Sports Talk Network. I'm one of your co-hosts, Bryce Aikens, joined alongside as always by Henry Brown. And uh, ladies and gentlemen, uh, you know, before we talk about that Celtics loss, before we talk about it, because Henry, last night we couldn't hop on because apparently press took forever, from what I sound like. And Henry, you had quite an experience trying to get on the metro back to your place.
SPEAKER_04I I love the metro, but yeah, sometimes you know, stuff happens. Sometimes there's like you know, a robbery or a breakup, whatever. It's part of the color.
SPEAKER_05It's it's part of the charm of the city, you know, witnessing a robbery on the metro. What stop was it?
SPEAKER_04Uh it was actually Reddit. Um, you know, New Carrollton? Have you ever Yeah? Yeah, okay. So it's like in the middle of the freaking metro, and uh the trains took forever to leave because and it was like the last train of the night too, so it was just completely packed.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And so we we couldn't we couldn't record immediately after the game because of that. Press also took forever from what I that was that was the bigger deal.
SPEAKER_04That was like 90 minutes of waiting.
SPEAKER_05Nine ninety minutes of waiting, and I was trying to watch a log on you know League Pass because they streamed the post-game press conferences on there, which that's the thing I love about League Pass is the fact that they do that. And I was I was sat there waiting for like 30 minutes, waiting for like a player or something to come up, and nothing was coming up. I was like, I'm not gonna wait any longer for this.
SPEAKER_04I have a question. Did so did you actually end up watching that?
SPEAKER_05I watched Keith's, but after the rest, I was like, no, I'm good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because he showed up and then it was a very that's when the really real wait uh happened. And um I had I asked Middleton a question um about you know, he he mentioned that sometimes the team will hang their head, and that's how these third quarters just become blowouts. And he and I asked him, I was like, You've probably been on teams like that in the past, like how did you buck that trend? How do you see it bucked as a young guy and what can you do now? And he gave an answer, and I wasn't recording it because I just figured it would be online, or that it would be on the the YouTube fide version of the press conference, and the internet has completely ethered that response. I can't find it anywhere, and it's sort of a bummer. They only have like two minutes of the Middleton press conference online.
SPEAKER_05I I think, dude, it's either I invest in a burner phone or I get one of those recorders because I, you know, I try to record on my phone, but I also want to tweet out the answers while they're live. And so, like, I don't want to be on my laptop while I was having my phone up. Do I bring a tripod with me at this point? I don't know. I know some people do. There's no great answer for it. So I don't know if I'm gonna you're like, maybe I invest in a burner phone. Like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_04I tell you though, I uh I missed Keefs because I was actually at the Joe Mazula media availability.
SPEAKER_05That sounded good from what I was hearing.
SPEAKER_04I haven't been that scared in a while. I was up next to ask my question. Huh? Mazzula's a scary guy. Yeah, man. He has that stare, and I was up and up next to ask a question, and I had something ready, and then it ended like really abruptly. And I was like, shoot, I actually wanted to ask. I I I did all that being nervous for nothing. But um, I just don't know what he's gonna do. And I was I was sort of intimidated. It's the first time in a while that it's been like that.
SPEAKER_05The whole Celtics organization is just full of scary guys. From when I was living in Boston, going to school up there, and I did some charity work at TD Garden working as a public address announcer. And at all these events, of course, are basketball related. So, of course, the Celtics front office staff like Brad Stevens, other members, there'd be players like I remember the first time I did it, Jason Tatum was just chilling sideline watching a basketball tournament for this charity match. I was like, this is pretty cool. But then Joe Mazzula was at the last one there, like I was there, he was just walking around, pacing, watching the guys play. No words, nothing, just pacing, staring at everyone. He had those like kind of like murderous eyes that you know I'm talking about when his eyes get like really wide when he notices something. Yeah, like he had those eyes the entire time, and I was scared out of my mind.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. That was me yesterday, so I understand that. Um, but he won by 45 yesterday. So if he's ever gonna be at ease, this was probably the game to do it after. One to 46 to 101 final score, and uh it was it was a tail of two halves, another one of these kind of games.
SPEAKER_05First half didn't look bad. I was impressed in the first half. I was thinking it was like sort of honorable.
SPEAKER_04They were like really fighting and they kept having these little mini runs to stay in it. And uh Derek White and Jordan Walsh were just killing them, and they they kept hanging in there, and then the game changed as it as it has like a dozen times already.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I do think part of this the problem with that, that second half, is the fact that you didn't have you know, you're arguably your best defender Balal Kulabali. If you put Balal Kulobaldi on a, you know, like Derek White, for example, who was cooking the team the entire night, maybe it's you know it could be a different game. I think you know, if you have Balal Kulabali, you still lose because the offense doesn't get much better. But the defense, you don't lose by 45, you probably lose by 20.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but they didn't have Jalen Brown. It's the first game he's missed all.
SPEAKER_05They didn't have Jalen Brown either. And then like I look at the rest of the guys the team was missing. Of course, Corey Kispert. You know, you can have your thoughts and opinions on him as a listener. We've yeah, he's useful. I we both but I I think both of us agree he is a good player to have on his team for the future, long term. Trey Johnson, we haven't seen in a while, that could have helped out. And Alex Sarr, of course, who's an all-star this season. Yeah, you know, the best player. Having him, yeah, best player, having him, a lot of these games might look different. That the team has lost pretty handedly. I'm not saying they go out there and win if it's just Alex Sarr playing instead of all these other guys, but the games do look a lot different. The teams have to change their game plan entirely.
SPEAKER_04It it would look different, but it was just this is the first time I've actually seen Boston in person. Yeah, that's right. And um, watching them operate is so cool. Their offense is so crisp. They just make all the right extra passes, not just around the perimeter, but inside, and they move the ball so well. And the Wizards blew a few defensive possessions, but there were some where they defended right and they still just got out out moved. They just moved the ball right where the wizards weren't.
SPEAKER_05Well, I think some of that also is the fact that you know, when you look at some of the players on this roster, it's not the same team as that 2024 championship team, but they still have some people that return from that, especially like Pritchard and Derek White, like those two guys that you know they have rings and the Isle Down the Hill. If Derek White's on a rebuilding team, he's an all-star. Like, I mean, I will say that if Derek White is like, if Derek White was on the Wizards, he's an all-star. Let's I'll go ahead and say that. But it's the fact that he he's on the Celtics, and so he's overshadowed by so many players, where you forget how good of a player he actually is and how impactful he is, and then you see him as a first or second option, you're like, oh man, we like this Celtics team is good. I think we noticed that yesterday when the Wizards were playing them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he's like he's my favorite player. Uh, it was really cool to watch him. Um, and he had like nine assists and seven rebounds and just hit every three. And the role players, I think, really made the difference. Jordan Walsh. Yeah, all eight shots he had.
SPEAKER_05I've always been I've always been high on Jordan Walsh. I've always liked it.
SPEAKER_04And uh Josh Minot was good. I remember that. Um Kato was good, just did a bunch of stuff inside. Um they're just they're they're even on their down year, they're a level above. They're like 13 and 9.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like that's you know, it's a down year. They're dealing with injuries across the board. They don't even really have a center, like it's Luka Garza, pretty much is their center. Uh Nemes is one of their centers as well.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I was about to say Kate Kata played a lot of minutes.
SPEAKER_05Kate Kata played a lot of minutes, but like those are your two centers where it's like, you know, like the fact that they're still doing this with not you know, and like Kata still, you know, he's decent. Do I think he's a starting caliber center in the NBA? Still not sold on that. On the right team, he's not bad. On the right team, he's not bad, but like, you know, uh, I'm still not sold on him yet. Luca Garza, he's not a starting caliber center. We know this, but he started for them a few times. It's just one of those things I look at as like, man, if Alexar does play, they have to change their game plan entirely because I think he drops 30 on a team like that. That doesn't have a true kind of center that can stop him.
SPEAKER_04He could. I like to see how the rebounding would stack up because they just had a great offensive rebound, all around performance, the Celtics. Like they're just everywhere, super badly uh retreated. And uh this game was over really quickly.
SPEAKER_05It was just it was just frustrating, uh, you know, looking at it. And yeah, I'm not I'm not I'm not gonna I don't want to harp on him too much for this loss because it was, you know, of course, playing against, you know, even on a down year, one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference when you look at them. Yes, they were missing their you know their best player this season, who's been healthy, Jalen Brown. But but then again, the Wizards were missing a ton of their players. And I I don't like how people are still trying to find Keith as the scapegoat for this game, because from when I was watching that press conference, Keith was pissed.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but you gotta do something during the game, too. We can't just be annoying. You gotta do something during the game.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you can't be annoyed after the game. But like there were some guys that didn't play well. Cam Whitmore went back to his you know ways that he was playing at the beginning of the season. That doesn't help whatsoever. The past two, three weeks, how he's played, he's looked great. I love that version of Cam Whitmore, but he went back to that first week of trying to make a name for himself and doing too much, and that didn't help the team whatsoever. A few bad defensive possessions. Some people are saying, why did you know he start Jameer Watkins? And part of me is like, well, I kind of like Jameer.
SPEAKER_04So we had to talk about that. That was the big coaching move that that he did that elicited some reactions. Um, and I like Watkins too. I don't under why do you think he started above uh Whitmore and Champagne? Like, what's your what's your logic here? Because those are like the two more obvious starting.
SPEAKER_05I would think defense for sure.
SPEAKER_04I don't under but he's been starting Champagne for a bunch of these games recently. I don't I don't understand where like um Watkins was like out of the rotation entirely, and this isn't the first time uh Brian Keefe has done this because Champagne's out of the rotation for the first like two weeks. And then he started immediately.
SPEAKER_05That was his first start against the Celtics.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, did we already play the Celtics?
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah, we have uh at TD Garden. That was the game the game where Jalen Brown left his mark on Keyshawn George.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so I don't understand this strange gimmick of just starting someone without much experience. And um I think personally that it it was not Whitmore's day, um but Champagny's defense and activity I think would have been a bit more helpful because he's a bit more of an offensive presence than Watkins, even though Watkins is a really gifted uh primitive defender.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, look, I don't have a problem with him starting a young guy, I especially with an injured team. Like I didn't have a problem with starting Jameer Watkins. Do I think if you were gonna start one of these younger guys, should have been Will Riley? Yeah, I do think that. But I'm a big fan of Jameer Watkins. I think he can be one of those second-round gyms that people look back and say, man, this was a great pickup. He's not gonna be, you know, a star by any means, but when you look at his defensive upside, I was watching the game. He was living in passing lanes, he was, you know, forcing it where like they had to move the ball around a different direction instead of getting it back to you know, whoever he usually guarded, like Peyton Pritchard. Like he would be in those passing lanes. He had some good on-ball pressure. If he could just be a better offensive player, which it wasn't his night offensively, I don't think he took a lot of shots either. Um, but if he just is a better offensive player, he's you know, he's not bad whatsoever. I wouldn't mind him getting some more starts while the team is injured. It's just, in my opinion, looking at it, this wasn't the game to start him. If you want to go young guy, it should have been Riley starting. If you want to do that, it should have been Riley.
SPEAKER_04Same draft class, same position.
SPEAKER_05Um and I think Riley's proven a little bit more in these G League games, and he really was in rotation for a little bit.
SPEAKER_04He's a really he really knows how to pass, man. Like he had these like little nifty dump offs in the post that I just thought were really impressive. I did I like Watkins a lot, but he has almost nothing to offer on offense right now.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he only took one shot. He made it, but he only took one. It's not like Riley did much better offensively either. He went two of six, one of three from three. But I think I think his passing ability, because I saw some nice passes from him that could have been assists, that you know, he was passing the ball around, spreading out the four some more. When people are saying we don't have a point guard right now because Bub Carrington's struggling, we don't have a point guard of the future. I look at Will Riley and I'm like, well, he can be a point guard.
SPEAKER_04He really could. He could be like the backup point forward to like Keyshawn. Like he really has good feel. You've seen in the in the G League. Yeah, well, he's listed as a guard, but he's 6'9.
SPEAKER_05I thought he was taller. He he's 6'9, 180 pounds. He's you know, only he's only 19 years old. He's still young as well. He's incredibly super young, and I've been impressed with what we have seen from him early on. Sure, the you know, shooting efficiency isn't quite there, but he's a rookie. He's getting adjusted to the NBA. Of course, the efficiency isn't gonna be something that you're impressed at right now. Look at Alex Sarr. If we wrote off Alex Sarr as a player and a prospect after that rookie season where he didn't shoot great whatsoever, like that would be absurd. You know, you're not gonna write off Will Riley right now because of this. Look at the game against Philly. You got 26 minutes, got some ample time, five assists from the field, 13 points, four rebounds, assist there as well, along with a steal. He's not turning over the ball much either. He's a good player, he has potential to actually be a point guard. And do I think he's the starting point guard of the future? No, I think he's a good backup point guard option. But if you're you know really like, oh, we don't have a point guard right now, we need to, you know, you either go sign someone in the offseason or like, oh my goodness, first overall pick. I don't care. You're drafting for fit, you need to go get Darren Peterson because he's a point guard. As we learned from Tyler, if you have that first overall pick, you're not drafting your fit, you're drafting who you think is the best prospect on your big board. And I think right now, when you look at how they've been playing, Darren Peterson hasn't been playing, so he's his stocks dropped a little bit, but Cameron Boozer still looked great. You draft Boozer there. Maybe then upcoming draft, you draft a point guard, or you take someone later on in the first round, you trade up a little bit, you have four second rounders and this 30th overall pick from OKC coming up. Package that last first round pick along with two or three seconds and move up uh that 16 to 22 range and go get a point guard because this class is stacked, and that could still be a starting point guard if you're not impressed with Bub Carrington. Will Riley can't be that backup.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he can. And you are right, there's just a lot of second round picks. Um, and even though the Wizards have gone 0-2 since uh that little breath of fresh air uh against Milwaukee. Was that on Monday this week? Was that only a few days ago? Wow. Um Milwaukee game. Yeah, that was only Monday. I've liked a few things. What have you liked about the last few games? Because I have a few things written down.
SPEAKER_05The last few games, what have I liked?
SPEAKER_04If there is anything.
SPEAKER_05What have I liked? Um if I'm going to be honest, I've liked Koulibaly's defense. That's been something I was really impressed with. Uh CJ McCollum hasn't looked bad every now and then. He's he's he looks more consistent from what I've seen. But man, and then the last one, of course, would be Bagley. I think Bagley has been the most surprising player on this roster for me so far. Where like I was talking about it the other day with um Greg on the timeline, and he you know mentioned you know his stats, how he's been doing so far. And I mentioned as like I've been really surprised by him. I would not mind it if he, you know, would once his contract is up, which I don't know when it is, I'd have to look that up. I don't think he's here for much longer. I think it's like a two-year contract. If that. If I'm looking up, yeah. But I would not mind it if he came back on a cheap, you know, little deal. Like I wouldn't mind it. A cheap little, you know, long deal because it's not like he's gonna make over 10 million a year. Like I could see him, you know, making like eight mil a year. This is the only year of his contract, so I would not mind it if he signed for like a three-year, it comes out to 18 million, you know, a three-year, eighteen million dollar deal where it's like six mil each year. I wouldn't mind that whatsoever because I have been impressed with him.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Again, we we talked about this uh on Monday, but I don't know. You like having I I love an effort backup big who just gets a bunch of boards.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I I know he gets a lot of hate because he was the pick before Luca. I he gets a lot of hate because of that.
SPEAKER_04That's a rolled away. Even Luca's not even on his team. That's just that's just a like a completely that's a different era at this point.
SPEAKER_05Well, yeah, I think, but I think he gets a lot of hate because it's like, oh, you're drafted, you know. They they you look at everyone that was in that draft class that was either drafted, you know, like after him or in that second round. He was in the class with Luca, Shay, Trey Young, all these guys. All right, and you know, like he was drafted second overall. So, of course, people think, you know, look at him as bust, but he's a solid backup big, in my opinion. Yeah, he's had some good games, like the Milwaukee game that we mentioned, 11 to 16th from the field, 22 points. I'll take that from a backup, you know. Like if he has to be in that starting role, he's proof he can, you know, be serviceable as a starter, but even as a backup, the loss against Dallas, he had 10 points as the backup. 10 points, four, seven, five rebounds, you take that from a backup big, and that's kind of my point. It's like he's been one of the more impressive players for me because of his role. Sure, he's not putting out glamorous numbers, but if you need someone that's gonna do dirty work and you know be serviceable as a backup big man for 10 to 18 minutes a game, he's he's a good player to have there.
SPEAKER_04I really hope no one was judging him this season for uh the draft. That was almost a decade ago. That would be pretty wild. Um I would say the below thing is a real bummer, man. He's trained as oblique in Philly on Tuesday, and he's out for a couple weeks again. He just every time there's a taste of momentum, he's gone again. Like how this can't help his development at all.
SPEAKER_05No, it definitely doesn't. I'm pulling up the article I wrote about the Koulibaly injury. So I can tell you exactly what all I was thinking with that. Because you gotta keep in mind, this is not like his first injury this season. This is what like if you want to get technical to his third. Yeah, if you want to get technical to his third because that surgery he had over the summer, the thumb playing for Team France on his thumb. Uh no, this is wrist, I'm pretty sure.
SPEAKER_04Was the thumb second?
SPEAKER_05Uh no. He had something else earlier.
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SPEAKER_05Uh soreness in his left calf, which with all the soreness and strains in the calf, you got to be careful now. And thankfully, he had that three-day rest period between then uh the Rockets game, three days of rest, and they played against the Nets. But now this oblique injury, it's not great whatsoever. I have the time frame from how long it takes to recover from the various oblique strains. If it's a mild one, it takes two to three weeks to recover. If it's a moderate strain, it takes four to six weeks. And the worst case scenario is a severe strain that takes eight, you know, six to eight weeks usually to recover from. But that's just a recovery, and the team wants to take it conservatively. So even if it's like a mild strain where, okay, two or three weeks he should be back, they might have him sit for five to six. Yeah, the same way, the same thing that they're gonna do with Trey Johnson because it's about to be at that time with his calf strain where okay, we can look at him, see if he can, you know, get ready to come back here, see where he's progressing. Because it's been what two weeks or so since Trey Johnson had that strain? About, yeah. About two weeks, and you know, usually with these, they're reevaluating them in two to four weeks. So we're about to be in that time frame where where they'll reevaluate him. But I see him being out, Trey Johnson being out five weeks, cool bali, five to six weeks as well. Like it's it sucks, and you gotta have the conversation. Is this just bad luck or is he an injury-prone player?
SPEAKER_04It's tough. I want to check something real quick, by the way. The thumb was Kittsburg, I think that's where I got that from. Um it's hard to say because it's like a different body part every time. Like it's not like there's it's not like he's reactivating the same thing every time. He just I know, yeah. But after a while, you gotta have talks. It's a terrible pattern.
SPEAKER_05They were having talks with that about Chet, if you remember. Oh, yeah. Because it wasn't that it wasn't the same body part, it was different body parts, is where he was getting injured. Yeah, you know, it could like you can have it with Cool Bali. There was an interesting stat I saw the day he got injured. Um, that Greg posted. Uh of the last 40 games for the Wizards, Cool Bali missed 28 of them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he's had back-to-back season ending injuries. It's it's it's been this way sort of the whole time, especially during what we all hope to be the jump year. Um, 54 career games so far, too.
SPEAKER_05How many when I wrote this it was 54. Now it's like I think it would be 56 now. He's missed 56. No, no, 55, 55. Because he played against the Sixers. My bad.
SPEAKER_04So now you think about 25 games a season, and then whatever happened this season, that makes sense.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Not good. Where it's like with how it goes, he could be you know close to 80 career missed games at the end of the season.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Which through your first three years is not great.
SPEAKER_04And it really is like the unfortunate balal story so far that this this arrived within 24 hours of one of his best moments in a wizard's uniform. Because he did the Giannis era. I know you want to talk about this. You want to take this for a few minutes?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like cool, like when you look at it, cool bali is the reason the Giannis era is coming to a close. They had they had a chance to tie it up with you know a few minutes, you know, a few seconds left in that game. Bucks were down three, wizards somehow had the lead against a Healthy Bucks team, by the way, with the Wizards without Alex Sarr, Trey Johnson, and Corey Kisbert. Some of their key players, all right? They're missing a lot of key players for this game. Bulal Koulibaly shut down Giannis under Kupo, got a steal, and postered him on the other end. Like if I don't know if you saw the picture flying around of him, where Giannis was just head into ass on Koulibaly trying to stop that fouled out and one. Boom. He's done for the game. What is it? You know, like two days. People are joking about it. It's like, man, what if this is the moment that ended the Giannis era? What if he requests a trade? Two days later, damn, he wants out. You can think Kulubali, like whoever you're a fan of, you can go ahead and thank Kulabali and the Washington Wizards if Giannis ends up on your team.
SPEAKER_04Sometimes it's the right place, right time, and the Wizards got the bucks the right place in the right time. It was crazy. What a game. Were you there for that one? Which one? Philly or Milwaukee. Milwaukee. Yeah, yeah, I was there for Milwaukee.
SPEAKER_05I've only Did you hear the song?
SPEAKER_04I did! I did! I did. However, those back-to-back times that they played, they changed it. It used to be all I do is win, which was so funny. Now it's um win, win, win, win. That's what it is now. But I was starting to miss uh the lost song, and I got to hear it again yesterday during uh the kind of loss that that I I used to call like Unwatchable Wizards basketball where you're at home and you're like, I'd rather just do something else. Um but this time you gotta see how it goes down. However, I did like a few things about this game. I really I've liked some of the passing that's happened the last few games. I took note of um I think Vuksevich um had four assists in Philly, and he had these he's he's a better passer than I I realized. He he's one of those guys who's pretty good on the short roll. He makes these extra passes off the dive, and he's making these little he gets the ball and he's doing that Jokic thing where as soon as he gets it, he just tips it. It's like he's barely touching like tips it out to someone else.
SPEAKER_05And a lot of people keep in mind, he he he tried to learn a lot from Jokic when they were playing in Eurobasket.
SPEAKER_04And you can sort of see it. It's he's got this like instinctive thing where he is he is finding the corner shooter and he's finding the cutters, and uh he's not initiating anything, but he's getting the point guards, the classic hockey assists while he racks up his own.
SPEAKER_05And look, he's had some you know good games in the absence of Alexar the past three games: 16 against Milwaukee, 16 against Philly, 10 against Boston. He's been getting the free throw line quite a bit as well, which uh I like to see that from any player that can knock down free throws like him. He's only missed two free throws so far this month, and he's shot 19. That's a good rate, right there. That's pretty good. No, that's pretty good.
SPEAKER_04I like Vuksevich. Um, but there's there's there's definitely like nits to pick with his game. But if he can pass like this, it really does open up a whole bunch of different doors. He's not just because I used to see him as like the guy who he gets the classic, like, you know, won't shoot unless he has the ball moniker. But um, if he can pass like this, that opens up a whole different kind of player archetype that he can fill, a whole different kind of backup big that that's starting to show up in the NBA. And you know, he has the shot too, didn't didn't shoot a ton of him yesterday, but um he only took one three, but the three he got it on, I took notice on Twitter. Another really good pass from Keyshawn. They did um they did a um I I wrote a while ago about I like just having Bub out there with Keyshawn for the double point guard idea. Um and Bub has the ball at the top of the key for one of these possessions down the stretch. Um and Keyshawn's on the corner, and Vuksevich sets it down screen, um facing towards the baseline, and Keyshawn um sprints off that, catches the ball um on the wing, instead of shooting it, which he could if he just passes it back to uh Vuksevich, who's like a little nifty behind the back kind of thing. He missed the shot, but some of I don't know, they're doing actual plays, and I I wanted to see more sets, and uh we're starting to get it. The good passing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Well, you mentioned Keyshawn right now, and you know, he's averaging 9.1 potential assists per game, which is kind of brutal when he's averaging oh, let me go down here 4.6 assists per game. So, like half the you know, half the pass that he finds where it's someone missing an open shot practically aren't going down, and that that really does suck for a shot I put on Twitter, it it resulted in a miss. Yeah, and so it does suck to see that like because Keishon has been passing it well, and I know some people don't want to talk about him being the point guard for this team of the future, but you could run a point forward system. Absolutely, there's no doubt about that at this point of the season. You could just go a bigger lineup, run a point forward system, and like your smallest player on the court practically is Trey Johnson when he should be a starter when he's healthy. I I think we can agree on that where Trey Johnson needs to be a starter. If they're actually gonna like use him, yeah, I'll agree. Yeah, that they want to use him, your sixth overall pick in this previous draft. If you want to use him instead of giving him 18 minutes off the bench and you know, not using him the right way, you're going to have him with that starting unit and do a bunch of off-ball action with SAR. Because I could see Trey Johnson in the future in a role kind of like Clay Thompson was with the Warriors for a bit, where he's a deadly catch-and-shoot player. Just got to improve that defense a little bit. But I I could see him like adopt a similar role, especially offensively, where you have your on-ball creators already, and Trey Johnson is still a good on-ball creator, but that shot is so good, you got to start figuring out how you can get catch-and-shoot situations for him. Not with the you know bench rotation, where you know, like Bub Carrington, he's been decent, but at times, you know, they're just not finding him. Whereas I know if it was like Keyshawn out there, he'd find him.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I I always find this this that comparison a bit tough just because I think of Klay Thompson as a player and your use of Klay Thompson as just an offensive player solely, as his two different things. But you're definitely I see what you're saying. The comp I keep I'm thinking about honestly right now is JJ Reddick. Because he was a pretty dang good all-around scorer in his own right in college, but at his best, he's a movement shooter, and that's what Trey Johnson is. And they're both about good wing size. I think JJ was about two inches shorter than Trey Johnson is. Um, but I I agree with your your notion of him actually starting if they're gonna use him off ball. But some of these actions that we're talking about here, you know, those can work with some of the bigs. And Trey Johnson's not a bad passer, so I can see him also sliding into some of those bubbing Keyshawn actions.
SPEAKER_05It's just they they gotta start using them. That that's the key thing. They they have to start using them and not just as a bench player who's gonna come in here and play 18 minutes a game and not really do much. They actually have to start using them because you got to figure out what your team's going to look like, especially going into this upcoming draft where you want to have a top three pick, and you probably should have a top three pick as well. Those are players that change, you know, the course of your franchise, and Caleb Wilson's kind of creeping into that. Like, oh, is he a top three prospect? You got to figure out who's gonna be the best fit alongside in the starting lineup of Keyshawn, Alexar, Balakula Baliun, whoever that four starter is, which I think should be Trey Johnson. And so that's the idea. You got to figure out who's the best fit around there, and that's when you like you decide, like, okay, man, like where do we go? And I know we don't draft, like we said, don't draft fit over, you know, pure raw talent, whoever's first on your big board. I think that comes down to if you have that first overall pick, you're drafting whoever is the best player because then you can figure out how to build around them. Because, like I said, there's a bunch of guys that are, you know, have one A potential in this draft of you know, Boozer, especially Peterson, DeBonsa as well, even though people are kind of off on him, but his free throw rate is insane when you look at his numbers for it translate that to the NBA, it's going to be fantastic and you'd be a first option. And so if you get that second third overall pick, you got to figure out like, okay, now since we can't get our first guy, presumably, if you know, like let's say it's Boozer and whoever's first overall takes Peterson or DeBonsa, then you're like, Oh, we can still get our first guy, let's go get him. But if your first option's off the board and you're the second pick, then you go, okay, who slots in as this fifth starter on this team the best? Is it Peterson? Is it DeBonsa? Is it you know Wilson? You won't know that unless you throw out these young guys in the starting lineup together, especially Trey Johnson, who shouldn't be a starter.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I definitely, you know, they sounded pretty annoyed after eat last night's game. It sounded honestly the vibes were the closest it was to when they called the players-only meeting. It seems like just all around the team. Um, and hope that's something that they that they talked about. You know, it's actually get some more energy going on offense and let's try more unique things. And that's that's definitely part of it when Trey Johnson comes back.
SPEAKER_05That that's definitely part of it, along with when Alex Sarr is back, you know. You can tell defense is definitely gonna be better when Koulibaly's back as well. Yeah. It's just, you know, it is frustrating, especially that loss. And I don't want to say, you know, like, you know, it's not all on Keefe. I know a lot of people want to say it's all on Keefe because he started Jameer Watkins and the rotations look questionable at times. Is he out there on the floor actually playing?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but what logic does that which coach does that logic apply to? Right?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I get but like, and my thing is like, you know, especially Cam Whitmore, like that that's the thing that annoys me the most is because he reverted back to his old ways when he was starting the season. It's a bummer. But like no one's you know getting like it's like everyone's like I've I do see people talking about they're like, why didn't you pull him out sooner? And if he's playing like this, it's like, well, if you look at how Cam Whitmore's played the last three weeks, of course you're going to have him out on the floor and hope he can get out of this. That's just that's just natural. Like any coach does that. Like, if you have a player that's been hot the past few weeks, especially as a bench player, see an okay see AJ Mitchell was hot to start the year. He had two off games. Do you think he's taking him, you know, giving him less minutes? No, because he saw what he can do and he realizes, like, hey, when he's on, this is the player that we're getting. If he's just you know doing what he normally does, he's still giving us 12 points a night. He he's still you know a good player for us. It's just every now and then you gotta live with the off games, and you can't blame it all on the coach at times. Like I said, if a player has an off game, that's not on the coach, that's on the player. But I will give you when there are questionable starts and you know rotations, especially like starting Watkins over Riley, if you're starting a rookie, I'll give you that one. But if a player struggles, even though the past few weeks they've been really good, that's not on the coach, that's on the player.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it comes down to how you prepare. And unfortunately for Whitmore, he is a role player, and you don't get the grace of a star or an up and comer like like uh AJ Mitchell does. And if you're like I wouldn't even say he's a star or upper comer, AJ Mitchell. I wouldn't say that. Yeah, star potentially is an up and comer. Like Whitmore is like just sort of like a streaky role, that's just who Whitmore is right now.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's just it's just frustrating when I see people say it's Keith's fault, it's only Keith's fault when like no, it's not just Keith's fault. Not just Keith's fault, no. But like you you think you think he wanted to put out this rotation? You think some of these guys are getting rotation minutes when you know this team's healthy? No, they're not they're not. Like he was he was doing what he was ever, you know, with the cards dealt in his hand that game. Like, I look like let's look at the box score, who all played. You you think Brandon's getting eight minutes, regular rotation minutes when everyone's healthy?
SPEAKER_04Oh, we got eight minutes.
SPEAKER_05You you think he's getting that?
SPEAKER_04No. No, he didn't get any in Milwaukee.
SPEAKER_05Like, that's just kind of like when I look at it, it's like that's kind of what I look at and see. Even just shit Justin Champagne, even though he's look good, do you think when this team's healthy, he's getting 15 minutes? He should. He he he probably should, but even then, I might say yes to that.
SPEAKER_04Not to be a contrarian. Vukum.
SPEAKER_05I get the point you're making. Like, I get he's you know struggled to start the season, now he's playing a little bit better, but fully healthy team. Do you think he's getting these backup center minutes, 11 minutes off the bench over Marvin Bagley? I don't think so. I think Vuksovich. Vuxovic. Do you think he's getting the backup center minutes over Bagley right now?
SPEAKER_04He's like sort of the unknown quantity of this team. Like he's probably the hardest guy to understand that question with, right?
SPEAKER_05Like he's uh yeah, I know. He has Bob Carrington, 28 minutes off the bench. Do you think he's getting 28 minutes off the bench regularly when this team's healthy? Do you think he's getting that off the bench regularly when healthy? When this team's healthy. No, he's probably getting 20 minutes. 20 at the way. He's probably getting 20. Will Riley's probably not getting 27 off the bench. He's probably getting right about that. When you know, they like that's why I look at like he he double the cards in his hand. Where it's like, man, like some of these players you look at, and it's like they're not getting this many minutes usually if they play. Like Jameer Watkins, he's not getting 18 minutes usually. That's just because he started, he got 18 minutes. If he's coming off the bench, he might get you know five to six minutes every now and then. End of the game, you know, end uh end up quarters, just be like, hey, we're you're gonna play defense. We really want to try to stop this guy putting a lot of faith in you. Go out there and do this for two minutes. I see that with him, but not 18 minutes. That's just what I'm trying to say. Like, this loss is not entirely on Keith. He didn't have the greatest cards dealt to him for this game, a lot of injuries going on where he had to play guys some more minutes than he's usually comfortable with, especially when I look at like Carrington, Riley, like those guys specifically, like they got more minutes than usual, I feel like. And so I will say though, AJ Johnson, play him. Why have we not seen AJ?
SPEAKER_04Uh, I actually I understand why they don't play him. I I think he should be spending more time in the G League. Just he, I don't know. I just don't think he's like a half-court player right now.
SPEAKER_05Uh I just I don't know. I I I'm really high on AJ Johnson. I really like him. I would like to see him actually get you know legit time and not these six minutes of garbage time, four minutes of garbage time here and blowouts. Like, I don't want to see that. Give him give him some time, give him some you know, run with the second unit or starters, see what he does.
SPEAKER_04You're right about saying, Yeah, I mean, you're definitely right. Keith isn't coaching the 92 Bulls here. Like, he doesn't have a ton of toys to to work with who can actually win games. Um I I I mean, I I just I want to end this off by saying he he does deserve, he he shouldn't be absolved of the team getting away from their culture that they're trying to establish. Um, and he's right to call out that whatever's happening right now against Boston or whatever happened last night against Boston um was not the kind of product they want to put on the court. But that that does fall on him for for whatever he wants to establish. How are you actually getting the results you want?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I get that. But I'll go into it then. Yeah, I was just trying to make it known where it's like, you know, if you're like especially a loss when you have arguably half your starters injured.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Like, do you like you really want to put all the blame on the coach there and not, oh, well, we're injured and we had to give Bub Carrington almost 30 minutes off the bench. Like like you see what I'm trying to point here now.
SPEAKER_04Like, oh, I totally saw. I just want to, I just want to.
SPEAKER_05I do want to finish this episode with one thing here. All right, and this is an article I just recently published that is in my mind that I want to talk about when we're talking about rotation players and players that could help out a little bit. There's a player the Wizards waived over the summer before the season started, who is looking really good in the G League right now, looking like one of the best G League players that arguably should be on a two-way contract right now. And the Wizards had a two-way spot to offer him because he was eligible for a two-way contract. Per, you know, when you look at the NBA, CBA, whatever you want to look at there for it, because he hadn't played three full seasons under a standard contract yet. He was just a rookie. They waived Dylan Jones, and you could say whatever you want about Dylan Jones, like, oh, he was never going to be anything. Well, over the summer, I thought, and you know, in preseason, I thought Dylan Jones looked better than Branham. Branham's not really doing much right now. Whereas Dylan Jones, you look at what he's doing, he's getting run right now. He's looking really good with a Rip City remix, where he's recorded back-to-back triple doubles. He had a triple double against the San Diego Clippers this past Monday, I think, Monday or Tuesday, where he had 10 points, 10 assists, 13 rebounds. And then he had another one just yesterday, where he made sure to text me when I tweeted out, by the way, Dylan Jones just recorded his first triple double of the season with the Rip City remix. He's balling out. He then DM'd me with that message and said, Oh, by the way, I just had another one. And I looked it up and he was like, sure enough, he did, where he put up 26 points on 50% shooting, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. He's looked really good. And this is where I get like, man, if we want to talk about not having guys off the bench, Dylan Jones is going to the second year. I know he's a little bit older of a player for going into the second year at 24 years old, but still, like, I think he's better than Brandham. I feel like you should have kept him. I know the decision probably came down to age and you know, overall like money costs. Yeah, I know that's probably what the decision came down to. But if we're talking about pure basketball, I feel like Jones was the guy to keep.
SPEAKER_04He's definitely a better playmaker. Um, I I would wish him luck with all these wings, though. Of course. Yeah, yeah. He would be facing an uphill battle. I I definitely like him more as a player, though. I'm with you on that one.
SPEAKER_05I just feel like you had that two-way spot open and they gave it to Sharif Cooper. And like, I don't know much. Like, what's going on with Sharif Cooper? Like, uh you see my point, they could have given him the two-way spot. Have him play in the G League if you really want to utilize the G League to develop players, have him there and develop a little bit, have him play in the G League, and people would be like, You see him if he does this to Capitol City Go Go, which I'm pretty sure he could have done, playing alongside guys like Will Riley and you know, Jameer Watkins in that G League system, they could have won a G League championship, maybe, with some of these good, really good young guys. That would have given us something to talk about, given something fan base could talk about. Like, man, the potential is really there. Like, it's really there. Let's look at him a little bit here. Like, I just feel like they should have offered him the two-way spot at least. And they probably could have. You know, they they they you know, they might have offered him the two-way spot, and he'd be like, you know what? Nah, I'm gonna take my chances. He he could have said that. We don't know. I don't know the whole situation. I just feel like you know, like instead of just waving him, if there was an opportunity to offer him a two-way, you should have offered him and tried to keep him as he doesn't look like a bad guy. You know what you're getting with him. A six-five-point guard who can play a stretch four kind of role if you need to go small ball a little bit, who can really facilitate quite decently. The three-point shot, of course, isn't there. He's not a great three-point shooter, but he drives really well after learning under Shea for a bit over in OKC. You you could see the impression he's left on him a little bit when I watch some of these G League games with them where he looks really good driving to the rim and attacking and facilitating a little bit. You can tell it rubbed off, and I just wish this team would have kept him because, like, man, like it could have helped out with some of these games, especially if you're not gonna play the guy that you kept in Brandon.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, Brandon is for sure buried. You definitely um like the passing because we said that the Wizards offense does have spacers, so I definitely see how he could fit. Um, but I'm rooting for him.
SPEAKER_05Rooting for him, always, always rooting for him. And so, but that's all I really wanted to bring up before we end. Reached out to me. That's Broey. That's that's bro. Like that. I I just I just find that awesome how you just reach out to me. He's like, oh, by the way, I had another one. Oh yeah. Keep building your value, son. Of course, but anything you want to end off with here before we call it good.
SPEAKER_04On to Atlanta, or wherever their next game is. This is their next one. The kind of game you gotta move on. I think that's how they're hosting the Hawks. Um, just the kind of stretch you want to move on from. And uh we'll move on. I mean, we ask our questions. We need to ask a few questions after that kind of performance, but you know, we'll give the benefit of the doubt, see if you guys can shake off the stench.
SPEAKER_05We'll see. We'll see for sure. But we'll see you guys in the next episode. All right, thank you guys for listening in. As always, peace.
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