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LIVE: Wizards NBA Draft Preview Roundtable



LIVE: Wizards NBA Draft Preview Roundtable

what’s up what’s happening it’s a Hoffman show live stream on YouTube at Craig Hoffman and unless you’re you’re listening to this later on a podcast uh in which case uh you could have been with us live on YouTube uh but that’s that’s why you subscribe you get the little alert and it’s like whoa the hofman shows live that’s cool uh today is an NBA Draft Round Table very excited to do this uh now that the NBA season is over with the Celtics winning their 18th Championship last night it is efficiently cram for the draft season uh Wizards have the second overall pick and we got three of your favorite Wizards bloggers and twitterati uh to to join us here to talk about it podcast hosts as well and uh for the podcast audience fellas I’m going to let you all introduce yourselves that way that everyone can hear the voices and know who’s talking so dammo I’ll start with you yeah so it’s uh it’s me dammo uh on Twitter y’all know me DMO 8186 uh on the Wizards of gallery PR podcast with with my guy Brendan um yeah Aid Avid Wizards fan been that since since the early 90s so it’s a lot of mediocre basketball D I seen uh Greg wasn’t born in the early 90s but Greg go ahead and introduce yourself yeah I was not born in the 90s um I’m Greg a lot of you know from Wizards Twitter um just trying to F in the footsteps of D and Matt so um doing my best but yeah happy to be here appreciate you having me on Craig yeah Greg finberg from uh bullets forever and Matt yeah Matt mno uh believe in Wizards uh bullets forever all that kind of good stuff it’s me and jiadi white once a week so happy to be here with you guys and uh if you found uh this through one of these fellas uh and and you clicked on through I’m Greg Hoffman I host the Hoffman show Daily on the team 980 uh also uh football podcast take commend yada y y but important thing here is I host a show where we actually talk on the radio about the Washington Wizards despite what the Wizards occasionally do all right so they have the number two pick in this draft um I’m just going to start with the guy that I think in following all of you on on Twitter and and reading some of your stuff I feel like we’re all huge Steph Castle fans and I don’t know why when I read mock giraffes Steph Castle isn’t mocked to the Wizards I think of the conversations that I’ve had with Michael Winger and Will Dawkins and the public comments of those guys about who like what they want in a wizard they want like winners they want guys that are tough from a physical attribute standpoint they want physical size there’s some some like extreme upside you see how he shoots at the combine there’s a jump shot somewhere in there even if he’s got to find it in games Matt like why why do we not see Steph Castle mock to the Wizards regularly when he also would be an outstanding fit because he has that size in defensive prowess with tus Jones Andor Jordan P yeah it’s a great question I think a lot of people they just kind of project who they like in certain slots and they’re not really thinking you know enough about the track record of these guys in this front office and honestly we hear enough about like what a a Dawkins guy is or or what a Winger guy is and I I don’t think we know yet these are guys that were in supporting roles and executing on other people’s Vision so there’s not enough sample size to really kind of say definitively who their kind of guys are yet and I I think what you’ve heard from them is is probably closer than what people are kind of basing it on it’s not purely the Oklahoma City model Travis schlank is running a lot of the pre-draft stuff for them you look at the guys he took in Atlanta and they’re different than the guys they were taking in OKC so I think they’re going to take you know somebody kind of off the beaten path here a little bit and someone like Castle seems to kind of check those boxes you talked about Greg uh yeah I me Matt hit on the head I I it’s hard because a lot of mock drafts like I’ve seen I think the ringer big board has them first overall but you see him at at eight or nine on on certain other ones I think ESPN’s a little lower on him so it’s polarizing I I think he’s the best on ball Defender uh I don’t want to say he’s the best pure Defender because Donovan kingan’s a tremendous rim protector and it’s kind of hard to compare the two but for a team like the Wizards that really likes especially this new front office drafting defensive players and guys that can not only do it on one end but do it on both Castle would be the best on ball Defender I think in this class um I think the offense is where a lot of people get detached from him because yeah in the beginning of the Season he very very much struggled from three shooting in the 20% and the offense wasn’t there but if you watched him throughout the course of the Season like into the tournament his offense got gradually better as the season went on and I think at a young age like he is he’s only going to get better on offense um one thing I’d like to say about him is I heard a story about um how he walked into Yukon and the first day of practice he asked everyone who’s going to be the second best defender on this team because he already knew that he was the best guy um and that kind of attitude is what I I like so again I’ve I’ve had Stefan Castle second on my board since May and and I’m firmly at that um so yeah I think he’s a tremendous player DMO I think I became aware of just how good Castle was because you wouldn’t stop tweeting clips of him during the season just nonstop like oh here’s Steph Castle dunking on someone again here’s a a rip and score situation from from Castle like what made you fall in love with him and what like what kind of upside are we talking about here because I think when we start talking about some of these other guys that to me is a differentiating factors I think the the upside for Castle might be higher than a guy like Shar might be higher than RAR like based off what we’ve seen so what what is it that you see and saw that you were just like this is my guy yeah so so me and Matt talked about this a couple times like and this might sound crazy but I it kind of reminded me of SGA uh a guy that’s 66 you know decent athlete um just kind of knows his way into to get into the paint and has some untap on ball potential in shooting that he wasn’t really able to show at Yukon because because he had to play a role um and I love that most about him the fact that you know he came in as a as a top recruit and he went to a winning situation and he didn’t bulk he didn’t Sul about you know not getting the ball having two other primary ball handlers in front of him he embraced being a defensive stopper and just made winning plays and it helped him win a championship and I think you you bank on those guys that hey now with NBA spacing we’re gonna get you more in pick and roll we’re going to kind of let you have that freedom now that you really see the full bag if you say um and then you got a guy you know at number two or in the top five that that is an all NBA caliber Talent yeah that I think of the quote that will said about BK at the intro presser which is Brian Keefe has an ability to see what guys can be not just what they are and for the guy like Steph Castle I’m like well what can he be because he has that playmaking ability he’s got a great feel for the game and like there’s some things that I think are inherent in terms of shooting whatever like you know Steph Curry has been able to shoot forever like you can’t teach someone to shoot like Steph Curry but there’s a lot of guys whose jump shots have improved once they got to the NBA they’re no longer worrying about school and they have the time like it’s their job and they just lock themselves in the gym they have access to the best coaches in the world and the Improvement comes on on a major level that’s a skill that you can work on even if there’s obviously some Talent involved I think when it comes to feel like yeah in playmaking you can train that stuff to an extent and your your coaches can give you hey we’re looking for this in this situation and like you can improve but there’s just no replacement for a guy who feels the game and sees the game at a really high level and I think when I look at for instance uh you know rear versus Castle rear is not an on the- ball playmaker he doesn’t have that like he’s got he’s got a lot of great skill he can shoot it um you know you based off his last year obviously it was a struggle before that but really good year shooting the basketball finish it nice and strong he’s got a great feel on the defensive end um and he’s got tremendous lateral quickness and length and like all these things that are really really exciting but eventually like if if we were to go play pickup someone’s going to take like there’s always the guy who who runs back and like I’m the point guard and I’m going to take the ball like someone pass it into me and I’ll get us going and like Steph Castle’s that guy rear is not rear runs to the corner and is like I’ll be waiting here for for the kick out and maybe I might or cut you whatever but like that feel that leadership all that stuff to me that embodies a Washington Wizard and especially someone that is worthy of the Wizards using the number two pick on the guy I think of DMO mentioned s SJ I think the cop for me is like a maybe a little closer to like a Drew holiday I I don’t see quite the same you know offensive upside but I think he’ll be a lock down Defender I think he can get you in your offense I think the offense will evolve enough over time and both of those guys are our guys that went in as freshman highly touted freshman to situations where there were already veteran guards ahead of them and they weren’t scared of that because they were winning teams defensive cultures and that kind of says a lot about them too you know Greg mentioned that Yukon story like Danny Hurley is a psychopath and not everybody is gonna go into that lightly and you know he talked about like hey they hang up the phone on five-star recruits if they don’t get the right Vibe for how those guys are going to fit in and if they’re not even at least willing to consider you know being there for multiple years so the fact that the castle was like B into that from day one we just saw what having like a point of attack Defender that can just like literally turn the water off against some of the best guards in the league can do for you so I think Castle gets pinged for not everybody saw the playmaking or the immediate shooting or whatever and people are kind of dismissing you know what he can do instead of um you know focusing on U the really good stuff he he can do right now that this Wizards team could need specifically yeah and and to touch on that like Matt said honestly when you take a guy like that you can compared him to Bal I enjoyed the clips of of and the highlights of Bal defensively more than I did of some of the stuff he did on offense just because the Wizards have been so bad on that end and have neglected that end for so long it’s nice to see that certain prospects that are better at defense than maybe they’re on offense right now they are getting looked at more I feel like when you draft a guy that’s bought in like that like Matt said festar recruit um another thing when he went and met with Danny Hurley um Danny Hurley was BAS like you might not start we have Tristan Newton we have Cam Spen we have a bunch of guys in front of you you might not play and if you go to like a canas you’re probably G to start and cast was like I just want to win um and to me that’s that’s that’s more important than a lot of the offensive skill sets and the lacks that you might be able to find with a guy like him he’s GNA come in I think eventually he’s going to be able to be that I’ll take away your best defender or your best offensive player on a nightly basis type of guy and if you can take him pair him with Bal and that back court your defense is Awesome on the perimeter and they’re both guys that are 19 20 years old they’re going to develop I’d much rather get a really great defender that I think can develop offensively than draft to a Rob Dillingham where he’s very Shifty on offense but I don’t think he’s going to develop into a good Defender um and like you said with the Dawkins quote you want guys like you can teach them and see what they can be instead of drafting someone that you know they’re good on offense and they might not be a good Defender and I think Castle is a great defender and he can be a tremendous offensive player so really really high on him yeah you mentioned schlank or someone mentioned schlank earlier too and and how I think Matt you said it how he’s running a lot of this pre-draft and you know again just bringing different ideas to the table you think back to those Warriors teams where schlank was the assistant GM and like the switchability on the perimeter you start to get a balal you start to get a Denny you start to get um you know Steph castle and there’s you know rear shave to his credit would be in this this as well like you start to be able to build a very def different defensive scheme where you’re just like yeah we’re here what’s up let’s go play ball versus the constant need to hide what feels like four of your five players which has been the last decade of Wizards basketball or more yeah that’s too many holes to plug at the same time man you gotta you can’t have that many leaks in the damn um no 100% 100% okay so that’s we’re all on like if he’s on the board I’m not even GNA like if SAR goes one if RAR goes one if Steph Castle is on the board at two would you I will go around the uh around the the box here Domo or DMO would you take Steph Castle no matter who else is on the board run to the podium automatic yes Greg uh if sar’s on the board I’m still going with SAR but if SAR does one I’m 100% taking Castle Matt I’m I’m really split here I gotta be honest with you I I think uh SAR is probably the safest of the picks here plus you know he’s got the highest floor of these guys plus still a high ceiling I think uh to me ultimately he and Castle are like kind of the same caliber guy I like Castle better just because I I think that just fits a little bit more about what I like in a player but uh and I question the offense a little bit more with SAR actually than I do Castle but what what they do I think they would probably go SAR in my opinion okay so let’s talk about Alex SAR I would go Castle but I’m also I don’t know I I have not watched as much film and study these guys as much as you guys have which is why you’re here uh but everything I read about castle I’m just like I don’t know this makes sense to me uh okay so let’s talk about Alex SAR uh Greg why why would you go SAR over Castle SL explain to those that are doing their cram session here for the uh the NBA draft uh with 10 days to go uh why SAR is the uh I want say consensus but if we were to put an aggregate score together why he is the the number one Prospect in this draft Yeah so look when you when I talk about rebuilding teams um I’ve see a lot of people saying you draft for for fit and you want the Wizards have a gaping hole at Center when you’re rebuilding you you got to draft the best player available I think you saw a team like the Warriors that they had Steph Curry already Lamela ball was better than James wisman but they decided to take I’m more so you take the best player um and it just so happens that Alex SAR I think is the best player in this draft and also happens to be a center um he’s seven foot some people the measurements are weird I’ve seen 71 I’ve seen 7 foot I’ve seen 76 wingspan I’ve seen 74 wingspan he’s a very tall center with a a long Wings span what I’m getting at um his his ceiling his ceiling is is jiren Jackson Jr um I think he can be a very very solid rim protector um I think he is a guy that buys in defensively for Wizard’s team that once Daniel gaffard was out you know you had zero Rim protection you might as well have thrown me or Matt or dammo out there because you knew Marvin baggley wasn’t doing any in that paint so you you get a rim protector um and you get a guy that I think has very good offensive upside I don’t think he’s going to be a off the dribble shot creator of any sorts but he’s a guy that’s can crash the glass can cause problems get lobs like I think he’s the most complete player in this draft on both ends of the floor um and and like I mentioned the defense is huge for me if you’re not a good Defender you don’t project to be a good Defender I don’t want to draft you that High um and that’s a good problem to have because I think castle and saw are two the top defenders in this class uh but I just think you need you really do need a center um Alex saw fits that mold and I don’t I don’t see him ever being a bust or being bad I think he’s gonna be a really really really solid player and and the wizards they just need to get one I think balal is already looking like that but the size of SAR the defensive Rim protecting potential I see in him that’s kind of what elevates him over a guy like Stefon castle for me first of all the fact that you didn’t include me as a potential rim protector I’m very insulted and I almost threw you out of here fine because you would be a good rim protector we would all be bad R protectors well I’m so sorry about that fellas uh but anyway good save Greg good save um I I think we need to take a step back here for a second and and just acknowledge Something That We’re as we talk about these guys which is when everyone talks about this being a bad draft right part of it is because we’ve said oh this guy’s a really good Defender and like he’s mix for the top pick but he’s lacking here like part of the reason that we can emphasize and Greg I think you even said it in a way that was far too nice earlier frankly which is like I’m really happy these defensive guys are getting the love it’s because there’s nobody on offense that’s that good in this draft there is nobody in this draft that you’re like oh that’s a future 25 Point scorer in the NBA history says someone will turn out like that that someone will become that there’s never been an NBA draft I believe is is the stat or at least in like 40 50 years where there hasn’t been an all star in that draft so someone will turn into the Giannis of this draft if you will the famous 2013 draft that stunk but also had maybe the greatest player of this generation we’ll see how the next five years go and yanis a dumbo so we don’t know who that guy is but it is worth pointing out that part of the reason we’re talking about Alex SAR and Steph castle and Zachary rash and these guys as the top one two three prospects in this draft as and the first thing that comes up on the proos side Matt is the defensive side is because offensively this isn’t a draft that has that kind of offensive player or if you know the the top candidates your Dillingham your Shepherds Etc they have enough questions elsewhere in their game that you’re like I don’t know if you’re going to play the minutes in this league to score 25 a night yeah I think you just nailed it with that last part it’s really the other question marks are so much bigger than normal that it’s just hard to say like if that guy will be able to do enough to to do it like if you gave cam Thomas 30 minutes a game on one of the worst teams in the league could he average 25 points a game like maybe he could your team would be really bad but your defensive rating is 130 but sure he got 25 a night yeah exactly like if you want to give up 159 you know per game like you can do that uh so that’s really the question could jacobe Walter do it could Jared McCain do it yeah they’re they’re also questionable in a couple other areas and really kind of the the top guys are really kind of that sort of Blended sweet spot I think of a little bit of both like uh SAR may not be a 25 Point per game score but he’s going to do enough for you and there’s enough like intriguing things offensively that he kind of still makes sense there with the defense I think similarly with castle if he does what we think he can do from a playmaking perspective there’s enough offensively there to justify as a top pick I think Reay if he adds just a little bit of Wiggle there’s enough shooting there and enough defense there that he can justify a top pick so um Mel you can keep going down the list these are the kind of hybrid blend guys that do a little bit of both sides of the ball and have you know potential on kind of the other side where they might be a little bit more deficient and then you get to that next tier the Dalton connects the Rob Dillingham where they’re probably only ever going to be good on one side of the ball and I think that’s what really separates the top tier and the second tier in the Str yeah all right so if we go back to SAR like what is uh the offensive upside here like what are we talking about in terms of a guy who’s the number one Prospect allegedly in this draft or bu a lot of boards in this draft like I know there’s a lot of questions but what can he be offensively DMO yeah Greg I think mentioned jiren Jackson junior um I I don’t see the shooting with that with with that uh I I would I kind of lean more to like a Evan Moy don’t expect him to ever be like a 20 point per game guy um or or to be like a 40% guy on high volume from three uh but 15 ft to to to 20 ft solid can finish around the around be a lob threat um has some some agility as a face up guy face you up and get by use his quickness advantage to get by guys um and then obviously be an elite help defender on the other side of the ball I think you can get a EV Mo in this draft uh that gives you a defensive all right looks like D’s internet’s having a moment so I’m going to I’m going to pull him out real quick and then we’ll we’ll pull him back in in a second um but so is there anybody else so SAR you know you got somewhere between like a jiren Jackson obviously he needs the the shooting uh to to elevate um a guy like Moy is know he’s like he’s interesting uh as I think damm’s internet has has straightened back out uh we’re not we’re going to Brady Bunch this and move people back around all right everybody’s back where they were okay uh but I think that like Moy he’s improved as he’s gone like he’s an All-Star caliber player if you tell me you get e and Moy like okay I’m not mad at that um but at the end of the day like are you are you taking that over the potential of Castle we’ve already given answers on that is there anybody else that anybody would consider whether it’s rear or someone else because there are depending on who you ask five other names that could come up in in the top two to three picks here is there anybody else that’s on any of your boards Matt I’ll start with you to be really in consideration for the way at too no not really I I’ve got SAR as kind of the safe pick there largely because I I think he’s a defensive floor riser for everybody like we talk a lot about just sort of like your defensive ceiling as a team I think he makes everybody else look better defensively whereas Castle as good as he is he probably kind of only turns the water off for one guy it’s like a Denny like he’s a great defender but he’s probably not uh going to make everybody else around him look better whereas like I think Castle does that a little bit more for you offensively with the playmaking so that’s kind of the question there um Ray doesn’t really make anybody better so I think that’s why I would have him third of the group but I also think he’s like really safe and if he adds like I said a little bit of that playmaking he kind of elevates you know to that next group here too I I’ve kind of been bad on like trying to be fair about the g-league ignite guys they’re probably the next two names I think you would maybe want to start to talk about in that General tier like a modest is a guy that was a top high school recruit for a reason the G league night experience was just so weird for them this year like they didn’t have a real point guard they basically just took like 11 power forwards and threw them out there together and said good luck so uh you know if buellis can kind of get back to what people like people describe him as like a Lamar odm type in high school of like a guy that would like grab and go and he was like playmaking on the break and we saw very little of that but he’s also playing against grown men so if he can get stronger and grow into it and the shooting comes around his Ball’s a little bit weird coming off his hand in my opinion so he’s probably like the next kind of guy but to me there’s a pretty big gap between those next couple Greg i’ I’d have to agree with Matt’s assessment in terms of SAR making everybody as a collective better I think he hit it on the head when you talk about the Wizards I mean you had Denny a and Bal that were playing very good defense on the perimeter even on the interior but once it all collapsed it would it would for for it into a guy like Marvin Bagley and for a guy like SAR to be there at that focal point to protect that Rim I think it it brings everything together as opposed to having a couple really solid Defenders outside but you have nobody on the interior um so I think Matt hit on the head and that’s kind of why I would take either SAR Castle I get the r a hype and I wouldn’t be mad at that pick at number one but I’m just not as high on him as the Hawks seem to be or as other analysts seem to be um so it would be a two horse race kind of for me with SAR being ahead um like Matt mentioned I have buellis 3 on my board which I know is a lot it’s a lot higher than a lot of people have but I’m just sort of buying the the the frame I think he’s 610 he measured at the length um he’s got to get better at a shot but I like the intangibles there and like I said when I’m drafting this High I want to draft for upside and I think he’s got one of the highest upsides so if I had to skew away from SAR Castle it would be him but but luckily the Wizards don’t because they can take either one of those players at two they don’t have to wait so I think it’s pretty much between those guys DMO anybody else that you would consider at two outside of Castle or SAR yeah at that point it gets a there’s a for me it’s a little drop off but I I I still think I’m I’m holding stock on Cody Williams um just because I like his his me measurables um with the being 6 68 71 wingspan um and just his ability to finish around the rim at only 178 pounds um I I would like to see what that looks like you know if he adds 25 pounds to his frame which I think he can do with an NBA weight room and nutrition program um because he he to me he has some of the the ball handling and kind of field chops that you mentioned earlier that uh you don’t typically see guys with a 71 wingspan have so he would probably be my next and the top of my next group um outside of SAR and uh Castle okay so let me bring up one name that uh some fans might know and that I know some analysts have in that top tier which is Donovan kingan like if we’re going to talk centers uh as a potential need and by the way I Greg you meant you touched on this earlier I’m just going to double click on it real quick there is no such thing as a need for the Wizards actually there’s no such thing as not a need for the Wizards they’re in year going into year one of a rebuild last year was year zero like they they Now understand who they have on their roster they could make some major moves ship guys out whatever um like there’s no one outside of kulali who is a long-term fixture on this team for 100% certain and he’s as moldable and buildable as a one part of what will eventually be a a wing Duo that you can possibly have like if you tell me they draft identical clone of belal kabali like that’s fine you can have two of those and play them together um by the way you know say that that’s just just what won an NBA title that’d be insulting to Tatum and brown but like two Wings who defend well and can score and can do like yeah that’s a you can do anything around those guys so everything’s a need but obviously Center is is a particularly a more immediate need with what they’ve had why why are none of the three of you I’ll let you all speak for yourselves uh but why are none of the three of you putting kingan in that mix what’s missing uh if I go um I don’t I don’t want to take a drop big second overall if I’m being honest like I think Alex SAR can defend I don’t want to say one through five but I think he he can defend way more outside of his positional realm than Clingan can um I’m buying sar’s lateral quickness over kingan I’m buying his athleticism over kingan I understand kingan klling is a very solid pick and roll Rim protecting big your your standard Center but I just don’t I don’t think I want to take a guy like clinging that high that I think projects as someone who’s going to play Drop coverage and and is very limited in terms of his switch ability on on the defensive side of the ball Matt yeah there’s just not much offensive ceiling there to me he’s probably only ever Rim catcher with Sor you also maybe get some short roll passing and and things like that too I think the the shooting is pretty likely everybody talked about that combine video of kingan hitting threes and it’s like there’s a big guy every year that hits some threes in pre-draft and people get excited about it Mark Williams came in and did it in a workout with the Wizards you saw Derek Lively do it like how many threes did those guys hit combined this year I think it’s I think 0 five is probably where I’d put the over under so didn’t Lively have won in in game four yeah that may have been like it for the season like honestly I think that might have been his first one of the Season yeah so to me like I I don’t put much stock in that personally and also just sort of the history of guys that big that have already had foot problems this early in their career like he’s had two non- cont injuries uh in his first two seasons of college basketball like that would make me a little bit nervous too if you’re the Wizards like you really can’t afford a guy when you like rarely get a top Couple pick to not work out because of something like that so you know maybe they do their due diligence and the like the medical stuff is all fine no big deal you know I would just be a little hesitant with somebody that big he’s got this High center of gravity so I don’t ever see him being like a load in the paint you have to account for because he’s never going to like Bully ball anybody so he’s strictly kind of a roll guy uh lob finisher and that’s just not enough ceiling for me personally to want to take in that tier but if I had the sixth pick in the draft or something or the Wizards trade down to four or whatever the case may be you know like that that’s a different story I think it’s just sort of that next tier down I think DMO anything else to add or they hit uh the reasons for you yeah I mean they pretty much hit them all on the head I I just for me it’s just a draft draft philosophy thing like I I if you’re not if you don’t have an elite offensive skill set as a center to be a Creator to be an offensive Hub have any type of post game um and then on the defensive side you’re a drop big and you can kind of be hunted same way we see kind of Rudy goar hunted every every playoff uh that’s just not a top two pick for me uh I think he’ll do well in a situation where they’re already you know core top one two three options there and he kind of fill in as a role um but that’s not a guy I’m taking top top two but is clinin is a great player I think I think he’ll be fine in the NBA 10 year Pro but that’s just not a top two pick archetype for me yeah no I think that’s that’s smart like there’s a safety element to him that feels like why everyone’s be like yeah well we’re not going to draft a bus it’s like okay well number two I’d almost like rather not that I’m like yeah let’s draft a bust uh but you know obviously you you have to take some level of risk uh with some of these higher upside guys okay um we mentioned trades we’re going to talk trades real quick and then we’ll get to guys that are in the in the mix at 26 which could be uh about 60 guys so buckle up we’re going to be here for the next 14 hours um no but tra trade up uh to one seems to be off the table um the Hawks have said they’re going to stay put is there any appeal to you guys in trading back considering the Contour of this draft and how far would you be willing to do Ito you had you had the the most severe reaction there so I’ll go to you first yeah so so initially um talking about this a couple weeks ago I I was kind of no on the idea of that um but but since then you know there’s been some uh some some rumors about certain guys dropping like a like a Ron Holland I’ve even seen some some chatter about Dillingham dropping or or topic dropping because of the knee uh if if the draft plays out that way and and like those three guys are sitting there uh you know or possibly could be there available outside of the the top seven or eight I think you can I think I think it should be considered um because a guy like Ron Holland I think uh he kind of checks a lot of the boxes as far as what you look for with a wing player uh you know High usage athletic um gets to the rim takes proud on the defensive end it’s just a jump shot if you can get a guy like that um with his pedigree and dog that he plays with you can get a guy like that at at number eight or number nine um I think that’s a I think that’s a shot you take uh Dillingham again I mean we we we talked about his weaknesses as a Defender and his size but I mean he was an elite scorer um as a as a true freshman at Kentucky uh you know a durius Garland type in my opinion if you can get that at outside of the top six or seven again that’s a shot I think you you should you should look into um because like you mentioned earlier Craig I mean we the Wizards have no uh no there is no need they need everything right so uh give yourself as many shots bites of the apple as you can I think I would try to keep building that flexibility though if I could I wouldn’t take any guys that kind of force me down a particular path like not that any of those guys necessarily do like Dillingham I think starts to kind of you have to build a roster certain way even with kinging I think you have to build a roster a certain way to kind of account for them and that’s not the worst thing in the world and still early enough on you can make that work it’s just I would keep looking for guys that kind of like let you shape that blueprint until you find a star and they guys that could all fit around who that future star would be it’s also this this rebuild a lot of these teams they blow it up and they start with like a kind of stuffed wor you know War chest of assets that’s not the case for the wizard so if you can move down a couple still get a guy you value and add a couple more assets here like you look at this like Celtics like run and there’s a lot of guys that on but they had a lot of swings and you know they they used those assets to get up higher in the draft and things like that or trade back you know even when they needed to do that too so I think uh you’re gonna whiff a good amount even if you’re the best for an office so giving yourself a couple different cracks at it even a draft like this it’s not that they’re all bad players it’s just the level of uncertainty is higher so if sar’s off the board at one and you’re at two and you’re not sold on any of those guys if you can get you know another lottery pick just to move down a couple spots I think you definitely consider it and considering like we all like a guy like Castle there’s all that chatter about he wouldn’t work out for every team he only wants to go somewhere he’s a point guard that will kind of turn off a couple of these teams and could you maybe get a guy like him at six or seven or something like that if you can still get your guy later and get another asset to do it you know it’s a little bit of a roll of the dice here but I would definitely at least strongly considered if I were them yeah I mean what Matt said is perfect you want to have as many ds to throw at the board as possible I mean you look at a team like Philly who was the original like I’m tanking team I mean they missed on two number one picks they took Simmons one they took folz one they traded up to take folz one passing on Tatum went toland Michael Carter Williams how dare you forget they missed they missed so many players but like they had enough shots to where they had to hit on one and they drafted MVP future all of Fame ramb beid they hit on Maxi late in the first round like you want to have as many chances as possible um so the way I look at it for me personally like if SAR is a there at two and R A goes one like that’s the guy that I like but if Saros won like I look at a team like San Antonio that has been rumored to want to trade up for r a they had him in for a private workout they really like them and they’re sitting pretty right there with four and eight um and you got the Wizards with two and 26 I think the spur situation and the Wizards are polar opposite in terms of like the Spurs got that generational Talent they kind of want to get out of this rebuild being in the lottery every year they want to make a run with wemi still on that rookie deal for making like 500 million when he signs in a couple years like they wanna they want to kind of win right now or at least put themselves in a position like Houston kind of did last year with I’m going to trade some assets get some veteran players I think four and eight looks a lot better for the Wizards and two and 26 looks a lot better for the Spurs so like if you can move back to and I don’t know if the Spurs would do this but like if they really like R A what is two rookies going to do I mean in San Antonio rookies usually take two to three years before they’re playing big minutes they’re very patient with guys like that do you really want to take two more young guys knowing that they there might not be playing time you have four five six first round draft picks on the same roster I think the getting to the second pick if you trade four and eight for two and 26 that’s a deal that I would definitely make if I’m the Wizards you just got to think will the Spurs like RIS a enough to make a move like that but I think in terms of the Wizards need more top picks to throw at the board and the Spurs need more win now like that’s our guide type players I think that’s a trade that I think could work um and then you look at maybe if Detroit is looking to move up if they really like one of the guys up there they really like Kyle kozma that’s a discussion for another time but I think the Spurs would be the main package for me but I would rather stay put yeah no I think if you can that two uh that two top 10 picks 4 and eight from San Antonio like I I just think there’s not enough certainty but that’s that involves a level of humility from Dawkins and Winger and and schlank and those guys to be like look this is my board but there’s a chance that I’m wrong and I’m better off taking two swings than one if for whatever reason you are like no Reese AR is my guy or Castle or sawar or whatever like if your guy is available you take him and you just don’t look back and you have confidence in your your scouting uh and you you roll with it but it always comes down to how confident are you what are your buckets look like uh and is there a team that wants to make a deal um and that’s that’s obviously a huge part of it too um I do think the you know we’ve had a couple of of questions about trades in in the chat um and talking about like when can we start trading when what about C what about Denny like I do think that you could see one of those guys move for sure on draft night um if I’m I I’ll say this though like the the guy that I think is most likely uh feels like cous because he should be useful to a winner right now but I if I’m trading Kyle kosma I don’t necessarily need to do it on draft night because I’m probably looking for future picks like I want assuming that the team I’m trading to is going to be good now if it’s Detroit like sure give me your pick next year you’re probably not going to be very good um but assuming that the team is going to be good then why would you not want a future pick for when they’re going to be bad and the window is over so that’s something to keep in mind all right if they stay at 26 though we’re going to wrap up with this we’re gonna go around the uh Around the Horn one more time here I want your favorite guy at 26 so you get everyone gets one player uh Matt get us started if you have one ready to go if not you get to pass the ball to someone else the ball’s in your hands does it have to be someone that’s realistically available at 26 I mean there how is so I mean like you can’t take Alex SAR he’s not going to be available at 26 but it does feel like everybody from like 5 to 80 on the draft board could be available at 26 so what I’m going to say within reason yes realistically available like everybody here is gonna say they love like a bub Carrington rookie scale does this consensus Big Board I should get like paid to plug them because I mention it on every show but he’s 19 on there right now is there a world where he goes 14 yeah is there a world where he goes 26 probably not but like someone like that would be interesting a kaan George is really interesting um one of these other guys might mention him too so I’ll pick somebody a little further out of left field I really like Jaylen Tyson out of Cal this is a guy that started at Texas ended up at Texas Tech it’s kind of a more of an off ball you know three and D Wing type for them and then this year at Cal like they really kind of like gave him the keys to to run offense and I think having like a malleable guy kind of fits into what we talked about in that last you know segment there of guys that give you flexibility down the road could kind of fit where you go with the rest of this roster someone like Tyson I think is kind of an interesting guy kind of a wonky Moon balier type shot but they went in at a pretty reasonable clip and I think if you can get like a 6 foot five or six foot sixish guy that play makes or can play you know on or off ball plays reasonable defense when he’s actually not tasked with running a whole offense by himself like I think he’s a guy that would be really intriguing to me Greg I would go with Tristan D Silva forward from Colorado don’t ask me why I watched so many Colorado games this past couple years you got KJ Simpson Cody Williams they they had a really solid team knocked off Florida in the tournament and I think Tristan to Silva was like the glue that held that unit together he’s not g to be your be the best shooter the best defender on your team but he does everything very very good uh and I think I I like his floor I think he I think I like his floor a lot better than a lot of the other prospects where I don’t think there’s any world where Tristan D Silva is a a bust can’t play him type player I think he’s gonna be a really solid guy and when I’m picking at two it’s different I want the best potential possible but when I’m in that Mid First to late first round second round I kind of want guys that I think are just GNA be solid players uh and I think Tristan D Silva is is a guy that as a very um there there’s no way to me that he’s going to be a bust player I think he does the little things really well and I think he’d fit into Wizards team um very well all right DMO who you got 26 yeah so uh uh this is kind of morph because all the guys that I liked at 26 last week now are are vaulting into the top 20 so like like Matt mentioned bub Carrington that would have been my pick but I’m B kington let’s go let’s go bub kington yeah I mean shout out to BB Currington man Baltimore’s own uh 65 18 year old some of the best pullup uh jump shooting numbers in the entire class uh kind of reminds me of a little bit of like D’Angelo Russell just has that like natural scoring feel uh he struggles at The Rim um he needs to get stronger but like I said he’s 18 years old I I just love I just love that you know he was tasked with basically carrying an offense as a true freshman 18 years old and he he kind of excelled at it um obviously some efficiency questions like I said at The Rim but I think he has a nice base of skill set to to to build on uh being so young always intrigued uh I don’t have a guy because I’ve been doing a million other things uh but that’s why I have the radio show which you can listen to 4 to 7 daily on the team 980 uh one more time everybody uh where where can people find your stuff uh Matt start the plug arama here to wrap us up uh believe in Wizards it’s me and former wizard jiadi white uh actually if you’re listening to this live we’re we’re rolling at one o’clock here so if you want to just talk more draft stuff come on over uh but yeah that that’s where you can find us yeah uh YouTube Believe in Wizards there and of course you can search that in your podcast feed Greg uh yeah I mean I write for for BS forever really been enjoying that and then I got a podcast called the Wizards podcast um not a very original name damm’s name’s a lot better than mine uh but have a lot of fun doing doing wizard stuff you can obviously find me on Twitter Greg f as well but again I can plug myself but the other two people that are on this panel they have phenomenal stuff so definitely check them out too and dammo yeah man uh Twitter DMO 8186 and then uh the wizard of gallery repl podcast with my man uh Brendan so yeah check us all out man how excited were you not just because uh it meant so much more to not leave DC but that you’re not gonna have to rename your podcast when they didn’t go to Virginia yeah yeah for sure for sure you get to get to stay home in the city yeah as they should uh but that’s uh well we’ve already we don’t have to talk about that anymore because they they did the right thing begging screaming kicking it’s ET but they did the right thing appreciate it fellas uh again if you liked this make sure you subscribe to all the things that you just heard uh and we’ll be talking about this a lot more on the radio show over the next couple of days uh just taped a great uh interview on the NBA draft with the uh with excellent NBA analyst from No Ceilings NBA Tyler metf uh who a lot of you watching uh might know as well I know these guys are all big fans of No Ceilings as well so that’s going to air at 5:00 today on the team 980 uh and we’ll continue to get a bunch of great analysts over the next week as we lead up to the Wizards NBA draft and of course we’ll have live coverage of uh every single pick including that number two pick for the Wizards on the radio at the team 980 uh thanks so much for listening if you’re not subscribed already hit that magic button and uh we’ll see you down the road

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12 Comments

  1. Cam Christie for the 26th pick, I think he'll still be available as well. Great shooter with upside on the creation side. Hes very young as well, 6'6"

  2. I still hope that if the Spurs want Risacher, they trade 4 and 8 for 2– draft Castle and Holland with Bilal and let the dunking begin!

  3. Cody also very underrated 😂 we see that the NBA wants to push these European n foreign players but idk if it’s being done on purpose for these teams not drafting at the top

  4. Feel like the Wizards problem all year is closing out games. The last six minutes. How many games would they lose then. I feel like Edey gives you a true half court option late in games. Down in the paint. I understand his possible defensive issues vs a spread offense. But he is a very skilled big. Unlike Gobert. Watch Miami take him.

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