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The Sports Junkies debate how far the Wizards can go with AJ Dybantsa.
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00:00I saw some audio last night that I thought a lot of local fans will be
00:05interested in.
00:06AJ DeBonce was asked a question that he said he had never heard.
00:10And listen to how he answered this question.
00:13Which NBA player are you most like, but no one compares you to?
00:17Wow, that's a good one.
00:18I never got that question before.
00:19You want some real ball knowledge?
00:20Give it to me.
00:21He never played in the NBA, but he got drafted.
00:23Len Bias.
00:24Which NBA player?
00:25Such an amazing comparison when you think about it.
00:28That's funny.
00:29I mean, Lenny just elevated.
00:30That he knows who Len Bias is.
00:32Oh yeah, but there are similar body types.
00:36Lenny elevated at an absurd level the way he does.
00:40Had mid-range game, could shoot outside, could pressure the rim.
00:44I mean, actually a great comparison.
00:47Great comp.
00:47When you think about it.
00:48I thought so too.
00:49The mid-range game.
00:50Really, really good.
00:52Not just that it's Len Bias, but that it's a great comparison.
00:55Shoots at the height of his jump.
00:57They're very similar.
00:59It's a good one.
01:00It's just a really, really sick comparison.
01:03And that's going to resonate in this area.
01:06I've noticed something about AJ DeBasa.
01:08Dude's a fast talker.
01:09He's a fast talker.
01:10He talks really fast.
01:12I haven't noticed it.
01:13You got to pay attention to him because he's getting those words out with the quickness.
01:19Well, he's a smart kid.
01:21There's some, obviously these guys all know each other.
01:23They've been playing at the highest levels.
01:25There's a clip that's out there of him and Trey Johnson, Cooper Flagg.
01:30Cooper, I guess, in a scrimmage with one of these USA deals, whatever, dunked on AJ.
01:36To an extent, AJ claims, and he's right, he jumped to the side.
01:39He didn't really dunk on him.
01:40He's like, I've just jumped to the side on this one.
01:43And then Trey Johnson's goofing on him for getting dunked on by Cooper.
01:47But AJ said, we won.
01:50It doesn't matter.
01:51Anyway.
01:52He can brush it off.
01:53Yeah.
01:53And Will Dawkins alluded to how AJ has that competitive side, how he likes to talk trash,
02:00but he likes to back it up.
02:02Just so many things to love about what AJ DeBonce is going to bring to this team.
02:08The other thing that Will talked about was just some of the anomalies.
02:11I think he's the first freshman to lead the NCAA in scoring since Trey Young.
02:17He's maybe the first freshman or first guy in like 30 years to whatever his numbers were,
02:2325, 8, and 3, or whatever the hell they were.
02:26So high in assists.
02:27That's something I thought that jumped out at me the first time I really started watching AJ
02:31is how well he found the open man when he was double and triple teamed.
02:37And Dawkins talked about that too, how when Richie Saunders went down,
02:40he started the season, they didn't know how to cover him.
02:44Then halfway through the season, they started doubling him.
02:46By the end of the season, the whole team was on his back.
02:48They're triple teaming him, and he's still thriving.
02:52So, yeah.
02:55I think he said he was in the 90th percent.
02:57He led the country in scoring.
02:59Was the 90th percentile in assists.
03:02And also, maybe he had the most free throws.
03:05Most made free throws.
03:07He gets a ton of free throws.
03:07Shot 51% from the field.
03:09I mean, there's a lot to line.
03:10He went to the line a bunch.
03:11I mean, statistically, just an absolute free.
03:13One thing he was asked about was his defense,
03:15because he's been criticized for not being a great defensive player.
03:18And he was pretty honest.
03:19He said a lot of it was just effort.
03:21Yeah.
03:21Yeah.
03:22He said, I just didn't give the effort.
03:23And he goes, that was on me.
03:25So he owned it.
03:25You know who pointed that out?
03:26He owned that.
03:27But Keith and those guys sat down with him.
03:29They were asked about it.
03:30And they showed him clips.
03:32They said, look, we're not here to beat him down.
03:33But we would show him clips where the effort wasn't there.
03:36Then we should back it up with a clip where he did show effort.
03:39To show, hey, you can do this.
03:41Yeah.
03:42But they kind of cornered him on that to see how he'd respond.
03:45And Will Dawkins said, when you look at this physical specimen that he is,
03:50and you look at his legs, and when he fully develops,
03:53he's going to be a monster on defense.
03:55Yeah.
03:55And maybe he was just trying to give too much effort on the offensive side.
03:59Who knows?
03:59He didn't really give an excuse.
04:01He just said it was on me.
04:02Yeah.
04:03So he's honest about it.
04:04They're going to hold him to it.
04:05We talked about this last night.
04:06The question now is, let's just assume Anthony Davis is part of the team.
04:12And he is right now.
04:14He may be traded at some point.
04:15We'll see.
04:16How good will this team be with A.J. DeBonsa?
04:20We had John Wall on the show yesterday.
04:22And John Wall talked about a potential starting five.
04:25Kind of the starting five that we thought with Trey Young and George in the backcourt.
04:33DeBonsa, Saar, Davis as your frontcourt.
04:37How good can that team be?
04:38You've got guys like Will Riley coming off the bench,
04:41Trey Johnson off the bench, Bilal Koulibaly off the bench.
04:43All of a sudden, they're pretty deep.
04:45Oh, yeah.
04:46You didn't mention Bob Carrington.
04:48I mean, they've got a bunch of guys.
04:52You know, as our buddy Ben Strober tweeted, they've got a squad.
04:56The Wizards have a squad right now.
04:58Dez Bryant tweeted the same thing.
05:00Getting national attention.
05:01The Wizards got a nice squad.
05:03The Utah Jazz are another team that's going to have a pretty good squad
05:07because they just shut down all their guys last season.
05:12And now they've got a pretty good backcourt.
05:15And they've got a pretty good frontcourt, too,
05:17because remember they traded for Jaron Jackson Jr.
05:20Yep.
05:21So they've got him.
05:22They'll have Darren Peterson.
05:24They're going to have a pretty nice squad, too.
05:26That's another team that's probably going to make a big jump next season.
05:29I thought it was interesting when David Aldridge, we were talking about the lottery
05:33and how they changed the rules for tanking and everything.
05:36And he talked about how he had 10 teams tanking.
05:39That's why everybody was like, it's too much.
05:40You've got to change.
05:41It's too much.
05:41And he was like, it was because of this draft.
05:44And it was an excellent point.
05:46He's like, it's not going to be 10 teams tanking next year,
05:49regardless of a rule change.
05:51There's a race to the bottom.
05:52This was the draft that everybody wanted for three years.
05:56And that's why you had kind of the year that you had.
06:00It's hard for me to still wrap my head around the fact that the Wizards
06:03actually got lucky in one of the best drafts,
06:06if not the best draft in recent memory.
06:08And they secured the number one overall pick.
06:11It's still hard to kind of sink in as a long-time Wizards fan.
06:14It was cool talking to John Wall last night, too.
06:17Oh, John's just great.
06:18Maybe we'll play some of the clips from last night.
06:20But he obviously knows this roster.
06:22He knows the game.
06:23He knows the league.
06:24Oh, yeah.
06:25He's excited.
06:26I know he was a Peterson guy, but he's excited about AJ.
06:29I think, yeah, I mean, there's nothing.
06:31You can only be excited.
06:32I think the sky's the limit.
06:33But I will say, I'm not convinced, though,
06:37that AJ is necessarily going to be better, say, long-term at the end of the day
06:41than like a Wemby.
06:42But I think it's the depth of this draft is what I think made this draft special.
06:47So let's talk about some of those other teams.
06:49Utah drafts at No. 2, Darren Peterson.
06:53So their backcourt is Count Day George,
06:55who averaged 24 points and six assists last year.
06:58And Darren Peterson.
07:00They've got Laurie Markkinen, who's been an all-star.
07:02Jaron Jackson, who's been an all-star.
07:03And then I'm not sure what's going to happen with Walker Kessler.
07:05He was a restrictive free agent.
07:06I think he's turned down an offer already.
07:09They, of course, drafted Ace Bailey at No. 2 last year.
07:13No. 5.
07:14Wasn't that right?
07:15He was No. 5?
07:16I think he was.
07:16I don't think he was.
07:17Yeah, Dylan Harper was No. 2.
07:19Yeah, Dylan Harper was No. 4.
07:22So that's a team that's all of a sudden going to jump up
07:25in a loaded Western Conference.
07:28But it was chalk to start the draft
07:30because we all expected then at No. 3 to be Boozer.
07:34So Cam Boozer goes 3.
07:36Caleb Wilson goes 4.
07:38And then the draft kind of started at 5.
07:41Yeah, I mean, because we did expect those top four to be gone.
07:45But that's when the guards started popping out.
07:48And then, you know, Wogler goes.
07:50He goes to the Clips at 5.
07:52Mikel Brown went to Brooklyn.
07:53Saw that pick getting slammed by a lot of people.
07:55I feel bad for my boy Acuff, who I really like.
07:57I think he's going to be a good player, but he's out in Sacramento.
08:00But it sounded like his reps wanted him to be in Sacramento.
08:03I don't know if that's spin.
08:04I don't know.
08:05I don't know who wants to go to Sacramento at the 7th pick.
08:08Yeah, right.
08:08But that's what it sounded like.
08:10That was the destination they kind of liked in that range.
08:13So you had four or five shooting guards slash point guards
08:18drafted in a row.
08:20And then you started getting in.
08:21Then Lindenborg, who was a great player in Michigan,
08:24first team All-American,
08:25and he goes to Golden State.
08:27You surprised Dusty May didn't take him first of the Michigan guys?
08:30Because the Michigan guys went, I think,
08:32three out of four picks there, right?
08:34Nine through 12?
08:35They went back-to-back.
08:36I know that.
08:37Let's see.
08:38Yeah, because John Marez Johnson went to Dallas.
08:42You surprised they went with Marez Johnson?
08:44I don't know.
08:45Maybe they just realized they needed to move a big.
08:48And Marez Johnson is a really good defensive player.
08:50The thing about Yexel is he's like 23-24.
08:52He's a lot older.
08:53He's older.
08:54He is older.
08:54And so, you know, it's a lot easier to dominate when you're 24
08:58than it is when you're 18, 19.
09:01Yep.
09:01Look, Dusty May, he knows his guys.
09:04He knows his guys.
09:04He knows his squad.
09:05And look, maybe he's not the one who's pulling the trigger there
09:07because they brought in the guy who used to run the Raptors.
09:13I'm sure they leaned on him.
09:14To run Dallas.
09:15I mean, if they're taking a Michigan guy, they asked him.
09:19100%.
09:20Yep.
09:21And then Burries went to Milwaukee, right?
09:23He went to Milwaukee.
09:24Milwaukee had 10 and 13.
09:26They took Burries and Amet.
09:28Oh, Amet.
09:28Yeah.
09:29Local kid.
09:30Yeah.
09:31Is Amet from Woodbridge?
09:32I think he's from Woodbridge.
09:33I think that's right.
09:34Yeah.
09:34Yep.
09:3515 freshmen drafted.
09:37I mean, that's not surprising.
09:39Not surprising one bit.
09:41I mean, that's been a trend for a while now.
09:44Yeah.
09:45There aren't many sophomores and juniors getting drafted in the top 10, top 15.
09:48Usually you have some international players drafted pretty high up.
09:53You know, in the top 5, 7, 10.
09:55And what was the first international player drafted?
09:59I don't know.
10:00I saw the Lakers drafted the floor from Spain.
10:03The kid from Kareem Lopez.
10:04They traded him, but they traded him.
10:06Yeah.
10:06The Pistons drafted Lopez.
10:09I don't know.
10:09It's at 21.
10:10I haven't really looked at it much beyond one.
10:13Don't really care.
10:15I mean, honestly.
10:16Don't really care about our guy.
10:17Don't really care.
10:17After the draft, after we got our guy, and after Winger said, yeah, probably we're going
10:22to move back up, not do any more work today.
10:26Yeah.
10:26Don't really care about all these other guys.
10:28Good luck to them.
10:31That's going to be exciting.
10:32It's all about AJ here.
10:33And I have to say, I saw a clip of Trae Young talking to him.
10:38Trae's tweeting him.
10:40Being incredibly gracious, too, about the number.
10:42Probably that's the thing that most irritated me about AJ DeMansa.
10:45It's just...
10:46He thinks he deserves the number.
10:48Yeah.
10:48He wants to take Trae Young's number.
10:49Trae Young's a four-time All-Star, All-NBA guy.
10:53Trae's being pretty gracious.
10:54He's like, yeah, we'll talk tomorrow about the number.
10:56We'll discuss.
10:57Yeah.
10:58I mean, wow.
10:59Trae being super gracious, bringing him in.
11:03Because that's the only thing that kind of irked me about AJ.
11:08But AJ also said the right thing, that he's going to a team with some vets, and he's going
11:12to have to earn his spot.
11:14So I think he's a pretty grounded kid.
11:16But he wants that three, that's for sure.
11:18He does want that number.
11:19I feel like this NBA draft, the top of the draft, and you mentioned this the other day,
11:24it's a lot like the NFL draft a couple years ago, where you had Drake May, and you had Jaden
11:30Daniels, and Caleb Williams, and Bo Nix.
11:33Because I could see DeBansa Peterson, Boozer, Caleb Wilson, all these guys working out.
11:38It just might be, what's your flavor?
11:40And the flavor for Washington was AJ DeBansa, and not Darren Peterson.
11:45Doesn't mean Darren Peterson's going to bust.
11:47You look at this past draft, Cooper Flagg was the number one pick, but Dylan Harper is
11:53a stud.
11:54Oh, he's a really good player, yeah.
11:55No doubt.
11:55And he was number two.
11:56Con Caniple almost won Rookie of the Year.
11:59Yeah.
11:59No, Utah's thrilled they got Darren Peterson.
12:01Oh, they love the fact that he was there.
12:03Yeah.
12:04Didn't have to part with any capital, didn't have to move Ace Bailey, any of those pieces.
12:09And Memphis is thrilled they got Boozer.
12:11Yeah.
12:11Yeah, for sure.
12:12I mean, where is it?
12:14What other drafts would a guy like Boozer with his resume go third?
12:18Very rare.
12:20So, yeah, just a total steal.
12:21You see why all these teams were kind of desperate to get in there.
12:26And, okay, I guess you say the Lakers made some trades.
12:29You know, I went to bed, so I don't know.
12:30It didn't seem like there were a ton of trades.
12:32No, they just traded up one pick, I think from 25 to 24.
12:36Mm-hmm.
12:37And so they ended up with Cameron Carr.
12:40Okay.
12:40And though they drafted Sergio DeLaria.
12:45Yeah.
12:45Who was then traded to Dallas by the Knicks.
12:48Mm-hmm.
12:48Okay.
12:48You know, how you'll have those guys wear a certain hat, then they got to change the hat.
12:53Well, it looks like Kareem Lopez was traded.
12:57Also, Terrace Reed was traded.
13:00Bennett Sturt.
13:00So there were some trades in the second half.
13:03Actually, quite a few.
13:04Mm-hmm.
13:04When you look at it.
13:07Yeah, it looks like most of that happened from about 15 on.
13:10So the Wiz will be, what, they got two second round picks?
13:12Yes.
13:1351 and 60.
13:1451 and 60.
13:16Right.
13:17Their top pick in the second round went to the Knicks.
13:20Right.
13:20Like, it was traded from, like, three teams.
13:22Yes.
13:23From Washington, via OKC, and Houston.
13:26Okay, I can't keep up.
13:27But like we talked about last.
13:28I don't know where that pick came from.
13:29Like we talked about last night, with this lineup, if Davis is out there, I expect minimum
13:35high 30s in terms of wins, if not low 40s.
13:39I mean, I guess.
13:40I don't think that's unrealistic.
13:41I just don't know.
13:42I've got to see him play.
13:43You've got to see him play.
13:43I know, but just based on the names.
13:46You're expecting a big jump.
13:48Now there's pressure and expectations on this Wizards team, something that hasn't been
13:52there for three seasons.
13:53By the way.
13:54People are expecting them to take a jump into playoff contention.
13:58Since I met him last night, the guy that runs an account called Sleeper Wizards.
14:02Shout out to Sleeper Wizards.
14:04He has a video where DeBonsa says, I'm going to respect the Vets.
14:09Trey is three.
14:11He did say that.
14:12Yeah.
14:13Interesting.
14:13Good.
14:14Good.
14:14Somebody coached him up.
14:16Said that he was just trolling on Gilbert Arenas' podcast.
14:18Yeah.
14:19We'll see how it works out.
14:21Yeah.
14:23That's good.
14:24Seems like he's got some perspective.
14:26That's the only thing that kind of irked me.
14:28Honestly.
14:29Or maybe wins you back with his Len Bias comp.
14:32The Len Bias comp is absurd.
14:33Brings you back in.
14:34Absurd.
14:35It's amazing.
14:36And it's actually spot on.
14:37It's spot on.
14:38That's the thing that blows me away.
14:40It's spot on.
14:42It really is.
14:43And it just resonates here big time with people.
14:47And I'm actually kind of bitter.
14:49I didn't think of it, to be honest with you.
14:51It kind of gets me.
14:52He beat you to it.
14:53He beat me to it.
14:53I'm a little bit bitter.
14:54I like to be my own guy.
14:55And I didn't come up with that one.
14:57It's okay.
15:00But you're talking about guys with very, very similar skill sets.
15:04Yeah.
15:05Both very athletic.
15:06I'd say that.
15:06I'd say.
15:08The Bons is probably a better passer than Lenny.
15:12From what I've seen.
15:14But.
15:15Maybe.
15:16Bias was tough.
15:17He was a tough MF-er.
15:18Oh, for sure.
15:20But they both attacked the rim.
15:22And AJ's a lot faster talker than Lenny.
15:25Can we play that clip again?
15:27Any clip of him.
15:27I'm telling you.
15:28Just him talking about his comp of a player that is not in the NBA.
15:33Who he hasn't been comped to.
15:34Which NBA player are you most like?
15:36But no one compares you to.
15:37Wow.
15:37That's a good one.
15:38I never got that question before.
15:39You want some real bond knowledge?
15:41Give it to me.
15:41He never played in the NBA.
15:42But he got drafted.
15:43Len Bias.
15:45I mean, I almost wonder if that clip's sped up.
15:47To be honest with you.
15:48That almost sounds sped up.
15:49It's pretty consistent.
15:50Find some other clips.
15:51I've heard him talk a half dozen, if not more times.
15:54And it's always.
15:55He's bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
15:57Rapid fire.
15:58Look, he's energetic.
16:00He's a kid.
16:00He's 19 years old.
16:01He's shot out of a cannon all the time.
16:04Yeah.
16:04Well, hopefully he averages 20 plus points as a rookie.
16:07The other thing I was blown away with, as you mentioned,
16:09the winger Sabavai was how calm he was.
16:11He had a big old smile.
16:13He was so calm.
16:16I would have been a nervous wreck.
16:18I mean, he talked about it.
16:20They're sitting in the catbird seat.
16:22They don't have to worry about how the board unfolds.
16:25They're the power player.
16:26Sure.
16:26They can select whoever they want.
16:28You still got to make sure.
16:29You'd be comfortable, too.
16:29If you're holding the number one pick and you were convinced of your guy.
16:33No, I wouldn't want it.
16:34I told you all along I wouldn't want to make that pick.
16:36It was too hard.
16:37I thought it was hard.
16:37You wouldn't want the number one pick in a super talent-rich draft?
16:41I would want that pick.
16:42Of course you'd want it.
16:43As a team, as a fan of the team, but not me being the decision maker.
16:46I don't know if you're differentiating.
16:49Especially in a talent-rich draft like that.
16:51You don't want to botch it.
16:52Yeah.
16:52I don't think they botched it.
16:53You just want to be a behind-the-scenes scout?
16:55Well, then, you wouldn't be a great decision maker for the team.
16:59I agree.
17:00If you're not willing to go out there and make a pick with your conviction.
17:03Yes, I've said that for day one.
17:04I would never be a good GM.
17:06I'm not saying.
17:06I would be a great GM.
17:08I would not want that pressure.
17:09In a talent-rich draft with so many studs that I've got to nail it.
17:15And I think they probably have.
17:17But I would not want the pressure.
17:19Dude, I would have picked Peterson.
17:20It's exciting.
17:21I would have picked Peterson.
17:22My biggest takeaway.
17:23You still would have been right.
17:25And we talked about on the show is that this town is dying for a winner on the professional level
17:34for basketball.
17:36We're starved for it.
17:37And it's always been said it's a basketball talent.
17:40But if you went to any of the games in the last decade, you'd be like, really?
17:43This is a basketball talent?
17:45Because it was dead.
17:45Because it's been beaten down.
17:47We've been beaten down for decades.
17:48No, but it's a basketball talent.
17:50Because of high school basketball, college basketball, basketball at all levels here.
17:55There are generations of Wizards fans who have missed out on really high-level basketball here.
18:00They've been robbed of it.
18:02And, you know, John Wall stopped by yesterday.
18:03It was great.
18:05He gave us a little glimpse into what it could be like.
18:10But if they get to the point, which is where you're competing for championships.
18:14Because as good as the Wizards were with Beal and Wall for a couple years, they weren't really a championship
18:21contender.
18:22They made it to the second round, almost made it, almost made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
18:26So they were a Final Eight team.
18:28Winger and Dawkins are trying to build a team that's consistently going to compete for championships.
18:32Here's what you want.
18:33In a perfect world, you'd like three or four of them.
18:36But you want that 10-year run that the Nats had.
18:38Where they're always winning their division.
18:40They're always in the playoffs.
18:42They had a couple heartbreaks in there, but they finally got one.
18:45Obviously, you'd like to win more than just one.
18:47You want to be the Celtics.
18:48Well, the script is, they want to be OKC.
18:50These guys came from OKC.
18:53OKC didn't win it this year.
18:54Won it last year.
18:55Won it 60 games.
18:56But they're knocking on the door every year.
18:58They're in the mix.
18:58That's what you want.
18:59I'm trying to make local comparisons.
19:00Even the Caps.
19:01The Caps are kind of the same thing.
19:03Just getting to the playoffs every year, basically.
19:06Being in that hunt.
19:07Having great regular season records.
19:08And then, you know, anything can happen in the playoffs.
19:11And pull it off.
19:12So I'd say if this group, 10 years from now, doesn't win a championship, it is a disappointment.
19:18Coming up next, everybody buried him.
19:21But yesterday, he proved all the doubters wrong.
19:23We'll see you then.
19:23Let's go.
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