- 2 days ago
New intel just made this race really interesting...Darryn Peterson will only meet with the Wizards, as he believes he will go first overall.
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00:00Massive offseason for the Wizards, huge hiatus for Alex Sarr specifically,
00:05coming off of a gigantic leap in year two going into the third year
00:09and the next kind of gear that you've got to find as a professional.
00:13And it's not starting very well.
00:15The Wizards announcing today that their forward center, Alex Sarr,
00:18has undergone a successful surgery, a surgical procedure to repair a fracture
00:23in his right foot sustained during an offseason workout.
00:27The procedure was performed at a hospital in New York.
00:31Sarr is expected to make a full recovery ahead of this season.
00:34Updates are going to be provided when appropriate.
00:39If you're new to this show, you don't know how it works that well yet,
00:42but you'll figure it out.
00:44I hear something like this, and I kind of assume he'll be back in time
00:47for the start of the season, and hopefully this is a speed bump.
00:51Danny hears something like this, and you assume this is the beginning
00:53of the end for Alex Sarr.
00:54Yeah, that's terrifying.
00:55Big men, seven foot and above, whenever you hear foot fracture, knee injury,
01:00the number of things that Zildrunas Elgalskas dealt with,
01:03the number of things that Ralph Sampson dealt with, Yao Ming, Greg Oden,
01:07Bill Walton, who's honestly, I'd say Sarr has some similarity to
01:12in terms of the skill level that he's got for a big man like that.
01:15Those guys whose careers were completely altered and derailed due to injury.
01:20Whenever I hear something like that, if he'd fallen funny
01:22and fractured his shoulder, like an upper body injury, like overextended his tricep
01:27or banged his elbow on something, or needed Tommy John surgery or something like that,
01:30I'd go, eh, that's not a big deal.
01:31Whenever you hear feet and a big man, I get very, very nervous.
01:35So I'm hoping it's nothing, but I'm also realistic about the fact that it's probably not.
01:39Yeah, very true, all of that, and it's why my ears are open, I'm perked up here,
01:45and I'm looking for more information.
01:46You also would have assumed the worst of it was Kashawn George, you know what I mean?
01:49Like, he's not a big man.
01:51Like, this is the Curtis Samuel thing where it's like, wait, there was an injury?
01:54Oh, no, everything was going well for the Wizards.
01:56That's not allowed to happen.
01:57Now it's all going to be terrible moving forward.
01:59But what a leap he made last year.
02:0216 points, 7-plus rebounds per game last season,
02:06and there were plenty of nights where he was a lot better than that.
02:08You go there on the right evening, it's 20-15,
02:10and he's taking games over when he's on the floor.
02:13Only played in 48 games, and his minutes, especially as the year went on
02:17and the executed plan of tanking was in full effect.
02:20It wasn't like he was out there for 37 to 39 minutes every single game.
02:24But he was ultra-efficient.
02:25If you look at his per-36 numbers.
02:27And that's where I was going to go.
02:28His per-36, tell the story.
02:2922 points and 10 rebounds with four assists and two-and-a-half blocks.
02:33They kept his minutes.
02:35That's all-star stuff.
02:35A hundred percent.
02:35They kept his minutes restricted and kept him out of a number of games
02:38and the like.
02:39I heard somebody was arguing with me.
02:40They say that he didn't take that big of a leap this year
02:43because they didn't win that many games.
02:44Some other kind of reaching nonsense.
02:47If you watched them play, which we did,
02:49you could tell the difference right away.
02:51Instead of just sort of settling, taking contested long jumpers
02:54or off-rhythm kind of things, he got close to the rim.
02:57Effective field goal percentage increase.
02:58His regular field goal percentage increase.
03:00He was a better shooter.
03:01Just more dynamic.
03:02And you could see the defensive ability that he's got.
03:05Again, he's not Wemby.
03:06Nobody is.
03:06But altering shots, bothering people at the rim.
03:09I don't know if I want him grinding down low and playing the five all the time.
03:13But as kind of a part-time five in certain lineups, fine by me.
03:17I mean, he and Davis may have kind of a crossover skill set.
03:19Curious to see how that goes, if it ever does.
03:21But this is a dramatically improved player year over year.
03:24There's no way around that.
03:25The idea for an NBA team is that you get somewhere around 100 possessions a game.
03:29So one of my metrics I've always liked is the per 100 possessions.
03:33Yep.
03:3328 points, 13 rebounds, five assists for him.
03:36This was after he was fourth in Rookie of the Year the previous season.
03:39Like, he came on in a big, big way.
03:42And it wasn't like it's out of nowhere.
03:44I mean, this is a guy who was drafted number two overall.
03:47If you're redrafted right now, would have gone ahead of the player that actually went 1-1.
03:51Looks like a significant win for this front office where they took him at number two
03:57and was worth over 1.5 win shares last year while he was being monitored and really kept on a
04:03pitch count.
04:03So I do worry about this just because of the size.
04:06And as you said, big man and feet, that is a – those are scary words, right, when you're talking
04:11about a fracture.
04:12But I have to hope – we don't have any details.
04:15The team didn't put anything out.
04:16I haven't seen any reporting yet.
04:17That this was something very minor, that he is back training within the next few weeks
04:22and is ready to have a huge third season because he's going to be a very pivotal piece to this
04:27puzzle for them.
04:28100%.
04:28This is kind of the – the reason for excitement is the number one overall pick
04:33and what a couple of these veterans are going to do.
04:35But this is kind of the sneaky in-house option.
04:37I don't have a great comp.
04:38They're both tall, athletic – or tall, skilled guys.
04:41But he's kind of your in-house Chet Holmgren, right, where, yeah, yeah, SGA is the MVP,
04:45and that's the headline, and everyone's going to pay attention to that.
04:47But you know what makes them go is this second option or third option if the team gets really good
04:52that's dynamic, that can block shots, do a bit of everything, help start breaks, help finish breaks,
04:56pick and rolls, can do a lot of dynamic things on the basketball court
04:59that you didn't have to win some magical lottery or do something crazy to get.
05:03You already had him, and you got it right, and he's developing right before our eyes.
05:06The vision for this coming season would be that Trey Young's at the point with George in the backcourt,
05:11and then you've got Anthony Davis and Alex Saar in the frontcourt
05:15and probably Bilal Koulibaly at three or whatever that looks like.
05:18Well, he could be clapping for A.J. DeBonsa, Koulibaly.
05:21Well, if A.J. DeBonsa is the number one overall pick.
05:24But, yes, I mean, I would still assume that's the case.
05:26But that brings us to our next topic on the Wizards.
05:29How sure are we that A.J. DeBonsa is the number one overall pick?
05:32I'm not.
05:32Because this development this weekend, I'm not buying, but it sounds like a lot of people are.
05:37So, for people that aren't tracking this, A.J. DeBonsa has kind of been expected to be 1-1 for
05:45the Wizards
05:45for an extended period of time.
05:47Then, about two weeks ago, it started to become a prevailing thought around NBA media circles.
05:54Not so fast.
05:56I mean, the Wizards are talking to and doing their due diligence on Darren Peterson.
05:59If you actually just study his high school tape before he had all these issues with his health
06:03and the oddities of leaving games this season, it was much closer than people think.
06:08And he might have even been the number one player on their board at one point in time.
06:11Well, the story this weekend is that Darren Peterson is going to work out for the Wizards.
06:16He's going to meet with the Wizards.
06:17He's going to do anything they want him to do, physically on the floor and otherwise.
06:20But he will not be doing that for any other teams.
06:23And the way that it's being reported, I don't know if this is accurate or not,
06:26but this is what's been suggested, is that essentially, number two Utah and everybody else below,
06:33he's not interested or worried about that because he believes he's going first overall to the Wizards.
06:37That is his assessment based on the current situation.
06:39Now, one of two things is happening.
06:41Either he's got some intel and actually legitimately thinks there's a really good chance he goes number one,
06:47or this is just a bit he's doing where he's trying to send a message.
06:51I'm the best player in the country.
06:52I'm the best player in America.
06:54I should be going first overall.
06:56I will work out for and do my due diligence with the number one team to make sure they draft
07:00me.
07:00But the rest of you don't get to see me because I'm better than that.
07:03I'm the number one pick.
07:04And I actually think this is just him trying to send some message.
07:07Do you think it's only that, only posturing?
07:08I do.
07:09But the way it's being reported, I was reading this this afternoon by various people,
07:13is that Peterson's camp legitimately believes he's going to go number one overall.
07:17And they think it's a waste of time to do all this other stuff
07:19because I'm assuming what they're suggesting is,
07:23based on their conversations with the Wizards and some of the due diligence the team has been doing,
07:27they think he's going one.
07:28I think this is just a big smokescreen.
07:30The Wizards are probably fine with whatever's out there.
07:32They don't care.
07:33Because if nobody knows what they're doing, they don't care.
07:36And if the teams behind them are curious or interested,
07:39maybe you get more phone calls.
07:41Doesn't matter.
07:42You get to sit there and make whatever pick you want to.
07:43You don't have to worry about all the noise.
07:45I still think it's DeBonsa.
07:47I said this last week.
07:48I'll be very, very surprised, maybe even stunned if it's not.
07:52But what do you make of this new storyline with Peterson
07:54that he's only going to work out for the Washington Wizards
07:58because he thinks that's who's taking him based on what he's heard so far?
08:02I've fallen for it to some degree, even though I try not to.
08:05So I remind myself every year, and there isn't the usual level.
08:09There's more intrigue now.
08:10There's usually not this level of intrigue because the Wizards aren't usually picking first.
08:13They usually get Bowen in the lottery and pick ninth.
08:15But here they are at the top.
08:17So I'm paying more attention to it than normal, and this is a pretty special draft.
08:20I remind myself every year, though, the final three weeks, four weeks,
08:24whatever you want, leading up to the draft where there's no news.
08:26All that's happening is routine draft prep stuff.
08:29This is all lying season.
08:32Everybody has an agenda.
08:33The agent does.
08:35The player does.
08:35The team does.
08:36This is the same with the NFL draft as well, where you want maneuvers around the board.
08:40Some team might say, hey, there's negatives about this guy in the hopes that somebody that's supposed to go seventh
08:45falls to them.
08:46Again, an example I've used years ago, I'm not saying Washington did this, any kind of three-dimensional chess,
08:51but Jonathan Allen was supposed to go top ten, had a shoulder thing last to them in the teens,
08:56and that works out great for them.
08:58A local guy made good.
08:59He comes home and plays great football here for a handful of years.
09:02That's awesome.
09:02So you always wonder who's gaining from this, and this would be a Peterson gain or something like that.
09:08But I'm buying it to some degree.
09:10Here's why it doesn't make sense, though.
09:12Go ahead.
09:12I get buying it because I've kind of thought about it, too, and I'm like, eh, I could see.
09:17They would not have said anything to him to let him know yet.
09:20No, of course not.
09:21But that's the argument, essentially.
09:23That is what is being floated by this Utah radio station, KSL Sports, by some of the people that are
09:29in on this,
09:29is his camp is confident that he's going number one and doesn't need to work out.
09:34Now, maybe they're just saying they're predicting he's going number one,
09:38but when you hear people talk about this, it's based on what they're hearing back from the teams at the
09:44top of the board.
09:45And I just don't think that intel is being divulged or disseminated.
09:48Yeah, I don't think Winger and Dawkins are going, let's give away exactly what our plan is at this point.
09:52Get your best suit on and get to the draft because you're going to be the pick at number one.
09:56So what I feel like is way more on the table than I think a lot of Wizards fans want
10:00to talk about
10:01is the potential of a swap with Utah to end up with Peterson.
10:06Taking him second?
10:07Yeah, I think people are not considering that, and I think they should.
10:09So in other words, because Washington has the hammer, they don't have to do anything.
10:12That's the beauty of the number one pick.
10:14If they prefer or like Peterson as much or even like him a little bit better,
10:18you could end up with a haul to get the guy that you think is just as good.
10:21But that still goes against this report, which is that he's not working out for the Jazz
10:24because he's going to go number one overall.
10:27The number one part, but he's going to the Wizards.
10:29Yeah, but...
10:30I know it's semantics, but I do think it matters.
10:32That distinction matters.
10:33Well, the only thing I'll agree with on that is that if they want Peterson,
10:37they shouldn't take him with the first pick.
10:38They should absolutely trade back to two or do some kind of pick swap or however that works.
10:43The NBA does it so stupid where he's going to wear a different hat.
10:47He'll wear the hat, yeah.
10:47But, you know, he'll wear a Jazz hat after being taken one or something dumb.
10:51You could swing a deal, I guess, with the Jazz where they come up to number one
10:54under the agreement that they're taking DeBonse.
10:56You move back to two, you're going to get Peterson,
10:58and then you work out what you're getting otherwise.
11:01And if Peterson's number one on their board and they're going to take him 1-1,
11:04then get some future assets, even if it's draft picks.
11:07Even if they don't want to give you young, quality players, so be it.
11:10Don't just sit there at one and take Peterson.
11:13Move back a pick and get selections.
11:15Shem Sharania had this.
11:17He says, developments ahead of the June 23rd-24th drafts were a little over a week away.
11:22BYU's A.J. DeBonse has conducted formal visits with both the Wizards at number one,
11:26the Jazz at number two.
11:28Kansas' Darren Peterson has only visited with the Wizards
11:30and will not be granting anyone else a meeting.
11:33Sources tell me and Jeremy Wu.
11:35He says, both have believed in going number one,
11:39and now teams in the lottery are taking note of Peterson's decision
11:42to only give access to Washington.
11:44So that second sentence, that's such a rap sheet, Adam Schefter,
11:47kind of like throwaway, big picture thought at the end where he goes,
11:52teams in the lottery are taking note of Peterson's decision
11:55to only give access to Washington.
11:56Well, no S.
11:57Yeah, what does that mean?
11:59Yeah, you mean that he won't come work out for them
12:01or talk to them or answer their calls?
12:02I have noticed that.
12:03I'll bet they are taking note of that, Shams.
12:05You know, like, no kidding, dude.
12:07Yeah.
12:07That's a – I have to tie this tweet up with something nice,
12:11so I'll say that.
12:12Teams are taking note.
12:13That irritated me.
12:14But KSL is this station in Utah, and they've got this –
12:18let's see where their exact quote was.
12:21they say that his camp, we're doing that move,
12:26is expecting Peterson to go number one overall from what they're being told.
12:31Now, that to me sounds like wishful thinking from some people out in Utah
12:34who want the Bonsa to fall to number two.
12:37I am still – like, what's your confidence that it's the Bonsa?
12:40I'm like 80-20, maybe even 85-15.
12:4455-45.
12:45It's going – it's trending down.
12:48Based on what?
12:49That's crazy to me.
12:50The way the Wizards scout, the way that people talk about scouting.
12:54It's not what I do.
12:55To me, the most important sample is what I just saw in college basketball.
12:59The most important thing to me is the answer to the question,
13:02let's say I buy your whole creatine thing in September.
13:05Fine.
13:06How do I know that this is never happening again?
13:08How do I know that you are going to suit up,
13:10and you're not just taking nights off,
13:11you're not checking out of games because cramping though,
13:14or you don't feel good, or you're tired, or whatever.
13:16I need to know.
13:17If they know, then that's fine.
13:19But the way they scout, the way scouts talk about the high school tape,
13:23everybody wants to talk about the high school times.
13:25And every time they matched up in high school,
13:26every time they matched up in this ABCD camp,
13:28or this camp, or that camp,
13:30Peterson kicked DeBonsa's ass.
13:31When they matched up in the first half before Peterson checked himself out,
13:36another one of those games that he didn't play the whole game.
13:38He had the better of the matchup against DeBonsa.
13:40And it's a better team, but again, it's just a different animal.
13:42So the way that this group scouts and sees things differently
13:46than couch potato Fannie Mouye leads me to believe that it's more possible
13:50than people are acknowledging.
13:51Even though I prefer DeBonsa.
13:53I do too, for the record.
13:55And when they got 1-1, they hit the lottery.
13:57For me, that was the winning of the AJ DeBonsa selection.
14:01I would have zero problem taking Peterson.
14:04Because in a world where the creatine nightmare of 2025, 2026,
14:10whatever this college basketball season, didn't happen,
14:13it would pretty much be a dead heat for me.
14:15Like, I wouldn't care that much.
14:16And they're doing an unbelievable amount of research
14:20and getting intel that I do not have.
14:22The other thing I'll say, too, is they deserve the benefit of the doubt.
14:26So this is not even, you know, as much as I like Adam Peters,
14:29this is not the commanders with a recent draft history that is checkered.
14:33This is not a team that has struggled.
14:35You know, this is not the previous Nats regime
14:37who just didn't have enough hits.
14:38The Wizards have hit it out of the park
14:41almost on everything that they've done since they got here,
14:43led by Winger, with Dawkins, with Schlenk, with this group.
14:47So if they make the pick, and it leads to the eye rolls
14:51and the boos on draft night and everyone being upset
14:54that they didn't take A.J. DeBonsa,
14:56I'm not going to just assume that a bunch of us
14:58who watch college basketball a few times throughout the year
15:01when BYU's on national TV, no better or no more.
15:04I will, it won't be great radio, but I will defer to them.
15:08I'll present the best cases for both scenarios, and I'll be fine with it.
15:11I just think when they do all of their research,
15:14it's going to come back and spit out DeBonsa.
15:17I don't know how it couldn't after the year Peterson just had.
15:19There's just too much baggage, too many questions.
15:21I know, and that's, even the people that are ardent Peterson supporters,
15:26if there is such a thing, our advocates for him going number one,
15:29they go, here's the explanation, the creatine in September.
15:32I go, that's fine, great, let's see you buy that.
15:34I keep coming back to, how do I know this doesn't happen again?
15:38Whatever it is.
15:39If it's not creatine, next time is it that he took a different substance?
15:44To try to work out better, and then he couldn't play because of that.
15:48The flu-like symptoms.
15:49How do I know that this isn't a constant pattern where months and months and months
15:52and months and months and months and months after the creatine scare,
15:55which sounded very scary, he just doesn't feel like it,
15:58doesn't play a bunch of times.
15:59I need to be the one with the organization going,
16:01hey, I'm going to arrest you the second night of a back-to-back,
16:03or I'm going to control your minutes at certain points,
16:05just because that makes sense and we'll do that.
16:07I need the player that I'm drafting 1-1 or 1-2, in this case, my trade-back scenario,
16:13whoever it is.
16:14I need the pitcher to want the ball.
16:15I need the quarterback to want to stay in the game.
16:17I need the number one that's going to be my star to be the alpha that I have to drag
16:22off the court.
16:23I'll do that.
16:24I'll be the grown-up.
16:25You be the voracious, appetited, hungry, ornery SOB
16:29that wants to dominate his opponent every night on the court.
16:32I don't know that he's that, and I need that question answered if I'm going to be okay with it.
16:36I have no questions about DeBonsa.
16:38It's a, he needs a little bit more time to work on his catch-and-shoot.
16:42Ta-da, that's the end.
16:43He's a star.
16:44You know what's funny is, generally, the type of player,
16:49like my proclivity in the draft that I would want is Peterson.
16:52In fact, when we first started talking about this,
16:55if you remember, like way back at the beginning of the college basketball season,
16:58I was more of a Peterson guy.
17:00I am a, can he get buckets, you know, can he, not to say DeBonsa can't,
17:04but like take you off the balance and create.
17:06I want the offensive assassin, and I'll figure the rest out.
17:08And I think he can be more of that guy, just like a catch-and-shoot,
17:12immediate plug-and-play scorer.
17:16But I don't do question marks and baggage when I've got a surer thing
17:22who might be every bit as talented and gifted right next to him.
17:26And to me, if it's a two-horse race and one of these guys I don't have to worry about,
17:29it's just a tiebreaker, I'll go.
17:31If you want to tell me it's a slightly lower ceiling, I don't buy that.
17:34But if you want to say that that's the case and it's a higher floor, I'm okay with that.
17:37But I'll defer to this front office because of the information they're going to have
17:41when they do all their research.
17:42KB's got an interesting question here on Twitter.
17:45I'm at Grant Paulson.
17:46Danny's at Funny Danny.
17:47He says, isn't it a little bit worrying for Peterson to not talk to teams at two or three
17:51when you've already got questions about personality?
17:54Yeah, I don't like it.
17:55I mean, to me, this is another ding as far as I'm concerned where you're going to run
18:02the draft, you're going to call the shots.
18:04No.
18:05How about no to that?
18:06Yeah, if you didn't have the baggage, I would go.
18:09You could make the argument.
18:11I wouldn't, but you could.
18:12What an alpha move that is.
18:13What a badass move.
18:14That's the kind of swagger I want.
18:16There's so many questions, dude.
18:18Somebody needs to speak.
18:19I need to speak with you.
18:20Never how I think about it.
18:22When Eli Manning did it, I don't care who you are, when John Elway did it, I wasn't
18:26alive yet, but my dad hated him forever after that.
18:30It's not for me.
18:31This is not a...
18:32You might be the number one pick.
18:34You don't get to run this thing.
18:36You're a small piece to a really big night.
18:39Congratulations, by the way.
18:40Hard work's paying off.
18:41That's amazing.
18:42You don't get to tell all the other teams who you're going to meet with and who you're
18:45not going to.
18:46The Bons is the more likely number one pick, and he's more than willing to talk to teams
18:50at two and three at this point.
18:52He's just run a much cleaner process, and it kind of meshes with everything that led
18:57up to teams.
18:57Everything you've heard, yeah.
18:58Right?
18:58Where it's the dude that made sure one of his teammates shook the hand of another coach
19:02to basically go one-on-five for an undermanned BYU team every night, where he's playing all
19:08the minutes, has all the possessions, all the defenses loaded up on him, and Peterson
19:12checked himself out of a dozen games.
19:14We're about a week away from the NBA draft.
19:16I'd love to hear from people on this at 800-636-1067.
19:19The question here would be, which area do we want to drill down on?
19:25I guess...
19:27The not working out part.
19:28What does it mean?
19:29Is this happening?
19:30Do you think Peterson is getting information?
19:32Is this just him trying to send a message to say, I want to be the number one pick.
19:36I'm only going to talk to the number one team because I deserve to be the number one pick.
19:39Or his camp, which is quote-unquote reportedly convinced that he's going first.
19:44Do you think there's actually a shift in momentum here as if this reporting is correct?
19:48Do you think there's a shift in momentum here?
19:48Do you think there's a shift in momentum here?
19:48Do you think there's a shift in momentum here?
19:48Do you think there's a shift in momentum here?
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