- 5 months ago
David Aldridge of The Athletic hops on with the guys to give his thoughts on the massive Trae Young contract extension.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Trey Young has been extended four years, $212 million.
00:05This is a way bigger price tag than was anticipated,
00:08than the numbers that were being thrown around in the media.
00:12And clearly, people just didn't have a very good read on the market.
00:15Because it would appear, I would think it was Brooklyn, Chicago,
00:18some of those teams with the money.
00:19Someone was willing to give him $212 million if the Wizards are going.
00:22You would think so, right?
00:23Yeah, and they didn't have to go to the Max Max that he could have signed
00:26staying here where Washington has his bird rice.
00:28I think that's interesting as well.
00:29Yeah, $75 million more that they could have paid him, I suppose.
00:32But let's go to the Rude Guest Hotline.
00:34Rude, the most reliable heating and air conditioning products in the DMV.
00:37Welcome on to the show, a Hall of Famer when it comes to covering the NBA,
00:41our buddy David Aldridge of The Athletic.
00:43David, what's your reaction to the massive extension for Trey Young with the Wiz?
00:49You know, it's a bit of an overpay, but when you are the Wizards,
00:57you cannot get in a bidding war with anybody.
01:00It does not matter who it is.
01:02It doesn't matter if it's a contender or a pretender.
01:06It doesn't matter if it's Miami or Brooklyn.
01:08Like, you can't let players that you hope to be part of things
01:14in the next couple of years get on the market.
01:17Again, I know everybody's a cap expert.
01:23The Wizards have absolutely no cap obligations until 2028, none.
01:28Everybody they have that's going to be part of this team the next two years
01:32is on a rookie contract or is making no money.
01:35Justin Champagny is on a $3 million a year contract.
01:41Anthony Davis is not going to be here in two years.
01:45What you're paying him this year is, it doesn't matter.
01:49He's not going to be here in two years.
01:51So the only person that you're paying significant money
01:55the next two seasons, at least, is Trey Young.
01:59You're not anywhere near the first apron.
02:01You certainly are anywhere near the second apron.
02:04You will have to start paying your young core in 2028.
02:07That's when Saar and Keyshawn George are up for extensions.
02:12I don't think Koulibaly is up for an extension this year.
02:15He's not going to get anything close to a max extension
02:20off of his rookie production,
02:22off of his rookie contract production, I should say.
02:26So it's a lot.
02:28It's probably more than they wanted to pay.
02:30But in the grand scheme of things, guys, he's 27 years old.
02:35He's, you know, is he a great player?
02:38No.
02:39But he's the solid to above average,
02:44and when he's on his game, really good point guard.
02:47And they need a point guard.
02:49They don't have one.
02:50Bob Carrington can't do it.
02:51He can shoot it, but he can't play a point.
02:54Not in the NBA.
02:55So you needed a point guard.
02:56For any of this, we're going to start getting better next season.
02:59And talk to be realistic at all, you had to have a point guard
03:03that could actually create shots for other people.
03:06And Trae Young can do that.
03:07Is he what he was five years ago?
03:11Probably not.
03:12Maybe not.
03:12But it's not like he's fallen through the floor.
03:14It's not like he's horrible now.
03:15He's not horrible now.
03:17He's not, you know, he's not a good defensive player.
03:20We all know it.
03:23That's why you brought Anthony Davis here, at least for this year.
03:26That's why Alex Sar is here.
03:27That's why you're going to invest in, you know,
03:29you have other guys like Koulibaly who you're going to probably keep around
03:32to guard perimeter.
03:34The other team's best perimeter players.
03:38It's not, I'm not, I hate to say I'm underwhelmed by this,
03:44but I'm not, it's not a great contract, but it's not horrendous either.
03:50So for what they want to do, which is-
03:52Put that on a billboard.
03:54Buy your tickets now.
03:56But here's the thing, guys.
03:57That's not what this season's about.
04:00You know, like if you get caught up in that,
04:02you're missing the forest for the trees.
04:04They have the number one pick in the draft tomorrow.
04:08Okay.
04:09That is what the team's future is about.
04:11It's not about Trey Young.
04:13So I'm glad you brought that up because I wanted to,
04:14I want to know how, if at all, do you think this affects that?
04:18Or is this more likely mean one or the other?
04:20Like I've been saying for weeks, and I guess I'm wrong.
04:22If you're moving forward with Trey Young,
04:25it makes less sense to have Peterson who needs the ball in his hands in the
04:27backcourt.
04:28But John Wall, I've seen him now on two podcasts doing interviews saying,
04:31if you're keeping Trey Young, you should draft Peterson because the Bonson
04:36needs the basketball and Peterson doesn't.
04:39Well, I, John knows way more about basketball than I do.
04:43I think Darren Peterson needs the ball too.
04:45I mean, why also,
04:46why are you drafting Darren Peterson if you're not going to get him the ball?
04:51Well, you're going to run pin downs for him.
04:52You're just going to come out and shoot 18 footers.
04:54Is that what he's going to do in the NBA?
04:55I don't think so.
04:57So, so Darren Peterson, whoever drafts him,
04:59he's going to have the ball in his hands a lot.
05:02Now, is he a full-time point guard?
05:04That to me, I wrote it today, is that's where the,
05:07that's where you have to make a decision as an organization.
05:11Do you think Darren Peterson can be a guy that you run your offense through
05:15with the ball in his hands all the time?
05:19And if you think he can do that, okay, then there's a case to be made for taking him.
05:23But if you have any concerns about that, if you think, well, he's really more of a two
05:27that can be a secondary playmaker, which is nothing wrong with that.
05:32It's just an examination of his skill set.
05:34If you think that's where his best basketball is,
05:38if you think he's more like Anthony Edwards than Cade Cunningham,
05:41then I don't know that it makes a lot of sense to take him as a two guard at six,
05:49four and a half, when you already have a very small point guard.
05:52Now you have a very small backcourt going forward.
05:57And that is problematic.
05:59He's a very good defensive player.
06:01I think he's going to be a plus defender, Darren Peterson, in the NBA at his position.
06:06But six, four and a half at a two guard is, you can play it.
06:11It's just a little undersized.
06:14And they were just 6'6".
06:15Trey Johnson is 6'6", but they dropped it last year.
06:19So to me, to David, not an NBA, former NBA player and five-time model star like John Wall,
06:26I think it's a separate issue.
06:28Two, I don't know that they are in any position where they have to think about,
06:32well, we have one guy at this position, therefore we need to draft this guy at that position.
06:37They need to add who they think is the most talented guy with the biggest upside.
06:41Period.
06:42And if they think that's Peterson, fine.
06:45I think it's the Bansa, and I think they will take the Bansa tomorrow.
06:50But that's where they're at right now.
06:52They've got to add talent to me.
06:54The position doesn't matter.
06:57David Aldridge with us here on GND.
06:59David, 25 years ago when I was coaching freshman basketball,
07:02my first couple of lineups, and I was trying to win the game,
07:06but draw the plays up so that the players would perform well,
07:09and the varsity coach sat me down and said,
07:11I don't care about the freshman team winning games.
07:13I care about the players developing.
07:15In other words, the kid that doesn't handle the ball great that's a big now
07:18is probably going to be a two guard when he gets to be a junior or senior in high school.
07:21Put the ball in his hands, even if it means he turns it over.
07:24It's a long way of saying, developing a player,
07:27you could probably just throw him in the deep end and put him in adverse spots.
07:30They're now trying to graduate to the next thing.
07:33Can you quantify Trae Young ball in his hands with player development still here?
07:38I think it's possible, but it may not be as dramatic as throwing them all in the deep end.
07:42I think they are at the end of that.
07:46These last three years, you're absolutely right.
07:49It hasn't been about winning games at all.
07:51It's been about, Alex, let's see if you can make threes at the NBA level.
07:56You know, Bub, take all the threes you want.
08:01Don't worry about playmaking.
08:03We want to see if you can become a better shooter from deep.
08:08Keyshawn George would be nice if you could get into the paint more,
08:11but we're more interested in watching you develop as a defensive player.
08:17That's been the last three years, to your point.
08:19Now, you don't bring in Trae Young.
08:22You certainly don't give him the contract he just gave him.
08:24You don't bring in Anthony Davis, even if it's just for a year or two,
08:28if you don't want to start competing, along with the number one pick in the draft.
08:32So they are now in a position where they have to start playing to win games,
08:36and that will impact minutes, just like whoever they draft tomorrow is going to impact minutes.
08:43If it's DeBansa, that's going to impact Koulibaly's minutes.
08:47It's going to impact Keyshawn George's minutes.
08:49It's going to impact Will Raleigh's minutes.
08:51If it's Peterson, it's going to impact Trae Young's minutes.
08:54Trae Johnson's minutes, I should say.
08:56So, yeah, they're in a different position now where they have to start thinking about
08:59who are the five guys that can win this game that we're down five points with four minutes to go.
09:05And we can't worry about people's feelings.
09:07We can't worry about, you know, who's making what money.
09:09We've got to win the game tonight.
09:10That's where they're going to start being at now.
09:13Will they be successful?
09:14We will find out.
09:15But that is much different.
09:17It's a much different set of marching orders than they've had the last three years,
09:22which was let's just see what the guys can do.
09:24We throw them out there, put them out there in different situations.
09:27Will Raleigh, handle the ball all you want.
09:29You know, let's see if you can become a playmaker, a secondary playmaker,
09:35potentially with your size and your handle.
09:38And if you don't make the shot, we don't really care.
09:40That's now going to be different.
09:42Now they do care if they make the shot.
09:44And players' minutes will be adjusted accordingly.
09:49Iconic NBA analyst David Aldridge is with us here on Grant and Danny.
09:53So, D.A., I want to, before we let you go, just get a couple thoughts on tomorrow.
09:57First, number one pick, you said you're leaning toward DeBonsa.
10:01I mean, would you be stunned if it's Peterson?
10:03And then also, what do you make of all the reports that they'd like to get another player,
10:06whether it's in the lottery or in round one?
10:08Do they have the ammunition with two seconds?
10:11And is there a package that you could see that they could put together to do that?
10:15Just give us maybe a thought on how you would go about moving the chess pieces.
10:19Yeah, no, at first, I wouldn't be shocked if they took Peterson.
10:23I'd be surprised a little bit just because I think in talking to this organization over the last three years,
10:30I think I have some idea of the types of players they want.
10:34And they want length and they want long, athletic guys that are switchable,
10:39that can guard multiple positions.
10:43Again, Darren Peterson is a good-sized guard.
10:45He is not particularly lengthy as a guard coming into the NBA.
10:50So DeBonsa is 6'9 today, who weighs 270 pounds today,
10:54which is 22 pounds more than their starting three weighed at the end of the season,
10:59Bilal Koulibaly.
11:00So I think they're going to take DeBonsa, but I could be wrong.
11:05As far as getting another pick, yeah, I mean, Michael Winger said it the day they won the lottery.
11:09He said, you know, we may try to get another pick.
11:13So you certainly look at a team like Oklahoma City, which has 12 and 17 in the first round.
11:21I don't foresee a circumstance where they would keep both of those picks
11:25and pay two rookies guaranteed first round money.
11:29I would think they would want to get rid of at least one of those picks.
11:34The Wizards have a lot of future firsts that they could put in any deal to buy is not the
11:40right word,
11:40to get back into the first round.
11:42They've got a bunch of – they've got a couple of picks in 2028, I believe.
11:46They've got a couple of picks in 2030.
11:48So they could conceivably do that.
11:51There's 29, I should say, not 2030.
11:542030 is a swap with Phoenix.
11:58So they've got a little admonition there, and they certainly have a surplus of wings, right?
12:03We talked about the wings that they already have.
12:06Champagny, again, is a very productive player on a ridiculously good team-friendly contract.
12:13You could certainly, I think, create a scenario where a future first in Champagny
12:18and maybe the two seconds at the end of this draft this year
12:21maybe get you back in the first round late.
12:23It won't be in the teens, but maybe in the mid-20s is possible, I would think.
12:29So there's a scenario.
12:31I don't know how likely it is, but there is a scenario
12:33where they could conceivably get back into the draft, back into the first draft.
12:38David, thank you as always, my friend.
12:40Appreciate the time.
12:41Okay, guys, appreciate it.
12:42You got it.
12:43This is David Aldridge.