00:00A ton of just NBA gossip news happening today because it's the draft.
00:04And you've still got, now that the Giannis deal is done, you still have what happens with LeBron.
00:09Like, there's still questions, right?
00:11People are thinking that he's going to the Warriors.
00:14All right.
00:14Now, specifically for the Wizards tonight, I don't really understand these predictive markets.
00:21I feel better looking at Vegas because Vegas is set by experts that have been doing this for decades.
00:29Whereas the predictive markets, I think, are just driven by what people bet.
00:34Now, if you look at the predictive markets, they say it's an 87% chance that A.J. DeBonsa, we
00:43got to figure that out, is the pick tonight.
00:46Does that sound right to you, B, about a 9-10 chance it's DeBonsa?
00:51Still don't feel right.
00:52I think a lot of people, all the talk about Peterson kind of threw me off.
00:57Where I thought, at first, it was all about DeBonsa, but now I don't think so.
01:04I think there's a chance.
01:06I think there's a chance, too.
01:08And from, like, real NBA people, you hear Peterson over and over and over again.
01:14Do you think, John Wall's the one that said it, I believe, and Stanley, forgive me if you have this
01:19in here and I'm stepping on it.
01:21But Wall came out and said he thinks by giving Trey Young that contract, it makes more sense to get
01:30Peterson.
01:32Because DeBonsa, according to John Wall, needs to, like, be a ball-dominant player.
01:37And Trey Young's a ball-dominant player.
01:38He thinks Trey and Peterson in the backcourt makes more sense, perhaps, than Trey and DeBonsa.
01:45You agree with that?
01:46I would like to think the guy you just paid $200 million and is one of the great passers in
01:51the NBA can play with damn anybody.
01:53Yeah, you would think so.
01:55But my thing is, when the games I watch with DeBonsa, I don't know if he's a ball-dominant guy
02:03or he's a guy who needs to be set up.
02:04I understand, and some games his point guard was hurt, and he had the ball in his hand a lot.
02:10You know, so I don't know what he really is.
02:14I just know a lot of people talk about him.
02:16Yeah, I know that I value what David Aldridge says, and Aldridge wrote a column that I thought was really
02:24good, and it was, take AJ.
02:27Like, don't overthink this.
02:29I'm looking at Sam Vicini in The Athletic says, Washington Wizards, number one, I'm sticking with DeBonsa here for now,
02:36as we have since lottery night.
02:39The team has done a lot of research into Peterson to understand everything it needs to know about him.
02:44But DeBonsa remains the pick as the most likely option for the Wizards and the best fit for what the
02:48team needs, according to league-wide sources.
02:54It's, I don't know, man, it's a very interesting time.
02:57I think, oh, they quoted my interview, B, look at this.
03:02Washington's lead executive, Michael Winger, said in an interview with the local NBC station in Washington that leadership is an
03:07attribute he looks for in a number one pick.
03:10Peterson is considered an exceptionally hard worker by all sources connect to him, but his leadership ability has been questioned,
03:16as he's regarded as a quiet introvert.
03:19Peterson is a stone-cold killer on the court in terms of competitiveness, but DeBonsa is viewed by NBA sources
03:26as a more dynamic personality with leadership tendencies, both in the locker room and in the community.
03:33Yeah, but see, the thing about it is, being loud don't make you a damn leader.
03:39I just finished having a conversation with somebody about his two sons.
03:42Just because a kid is not very, very outgoing and loud doesn't mean he's not a leader.
03:51Art Monk didn't talk, he was a damn leader.
03:54D. Green wasn't very, very vocal, he was a leader.
03:57I don't understand why people think you gotta be just outlandishly crazy.
04:01Joe Gibbs didn't yell a lot, but he was a leader.
04:05You know what I'm saying?
04:06So, just because you are, hey, do this, do this.
04:10No, sometimes they showboating.
04:11Sometimes they just show and trying to act like they are when they're not.
04:15There are a lot of guys who lead by example.
04:18And if you are a hard worker and you're the number one pick, you know what everybody else do on
04:22the team?
04:23Follow you.
04:24So, that's leadership, right?
04:27If that's his thing, is that he's an incredible hard worker, if they start winning games, people are gonna do
04:36what that dude does.
04:39I don't know this.
04:42I, personally, this should be about who's the best basketball player on the court.
04:52Period.
04:55I do not want how this player can engage the community to be a factor.
05:06Jalen Brunson, I'm here in New York, I hope I don't get beat up saying this.
05:09Jalen Brunson's not the most engaging superstar, right?
05:12Like, he seems kind of quiet to himself.
05:15People love him.
05:16He's a stud.
05:17They win games.
05:18They just want a championship.
05:20Like, I don't want a part of the DeBonsa-Peterson debate to be about who's gonna be better giving away
05:30turkeys on Thanksgiving.
05:31You know what?
05:31If one of them's gonna smile and take a ton of pictures, if one dude's just not that into it.
05:35If he giving away turkeys and not playing good basketball, I have a problem with him.
05:39I want the best player.
05:41Period.
05:41Yes.
05:42Now, I'm reading this from David Aldridge, who we both know and respect very much.
05:48The 19-year-old DeBonsa just has too much potential to become the kind of star the Wizards haven't had
05:54around here since Chris Webber's brief tenure in D.C.
05:57He's a dynamic young big man with the talent and charisma to make the city remember that it's a basketball
06:03town first before everything else.
06:06And after DeBonsa led the nation in scoring at BYU and shot 51% from the floor, becoming just the
06:12fifth college basketball player in the last 40 years to average at least 25 a game while shooting at least
06:1750%,
06:18it's hard to construct a scenario where Washington passes on his potential.
06:25Those C-Web teams, Rod Strickland, Rasheed Wallace, those were my favorite teams ever.
06:31The Gill years I loved, but still, in my life as a Wizards Bullet fan, it was C-Web wearing
06:38a Bullets jersey in Landover at the Cap Center was the pinnacle.
06:45That Bullets team got swept by the Bulls in the first round.
06:48That's back when it was five-game series.
06:50And MJ said, watch out for that team.
06:52They're on the rise.
06:53Now, obviously, it didn't work out that way, but that may have been – I'm not even BSing here, B.
06:58That may have been the highlight of my Bullets slash Wizards fandom of my life.
07:03Jawan Howard, Calvert Chaney.
07:06Like, then you go trade big for small, and it was just a disaster after that.
07:11But there was that brief glimpse of incredible.
07:15And I don't know if D.A. is making a DeBonsa to Weber comparison, or he's saying this could be
07:23the best player here since Weber.
07:26But damn, that is exciting.
07:28And I think – I don't know.
07:30I'm not going to speak for you.
07:31I think you and I both perhaps lean Peterson.
07:35Listen, Jay.
07:35But I'm going to be thrilled if it's DeBonsa.
07:38You know what I lean towards?
07:41Whoever gets on the court and play.
07:43I've said before, getting someone who's good with the community, who won't hand out turkeys, that's a bonus.
07:51Right.
07:52If the guy is not a good basketball player, I could care less what he does after that.
07:56If he's a good – is he a damn good basketball player?
08:00And he's good with the community?
08:01Cool.
08:02But don't start telling me about community before he can – if he can play or not.
08:07That's the first thing.
08:08You know my little thing, the first job mentality.
08:10If your first job is great, you can do whatever the hell you want to do.
08:13But if your first job is not very good, I don't need you doing nothing else.
08:18I need you to be doing more time working on your game.
08:21So, when people start doing that type of stuff, people immediately go to, oh, look at how he is in
08:28the community.
08:29Why?
08:30Why I need to know how he is in the community if he's a damn good basketball player?
08:34That's what I care about most.
08:38Absolutely.
08:40Get me the guy that's going to win the most games.
08:44Yes.
08:44I think – I'm reading this from DA again.
08:50There's this, too.
08:51Tabata has a public-facing persona.
08:53Peterson, in his own words, is an introvert.
08:55There is nothing wrong with leading by example and letting your actions speak for you.
08:59A fella named Tim Duncan did it quite effectively in San Antonio.
09:02Big time.
09:03Shea Gilgis-Alexander doesn't have a look-at-me persona either.
09:07But the Wizards don't just need better players to reignite a fan base that has been waiting a long time
09:12to see competitive basketball.
09:13They need some star power.
09:15They need a player who creates – who excites both the hardcore hoop heads in town, the folks who go
09:20to Barry Farms in the summer and watch the WCAC teams go at each other's necks starting around Thanksgiving and
09:26bounce from Maryland to Georgetown to George Mason to GW.
09:28And the casual fan who just wants to have a fun night at Capital One Arena.
09:33Along those lines, Ted Leonsis owns the Wizards.
09:36Most of the times, owners should be quiet in their front offices and coaches run the teams.
09:40But when it comes to number one, the owner is entitled to have a say.
09:44I do not think Leonsis is telling Michael Winger and Will Dawkins who to draft.
09:48I do think he is well within his rights, in this case, to ask if it's that close between the
09:53two and we can't go wrong either way, why wouldn't we take the guy who'll sell a few more tickets
09:57and merch or up our local TV ratings a point or two?
10:00You know what I say this year, and Dave's my dude, but if a guy's scoring 30 a night, I
10:06don't give a damn if he's talking to the fans or not.
10:08People are going to still show up because they're coming to be entertained.
10:12You don't have to be a loud mouth for people to want to come see you play basketball.
10:17You got to be exceptional at the game you have in basketball.
10:21So I've seen a lot of dudes that are very voiceovers, can't play, and they still don't have people in
10:27the seats.
10:29So it comes down to who's going to, like, Steph, Steph on the court made you want to come see
10:39him.
10:40He didn't have to do nothing off the court.
10:42Steph shooting the basketball made people want to see him.
10:45Not that he would go talk to you or this, that, or the other.
10:48The fact that he would shoot the ball when he stepped across half court.
10:51The fact that he would knock down 10, 13 free throws, I mean three-pointers in a game.
10:55They didn't care about all the other stuff.
10:57They cared about watching him play because he was exceptional at what he did.
11:01I want a killer.
11:04I don't, like, Steph Curry seems to be a truly nice gentleman.
11:10He and I had a very brief but polite interaction once at Augusta.
11:14Like, he seems to be the kind of guy that if an old lady was having trouble getting her luggage
11:20up into the overhead compartment,
11:23he would pick it up and put it in there for her, right?
11:25But on the basketball court, he's an absolute assassin.
11:28He'll cross her over.
11:30Dude.
11:31Anthony Edwards.
11:32And try to dunk on her.
11:33I remember in last year's playoffs when the T-wolves were so good and Ant was healthy.
11:38He did an interview afterwards with, I think it was SVP, and SVP said, what's your mindset out there?
11:43He said, I want to kill everyone.
11:45Like, that's what I want.
11:48And I do think DeBotts is that guy.
11:50I think you've seen some of it with, you know, yeah, I think he wanted to go to Utah, but
11:55he just wants to go number one
11:56because that's important, and he wants to prove he's the best.
11:59Yep.
11:59So I like that.
12:01And Anthony Edwards, as good as he is in basketball, he hasn't shown up in some moments.
12:06And I guarantee if he's shown up in those moments, there'd be more people in their seats
12:10than if he was the guy who said all the crazy stuff.
12:13See what I'm saying?
12:14It comes down to your play, not what you say.
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