00:00All right, we're at the anthem. We're getting ready for the NBA draft tonight.
00:03The Wizards have the number one pick.
00:05I think they've known for an extended period of time that they're taking A.J. DeBonsa.
00:12I think most of the smoke on Darren Peterson and the reporting that we've heard
00:17about them going back and forth is them trying to keep the cards close to the chest
00:23and feeling like there's no benefit to anybody knowing how they actually feel.
00:27I also think it's true that they did their due diligence, as they should.
00:32There are two guys that are better than everyone else in this class,
00:35and they should have gone to the end of the earth to find out everything they could
00:38about both of those players.
00:39I don't think it was DeBonsa by himself and in the rest of the class,
00:43as was talked about maybe a month ago.
00:46I think it was more likely DeBonsa, car length ahead of Peterson,
00:51half track ahead of everybody else.
00:53And because of that, you're going to just make sure.
00:55And I think they did that.
00:56But my guess is, not only is it A.J. DeBonsa, but Danny,
00:59I think they've known it's DeBonsa for a few weeks.
01:01And probably we're leaning pretty heavily in that direction when the lottery balls
01:06bounced in their favor going back to when they found out they got 1-1.
01:09Interesting. This might be semantics.
01:11You could accuse me of that. I think that's fine.
01:13I don't think they've known.
01:15I think the way this group operates is we're going to see.
01:19We could have a preconceived notion, but you could have your mind changed.
01:22You could have that workout or that interview or that thing that converts you.
01:27And if you went in with a preconceived notion, you might end up in a bad place.
01:30I think that's who this group is.
01:32I think they're too smart to have been locked in before doing all the analysis.
01:36I really do.
01:37Now, I have also been to believe it's DeBonsa.
01:39But I think it's a, we went through the process.
01:43Wherever that took us is where it took us.
01:45And I think it landed on A.J. DeBonsa, who has the higher floor
01:49and a pretty damn high rocket ship ceiling that may not be exactly Peterson's,
01:54but it's close.
01:55It's not like it's some falloff.
01:56We're not talking about a Peterson versus Boozer.
01:58Well, I think Boozer's being slept on in this draft, by the way,
02:00but that's another conversation for another day.
02:03DeBonsa's ceiling's probably a 9.5 if Peterson's is a 10,
02:06and DeBonsa's floor is a 7, and Peterson's might be a 3.
02:09It's a safer but also elite-level player.
02:14The only pushback I'd give you or argument I would have about your point,
02:17because it's probably true,
02:20these executives in these sports, and especially in basketball,
02:23they have known these guys since they were like 10.
02:25Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
02:26So the idea that you would start a draft process without a proclivity,
02:31like that Will Dawkins, I don't know if you saw the viral video,
02:34he was playing pickup basketball with all of the staffers,
02:37and Ketsia Coleman from the PR staff came in and told him they'd won the lottery,
02:41and they got 1-1.
02:42That's how he found out, because he wasn't in the room.
02:45Winger was.
02:48But I think Dawkins, the moment you get 1-1,
02:51I think in your mind, it's no different than, like,
02:54you thinking about a food you might want to eat tonight.
02:56There's something you might like a little better.
02:58Now, you still got to figure out what's open, what's not,
03:01who has reservations, who doesn't.
03:02But there's a lot of legwork to do after that.
03:04Sure.
03:05But I believe that as soon as they got that pick,
03:07the first thing they thought was A.J. DeBonsa probably is the guy.
03:11And then as time goes on, maybe you cement that.
03:14But, look, maybe they kept the best secret in basketball,
03:16and we find out tonight as we sit here at the anthem
03:18that all of that smoke was coming from actual flames,
03:22and they're in on Peterson.
03:22Yeah, what do you make of that smoke?
03:24Because, again, we do this with the NFL draft.
03:25We know with the NBA draft, too.
03:27It is lying season.
03:28Everybody, and I mean everybody, has an agenda one way or the other.
03:31Every time there's a rumor, you always have to look at, like,
03:34the departed, Qui Bono, who benefits?
03:36There's always somebody somewhere, right?
03:38But there's too much, you guys, it could be Peterson,
03:42for me to totally ignore that and dismiss it.
03:45Where did that all come from, do you think?
03:47Was that even valid?
03:48I think it's valid because I think most of the reports and stories were,
03:52they're really digging in on Peterson.
03:54They're trying to find a lot out about Peterson.
03:56They better?
03:57He's the most talented player in the draft.
04:00He's the best scorer and the best shooter in the class.
04:02And he's got all these issues.
04:04Why wouldn't they do everything that they can,
04:07overturn every single stone on Darren Peterson?
04:10That's the whole draft mission to me, is to find out,
04:13is this guy trustworthy and reliable and viable at one?
04:18If you can prove him healthy and whatever the creatine cramping nonsense stuff was,
04:24is that's gone and there aren't character concerns,
04:27then he should go first overall.
04:29So they should absolutely have done everything they could to find out information.
04:32And that's what I had mostly heard over and over and over and over again.
04:36And these reports was, the Wizards really like Peterson.
04:39That one I'm not buying necessarily as much.
04:42I'm sure they like him.
04:42Do they like him more?
04:43I don't know.
04:43We didn't get that from reputable people necessarily.
04:46But the one that you saw from the super plugged in folks is,
04:50the Wizards are doing a lot of work on Darren Peterson.
04:52And to that I go, yeah, no kidding.
04:55Well, of course, they better be.
04:56But when you combine, again, it doesn't always mean stuff.
04:58But last year, for example, Ace Bailey didn't work out for Utah,
05:01ended up in Utah.
05:02Of course, ended up firing his agent as a result of that
05:04for the process that may have been mismanaged in his view.
05:08But Peterson canceled everything.
05:09That means something to me.
05:11I don't know what it is.
05:12I don't know what the meaning is, what I'm supposed to ascribe to it.
05:15But there's too much ancillary jumbling and confidence from one camp.
05:20It could be bravado, it could be fake.
05:22But when Peterson doesn't work out for Utah, or anybody else for that matter,
05:25because he's going 1-1 in his mind, again, that could just be,
05:28if I'm not going 1, I'm going 2 or 3.
05:30It doesn't really matter.
05:31People aren't going to pass on me for that long.
05:33I'd love to have that kind of confidence, by the way.
05:34See Marvin Harrison Jr. coming out for the NFL draft going,
05:38yeah, I'm not working out.
05:39I'm going top 3.
05:40So you guys can do what you want.
05:42But there's just so much energy around it.
05:44That part was more interesting.
05:45That's true.
05:46There's so much energy around it.
05:47All these things are connected in some way.
05:49And again, it could just be, to your point, a smokescreen.
05:51It could be for the Wizards to try to create some sort of frenzied environment
05:56where who knows, at the 11th hour, somebody has a gotta-have-it moment,
05:59and you get that godfather offer to move back a spot and still get who you want.
06:02I'm just saying, everything is to their advantage because they hold the hammer,
06:06they're number one.
06:06I think the Peterson part of it, where he only worked out for the Wizards
06:10and told everyone else to kick rocks, I think that was message sending from him.
06:15Him getting the word out, I'm the best player in the draft, I should go first overall.
06:18And I think he also knows, if I don't go one, I'm going two or three,
06:21whether I work out for anybody or not.
06:23I'm not sliding to nine.
06:24So that, to me, was nothing more than him going, I'm the best player, I know it,
06:29and I want everyone to know that I know it.
06:30Let's go to Edwin and Laurel on Grant and Danny.
06:34Edwin, thanks for the call.
06:35We're live at the Anthem, head of the NBA draft tonight.
06:37How are you?
06:41Edwin, are you there?
06:43You will get nothing and like it.
06:44Nothing, Edwin.
06:45Ford, Ian Kensington.
06:47You're on Grant and Danny.
06:48We're live at the Anthem, head of the NBA draft.
06:50What's up, Ted, Rick Ford?
06:50How are you?
06:52Good.
06:52Thank you for having me, Grant and Danny.
06:54I've been a Washington sports fan all my life,
06:56been listening to the fan since a little kid,
06:58and I think there's no doubt in my mind that it's going to be DeBonta tonight.
07:02I think he's going to be a similar guy to Jaden Daniels,
07:06where he's going to be able to turn this franchise, this program around,
07:10and he's going to have major effects on D.C. sports fans in general and all of D.C.
07:16Appreciate the call.
07:17I think you're right.
07:18There's that level of competitiveness that he has,
07:20that I always call, he has that dark heart,
07:22he has that evil inside him,
07:24where a lot of people would like to win.
07:26I think he wants to destroy you,
07:28and some of the greats of all time have that.
07:30I see that.
07:31I see that competitive streak.
07:32I see that relentlessness.
07:34You don't think Peterson has that?
07:35Not to the same degree.
07:36Again, not what I've seen.
07:38What I saw is a guy that was willing to check himself out of games,
07:41that when the coach thought he was going to play, he didn't play.
07:43Yeah, but if you buy what he's selling, there's health reasons for that.
07:46He didn't do that healthy and just because he wasn't enjoying playing basketball that day
07:50as he was getting buckets.
07:51Again, I don't know.
07:52Now, I understand the scare.
07:53The scare happened months before.
07:55Is it because I'm tired?
07:57Is it because I'm breathing heavy?
07:59What is it?
08:00Whereas you would have to drag some of these guys off the court
08:02that have been the greatest to ever do this.
08:05These attributes, they probably don't make them a lot of fun to be around all the time.
08:08Look at the last dance.
08:10Look at how Scotty Burrell and a bunch of Jordan's teammates are tormented by this guy
08:14because he's just a killer.
08:16If you're not about winning the game, you're in the way.
08:19And I don't know if DeBonce is to that level
08:21because that's like reserved for the ultimate ultimate.
08:23That's that Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan kind of killer vibe.
08:27But to me, I see some of that competitiveness in DeBonce that I have not seen yet.
08:31And Peterson, he may have it, but I haven't seen it.
08:33To Ford's point, if they draft A.J. DeBonce tonight at 1-1,
08:39I think he immediately becomes a Mount Rushmore D.C. sports figure.
08:43I don't even think that's debatable.
08:45Alex Ovechkin is on that Mount Rushmore.
08:48Jaden Daniels is clearly in that discussion.
08:51Those two guys are locks.
08:54I think James Wood, who we're going to have on the show, by the way,
08:56coming up in 20 minutes at 3 o'clock,
08:58you'll hear which player he would take at number one overall if he was the Wizards.
09:01He's a massive basketball fan, was a great hooper growing up.
09:05In fact, his sister works for the San Antonio Spurs currently.
09:08But I would think that would be the list.
09:10It would be Ovi, Daniels, Wood, and A.J. DeBonce immediately.
09:14In terms of superstardom in D.C. sports.
09:17Basketball's just different.
09:18You're not wearing a helmet.
09:20It's all built around.
09:21You're playing both ways.
09:22You're getting 35, 40 minutes a night.
09:24There's seven or eight guys on a team that really play.
09:26It's all built around you.
09:28It's very visual.
09:29Everyone sees you all the time.
09:30The size, this guy's 6'9", walking around the anthem,
09:32and everybody knows where you're at.
09:35It's just different, man.
09:36I think he would immediately become right there with Daniels.
09:40And Ovi, because of the lifetime achievement element with the Capitals,
09:43is the biggest stars in D.C. sports.
09:45Grant and Danny, we are at the Anthem NBA Draft Party.
09:48Getting your thoughts on what the Wizards will do and should do
09:50when they pick at number one.
09:52This is the fan.
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