00:00Tonight was made possible. Welcome back, Grant and Danny, live from the Anthem on the Fan.
00:06Thank you for making this show part of your day. It's NBA Draft Day on the Fan.
00:11We will keep you company all day long, up until 6.15.
00:16Then the Junkies are coming back. We've got a Junkies G&D draft extravaganza deep into the evening.
00:23And eventually a late night show from right here at the Anthem, reacting with fans to whoever's picked 1-1.
00:30With Ben Strober and Toby Altizer, the Strobes and Tobes broadcast, to end this day.
00:36But Danny, this is one of the biggest days in Wizards history.
00:39It's one of the biggest days in recent D.C. sports history.
00:42Because it's got a chance to completely change the complexion of this Wizards organization.
00:46The big debate is, is it A.J. DeBonsa as expected?
00:50Could there be a surprise? And might the Wizards shock everybody and take Darren Peterson?
00:55The point that I've been making a lot as they were going through this painful tank, and that's what it
00:59was.
01:00It's painful. It's not much fun.
01:01Although, to me, it's more fun, frankly, to figure out who's going to be here than watching a 34-win
01:07team.
01:07Again, that's the way I'm wired through my fandom, but that's beside the point.
01:11The thing I said a million times, and you said it too, their best player, their fill-in-the-blank,
01:17superstar, MVP candidate,
01:19the guy that can be on your team in his prime, that can lead you to a conference final.
01:23Everybody kind of takes turns doing that around the league, whether it's Jokic or Adoncic or Anthony Edwards or people
01:29all over the place.
01:31That player's not on their team yet.
01:32You're assembling assets to be part of the supporting cast, to figure out who your OGN and OB is,
01:37to figure out who your Rudy Gobert is, to figure out who your Stephon Castle is.
01:42You need those guys too.
01:43Those are championship players.
01:44You need excellence around this guy.
01:47But the dude, where there's four seconds left on the shot clock, the play didn't work,
01:52you give it to that guy for a huge fourth-quarter bucket, that guy's not on the team yet.
01:56And it's one of these two guys, presumably up there at the top, as the Wizards make a selection tonight.
02:01I think it's going to be A.J. DeBonsta.
02:03The clock is ticking.
02:05We are T-minus four and a half hours away from the NBA draft getting underway,
02:10and the Wizards holding the number one pick.
02:12Just to go back, though, to the clip that Darius played on the way in,
02:18and the Wizards winning the lottery 16 years in the making, what a storyline.
02:23John Wall was the pick 1-1 back in 2010.
02:26That's right.
02:26They sent Wall to deliver them the first overall pick this time around in 2026, and he did just that.
02:35They have had opportunities.
02:36They've done everything correctly in previous years, including last year,
02:40and so many times, they got Wizards-ed.
02:44Not this time.
02:44They finally hit the lottery.
02:46They get 1-1, and now they get their pick of the litter.
02:50By the way, all reports are.
02:51I know there's a couple of specifics that have been cited,
02:53but everyone is now saying the Wizards are making the pick,
02:57that there is no consideration of trading this selection.
03:00I don't think that should be a surprise.
03:02I know there was conversation throughout.
03:04There were certainly points at different moments where it felt like maybe they could go back to two,
03:08get a package from Utah.
03:09If they like Peterson more, maybe you take Darren Peterson.
03:13But sitting at number one, the asset was winning the lottery,
03:17getting to choose from all these players, and they're going to do just that.
03:20That was the beauty of it.
03:22And on the night that it happened, I did a reaction video.
03:25I'm not even sure what I said.
03:26I was basically delirious and been punch drunk from the joy of it.
03:30But the point of it is you don't have to do anything.
03:34Going full Brian Redhorse, two fingers in the air.
03:36Now, why?
03:37You could do whatever you want.
03:38You have the hammer.
03:39You are at no one's mercy.
03:41At two, at three, you're waiting around, and you're figuring it out.
03:44You're maneuvering.
03:44You're hoping.
03:45What if this?
03:45What if that?
03:46There's no what if for Washington.
03:47If you don't like anybody's offer, you ain't got to take it.
03:51There's nothing that you have to do.
03:53They have to wait on you.
03:56Use the full allotment of that draft time.
03:57Use the full allotment of the attention-gathering phase where you get analysts,
04:02hopefully they know what the hell they're talking about,
04:04that will speak glowingly about you.
04:06You finally get some of that positive attention.
04:08We used to joke about this, and for years this was true,
04:12before the Washington pick in whatever sport,
04:14they would just go to commercial because it's not that interesting.
04:17What are the Knicks going to do?
04:18Coming up, Stephen A. Smith waxes poetic.
04:20What are the Lakers going to do?
04:21Coming up, name that guy.
04:25Kendrick Perkins gets really angry.
04:27They are going to talk about the Wizards, that full allotment of time.
04:31Hey, have you noticed this?
04:32Have you noticed that?
04:32This is kind of exciting.
04:33Look at what Dawkins and Winger have done.
04:35Look at the turnaround.
04:36And all of a sudden, you're getting a free advertisement,
04:37and they're speaking glowingly about you, your process, your city,
04:41your organization.
04:42They're going to reference Anthony Davis and all the various positive comments
04:48that he's had here of late.
04:49You're going to reference Trey Young, the extension, whether you like it or not.
04:51He has spoken glowingly about the regime here in Washington
04:55and the fact that he wants to be here, et cetera.
04:57It is a paradigm shift, and then it culminates with that number one overall pick,
05:01the difference maker tonight.
05:02It is so exciting, man.
05:04It's genuine.
05:04We'll take calls from you guys at 800-636-1067 if you've got thoughts
05:10on what the Wizards are going to do with the number one pick
05:13and just where this ranks for you as an evening and as an event.
05:17As a Wizards fan, I'm trying to think of the short list for my life.
05:21My credentials would go back to I was born in 88.
05:25My earliest memories of basketball in D.C., they were still the Bullets,
05:32and they made the playoffs in that 98 season where they got knocked out
05:38and swept by Michael Jordan and the Bulls, and it would have been, you know,
05:42Jawan Howard, Chris Weber kind of operation, maybe the season before he got traded
05:46and blew up in Sacramento, obviously.
05:49But for me, my childhood, there was a time where they were my favorite team
05:53of all the D.C. sports are right there with the Redskins.
05:56It was kind of a seasonal thing.
05:57But I've said this to you before.
05:59Before, I would get off the bus, I'd go grab a radio, you know,
06:02an actual radio with, like, an antenna, and I would go pull it out,
06:06plug it in with an extension cord into the back deck,
06:08and I would listen to, like, Steve Zabin and Andy Paul
06:11and the sports reporters or whatever.
06:13There was no fan at the time.
06:14980 was the only sports station in town.
06:17And so I would listen to crackly AM radio in my backyard,
06:20and I would shoot basketball, and I would pretend to be Calvert Chaney,
06:24or I would be, you know, Mitch Richmond or whoever it was at the time
06:27and would track every single night on loose-leaf paper points and rebounds
06:32and assists for every player and lived and died with all the acquisitions.
06:35And over time, the other sports just became more important
06:41because it always felt like, to me, the Wizards were the one that was never running away
06:47that I could completely agree with.
06:49It was always harder for me.
06:51And that has changed completely with this regime.
06:54It's been a blast, but there was a time even for the radio station on a draft night
06:58where I was covering the Wizards and was at the John Wall draft
07:01and got to speak to him a couple hours before he was drafted.
07:04But I would say if I'm trying to rank all-time days as a Wizards fan,
07:11number one for me might be some kind of playoff achievement,
07:16like maybe the John Wall scorer's table game against the Celtics to force Game 7
07:23at Capital One Arena where he jumped up on the table after hitting the game-winning shot.
07:27I would think possibly, even though I didn't love those teams
07:30or think they were going anywhere, when they swept the Raptors,
07:33like those Otto Porter Jr. Wizards teams, that was kind of fun.
07:37There was a night where they won one of those games against the Raptors,
07:40and it was one of those, like, all the D.C. sports teams won the same night things.
07:43The Caps, the Wiz, the Nats, and it was super fun.
07:46We had a show at the time, you and I just starting, or a couple years in.
07:50That was a blast.
07:51So that's on the short list.
07:52I think winning the lottery to get John Wall.
07:54I remember where I was.
07:55I was in the Orioles press box covering a baseball game in Baltimore
07:59when they hit the lottery that night, and John Wall was going to be the pick at 1-1.
08:03That would be on the list.
08:05Maybe an evening where Gilbert Arenas poured in 60 points in L.A. or something like that.
08:10Gilbert Arenas was probably, like, the apex of my fandom
08:13just because he was such an offensive assassin, so fun to watch.
08:17But this is right up there, man.
08:19It's up there.
08:20If I'm ranking a top five days as a Wizards fan, this has to be one of them.
08:25This is on my list as well, and I've got a few years on you.
08:27I mean, finding out Michael Jordan was going to play for the Washington Wizards,
08:31I can't express to you what that was like.
08:32Great one.
08:33Right?
08:33I mean, going after the drought, I mean, of the late 80s and into, I mean,
08:39throughout the 90s, they didn't make the postseason.
08:41They weren't close.
08:41It was, you know, aging stars like Moses Malone and Terry Catledge
08:46and, you know, Jeff Malone with his knee braces.
08:49But some of those teams in the mid-80s were pretty fun.
08:51They had some players that I liked.
08:53Did MJ play for Bickerstaff or Jim Brevelli?
08:56It was Doug Collins.
08:58Collins would have been the coach here.
08:59It was after those.
08:59Yeah, he asked Doug to come back and do it.
09:01Brevelli was the interim coach, then maybe a Bickerstaff in there.
09:04So it was Doug Collins, and maybe he helped handpick him, basically.
09:07I think so, yeah.
09:08Because he was part owner with Ted.
09:09Like, I need you to come back and do it.
09:10Yeah.
09:11You know, obviously it didn't go according to the plan, and he wasn't the same,
09:14and he still was incredible, by the way.
09:16The Eastern Conference was so stacked.
09:17But the Weber-Howard group kind of getting started was legit exciting,
09:23and that was for real.
09:25Losing, and then, of course, the whole thing gets derailed,
09:26and it was miserable again for almost, you know, seven, eight years afterwards.
09:30But, yeah, but then Gilbert Arena set the shot against the Bulls,
09:34beating Gennaro Pargo, the one-man band,
09:36and then you touched on it, those John Wall series.
09:38But it's been few and far between.
09:40It's basically once a decade.
09:41They flare up, and this is the chance at something special.
09:43Manny's in the city in Southeast,
09:44wants to hop in on Grant and Danny on draft day for the Wizards.
09:47What's up, Manny?
09:48We're live at the Anthem ahead of the draft party.
09:51How are you?
09:52I'm well.
09:53I'm well.
09:53I'm ecstatic, man.
09:54This is the new place to be.
09:55We got free agents that want to be here, and we got players that, listen,
10:00we the kish.
10:04Anyway, I'm not sure that this is a foregone A.J. DeBonza,
10:09but if it is, I think we fumbled.
10:12I'm going to let Will cook,
10:14because if we let everyone think that we're getting DeBonza,
10:17knowing that so many people want him so bad,
10:20we could have, like, demanded a King's ransom,
10:23especially if we're INDP or Boozer.
10:27I want to get into that, actually,
10:28because if they do take Peterson,
10:30it will feel like they absolutely could have traded back and still done that,
10:34and I'm not going to be upset about that.
10:36They have more details and more information than I do,
10:39but that is going to be how I feel.
10:41If you take Peterson at number one overall,
10:43I'm sure it's important for him to go first.
10:45I don't really care that much about that variable.
10:47You could go back to two and still get Peterson.
10:50Some people think you could even get to three and get Peterson.
10:52Because there's a lot of romanticism there with Boozer and Utah.
10:54Exactly.
10:55Jordan, Washington, what's up?
10:58Yeah, I agree.
10:59I mean, I think Darren Peterson, from the tape,
11:03I mean, I watched his game against BYU,
11:05and I've watched other games,
11:06and I think the minutes he's played,
11:09he's getting 18 points and a half.
11:10He's getting 20 points and a half.
11:12And I think if he brings those types of minutes to the Wizards,
11:16it could be dangerous.
11:17I mean, I've watched a lot of Kansas basketball,
11:19obviously playing under Bill Self, a great coach.
11:23But I just think if he's getting up to 40 minutes a game in the association,
11:28I don't know.
11:28I think the sky's the limit.
11:30Appreciate you, buddy.
11:31Definitely.
11:31But, you know, the floor is subterranean.
11:35I mean, that's the part that scares the hell out of you.
11:36But, you know, no risk it, no biscuit, obviously.
11:39But someone with that level of talent,
11:41and then the other year, even with the questions, he goes 1-1.
11:43But this is not any other year.
11:45I want to get into the floor.
11:46I don't think it's quite as low, maybe, as you do.
11:49But I want to try to figure out our disconnect on that
11:52as we continue on Grant and Danny.
11:54Double play is next.
11:55What's going on in our lives?
11:56Nothing to do with sports.
11:57We are at the anthem.
11:58It is draft night.
11:59In the NBA, the Wizards hold the number one pick.
12:03The epicenter of the sports world is your basketball team.
12:06It has been a long, long time.
12:07This is the...
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