00:00AJ DeBonsa is the number one pick. Look, I like the fit too. It's not how I would have drafted.
00:07You shouldn't, I don't think you draft based on how he fits into your current group, a team that's
00:13lost, you know, 196 games in the last three seasons. That's not really what you do with
00:21number one. You draft the player that you think has the best chance to be the best player overall,
00:27an elite level player, but they believe that about DeBonsa and he fits and he fits because
00:34you've got Trey Young coming back. He's your starting point guard. Your starting two guard
00:39is either Keyshawn George or Trey Johnson, more likely than not. Your starting small forward
00:46is very likely AJ DeBonsa. Now, Bilal Koulibaly will have a say and that Will Riley will have a say,
00:54especially early in the season. But, you know, if they are drafting a number one player and they
01:00want this guy to start playing and to start developing, you plug him in at the three,
01:07hopefully Anthony Davis, fingers crossed, is healthy and ready to go as your four. And then Alex Sarr
01:14is your center. And, you know, when you pull up a Wizards depth chart on any sports site,
01:21what you'll see is a lot of red next to names because there were a lot of players injured,
01:26including Alex Sarr, who was injured just a few weeks ago, but will be fine by the time we get
01:31to
01:31the beginning of the season. But that's your starting five. You know, somebody like Bub Carrington is
01:37likely the backup point guard, whether it's Johnson or George at the two, the other guys coming off the
01:43bench and getting significant minutes. Koulibaly is the backup to DeBonsa at the three. And what they don't
01:50have right now really are quality bigs as depth. There was some conversation about would the Wizards
01:59trade back into the draft at the end of the first round and try to pick somebody, you know, bigger
02:05in the
02:06first round. They did not do that. But tonight they have an opportunity with two selections at 20,
02:1521 in the second round, overall 51 total in the draft and at 60 with the last pick. So two
02:23second
02:24round picks. We'll see what they do with those. There are still some intriguing players on the board.
02:30I think for me, the biggest surprise over about round one is that Isaiah Evans from Duke did not
02:38get drafted in the first round. Somebody is going to get themselves a really good player in the second
02:43round. I know that there were other surprises, whether it was Lopez at 21 or Philon not going as
02:51early as they thought, or maybe a guy like Lindenburg going a little bit maybe earlier to Golden State.
02:58I mean, he's 24 years old. Golden State's got to win right now. I mean, that's why they went with,
03:03you know, an older player, which obviously is not typical in the draft anymore. Yeah. I mean,
03:11look, you know, you look at the whole first round and it's like, who knows? I really liked Peterson.
03:16I really liked Wilson and I really liked Acuff Jr. in terms of potential future elite players.
03:23But I also really liked Abansa as a player that could develop into an absolute monster,
03:29all-star caliber player. They're young. There's a lot of time. Development becomes key. Location,
03:38organization, all of that becomes super important. Landing in the right place at the right time
03:45often is the difference with many of these very gifted players. But I'm excited. I mean, I would have
03:54certainly understood if they had gone Peterson and applauded it. But I also understand why there's
04:03risk there and they can't, you know, risk that you end up getting a guy that turns out to be
04:09a total
04:10bust because he's got issues health-wise, you know, whether it's medical, physical, or mental.
04:17But it's very possible that Utah got the best player in the draft, even though they didn't win
04:23the lottery. It's also more than likely that another team got the best player in the draft. And we just
04:31don't know who that team is or who that player is. That's the more likely out of the Peterson versus
04:37DeBonsa. Very likely somebody else that got picked last night or somebody that will get picked tonight
04:44will end up becoming the best player from the 2026 draft. That's just probability based on how this
04:54thing has worked through the years. All right. 301-230-0980. 301-230-0980. A.J. DeBonsa last night
05:06compared himself when asked about what kind of player, you know, he himself would comp himself
05:15to. And here's what he said.
05:20Which NBA player are you most like, but no one compares you to?
05:23Wow, that's a good one. I never got that question before. You want some real ball knowledge?
05:27Give it to me.
05:27He never played in the NBA, but he got drafted and Len Bias.
05:31He compared himself, boys and girls, to one Leonard Bias. I love that he knows who Len Bias
05:41is. I do think Len Bias' legend has been so, I don't want to say outsized because I think it
05:50matches
05:50what he actually was. But it's been so prominent, you know, for basketball people. Young, middle-aged,
06:01old. It just seems like he's one of those guys where every once in a while, even a young kid
06:07will get a highlight on social media, a 60-second highlight reel of Bias and go,
06:13Dad, who was this? Because it is impressive. So I loved that he compared himself to somebody. I mean,
06:21he was asked, you know, about somebody that he never gets compared to, and he compared himself
06:26to Len Bias. I don't see that comp at all in watching AJ DeBansa. And it's not because I don't
06:35think DeBansa is good in his own right. I just don't think they are similar stylistically.
06:42Len Bias, size-wise, similar. AJ DeBansa is a better creator with the basketball. He actually,
06:49I think, needs to have the ball in his hands a lot. And I think that's going to be an
06:54interesting
06:54dynamic with Trey Young. We'll see if he's okay being off the ball. But I think we play in a
07:01positionless sport much more so than it's ever been. And I think that there's going to be a lot
07:06of opportunities for AJ DeBansa to have the ball in his hands. That was never Bias.
07:11DeBansa could play the two as much as he can be the three or even a stretch four. Bias could
07:18have
07:18never played the two. He was great at everything except for as a ball handler. He was not a strong
07:28ball handler. He was a forward. He wasn't Jordan. He wasn't a two guard. He wasn't asked to initiate
07:35the offense. He wasn't asked to beat people off the dribble. He caught the ball typically with his
07:42head level to the rim on a pass to the upper corner of the backboard slamming at home. Or he
07:49caught it
07:49on the block or at the elbow. And that's where he did his work. Bias, much better shooter than DeBansa
07:57has been at this point. Now, I think DeBansa's got a great stroke. And I think he's going to develop
08:02into a really solid shooter, including a three-point shooter. Bias would have been a great three-point
08:07shooter as a stretch four if they went small in a lineup in the NBA. They didn't do that back
08:14then
08:15much. You didn't have stretch fours. You didn't go small ball as much. But that's how he could have
08:24fit in to today's game. And Leonard was a good defender who became a great defender and a monster,
08:33monster shot blocker at times and could be a very good rebounder. DeBansa is just much more of a
08:41creator with the ball in his hands. It's funny that he used that as a comp. I don't see that
08:47comp at
08:47all. To me, watching DeBansa, there's a little bit of, I don't want to say Kevin Durant like he's
08:57going to be Kevin Durant, but there's a little bit of Durant because I think he's going to develop
09:01into a very good long-range shooter. And he's tall and long. He's got the big wingspan. He can finish.
09:09He can take people off the dribble. He can score in the mid-range like KD can. And I think
09:14he will be
09:15able to stretch the floor big time. I like, you know, what the Wizards have. In terms of like
09:21expectations right now, he's going to be a first-year player. I mean, could he be Cooper Flagg
09:29as a rookie? He could be. And the opportunity will be there. But I'm not so sure the opportunity will
09:36be there if, if Anthony Davis is healthy and Trey Young and Anthony Davis really end up
09:44having good chemistry. Cause if the Wizards end up making a big jump from what they were this past
09:53season or the last three seasons, but from 17 wins to say 43 wins and a six seed, or maybe
10:02even the
10:02play-in somewhere in that general area, it's not going to be because AJ DeBansa was the rookie of the
10:09year. It's going to be because Anthony Davis was healthy and played 60 plus games, maybe 65 plus
10:17games. And the combination of Trey Young and Anthony Davis worked. That's why the Wizards will be good
10:26this year or better improve this year. And maybe even if Anthony Davis is around and healthy in 2027,
10:33even better than that in 2027, 2028. I'm not saying that DeBansa won't be a contributor. I think he will
10:41be. And I think there will be opportunities, but if they make the big jump from terrible losing 26 of
10:48their last 27, 17 game, uh, uh, 17 win season to 43 and 39 or 44 and 38 and a
10:56six seed, or, you know, as a
10:58seven seed needing to just win once to get into the actual Eastern conference, you know, uh, field it's
11:05because Anthony Davis was healthy and played a lot of basketball. It's not because AJ DeBansa was the
11:11rookie of the year because Cooper flag was the rookie of the year in the Mavericks, one 26 games.
11:19So that's just the nature of the NBA. He could be great. And the promise could be overwhelming.
11:26And this time next year, we could be really looking forward to 2027, 2028. But if he's the rookie of
11:35the year and Anthony Davis doesn't play 60 plus, it's not going to be a great season.
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