00:00A.J. DeBonsa. A lot of interviews last night. He's a good interview. This guy has some charisma. You can
00:11tell he is a sharp kid, smart, good communicator.
00:16Max picked out a couple of his best soundbites from last night after being picked number one. This was him
00:25on the Wizards veteran additions in Trey Young and Anthony Davis and then what he can bring to the team.
00:33You land for the Wizards team that made some pretty big veteran additions at the deadline. I'm interested to know,
00:38what do you think you bring to this team and what do you think about the prospects of winning right
00:43away with it?
00:44Yeah, so I think I bring versatility. Obviously, them re-signing Trey, having A.D. I mean, I think I
00:50can just fit in as like an off-ball guy that can just score in different ways, score in transition,
00:54score off the catch, score off the dribble.
00:55But also just, I mean, they challenged me when they talked to me saying, like, if we pick you, we
00:59want you to play defense 94 feet and pick up. So I definitely bring that to.
01:03By the way, the message that they gave him about defending 94 feet, they got to make sure that everybody
01:08else gets that message, too.
01:10They got to become a better defensive basketball team.
01:14This was A.J. DeBonsa on coming into a team with that right now because of A.D. and Trey
01:22Young, a wealth of experience.
01:24So you're joining a Wizards team with Trey Young at point guard and other veteran experience.
01:30What does it mean to you to have those type of guys with you day one?
01:33I mean, it means a lot. Just coming into the league and not having any vets is probably tough.
01:39I mean, it is tough. But having vets like all-star guys like Trey Young, Anthony Davis, guys who've won
01:44chips like Anthony Davis,
01:45I think I can kind of pick their brains and just get some easy knowledge.
01:50Anthony Davis and Trey Young are important pieces right now in this organization.
01:54And I know that there is, you know, a lot of eye-rolling when it comes to both of them.
01:59Anthony Davis' injuries and availability and Trey Young's defense and turnover, assist to turnover percentage and what they ended up
02:10or what they will end up paying him.
02:12But I think the most important thing as a fan of the Wizards is that what we've seen for the
02:19last three years is over.
02:21And now it's time to focus on winning and developing their young group of players in an environment where the
02:31team's actually trying to win games.
02:34And that's the goal. The goal isn't develop. The goal is to win and develop.
02:41And, you know, the benefit that comes with that is meaningful basketball.
02:47It's always meaningful to a certain point when you're developing, but you've got to get to the point where it's
02:53meaningful as it relates to winning.
02:55You're trying to win. You're trying to win. The opponent that's coming in knows you're trying to win.
03:03That's a different mindset that they'll be facing in their opponents in 2026-2027.
03:10Most of the Wizards' opponents arrived at Capital One knowing the Wizards weren't trying to win.
03:15That's a different, you know, overall vibe versus playing a team that's trying to win and capable of winning.
03:23And to get there, you've got to have some veteran guys that have won a little bit and have played
03:30on teams that were trying to win.
03:34AD's a champion. He was the key to that bubble championship for the Lakers.
03:41He's a top 10 player in this game when he's fully healthy.
03:45He's probably closer to 5 than he is to 10 when he's completely healthy.
03:51This is what they've got to have. You had to get to that point.
03:55Did they accelerate it? Was there a plan to be terrible for one more year?
04:00I'm glad the plan wasn't for that.
04:03I'm glad they're coming out of what we just witnessed.
04:08And I think with this, you know, the additions of AD and Trey Young, all of the young players, and
04:15now the addition of a number one overall, there is some buzz.
04:21There was some buzz last night at the Anthem.
04:24There was some buzz last night on social media.
04:27You know, sometimes, and this isn't to pat me on the back myself or anybody that does what we do
04:35on our backs, but there is a sense when you do long form every day sports talk radio in a
04:45town,
04:46you get a sense of what sports fans are feeling and thinking.
04:51And right now, for at least a moment, there's buzz around the Wizards, and there hasn't been for years.
05:01And by the way, it's fleeting.
05:04It can be fleeting.
05:06Once football season begins in September, we're not going to be talking about the Wizards at all, because if I
05:12did, we'd have no listeners.
05:14We'd literally be, you know, in a terrible spot.
05:19You got to, as they say in radio, play the hits.
05:22The hits, one through ten right now, are still our football team.
05:27But I do see a day where this buzz becomes something more substance-based.
05:35And the winning follows this effort of the last three years.
05:40And the sleeping giant in town, which has always been the Wizards, in my opinion, for the reasons I've articulated
05:50over the years.
05:50This is, at its core, a basketball town.
05:55We have arguably the best youth and high school basketball in the country.
06:01More people in this town participate in, whether it's as a player, a coach, a referee, a parent, in basketball
06:10more than any other sport.
06:12Now, the football team's number one in terms of consumer interest.
06:17But in terms of involvement, we're a basketball town.
06:21And Maryland and Georgetown have certainly benefited over a long period of time of being two power D1 programs in
06:31a market with an NBA team, but not an NBA team that enough people cared about because of the results.
06:40So, I truly believe that if they are on a path to being 45 to 50-plus wins a year,
06:51being in the upper echelon of the NBA, of the NBA's Eastern Conference, where they're no worse than a four
06:59or a five seed every year.
07:00And maybe, just maybe, a few of those years, they're legitimate contenders to win the Eastern Conference Championship and to
07:08get to the NBA Finals.
07:10I personally think that it would become not even close the number two in town.
07:20And you'd have distance between number one, the football team, and number two, but then there would be distance between
07:25the number two and the number three.
07:27Anyway, the Wizards are the sleeping giant.
07:31They are.
07:32They've always been that.
07:34And the John and Brad teams, I love those teams.
07:39I love John Wall.
07:41I loved, you know, the veterans that they had on those teams.
07:45I think Randy Whitman was a phenomenal coach because he was.
07:48You know, the year with, with, um, the year in 2017 when they got to a seventh and deciding game
07:56with Scott Brooks as the coach in Boston.
07:59I love that.
08:00I was, you know, I was all in.
08:02I knew, though, that they weren't a true championship contender, but they were winning playoff series.
08:10And there was buzz around it.
08:12I remember those days coming in after some of those big playoff games or even a big regular season game.
08:18There was, the buzz was consistent.
08:22Right now, there's some buzz.
08:24It's time for them, and they realize this, to make sure that they can take advantage of it.
08:31Because another season like the last three, and you could have lost everybody.
08:37And they've lost everybody for the most part.
08:39But you could sense last night that there is an appetite for the NBA team in this town to be
08:46good.
08:47To be a part of what we just watched over the last two months.
08:52That's the great thing about, you know, 2014, 15, 17.
08:56Those years is like, they were actually a part of it.
08:59And they weren't a one and done-er.
09:01They were winning series.
09:02You know, that first year when they beat Chicago and had Indiana on the ropes.
09:06That second year when they swept Toronto.
09:09Swept Toronto and should have beaten Atlanta.
09:12The year they beat Atlanta and Wall had an unbelievable closeout game and got to a seventh game against Boston.
09:20That's being a part of it, at least.
09:21They haven't been a part of it for nine years.
09:26They haven't been a part of it.
09:27Even when they had Russell Westbrook and Beal was scoring at high levels.
09:31They weren't a part of it.
09:32They weren't a part of the mix.
09:34I'm glad they did what they did.
09:36I'm glad they did what they did three, four years ago.
09:40The decisions that Ted made doesn't guarantee anything.
09:44But it gives them their best chance of being a product in town that isn't dead last.
09:49Because that's where it is right now.
09:50But it's got massive upside.
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