00:00Let's start with the positive.
00:01We got to see the Washington Wizards in action again.
00:04Summer League.
00:06A.J. DeBonsa hasn't disappointed.
00:09I told Cakes during the break,
00:11I'm surprised he didn't call out with some Wizards fever
00:12because his guy, A.J., put up another good offensive performance.
00:18DeBonsa finishes with 23 points in the Wizards 104-85 win.
00:23In 24 minutes, too, by the way.
00:2523 points in 24 minutes.
00:28Just one for six on the threes,
00:30but he grabs seven boards to assist.
00:33And then Will Riley puts up 32 points in 29 minutes.
00:37He was six for eight from downtown.
00:39Just stroking it.
00:40So a lot of optimism.
00:43And E.B. and I were talking about this on Friday
00:45after he got to see DeBonsa for the first time.
00:49Are you impressed by the unity in this team
00:51where all of the players are out there at the Summer League?
00:55It's great to see.
00:55Trey Young, Ethy Davis.
00:57Yeah, I mean, those guys don't have to.
00:59Look, it's not like it's a huge commitment.
01:02Oh, go to Vegas for a few days.
01:04Vegas is a fun spot.
01:05I understand.
01:06But these guys can do whatever they want.
01:08They can be wherever they want to in the world
01:10at this point in mid-July.
01:12They don't have to be in Vegas in a stuffy gym
01:15watching their young teammates cut their teeth on the NBA game.
01:20But it's an impressive show of unity
01:23by the Wizards for those guys to be there.
01:25People are starting to notice, too.
01:26I saw there was a viral clip.
01:28I think it was of Robert Ory.
01:30All of a sudden now, talking about them being in the playoffs,
01:34whereas just a few months ago, he was trashing the team.
01:37People are jumping on the bandwagon.
01:38Oh, yeah.
01:39That's what A.J. DeBaza is capable of as a rookie.
01:41They're starting to notice.
01:43They're starting to pay attention.
01:44Okay, so probably soon, Screamin' A. Smith,
01:47who's done nothing but just flamethrower the Wizards organization,
01:52he's going to start saying,
01:54well, the Wizards, they know what they're doing.
01:55He'll come correct.
01:56They're on the right road now.
01:57He'll come correct.
01:58Yeah.
01:58You know what?
02:00All of you, Johnny, come latelies.
02:02For the Caps, I'm usually like, come on in.
02:05Welcome to the party.
02:06But people have been dumping on the Wizards for four-plus decades.
02:11You know what?
02:12When it becomes rosy and there's a potential parade going down Constitution Avenue,
02:17I don't know if I want you, Johnny, come latelies in the mix.
02:20Wow.
02:20I think we're still away from that.
02:22I understand that.
02:22They're not welcome.
02:23We're just trying to get into the playoffs.
02:25Understood.
02:26Let's just see if we've got a playoff team.
02:28I'm not saying they're going to win a title this year,
02:30but you like the signs of the building, of the rebuild.
02:35Did you see?
02:35So, I mean, they've really been pushing Will Riley, bringing the ball up,
02:39and there was some talk even after the first game that, you know,
02:43a lot of us maybe aren't quite paying attention to what Will Dawkins keeps saying
02:48is that Trey Young is going to have off-ball opportunities.
02:52He's not going to be the single-only ball handler for this basketball team.
02:59He won't be so ball-dominant.
03:00Yeah, they're going to let everybody share in it.
03:02Sure, that's what Trey does naturally, but he's going to play some off-ball,
03:05and apparently he's embraced it.
03:07So we'll see it when it happens,
03:09but I think there's a reason why they're kind of force-feeding Will Riley here
03:13into this role to see how comfortable he looks.
03:15And so far, he looks pretty damn comfortable.
03:18Is it possible that we're putting too much stock into the summer league?
03:22Sure.
03:22That could be very possible.
03:23But the signs you're seeing from DeBonta where even though he hasn't done much
03:28from three-point land in two games, he just finds ways to score.
03:33He gets to the rim effortlessly.
03:37His length and getting to the rim and his aggression is, I mean,
03:41he jumps off the page.
03:43Remember the one time in the second half where he was kind of stuck in the lane
03:46and he thought, what's he going to do here?
03:48And he just kind of managed himself for a couple seconds, turned, leaned in,
03:52and then bounced back and got the shot off and made like an eight-footer.
03:56Super exciting, super exciting time for the Wizards.
03:58I said on Friday you weren't here.
03:59He's a walking bucket.
04:00That's how I would describe him.
04:02The guy led college basketball in scoring.
04:05I can see him being the leading scorer in the NBA down the road.
04:10The reason I threw out the thing about the summer league is, man,
04:13a lot of these guys are balling out.
04:14So Cam Boozer, who was the third pick, faced Caleb Wilson,
04:19who was the fourth pick on Friday night.
04:22And Boozer had a Boozer-like game, right?
04:25It wasn't absurd, but he had 23 points, 7 of 12 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists.
04:32The guy who supposedly can't shoot, of course.
04:35That's a great line.
04:36But the guy who supposedly can't shoot, who was the fourth pick, Caleb Wilson,
04:40put up 35 on 7 of 11 from three-point line.
04:45Oh, just stroking it.
04:46Good for him.
04:47He's the one who people said was maybe the most raw,
04:51more like a Kevin Garnett type.
04:54But he had a bomb-diggity debut for the Chicago Bulls.
04:59So all the guys seem to be showing out to some extent.
05:01We talked about Darren Peterson.
05:03It was nice, though, Cakes, when they faced each other.
05:07EB and I were both Darren Peterson guys to draft,
05:09but you wanted A.J. DeBonsa, even though it didn't mean anything.
05:13We had this discussion.
05:13Who was the DeBonsa guy all along?
05:15You're talking to him right here.
05:16But did it mean anything, the first Summer League matchup?
05:20Yes.
05:20Oh, you said it.
05:22Of course it means something.
05:23Emotionally, yes.
05:24It's a piece of the puzzle.
05:25Yes.
05:25You want DeBonsa to outshine the guy who went number two.
05:28And he did.
05:29It's a natural reaction.
05:30It's going to be comped throughout their careers.
05:33But in the big picture, it doesn't really mean anything.
05:36It's a Summer League game.
05:37It's a small piece.
05:39No, but it just bodes well.
05:40Like for Wizards fans who've been in the game for a while,
05:42you don't want this to become Otto Porter and Glenn Rice Jr. Part 2,
05:46but I don't think that's what this is.
05:48No, no.
05:48This is a guy who's a special talent, who was the number one pick in a loaded draft,
05:53and he's showing you why through two Summer League games.
05:56It's a real change.
05:57It's going to be a totally different vibe.
06:01And I can't wait to see how it all plays out.
06:05So the Washington Nationals, we go from positive to negative.
06:09If the Washington Nationals played, you know what, in fact, ask Claude or do your eye.
06:13If the Washington Nationals played seven-inning games, see what their record would be.
06:17All right.
06:17Because they had the lead against the Yankees after seven innings in all three games,
06:23and they were swept.
06:25That's what the bullpen does.
06:27The bullpen consistently stinks,
06:30and we've been talking about it with Paul Timoni weekly.
06:34He joins us every Wednesday at 9 o'clock, the president of baseball operations.
06:39The bullpen, Blue, leads twice in the eighth inning, once in the ninth inning.
06:45And so now you're looking at national teams that's back to below .500.
06:49They are four back in the wild card.
06:52Doesn't sound like a lot, but there's 100 teams ahead of them in the wild card race.
06:56And that's the frustrating thing, I think, as a fan is,
06:59well, imagine if they just had a halfway decent bullpen.
07:03They would have five or six more wins right now.
07:06Yeah, they'd be in the driver's seat for the wild card.
07:09Only two teams have worse bullpens than the Nats right now.
07:13Those are the Rockies, who are 39-59, and the Kansas City Royals, who are 38-59.
07:20So you see what happens when you have a four bullpen.
07:23Somehow the Nats are hanging right around .500, despite a bullpen ERA of 5.2.
07:29It can't point to a site that has that right there.
07:33At least it couldn't find it.
07:34So it estimates that their record would be 53-43 to 56-40.
07:40Think about that.
07:41Yeah.
07:42I mean, that's...
07:43They wouldn't just be a wild card team, K, because they'd be tickling the division.
07:46They wouldn't be bottom of the wild card.
07:48You'd be challenging the Braves for the division lead if the bullpen was...
07:52Or if there were seven-inning games.
07:54Or if there were seven-inning games.
07:56They'd be a money seven-inning team.
07:58They'd be amazing at that.
07:59I mean, think about that.
08:00But you've got a lead against the Yankees in all three games after seven innings, EB.
08:04The odds that you blow all of them.
08:06Yeah.
08:07And they did.
08:07On the positive side, James Wood hit leadoff home runs consecutive days.
08:12They've done it 10 times this year.
08:14That's the most in single-season Nationals history.
08:17Passed Alfonso Soriano.
08:20Curtis Mead hit a pinch-hit home run.
08:22Wouldn't we say the record is 15 by Schwarber?
08:24I think we went through that maybe while you were away.
08:27I think that's what Drab said.
08:30That's the record.
08:31That record is going to fall.
08:32Well, it looks like it could be in jeopardy potentially.
08:34Yeah.
08:35So positive side.
08:37The offense continues to roll.
08:38James Wood has been fantastic.
08:40Guys like Curtis Mead.
08:41But the bullpen is just an albatross.
08:44Maybe this is just the best thing, though.
08:45Because they're not quite ready, obviously.
08:47They're more than one or two pieces away.
08:50Not necessarily.
08:51If the one or two pieces were a bullpen, they'd be right there.
08:54I don't know that one or two guys alone would solve it.
08:56Maybe it would.
08:57Maybe it would.
08:58I don't know.
08:59You had an eighth inning guy and a ninth inning guy, EB.
09:02You'd win a hell of a lot more games.
09:04Yeah.
09:05Those would have to be pretty elite guys.
09:08They'd have to be pretty elite.
09:10Because they've tried everybody.
09:12And they've all taken turns failing.
09:141-800-636-1067 is the number.
09:18We're the Junkies.
09:19Coming right back.
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