00:00Joining us now via the Rude Guest Hotline is our guy, Mr. David Aldridge from The Athletic, right here in
00:07D.C.
00:07D.A., what's up, dude? How are you?
00:10I'm good, fellas. What's going on?
00:12Oh, we're good, man.
00:13We're good, man. You want to start with football or you want to start with hoops, sir? Your call.
00:18Your show, your dime, my man. Whatever you want to talk about.
00:20All right, let's talk about A.J.
00:22Okay.
00:24What'd you think?
00:24You say people have to do just one thing to show you why, and I think he did exactly that.
00:30That's the second time you called that, and he stepped up and did what we expected.
00:36Yeah, I mean, he looked right at home, didn't he?
00:39I mean, he did not look like, you know, a 19-year-old rookie at all.
00:45You know, the one thing you guys see in football all the time is one thing that rookies tend to
00:51do is that they tend to play sped up.
00:54You know, everything, they tried to do everything so fast that they wound up doing nothing well, and he did
01:01not look at all sped up at all.
01:03Like, he was on point, on time.
01:07Everything that he did looked efficient.
01:10I think he was 8-12 from the floor.
01:13He was getting to his shots and to his spots.
01:15He was not rushing, and he was finishing the shots.
01:18So, I mean, everything that you want in a first game, I think he showed you, and against a pretty
01:25good team, too.
01:26Like, it wasn't, you know, they weren't playing the Bucs.
01:30You know, they were playing a really good team that made the Eastern Conference Finals.
01:33So, that was very good with a very good frontcourt, by the way.
01:38He was making shots over guys that are really good defensive players, and Allen and Evan Mobley.
01:45So, yeah, I mean, he looked really good, man.
01:48He looked really good.
01:49He made a three, you know, and, you know, certainly showed you what the fuss was all about
01:56and why people were so high on him going into the draft.
02:00Show me why we drafted you is one of your phrases, DA.
02:04That's right.
02:05He certainly did that.
02:08Do you think there's more minutes?
02:10Like, obviously, he's coming back from an injury, so probably the minutes were kept down a bit.
02:13Do you think, as a rookie, he gets into that 33, 35 minutes a game stretch and is able to
02:20contribute more?
02:23Maybe.
02:23Maybe.
02:24But, actually, I think he played 27 minutes last night.
02:27I mean, maybe you get it up to 30, but, honestly, JP, I don't know that I really want him
02:32out there more than that, right off the rip.
02:34You know, like, because, you know, you don't want to – it's not even about the injuries.
02:40It's about getting in foul trouble.
02:41You know, rookies do tend to get calls.
02:44And I thought the way – you know, he was very effective in the minutes that he played.
02:49I don't know what his plus-minus was.
02:52I think individual plus-minus is kind of wonky and not really – it's an okay stat, but it's not
02:58a great stat.
03:00I'm glad you said that because he was a minus four, and I was kind of curious.
03:03Yeah, I mean, that which isn't awful.
03:05Like, it's not terrible.
03:06It's not great, obviously, but it's not terrible.
03:09But I think – I kind of like that minutes the way it is.
03:12Keep in mind, I mean, they got a lot of guys that they need to play.
03:15I don't know that anybody on the team, you know, maybe you would say –
03:19you would say Trey Young just because he has the ball, he's the point guard,
03:23needs to play more than 30 minutes.
03:25But honestly, I don't really know that anybody else on that roster right now
03:29needs to play more than that.
03:31I mean, AD – you like having AD out on the floor, but, you know, you also have to –
03:37you want to be cognizant of his age and his history with injuries
03:40and maybe make sure he's not overtaxing himself either.
03:45You know, the strength of this team, such as it is, is the depth that it has.
03:49You know, it has just a lot of good players.
03:51And so I would – I don't mind the minutes.
03:55I really don't.
03:56If he – let's put it this way.
03:58If he proves that he deserves to play 33, 34 minutes, great.
04:03That means he's putting up really good numbers.
04:06Like, for me, AJ had a great debut, and, you know, we expect that.
04:10And I think he's going to get better as the games go on.
04:13But what does this team as a group need to do to become more effective and better?
04:19Rebound.
04:20This is real simple, guys.
04:22It's real simple.
04:24Like, you got too much size on this team.
04:26Like, you traded for – you know, Anthony Davis is 6'10".
04:30You traded for DeAndre Ayton, who's 7 feet tall.
04:33You have Alex Saru, who's 7 feet tall.
04:35AJ is 6'9".
04:37Will Riley is 6'9".
04:40Keyshawn George is 6'9".
04:41You got too much size on this team not to rebound.
04:45Like, that's just – that's not acceptable.
04:48And they are getting killed on the offensive glass.
04:52And, look, I just – I've been covering this league a long time.
04:57There's all – everybody's got a formula and a stat and a number.
05:01Rebounding is about go get the ball.
05:03That's what – that's all it is, fellas.
05:04There's no formula to it.
05:06Go get the ball.
05:08The great rebounder is Justin Champagne.
05:11He's the best rebounder on this team, and he's 6'6".
05:13Yeah.
05:13How tall was Dennis Rodman?
05:15His formula is go get the ball.
05:18You know.
05:18How tall was Dennis Rodman?
05:216'8".
05:226'8", and got more rebounds than anybody moving around.
05:25That's the point.
05:26That's the point.
05:27Yeah.
05:27And Dennis – Dennis was a savant about it.
05:30Like, he could tell when the ball went up, not only if it was going to miss, but what side
05:35it was going to bounce to.
05:36Like, that's just a gift.
05:37That's something that – most people don't have that, right?
05:41Yeah.
05:41So, he had that ability, but then he went out and still went out and did the physical work necessary
05:46to go get the basketball.
05:48And this team – again, if this was a bunch of 6'3 dudes, I'd say, all right, they have
05:53limits.
05:54They don't have limits when it comes to rebounding.
05:55Go get the basketball.
05:58And, you know, because they've lost now two games out of their three losses because they didn't rebound.
06:04And they let the other team get a bunch of offensive rebounds and second-chance points.
06:08And you don't want to be in early April, you know, three games out of the play-in spot because
06:15you gave away seven games in the first month of the season because you didn't rebound.
06:19Yeah.
06:20You know, and so that's where they have to get better, and it's a fixable problem.
06:24And, you know, the best fix is, hey, none of y'all want to rebound Felix.
06:28Come get in the game.
06:28Let's go.
06:30Go get Felix off power.
06:31Put him in the game.
06:32Yeah, he'll want to be out there.
06:33He'll just go get a rebound.
06:35Yes.
06:36Real simple.
06:38Rebound, I think they've got to shoot the three better, too, but it's still an encouraging start even at two
06:42and three and seeing DeBonce out there, seeing Anthony Davis, who looks, you know, as locked in as we could
06:48expect for a veteran in the first five games of the year.
06:51Before we switch over to football, DA, I wanted to ask you this, and you've covered the NFL on a
06:56national level.
06:57You've covered the NBA on a national level.
06:59You've been at some of the biggest games around this country, you know, Super Bowls, baseball playoffs, basketball playoffs, all
07:07of it, right?
07:08I told you you had that private jet.
07:12You're also...
07:12I don't have a private jet.
07:14I have a very understanding wife.
07:18You're also a D.C. guy, and you understand when Ovi made his debut, what it meant, when Harper, Strasburg,
07:26RG4E, Jaden, all of these players.
07:29What are you expecting for the DeBonce debut tomorrow night at Cap 1?
07:34I think it's going to be electric, you know, because as we've said many times over the years, you know,
07:40guys, I believe that this is a basketball town, first and foremost.
07:46And the passion that really comes out in this town is from people who love basketball, and they've been deprived
07:55for a long time of having somebody that's in the home uniform playing for them, that is worthy of their
08:02attention and worthy of their money and worthy of their time.
08:07And he, I think, is, he's worthy of it.
08:12I think he will be.
08:14And the opportunity to have a guy that can help you win games and win at a high level going
08:21forward, I think people understand what that means.
08:26And I think it's going to be, you know, is it going to be sold out?
08:31I don't know.
08:32I don't know.
08:32I haven't asked anybody.
08:33My guess would be it would be pretty close to sold out tomorrow night.
08:38And I think people will be excited about it because they understand that they understand the plan.
08:45And I think most fans supported the plan.
08:47I think most fans understood this is what you have to do to get a player this good, get a
08:52prospect this good at coming out of college.
08:54That's what you have to do.
08:56You know, again, I love everybody.
08:59I understand why the NBA has gotten rid of tanking because too many teams were tanking.
09:04But, again, that's how you get great players.
09:08I don't know how the Spurs got Victor Wembenyama, but I can show you the lineup they played in the
09:13last regular season game before they got Victor Wembenyama.
09:17And if they didn't call it tanking, it's probably the same.
09:20It means the same thing.
09:22And it's in my phone because I'm like, look, the Spurs are the great, you know, one of the great
09:26organizations in the history of this league, right?
09:28Like they have done it the right way with great players and great coaching and great organization.
09:34And you tell me how they got Victor Wembenyama.
09:36Tell me.
09:37Tell me how they got Stephon Castle.
09:38Tell me.
09:39How they do it?
