- 12 minutes ago
The Wizards might finally have their future franchise superstar, but Justin Termine breaks down why one massive roster flaw threatens to derail everything.
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00:00So what are your early impressions on the Wizards in the A.J. DeBonsa era?
00:05They're off to a 4-4 start.
00:07They take one on the chin last night, 120-105.
00:11They couldn't stop the Hawks' three-point shooting barrage.
00:14What are your takeaways on DeBonsa and the Wizards as a whole through eight games?
00:19I mean, really, you'd have a reason to probably be excited for the first time in, I don't know,
00:2420, 30 years about the fact that you have a guy maybe you could build a franchise around.
00:29And you look at, you know, clearly it's only been four games,
00:32but you look at this rookie class as a whole, if he ends up being the best in this rookie
00:36class,
00:36that's going to mean he needs to be really good, right?
00:39And that's the anticipation because he got drafted first overall
00:41because this class has just been absolutely, absolutely fantastic.
00:46So from him individually, I mean, I'd love the start so far.
00:50The outside shot needs a little bit of work, but he looks fantastic.
00:54It looks like he can defend.
00:55He's obviously got size.
00:57And, you know, I think that the records shouldn't matter this much this year.
01:02It's nice, I guess, if you win, if you sneak into the play-in,
01:06but it's all about his development.
01:08Justin, love listening to your show.
01:10Love you going at it with Eddie.
01:11I'm wondering what your take is on AD in particular.
01:15He's played in every game so far this season,
01:17but some of us don't have faith that that's going to hold up.
01:20Yeah, I mean, I guess that's sad that that's the first thing that pops up
01:24is we're eight, nine games into the year.
01:26I guess it's eight games into the year.
01:28And the first thing that, you know, you say is that he's played every game.
01:31Now, he's played every game well as well, right?
01:33He's had over 23 points, nine rebounds defensively.
01:36When he's out there, he's one of the best defensive players in the sport.
01:40So, again, like what he does isn't so much important to what DeBonta does
01:45unless you're just trying to get his trade value up,
01:47which is what I personally still think they should do with him,
01:51even if he does play great and they do make a play at the push or a push to the
01:56play.
01:56And I still think like, hey, that's secondary to getting some pieces back in return for him
02:01that you can build around DeBonta with.
02:03What do you think you could get for AD at this point?
02:06I really don't know just because of what we saw happen in the offseason with Golden State, right,
02:12where they didn't appear willing to budge on anything.
02:14And then you look at like what Jalen Brown went for.
02:17I think Anthony Davis is a better player than Jalen Brown.
02:20But one of Jalen Brown's gifts, I guess, is that he's durable.
02:23But Jalen didn't get anything, right?
02:26And then with Anthony Davis, you're going to have to pay him a max deal,
02:29most likely, or something close to it.
02:32And in this day and age where like that's probably saved for maybe like the 10 best players in the
02:38sport
02:38because of the second apron, I'm not sure that there's many teams willing to do it.
02:43So it's not the same you would have got for him, say, five years ago with a similar contract.
02:48You know, so I honestly, I don't know what you could get for him.
02:52So I was looking at your partner's career numbers and Eddie Johnson,
02:56I remember him being a good scorer for the Phoenix Suns for years.
02:58He averaged right around 17, 18 points a game.
03:01What are you guys talking about when you're seeing Luca put up 38 nightly?
03:07Well, I mean, just on how it's something we haven't seen before.
03:10I mean, it's crazy that every single night it's like, I think it's five of the last six games,
03:15he's put up at least 40 points.
03:18And you just don't know it.
03:20Like you should lead the show off with that every single day.
03:23But you can't lead the show with it off every single day.
03:26So you get a little bit numb to it.
03:29And, you know, I'm not even sure that, like, I'm a big Jokic guy.
03:33I still think what we've seen from Jokic the last several years is more even insane from an offensive perspective.
03:38But he keeps putting up numbers like this over the course of the entire season.
03:42This might be the greatest offensive season we've ever seen.
03:45Hey, Justin, getting back to the Wizards.
03:48And last night they played the Hawks.
03:50And the Hawks made 19 threes.
03:52The Wiz made six.
03:54All right.
03:54Now, the Wiz didn't take as many of the Hawks as the Hawks.
03:57The Hawks are a good scoring team.
03:59The Wizards right now are second to last in the league in three-point attempts per game.
04:05I think only New Orleans is below them.
04:07In terms of three-point attempts against them, they're also third worst in the league.
04:13Forty-two and a half threes are being taken against them each game.
04:17So, I mean, that's a huge difference.
04:20It really is.
04:21When you're next to last in three-pointers made and then you're third bottom in terms of three-point attempts
04:28per game against you.
04:30And last night, that's what you saw.
04:31I mean, 19 to 6, you're just not going to win those games.
04:34So, you know, and I don't, if you look at their roster, they don't have a ton of guys that
04:39are going to be consistent in making threes.
04:42They've got a bunch of power forward, long athletic power forward.
04:45So, what can they do to change that?
04:48Because defensively, they've been pretty good.
04:50But you know how the NBA is now.
04:52I mean, you've just got to take threes and you've got to make them.
04:53And that's where the scoring is.
04:55You've got to outscore teams for the most part.
04:56So, what can they do?
04:57When you and Eddie talk about that, what can they do?
05:00Yeah, I mean, that's one of the first things that you'll look at is three-point differential.
05:03Because today's game, like, you need to be able to shoot them.
05:07And not only are they not shooting them, they're not making them.
05:09They're somewhere around 29%.
05:11Unfortunately, I think you answered your own question.
05:13When you said you look up and down the roster and you just don't see the names.
05:17Anthony Davis, really good player.
05:19Not a great three-point shooter.
05:20DeBonta, really good player at this point.
05:22Not a great three-point shooter.
05:24Hopefully that changes down the road.
05:26Alex Sar, really good player.
05:27Not a three-point shooter.
05:28And then Trae Young probably has this reputation as a three-point shooter.
05:32But you look at his career, and that's why the Steph Curry comparisons never made sense.
05:36He's just not efficient.
05:37He's actually a below-average three-point shooter that has a reputation like he's a good three-point shooter.
05:43So, I'm not even sure that you have one on the entire roster here that I would trust from deep.
05:49And, you know, other teams have the specialists.
05:51They like the Duncan Robinson that Detroit has.
05:54I'm here in Boston.
05:55They have a million of them here in Boston, right?
05:58Sam Pritchard off the bench.
05:59It's Peyton Pritchard.
06:01Sam Houser of Peyton Pritchard.
06:03So, I just don't think you have the personnel.
06:05And, unfortunately, this day and age, you can't win if you don't have three-point shooter.
06:10Yeah, Keyshawn George is, I think, Keyshawn George might be their best three-point shooter right now.
06:16Yeah, I mean, that's the name that would jump out if I'm thinking about Boston.
06:19I mean, Trey Johnson will be when it's all said and done.
06:21But just Trey's just not going to get the minutes that Keyshawn's going to get.
06:23Yeah, they don't have the volume of shooters.
06:26That's what it is.
06:26That's what they're going to need.
06:27Yeah.
06:28And they've got to play the Hawks tomorrow night down in Atlanta.
06:31And, you know, Atlanta's pretty good against the three, and they make three, so it's going to be tough.
06:37Man, there's just some crazy scoring going on in the league.
06:40How about what Wemby did last night?
06:43Right, 52, 24, and 8.
06:46I believe he's the second player ever.
06:49Bob McAdoo had 50, 20, and at least five blocks in a game.
06:53I think those are the only two players to ever do it.
06:55It looked like nerf hoops for him last night.
06:58Yeah, I mean, so I would say, like, Wilt probably did that at some point in his career as well.
07:04We just didn't track it.
07:05And those are, like, and I guess you have to say Bob McAdoo is capable of doing it,
07:09because he did it, but on, you know, NBA history, how many guys you even think are capable of doing
07:15it?
07:15I guess you have to say Bob McAdoo.
07:17Then you would say Wilt, and then you would say Wemby.
07:19Wemby, certainly there's nobody right now that's capable of doing that.
07:23You know, Jokic can give you the 50 points.
07:25He can give you the 24 rebounds.
07:27He's not going to give you the eight blocks.
07:28We all know that.
07:29He might give you that in a month and a half.
07:32So, you know, it's just, and then the performance that he did, like, the player he did it against made
07:37it impressive.
07:38Because, you know, he, like, hears all this talk of, hey, for the future, it's Wemby Niyama,
07:42and the next guy is Cooper Flagg, and then, you know, whoever's next.
07:46But those are the two guys you would build the franchise around.
07:48And he goes out in a game against Cooper Flagg, and he has, you know, arguably the best stat line
07:53of his career thus far.
07:55And he's had some really crooked stat lines.
07:57So it's just impressive that he stepped up in a game where you knew that that conversation was being had.
08:02The only concerning part, I would say, for San Antonio is he does that against a very blah Dallas team,
08:09like a good Dallas team, but not great.
08:12Cooper Flagg starts out 1 of 11.
08:14You're at home, and you still only win by one point.
08:17Like, how do you only win a game by one point where Wemby goes off for 52-24 in eight
08:22blocks?
08:23I'm joined by Justin Termini, hosts NBA Today.
08:26You can listen to it on Sirius XM NBA Radio.
08:29You know, San Antonio, OKC were kind of the favorites going in 1-2,
08:33but it's been a fun start to the season, particularly in the Western Conference.
08:37Give me a read on Portland.
08:39Are they legit?
08:40And then why are the Rockets seemingly so much better this year than they were last year,
08:44and they weren't bad last year?
08:46Yeah, I mean, the Rockets are a lot better just because their offense now is a point guard.
08:49And Fred Van Vliet, and now we're talking about it coming off a game in which they kind of collapsed
08:55down the stretch against Minnesota, and Durant only got two shots in the fourth quarter,
08:59even though the game was close.
09:00So, like, that kind of looked like their offense from a year ago.
09:04But if you take away last night's game against Minnesota and just look at what they've been like as a
09:08whole,
09:08I think they entered last night as the best offense of the entire NBA.
09:12And the reason is because Van Vliet makes all those pieces work with Durant and Shen Goon,
09:18where they don't have to initiate the offense.
09:20And then, you know, they do have great defensive personnel on that team,
09:24but the Ben Thompson, they just brought in Marcus Smart as well.
09:28So that's why I think they've made the big jump.
09:31Portland I was wrong on because I loved them in the offseason,
09:33but then I didn't like the additions of Damian Lothar and John Morant
09:36because I thought that was going to kind of mess with what they had last year.
09:39I felt like they should start Drew Holiday next to Damian Lothar.
09:42But even prior to the Morant injury, they looked good with that backcourt
09:48that I thought would be horrific defensively.
09:50And they've looked good since the Morant injury, and they're just well-balanced.
09:54They're top ten both offense and defense.
09:56Denny Obdi, to me, is a true star.
09:58And then you've got, like, Tumani Kamara is a great defender.
10:03Donovan Klingin is a great defender.
10:05Drew Holiday, a great defender off the bench.
10:07And then I didn't anticipate Damian Lothar looking like he did pre-injury,
10:11which is what he's looked like so far.
10:13I mean, he hasn't had the burst.
10:14He hasn't got to the paint, but he's knocking down threes at alarming rates.
10:18So, yeah, I mean, they have the names.
10:21It's just about Mike and Norrie putting him in position to succeed.
10:24So far, he's done it.
10:25Justin of the Hornets going to be able to survive through this con-knipple injury.
10:30Exited last night's game just six minutes into his debut with leg soreness.
10:34How do you see this panning out?
10:37Yeah, I don't see it panning out well because, like we anticipated,
10:40they're going to take a little bit of a step back without a metal ball anyway.
10:43They've been 30th in offense, and not only have they stunk,
10:46they haven't been fun to watch.
10:47You're asking Brandon Miller to carry too much.
10:50And then you've got a little bit energetic with Kahn coming back to, again,
10:53just an anemic offense.
10:55They're the worst offense in the NBA.
10:56So you figure, oh, you bring in a guy that hit 225 threes last year
11:01and all of a sudden he re-injures the hamstring.
11:03And once you hurt that hamstring a second time,
11:06you really have to be careful that it doesn't become a long-term thing.
11:09So I could see him missing three months with him trying to be careful this time around
11:13because we've seen Aaron Gordon.
11:15Aaron Gordon still can't get that thing healthy for Denver.
11:18Jalen Williams had all sorts of issues last year.
11:21You don't want it to be something that plagues him for the rest of the year
11:24or, God forbid, the rest of his career.
11:26So I think he's going to miss a significant amount of time.
11:29And if he does, this team's just not going to be able to score.
11:32Justin, you mentioned the rookies.
11:34And last night, for the most part, the rookies looked like rookies.
11:38Now, this is probably the first night that this happened.
11:40But there was a couple of rookies that played well.
11:42Fleming's played well for Atlanta.
11:44Brown played pretty well off the bench.
11:46They get 19 for Brooklyn.
11:47But the top rookies all looked like rookies.
11:50But that was kind of the first night where all the top picks didn't play well,
11:55which we already talked about the Bonsa,
11:57but which rookies have you been really impressed with?
12:00I mean, I would say the two that stuck out the most are Yaxel out in Golden State,
12:05who might have saved the Steph career because it was looking bleak out there.
12:10And all of a sudden, he steps in, and he's re-energized the organization.
12:14You know, he's 24 years of age, so he's a little bit older.
12:17But you could tell that he's going to have a great career.
12:19I mean, it looks like he's a borderline all-star right now.
12:22He can score.
12:23He can run the offense.
12:24He's a big guy.
12:25He can rebound.
12:26And then the other one is Cam Boozer down in Memphis,
12:30who I thought would be the rookie of the year at the outset of the season.
12:33And the reason that I say him is, you know, listen,
12:37his field goal percentage hasn't been great as of right now.
12:40And they lost their last two games, but they started out 6-0,
12:43so he can play winning basketball already.
12:45And he's got a little bit of Jokic in him where, again, a big guy,
12:49can run the offense, very good passer, makes his teammates better,
12:52is consistent night after night, can give you a triple-double.
12:55So those are the two I like thus far.
12:58Yeah, that's fair.
12:59Probably agree with you on that one.
13:01Kind of surprised Darren Peterson hasn't had that kind of breakout game.
13:05He had a couple games where he had 17 or 18,
13:07but he's averaging 13 through, I don't know, seven or eight games.
13:11Field goal percentage is 36%, not shooting the three great,
13:17not really getting to the line.
13:18You're kind of surprised by that?
13:21Who's that with?
13:22Peterson.
13:23Yeah, Peterson's been actually the most disappointing one to me,
13:26if you're looking at all the top picks.
13:28I mean, DeBonce, it's still too early to tell.
13:30He scored nicely outside of last night, but you can tell he can play.
13:35Again, it's only four games for him.
13:37And, you know, Boozer's been great.
13:39Caleb Wilson.
13:41Wilson, I saw in person a couple of times.
13:43Chicago's an absolute mess, but he looks really good.
13:46I would say Wogler hasn't been great in the top five.
13:48So in regards to the top five picks, it's Wogler and it's Peterson
13:52who have not been off here to the best starts.
13:55Justin, thanks a lot for the time, man.
13:57We really appreciate it.
13:58We'll have you on again soon.
13:59Good stuff.