New Era For The Wizards | Sports Junkies

New Era For The Wizards | Sports Junkies

morning Will Good morning How we doing
hey we were just talking Will we were just talking about sleep One of us uh doesn’t sleep very well and I said “Hey how do you think Will Dawkins slept the last uh two nights?”
For some reason I feel like you sleep well
How did How did you sleep uh the first night not great because we were up all night trying to get ready for the second round But last night was a little better I’ll say that
Last night was better
What about the night before the first night yeah the night before the first round
Actually pretty good We were prepared going into this draft so we felt pretty good We were able to get some sleep that night
Hey let me let me ask you were you surprised that Trey slipped to six or did you kind of project him to be there when you guys were were selecting
um we were not certain he was going to be there So we were very fortunate when we got him for sure
And so he for sure was he I mean I know you’re not going to tell us you’re bored but I mean he was definitely one of your top targets Yes we he was one of our top targets for a lot of reason Um obviously he’s a really good player in terms of being able to move the scoreboard and shoot Um but he’s got the right work ethic and mentality So once we got him in our building and got a feel for him he was someone that was top five on our board all season long And when you fell a six you felt pretty good when you find someone that you have ranked so high Right Well I’m fascinated by when you see these guys when they’re really young I’m curious when’s the first time you laid your eyes on Trey Johnson was he 12 13 it’s not that bad Not that bad It’s getting close but um I would say probably 15 16 years old is when I I probably see them A lot of the guys when they play USAB they start playing around 16 years old when they start letting us go to Colorado Springs and see them for the first time So USAB does a really good job with the high-end prospects of giving you maximum exposure But with UIBL now we we get those opportunities to see them when they start playing 15U And I’m curious how many of those guys let’s say when you see them at 15 16 years old how many of those guys remain the top guys because I it struck me when Jay Bilis was talking about Cooper Flag that Cooper Flag has been a top prospect probably his whole life right and we started hearing about him like 3 years ago and that carries a certain pressure and he remained the top guy How often do guys stay top or is there a lot of movement or do guys come that that are kind of sleepers that might be ranked 100 and then by the time the draft comes they’re top 10 drafts how much movement is there in the kind of those last three or four years before they hit the NBA yeah there’s a lot of hope I would say Um it’s rare for someone to stay at the top of the class like that the entire time but you you typically get to see those kids and you find out that they’re NBA players It’s just on their own time Um some meet a year some need two years three years It fluctuates whether they’re top 10 but they still get drafted later So you get a feel for NBA players early USAB really does a good job ESPN and those type of outlets But for us there’s always guys that are going to pop There’s always guys that are coming on late and those stories are pretty good but um Trey is someone that has been a a highle player in this class and been able to score and shoot the ball So we’ve been seeing him do that for a while
Yeah And I think you you mentioned it that uh some of the reports were somebody out there from Texas said he’s the hardest working guy we’ve had since KD Like he’s a total gym rat And you know when when you have that kind of uh work ethic then you throw that in with talent those are the ones that become special at least have the opportunity to
Yeah You don’t carry the load in one of the better conferences that we’ve seen in a long time to be able to lead that conference in scoring during the season in conference play without working to get there Um but also staying committed to there cuz they were throwing a lot of bodies at him and he had to learn how to score in different ways with different matchups and he is someone that like Will Riley skilled wings who have a strong work ethic and passion for the game and that’s what pop when you go to their practices that’s what pop when you talk to their coaches and when you bring them in here and you talk to them like those guys are serious workers and they’re going to fit into our building pretty well
when you’re when you’re at at this stage of the process Are you looking for specific positions yet or are you still just like I just want I just see great player like good players guys we see the potential or are you just acquiring assets that you can maybe move later yeah I would say with the guys we’ve drafted I would say before this um you could tell that we’re going to find guys who we feel have a chance to be NBA players and NBA players for a long time and guys who have qualities that we feel will be able to play in NBA playoff games cuz again that’s the goal So right now we’re taking best available player who fits a play style that we want to have and I I wouldn’t see it as asset play or positional need Right now we we just want to bring a bunch of guys in that compete want to get after it and you’ll figure out positional stuff later to winning
Yeah
correct
Yeah
We don’t have that luxury yet
right i
I’m curious So you say when you see Trey when he’s a I he’s still a teenager but a younger teenager right he’s 15 or 16 he already has that smooth stroke right
and he shot almost 40% from the three-point line like you said in the toughest conference playing for Texas SEC freshman of the year a lot of times you hear about these guys and we were talking about this before the draft who don’t have that shot and don’t have that stroke and I remember as we were going through some of these players EV was saying “Well he can work on that and refine it.” How easy is that because a lot of times you’ll hear they got to work on the jumper and five years later the jumper is still not great Yeah I think it’s different for everyone Shooting when you just look at the numbers is a huge swing skill for a lot of young players if they can pick that up and become more of a threat over their career it definitely advances their projection But with Trey he does one of the hardest things in the NBA at a high level already And that’s being able to shoot not just off the catch but off the dribble And not just from three but actually like really deep behind the three-point line but also the mid-range So for him he’s someone that you’re watching in high school as a sophomore You’re watching in high school as a junior in Texas playing against some of the best competition Kase Wallace and those guys who are strapping up people in the NBA finals right now he’s scoring 40 points against in high school and you’re like “Okay this kid’s a little different.”
Wow Does he compare to Devin Booker um there’s a lot of wings I think that he has um a little pieces of but Devin Booker at Kentucky was able to score in a tough SEC conference Tab Hero was able to score a Kentucky in a tough conference like that So there’s a lot of different wings that we’ve been able to see put up points but 19 points a game almost 20 as a freshman in that conference That’s pretty impressive
Trey he seems like a good kid too Good family He good family good background Will as well We got to see their families when they came in yesterday The they’re elated as you can imagine and he has a really good and strong support system and his dad kept him in the gym all the time and he said is one of his biggest supporters but also was one of his biggest critics and was able to push him in high school and he’s like once I solidified myself he kind of backed off and let me go But those guys were asking to be in the gym already last night which is wild
Wow talking to Will Dawkins the Wizards GM I saw Chase Hughes asked Trey about something that kind of went viral Kids got no hobbies He said he’s just likes basketball He’s a pure hooper He’s like a He’s like a lot of teenagers likes to hang out and play video games and things of that nature but he’s singularly focused on basketball Um it was we had him over for dinner and we’re talking to him and it’s me Coach Kee I think Amber Nichols We’re talking about a play that happened in one of the misses games It was a DHO where the player went under the screen and then came back around to isolate on the other side and he we were saying it out loud and he said “Yeah I’ve seen that a couple times in some other WNBA games They’re starting to do that.” And that’s when you realize that this dude like he gets it He really loves basketball He watches it and studies it and that was kind of one of those things where like okay the IQ is there but the passion to get better and watch all types of basketball like he’s a true hooper
So the Washington Post had an article about your meeting with him where you guys showed him plays off Can you take us inside that meeting um yeah I told him he’s got to stop sharing house secrets like that Um but when guys come in we try to make sure that they know exactly who we are so we can learn who they are And with that we go through um and they spend time with everybody in the organization from our player pathways and enrichment teams all the way to our analytic teams and they do film sessions with the coaches but also spend some time with myself and Travis and Amber in the front office and we watch film with them And it’s like hey this is what we’ve seen this is what we like These are the real question marks we have Sometimes you can’t tell whose fault it is what the assignments what’s being asked So we just got to figure it out And it’s really just learning how they are willing to take accountability Um how much humility they have and how much they’re willing to push and work on those things And I’d say we’ve had similar conversations with a lot of our players and the way he was able to show us how he learned and show us the things he saw and I think it motivated him the next day to kind of fight in some of those areas and I like how he accepted the challenge I would say that
Um Will so let’s talk about your second first round pick and and when Walter Clayton Jr was drafted Obviously he was drafted for for another team but for New Orleans or I’m sorry for Utah
but um we were kind of projecting who you guys might be looking at later in that second uh first round pick And we thought yeah maybe an older player um a veteran that can kind of come in or a a kid who played four or five years in college that had more experience And Clayton I actually loved Walter Clayton Jr I mean he was a really good story went to Iona then of course transferred to Florida and won a national championship and he was unbelievable in the tournament Uh but you decided you wanted to go young again and get Will Riley So you you you um bypass Clayton let him go to Utah Uh talk to us about why why you decided to to go with another really young player Yeah I would say during the draft you have a lot of deals that are coming your way Um there’s a lot of people on the phones and Will was someone that we had ranked pretty high on our board and when we were able to I know you talked about doing the deal with Utah Being able to pick up a second round pick to get back into the draft after the day before us doing a deal that got us off of the 40th pick was important to us We also picked up two additional assets in the future in the second round as well and we still got the player we wanted So for us strategically that’s why you saw us do those things And again we’re not necessarily just drafting young players We just happen to find the guys that make the most sense for our organization And with Will he is someone again who I thought finished the season really strong and started to show the player that he was when previously before he went to Illinois they had a lot of ball handlers And when he was at UIBL playing with you play in team Canada he was a scorer He was a facilitator And he’s someone who we think has a lot more potential to kind of grow and show those areas And physically he’s undergoing a big growth spurt the last few years and we think he’s still growing So he’s someone that has the versatility has the size has the scoring ability and he fits very very well and with all of our wings that we currently have So we’re excited to have him
All right talk about uh Watkins just quickly Is he somebody that you could see helping you in in the first year is he more going to be like a G-League guy or what’s the plan with him yeah I think he’ll be around Um he’ll get his opportunity to compete and and be on the team I would think what you guys were saying just before that in terms of age he does bring that maturity right he does bring a physicality Um he’s one of the strongest most physical players that we were watching in the Power Five conferences And when you went and saw him compete at the combine I always like guys who play when they get to the combine And he was physical He was getting steals He was on the rim He’s someone that improved as a a shooter But he’s all business as well um he’s going to get out there and defend first and make sure people feel him on the court And I think that’s something that we wanted to add when you saw some of the other moves that we made last week
All right Well well enjoy your summer now here I guess you’ll be going to Vegas for summer league
Uh we’ll be meeting here in a little bit on free agency and prepping for that right before we head out to summer league So on to the next
All right
On to the next Thank you Will We appreciate it
Good job All right Thank you All right Appreciate it buddy It’s Will Dawkins the Wizards GM

Will Dawkins joins The Sports Junkies to break down the Washington Wizards rebuild.

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