Analyzing the Wizards’ 2025 NBA Draft Class | Monumental Sports Network

Analyzing the Wizards’ 2025 NBA Draft Class | Monumental Sports Network

all right Bejon the 2025 NBA draft is in the books and now that we’ve caught up on some much needed sleep I have to say for myself uh it’s time to break down what the Wizards accomplished and they made three picks and two trades across two nights which means they were technically on the clock five different times and correct me if I’m wrong but I believe ESPN went to commercial every single time they were on the clock which was hilarious as it continued but also I feel like it’s worth noting literally the best pick in NBA history Nicole Joic in 2014 he was drafted during a Queserito commercial by Taco Bell 41st overall went on to win three MVPs of course a championship so I’m going to go ahead and say it was a good sign
dude I live on US Street and there’s a Taco Bell Cantina like 50 paces that way and you’re putting me in the mood for Taco Bell right now i think the I think the NBA and ESPN want the Wizards to draft the next Nicole so maybe that happened last night or the night before i think it’s good news
or maybe they found some inefficiency with the with the draft and that’s why they made those trades they were like “Hey man we got a commercial break coming up a few picks later let’s go from 18 to 21 and make sure we hit the sweet spot.” All right quick rundown of their picks sixth overall Trey Johnson a guard from Texas 21st overall Will Riley a wing from Illinois 43rd in the second round jamir Watkins a wing from Florida State so with their picks the Wizards got one of the best shooters in the draft a big wing with a great motor long-term upside play I believe and then after taking two one and dones they go for a guy who went to school for 5 years he’s 23 going on 24 is a physical defender with a plus wingspan so what were your thoughts on their overall direction in the draft so the fact of the matter Chase is that the Wizards finished dead last in the NBA in offensive rating last year which I think explains both of their first round picks Trey Johnson and Will Riley trey Johnson is a bucket scored 40% of his threes this past year three-level scorer led the SEC in scoring as an 18-year-old freshman that is insane i’ve always had him as number three on my big board and he is a scorer so that not remedies that situation in scoring but it definitely gives them an upper hand going into next year also with Will Riley he does everything on offense at least somewhat well he can pass he can dribble he can shoot he’s really good at attacking he’s got a relentless motor his finishing is also pretty decent i would like to see a little bit more defense from him but Will Dawkins did tell us two nights ago that he thinks that Will Riley is an underrated defender so we’ll see where that goes and then with Jamir Watkins in the second round that’s a guy who they can sort of take a flyer on right he showed a lot of defensive upside at Florida State this past year you mentioned he’s been at school for 5 years he also went to VCU so he is an older guy he’s older than Bub Carrington Keshan George all those guys but he has that defensive upside he can get his hands in passing lanes he also scored over 18 points a game in just 30 minutes a game this past year which is really good offensive production so I think they kind of hit a bunch of different things with what they did with their three picks this year what do you think yeah offense was really important i think that’s an important point because the first two years Bal Kulali Alexar those guys were defensive picks and Will Dawkins has said that on the record right so they added more offense and the more I think about it now that the dust is settled I think Trey Johnson might be the best offensive prospect they’ve drafted in quite some time maybe since Bradley Beiel like they’ve drafted some talented offensive players like Denny Abdia Rui Hachimura Bub Carrington um you know Alex Sar Bal Kulabali those guys might prove to be really talented offensive players long term but in terms of a prospect he checks off so many boxes especially as a shooter and then I find it really interesting that they spent one of their picks on a non oneandone it was a second round pick so expectations need to be commensurate for that but just to put it into perspective Jir Watkins is about 5 years older than both Bal Kulibali and Bub Carrington were on draft night and if they do hit on it it could be interesting for the timeline because two seasons from now if you’re trying to compete for the playing tournament or the postseason you know maybe you’re ready to go on a deep playoff run he might be up to speed by then because he’s a more experienced player so let’s go one by one through the picks trey Johnson he’s about 6’5 without shoes so about 6’6 on the court 610 wingspan so he’s got the length 37 1/2 in vertical leap he averaged 19.9 points and zero hobbies last year at Texas i don’t know if you’ve seen the video that has since gone viral but right after they drafted him
it was my video is my interview I had with him at the combine so if you haven’t seen it yet it’s gone essentially platinum on social media right now so here it is here’s what he said
i saw an interview where you said you kind of don’t have many offc court hobbies you’re just like all hoop is that legit can you kind of expand on that
no it’s really that’s really what it is though there’s not much to explain it’s everything I’m doing is basketball related unless I’m I just got a book so I’m trying to expand a little bit into reading but uh everything is basketball related unless I’m either listening to music on the phone with friends sleep and that’s probably about it
what do you All right Bjan before we talk about Trey Johnson the player just what are your thoughts on that this is a pretty serious hooper isn’t he
i love Trey Johnson you know that he’s my guy he’s been my guy since like November and when we talked to him or when you talked to him I should say at the combine I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to talk to him uh it kind of just solidified all of my thoughts about him like this guy lives in the gym he literally doesn’t do anything else other than think breathe eat sleep basketball which I love and it translates to the court right he is insanely good on offense i love Trey Johnson and the fact that he doesn’t have any hobbies I think is good because I think he’ll it’ll lend itself to more competitiveness in the Wizards locker room and that’s something that Will Dawkins talked about this week as well same thing with Will Riley really competitive guy he’s going to get into the locker room and force the guys to compete a little bit harder but when you talk to him Chase at the combine when he was saying this stuff about not having any hobbies did it kind of like set off a neon light in your head like this guy would be great to have in a locker room
yeah i mean they want guys who love basketball right and I think at this point there’s no question that that’s an accurate description of Trey Johnson hopefully he can find a little work life balance i think that’s always good for everybody but um you know the numbers bear it out this guy’s obviously very serious about his craft he is about as complete a shooter as you can find in the draft so he shot 39.5% uh from NBA three-point range right he was at 39.7% overall about 40% from NBA three-point range that’s an adjustment for a lot of young players but he already can knock down shots from that deep and you know I think that’s a great sign for how his shooting could translate to the next level early on and that was on 200 attempts so it was not a small sample size he shot about 55% on corner threes about 39% on threes in half court sets and about 44% on threes in transition so he’s elite across the board i think the half court numbers are important but this is a team that likes to play fast right and if he is really good at you know running on the move getting a jump stop knocking down a three that’s going to bode really well because that’s the way the Wizards want to play and we as we saw with the Thunder and the Pacers in the finals that’s a very effective way to play especially if you’re a young team he’s also great at moving off the ball i think that jumps out when you watch his film i’ve compared him to Devin Booker that’s a guy who he has really modeled his game after admittedly but Richard Hamilton might be another comp going back a little bit further a guy who was actually drafted by the Wizards um has a similar frame really good shooter won a championship with the Pistons unfortunately it didn’t happen here they traded him too early um maybe I’ll have to see Trey Johnson wear a mask to really prove if it’s a great comparison he’s got to have some aura right cuz you have like jersey biting Kobe you got mass LeBron mask Hamilton he’s got to have one of those things
let’s talk about Will Riley he’s about 68 and a half without shoes 69 wingspan 32 inch vertical leap at the combine he averaged 12.6 points four rebounds two assists last year shot 43% from the field at about 33% from three what do you think about Will Riley
so Will Riley’s interesting because he did most of his production for Illinois this year off the bench which I think is very important when you think about his numbers and what he brings to a team and one thing that was interesting I believe our own Chris Miller tweeted this uh he was talking to um someone who works at the University of Illinois either an assistant coach or a trainer
now he was talking to Brad Underwood i ended up writing the story chris sent me the audio so Brad Underwood is the head coach of the University of Illinois
yeah so go everybody go read Chase’s story shameless plug by you I have to say but it’s a good point
there more on the way you just wait
well all right so everybody go to monumentalportsnetwork.com but Chris Miller said that Brad Underwood told him that the Wizards had more people tapped in for longer to Illinois in terms of a scouting perspective than any other team he had ever seen so the Wizards really really really were tapped into Illinois and they really wanted to see not only Will Riley but Kasparakonis who has ended up going to the Miami Heat if you have a player who can do a little bit of everything on offense you’ll be fine and if if he can have that production coming off the bench which will be his role in the NBA I think it’s a good omen for any team he’s a good finisher and again I I mentioned his uh his motor he’s an attacker he can get downhill he can get to his spots he can get past his first man the only problem is I want to see him finishing consistently his finishing package is good it’s just a little bit up and down i want to see him have a little bit more vertical athleticism get and finish tougher at the rim but overall I thought the pick made sense for the Wizards and it’s okay to draft a guy who’s going to come off the bench at 21 overall what are your thoughts
yeah I think he’s a classic project who could prove to be a diamond in the rough this was a big-time recruit coming out of high school and if he went back to school for his sophomore year he might be a top 10 pick a year from now right so the Wizards are taking a long view with this high motor as you mentioned six man of the year in the Big 10 and Brad Underwood that’s not all that he said he also told Chris Miller that he is the second most talented offensive player he’s ever coached okay and that’s only to Michael Beasley and Brad Underwood was an assistant coach at Kansas State when Michael Beasley played there didn’t work out in the NBA but was a tremendous college player and you mentioned Kasparus Yakonis is on the same team and was considered one of the best playmakers in this draft so I think it’s really high praise when you consider that contrast so Jir Watkins 6’5 without shoes 6’11 wingspan that’s a plus 6 in wingspan that’s unusual averaged 18.4 points 5.7 rebounds about a steal a game last year he’s going to need to improve his shooting about 43% from the field 32% from three started his college career at BCU before transferring to Florida State and if you know college basketball you know that means he plays physical defense because you can’t play at those schools unless you do that what are your thoughts on Jamir Watkins
a defensive guy and I think they went with defense in the second round because they needed offense in the first round i thought the pick made sense here as well i mean number 43 was almost exactly the pick that they had before they had 40 and now they had 43 so they went ahead and took Jir Watkins one thing that stood out to me when talking to Will Dawkins last night about Watkins was he said Jir Watkins was in the 99th percentile in getting to the free throw line and I said that and I was like he said that I was like “Huh I wonder what that what that’s all about.” Go to see Jir Watkins stats he went to the free throw line almost eight times a game for Florida State this past year which is kind of insane considering he only played 30 minutes and he wasn’t a ball dominant guard he was a forward he did handle the ball a lot but getting to the line eight times a game is pretty insane and that speaks to his physicality and his aggressiveness on offense his production again is good 30 minutes a game over 18 points a game good rebounder he can get his hands in passing lanes he’s a tough physical defender his offense is better than people think i mean I know his three-point shooting percentage has kind of hovered around the low30s low to mid-30s his entire career but that’s okay again he’s going to be coming off the bench for the Wizards anyway i’m looking forward to seeing him in summer league actually because Chase when you and I were at the combine we were watching these scrimmages on the last day and I’ll be honest I was not paying attention to Jir Watkins as much as I was paying attention to a lot of other guys on the floor but Jir Watkins made a lot of really good plays in that scrimmage i remember he had a steal and a buzzer beating like 35 foot three at the end of the second quarter or something and he was physical and he was like dogging guys at half court on defense so I think the pick made sense but what did you think
yeah so first of all we were at the combine remember I said pay attention to these scrimmages because you never know it was a couple years ago that Tristan Vuchic actually stood out in those scrimmages the Wizards ended up taking him in the second round so that’s two out of three years they’ve taken a standout from those scrimmages he’s going to need to improve his shooting and I think what will be interesting is that he is a little bit older so you know the trajectory might be a little different banking on a guy who’s 23 going on 24 to improve his outside shot as opposed to an 18-year-old however Will Dawkins did mention that he was 36% on catch and shoot threes over the past two seasons that’s pretty good like if you can get that number up a little bit or even if that number just translates to the next level he can be pretty effective you mentioned the free throw rate that is a big deal it’s not only his physical play it’s his ability to get to the basket and to put himself in situations to draw free throws um obviously there’s been a big conversation about free throw merchants well there is a skill to drawing free throws and generating free throws
ethically if you can do it ethically
yeah if you can do it ethically and it’s it’s better when it’s your team doing it and not another team right um so we’ll see what kind of tricks of the trade he has in that regard and as you mentioned it’ll start in summer league which we’re going to talk about in a second here but first of all Trey Johnson second in betting odds to win rookie of the year behind only Cooper Flag i get it
what is his path to rookie of the year
i understand the odds i understand why he’s second favorite because in terms of situation in my in my mind Trey Johnson got drafted to the best situation possible because he’s going to have runway right the Wizards are already making moves to sort of shake up their back court and give younger guys more of an opportunity to handle the ball cooper Flag makes sense to be the betting favorite right he was like this generational prospect he’s going to Dallas he’s going to have the ball in his hands i get it
he He’s dominated every level so like until that stops
Absolutely that makes sense and then but then you got guys like Dylan Harper who’s going to a San Antonio team that has already have you know Chris Paul De’aran Fox Stefan Castle like him having the ball in his hands is going to be harder to come by than with Trey Johnson so if you get a guy who already showed that he can put the ball in the hoop easily in a conference as tough as the SEC going to a team in the NBA where the coaching staff and the general management will say “Give this guy the ball trey go take the ball go score three levels go shoot 40% from three like you already did.” It doesn’t shock me and honestly Chase you know I mean I’ve said this for a long time but Trey Johnson’s ability to score is why he should have been the third overall pick in this draft for a very long time
yeah it’s not surprising at all because of the situation as you mentioned and this is an offensive award 20 of the last 22 rookies of the year in the NBA have averaged at least 15 points per game and one of those exceptions was Stefon Castle last year who averaged 14.7 points per game so it usually goes to the guy who scores the best and Trey Johnson we know he’s a great shooter we know he’s a great scorer and he’s going to a team that’s probably going to give him a lot of minutes and a lot of shots so I think his MO is probably going to fit right in with his role and the door is going to be open I think not only for him but honestly a lot of young players to take a step forward and and really take it when it comes to becoming one of the primary scoring options on this team i’m guessing Bub Carrington scoring average is going to go up i’m guessing that could happen for Bal Kabali Alex Sar maybe Keshan George and Trey Johnson is included in that mix um let’s do a quick look ahead to summer league which I’m always excited about but I’m particularly excited about it this year because I think we’re going to see some of if not all of the rookies last year play in Vegas it might not be for too many games but this is something that the franchise has not done in the past cory Kispert did not come back for summer league a second year after his rookie season when he could have right the front office chose not to send him out there and it takes me back to Will Dawkins’s introductory press conference cuz it was right around summer league and and I asked him after the press conference i was like “Are you going to carry over Oklahoma City’s philosophy on the summer league?” And he said “Yes they are.” And basically what the Thunder do is no matter how good you are you got to go out for a second summer league and they’ve done that for a long time and the reason why they do it is because like Kevin Durant James Harden Russell Westbrook those guys played multiple years in the summer league and so they always had that in their back pocket they could say to a young player well like they did it why can’t you you know what’s your excuse and when it comes to the Thunder doing it I’m sort of a summer league junkie and I’ve watched it for many years i’ve gone to it for like five straight years some of the most talented summer league teams I’ve ever seen were the Oklahoma City Thunder two or three years ago you know they had Jaylen Williams and Chet Homegrren and Josh Giddy at the time and I think it was a pretty decent precursor of what was to come they just won a championship with two of those three guys and sometimes we make too much of summer league right but I think when a team looks good and they’ve got a lot of young players performing well it’s a good indication of future success because it’s a good read on how much young talent a team has both in terms of quantity and quality so I think that’s something to keep in mind and by the way he said Bob Carrington looks great behind closed doors the Wizards had their young players returned to the facility on May 6th
so they’ve been in there for a while so I think this is sort of a midway point of the offseason maybe they only play one game guys like Alexar and Bub Carrington but it’s going to be a valuable glimpse at I think what to expect from them next season honestly I think the Wizards are going to put out a summer league team that is as similar to their regular season roster and their regular season depth chart as any team in the NBA because they’re already the youngest team in the league right and you have all these rookies all these guys going into their second year third year who need development because they’re going to be having the ball in their hands a lot more like B the amount that uh uh the amount of playing time this year that Bub Carrington is going to have the ball in his hands and lead the offense is probably going to be double triple what it was last year right so if you have that dynamic in play you’re going to need to have these guys out there now Bub Carrington Alex Sar they might not play every summer league game but they’ll play two they’ll play two and a half summer league games right and so if that happens I think the Wizards are going to have a really good chance of actually going far in the summer league and it’s good for the younger not the younger guys cuz they’re all young they’re all younger than us by a lot but the guys who just got to the team Jir Watkins Trey Johnson Will Riley it’s going to be good for them to be playing alongside guys who are young just like them stepping into a new role just like they are and it’s still needing to develop and I think it’ll be good it’ll lend itself to a lot more production on the floor and it can also lend itself to more chemistry because how often in the NBA do you have players who play in the summer league and then play with a completely different roster once they actually get to the regular season that happens the vast majority of the time and so for this summer league team if you have players playing with each other in Vegas who are going to play with the exact same lineup in November in Dallas that’s a really good dynamic
well it’s not just November and this season you know who knows what the Wizards are going to be competing for 2 3 years from now but the core of that team might be on display in Las Vegas maybe just for one game again but like the back court of Bub Carrington and Trey Johnson like them developing chemistry on the court in actual games is going to start in Las Vegas and all of those games by the way are going to be on Monumental Sports Network and the Monumental Plus app so make sure you download that make sure you subscribe to our Monumental Sports Network YouTube page you’re not going to want to miss the Summer League this year again I’m a summer league sicko i’m a summer league junkie but like this year is going to be extra special i guarantee it so you and I are expecting to both be in Las Vegas there should be a rookie camp before that plenty of coverage this off season heading your way Wizards fans so again make sure you subscribe to our Monumental Plus app subscribe to our YouTube page and we’ll see what’s in store with this young Wizards team

Chase Hughes and Bijan Todd break down each prospect the Washington Wizards selected in the 2025 NBA Draft, highlighted by Texas guard Tre Johnson and Illinois wing Will Riley.

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Analyzing the Wizards’ 2025 NBA Draft Class | Monumental Sports Network