Do The Wizards Have Any Future Supermax Players?

Do The Wizards Have Any Future Supermax Players?

This is a great topic, Ben. You get credit for the topic uh because you did it on lockdown wizards and I think this is really fun. Which Washington wizard is most likely as we sit here and see Shay Gil just Alexander getting the super max and a bunch of other Max players around. Um, which Washington Wizard is most likely to be a future Super Max player? I think it’s really fun. I’ve got two guys that come to mind. I think it’s worth probably on the front end here saying, how do you qualify for the supermax? Because that also will help shape this. So, the supermax is this very specific thing that uh the NBA implemented a couple years ago that says to qualify for a supermax, the player typically needs to have seven or eight years of NBA experience uh on the team that drafted them. So, you can’t have ever been traded. This is why it was such a big deal when Luca got traded amongst all the other reasons, but like he became he lost so much money by being traded because he was no longer eligible for the super max. And then this is kind of the big thing. They need to meet certain performance thresholds such as being named to an AllNBA uh in the previous season or two of the three preceding seasons. So you make AllNBA, you’re elig like in the year you’re up for the extension, you’re eligible. or if you made it in two of the preceding three years. So, say you got hurt uh and you miss all NBA or your performance dip, but two you’d already qualified because the two years prior you made it, then you’re good. Or you can be named defensive player of the year or being named the previous season or two of the preceding three or being named MVP in any of the preceding three seasons. So, you need to be an MVP, uh, time, right, an AllNBA team, or defensive player of the year. So, if those are the criteria, Ben, who do you think is the most likely Washington Wizard to be Super Max eligible? To start things off, I think in DC specifically here, there’s a lot of personal opinions about the supermax contract that have been swayed because of what has happened with people who got supermax contracts here in our nation’s capital. Wall and Beiel, of course, terrible endings. Have to put those feelings to the side because this team needs a superstar player. If you have somebody that’s all NBA worthy or MVP worthy, god forbid, on this Wizards team, you have to be thrilled about that. So, put uh just to get that out of the way. For me, the former number two overall pick, Alex Sar, is who I’d go with. One, because of the size and what he’s able to do at his size. He’s a guy that has good speed, quick with the basketball, and has stretched his game uh to play outside the perimeter well. Now, he was inefficient offensively in his rookie year, especially around the rim. I think if you’re over 7 foot to shoot under 40% from the field is a little bit concerning. With that being said, I do think he improves a lot like he did in the second half of the season. And because he plays so well on the defensive side of the basketball, protecting the rim, he’s a guy that if he polishes his offensive game, uh, and also gets a little bit better as a rebounder, I think that’s somewhere he has to improve as well. I could see him being a top-of-the-line stretch four in the NBA and being an allNBA type of player. I think Sar is interesting on two fronts. The absolute best version of Alex Sar takes on all of like the freaky athleticism and length that he’s got and turns himself into a defensive player of the year candidate. And if so he were let’s say it’s because remember the reason so there there is actually another version of the supermax that’s for younger players like I said you have to be in year seven or eight there if you hit some of these other thresholds earlier um you it’s just not as big a percentage of the cap. So that’s ultimately we’re talking about here like the the big super max is 35% of the cap um in the given year that you sign it with max raises year-over-year moving forward which I believe are 8%. So that gets real nerdy real fast, but that’s what we’re talking about here, right? But let’s say in the year that he’s extension eligible, the Wizards are really good. So we’re like four years down the line, he’s awesome. They’re awesome defensively. He’s the anchor of a Oklahoma Cityesque type of run defensively and he’s maybe he doesn’t ever polish offensively enough to make a third team even AllNBA, but he’s the defensive player of the year. Is that totally off the table? No. I do. I also find it hard to believe that if you’re defensive player of the year, you wouldn’t somehow squeak onto an All-NBA team. That feels like a weird needle to thread, but I guess it’s possible.
I have a question, and he might have been on an AllNBA team, but this is maybe the only player I can think of in my head that might actually fit that threshold. Was Joe Kim Noah an AllNBA player of the year? He won defensive player of the year. We I guess we have to look that up.
I can look that up real quick. But he was so bad offensively. I feel like it might be possible that he wasn’t.
Um,
but I could be completely wrong.
I feel like he probably would have been
at least a third team, right?
Yeah. I think let’s see. Defensive player of the year
in 2014.
He was NBA AllNBA first team that year.
He was first team.
Yeah. And he finished fourth in MVP voting that that year.
Wow.
Yeah. That’s that’s kind of crazy. Finished fourth in MVP voting, averaging 12 points and 11 rebounds. But he had five assists over a steal, block and a half. They were awesome. Yeah, he played 80 games. It’s It’s kind of overshadowed that Na N uh actually cooked in that series for the most part. And even though he was suspended for a game, I think he really held his own against Noah and scored the ball really effectively in that series, but it’s irrelevant. That happened 10 years ago. It doesn’t matter anymore.
A long time ago. So, but is it even if he’s maybe if he’s in contention for Decoy, like is he probably a third team guy, if not better? Yeah, that’s possible. That’s not my answer, though. I think Trey Johnson has a chance to be a stud, dude. Like, I I just something about that kid, the way he’s wired, the way he shoots it, the way he works, the way he’s open to feedback, how coachable he is. If if the stuff that needs to get better for him can get better, I think he’s the answer. And so like is Belal gonna develop into a really good player? I think so. I think he showed last year a huge step from year one to year two. And I’m excited to see what the year one to year two step is for Bub this year for I mean Will Dawkins the way his eyes lit up in the postseason press conference when talking about Keshan George when he’s like, “Man, wait till you guys see what Keshan’s already done right in a couple of months.” Uh and maybe it was I guess it was a pre-draft. I don’t remember when it was. Maybe it was when he was on with the Junkies pre-draft. Um, but he sometime recently where there had been a little bit of time since the end of the season, he’s like, “Man, wait till you guys would see you see what Keshan George has already done this off season.” So, I’m excited to see what those guys can be. But none of them because of the shooting prowess and the the scoring ability have the potential offensively as Trey Johnson. And for that reason, I think my answer is Trey. a guy who last year at 18 years old led the SEC, one of the best conferences in terms of depth and quality we’ve seen in recent like this new version of college basketball. Um, he led the the the league in scoring. Um, I I think I’d probably bet on that guy. That’s my answer.
I think it’s a good pick as well. And with the way college basketball stacks up, and I think you just you just made that point. You hit it on the head right there. That’s an 18-year-old kid that’s essentially dominating scoring the basketball against dudes who are 23. So, it leaves me no doubt that he’s going to be able to score effectively here at the next level because it it’s genuinely hard to be a really good college basketball player at 18, 19 years old now because
especially when you’re own point guard and you like seem to not get along on the court. You can’t get the ball. Yeah, he’s he was carrying the team for the most part, which is the craziest thing. And I know there was some concerns about uh him defensively taking off plays, but maybe because he had to carry the team so damn much offensively that it’s tough to be able to go a full 40 minutes on both sides of the ball at that point. I think he’s not going to have that issue in the NBA. Which Washington Wizard is most likely to be a future Super Max player? And again, you got to be MVP kind of in the discussion. If you win it, you’re eligible. If you are first, second, or third team allNNBA, or you win defensive player of the year, certain uh you know, whether you win it in the year you’re extension eligible or two of the three years prior, then you get the super max. I will also say this with all due respect to all of the players, um unless you’re going to be like LeBron James or Stephen Curry and you’re so good it doesn’t matter. Um not, it almost doesn’t matter who else is on your team. Um, then you kind of hope if you’re if you’re a fan and you’re just interested in winning that nobody is the answer. Like you want you want them to miss it just by that much. Like what you’d really want is a player like you want Trey Johnson in two years before he’s eligible to be like first team AllNBA or second team AllNNBA and he’s awesome and then the next year for whatever reason like he doesn’t actually get that much worse but like someone else has an incredible season and like he misses it and so he misses it by that much. So, you have an awesome player like who’s that good without having to pay them the supermax because then you’re you’re in a better cap situation. And like this is the stupidity of the supermax contract.
It hurts teams.
It’s awful.
It’s it it you’re negotiating against yourself. I’m all for the players getting the money. I do not begrudge them, but like if you get it, it makes team building harder. Just count the extra cash that the players get, not against the cap. Make it automatic. There’s no negotiation. If your team, your incumbent team, signs you to a max contract and you’ve qualified for supermax, you get the supermax. And if the NBA player or if the NBA owners want to pull like an extra bit of money together where it’s not all on one incumbent owner, like they can figure out how to separate their money. But if you are lucky enough to have a player that good, you should not be punished by having to feel like you have to pay them more even though you’re negotiating against nobody or you have to insult them and be like, “Sorry, we just we’re not giving you that.” But like that’s the situation that teams get put in. It is one of the sillier CBA rules I think in all of sports. When Beal was in the midst of his career best season where he led the NBA in scoring, all the comments, all the hubbhub about Bradley Beals, the NBA better give him the respects he deserves. Wizards fans were begging the NBA to include him in the allNBA third team list or whatever list they put him at that point. And I was the only one back then saying, “No, do do you guys not understand what you are doing? you are going to push this narrative and he’s going to get on the AllNBA third team and this franchise will be set back forever because of this decision. I knew from the start that Beal was not a player that deserved the contract he did, yet let alone a no trade clause. Let’s never do that again. Please, no more no more trade clauses. There’s a reason that nobody has no trade clauses and that was clearly a mistake by the front office at the time. There is one there is one outlier on the no trade clause list. There is one outlier in that list. Yeah, it’s I mean even Steph Steph doesn’t have one. Exactly.
Like LeBron has one. That’s basically it. And it’s I don’t know. Like I’m all for like I wish there were more no trade clauses. I think the fact that dudes can just be up and be like, “Hey, by the way, you’re moving to Portland tomorrow.” Like that’s crazy. These are people with families who sign contracts, but like from a team building standpoint, you like if I’m on the front office side, I’m literally never giving one. Like sorry, no. And especially on a supermax because it’s like what are you going to do? Not sign it.
Like it’s very very silly. And the the front office at the time made an enormous mistake obviously with that. Uh which is why they’re no longer here and they hire new people. Yeah. So, uh, wi with that said, um, in a way this is a very silly discussion because in in a way you hope you don’t, but also like what you really hope is that like you have a perennial first team all like the Oklahoma City Thunder have no problem with Shay Gil Alexander getting the super max because he’s scored 30 a game. I don’t think people realize this unless you’re listening to the show over the last month then I’ve told you how many Ben pop quiz. How many straight years has Shay Gilis Alexander scored 30 points a game? one.
Try three. It’s three years in a row.
He scored 30 a game three years in a row. I think we’ve actually like he won the MVP this year. So, it’s hard to be like that guy’s underrated. I think Shay Gilis Alexander despite the fact that he just won MVP finals MVP and is an NBA champion. I think Shay Gilas Alexander is actually underrated.
I had no idea it was 30 for the past three. I knew he was upper 20s at least. Yeah, I didn’t either until I looked it up a couple weeks ago. He is average he has averaged 30 a game in three straight seasons. That is insane territory.
Yeah, he had one of the more impressive scoring seasons in recent memory before leading into the NBA finals. He had scored more points than any anybody in a single season since 1993 with Michael Jordan. So that tells you what kind of company he’s surrounded by now.
Yeah. when you talk about like average and then not missing games, the total accumulation plus playoffs, like yeah, he’s
one of the most consistent, reliable, prolific players, he’s actually despite the fact that he doesn’t shoot a ton of threes, like he’s actually super efficient as well because of how well he drives it. And obviously, I think unlike Brunson where he’s like hunting for fouls, like Shay gets fouled.
Can I offer you a question here that’s actually I’ve been thinking about this for a while?
Sure. from a Wizard fan standpoint or just the Wizards organization here,
fire away. We’re having this conversation about supermax players and how you almost kind of hope that they slightly miss the threshold so you can avoid this kind of situation, but also at the same time you hope that you have an allNBA caliber player here in DC at some point sooner rather than later for next year. If somehow all of these guys, not saying this is likely at all, but if all these guys take a huge jump in year number two and then year number three of Bilal, if they get to the point where they’re almost playing just below 500 level basketball, as a fan, would you be concerned that you’re just kind of reaching a point where you’re going to be mediocre and then you’re losing your draft pick, or are you stoked for the development?
I think you’re stoked for the development. My guess would be that the organization would continue to find ways to play player like the the guys even farther down, right? Like the Kobe Jones’s, right?
Um like they would they would take those players like develop AJ Johnson more by giving him more minutes. And like you you have even a next wave of young guys that you think are going to be role players for you in the future and you just they’re playing more minutes. You’re kind of you’re kind of and and by the way like does it sound kind of cheap in a way? Does it sound a little skezy, a little tankish? Yeah, of course. But if you look at all the injuries that are happening to Tyrese Hallebertton and Dame Lillard and you know Jason Tatum, like Jason Tatum is not old. Like think how many minutes Jason Tatum accumulated as playing competitive basketball because his teams were good pretty instantly. They had Kyrie like all that kind of stuff.
Think of how many heavy minutes
those guys played when they were young.
I feel that’s what makes what LeBron has done his entire career because he has played I don’t know you’d have to do the math in terms of games played but he’s almost played an extra couple seasons of just playoff games.
Oh he has played a couple extra season.
It’s like three or four years isn’t it? At least.
Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt. Um if you think about like he’s played probably 20 playoff games. And
I mean in that run where he went to eight straight finals, that’s probably like an extra 20 games a year. That’s like two extra seasons.
And so if if you want to make the argument like we’re load man like oh you’re load managing a 20-year-old. Yeah. I don’t want him to snap his Achilles when he’s 26. And so if you can if you want to make that argument I think for this year because of the pick protection. Like I believe Will Dawkins when he says, “Hey, if our guys are so good that our our pick goes to the Knicks,” like we’ll deal with that. But I think if you’re kind of on the line, then you’ll probably just be like, “We’re going to make sure that our guys are playing like our good players are playing 25 minutes a night.” Um, we’ll throw out some lineups that have a couple extra young guys in it. Maybe we take the Chris Middletons and the Marcus Smarts and the CJ McCollums out even more. uh maybe we flip those guys when we would have otherwise held on to like they’ll find ways I think I would guess to make sure that they keep that pick.
I don’t think they’ll have this problem either
and I also I also think that we are a year away from having this problem and at that point hopefully
you have AJ Debansa and you’ve gotten the number one pick in next year’s draft.
Um whether you win the lottery from seven or win the lottery from one I don’t really care about that. Just get lucky win the lottery. Um you know, you know, that’s a that’s a big ask,
of course, but that’s that’s kind of where I see it is like they’ll find a way to keep the pick. Um, and then you hope that that’s a problem that you’re dealing with two years from now. But it is I do think we’re two years away from because then you’re also talking about like Bal extension like you’re starting to talk about some stuff where it’s like dang if this could if they could have gotten lucky sooner. Could they have done some things differently or do they have to wind up flipping one of these guys in the future and extending the timeline a little farther because your best player is 19 years old and Bal’s in year four? Like that’s those are the the I think the complicated questions this front office is going to have to eventually wrestle with. But you hope that they’re really really good and and there’s kind of no either you keep the players because they’re awesome or you get incredible return because they’re awesome. This is the Hoffman Show on the Team 980 and the Odyssey app.

The Washington Wizards rebuild is young, but it’s got some promise with Alex Sarr and others excelling in their rookie seasons. Plus, Tre Johnson’s scoring potential is elite based off his production in the SEC at Texas last year. But could either player eventually demand a supermax contract?? @LockedOnWizards

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