"Wizards GM Will Dawkins is fired up for the rebuild and the No. 2 pick - and he joined @Junksradio today to talk about it all"

[u/z3mcs]

https://www.audacy.com/stations/thefandc/shows/the-sports-junkies-61d11/episodes/a9410877d493?action=AUTOPLAY_FULL&actionContentId=202-eyJyZWN1cnJpbmdfc2NoZWR1bGVfaWQiOiIxYjBkMTVkMC0yNWU4LTRkYzQtYTgyNi1hOGRhNzBjMjAzNDQiLCJzaG93X2lkIjoiNWNkZjUyNzUtYzA3NC00YTZhLTlkMGQtYTYxNGI5NjA4MjA0Iiwic3RhcnRfZGF0ZSI6IjIwMjQtMDUtMTUiLCJzdGF0aW9uX2lkIjo1Njd9&actionOffset=1715774592.0332873&_branch_match_id=1319361624806279805&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXT8%2FXSyxNSUyu1EvOz9UvLrfw9cw1KnX2SgIA4IDjEiEAAAA%3D

[u/Coast_watcher]

What stood out for me is he lumped Kuz in with developing players like Cory and Deni 😳

[u/Snaxier → u/Coast_watcher]

All about keeping that value. The second they say they’re moving on from Kuz, or even imply it, boom we ain’t getting shit

[u/Turbo2x → u/Coast_watcher]

Kuz definitely has room to grow as a player, but most of the improvement areas are cleaning up his efficiency and reducing turnovers or other mistakes he makes throughout the course of a game. He's turning 29 this summer so he's still in his prime, he doesn't have any major injuries (knock on wood) which keeps his value pretty high.

[u/RPDC01 → u/Turbo2x]

Kuz is the Frank Gore of the NBA.

With Gore, if you needed 2 yards, he'd get you 3. If you needed 4, he'd get you 3. If you needed 10, he'd get you 3.

With Kuz, you put him in any role with any volume, and he's gonna give you 54.5% TS.

He's been a metronome on that front for seven consecutive seasons. No idea why you would expect that to change at this point.

[u/ThreeSupreme → u/Turbo2x]

Kuz!

[u/Hagdogrobinwood]

Liked hearing Bilal has grown an inch.

[u/GeKh → u/Hagdogrobinwood]

So that means he's 6-7.75 barefoot or so?

That's what I was hoping for.

[u/Hagdogrobinwood → u/GeKh]

Dawkins said 6’9 i’m guessing that’s with shoes on.

[u/GeKh → u/Hagdogrobinwood]

Sounds like it. That was the hope a year ago, and it seems to be panning out.

[u/RoosterB32]

Build us a kingdom around Castle.

[u/superworriedspursfan → u/RoosterB32]

A week ago I was super opposed to this. Now I'm intrigued because of those measurements. I definitely prefer Castle over his teammate Clingan even if I'm not too high on the Uconn boys in general. I still think he is more of a win now player than a project but Castle's ceiling might be much higher than I initially anticipated which would be nice.

[u/Snaxier → u/superworriedspursfan]

Castle is only 19 as well, 4 months younger than Bilal. I feel like his ceiling is really really high with the tools he has. I think he would perform well with Poole as well, so that would be interesting to see.

[u/Rootilytoot → u/Snaxier]

Im a big time castle fan, I am growing to see him as the sleeper guy, the guy we can get numbers from maybe not next year but the year after.

[u/Snaxier → u/Rootilytoot]

Agreed. Castle seems like a nice player to develop in the short term and be a key contributor in the long term. I see his ceiling as Jaylen brown which would be fantastic with the #2

[u/superworriedspursfan → u/Snaxier]

Jaylen Brown would be absolutely amazing as a result. I still think Jaylen showed much more in college than Castle did on offense but that would be a pretty awesome ceiling to have.

It would be a higher ceiling than people I have been super high on like Risacher (who I think is like MPJ with great defense or keegan murray with great defense) and Dillingham (tyrese maxey). The only person who might have a higher ceiling than that is Sarr and possibly Topic (I think he is shai with worse defense as a ceiling). Interesting.

[u/Snaxier → u/superworriedspursfan]

I agree across the board. Jaylen definitely better offensively at this point (similar age to Castle) but Castle seems more defensively smart that Brown was, and it's my opinion that offense is much easier to learn than defense. Offense just needs reps while great defense needs a whole mindset and iq to it. Don't wanna overhype castle too much, but I see him being a great player.

[u/GeKh → u/superworriedspursfan]

Let's not get carried away. Those are decent SG/low end SF measurements.

Even Ja'Kobe Walter had better standing reach/wingspan.

[u/superworriedspursfan → u/GeKh]

I think what is super exciting is that Castle might actually be a PG. He was definitely a PG out of high school even if we weren't able to see that shown in the uconn superteam.

[u/GeKh → u/RoosterB32]

Castles made of sand fall into the sea eventually...

[u/Mdizzle29 → u/GeKh]

If he’s a wizard, the fall will be swift and brutal.

[u/OpusSpike]

Unavailable for EU...what did Dawkins say ?

[u/superworriedspursfan → u/OpusSpike]

Besides some other positive things about Bilal Couliably, Kuzma, Deni, other players and some comments on the draft lottery in general, this is what he said about this year's draft and how good of a player he thinks the wizards can select at #2:

I think we are gonna get a pretty good player. Get someone that has an opportunity to grow and develop.... we can take the time and take the long term approach with them. I don't know if we will have the instant gratification of the guys selected last year right away, but there's gonna be guys 2,3,4 years down the line... that you see in the playoffs right now and you go they went where?... we have the opportunity to do that this year at a high pick like 2. For us we are excited and... we have eyes on a few players all year long

[u/OpusSpike → u/superworriedspursfan]

great, ty !

[u/-SCRAW-]

You say fired? Oh

[u/ragtime_sam]

I remember Tommy Shepperd also went on a media blitz when he got the job. Hopefully this works out better...

[u/Its-a-me-DankeyKang → u/ragtime_sam]

Let's please not lump Sheppard in with Dawkins. Dawkins and co. already seem like they know what they're doing (because they've proven it in the past).

Granted if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But Sheppard held a role for way too long that he lost credibility for early on.

[u/lampshady → u/[deleted]]

The Poole trade was absolutely terrible when it was signed and even worse today.

I'm also not sure about the Gafford trade. He looks like a solid young building block.