UPRISING: Washington Wizards’ Rookies SEIZE Spotlight | Tre Johnson and Will Riley SHINE

UPRISING: Washington Wizards’ Rookies SEIZE Spotlight | Tre Johnson and Will Riley SHINE

The Washington Wizards picked up a big win in its second preseason game. But one thing that gets me excited about it, it’s the production of the two rookies, Will Riley and Trey Johnson. Those two have shown out to start the preseason. You are Locked On Wizards, your daily Washington Wizards podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. DC family, you are locked on to the Washington Wizards, where you’re part of our family. We thank you for making Lockdown Wizards your first listen every single day. We’re part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where it’s your team every day. We’re free and available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe and join the DC family. Alongside the DC sports content creating Savannah Ble, I am Ben Stro and I cover all things DC sports for 1067 the fan and the team 980AB. Uh we are a night removed from a big-time win for our Washington Wizards in the preseason. And I say big time win because I don’t expect a lot of wins in the regular season. So I’m trying to enjoy this uh while I can at this moment. So, hey, uh, feels good to get the win unlike our commanders last night. Yeah, last night was uh, it was a it was a long night, Ben. I know you were working at the studio early in the morning, so you had to sleep, get some sleep, and I was, you know, covering the team on the DMV Sports Zone page, but the Wizards won. Way to bounce back. I understand the Knicks didn’t have their core players playing, but to see Marvin Bley get a double double and Will Riley with 17 points, very exciting. Yeah, we got a lot to get to in this episode. Will Riley and Trey Johnson, those two rookies have really stood out to me in terms of the production we have seen from those two in the first two preseason contests. The Wizards have their final preseason game on Thursday. We’ll have the coverage live postgame from that one as opposed to today where we’re getting this out a little bit later. So, we appreciate all of you listening here a little bit later getting some of the intel in the skinny from the Wizards. 20 to 103 win over the New York Knicks last night at Madison Square Garden, albeit a bunch of guys out. I’ll get into that in a second. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you’ll bet three. You’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fandol.com to get started today. All right, so we get into it. 120 103 win for the Washington Wizards. And man, what an offensive performance compared to the first game. First of all, the Wizards shot 54% from the field compared to under 39% in the first preseason game. They looked a lot more comfortable offensively. And a big reason why was because of the 21st overall pick, Will Riley. And albeit, as we mentioned, uh the Knicks yesterday were pretty depleted. No Jaylen Brunson, Muel Bridges, Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson, Ojanobi, Cat, the list goes on and on. So, uh, you know, maybe take some things that happened with a grain of salt, but this is a 19-year-old kid in Will Riley that was super super impressive last night. And he was tabbed as a guy that had some upside coming out of the draft. He spent one year at the University of Illinois where he was the big 10 Big 10 sixman of the year. And ultimately, he comes here to DC and you start to wonder what’s his role going to look like with this team. Is he going to be able to actually earn himself some minutes going forward in the regular season? And yesterday was a big time performance for him. He went seven of 11 with a plus 17 point differential. 17 points, two rebounds, and two assists. AB overall impressions through the first two games for me. He looks really comfortable with the basketball in his hands. And for a guy with a slight frame like him, I think he’s gotten a little bit bigger and looks a little bit more physical. He hasn’t seen any sense of uncomfortability with the basketball in his hands to me so far. Yeah. And that first preseason game against the Raptors hit those two clutch free throws at the end which should have won the game essentially. But then last night having 17 points, two rebounds, two assists. You love to see that because again, a guy like him, we we didn’t really know much of how much is that his role going to be here in his first year. We we’re assuming that a lot of his role is going to be with the capital city go. But seeing a performance like that, it’s like maybe he can be scratched the surface early on here in DC and try to find that role because again the wing position we have a surplus of guys. Justin Champi played today. He had 10 points as well. So a lot of guys are fighting for minutes but will Riley if he can play that Keshan George type of role. I know we talked about it when we were watching the Raptors game at Capital One that would be great but maybe even go beyond that and for him to look that comfortable as a young guy. Ben, I mean, it’s just so gives us so much optimism because again, this team is really young and we need these young guys to step up. Yeah. And one thing we should make clear with Will Riley, we’re not trying to make any bold proclamations about this kid. He’s very obviously uh going to be a work in progress, but he’s going to be one of the more intriguing, fun aspects of this team to watch as he develops as the year goes on because initially, you know, you start to think, are we going to see him with the go- go? But right now, he might actually be earning himself some minutes on the floor. And it’s because of his playmaking ability, which comes as a bit of a surprise to me because it’s not really any based on anything I I know about him because I watched his college tape and obviously looked through all the numbers that would indicate how he was in college, but all you really heard about him in the pre-draft process from his head coach at Illinois, Brad Underwood, was how great he was at tough shotmaking. said he was the second best tough shot maker in Illinois’s program history, at least at Brad Underwood, head coach. But we got to give him some credit here because in the opportunities he’s had with the basketball in his hands, he has not squandered this opportunity at all. He showed literally no fear with the basketball. And for a guy, as I mentioned, with the slight frame, you kind of wonder, could he get bodied off the basketball? Is he going to struggle at times if he has heavy ball pressure on him? We haven’t seen any of that. and some of the bag work he put up, including a play yesterday where you saw him get inside the arc, spin his way back to the left side of the bucket and finish with his left hand. Just some super impressive stuff that he’s been able to showcase with the basketball in his hands. I think he’s just instinctive. I think he really just has a very high basketball IQ and that’s been evident through the first two games here in the preseason. Abdullah and I already seen some fans Ben saying that hey maybe we should try Will Riley out at point guard which I mean I again like we’ll have to see I still believe in Bob Karen to be the point guard here in here here in the future for Washington but Will Riley I I was really impressed by how he played yesterday Ben I mean a guy who was just so freaking young and a lot of expectations were on Trey Johnson who also we’ll get into him but if Will Riley could contribute the way that we think he can this is going to be a fine rookie year for him and look the one thing that stands out to me about Riley is not just when he would penetrate to the basket, which I was pleasantly surprised to see him do so well. Uh, one on the opening night against Toronto, then last night against New York as well. When he gets in these opportunities where he’s around the rim and the double teams collapse down as the defense closes in on him, he is very intelligent where he goes with the basketball. He seems to know how to find passing lanes for himself because yeah, there’s the idea where as a player that’s off the ball, you have to find a way to get in a passing lane for a player. He creates the passing lanes for guys. The one play he got under the basket and he kind of leaned over like this and then he wrapped it around the defender and got it under the bucket to Marvin Bagley. There were a couple times where he found Marvin Bagley under the basket for some really nice playmaking assists. And I think the legit aspect of his game through creating space and penetrating the paint is something that’s going to be such a plus to his game as he develops here. Uh obviously you do take it with somewhat of a grain of assault because it is the preeason. He’s not facing a lot of those names that I I mentioned uh that were out for the New York Knicks last night. But overall, you have to be really excited to see that uh one of your first round picks that’s considered a project type of player has actually created a sizable impact uh with some of the guys on the floor that’ll be key contributors throughout the year. That’s a good sign uh for Will Riley as we approach toward the regular season. 100%. One thing about the Wizards yesterday, last night, Ben, they played really fast, I think, and also won the uh the battle in the paint at 54 points in the paint compared to New York’s 44 fast breaks points. Washington had 19 compared to New York’s five and it just seemed like they were playing with more energy which I understand it is the preseason you’re not playing against the core key players in New York and we didn’t have our guys CJ McComem Chris Militin Alexar and a lot of those guys play so maybe you can consider canceling out but overall for to see the young guys go against in New York away it’s just you we want to see that they build that going into the Detroit Pistons game which is the last preseason game and then that first couple that first 10 to 15 games early on in the It’s a tough stretch, but I hope you can pull out at least three to four games to be competitive in each one. Yeah, absolutely. I really like the way they came out the gate offensively because it was a super slow start against Toronto. They really struggled with some of the fullcourt pressure that they saw from the Raptors early on. Uh the Knicks didn’t really play a similar style of defense and that allowed Washington to approach it really aggressive offensively. I loved how Keshan George and Trey Johnson uh instantly tried to make their mark on this game. They were not afraid uh to take super, you know, tough shots early on in the game. Trey Johnson was letting it go from beyond the arc quite often early in the game, which you love to see. And overall, they just looked a lot more comfortable offensively. And uh let’s give some credit to Bub Carrington. He bounced back yesterday for sure after a really just god-awful performance in the first preseason game. And I know we got a lot of the comments saying we need to have honest conversations about Bub Carrington. He can’t be the point guard for this team. He’s just a combo guard that’s going to eventually come off the bench. Uh but we do got to give him credit for how he performed yesterday. Much better. Uh positive plus minus differential of 16 in the positive instead of minus 34 like he was in the first game. And he made all three of his shot attempts including both uh from beyond the arc. Bub Carrington as well. Four assists and three rebounds. So got to give him some credit. A much needed performance for him. And I I you know I’m happy for the kid to see him come back after a really poor performance and uh put it together last night. That was really encouraging to see Abdullah. I think yeah and I agree with you. I think Ben it’s going to be a roller coaster every year when it comes to the point guard experience here for Bub because again we have to remember he’s 20 years old. Last season you had Jordan P. He had the keys to that. And Bub Carrington what we saw when you didn’t pit. I I think the aggressiveness we’re hoping to see more of. But him being that lead guard, it’s going to take it’s going to take a while for us to fully grasp and see him grow into that role because again, point guard is such an essential role in the NBA and we’ll just have to be patient. I’m fully confident he can be that one here in the future and hopefully guys like CJ McComem can mentor the kid. And Bub, I think his shot making is so special. Last season there was his careerhigh game against Orlando Magic where he had 34. And seeing things like that, playing all 82 games, hitting a regular season buzzer beater for the last game of the season of your rookie year. You build on those things and I’m hoping that he shakes off his Raptors performance because I know like you mentioned a lot of fans were not happy about it and a lot of people were calling him out. But it’s one game, it’s preseason, just keep on moving forward. AB, one of the things that I want to get back into Will Riley just a little bit here because of his playmaking ability that I’ve harped on throughout this first segment. I think minutes like that where you showcase what you can do creating for others is what’s going to ultimately earn him minutes as the season goes on the NBA roster because the Wizards do need playmakers. If Bob Carrington has nights uh where he struggles or if he’s in and out of the lineup for whatever reason at points during the season, the Wizards need guys that can make plays, especially given how Alex Sar looked uh the other night. Obviously, he did not play last night. He was a healthy scratch along McCullum and Middleton. Those guys got some rest and Sar coming back from the calf injury. We’re not surprised to see that. But with Alex Sar seemingly hopefully taking a jump in terms of his post presence in year number two, you want somebody that can get him the basketball and feed him some opportunities. And if there’s a night where Bob Carrington can’t be that guy, you’re going to have to look for other pieces uh to playmak and get your big man the ball into the basket. And maybe, just maybe, Will Riley could be that guy. He was underrated in college in his role as a playmaker. He had five or more assists in six of his games that he played in last year despite being known as the guy who brought scoring production off the bench for the Ali. So, I kind of think this is who he is as a player. He just has the tremendous upside as a scorer because of his length and he possesses an innate ability to really score the basketball. However, his handle is really good and he just has the vision and the IQ to create well for others. So that’s why I think he’s actually going to find a role for himself at some point in this year with his playmaking ability. I still don’t know uh how the outlook is going to be once the regular season starts if he starts out with a go- go or not. Maybe to work on the scoring aspect of his game because we haven’t seen as much of it. But he was an efficient 7 for 11 last night from the field. So looked pretty damn comfortable scoring the basketball to me. AB Yeah. And if I’m below we talked about being a little stressed out cuz now Kam Whitmore might take your minutes when you’re out but Will Riley the way he played I mean why not coach Ke you saw the put him out there and give him some minutes. You don’t want to also as much as I love Trey Johnson you don’t want to hinder his first year of development. Same alongside Will Riley the 21st overall pick. A lot of people are bought all the stock with Trey Johnson cuz he’s going to be so special. But who knows? Last season, Keshan George out of the three, we didn’t really expect to be that much of an impact on year one. Maybe it can be the same storyline with Will Riley. Yeah, I think you’re right. We We might have some conversations like that at some point, but Trey Johnson impressed me last night. Let’s talk about him and his performance to the first two when we come back. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you do not want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using Fandal because it gives me so many ways to play. I’ve built parlays, tried player props, made teasers, and I even follow along the live lines during the games. It makes football even more exciting to watch when you’ve got a little something riding on the action. Whether you’re a casual fan or love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanduel.com and download the FanDuel app today to get started. 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Our guy Trey Johnson AB you and I super high on the impact he’s going to have on this team in year number one. And so far so good through the first two preseason games. But I think as the second half rolled along in the first one against Toronto started to seem a little bit more comfortable offensively was able to establish himself uh in some offensive sets and he’s worked on the things throughout this preseason that maybe weren’t the strengths of his game uh coming out of college defense and penetrating to the basket. He seems like he’s put a point of emphasis to attack those supposed flaws in his game. I think that says a lot about his character. Not to say we didn’t think very highly of his character. I think our listeners know how high we think of Trey Johnson and the basketball obsession that he has, but he’s impressed me because of his confidence. It’s never dwindled throughout the preseason. And I know in the first game they played against Toronto a couple nights ago, uh the first couple of shots he took, he missed an easy one to start it off, then took a not so good shot after that. Uh but once he settled into the game, looked very comfortable, had the nice penetration drive to the basket where he finished with the left. And then last night he comes out the gate getting his first start in a preeason game. I know he started in the summer league, so I guess first start uh playing on like a real NBA floor. Uh he comes out the gate and he is firing away. Uh just to see him knock down that first three-pointer last night was such a good feeling for me. Such a good feeling for him, I’m sure, as well. But if you’re a Wizards fan, just to see a guy that you know possesses an innate ability to get it done from beyond the arc and him to later in the game pull up in transition and knock one of those down. I was super impressed in Trey Johnson’s confidence yesterday. I think we’re going to really start to see him break out as time goes on uh for this Wizards team. But man, good start for him in the preseason. AB and it gives you so much confidence, man, because this team desperately needs uh better three-point shooters. And Trey Johnson at the end of this season could argue or even by the trade deadline could be this team’s best three-point shooter. 10 points and sprinkled in some playmaking with three assists. Man, one thing I love about Trey Johnson is if the game if he’s missing some some shots, we saw in the Raptors game, he still goes out there and still plays with confidence. And it’s hard to get that from young guys because nowadays it’s like if I’m missing a shot or missing multiple shots in a row, it’s like what am I doing? Like what else can I do? But Trey Johnson can find a way to help playmake for his teammates. And like you mentioned, his first start preseason. I really wonder, Ben, what his minutes are going to be the first couple of games because I understand you’re playing against tough opponents, but how much like do you does coach Keef in this organization just say, “Hey, unleash this kid or do you somewhat want to see give him give the older guys some minutes?” Like who knows to be honest because this was a night where he didn’t have Tij McCullum. probably your your best scoreer on this team as of right now. Hoping it changes with Trey Johnson. It’s just those things when you think about it, when do when when do the Wizards eventually take the leash off Trey? I’m hoping there’s no leash at all. It’s just something you have to consider because again, like there’s a lot of young guys on this team, you want to feed a lot of mouth mouths, but you also want to make sure you’re prioritizing the sixth overall pick. Yeah. One thing in the pregame availability before the Toronto game from Brian Keefe, the head coach of the Wizards, when we asked him, he said, “Do you have an idea of who’s going to play in this game?” And he said, “I expect everyone to play at some point.” And not everyone played in that game, but some of that was intentional. Obviously, Justin Champany was held out so he could get the start and play plenty of minutes uh in last night’s game. He said you’re going to see guys get good establishments, which the way I interpreted that was you’re going to see guys that solidify themselves as part of the rotation uh by the way they sub in and out. They’re going to play plenty of minutes. And Trey Johnson was the first guy that came off the bench when Bub Carrington got into foul trouble early in that game. So I think to me that tells me they see him as already an instant guy that’s going to be pretty heavily part of the rotation. I think honestly you’re going to see them rotate like a nine or 10 man rotation at least at the start of the season. Uh Whitmore obviously will be one of the first couple guys off the bench as well. Uh good stuff from him as well. We’ll probably break down his performance uh separately in another video because Cam Whitmore has shown some really good stuff so far. But I think Trey Johnson has done a lot obviously in camp and throughout the offseason to show this Wizards organization uh that he deserves to get plenty of minutes, maybe almost starter level minutes uh early on here in his career. But I think they are going to work him into it maybe a little bit slower than everybody would want him to because we feel like the sky is the limit for the kid. Um but I’m not really worried about him not playing enough minutes or anything. I think he’ll play at least 20 to 25 every single night, which we said is pretty much that threshold you’d like to see for a rookie player that could have aspirations of winning the Rookie of the Year award. Uh not quite the same role that you’re going to see out of a guy like Cooper Flag or Ace Bailey, but Trey Johnson’s definitely going to get his minutes. And uh it’s going to be good to see him play alongside and behind CJ McCollum as well, who’s also looked really good in the one game of action that we saw from him. Wanted to show another some love to Jir Watkins, man. nine points, six rebounds, a block in 17 minutes. He I think early on Ben could definitely find himself playing some minutes. I don’t know how many minutes potentially, but I think with him defensively, Ben, I mean, he’s hands always in the passing lane and a guy who’s just a pest on defense. That could help early on for this Wizards team that desperately needs lock down defenders, especially since the law is going to be out for the first couple weeks. Yeah. And the Wizards need to find out what their identity is at some point early in the season. And through the first couple preseason games, I see that they are tenacious on the defensive side of the basketball. Now, I don’t know if they have the personnel to really form a defensive identity. I mean, to be honest, I don’t know if they have the personnel period to have an identity, period. That’s going to be tougher for them to do because I think really to form your true identity as a team, you have to win while doing it, which is probably not going to be the case for a lot of Wizards uh games this year, but you want to see them develop. So if they develop this identity where they are pestering on defense or they’re very good at reading passing lanes the way Jir Watkins is and you can get adequate minutes from pretty much anyone and everyone that plays defensively on that side of the basketball, maybe you can make that part of your identity in a way because you’re say, “Hey, we’re going to make it tough on you guys night in night out.” You’d hope to see that from this team. I’m just not sure if that’s going to become the true calling card for this team. But maybe a couple years from now, you do see the Wizards craft out that identity from the defensive side of the basketball. But honestly, if I had to take a guess into any identity the Wizards have, it’s probably trying to push the ball and run in transition because it seems like that’s probably what they’re going to do best. They look pretty good doing it last night. And oh, there was this one opportunity where Dylan Jones got the steal yesterday, uh, Abdullah, and it was a twoon-one break with Cam Whitmore, and I was like, “Oh my god, throw it up to Cam.” like he’s going to punch it on this dude’s head and and Dylan Jones gave it to Cam way too early and kind of put him in a tough position and he he ran over the defender and got called for a charge. Like that’s such a missed opportunity. Could have threw him a lob. Could have had the first like big Cam highlight dunk, but it’s all good. They’re just they’re working out the kinks here in the preseason. So, I get it. I think Ben, after two preseason games, I think Cam Whitmore is going to have the most highlights on this team when it comes to being explosive. He’s just so freaking athletic. He’s crazy. like just some of the plays where you watch him take it to the bucket and just kind of utilize the physicality he has with his size, you’re like, man, I would hate to get in his way. And NBA defenders hate to get in his way. And it’s pretty evident because I’ve seen some of the guys on Toronto and New York actually shy away from the contact as he tries to get downhill and get his head to the bucket. Another thing we’ve seen from this Wizards team as we move on to the next segment here in a moment, Abdullah, is the bigs have looked pretty good. Marvin Baggley a nice performance last night. Tristan Vuchovich some pretty good work offensively. Let’s talk about the bigs when we come back. Pelaton is shaping the future of fitness with a brand new Pelaton crossraining tread powered by Pelaton IQ. It’s their most advanced equipment yet. Designed to give you realtime guidance and endless ways to move. Whether you’re running, lifting, or cross trainin with your favorite instructors, Pelaton Cross Training Tread Plus is the way to do it. This is Training Reimagined. Pelaton is built for breakthroughs with tools that help you plan, stay motivated, and reach peak performance. I love how the Pelaton IQ system offers real-time strength coaching. It actually tracks your reps, suggest the right weights, and corrects your form, making every rep safer and smarter. The swivel screen is ging on the tread plus to strength training without missing a beat. So let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward and explore the new Pelaton cross trainining tread plus today at onepliton.com. Hey B, let’s get into some of these bigs in 24 minutes last night. Marvin Bagley a double double. He put up 18 points on 87 and a half% field goal percentage, 11 boards as well. He’s been sneaky good through the first two preseason games and we don’t know how much we expect him to play throughout the regular season. Obviously, he is your depth piece that you signed in free agency this year. So, nice to get Baggley back after you traded him at the deadline last year. Now, he comes back in free agency and obviously you see him play uh behind Alex Sar, but in the first game you saw him actually come off the bench second in terms of bigs with Tristan Vuch getting the first run off the bench for the big men. Uh but both those guys contributing very heavily last night. Baggley just has a really high motor that I love. Abdullah, that’s what I’ve noticed from him through the first two games. And obviously we saw that last year, so we’re just kind of seeing it again. But I’m starting to hold out some hope here that maybe Baggley is going to be a little bit better of a mentor for Sar than we expect. Even though he is 26 years old, so not Yeah, that’s insane. Not old by any means, but he is a veteran compared to the other guys on this team. So hopefully Saw and some of these other guys can actually learn some things from him and hey maybe he’s going to actually work up some value uh toward the trade deadline and maybe you trade him off again. Who knows? Yeah. Oh god. Again dude Marvin Bagley I was a big fan of him in 2018 coming out of Duke and it just it didn’t pan out the way his career I’m assuming he wanted to. But a guy like him can be a pest offensively in the paint is going to go there and you like you mentioned double double 18 points 11 rebounds three assists two steals one block was everywhere. you shot 87 shot 87% from field goal range 7 to eight like seeing stuff like that just gives you hope that maybe there is some as much as thin as the forward and front court position is for DC maybe a guy like Marvin Bagley can fill up those woes and him being a mentor for Alex I mean technically he’s years older than him 26 years old very young but shout out to Marvin Baggley because I think if he can take advantage of those minutes I want him to be that backup center here Rashan Holmes as much as you know he was he was a great mentor as well. He was very explosive when he came in, you could notice that he was in the game. Marvin Bagley kind of has that great touch around the rim that I don’t know if Rashan Holm has. And I think Marvin Bagley is more of can shoot the ball in the mid-range uh game a little better. And Tristan Vuvich, my boy, 15 points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal, three of five from three-point land. Then if Tristan gets that three-point shot down, then like I really think he can gu um average 15 to 16 points a game because him offensively he’s just so gifted and like Marvin Baggley has a nice touch around the rim. Yeah, I mean he had that three-point shot working yesterday, three of five from beyond the arc and had the one play where he pumped his dude uh and then took a step back three and I’m just go damn like as a sevenfooter. Honestly, I sometimes you forget that that’s really part of his game and he has that skill set offensively because it’s kind of just crazy that it it flies under the radar in a way for this team. But I’m excited to see him grow as an offensive player as the season goes on. But he’s got to get a little bit better defensively. Uh we we’ve known that about him. That’s been really what we’ve heard uh the entirety of his career so far from the coaching staff. They’d like to see him find himself in better positioning uh defensively, box out a little bit better so he can get himself in position for boards uh and then stay out of foul trouble as well because sometimes that can be a bit of an issue for him. But good stuff from him offensively yesterday. I’m a little bit hopeful because we knew that the big position was kind of strategically left as a whole for this team. You’re not going to have anyone that’s dominant uh in terms of the bigs unless Alexar develops into some sort of freak this year. averages 28 points per game and 15 rebounds. I don’t think it’ll be that good. I think he’s better than last year and the first game of the preseason indicates that we might see him be a much more physical presence than in year number one. Uh but with that being said, yesterday was a good night for him because maybe it’s just because all the guys were out. They were able to rebound the basketball well. They they outrebounded New York by 12 last night, I believe. I have to double check on that. But we know that that’s going to be the fatal flaw of the team throughout the year. and it was on full display in the in the Toronto game. They were really dominated, especially on on the offensive glass, which is going to lead to plenty of second chance opportunities. Makes it really tough to win basketball games. But, you know, with the rebounding aside, you hope to see Alexar, Tristan Vuch uh grow as rebounders as the season goes on and maybe not to a point where, you know, it’s killing your tank or anything like that, but where they just seem more serviceable. you have a a glimpse of hope or a glimpse of hope I should say that these guys can become uh you know really impactful guys on the glass as the future rolls along for sure AB yeah and I think Alex Sar when because he’s the paint and the presence and when he’s he was he didn’t play yesterday against the Knicks Marvin Bless stepped up and I want to see if he can do it consistently because he’s going to be the guy coming off the bench and Tristan Vuvich is definitely going to be coming in the four and maybe he could be better at the five like it’s kind of that certain question that he has with we have with Alex R where does he play better with the four or five just you want him to play better no matter what position he’s in but shout out to Marvin Baglin and Tristan Vuj they stepped up when Alex Rar was out yeah shout out to the young guys really through the first two of preseason games honestly uh pretty encouraged because you know they preached competitive basketball meritocracy uh competitive training camp and how they wanted to be in more games this year the preeason the Knicks aren’t playing anybody so I get that like spare us the comments saying, “I don’t give a damn what they did. They didn’t have, you know, so and so named that New York Knick player.” I I really could care less because I saw meaningful development. I saw guys who were clearly, you know, showcasing confidence they had as basketball players. And out of your rookies, Will Riley and Trey Johnson, I’m starting to get pretty excited about what they’re going to do in the regular season. I’m ready to see those guys compete night in night out. That’s that’s how I’m feeling right now. I’m not worried about the results on the scoreboard, but hey, if you’re competing every single night and keeping it close, that’s a okay with me. Yeah. And I think one more preseason game against the Pistons and now you’re off to Milwaukee. It’s going to be exciting year for the Wizards, man. Year three of this rebuild, man. I can’t wait Giannis the first night. Like, who’s guarding Yiannis? Ben, Keshan. Yeah, I think it’s got to be, right? Yeah, definitely. It’s got to be. Well, one more thing, honestly, before we get out of here. I’ve seen the comments saying point Keshan because Keshan George was a point guard at Miami. He won the point guard job uh in in his last year there before he came to the league and obviously he’s got really good playmaking ability at his position and we know he can handle the ball. So, I don’t know, maybe they’ll explore that uh that possibility at some point throughout the season. We’ll see how things progress. But uh oh yeah, shout out to Keshan George. Much better offensive performance yesterday uh than the night before. So, a lot of good positive things to take away from the Wizards. 120 to 103 win. And Wizards fans, enjoy it while you can. You don’t know how many wins you’re going to get in the regular season. So, the preseason, that’s a costfree win for you. You don’t got to worry about messing up your draft position or anything like that. You can enjoy that win and say, “Hey, to the Wizards, baby, let’s go.” All right. We want to thank everyone for making Lockdown Wizards your first listen every single day. We are part of the lockdown podcast network where it’s your team every day. Free and available wherever you get your podcast every Monday through Friday. For my co-host Doule Yubi, I’m Ben Strober. We tell you to check out the Locked NBA fantasy basketball podcast hosted by Josh Lloyd. He’ll get you ready for the NBA season. All right, DC family. We’re out of here.

Wizards’ rookies stun in preseason clash against Knicks. Will Riley and Trey Johnson shine as Washington’s future takes shape. Is Will Riley earning himself NBA minutes when the season starts?

Ben Strober and Abdullah Ayubi break down the Washington Wizards’ impressive preseason victory, highlighting Riley’s 17-point performance and Johnson’s sharpshooting prowess. The discussion covers Marvin Bagley’s double-double, Jamiir Watkins’ defensive impact, and how these young talents are reshaping the Wizards’ roster. Key topics include Washington’s evolving offensive strategy, the team’s transition game, and potential rotations for the upcoming season.

Can the Wizards’ rookies maintain their momentum when they face Giannis and the Bucks in the season opener?

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