REVELATION: Alex Sarr’s BREAKOUT Is Even MORE IMPRESSIVE Than You Think | Washington Wizards Podcast

REVELATION: Alex Sarr’s BREAKOUT Is Even MORE IMPRESSIVE Than You Think | Washington Wizards Podcast

Alex Sar has been awesome for the Washington Wizards, but he might even be better than we’ve given him credit for. Let’s break down all the numbers and exactly why we say that today on Locked on Wizards. You are Locked On Wizards, your daily Washington Wizards podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. DC family, you’re 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, the number one podcast network in the nation alongside my DC Sports content creating Savannah and co-host Abdullah UB. I’m Ben Strober and I cover all things DC sports for 1067 the fan and the team 980. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started. AB Nico Harrison got fired this morning. Like, yeah. Unbelievable. It had to happen. I I knew it was going to happen, Ben. Shout out to our boys from Locked on Mavs, Nick Angstead, and Isaac Harris. I didn’t think it was going to happen this soon, Ben. I was thinking like at least two months into the season, but they got rid of him. And now Massav fans are excited and it’s interesting to see what their approach is for the rest of the season because Kyrie’s going to come back and eventually AD is going to come back. Yeah, it’s just insane. Like they trade Luca away and how many months it was nine months later, Nico Harrison gets fired. But uh back to our team, the Washington Wizards. We’re on a nine-game losing streak. It’s not a lot of fun. Uh should have won last night or now two nights ago from the time that this will come out here on Wednesday morning. But let’s look ahead. Let’s look at some of the positives that we’ve seen. And Alexar has been an overwhelming positive for this Wizard team uh throughout the early portion of the season here. The Wizards are 1 and 10, but Alexar has certainly been one of the best players on this Wizards team. Maybe an argument for the best player on this Wizards team outside of a CJ McCollum 42 burger against Detroit the other night. I want to get into him and his performance specifically throughout the majority of this episode and why he’s even better than we think right now. And then we’ll preview the Wizards Rockets which will be tonight from the time this comes out. Uh we’ll have the coverage for that here on Locked on Wizards of course. Abdullah Alexar here in year number two sneakily is playing at a near allstar level. I’m not saying he’s going to be an all-star. I’m not saying he’s an all-star yet. We know it’s partially a popularity contest thing. Not partially. It is a populated contest. It is for the most part. Like he’s not going to be an all-star this year. But I did a deep dive into a lot of the numbers for Alexar from year one to year number two. A bunch of different metrics to prove that he’s even better than we expected so far this year. And I surprised myself a little bit because every single night I find myself going, man, Alex Artis continues to impress me. He keeps on getting better as the season’s gone along here. like I’m really starting to see the vision for how great he can be here in DC. And then I look at these numbers and I go, “Wait, he’s almost playing at a level where I’m where I’m saying to myself, this is like what you’d expect out of a guy in maybe year three or four of his career.” And he’s doing it in year number two as a 20-year-old Abdullah. And he’s doing it against guys like Evan Mobley, Jaylen Duran, Joel Embiid, guys who we want him to end up being like when it comes to being a center in this league. And defensively, Ben, another twob block game against the Detroit Pistons. I mean, he is so good at defending the rim and he’s only going to get better. And like you mentioned, not even 21 years old yet. Offensively, that shot diet, Ben, I’m going to keep talking about it because on media day and going into his sophomore season, everyone was talking about will he be more aggressive in the paint? Will he stop shooting from the outside? And he didn’t even take a three until game two or game three of the season. And he really put his money where his mouth is. And you just love to see it because all the noise that he was getting after that his summer league performance as a rookie and a couple games in everyone was writing this guy off. Not Wizards fans included. And right now he has the case to be this best Wizards on this best youngest Wizard on this roster. And there’s going to be a lot of cases for different nights. But right now, Alex Sar has been that guy. And we’re hoping to see more of this throughout the rest of the season because man, he’s been playing at a really good level. It’s funny you bring that up. People that you know kind of trashed his name. I’m not saying this guy trashed his name because he’s a legitimate great NBA reporter. Sam Veni for the athletic. He came out and basically said, “Yeah, I had to give a big apology to Alex Sar for not including the top 10 in my reddraft.” So Sam Vizeni, shout out to him for uh giving some credit to Alex Sar where the credit is due. I’m glad you brought up rim protection, the two blocks per game now in 10 straight. It continues to pace for even better improvement here in year number two. Uh last year a block and a half per game. He’s up to two and a half blocks per game here through the first 11 games of the season. Second in the entire NBA right now behind WMBBY’s just insane. Four blocks per game. So, uh, you know, for him to catch up to WBY, uh, that’d be a massive, massive ask. I think you might as well give Webby the defensive player of the year award right now and maybe should just give him the next five for the next 10 years. Ben, at this point, it seems like it. But he also continues to prove his value as a switch defender. When we were at media day, Will Dawkins told us, he said, “I don’t think a lot of you even understand just how good Alexar was in year number one, especially on the defensive side of the basketball.” He said, per the metrics they use there that he was the number one switch defender in the NBA. And I kind of was thinking to myself, hm, you know, I want to see the tape. I want to see this ability uh translate to on the court. Is this really something that’s the case for this guy and Alex Sar? And so far through the first 11 games, I think it absolutely is one of the more pivotal aspects of his game that’s going to make him such a special player here in the future. The ability he showcases to switch on to players two through five and even the one at times. Last night, multiple occasions where he matches up with Cade Cunningham. And Cade, of course, every time he got the matchup, you know, he was going to try to take it to the rim. He put up 45 shots in the game, so you knew he was going to go crazy uh trying to feast on that matchup. Sar did a really good job holding his own when he got into that mismatch type of matchup. He’s got so much length and athleticism to his game. He’s able to make up to maybe the deficiency he would have in speed guarding some of those guys. But the ability to switch onto really anybody on the floor and provide stability on the defensive side of the basketball is going to be a major asset for this team when they’re ready to compete more defensively. If you look at where the Wizards are right now in terms of a team defensively, it’s really bad. They’re a really bad defense. You cannot sugarcoat it, but it’s not like they don’t have good defenders on this team. And I’m talking about guys like Bal Koulali, Keshan George, and Alex Sar. The other pro the really the problem is the rest of those guys they have out there at times just can’t play any defense. So, it brings everybody else down in a way. So, that’s been the main problem. Alex Sar not one of those problems. Maybe just the strength on the inside guarding some of these big imposing physical centers like Jaylen Duran uh last night. May maybe that can be something you could point to where he can work on his defense. But we know he’s going to get bigger as time goes on in the weight room. I’m really impressed with what he’s brought to the table defensively. It’s better than it is in year number one. And this kid’s 20. It’s going to continue to get better. AB like it’s underrated how good he is defensively right now. 100% Ben. And there was a play against Detroit where he swatted a K Cunningham layup. And I understand K Cunningham had a 45point triple double, but at the at the end of the day doing things like that. And let’s be really honest, nine nineame ski right now. You’re still going out there, you’re still balling out defensively and offensively. I think his 15 rebounds, Ben, was a careerh high like you mentioned. I just you you just how can you not like that? Because this kid via the Athletic not in the top 10 reddraft of the 2024 draft. I mean, it was absurd when it came out. We reacted to it. And I’m glad that he’s quieting all the haters. And to be honest, Ben, I just love how offensively now there’s like movement when it comes to Alex Sar. He’s catching the ball at the high post. He’s catching the low post, taking shots in the paint, the three-point shot. When it’s open, he’ll take it. I mean, he’s really checking off a lot of boxes that honestly didn’t expect this jump probably until like year three, year four, cuz the kid’s only 20 years old. Yeah, I’m glad you brought up catching the ball at high post and going to work. He’s top three in the entire NBA right now in elbow points per game. I think this speaks volumes to his improvement at catching the ball at the high post and just going to work. He looks confident in the mid-range game and I know there was the one shot uh which which game was it where he hit that post fadeaway Kobe Bryantes looking shot. I mean a lot of these games he’s been doing that. There was one where he hit like one of the most ridiculous shots I’ve ever seen him hit and I was like, there’s just no way I saw Alex Sar knock down that type of shot. But honestly, his body control looks a lot better to me on those shots where he was fading away from the mid-range game last year uh as a rookie. At times, it felt like he wasn’t even really facing the basket. He didn’t have great control of his movement and, you know, the coordination wasn’t quite there. He still does have some things to work on in terms of coordination, like catching the ball. sometimes his hands are a little bit questionable. Maybe he’s even leaving some points and opportunities on the table because he’s just having a little bit of trouble catching the ball at times. That’s gotten a bit better uh than it was in year number one, but still something he can improve on. What else have you seen from him in terms of just like going to work from the elbow AB? Yeah, I think if I’m not mistaken, I put out his game in the paint. you love to see it. But there’s also a stat, I don’t know if you mentioned already, but he leads the league right now in the most screen assists, which take take it how you think that is. I mean, still leading a league in that in circumstances like that where you’re still impacting the game from screening a defender. There was a play where he set a nice screen that opened up a s McCollum three late in the game against Detroit. So, Alexar is impacting the game on both ends of the floor. And I think his game is only going to expand. This is the foundation because once he becomes so confident in a young guy who can just go out there and dominate, I mean that take that I had about being a top five, top seven center in this league or forward, whatever position it is, Ben, he’s going to dominate. It doesn’t matter if he’s playing the forward, guard, center, he’s just he knows how to impact the game at such a young age. And being that young, I mean, it’s really scary for everyone else in the NBA. It’s funny because I remember you kind of got a lot of hate saying that he could be a top five to seven center in this league at at some point in the future. And I know positional flexibility is a thing this Wizards organization preaches. And you know, who knows what we’re going to see long term in terms of Alex Sar’s position, but by the numbers right now and and just by the eye test, Alex Sar is not even that far off playing in terms of the level he is right now. There’s more numbers we have to back that up. I’m going to get into that as we roll through the show right here. So, the playmaking ability, even just in terms of screen assists or or whatever else you want to bring up as a big man, a way he can make plays for others, he’s also really improved as a passer. One of the things they wanted to see from him, talking about the Wizards organization, was him passing out of the short role. Uh how could he make plays for others when this team, especially at the moment, doesn’t even really have a point guard right now. So, you need to look for some other options to help create. He’s been that guy. He’s top five in assists per game amongst centers in the entire NBA right now, averaging nearly four per game. The top three guys are far and away, and I’m talking about the top three in the NBA right now. These guys are far and away some of the most elite playmaking centers and elite playmakers period in the entire NBA. And I don’t think Sar could ever really replicate the numbers those guys are putting up. But asking Sar to become an elite as a playmaker those guys is obviously a massive ask. It’d be a bit wild. But the fact that he’s finding himself in the top five right now is super impressive because those guys I’m talking about in the top three. Nicole Joic 11 assists per game. Alprren Shenon over six per game. Julius Randall six per game or Shangon might even be more. I I mis uh mistyped down the uh stat there. But those three guys are elite in terms of their ability to playmake as big guys. And I don’t know if Sar is ever going to be as good as that, especially if this team does find its true point guard in the future. somebody to really facilitate for this offense. But the fact that you have the ability to play make for others as a center in this league and really work out of the short role and create fine catch and shoot opportunities for some of your guys on the outside. It’s impressive that Alex has put up numbers like this here in his second season. It’s an early sample size. We’re 11 games in, but the early returns are looking really good right now. And Ben, the bigger picture, the kid is 71 72 that moves like a guard. I mean, this is what you want as a Wizards fan. This is your foundational piece, and there’s so many young pieces on the squad, and every night we’re probably gonna have to talk about another young guy, but right now, Alex Hart is the talk of the town in DC. Couldn’t agree with you more. I think he’s been the most intriguing story for this Wizards team so far. And I know after the second night, it seemed like Keshan George would be that guy. And there’s a lot of great things we can say about Keshan George right now. But I think in terms of just complete basketball and what he brings to the table and how important he’s going to be for this Wizards team in the future, uh Alex Sar takes the cake for me as the top storyline, the top headline right now for this Wizards team. Outside of the losing of course and you know whatever transpired yesterday blowing that game against Detroit, uh it’s in the past for me. We’re not judging the season by wins and losses. It was bad. You can’t sugarcoat it. It was a bad loss and it would have been nice to see that team get the win, but ultimately they didn’t. But I’m still encouraged by other things we’re seeing on the floor right now. Let’s take our first break. We come back. I got some per 100 uh possession data I want to showcase for you guys about Alex Sar as he continues to prove he’s even better than we think. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. 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From year number one to year number two, we’ve seen dramatic increases in terms of what he’s been able to do uh as an offensive player. Per 100 possessions, his points per game has gone up almost eight from 22.1 to just under 30. His field goal percentage is up to 52% from 39%. His points in the paint is up 100%. per 100 possessions. Last year, just under 10. This year at 18.9, so around 19. It’s just insane how much he’s improved. And we keep on saying every night, he looks good. He looks like a real good player. He’s even better than we thought. I didn’t realize he had improved this much. I know the eye test would indicate that he’s improved a lot, but even by the stats, which usually don’t even tell you the whole story when it comes to these things, the stats say, “Whoa, this guy is even better than we’ve anticipated so far.” Let me ask you this, Ben. I was saying this a couple games ago. Is there a possibility where he can finish top three and most improved player voting? I know Grayson Allen’s been balling out, but I think Alex Sar has a really good case. He can maybe finish like somewhere higher up in the voting. Grayson Allen’s been playing well. I think Denny Diaz probably the favorite right now. Don’t say that. Don’t say that. But well, I mean, I’m just being honest. Like that’s that’s what it that’s how it looks right now. Denny’s balling. Denny’s balling. But but for your case for most improved player, I don’t know. Maybe that’s something where he could even win it like next year or something like that if he continues to put up these type of numbers uh in year number three because the returns right now in year number two as a guy continues to showcase what he’s all about as an offensive player. I mean, you saw people last year saying they were done considering this guy an offensive player. In fact, what was it what what show was it this year where was it Brian Winhurst and somebody else where they were saying like Alex Sar is just a bum? Yeah, that was over the summer. Remember they were talking about his play overseas. Tim McMahon. Yeah, they were saying like Bal and Sar just like bonafide like bums offensively. Uh yeah, a lot of words are being eaten right now by people who really doubted the capability of Alex Sar. And I know you and I obviously had a lot of belief in him. I’ve been bullish on the guy for the most part throughout this process because I had super high expectations for him. And not because I’m saying he had to exceed those expectations early on, just because I knew he was capable of it. Just watching the guy and seeing the athleticism, the skill, the tools he possesses, like this guy can be really good. He just needs to put it all together. And so far, he’s put a great deal of it together. There’s still more he can work on, which we’ll get into in just a second, but I can’t believe we’re actually even having this conversation right here in your number two, AB. I didn’t really expect it to be this great so far. Hopefully, it continues and we’re hoping that it does. And I think again I didn’t think we’re going to have this conversation maybe maybe year three we see that jump but year two this early you really really love to see it and a guy like him Ben who can impact the game in so many ways it just opens up opportunities for other guys on this team on the wing like Keshan George Kulabali Bub Carrington who were hoping to see that team get out of the sophomore slump. I think his ability to impact the game is truly special at such a young age. And obviously WMBB is going to win defensive player of the year and for the next couple of years for sure. But I think Alex R when it comes to making all defensive team he’s definitely going to make a lot of those and a lot of accolades, a lot of stats, a lot of records that we’re hoping to see him break. The kid just the kids he’s a star. Star is a star. I think that’s that’s how you can basically say it. Once this team starts winning, then people will realize it. Obviously, now everyone just the whole league in general. If you’re not a Wizards fan, you don’t really think much of the Wizards. You just think of a you the easy term is a poverty franchise. But once this team starts being competitive in a way when you’re going back to the playoffs, winning in the first round, potentially making it to the conference championship, then fans are going to say, “Man, that guy’s star is actually really good.” Yeah. And I think some people around the league are starting to notice it a little bit because they’re saying, “All right, like we’ll take notice.” I think the teams that play Alexar will really start to notice it. Think about if you’re a Cleveland Cavaliers fan. I know we throw around the comp comparisons with Evan Mobley so often. I wonder if Cleveland fans watching that game were starting to say this kind of looks a little bit like early Evan Moley. And I wanted to touch on Evan Mobley and I know the comp comparisons thrown around so much. We got to see it up close and personal last Friday. It was a blowout game. Obviously Alexar was fantastic in that game as well. One of the things to make the case for Alex Sar and when he might eventually be an all-star because we asked Greg Finnberg, I said, “Buy or sell, do you think he could be an all-star as early as next year?” He said he would sell because he didn’t think the Wizards would be competitive enough to get the fan vote, which I think is a very, very fair point that Greg brings up. Evan Mobley made his first All-Star game last year in the 2024 campaign. He was also the defensive player of the year. Uh, so that that’s a big- time accolade for Evan Mobley who received that award in year number four as a 23-year-old player. So, Alex Saw right now year number two as a 20-year-old player. I think realistically, if he continues to play at this pace and he even improves uh in year number three, he keeps it up here in year number two, improves upon it in year number three to year number four, I feel like you should see Alexar make an all-star game uh by potentially as early as year number three. Definitely by year number four, if he’s putting up these type of numbers, it’s going to be hard to keep him off an all-star team. The Wizards just have to become more relevant for him to get to that level for fans to be interested in what this French kid has to provide. He’s going to continue to improve his game and get better on some things. AB, one thing I want to see him improve upon. I know we’ve been all all about Alex Sar and how great he’s been. One thing that’s a bit of a deficiency in his game right now, uh, and it’s just something he has to work on because he’s a young player. There are times where he struggles turning the ball over and it’s those opportunities where you see him get the ball around the high post, try to go to work with that drop step move when he gets into the lane. He’s still not great with the handle. I noticed when the double team comes his way, he sometimes has a hard time uh keeping the basketball out of harm’s way. You see it get stripped away from him a little bit or lose control of the ball. uh just just control of the basketball. You know, one thing being catching the basketball at the hands and then also showcasing the ability uh to dribble and really control himself with those post moves. Sometimes his body gets a little bit out of control in those moments and he loses possession of the ball. But I think that’s going to iron out as he continues to get reps at that and you know just ball handling ball handling drills all summer long. That’s that’s what Alex Rar is going to be working on I think. Maybe and we we saw that Ben with the suffocating defense of Detroit where it was either K Cunningham or someone on the wing where Alex was trying to post up and someone from his blind side poked the ball away. But once you have an IQ or you saw what happened with Nicole Yokic does if a double team comes, he finds the open man. If Alexar once he realizes that he has to make that quick decision, a quick move, I mean defenses are going to have to figure out either we leave leave our guy one-on-one with him or we’re going to double and he’s going to find someone on the wing for three. Small things like that which young guys will definitely pick up come year three, year four. Absolutely. Let’s take one more quick break. When we come back, a couple more points here on Alexar, then we’ll get into a preview here of Wizards Rockets tonight. If you’re still overpaying for wireless, it’s time to say yes to saying no. At Mitt Mobile, their favorite word is no. 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BPM box plus minus an advanced basketball statistic that estimates a player’s overall contribution to a team per 100 possessions relative to the league average. is calculated using by playbyplay and box score data presented as a per 100 possession stat where it represents a player average. A positive BPM indicates a player’s contributing more points per 100 possessions than average while negative means they are contributing less. Also, this stat uh has a way of accounting for team overall performance. So, Alexar being on the Wizards can’t hurt him in this stat. Essentially, it it accounts for, you know, the poor basketball that might happen around him not dwindling that. Right now, Alex Sar in BPM is over three. He was top 20 around three days ago, but since then, he’s dropped to 37th in the league. So, I think we’re going to circle back to this as the season goes on. He’s actually right behind Evan Mobley right now uh in BPN, and he’s eighth amongst centers in the league right now. So, AB, you said top five to seven. He’s at eight according to this stat of BPM, which is a pretty good indicator to how valuable a player is toward his team and just how effective he can be. Uh you you might have a strong case for what you said a week ago, AP. Yeah, I mean sometimes I’m wrong, sometimes I’m right, but those are some advanced stats, Ben. You love to see it. And I think again, Ben, his obviously WBY is great, but when you think of a guy who can play on both ends of the floor, athletically, the IQ, I think Alexar has the Nicole Yokic is great, don’t get me wrong, but eventually Nicole Yokic is going to retire. He’s getting up there in age. Someone has to step up. I’m not saying Alexar is the next Nicole Joic, but if you see some of the the glimpses that Alexar has provided in year two, and I always talked about how this kid is coming from the Australian league, going from that league to the NBA, it is quite the adjustment. and a lot of people are willing to write him off. Very impatient, but once you give that time that the kid time and put development under him, I think the sky is the limit and we’re hoping to see him continue this as long as he’s healthy. If he can somehow find a way to stay healthy, he’ll be just fine. And remember, we were we were talking about early on the season, man, where it’s like, why isn’t Alex getting this many minutes? Is he in load load load management because of the calf issue? Now, it doesn’t look like it’s an issue at all. Mhm. Absolutely. I think now that he’s been off that restriction, he’s been able to play for the full aotted time that he needs to be out there to prove just how good he can be, just how he might even be better than we think. All right, let’s quickly while we can have some time preview this game against the Houston Rockets. Wizards trying to avoid a double-digit losing streak uh here once again. Two 16game losing streaks last year. If they lose this one, it would be a 10-game losing streak before coming home on Sunday to play the very lowly Brooklyn Nets. So hopefully if it does get to 10, the Wizards would be able to find a win against Brooklyn. Right now, just surface level KD is the leading scoreer right now for this Houston team. And I can’t say I’m surprised this Rocket squad going for it all this year. Made the big move to move on from Jaylen Green. Some other picks as well uh to get Kevin Durant because they felt like he was the missing piece. Fred Van Vleet goes down without an with an ACL injury. So, he’s out for the season. That was a big blow for them. Uh, but Houston still has put, you know, everything together. They’ve kind of been operating without a true traditional point guard for the most part, but Houston has still found a way to be super successful. I’m interested to see the matchups between probably KD and Keshan George who will get that assignment. Uh, we saw Keshan force Kate Cunningham into going six for 14 from the field yesterday and those opportunities. So to get um you know a hall of fame level player and KD up against Keshan will be fun. And then Sar and Alpra and Shane Goon that that’s gonna be that’s gonna be very exciting. Ben and also it’s the Ken Whitmore revenge show Ben. I mean this is the team that traded him. I understand it didn’t work out for him not couldn’t carve out a role in Houston. But if you’re Ken Whitmore even on the heater recently you got to go out there and say there’s a reason why you shouldn’t have traded me and I’m going to go ball out tonight. It be interesting to see. Hopefully we we get the same level of minutes we got the past two nights because after his minutes decreasing for four straight nights and it seemed like maybe he was falling out of favor in the rotation, Keith ensured us that it was nothing to do with him and that he’s going to get his opportunities. They were just trying to see some other things. And uh you know there’s probably some truth to that statement based on how the past two nights went a season high last night for Cam Whitmore who looked really good on both ends of the basketball for that matter. And I was actually mad at Keefe that they took him out of the game on that last possession. I I feel like Bub, I know he’s he’s getting a lot astray right now uh for for leaving Jenkins open in the corner on that play and kind of having a lapse of judgment where he didn’t get to him in time. Should have been denying the ball probably. Why didn’t you have Whitmore out there in that situation? Whitmore had been playing really good defense all night. I don’t I don’t think it made much sense to have Bob in the game at that point. So, I’ll kind of chalk that up to a mistake there for Brian Keefe. Yeah. And also Assar Thompson, right? Wait, no, it’s Amen or Assar that plays for Houston. Amen. As Alar Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Sorry. I always confuse the two. They literally look alike. And then Thompson’s really, really nice as well. He’s so shifty and so quick. So that’s going to be another problem that Washington is going to have to deal with. But if you can find a way to play how you did in Detroit, those four quarters, and you play that like that in Houston, it could be a very competitive battle to the end. But again, Kevin Durant so freaking gifted. One of the best scorers of all time in the NBA. Alan Shangon a mini Nicole Joic. This Houston Reed Shepard who’s having a really good year. They have some nice pieces and if the Wizards don’t find a way to play complimentary basketball, it could be a long night and the losing streak could potentially extend to 10. Yeah, we just want to see this team compete. Uh last night was definitely a breath of fresh air to see the team compete for the entirety of the game. Should have got the win. It didn’t happen. But I’m just happy to see the team even be in it. I want a chance in every single game. I know the wins and losses are important. You ideally want to lose enough games to keep that draft pick, but I want to see these young guys have an opportunity to try and go win a game because they need those learning experiences playing down the stretch. They didn’t look good last night in overtime and late in the fourth quarter. They they fell apart a little bit and some of it was to the fault of the young guys, but that’s the learning curve. This is the first time that a lot of these guys have had the opportunity to play in a situation like that in the NBA. So, the only way you’re going to get better is by learning from your mistakes. And last night was an example of that. AB, hopefully we continue to see that happen a lot more, but maybe the mistakes are going to turn into, you know, some perfections. Yeah. And again, at the end of the day, wins and losses truly don’t matter. It’s all about player development. That’s why we made a whole video about Alex R. Yeah, 100%. Alex Sar, he’s been even better than we have thought. What have you guys made of Alex Sar in his game? Is he even better than you anticipated? Did some of the stats we broke down today maybe even enlighten you a little bit about just how good he’s been as a center in the league so far? Let us know in the comments. Let us know what you’re looking forward to seeing the most in this matchup between Washington and Houston. We’ll have the coverage for you tonight here on Lockdown Wizards. We thank you for making Lockdown Wizards your first listen every single day. a part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in the nation. For my co-host Abdullah, I’m Ben Strober, DC family. We’ll talk to you later.

Alex Sarr is quietly playing at a near All-Star level in his second NBA season, and the advanced metrics prove it. Despite the Washington Wizards’ 1-10 start and nine-game losing streak, the 20-year-old center has transformed his game with dramatic improvements across the board.

Ben Strober and Abdullah Ayubi break down Sarr’s defensive dominance—ranking second in the NBA with 2.5 blocks per game behind only Victor Wembanyama—and his elite switch defense capabilities that rank among the league’s best. The hosts analyze his offensive evolution, including doubled paint scoring, top-three elbow production, and league-leading screen assists. Per-100-possession statistics reveal shocking jumps: field goal percentage from 39% to 52%, points per game up nearly 8, and paint scoring doubled from last season.

The discussion includes comparisons to Evan Mobley’s All-Star trajectory, Most Improved Player candidacy, and a preview of the upcoming matchup against the Houston Rockets featuring Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun.

Discover why critics are eating their words about Washington’s franchise cornerstone and when he could make his first All-Star appearance.

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BREAKTHROUGH: Alex Sarr’s Sophomore Season Numbers PROVE He’s Already Playing at Near All-Star Level | Can Wizards Build Around Him?
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