Washington Wizards GM Will Dawkins Remains COMMITTED to The Plan But Says Team Has a WAYS TO GO

Washington Wizards GM Will Dawkins Remains COMMITTED to The Plan But Says Team Has a WAYS TO GO

Wizards general manager Will Dawkins broke his silence ahead of the preeason. He said they remain committed to the plan, but at the same time there’s still a ways to go. You are Locked On Wizards, your daily Washington Wizards podcast, part of the Locked On 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 the Lockdown Wizards your first listen every single day. We’re part of the Lockdown podcast network where it’s your team every day. If you’re not an Everydayer already, come on, join the DC family. Subscribe. It’s free and available on all platforms. It helps the channel grow. I am one of your co-host, Ben Strober. cover all things DC sports for 1067 the fan and the team 980 and alongside as always the DC sports content creating Simon Abdullah Iubi host of the DMV sports zone page AB how we feeling today will Dawkins addressed the media for the first time ahead of the preeason and you know really starts to feel like Wizards basketball is almost here I got to ask you how was it man you were there in person I know you had a good time dude it was awesome it it really was I got some you know thoughts personally about the experience ahead over there, which I’ll I’ll get into. But for starters, really good experience over there at CareFirst Arena. We’ve got a ton to get to in today’s episode breaking down everything we learned as Will Dawkins, the general manager of the Washington Wizards, addressed the media today. Gave some major updates on injuries for players. I know that been a big concern that we’ve talked about on the channel here quite a bit uh as time has rolled along here. Uh, also we got some more intel on how some of the moves this past off seasonason were made. Cam Whitmore was a big topic of conversation today for Will Dawkins and overall just the scheme of things, the plan going forward. So obviously this complete tearown the Wizards got into multiple years ago now entering three year three of this rebuild. The plan stays the same. There is a commitment and that’s why Will Dawkins and I really love that he did this. The first thing he did when he got up to the podium, he delivered his opening statement. I’m going to say this. This is really funny uh from Dawkins. It’s the first time I’ve been in person to see a press conference from him. He did something where he said, “I’m going to play journalist and I’m going to assume a lot of the questions you guys are going to ask me and I’m just going to answer them.” His opening statement was around 15 to 20 minutes long where he was just answering every question he knew already was going to get asked him, including injuries to players, where they are as an organization, where they are in the rebuild, and then he took questions after that. But the first statement uh that he made today was really powerful because he started off by giving credit to you guys, the listeners, everyone out there that’s watching this. He said, “We got to give a lot of credit to our fan base.” He called them energy drivers and how he appreciates that they have been fully committed just like them to this whole rebuild process they’ve been in. He said, “Your commitment does not go unnoticed. Keep standing in there with us is what Dawkins said.” So, uh, showing some love to the fans. He knows that fans have been patient for quite some time to see winning basketball. And he knows at times it gets tough. you can get impatient as a fan base when you lose 64 games in a season and ultimately have back-to-back seasons where you have multiple losing streaks of double digits. He understands that and I think he he really did some justice there by taking some time really the first five minutes to address where the fan base has been and how much the players appreciate it. The front office appreciates it uh appreciates what they have been able to do. So I think that was nice to see from Dawkins at the start there. Abdullah, I think that’s a great way to start off your conference going into a lot of questions, but before you do that, you thank the fans and this is something that we harp on. We appreciate you guys for listening to us, for listening to all Wizards media outlets. It’s tough, a team that’s going into year three of this rebuild where you haven’t been competitive in so long and you’re hoping that eventually this franchise finds that change in direction of winning basketball. And Will Daw has made it clear again that this team isn’t going to take any shortcuts. We’re an organization that’s going to take their time. We’re getting close, but we’re just not there yet. And being patient. That’s the key theme that I learned from that conference. Exactly. And reminder to stay locked on with us through the entirety of the episode. We’re going to let you hear from Will Dawkins, the general manager of the Washington Wizards. So, aside from thanking the fans, one of the things early on he got directly into is where they are as an organization right now. And this quote really stuck out from the beginning because Will Dawkins, he did not sugarcoat where the organization is still citing that they have a ways to go. He said, “Rostster-wise, we’re still in the early phase of this rebuild.” He cited the team is not as experienced entering camp compared to the previous two seasons, and that’s pretty evident uh by some of the veteran players they’ve had depart from the organization recently. He said, “A lot of the growth that happens is behind closed doors, but we want to see that growth reflect on the floor more.” And when I heard him say that, I said, you know, this is kind of exactly I felt like what he would say because in this situation, yeah, you can preach all you want about how hard guys have been working in the off seasonason, how you’ve been doing a great job being diligent in the draft process, trying to get your guys in the building, trying to make moves that are set up for the future. But at some point, you do have to see these results on the floor. And I think Dawkins made that a point of emphasis today, saying, “Hey, we know this. We’re still in a situation where it’s going to be tough. You’re going to have a lot of struggles throughout the season. and you have a super boughtin youth movement here in DC. There’s going to be struggles, but you’re going to have to bear with it because they’re going to want those guys to grow as basketball players night in night out. Uh so good to hear that that there’s still a commitment uh to what the Wizards have tried to instill. And I’m glad that’s the case because for one thing that was apparent from this Wizards organization for such a long time under the current ownership of Ted Leonis is that they were never allowed to tank. They hated tanking. They hated the word. They hated the idea of a complete rebuild. They were completely against that for so long and that’s why previous GMs, you know, albeit they were not good talent evaluators in Tommy Shepard and Ernie Grunfeld. They made a lot of bad decisions, but part of that might be because they were never able to fully rebuild when the organization had to. There was always this idea they were going to build around a player like Bradley Beal and pay him the max contract and the no trade clause. Just a disaster. It was never going to work out. But now that they’ve fully committed to this, I’m glad they’re sticking with it. I know it’s tough now that it’s been really 2 to 3 years where you’re consistently losing and it’s it’s tough to sell out the stadium. You’re going to get a lot of opposing fans in there, but they remain committed to this process and that’s one thing that has me excited going forward for it. And again, going back to what I said in the previous episode, not no shortcuts, Ben. That’s that’s what I love to hear. Like you mentioned the previous regimes, it was never about trying to start over. You didn’t want to be patient and just go over that o over a whole different process of trying to rebuild a team. And you’re always stuck in the middle. And I always say being stuck in the middle is the worst position in all of sports. But that’s what I love about Will Dawkins. He’s telling everyone in the media that we understand that we’re not going to be competitive this year. But we’re from where we were from when I took over this team to now, you can see the growth. And when it comes to the young guys, he mentioned that we’re the third youngest team in the NBA, which is that’s insane. That’s again youth movement for so long here in DC. about signing guys or throwing money to guys like Yan Mheime and expecting holes to be filled whether it’s in the center position or just trading for guys that are just way past their prime in the wing position. But now you have so much depth at the wing position and so many young guys the front court, back court that you can only be optimistic when it comes to this team. And I understand that we’ll always go back to the whole idea that this team’s not going to be winning, but I definitely expect them to be more competitive this year. Yeah, he he preached competition to the max today. He talked about how there’s going to be lengthy battles in camp and how everyone is going to have to earn every single minute they play on this team. And that’s what he’s most looking forward to about training camp, the preseason, the start of the regular season. They’re returning around 72% of the minutes played last year on this team right now. And he said that he’s excited to see how those guys are going to have to fight to keep their minutes. It said it’s really rare uh to see such a young team like Washington where you have 12 players under 24 years old return that many minutes in a season. And it’s pretty unprecedented uh that you’re going to see that many young guys that are sticking around um for really the majority of a season before and then coming back and trying to build upon what you did in the last year. And another thing he cited as well that they were looking to be a more connected team. They wanted to be more resilient and more confident. And I think that’s a big thing because at times last year this group definitely did lack a lot of confidence. And my god it’s easy to do so if you lose 16 games in a row two times. How could you be confident in yourself as a player? That’s the biggest problem. You can’t have anything like that happen again because if you’re out there losing by 30 every single night, if you lose 15 games in a row multiple times, everybody falls out of the system. Nobody’s on the same page. Nobody has belief in what the organization is trying to do. And I think that’s why they’ve made a point of emphasis. They need to compete. They need to be in a lot of these games this year because you don’t want things to happen the way they did last year at times because it it got borderline ugly. it got impossible to watch. And I think there’s, you know, the the notion that something like that could happen again. He didn’t say directly that something’s going to happen, but he said be expected or be prepared to see struggles from this team. Be prepared to see the growing pains that you’re going to have from the third youngest team in the NBA. It’s perfectly normal. They’re going to have to find ways to grow. And that’s one of the main things he’s looking for out of these players this year. seeing how they respond to adversity, seeing how they’re able to learn from the mistakes they make. 82 games in a season, you’ve got plenty of time to build upon what you did last year. He’s really going to put to the test which guys were able to put the work in this off season. Who is learning from the mistakes and who is developing? I think and that’s fine. Like you mentioned, it’s okay to have those mistakes because you’re learning from them. And on top of that, this team right now, you weren’t you were not dealing with the guy in Kyle Koozma last year where it was the body language is bad on and off the court. You have veterans like CJ McCull and Chris Wilson that are buying in to what Will Zawkins is trying to build when it comes to the whole idea of a winning culture here. It starts with off the court and also begins with on the court. So with the Wizards, I’m expecting this team to not go through two double digit game losing streaks. I think that’s just unexcusable. I think there’s going to be a lot of more games where they’re they’re going to be in it come the fourth quarter, and that’s what we’re hoping to see. Yeah, he he cited the veterans. He didn’t really take a lot of questions about the veterans, which is a little bit surprising to me, but not at the same time because they’re so bought into this youth movement. I think a lot of the reporters there were uh pretty invested in asking questions about the youth, which I think is completely justified. Uh but he did say Chris Middleton and Cory Kissert and CJ McCollum, those guys will be playing minutes. They’re going to help them be more competitive. Uh, so that tells me you should expect those guys to play a good amount of minutes, especially early in the season alongside a lot of the young players. And I think it’s going to be strategic. You’ll see those guys play first half of the game, maybe into the third quarter. Maybe by the fourth quarter though, you see the lineup completely change the way you did last year where you have a lot of these veteran players see the bench instead in the fourth quarter. Let your young guys go out there and compete if the game is close. And if you end up winning the game because your young guys come through for it, you live with that. That’s a good sign of things going forward for your organization, a good sign that players are developing. They’re getting used to the idea and the culture that comes with winning. But if you end up losing to protect your draft status, then ultimately it’s it’s a win at the end of the day as well. If you were competitive and and kept it close out there for the majority of the game, and that’s what I’m hoping for when it comes to those late game situations. Trey Johnson or any of the young guys are taking those last second shots. Absolutely. I mean, it’s just going to be fun to really see the way they go through lineup combinations. One thing that Dawkins said, they’ll probably break a record for different lineup combinations they put out there. So, uh, get ready for it. You’re probably going to see a different starting lineup so many times this year. You’re going to see so many different lineups that will, you know, play with different guys off the bench. The rotation is going to be really, really tough to follow at times, I think. Uh, but ultimately, it should make it pretty interesting to watch and and compelling on a night in nightout basis. All right, real quick. We’ll take a quick timeout. When we come back, uh, Will Dawkins gave us a detailed injury report for the team and gave us some updates on some guys we were looking to hear about. We have that next on Lockdown Wizards. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for a kickoff with a can’t miss offer. 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. I love using Fandal because it fits how I like to bet. Player prop, same game parlays, or even jumping in live as the action unfolds. It makes every game that much more exciting. And whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup, FanDuel is the best way to do it. It’s quick and easy, and it’s the best way to add a little more energy to Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. Got a detailed injury report from Will Dawkins. That was really the first thing he got into in the press conference when he was playing journalist, uh, as he liked to put it. So, that was pretty funny from Will Dawkins to do that early on. But, I’m going to go through and we’re going to break down all of the news we got and most of it is pretty positive for the most part. Some of the things I think we were pretty aware of what was going on, maybe some new ones that popped up here. Uh, Cory Kiss had a slight thumb injury. He is healthy. He’ll be good to go for the start of the season. uh he expects Cory Kissper to have a big impact on this team and I think that’s one of the things that I tweeted out. I saw a lot of replies that were not too happy about that to hear that, but he said he’s going to be super impactful and they loved the way he played offensively toward the end of last season and Brian Keefe system. They felt like he really started to just get it. Uh so that was one thing that Dawkins uh preached as well is that you might see a lot of Cory Kissper. Trey Johnson had a slight hamstring thing as we know toward the end of the summer league. He’s completely healthy. He is ready to go. So, that is great to hear. Great for the rookie of the year narrative we’ve been trying to put up. Will Riley also had a thumb injury that kept him out for the remainder of the summer league. He is healthy. He’s good to go. Uh it’s going to be interesting to see if he gets some Capital City Go minutes. One of the things that they also brought up was that they are going to be heavily involved with Capital City Go this year. Uh they expect a lot of players that especially the ones on the wing. This is exactly what he said. and he said uh especially for the wing position where we know we have a congested group right now. We expect a lot of guys to get great work from the go- go because they have a lot of belief uh in what they’ve been able to do. They’ve been able to develop plenty of the two-way players the Wizards have had in the past and they continue to have that confidence in that group. So that’s good to hear right there. And now Bal Koulali, the one that you probably all been waiting for, the thumb roll please, Ben Bal Koulabali. So his thumb he will miss training camp. He’s expected back around the second week of the regular season. He’s going to be re-evaluated in about two weeks from now. So, that’s some decently positive news for Blah Kouli. Ultimately, you didn’t want him to have to miss any time, including training camp. And obviously, there’s going to be battles throughout training camp for a spot to play on the wing. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how he fits back in the rotation or if he just slots right back in when he comes back from injury. Some more positive news there that you’re not going to have Bal missing too long of a period of the time and this brings up when you brought up battles Ken Whitmore I mean we’ll get to him too but that opens up opportunities for him and going back to the wing position that’s one thing that we were talking about the capital city go they have the track record of developing young guys so I’m I’m happy about that I’m hoping that Jir Watkins will rather take advantage of those opportunities we saw what happened with Justin Champy last year going from the two-way contract to a really good friendly team deal and at the end of the day when it comes to wing position I love Cory Kisser. If he can go out there and shoot threes and make them, so be it. I just want to go out there. I want to go out with the guys that can go out there and make an impact. I don’t really have favorites. Obviously, I want the lawyer to be that star guy for this franchise because we’ve seen flashes from him. But if he’s not out there, it’s the next man up mentality in sports and I’m hoping that Cam Whitmore can take advantage of his opportunities and maybe Jir Watkins can make an impact defensively. We saw what we did in summer league and Keshan George. Maybe he’s best suited at the three star at the four. Again, going back to how many lineup combinations this young team could have, sky’s is the limit. Absolutely. Alex Sar, a calf injury, which he uh sustained in the Euro basket toward the end. He was ultimately shut down toward the end of the tournament. Uh he’s going to miss the start of training camp, but he should be good to go by the end and by the start of the regular season. So, good news right there that you’re likely not missing any time with Alex Sar to begin the year. Big year two upcoming for him. We’re going to play some audio about Alex R because Will Dawkins had a lot of praise to give out uh for the center who allegedly has grown almost an entire inch in the offseason. So Alex Rar continues to get bigger per Will Dawkins. AJ Johnson as a leg bruce. He’s going to participate in camp. Uh but right now he’s not 100%. I wonder if he’s a guy uh that might see time with the go-go at some point. That’ll be interesting to point out as the season goes on. And then last but not least, Tristan Bhuchevich had a slight hamstring thing he was dealing with. He is healthy and he is good to go. So overall, pretty positive news right there for the Wizards in terms of injury. Obviously, Bal missing time is never ideal, but it seems like he’ll be back pretty shortly uh from after the when the regular season starts. Maybe he’ll be missing a week or two at most. And honestly, that’s again not the worst thing because you’re happy that the injury happened early on in the offseason compared to now going right into training camp. And we’re hoping that Bal Kabali when he comes back can be able to impact and be the offensive high motor guy that we think he can be and defensively he’s already really he’s already really good and we’re hoping that he can get better. So prayers up for Bal. Yeah. And there was a lot of questions that uh Bri that Will Dawkins was asked about Bal Kulabali and his future. He was asked if he felt like this was a makeorb breakak type of year obviously becoming extension eligible next season. And Will Dawkins said he didn’t think this was a makeorb breakak type season for Bal. He said they’re pretty happy with what they’ve seen from him in terms of development. They said compared to when they drafted him uh back in 2023 to now is a completely different player in their eyes. The direct quote that Dawkins used is that Bal Kulabali is already a defensive meace. He cited a couple metrics to indicate that he’s been a guy that has consistently been able to lock down number one options for other teams. and they think offensively that jump is going to come for him. And it’s it’s just another thing that’s a work in progress for him. Another guy that has been super good defensively for this team that Dawkins had a lot of praise for was Alex Sar. And I’m going to play the audio for you right here. Here’s what the general manager of the Washington Wizards, Dawkins, here’s what he had to say about Alex Sar last year and his surprisingly incredible defense to be five or six in blocks like number two in contest. Like he’s getting after it. he’s impacting the game. And then what we love most about him is he does that at the rim and then he can go out and switch. And for us when we ran the numbers, he was the number one most efficient switch defender in the NBA last year on anybody that had over 200 attempts. So Alex was balling last year. Um especially on the defensive end. So yeah, he said it was a bit of a surprise to him that he was that effective defensively and was able to protect the uh the rim as well as he did even after they drafted him. That was not really exactly the idea they had for him. But he said maybe at times he was almost too tenacious as a shot blocker and that’s just an area that he can get better. He cited that Alex Sar needs to get better on the glass which is something we’ve talked about the entire summer. But the number one inefficiency as a switch defender is something I I had no idea. I did not know that either, Ben. That’s really interesting. But that’s good because that provides you some versatility on the defense when you have a big man, someone at his size now around 7 foot, 71 after growing about an inch this off season. Uh he gives you the ability to switch out on the perimeter and maybe help you uh avoid getting some bad matchups defensively because he he cited that defensively he knows they’re going to be times where it’s not going to look good. They might be uh below the middle of the pack in terms of rebounding and defensive numbers, but he wants to see them obviously get better because they were the worst defensive team in the league two years ago and bottom three last year as well. He says that’s something that absolutely has to change. And if you get a rim defender like Alex Sar playing at a high level, Ben, that really changes up the offensive game plan for opposing teams because they can’t take it to the hole. They’ll be scared to put up shots and they’ll be forced to take mid long mid-range shots or three-pointers where hopefully they’ll have heavily contested and the wing guys can figure out this perimeter defense and be better at it. So, a guy like Alex Saw with his defensive capability changes the game for DC and we’re hoping that he gets those three to four blocks a game because that’s what we saw in the summer league and we’re hoping that he can translate. One thing I do want him again to understand is making sure you don’t jump for everything. A guy who loves blocking shots, you also be falling for any other pump fake out there. So maybe if he can understand that discipline, but also being that aggressive when it comes to blocking shots, if you can get that figured out with a high motive that we’re hoping he can get offensively, is breakout year two coming. Yeah, he said physicality is going to be a big thing for him and they expect him to get more physical. All right, let’s take a quick break. When we come back, I’ll give you the skinny on the situation with Cam Whitmore being acquired by the Washington Wizards this summer. When I found out Ski was making an underwear for men, I was intrigued. I’ve heard so much about their quality from friends and family, so I had to give it a try. Let me tell you, it lives up to the hype. I’ve always had issues with underwear, fit, comfort, or just finding the right style for me. Skiims changed all of that. Their men’s line offers something for everyone. From boxer briefs to classic briefs, all designed with the perfect balance of comfort and style. I tried the Skiim Stretch Five boxer brief, and I am hooked. These are perfect for my active lifestyle, and they move with me. They never lose their shape and they stay in place all day. Whether I’m working out or just running errands, they’re the most comfortable and reliable underwear I have ever owned in my life. Plus, the lightweight material feels amazing. It’s almost like you’re wearing nothing at all. I shop Ski Men’s atks.com. I let them know we sent you. After you place your order, select podcast in the survey and select lockdown on Wizards in the drop-own menu that follows. big talk of the press conference today from Will Dawkins, general manager of the Washington Wizards, was how did the Cam Whitmore trade come to be? What does this mean for the organization going forward? And really, Dawkins, to put it frank, said this is a guy that they had their eyes on ever since draft night. Um, one of the things that anecdotally Dawkins was able to uh give us some information on is that he talked to him the night of the draft and said, “Can you handle playing at home? Is that something that is okay with you? Do you want to do it? And then ultimately Whitmore said yes. And obviously the Wizards did not go that route. But at the end of the day, he said the grassroots scouts and the entire front office scouting department, they kept their eyes on Whitmore for really the last two seasons. every step of the way from the pre-draft workouts, from the workouts he did with the Rockets, even after he was there. Uh they were scouting him fiercely uh throughout his first two years in the association and they were waiting for the right time to be out there um or to go out there and get Cam Whitmore. So, it seems like it’s almost a match made in heaven because this is a guy it seems like they’ve wanted from the get-go. Now, they finally got the opportunity to get him. That’s unbelievable. And before the trade before the trade happened, I was so high on him and I really thought that maybe one day he could come to DC, but it was just really wasn’t talked about. And in the whole John De Kaminga situation, the Wizards were I reportedly interested in him. But out of nowhere, he trad two second round picks for Kim Whitmore. And I love it. I love what Will Dawkins is doing. He does everything under the table. He doesn’t want anyone to know about it, which how business should be done. And I think Kim Whitmore can carve out a role here in DC. the limited time that he had in Houston. I understand some of the performances that he have with the career highs was in garbage time, but he took advantage of those opportunities. Not many people can go out there and score 30 points a game against the Lakers and going into a team in DC where you desperately need scores. Trey Johnson obviously is going to be great, but there’s going to be some nights where he’s going to be off and teams double teaming and then that opens up opportunities for a guy like Cam. Dawkins is fully confident that Whitmore is going to score. He said and quote, “He’s going to put the ball in the hole and make his teammates better.” He also said that he loved his athletic ability and thinks he can be dynamic on both ends of the floor. And I know defensively that’s the biggest question mark with a guy like Cam Whitmore. He hasn’t really shown much defensively through his first two years in the NBA, but they’re going to be bought into the defensive mentality. That’s what Dawkins said today. And ultimately, I think with him and Brian Keefe and everybody uh being on the same page, you might see a different level of intensity defensively from Cam Whitmore. He also said that he understands that he’s going to have opportunities here that he didn’t have in Houston. However, it’s going to have to be earned. So, it’s competition, competition, competition. That’s going to be the biggest thing for this Wizards thing. That’s the theme of the season. And here’s what Will Dawkins had to say about acquiring Cam Whitmore. We’ve integrated a guy who’s from here that’s now on the team and Cam Whitmore. So, your thoughts about how he’s going to be integrated in the team and what he can do. Yeah, I think Cam’s integrated himself well. We’ve been fortunate to have him since July and he’s a kid that knows what DC’s basketball is about. He’s proud to be back here and help define what Wizards basketball is going to be known for moving forward. I think everybody’s in that room is excited for that challenge, but he’s someone that we add to our deep wing group who went through the draft process with Bala. He obviously didn’t get as much opportunity in Houston for whatever reason. Um, but he understands that he’s going to have opportunity here, but it’s got to be earned and I don’t know when that’s going to come, but he’s excited. Um he’s a powerful, explosive, dynamic athlete who can compete on both ends. We got to get him to be consistent, but he’s going to score, put the ball in the hole, and make his teammates better, and as a whole make the group better. So, we’re excited to have Cam. Um hearing it right there from the general manager of the Washington Wizards, Will Dawkins. Cam Whitmore, a dynamic piece added to this Washington Wizards lineup. He’s going to have to earn all of his opportunities. He doesn’t know when it’s going to be. So maybe if you’re out there believing he might start on opening night, well, I’m not too sure about that. We’ll have to see how things shape up following camp. But there’s certainly going to be a battle for it. And it seems like it’s almost it’s just the way I’ I’ve taken away. They are so happy to have him in the building because I think one he’s super excited to be part of this organization. And he said what Wizards basketball is going to be known for. And that kind of remains to be seen. What is Wizards basketball going to be known for in a couple years? I think once you get out of this period where you’re kind of in the rut, you’re kind of tanking and losing a lot of games because that’s just how it works when you’re trying to build your team up. I think they want to be known as a team that is really aggressive on the defensive side of the basketball that can push the ball in transition and use athleticism to their advantage. Think about all the guys they have on this team. There are some freak athletes uh on this squad and Cam Whitmore just another piece of the puzzle for that. And again, when you have a guy like Alex Sar going back to him who who plays def defense like it’s in has his hair on fire and blocking shots, I think that motivates guys like a Cam Whitmore like a Keshan George or Hub Carrington or Trey Johnson to go out there even put more effort when you see a guy who’s playing with that high motor. And going back to Cam, I think a lot of people questioning his effort and whatnot defensively. I mean, if you look at the situation in Houston, he just really wasn’t given that fair hand. So, how much of blame can you give him rather than the situation that he was in? So, I think at the end of the day, Kim Whitmore, this was the best thing, having a fresh new start, coming back to his hometown in Washington DC. And we’re hoping that he can carve out that role because I want him to succeed. I go back to the whole draft process in 2023. I wanted him with that first round pick. I didn’t think we’re going to take Bal Kubali, we took Bal, and now the fact you have them both on the same team and then essentially when Bal comes back from injury, they’re going to be competing for that spot. A lot of narratives for this Wizards team, Ben, and I’m looking forward to it, man. 30 minutes just isn’t enough time to really even go through and get to the entire gist of what the press conference Dawkins gave today. There’s still a lot that we have to get to and we’ll definitely cover it in the episode that’ll come out tomorrow as well. I think one thing that uh we heard a lot about today was Bob Carrington, Trey Johnson, Keshan George we also heard about from Dawkins. So that’s something that we’re going to cover in tomorrow’s episode. The basis of today though, the Wizards remain committed to where they are in this rebuild. They’re going to continue to do this thing the right way and there’s still a ways to go, but there are some positive things you can take away from what you’ve seen over the first two years and it’s just about taking the next step and that’s what this organization hopes to do here in year number three of the rebuild. No shortcuts. No shortcuts. No shortcuts. That’s what I like to hear and that’s what I’m hoping to see more competitiveness this upcoming year. They’re in for the ride in this rebuild and so are we here on Lockdown Wizards. Thank you for making Lockdown Wizards your first listen every single day. Let us know down below in the comments what your reaction was to the comments that the general manager of the Washington Wizards, Will Dawkins, made today. Do you feel confident still in this group as it enters year number three of the rebuild? Be sure to let us know. Subscribe. It is free. It’ll help the channel grow. And hey, we see a lot of you guys are are starting to come back to the channel now that basketball season’s getting closer and closer. Keep it locked on with us on the Locked On Wizards podcast. We’ve got a lot more for you. We continue to roll things throughout here on the Lockdown Wizards podcast. For your second listen, be sure to check out the Lockdown NBA podcast for all of your latest updates around the NBA. Tough news for the Houston Rockets losing Fred Van Bleach. So, uh, that’s that’s tough news for Williamson media day looks so completely different off. I don’t I can’t believe it. For my co-host Abdullah Yubie, I’m Ben Shro Wizards Nation. We’re out.

Washington Wizards GM Will Dawkins talked to the media today for the first time, and he gave a detailed breakdown of the state of the organization and what happens next. Ben and Abdullah were on site and reacted to Dawkins’ comments. They both believe the commitment to the rebuild is the way to go. You will also hear audio from the press conference throughout the show, highlighting players such as Cam Whitmore and Alex Sarr.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-wizards/

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nba/

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
5-Hour ENERGY
Enough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.

SKIMS
Shop SKIMS Mens at SKIMS.com/lockedonnba. Let them know we sent you! After you place your order, select “podcast” in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting https://FanDuel.com to get started

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#WashingtonWizards #NBA #Wizards