Danny Rouhier Says the Washington Wizards Are Rebuilding the RIGHT WAY | Washington Wizards Podcast

Danny Rouhier Says the Washington Wizards Are Rebuilding the RIGHT WAY | Washington Wizards Podcast

The Washington Wizards have lost 10 games in a row. How important is it? What are we seeing? Is there development? Is it being stunted? What college prospects look the best? Let’s ask our pal Danny Ruier today. All that and more on Locked on Wizards. You are Locked on Wizards, your daily Washington Wizards podcast, part of the Locked Ons 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 sports podcast network in the nation talking all things Wizards 5 days a week alongside the DC sport content creating Savannah and my co-host Abdul Aubie. I’m Ben Shro and I cover DC sports for 1067 the fan and the team 980. Today we are joined by one half of the Grant and Danny show, our pal Danny Ru. Funny Danny joins the program for the first time. We’ve been trying to make this happen uh for quite some time now. Danny, we’re happy to finally have you on the program here. Uh thank you, boys. It’s a It’s an honor to be on. I didn’t realize it was number one. That’s that’s a pretty big deal, dudes. I love it. Number one as of last week, we got the news. So, uh it’s awesome. Right in your eye. 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. Uh Danny, between the football team that you have to talk about every single day and the Grant and Danny show weekdays 2 to 6:30 on 1067 the fan and the basketball team, there’s not a lot of defense that we see happening around here. And although it’s a 10-ame losing streak for our Wizards right now, we’ve seen some positive development uh from some of these young guys like Alex Sar and Keshan George throughout the season. What have you made of the first 11 games of the season here outside of losing 10 in a row? Yeah, the the win loss record. I I this is what I want. I signed up for this literally this. I’m much older than you guys. Um and I lived for 40 years basically 41, 42, 43, however many years of a strive for the middle. Let’s let’s see if we can get that seven seed uh type build from Marty Grunfeld for multiple decades, which is just an insult to all of us. Um, and for so many years they were just so content with trying to be okay. And I don’t want that. I want a championship. I want a banner. I want a 50- win season. I I want reasonable things that happened to every other city at some point, right? All I want is to be in the cool kids club and let the chips fall where they may. Maybe you get hot. Maybe you’re a Toronto. Maybe uh, you know, God willing, a Golden State type dynasty or this Oklahoma City type build. We are in an asset gathering phase. I know that sucks for a lot of people because they’ve been losing for a long time. But to me, there is way, way, way, way, it’s not even on, not even on the same scale. Way more value than losing with Alex Sar turning into something than running Bradley Beal 40 minutes tonight into the ground pretending that he’s a superstar so I can win 32 games. I’m not interested in in the latter. I do care about the former. So, to me, watching them not play very good defense every night, okay, that’s a learning lesson. Now, that’s all I’m doing right now, guys, is gathering data. I’m trying to figure out who do I want to build around, who would I build with and who’s an asset that maybe I can spin for something else in the future. Be a draft commodity, be it, you know, to pluck my next uh SJ off a roster uh where where they don’t realize what they have. Whatever it is, this is an asset gathering phase and I’m and I’m seeing it happen in real time and totally fine by me. Yeah, 100% Danny. I think a lot of fans need to realize this is a complete rebuild. It wasn’t like in the past where you get some guy build a big or mid three like Porzingis be and Koozma and think that you’re going to compete and make the seventh and eighth seed. I think what we want to get from you also is head coach Brian Keefe. Danny, a lot of fans are already questioning him and I think not a lot of people realize the plate that he’s dealt with. How would you assess his coaching 12 games into the season? That’s a great question and this is hard. This is hard because my metrics are not going to be the same as a lot of fans metrics, right? they’re going to want to see are are, you know, are they pulling out, you know, is he is he using some great uh uh out of timeout played or win you a game or or something like that. My metrics aren’t that. I’m looking at player development. I think that’s what his tasks is. Tasks are rather. So, to me, when I look at a coach uh in any sport, this is I I think about this with the Nationals. I know this is locked on Wizards, but bear with me everybody. This is baseball. It’s a game played outside 490 foot bases and there’s a mound, the whole deal. Um Dave Martinez, who was let go by the Nationals uh during this season. One of the metrics, not World Series Dave Martinez, but for the young players, where’s my improvement? Where’s my better at bats as the season goes? Where are my base running uh uh bits of acumen? Where, you know, the the outfitter thorn of the right cutoff man playing smart baseball? Rookie mistakes are fine. When rookie mistakes are being made by third, fourth, fifth, and sixth year players, not fine anymore. Back to the Wizards. What are my metrics? It’s not wins and losses. uh you know it’s you know right now you think of that timeout last night a minute into the third quarter uh where he’s screaming at him about playing some defense they end up playing a pretty good defensive third quarter. I care right now more about player development than I do wins and losses. Some of that’s going to manifest itself in good defense, good rotations, uh and things like that. But to me, I’m looking at the growth of Alex Sar and I’m going, you want to fault that guy? You want to fault Brian Keefe right now? God bless you. But I I look at a guy that was jacking up shots, didn’t know which, you know, didn’t know his ass from his elbow last year, who’s now a force, who’s now a seven foot gliding around both end type weapon that could absolutely be the centerpiece of a really good team one day in the not too distant future. That’s my metric right now for Brian Keef. And again, there there going to be other folks that that take issue with that and I think that’s totally fine. This is eye the beholder type stuff, right? Where you’re watching a team that’s one and 11, that looks terrible at times, looks uncompetitive at times. I get the frustration. I’ve been there for just as long as you guys have, if not longer. But to me, I’m looking at player development as kind of my central tenant right here and I’m seeing some of that whether it’s Sar, whether it’s George and in a negative direction. I’d say Bub Carrington doesn’t really have a great role right now. I’m sure we’ll get into that, but um that’s the only regression I’ve seen to this point. But my issue is more of a team organizational philosophy. They do this thing, and this is me editorializing talking way too long, but I fell four and a half hours every day, so love the sound of my own voice, so bear with me. Uh, I can’t stand I can’t stand the we’re going to make the young player in theory. This sounds good. Earn his minutes. The inconsistent minutes for Trey Johnson. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Uh, when he’s tired, he can sit down. When he’s taken too many shots, he goes, “Coach, my elbow’s sore.” Now you can sit down. I want I want end of game situations for him. throw that young man into the deep end because what I want, number one, I love the kid, but number two, I need to find out, can you handle it? Can you rise above a bad culture? Can you rise above all the losing? Can you rise above the bad habits of some guys around you? I need to see that. I need to know. I personally think he’s a win with buildaround player. But I need to find that out for sure, right? If I’m an evaluator. So, to me, I don’t like this. Now, I know I I’m pretty sure, you know, I I missed the the the tip off last night because I was getting home from taking one of my sons to and from practice, but if he started and he played significant minutes, I want more of that to continue. No thank you to Justin Champagany in the starting lineup. No thank you to crunch time moments or CJ McCollum. Win, lose, or draw. I know they’ve done this thing organizationally where they kind of dangle minutes like the carrot and they dangle opportunities like the carrot trying to bring guys along slowly. Not for me. I have no interest in that. That’s just my own sort of organizational thousand foot view. I don’t know if that’s a Brian Kee decision, but that’s the only thing I would quibble and say, “No, no, no. Throw this young man into the deep end. He can handle it.” Hey, I want to ask you about Trey Johnson specifically because what did we know about the kid coming out of Texas is that he was going to be the best shooter on this team, probably the best shooter in this 2025 draft class. We haven’t seen a lot of opportunities where this team has facilitated the offense in a way through set offensive pieces where you get him coming off a pin down, have him coming off a screen wide open for a three-point shot, no elevator screens. We haven’t seen any of that from this Washington team yet. It’s kind of more in a way you throw him into the deep end, but say Trey Johnson, here’s the basketball. Can you get to your spot? Can you score? Do you agree with this philosophy? And how can this Wizards team get them more involved? But I want Josh Harris to tell me how. I can’t give you a full I’ll do a quick. This is why we’re here, Danny. Yeah. All right. All right. We go. I got to lean a little closer. I just it’s sort of right now, you know, obviously we we want we love Trey and we want to be certain that he’s contributing, but we we feel like we don’t have a point guard and if we had one, we could run more sets. Oh, that’s hard. I can’t do the points like that. But I think Josh is right for the record. That’s what it is to me is you’re you’re part of that is yet you’re right. See what you can do. There’s going to be some of those end of shot clock possessions if you’re the alpha, right? There’s going to be some of those, hey, we got 7 seconds left. The initial set didn’t work. Can you get us a bucket? Not all buckets are created equal, right? There’s down 25 in transition, stepping into something, then there’s nothing’s happening in the offense. We’re stagnant. Can you still get that bucket? I like that element of growth. But I’m with you, Strokes. I I would do a lot more for the kid. Um I I would I I want a lot a lot of wing action with him and SAR. I want to see some pick and pop, pick and roll. I want to see him get into the lane. They’re basically, again, I think spoon feeding him a little bit in terms of some of the sets. letting some of the guys that have been through this before, been through the offense before, letting McCollum do some of the the the playmaking, George certainly do some of the playmaking, and he’s thrived in that role. That’s been awesome, uh, to a degree. But I think part of it’s out of necessity without having a real true, honest to goodness, point guard to make sure everybody’s distributed, getting into looks. Um, but I think the other part is it feels like they’re spam food, spam fooding, I’m sure that’s a word. Spoon food. Spoon feeding. Easier for me to say. I talk for a living. Uh, spoon feeding him a little bit. And I wish again it wasn’t the case. I’d like to I’d like to do NBA stuff with him, right? I want I want some of the things you’re talking about the the the pin downs and let let him run around 17 screens like Reggie Miller in the late 90s. Let you know let let him do some of that stuff because that’s part of getting your shot off at the highest level, right? Is catch and shoots lovely. It’s awesome when it happens when you’re sitting there shoot you know the point guard delivers it in the pocket with the seams. Uh you hit your corner three. Not that many threes come that way in an offense without like really dynamic scores that that you know sort of uh are the solar system that command a ton of attention from defenses. So, I’d like to see more of that. All right, let’s take our first quick break. When we come back, I’ll let AB chime in real quick on his quick question, then we’ll get into some of the college prospects that uh intrigue our friend Danny Ru the most. We’ll be back in a second here on Lockdown Wizards. When I’m hydrated, everything just works better. My focus, energy, mood, even my skin. That’s why I’ve been using Drip Drop. It’s a doctor-developed hydration that keeps me running at full power no matter what my day looks like. Drip Drop isn’t your average sports drink. It delivers three times the electrolytes and half the sugar of leading brands. Using a science-baked formula trusted by medical professionals, firefighters, and over 90% of top collagen pro teams. I like using drip drop as part of my daily routine. I’ll mix a packet in the morning before the gym or during that midday slump. It actually tastes amazing. My go-to flavor is the lemon lime and it becomes my secret weapon for staying sharp and energized through long days. Hydration has become a non-negotiable for me. Drip Drop helps me feel sharper, calmer, and honestly, just better overall. Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code lockdown NBA. That’s dripdrop.com. Promo code lockdown NBA for $20 off. Stock up now before the heat hits hard and keeps your body from performing at the best. Get Drip Drop now. The holiday season is right around the corner and that means it’s time to get your home ready. Whether you need more seats for your guests, cozy new linens, or fun serveware for holiday hosting, Wayfair’s Black Friday sale is here to help you make your space shine. And the best part, you don’t have to wait. Wayfair’s Black Friday deals are all happening all month long with up to 70% off everything from sofas to spatulas. I recently upgraded my dining chairs from Wayfair and it completely transformed the room. The one thing I like the most is how fast everything shipped. It came just in time for the holidays. Thanksgiving’s coming up. I can’t wait for the family to come and see everything we’ve done to upgrade our living space. Browsing through their site, it’s easy to find the pieces that actually fit my style. Nothing generic, just quality designs that feel personal. If you’ve ever hosted family for the holidays, you know how much of a difference some new touches can make. Wayfair makes that easy. Don’t miss out on early Black Friday deals. Head to wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair’s Black Friday sale for up to 70% off. That’s wfir.com. Sale ends December 7th. Hey, Danny. Cam Whitmore was a guy that Wizards fans were excited about going into this season because he’s just so freaking athletic and explosive. And the first seven, eight games, we were a little patient trying to figure out his role here in DC. But the past three games, he’s really come along. How would you assess his tenure so far in DC? Yeah, two things. One, excellent commercial. Reed Strober pro. Look at me. Professional. Love that. Uh Whitmore Whitmore’s I’m intrigued, too. And again, this is the phase we’re in, right? uh somebody that’s that big, that strong, and moves around the way. I mean, he’s more powerful than I thought. I mean, I always knew he was a good body guy that was explosive, but how does that translate onto a basketball court? Pretty darn well at times. I I wish he was a bit more engaged more often as a defender. I think he could actually do some really good things when the, you know, traffic’s tight and he could be physical, uh, as as a defensive player. Be a real pain in the butt to play against, but hard not to be impressed with the guy. Again, this is one of those, I don’t know that he’s a buildaround guy, right? But this is I’m going to keep saying this don’t blue in the face and everyone’s going to be tired of it. Asset gathering. That’s an asset. That’s what it is to me. Now whether that’s an asset here or some that somebody uh or a player that someone’s going to want like a a guy coming off the bench for a playoff team, you know, as sort of a microwave type guy to get some instant offense to to create some matchup problems, get him going downhill. But I I I’ve been impressed, I would say, because, you know, he was buried uh in his previous spot. So I’ve liked what I’ve seen to this point. I I think there’s more there. It’s kind of an untapped vein. You talked a lot about uh Alex Sar earlier in that first segment, Danny. I went through it yesterday in the podcast that he’s played at almost an all-star level uh through the first 11 games of the season. Obviously, he’s not going to get that type of nod because he’s playing for the Wizards. It’s a popularity contest, but you know, the data is there for it. The Pearl 100 possessions up around eight points per game. His efficiency increased around 15% on the field goal percentage. Uh I want Charles Barkley to tell me why he’s been so much better here in year number two. Okay, Ernie. First of all, like I say, there’s a there’s an Alex here. Alex Alexa saw what he doing now, Ernie. Last last year, he just took jump shot and Kennon a dude that’s set that’s 18 feet tall shooting the jumper. Listen, you got to go down low. He move his feet around a little bit. Kennon and And what he do, but he runs, okay? And when he runs, it means he move fast and he can outrun some of the uh some of the bigger bigs. You know, when I say big, like a there’s a big and then there’s a bigger big like alto segue like last night. Oo,to segue. He bit him down the court a couple times, Kenny. And that’s going to help you get easy buckets. He needs to be more physicality. He needs to be more uh uh in intense like inside of a tent. That’s what you have to do, Kenny. And then the most important thing is you get some easy buckets. All of a sudden, now you’re in rhythm. Now they back off you. You can hit some of them threes. Back to you, Benny and Kennet. Yeah, that was that was amazing, Danny. Oh my god. Um for No, it’s a thing, man. Yeah, I I that’s amazing. 10 game 10 game skid right now for the Whiz Kids, Danny, how would you if you were coach Brian kid, we talked about this in our last podcast. What would you say to these young guys? I mean, what can you say? Because again, last year it was two 16game losing streaks and you just don’t want to repeat that this year. This is such a tough thing. This is not an easy job uh at that point, right? where you’re talking about that where you’re trying to reinforce good positive habits and and this goes for any level of sports, right? Like I I’m not again I’m much older than you guys. I’ve got kids and when you’re telling a player something and and I and I’ve coached a bunch. I’m not at the NBA level obviously. I’m not comparing myself to Brian Keefe. But when you tell a kid something, do this and there’s a trust there when they try it and it doesn’t work. It’s really hard to keep telling them, no, trust me, I know best. I know best. I know best. And then have them fall into habits, right? So, like when I, you know, I tell my my my seven-year-old, don’t shoot it with your two hands like this, pushing it up. I promise you, one hand back, guide hand on the side. He’s not as good at that right now. So, he’s going to do the thing that he’s comfortable with. Getting guys to not fall into those habits. And I understand philosophically, we talked about this in the first segment, why they’ve got enough vets around to try and reinforce some of those good habits as often as possible. But it’s not as if you’ve got, you know, seven Marcus Smarts here that are telling you how to be tenacious and the like. It’s, you know, it’s kind of a mixed bag of guys, but you’re trying to reinforce some of those good things. It’s a tough message to get through. And that’s part of the selection process, honestly, right? Is you’re going to find somebody who’s going to rise above the bad culture, right? Who’s going to rise above the losing and do things the right way all the time, knowing with faith, and this is hard, that the pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow. Now, the rainbow is two trillion light years away, but there is a rainbow, and you got to keep working at it. It It’s not easy. I will tell you that. The only way they’re going to get closer to the rainbow is by drafting that cornerstone piece that this team needs. Danny, the Pistons, a team that built that young core. Lost 28 games in a row together. And look at them. They’re top of the Eastern Conference right now. They’ve won eight games in a row, but it’s because they have a Kade Cunningham. And although I don’t know if I really want a guy taking 45 shots every single night in her team, maybe just a one-off there for Kade obviously. Uh, but this draft class upcoming stacked as we know. I know you’ve got some uh some feelings on one of those guys and AJ Debansa, but with this team’s need going into this draft class, is that still your top guy as it stands right now? I know things could change as the year goes on. Tell us why it’d be him if it is. It’s a it’s it’s a Listen, you can’t go wrong. Throw a dart honest in any of the top few names. You’re going to be really pleased. I love this draft class. I I love it. it. We’re in November and that’s all I can think about is the springtime getting the right pick and hopefully it’s one of these dudes comes to us. So, I’ve fallen in love with Devonsa. It’s not I’m not telling you anything bad about Peterson. My god, that kid I see Anthony Edwards. I don’t know about if he’s as powerful as Edwards uh explosion-wise, strengthwise, but everything else I see Edwards uh kind of like a combo guard plus. Cameron Boozer I’ve only seen once. Um obviously most one of the most prolific high school players, efficient high school players ever. Um I’d like to see more of him, but again that’s that’s a that’s a great name. He’s incredible. But for Debbont, I just see it. I I see a little bit of that Tracy McGrady. I see a little bit of that um kind of the new modern era of a you anything you want done on the basketball court. Would you like a help defender to swat a shot into the 10th row? Do you want a step back three? Do you want a guy uh gliding from the wing to to create his own offense? Do you want a guy getting out in transition? Anything you’d like done on the court, it feels like that kid can do and he’s just scratching the surface. He is so smooth, so efficient. It’s uh there’s a little Kevin Durant to it as well. I mean, that’s that’s one of one. They they don’t make people like that uh in terms of human beings. But there’s a it doesn’t look like he’s ever hurried. It doesn’t look like he’s ever in fast motion and nobody can stick with him, right? Even as slender as he is, just getting his looks, getting his looks, getting his looks. And it’s a matter of time before he becomes, I think, a knockdown shooter. He will be able to get his offense against any person in the world, it feels like to me. So, again, I’ve fallen in love and I and I do this to myself where I fall in love with a prospect. I convince myself that this is the only way that we’re going to be together forever and he’s going to lead me to championships. I’ve been disappointed a million times whether it’s that he didn’t come to me in the draft or maybe not as good as I think. But at this stage again, I don’t think you can go wrong. This is not me knocking into the other prospects. I just I’ve fallen in love with Devon. Yeah, Danny, a lot of fans would say Darren Peterson would be more ideal just because they want that ideal pure point guard. And we thought it could be Bub Carrington, but again, just the experiment as a point guard just really hasn’t looked as well as we thought he would. And he’s having the sophomore slump, which I think it’ll definitely carve out a role here being that combo guard. So to those fans that say we’d rather have fit over a special guy like Debonsza, you would agree with that? I don’t. And and and I don’t again I don’t hate the logic, right? But I think anytime I take this in football, if you draft for need, you end up needing if that makes any sense, right? Like to me at in this stage where they are, if you think Peterson’s the best player, and he might be, by the way, I mean, he’s incredible. I I’ve only I I watched one scrimmage, not a scrimmage, whatever, exhibition game that didn’t count, and then I watched a real one that did. I just went, “Oh my god, this guy’s he’s better than everybody. He’s incredible.” If that’s your answer, it’s a great answer. And he fits. I don’t again, I don’t know if he’s a pure point guard, but I also don’t know if that matters, right? He’s so explosive. He’s so good that you just put the ball in his hands and we’ll figure the rest out, right? you’re gonna, you know, uh, cheat off of him, uh, or cheat off of some other teammates that he can find the open guy. There’s nothing he can’t do on a basketball court. He’s he’s incredible. So, that may be the answer as well. But I I don’t draft for need at this stage. Again, I this is I don’t know if I’m blue in the face or if you guys are sick of hearing it, asset gathering time. And one of those two guys, maybe it’s maybe it’s Boozer who do catapults number one, I don’t know, is the asset. That’s what you want at this stage to begin building around because the way this the way contracts are going to line up, the way this whole thing is going to work right now, it’s like, okay, Kon George has had a nice little leap and Alex’s had a nice little leap, but you know, I’ll have a bunch of these other guys that’ll be up for extensions by the time this dude enters his prime. Do I want to pay everybody or am I starting to spin some of these dudes to uh to playoff teams or other folks that need help or, you know, for future picks or or whatever? I don’t know what the team’s going to look like in two years and neither do you. We’re looking for the guy that that Strober said is the cornerstone franchise guy. They have some nice pieces right now that I’m excited about. I need the oh my god DC has blank and now we’re one of the cool kids. That’s the thing that’s been missing for most of my life, right? And again, you guys are so young, but the NBA is is pretty unique in this regard. The NFL is kind of getting into this, too, but the NBA, for whatever reason, there are handful of cities that are the cool cities, the cool teams. The Wizards have never been one. They were cool for five minutes when Michael Jordan in in his 40s with knees like mine came back and averaged 25 and five for a team that couldn’t make the postseason. That was cool for a minute and we couldn’t draw and nobody, you know, knew how to play with Mike and and and whatever, but that was the only time we were cool. We were cool with Gilbert Arenas and, you know, and and the big three for about an hour and a half. And again, that wasn’t particularly great. They kind of, you know, delved into loserdom, guns in lock room, you know, the whole deal. You need a superstar that’s homegrown that people want to come play with. That’s what is needed. And all of a sudden, it’ll be like, “Yeah, I could go to Miami, but I could also go to DC, a place that’s that’s great culturally, that’s got a million things nightlife-wise for guys that want to do.” Jaylen Rose talked about this for years ago on uh I can’t remember which podcast it was where he’s like, “I’ve never understood why DC, a basketball hotbed, can never get into the cool kids club.” Whereas, I’ve seen teams go from outside in. Oklahoma City is a cool kid. Oklahoma City, have you ever been there? It sucks. Respectfully, there’s nothing cool about it. and they’re now one of the cool kids because they’ve got kind of the mojo. They found the right guys. They build from within. They promote their own dudes. Next thing you know, everybody wants to go play there. Everybody wants to go be a part of it, right? You’ve seen everybody kind of take a turn. Sacramento was cool for a while. They haven’t been cool in a while. The Clippers are cool. The stupid Clippers were cool for for a hot minute. It can happen. I firmly believe it. Dallas was cool. I’ll go all day. DC has never had the chance to be that in the NBA. And they need that. They need the guy to go, you know what? I could go anywhere, but I’m going to force my trade to DC or I’m going to take less to go be the third banana when I was a first banana in earlier in my career. Now I’ll be kind of the third guy, Jimmy Butler style to go help me win a championship. That sort of thing is needed and you need that superstar to kickstart that process. H I love I love to see the passion, Danny. I want to be a cool kid. I want this basketball team to be part of that cool kid club you bring up because uh right now I thought the football team was going to be part of that club, but evidently this year they’re not part of that club. I know you’re frustrated about you’re going to have to go be frustrated about it for 4 and a half hours. So, we’re going to let you go on that. Danny Ruier, one half of the Grand Danny Show 2 to 6:30 on 1067 The Fan. Danny, we appreciate you for coming on and doing this. Thank you, boys. Appreciate you having me. Yes, sir. No problem. Mr. Danny Ruer, one of the best to do it. Let’s take one more quick break. When we come back, a quick Capital City go update before we get out of here. The NBA season is heating up right now and Door Dash has found the perfect way to keep fans in their bag all season long. Whether you’re watching for the highlights, your fantasy team, or your favorite player, Door Dash makes every game night even better. Door Dash is the official on demand delivery platform of the NBA. And they’re celebrating with something called the bag drop. Every time an NBA player scores 50 points in a game, Door Dash drops 50% off of your order with Dash Pass the next day. And you’re automatically entered for a chance to win the ultimate fan bag. We’re talking about player inspired drip exclusive gear and stuff you’ll actually want. I love that it’s not just food. You’ll get everything from snacks and drinks to headphones, ice, even socks, all delivered. Door Dash has you covered for the late night highlights, last minute watch parties, and double OT fuelups. So, next time someone goes off for 50, use promo code NBA50 the next day to get 50% off on Door Dash with Dash Pass, plus your shot at the at the bagdrop. Dash Pass members only. 50% off up to $10 the day after a 50 point game with promo code terms apply. No purchase necessary. Ends April 13th. Open US residents 21 or older. Visit door dashinyoubag.com for full details. Door Dash in your bag all season long. 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. Even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game more exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fandal.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. That was great, Ben. I Danny is wow that’s one of one right there. Danny is truly one of the best. He’s I mean the reason his Twitter handle is funny Danny is like it speaks for itself. He’s one of the funniest people I’ve met. One of the funniest people you can hear on the airwaves. I’m 1067 the fan. Uh so be sure to listen to Grant and Danny. They talk wizards plenty on there as well. Part of the beltweight blitz. Uh they’ll have a plethora of guests on there. All right let’s talk a little Capital City go while we have some time maybe. Uh the season just got underway about a week ago. The teams played three games. One thing I wanted to touch on, Jamir Watkins played his first game with the go- go yesterday. Um, you know, we’re looking to see some good minutes from him with this GoGo team because obviously only saw a handful of minutes early on uh at the NBA level. Saw some good minutes from him actually in the Cleveland game where he got to, you know, guard up on Donovan Mitchell one-on-one. One thing you want to see him work on is his offensive production. It didn’t start off great for him in 26 minutes for the go- go yesterday. They end up scoring 11 points, 414 from the field. He was 0 for five from behind the arc. It’s going to be interesting to see the way they try to develop him offensively, Abdullah, because you know they’re going to like try to get him up to speed with his three-point shot because if you’re going to develop him into that 3 and D type player just with his defensive ability alone, if he can give you any resemblance of offensive ability, he’s a dude you have to have in your rotation. Yeah, I love that coach Brian Ke said, “Hey, you’re a young guy. You can play defense. You did it in the summer like you did it in college. go out there and guard Donovan Mitchell, a really good guard in this league. And offensively, if he can find a way to get that three-point shot down or finds a way, a mid-range shot, gets really crafty in the lane, then that’s it. There’s your guy that can I want to see a lot of minutes played. I think doing in the G- League, great development there. And we’ve seen what the Capital City Go have done, dealing with guys in the past like Justin Champagne and many others. I think right now it’s trying to develop that offensive game. That’s really what’s going to be interesting about Jir Watkins because again, man, it was like in the summer league where he had a crazy amount of steals and I think right now you can need you need all the help you can get defensively. This Wizards team is giving up 130 points per game dead last in the NBA. And if Jir Watkins can go out there and get you a defensive stop or two, you got to bring him on the floor. Yeah, I couldn’t agree with you more. There’s a good amount of like intriguing little pieces development wise. I know the Wizards have had success with the Capital City Go in years past. So, I’m just trying to keep tabs on everyone right now. A couple of other guys that have stood out to me, Leaky Black, we saw him in the summer league. He’s a really nice kind of little guard that you can have on your squad. He got some minutes in the preseason as well. He’s had a decent start uh to the Capital City Go season. He’s averaging about 10 points uh on pretty efficient shooting, 40% from the field so far. Uh so, good stuff from him. Assists at six per game as well. He’s kind of been that lead point guard position guy for the go- go. A couple of other guys have said Alandis Williams averaging 22 per game. Scowl, I’m going to apologize if I say his last name. Labiseri. I I Scalabisier, right? Labicier. Okay, Labier. I remember that from 2K. Yeah, I just couldn’t remember how to say his name. Some of these prospects are intriguing. Uh they’ve been around for a while. Like Libby is has been around since 2016. He was a first round pick for the Suns, 28th overall. So, some of these guys still trying to find their footing at that level. But, you know, there’s something to be said about players who do develop in the G-League and what they can eventually become in the league when they get up here. AB, maybe we’re going to see a similar story like that at some point with one of these Wizards. Especially, especially since we’re not going to be competing, you might as well see the development of not only the young guys on your roster, but also in the G- League. Also, side note, Ben, every time I watch a Milwaukee Bucks game, I just see Ryan Rollins do a he’s just balling out there, and it sucks. I know wishes fans, they don’t want to hear it, but I mean, imagine a Ryan Rollins on this roster. Yeah, I don’t I don’t know why he had to go steal a target, but you know, I mean, he he made a mistake. He made a mistake. I think he’s learned from it, and he’s balling out now as a result. So, uh tough situation for the Wizards that end up letting him go, but at the end of the day, we move forward. The guy, he’s balling out right now, and Milwaukee looks good with him kind of at that lead point guard role. He He’d look good on this team. He would very I mean we we we need a pure point guard and he kind of fits that. First game or next game up Ben Brooklyn Nets. I think it’s winnable. I I think it is. So we we had this conversation on the Junkies this morning. Like you’ve been non-competitive in a lot of these games and maybe the effort at times hasn’t been there in some of them. with a Brooklyn Nets team like you have to be at least compet I don’t really imagine a scenario where they’re not competitive in this game because I think Brooklyn is just as bad you know if not worse obviously than the Wizards are in terms of talent those guys drafted five players in the first round. A lot of them don’t even really see significant time yet. So it’s going to be interesting to see how that develops as the season goes on. But uh Brooklyn very much in the same boat as Washington. They’re trying to be a team that picks in the top of the draft again. So, I’d like to see the team get a win, though. I I feel like you’ve lost 10 games in a row. It’s It’s about time you see the team get a victory. Like, they they’ve been close. Obviously, in the Detroit game, they’ve been not very close in a lot of these games, but if they can put together a relatively complete effort, I’d like to see them rewarded with a win. Yeah. If you come out flat and get destroyed by Brooklyn at home, Ben, then there’s there’s got to be some some un unfriendly conversations because that that’s just I mean like how can we keep on going talking about this team if you’re getting blown out by a team that’s in the bottom of the barrel with you? Yeah, it’d be tough. But at times last year, you saw this team lose to Utah. So, but that was almost more of a situation where like you were trying to out tank them in a way. So, losing to him wasn’t the worst thing in the world at that point. We’ll see. It’s early. They still ended up with a higher draft pick than us, but it is what it is. Yeah, I’m starting to wonder maybe this team will bottom out for a lot of the first half of the season. And if you really are looking low in the win total like under double digits by I don’t know game 60 or whatever the season game 65 maybe you see the team the final 15 game stretch of the season really go balls to the wall trying to compete because you know you’re still not going to win a lot of these games just based on the talent you have but you can afford to win more of these games without it kind of screwing up uh your tank or your positioning. So maybe we’ll see something like that kind of like we we did last year where the team picked it up a little bit in the final quarter of the season, played decent ball. Uh maybe it looks like that this year. We’ll see. Yeah. Again, you want to be competitive in every game. You don’t want to be down 30 by the end of the first half. It’s just it’s fan for fans in general. It’s going to be hard to watch that. Yeah, 100%. All right, that’ll do it for the week here on Lockdown. Wizards got the next two off, but on Sunday, Wizards and Nets from Capital One Arena. Abdul and I will be there for the coverage as always here on Lockdown Wizards. We thank you for making Lockdown on Wizards your first listen today and every single day if you’re an everydayer. We hope you enjoy Danny Rouier on the pod today. One of the best. Go and check him out on Twitter at funny Danny. For my co-host Abdullah Iubi, I’m Ben Strober DC family. We’ll talk to you Sunday. [Music]

Washington Wizards embrace the tank with purpose as Alex Sarr’s transformation signals hope amid 10-game skid

The Wizards’ losing streak isn’t failure—it’s strategic asset gathering. Danny Rouhier from the Grant and Danny Show joins to explain why developing Alex Sarr into a franchise cornerstone matters more than chasing mediocrity. The conversation tackles Brian Keefe’s coaching evaluation through player development metrics rather than wins, Tre Johnson’s underutilized shooting ability, and why the team needs to throw young players into end-game situations. The 2025 draft class takes center stage with passionate debate over AJ Dybantsa versus Darren Peterson, plus insights on why Washington needs a homegrown superstar to finally join the NBA’s elite destination cities. Capital City Go-Go updates feature Jamir Watkins’ offensive development and the team’s G-League pipeline strategy.

Discover why this rebuild differs from decades of Wizards mediocrity and which draft prospect could transform DC basketball.

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!

DoorDash
Next time someone goes off for 50, use promo code NBA50 the next day to get 50% off on DoorDash with DashPass — plus your shot at the Bag Drop.
DashPass members only. 50% off up to $10 the day after a 50-point game with promo code. Terms apply.
No Purchase Necessary. Ends April 13th. Open to U.S. residents 21 or older. Visit DoorDashInYourBag.com for full details.
DoorDash — In your bag all season long.

BILT
Turn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to https://joinbilt.com/lockedonnba.

DripDrop
Stock up now before the heat hits hard — and keep your body and mind performing at their best with DripDrop.
Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order.
Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNBA.

Wayfair
Don’t miss out on early Black Friday deals.
Head to Wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair’s Black Friday sale for up to 70% off.

Mint Mobile
Ready to say yes to saying no? Make the switch at https://MintMobile.com/LOCKEDONNBA

Upfront payment of $45 required (equivalent to $15/mo). Limited-time new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speeds may slow above 35GB on Unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

Robinhood
You expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yourmoney. Your money. Your move.

All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Options, futures, and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and not SPIC or FDIC protected. Crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto, LLC (NMLS ID 1702840), not FDIC or SIPC protected. Portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies, an SEC-registered advisor.

Gametime
Today’s episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.

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