Kyshawn George EVOLVING, Tre Johnson RETURNS! Lynnell Willingham Joins | Washington Wizards Podcast
There’s been a lot of chatter about Keshan George and his inconsistencies. We’re here to tell you today, don’t worry about Keshan George. Also got breaking news. Trey Johnson returns to the Wizards tomorrow. Lenel Willingham is going to help us break all this down. [Music] You are Locked on Wizards, your daily Washington Wizards podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. DC family, you are locked on to the Washington Wizards, where you’re part of our family. We thank you for making Locked On Wizards your first listen every single day. We’re part of the Lockdown podcast network, where it’s your team every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Alongside the DC Sports content creating, Savannah Abdullah. I’m Ben Shver. to cover the Washington Wizards for Roundtable IO. And today we are joined by our good friend of the program, the youngest in charge, Lenel Willingham. He’s on the go. He just got done doing a show for the Team 980, the host of Burgundy and Gold today. Lenel, I know you’re on the move right now, but how you feeling, my friend? I feel great because of the news that we got about a half hour ago. I saw the Wizards, we all got it. If you’re part of the PR chain, a certain somebody coming back to the lineup. You know what? Why don’t we just start with that because that’s the news that’s hot and fresh. Trey Johnson, he missed a couple of weeks with the hip flexor strain. How devastating was it to not see him on the floor in a year where you’re trying to see this individual development from your guys and your number six overall pick to see him on the men for a couple of weeks? How much harder did it make it uh for you just to watch Hill? I was going to say, well, it makes it a hell of a lot harder to watch because when you’re getting drugged by 30 points on a nightly basis, you’re looking for really some guys to show you signs of progress throughout the course of the year. And I think the number one guy that folks were watching this year, obviously, we’re intrigued about the development of the sophomores, I talk about Bub, Keshan, and and and Alex R, but I think Trey Johnson was definitely the number one guy everyone wanted to see. Um, I’ll be real, and we were talking about this off the record, Ben. I I don’t know whether or not this caused him to slide in the draft because it feels like maybe this was common knowledge to some teams out there. I know there was some discussion about why uh, you know, he landed where he ultimately landed. There was some fear that we would not get him here to the nation’s capital. But to your point, a total bummer. Absolutely sucks for the kid. I think these minutes that he’s missing out on right now or that he did miss out on were invaluable. And I also think it provides maybe a little bit of an explanation as to why the minutes weren’t where some folks wanted them to be. Uh I I think based on some reporting that’s been done, he was on a minutes restriction uh to start this year and why he did not finish games and why he didn’t, you know, continue to play in games in which he was really shooting the ball well from the perimeter. But I think it says a lot about his toughness, the fact that he was willing to play through it. I think it’s a good thing overall that it that they hap that it happened when it happened. It’s early in the season, his pre-trade deadline. Now, I want to see what is his return to play program. And I sound like Dan Quinn when I when I when I say that. What is his return to play program? But like, how do they handle him moving forward? Is he going to come back and get 26 27 minutes a night or are they going to ease him back into this rotation? Because I thought I look at the intangibles with him. We know he can shoot the basketball. Like that’s just a given. I thought he was doing a good job of putting the ball on the deck, finishing around the rim. I thought the effort was there on the defensive side of the floor and he’s hurt. So, you now get back healthy. I expect him to play even better in his return here. Yeah. And I think Lenel brought up a good point, Ben. I talked to you about this as well. Maybe that injury, we just didn’t know about it. It was under the table. And it does suck cuz I already see so many Wizards fans already saying, “Oh, we should have drafted Derek Queen. Jeremiah Fear is like Trey Johnson is this and that.” It’s just like, “Bro, it’s too soon. We’re 20 games into the season.” And thank god he’s back because like Lenel also mentioned, the team is not winning a lot of games and when they’re playing, they’re getting blown out. But Trey Johnson out there is essentially the silver lining. Yeah, I would agree. Like he he is the guy really that stretches the floor better than anybody. And I know Cory Kisper’s hurt right now and he really thrives in that role as well. But Washington, you know, doesn’t have a bunch of guys who can do that. We’re going to talk about Keshan coming up here in a second. He’s a different type of three-point shooter, I would say, than Trey Johnson is. But all in all, I think it’s a big positive and you want to see him continue to grow with the rest of the young guys because that’s the last thing you want is to him is for him rather to get behind, I guess, in his development, his progress. We only got limited time with our guy Lenel Willingham today. So, we’ll shift the conversation over here to the original intent for today’s episode. Uh, regarding Keshan George started off the season taki hot, 18.6 points per game in the month of October. Only five games played in that month. Uh, dwindled down to 14 and a half in the month of November. Now at 12 and a half through December. The turnover rate has been very high for the guy who’s playing in a different role than he’s used to. What have you made of Keshan George this year? And how do you think the Wizards could maybe help him in the future if they get him an actual point guard on the roster at some point? It’s a fascinating conversation because I am not closing the door on him being that point guard um of the future for this organization. I do not think uh anybody should be not open to that. Um, I think what he’s shown here in this limited 21 plus game sample size here is that not only can he handle the point guard duties, he can thrive, you know, with with the role of being this team’s league guard. So, I’m not totally, you know, against the idea of him remaining the league guard. In terms of what they could do to help him, I think it’s just provide more floor spacing for him, get him uh more guys on the perimeter that can finish and shoot from three. Um, I think him and Alex Sar have done a good job playing off of each other. I think his ability to just make the right basketball play each and every time is probably Keshan’s biggest strength on the offensive end of the floor. I think he is just a steady Eddie when it comes to that. I I call him the standard, right? Cuz I think he is what Wizards basketball should want to be here moving forward on not just the defensive side of the floor because I think that’s where this conversation started when we were talking earlier in the year about what Keshan brings to the table. The defense is the first thing, but the offense here is really what surprised me. Uh he’s got one of the best three-point percentages in the NBA right now. He’s got one of the best in terms of like uh his shooters percentage on threes when he’s the guy driving and kicking is amongst the highest in the NBA. So, I know the turnovers have gone up, but like that’s not something I really worry about because he hasn’t had a whole lot of time on task. So, there’s going to be instances where he plays too fast where a defender that’s really good gets him sped up and you get him to make some ill- advised decisions. But more times than not, like Keshan’s going to make the right play. It all depends on where you end up in the lottery because when CJ is gone, he’s going to be playing even more on the ball for for the for the team in my opinion. Like I want to see him in that role. Um, I think he’s got really unique positional size for that spot. And maybe, just maybe, this is how he reaches the ceiling and is the best version of himself. Cuz if you don’t land Darren Peterson or one of these point guards in the in in the draft, I would be okay with him being the the lead guard moving forward. That’s that’s an interesting take. One thing I love about Keshan George’s game, guys, is the mid-range shot where he bumps in a defender and creates separation. It’s money every time. One thing about Keshan Dolan, a lot of Wizards fans I’ve seen that were concerned on social media was the early foul trouble in games. There are times where it’s like early in the third quarter and his aggressive defense, while we love it, also can lead to foul trouble and get him getting pulled out. How concerned are you about that for the future? I’m going use a phrase for my guy Doc Walker, right? It’s better to have to calm down a fool than to revive a corpse. I want that. That is the mentality. Everybody should be fouling. Let let’s lead the NBA in fouls, boys. Like that. That’s honestly because if you’re It means you’re trying. It means you’re trying. And like if you’re gonna if you’re gonna have this mantra of wanting to be defense first, show it to me in terms of a level of physicality on a night in night out basis. Keshan George isn’t scared of anything but God is what it feels like when he’s out there on the basketball floor. I love the mentality. I don’t get too concerned or hung up with the foul stuff because I think it’s something that’ll even itself out as we get a bigger sample size. All right, real quick before we let you go, Lenel, Alex Sar, year number two, completely different mentality. Uh, where are we looking at in terms of a ceiling for this guy in your quickest response possible? Limitless. I’m looking up at it. I still can’t look at it. Limitless. He has the chance to be the star of the rebuild. He has the chance to be the best player in the organization. No matter if they draft a Bona, no matter if they draft Boozer, his ceiling’s that high. I got a stat for you all. He is amongst the top 10 in terms of defensive field goal percentage allowed in ISO situations. He’s 72 and the kid can defend, slide his feet. I He’s I I can’t lie. Like he’s the guy that’s made the biggest impression on me this year. I love what Keshan’s doing, but like what Alex Sar is doing right now, like he looks like a fringe allstar at this point. Um I just think he is a young man that the sky’s is really the limit, bro. and the defense is what’s awesome. But now this year, you’re really seeing the confidence grow with the offense. The turnaround jumper is there. He’s not fading away from the basket in terms of when he’s within that 5T range. I love everything about it. He’s blocking shots. Second in the NBA in that category. What can he do? Maybe he should be the point guard cuz I love I love him pushing in transition. Like there’s just he really gets me excited. You can tell how my demeanor kind of changes when we talk about him because he is the real deal, man. Like I think he can legitimately end up being maybe the best player on a a title team. He’s in year two. He’s not even 20 yet. Like he’s got like think what can’t he do? The offensive game is only going to get better. He’s only going to get more confident. If they really want to challenge him, let’s get the ball handling a little better. Let’s actually have you be a threat off the bounce. Cuz if you’re going to put a big on him, I I just say look at what Derrick Queen is doing right now in New Orleans. And I was one of the first guys during the pre-drive process to say, “No, I don’t want Derek Queen. I don’t know if he’s going to be able to slide his feet on the next level.” Boy, do I look like an idiot. His feel and the advantage that he gives them. There’s an ambulance going by. Hold on. The feel though that he has on offense and the advantage that he gives them on offense because of his positional size and he’s being guarded by slow bigs that can’t keep up with him. It’s what you want. And I think he can be this team’s offensive hub moving forward. They can play through Alexar and that’s kind of what they’re doing right now. Oh man, you weren’t the only one that doubted Derek Queen by the way as a Wizards fan. Just wanted to point that out there. I’m about to say cuz I was the biggest D. Ben, we were talking we had so many overtime shows leading up to the draft and that’s all I kept saying is I love him. I don’t want him though. I would I wish we had them. Not going to Look, your energy right now for Sar though because if if people heard the conversations that you and I would have over the summer, I think you were there was a lot more question marks for you about Alex Sar. Now you’re making these kind of proclamations. I think that shows a lot about how good he’s been here in your number two and the ceiling. Like you said, you can’t even see it because it’s limitless. We know you’re a you’re a busy dude, Lenel. You got to run. So, we’re going to let you go on that. But we appreciate you uh for hopping on the show as always. Uh, be sure to check Lenel out on his socials at nell_btb. You can hear him 4 to7 on the team980, host of the burgundy and gold today show. Lenel, thanks for coming on, man. Appreciate you guys. No problem, Lenel. All right, we’re going to take our first break. When we come back, uh, let’s just continue this conversation. AB and I will be back in just a second. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch. Finally, giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. With Game Time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when great seats open, and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands, and it makes going to the World Cup realistic. Instead of impossible, you pull up the app and the layout makes it so simple to scroll through matchups and compare seat views. Pick a game, tap a section, and have your tickets locked in within minutes. No confusion or hunting for the fine print. The seat view feature is a game changer. 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AB, let’s stay on the subject of Trey Johnson coming back because this was a big surprise uh that came as breaking news around 45 minutes ago. Josh Robbins was the first to report it from the athletic. And yesterday I was at practice at Carefirst Arena. We asked for a timeline on Sar Kissert Trey Johnson and Ke everyone. Everyone no no no timelines for anybody. So I was under the assumption that Trey Johnson wasn’t going to be available for this game unfortunately. But here we are. Fortunately Trey Johnson returns to the lineup and Lenel hit it on the head. I think when you say like you want to see him playing at a fully healthy capability because you want to see him unleash the way we expected him to. Maybe they can now start to facilitate the offense a little bit more around him now that they got that first in of kind of seeing what he can do getting to his spot. Now let’s see Trey Johnson do what he does best. Shoot the hell out of that basketball. And you wonder, Ben, is there any indication of him being on a minute restriction or no idea? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. Yeah, we will. I think also the three-point shooting, we missed him and Cory Kisper. Now that at least got one of them back. Hopefully Trey Johnson can pick up the load from that point of view. Hopefully Alex Sar will be back as well. We don’t know the time table. This is a Cavs team when you played last time in Capital One. They completely destroyed you by I think they scored like 140 something around that. You want to see a Trey Johnson who is fully confident, a guy that in his years in Texas or his one year at Texas was doing everything. I mean, he was spectacular. And the injury itself, yes, you’re right. We everyone wants to see him play fully healthy because again, it’s just frustrating. Not frustrating, but it’s just like everyone around the league is seeing their young guys out and we’re just waiting on our guy Trey to come back and I think he’s fully going to come back and show why he was that sixth overall pick. I remember we were so hyped. It was between him and Ace Bailey. And I still think we made the right decision. I think Trey Johnson on and off the court checks off a lot of boxes for a franchise that’s desperately trying to find a star here in the district. And with him alongside a potential point guard and Darren Peterson in the future, who knows? That’s a good that’s a good back court right there. And I think defensively the concerns with him, I just I think it’s people are taking it too far and being a little naive with it. Right now, this Wizard squad in general, not they’re not good uh team defensively, statistics wise. So, there’s not really any reason to point out Trey’s defense when the team in general is struggling to defend. Offensively, that’s what I want to see, man. I really think he can have a 30-point game this season. Probably in the second half of the season when CJ and some of these other young or these older vets are dealt because that gives you more shot opportunities. But overall, I’m just happy that Trey Johnson’s back because we can see him play. Yeah. And think about where it left off. That last game was on November 21st against Toronto, which was an embarrassing blowout loss by 30 points. I think that was an NBA Cup game if I’m not mistaken. Trey went crazy in the first half of that game and had 14 points, five of eight from the field, was three of five from beyond the arc on 20% usage rate. Uh was in the 88th percentile for that night in terms of usage uh on the Wizards. So, they were making him a heavy feature in the first half of that game, but we didn’t hear a peep out of him in the second half. And we were like, what the hell is going on? Like, why are we not seeing Trey Johnson when he was clearly the hot hand in that first half? And then a couple days later, uh, it came out that he had the strained hip flexor and that he was playing on unannounced minutes restriction. We’re like, all right, that makes sense. Like, he must have kind of bothered it more than he had previously in those games, which led to them making the decision to sit him out for a little bit, let him get fully healthy. But yeah, it’s going to be exciting because those last three games where you play 19 minutes, 17 minutes, 15 minutes, it was frustrating for us because we didn’t know uh what was going on. We don’t really get a lot of transparency from the Wizards organization in terms of injuries. They’re very tight blip with that stuff. And you know, as as annoying as it can be for guys like us trying to cover the team, like it is what it is. It’s it’s frustrating at times, but that’s just how it goes. But hopefully we see him get back to playing 25 plus minutes per game, even if it is off the bench initially. Uh because this is a guy that you took six overall in the draft. He has really great innate offensive ability that many guys on your team don’t necessarily have. This can be your best shooter on the team outside of Cory Kispert, who’s also out right now. So, let’s utilize that. Let’s see him get unleashed. I guess we’re going to see with him coming back maybe the first couple games. I’m not sure if I’ll expect him uh to be back like playing significant minutes early on cuz as they’re easing him back, get him back into basketball shape. Uh but depending on how many minutes he plays tomorrow, I’m sure he’ll get asked uh Keith I’m talking about in the press conference. We’ll get asked like is he still playing on this minutes restriction or uh what’s that situation? So that’s going to be interesting to see as well. And I’m hoping Ben when he comes back he’s just not sitting in the corner waiting for a catch and shoot opportunity. I want to see planes uh planes plays run for him. Pin downs, down screens, anything to get the kid open. That mid-range pull up one dribble shot. I I love that as well. I just don’t want to see a guy who I remember early on for the career of Denny Abdia. And I hate to bring that name up because it’s triggers a lot of Wizards fans, but that was one knock on him that I didn’t like about Scott Brooks was that Denny AD is a playmaker. You can go out there and dribble, but you Scott Brooks would just put him in the corner and just wait for a catch and shoot opportunity. With Trey Johnson, I want him to go out there and be fully developed. You don’t want to hold him back in any way because this is a kid who has, in my opinion, 25 points per game potential. You just have to go out there and give him those opportunities. And maybe taking a shot or two from CJ McCullum might be the solution to that. We’ll just have to see. I agree with you 100%. Like, let’s keep him as involved with the offense as possible. I’m not saying you need to give him the basketball and say, “Go score. go get to your spot. Let’s see if you can do it. Uh like I understand that like they’re trying to experiment and see what things he’s capable of. And it makes sense to me, but we’ve kind of done that through the first 15 games that we saw him play or you know, however many games it was before he was injured. Let’s see the best version of Trey Johnson. Now that we’re a quarter of the way through the season, we’re starting to see some separation in terms of the standings and draft lottery, yada yada, whatever you want to describe all that stuff as. Let’s see the best version of a guy that we took with our number six overall pick. That’s all I got for that. All right. 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Uh, Jarrett Allen fully practiced on Tuesday. He’d been out with a finger injury as of recently. Um, Tyrese Proctor missed a game or two, but other than that, like it’s been a little bit surprising to see a little bit of inconsistency. I thought Cleveland was going to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and there’s still plenty of time. It’s early in the season, but just given what they have this season and how well Evan Mobley has played for them, how great Tyrese Proctor, a second round pick in the draft, has been out of Duke, uh, and then of course Donovan Mitchell, who is the superstar in Cleveland. It’s been interesting, but the last time we played those guys, we know it was a disaster. 148 points given up by Washington. No Bal and no Keshan in that game. You’re still not going to have Bal for this one. So, unfortunately, you’re playing a team that’s one of the better three-point shooting teams, one of the better offensive teams in the NBA, and you are still down your top wing defender. Bal Kulabali uh continues to miss time at the right oblique strain. But you do have Keshan George in the lineup for this one. You do get Trey Johnson back, but of course now you do not have Alex Sar available for this game as well. Also, Chris Middleton will be unavailable in this game to round out the injury report. Let me make sure I got everyone there. And Kispert obviously not playing in this one. So, the Wizards are just going to continue playing short-handed here. And for as bad as they’ve been defensively, it’s going to be a big challenge tomorrow. Yeah. And I think no Alex Sarban meaning that Marvin Bagley is going to be guarding Evan Mobley which honestly we’ll see what h how that pans out. But I think I’m more worried about Tristan Vuvich and Evan Mobley because Evan Mobley been offensively and defensively is a top seven center in this league. He moves so well. I remember when we drafted Alex used to tell people that ideally it would be nice if he pans out like a Evan Mobley type of player. So that’s one matchup that I’m looking at. How does the bigs fare against the bigs of Cleveland? Because they can play big. And Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, they are really, really shifty and fast. Tyrese product of the depth that they have. They do have is it don’t they have another guy with the last name Bacon or Wade or my like a shooter? I remember when they played Samill. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I remember I asked you like who is this guy? He was like, I don’t know. Sam Merryill. Yeah, he can light it up from three-point land. You have to find a way to not give up 135 points, Ben. I mean, I know that’s a high that’s a low point, but or it’s a high number that no team should hit defensively, but that’s the theme of the season for the Wizards where you giving up 130 points, you can barely score over 105, 110. Defensively, I’m I’m a little worried because again, you don’t have Bal out there, you don’t have Alex Sar. Offensively, can you find a way to get the young guys going as soon as possible in the game? Or is this going to be a game where you expect CJ McCullum to carry the load? I pref I prefer the first option, but we’ll just have to see how it pans out. And you’re coming off a long break, Ben. You didn’t We didn’t have Wizards basketball for what, six days? Five days. You can’t go out there and get blown out at home. It’s just It’s a bad look. I just need to see energy. There’s no reason to not have full energy to get full intensity on both sides of the basketball tomorrow. Go out and push and transition the way you want. Uh but you got to get stops to do so. That’s very obvious that if you can’t get stops, you can’t push and transition. But when you’ve had the adequate rest time that they have, I expect them to be out there flying around. I can live with mistakes if they’re being done at 100%. That’s the bottom line. And sometimes we don’t always get 100% from everyone on the floor. And that makes it a little bit more frustrating, a little bit harder to watch. If you go out there and you’re prioritizing the youth through the majority of this game and you just get beat by going at 100 miles an hour and having your young guys lose due to inexperience because you’re facing a team with the offensive potency of uh the Cleveland Cavaliers obviously then so be it. Like that’s a loss you can handle. It’s part of the development process. Donovan Mitchell uh I’d expect Keshan George to get that assignment. We’ll see how he fares early on. J Watkins, remember last time, Ben? That’s right. Hey, Jir Watkins actually made life pretty difficult on Donovan Mitchell. I’ll have to double check that those guys get elevated for the game. I see AJ Johnson and Jir Watkins both played with the go- go the other day. Uh we well Watkins is on the two-way, so I think it doesn’t really matter necessarily. I think he can just be up. Uh but we’ll have to double check to make sure AJ Johnson gets elevated for that game to see if he’ll be available to get any minutes or not. Probably that would happen if it’s a blowout, which it was last time. Obviously, he probably did check into that game if I remember correctly because it was like a 30-point blowout in the fourth quarter, but no, it’s going to be interesting to see. I think Bagley is capable of matching up down there uh with Mobley as well. I mean, you always got to account for Darius Garland as well, who’s only played in nine games this year, which I think has been a bit of a bummer uh for the Cavaliers this year. Let me let me make sure that he has played as of recently. So yeah, the last time he played uh on Saturday, December 6 against Golden State where he had 17, five and four. Cleveland also comes in very well rested because they also didn’t advance in the NBA Cup just like us. So different expectations, but they also didn’t play very well in the NBA Cup. Yeah, I still don’t get this whole NBA Cup thing, Ben. I mean, I just like and I’m saying this like I get it. The Wizards are probably not going to win one anytime soon, but I just I don’t understand the thrill of it. Did you see what OKC did to Phoenix? 40 plus points. I mean, their whole, bro, if you look at their stat line, the whole team, 10 plus points each player. Unbelievable. They’re going to complete the triple crown, I think, is what they’re like trying to deem it as. Like, was it best? They’re going to go for the NBA record and wins the NBA title and the NBA cup. Like, just have the greatest season. And they’re going to get Cameron Boozer as well. I already see it. And I was just texting today about my friend said, “Oh man, just wait till they get Boozer.” Like that’s un Boozer and Chat next to one another, bro. Chat at 72 did a like a like I forgot what it was like an in-n-out in and out from the baseline fake oneway drop. It was like guys at that size should not be doing that. No, he’s saucy. He is insane. If Alex R could become like 60% of Chad Hogram, like I think you’re you’re looking like you’re in a And remember, Ben, people were doubting him. He was out his whole rookie year due to that foot injury. It’s great to see him bounce back. Yeah. I mean, guys can can bounce back from injuries. You hope that like guys within our organization like Sar who’s been hurt a little bit this season, Bal who’s been hurt quite a bit through the first three years of his career, and that’s kind of plagued the way he develops in a way. But these things are overcomeable if they eventually get over that, they recover properly and they’re able to develop. And you just got to continue to look at like the way OKC built this team and hope that the Wizards can replicate anything close to that because the Thunder are the best organization in sports. Like hands down right now, I don’t think you could find a better front office top to bottom in any sport than the OKC Thunder. Like I know the Capitals have been good for so many years, but OKC not only has built a championship level team through rebuilding properly. They own every pick possible. They might have a top three pick in this draft. They might have three picks in the lottery. They play the craziest game of chess while everyone else like can’t even play checkers. It’s It doesn’t even make sense. Do you remember in 2021 2020 we were joking about the fact that oh they have so much draft capital they’re going to draft all these middle schoolers joking about it. It’s not a joke anymore guys. This team is actually insane and they’re just only going to get better. Yeah. I feel like I remember I’d see like memes saying like damn they just traded Paul George for a like a eighth grader. This is Paul George’s fault. This is who I’m blaming. The the dark ages of NBA where OKC is going to take over. It’s PG’s fault. respectful. Oh, blame the Clippers. Blame Clippers. Them, too. The Clippers were in a terrible position as well. They don’t even have their first round pick. The Clippers are one of the worst organizations in sports. Like, they wasted so many good teams for so many years. And now there’s this disastrous situation uh with CP3 and his departure. The Clippers have never been able to get it right. And I’m like, we don’t have a lot of room to talk. I get that. We know. We know. We I like don’t have to be saying like look at look at your team. I get it. I get it. We’ve been bad. But like the Clippers have also been really bad. I’m just like going to put that out there, okay? So, do not come for me. I know the Wizards are have been a bad organization. Uh spare me the details. I’m aware. We’re going to get we’re going to get locked on Clippers fans coming in our comment section saying, “Did you hear?” I don’t Everyone the Wizards fans were making fun of us. I think they I think they’re numb to it at this point, though. Yeah. And at the end of the day, this Wizard squad, you’re just hoping, I was gonna say, Ben, Cam Whitmore, we haven’t talked about him this whole episode, over under 15 minutes play tomorrow. I’m probably going to go under. Actually, I think he I think he plays I hit the 16 minute mark. Hopefully, I hope he plays more than that, but we’ll see. Tomorrow is going to be like a big tell of like where we are in that whole thing. So, uh, if he’s like a DMP again, then I I don’t know what’s going to happen. For for for Keith’s sake of having to deal with it, he he should play Gam Whitmore for 20 minutes so he doesn’t have to deal with it anymore. Yeah, cuz I know if he as a DMP again, there’s going to be a lot of questions about him more than the actual game. All right, that’s our show. We thank you for making Lockdown Wizards your first listen every single day. For your second, check out the Lockdown NBA Fantasy Basketball podcast. Be sure to check into the Everyday Club link to that down in the description if you’re interested in joining that. Uh for my co-host MD Yubi, Ben Sher will talk to you from Capital One Arena tomorrow.
Get ready for an in-depth Washington Wizards conversation on Locked On Wizards with Ben Strober, Abdullah Ayubi, and special guest Lynnell Willingham! This episode delves into Tre Johnson’s return from injury and what it means for the team’s development heading into the season. The hosts tackle Keyshawn George’s perceived inconsistencies, his fit as a potential lead guard, and why Wizards fans shouldn’t panic. Lynnell Willingham brings contagious energy, sharing his takes on Tre Johnson’s value, Kyshawn’s development, the importance of aggressive defense, and why Alex Sarr’s potential is “limitless.” You’ll also get into honest assessments of the Wizards’ injury situation, frustrations, and hopes for the youth movement ahead of the upcoming matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Don’t miss hot takes, insightful analysis, and the kind of positive energy Wizards Nation needs right now.
00:00:00 – Show Open & Breaking News
00:01:14 – Trey Johnson’s Injury Impact
00:04:42 – Keyshawn George: Slump or Growth?
00:07:31 – Aggressive Defense & Foul Trouble
00:08:36 – Alex Sarr’s Ceiling
00:14:44 – Wizards vs. Cavaliers Preview & Injury Updates
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