2025 Summer League

[doclinkin]

There is nothing like a young talented rookie to energize the fanbase. Trotting out CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton to eat up shots while we have Tre Johnson on the bench collecting dust is untenable. Tre Johnson doesn't need a vet to guide him.

Given we need to lose I highly doubt our rooks and young pups will be starved of PT. They will start, the vets will come off the bench, sub out early, and be traded at earliest opportunity. The front office has been transparent about this. If we had Poole and especially Kuzma driving the tank then it might make sense to play them. But CJ and KMidd are too effective.

[DCZards]

Kyshawn had a nice all around game but if we're going to call out other players he also needs to be called out. 4/16 when your other teammates are shooting well is unacceptable. Riley was 5/6. Tre was 7/11. Bub was 5/7.

I noted that Ky didn’t shoot well…but I’m not really worried about counting shots at this point.

Tre will get his shots. Plus he had a groin issue that likely slowed him down. Wouldn’t be surprised if they shut Tre down for the SL.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

There is nothing like a young talented rookie to energize the fanbase. Trotting out CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton to eat up shots while we have Tre Johnson on the bench collecting dust is untenable. Tre Johnson doesn't need a vet to guide him.

Given we need to lose I highly doubt our rooks and young pups will be starved of PT. They will start, the vets will come off the bench, sub out early, and be traded at earliest opportunity. The front office has been transparent about this. If we had Poole and especially Kuzma driving the tank then it might make sense to play them. But CJ and KMidd are too effective.

I’m starting to think our best long term (and short term) top 5 could be Tre, Bilal, Cam, Kyshawn, Sarr.

Bub, CJ, Champagnie, Middleton off the bench would be a nice rotation.

[prime1time]

There is nothing like a young talented rookie to energize the fanbase. Trotting out CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton to eat up shots while we have Tre Johnson on the bench collecting dust is untenable. Tre Johnson doesn't need a vet to guide him.

Given we need to lose I highly doubt our rooks and young pups will be starved of PT. They will start, the vets will come off the bench, sub out early, and be traded at earliest opportunity. The front office has been transparent about this. If we had Poole and especially Kuzma driving the tank then it might make sense to play them. But CJ and KMidd are too effective.

I’m starting to think our best long term (and short term) top 5 could be Tre, Bilal, Cam, Kyshawn, Sarr.

Bub, CJ, Champagnie, Middleton off the bench would be a nice rotation.

That's not a long term 5 because we are tanking. Like where would that leave against elite teams?

Tre - Elite off ball scorer, developing on ball creator/playmaker, elite shooter
Bilal - elite defender, developing on ball creator, mediocre shooter
Sarr - developing elite defender, project offensively, good passer

Those are the solid 3. To the degree that Cam doesn't bring anything else to the table beside scoring we really don't need him. Kyshawn is too aggressive and not super skilled. The hope must be that to those 3 players we can add a top 3 pick next year.

Peterson - Tre - Bilal - Sarr now that's a squad

Peterson can play both on ball and off ball. Not sure how good of a 3-point shooter he is but I read that he shot 86% from the ft line. And he's elite at getting to the hoop. The one thing we don't have.

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Tre - AJ Dyabantasa - Bilal - Sarr
Shooting might be iffy but two elite wing defenders and developing offense. Tre is good enough to score in tight spaces. Defensively we would suffocate opposing offenses.

Read on Twitter

Tre - Bilal - Boozer - Sarr
Boozer is a 3 level scorer that would create mismatches all over the court. He's athletic and quick enough to guard on the perimeter.

Read on Twitter

Peterson would obviously be the perfect fit. Hand in glove. From there I would need to see more from either Dybantsa, Boozer or someone else. The challenges of putting together a competing team is obvious. On good teams shots are allocated based on talent/ability. And players who don't bring much else to the table are going to be expendable. That's what happened to Whitmore in Houston.

Peterson on this team puts us squarely on a trajectory to be a contender.

[prime1time]

Given we need to lose I highly doubt our rooks and young pups will be starved of PT. They will start, the vets will come off the bench, sub out early, and be traded at earliest opportunity. The front office has been transparent about this. If we had Poole and especially Kuzma driving the tank then it might make sense to play them. But CJ and KMidd are too effective.

I’m starting to think our best long term (and short term) top 5 could be Tre, Bilal, Cam, Kyshawn, Sarr.

Bub, CJ, Champagnie, Middleton off the bench would be a nice rotation.

That's not a long term 5 because we are tanking. Like where would that leave against elite teams?

Tre - Elite off ball scorer, developing on ball creator/playmaker, elite shooter
Bilal - elite defender, developing on ball creator, mediocre shooter
Sarr - developing elite defender, project offensively, good passer

Those are the solid 3. To the degree that Cam doesn't bring anything else to the table beside scoring we really don't need him. Kyshawn is too aggressive and not super skilled. The hope must be that to those 3 players we can add a top 3 pick next year.

Peterson - Tre - Bilal - Sarr now that's a squad

Peterson can play both on ball and off ball. Not sure how good of a 3-point shooter he is but I read that he shot 86% from the ft line. And he's elite at getting to the hoop. The one thing we don't have.

Read on Twitter

Tre - AJ Dyabantasa - Bilal - Sarr
Shooting might be iffy but two elite wing defenders and developing offense. Tre is good enough to score in tight spaces. Defensively we would suffocate opposing offenses.

Read on Twitter

Tre - Bilal - Boozer - Sarr
Boozer is a 3 level scorer that would create mismatches all over the court. He's athletic and quick enough to guard on the perimeter.

Read on Twitter

Peterson would obviously be the perfect fit. Hand in glove. From there I would need to see more from either Dybantsa, Boozer or someone else. The challenges of putting together a competing team is obvious. On good teams shots are allocated based on talent/ability. And players who don't bring much else to the table are going to be expendable. That's what happened to Whitmore in Houston.

Peterson on this team puts us squarely on a trajectory to be a contender.

A Peterson/Johnson backcourt would be in conversation for best backcourts ever. Obviously they would have to win but you can't look at Peterson's tape and not salivate over the possibilities.

[doclinkin]

…

Pr1me my friend. You often make good points. But as someone who also spams the board with too long posts can you hold off on the self-quotes? I lose track in scrolling past and miss your actual point.

[DCZards]

Tre - Elite off ball scorer, developing on ball creator/playmaker, elite shooter
Bilal - elite defender, developing on ball creator, mediocre shooter
Sarr - developing elite defender, project offensively, good passer

Those are the solid 3. To the degree that Cam doesn't bring anything else to the table beside scoring we really don't need him. Kyshawn is too aggressive and not super skilled. The hope must be that to those 3 players we can add a top 3 pick next year.

Kyshawn not very skilled? Man, do you underrate him.

Don’t let your concern about Ky being too “aggressive” blind you to what he does well, such as being our smartest and best perimeter defender with the potential to also be our best playmaker among the 6-7 and over wings.

Ky had 5 steals last night…and probably 3-4 deflections.

Bilal may someday be a better perimeter defender than Ky, but right now he doesn’t have George’s instincts or IQ on that end of the court.

[doclinkin]

Those are the solid 3. To the degree that Cam doesn't bring anything else to the table beside scoring we really don't need him. Kyshawn is too aggressive and not super skilled. The hope must be that to those 3 players we can add a top 3 pick next year.

I’d heartily disagree on Kyshawn. And the numbers disagree as well. If you look at the nba stat pages on defense as a rookie Key showed up as one if the more impactful perimeter defenders in the league.

Still growing. Still filling out. He got physically stronger during the season which is rare. He needs to groove his 3pt shot but shows multi tool skills, length, passing chops, and is one of the emotional drivers of the team.

On Cam. Shrug. Scorers have value. He will rack And-1 points and highlight dunks. We will play him. Coach BK will encourage him to shoot and defend better. Maybe he hears it better on a young team and when earning more minutes. If not: teams trade for bucket getters. Early on I think playing him heavy minutes for empty stats is a fine and exciting way to rack good tank losses.

[tontoz]

I think the post about Peterson/AJ/Boozer should be in the draft thread.

I liked the defensive pressure across the board. They were pressuring the ball well as a team and then Sarr was aggressive protecting the rim.

[TheBlackCzar]

Given we need to lose I highly doubt our rooks and young pups will be starved of PT. They will start, the vets will come off the bench, sub out early, and be traded at earliest opportunity. The front office has been transparent about this. If we had Poole and especially Kuzma driving the tank then it might make sense to play them. But CJ and KMidd are too effective.

I’m starting to think our best long term (and short term) top 5 could be Tre, Bilal, Cam, Kyshawn, Sarr.

Bub, CJ, Champagnie, Middleton off the bench would be a nice rotation.

That's not a long term 5 because we are tanking. Like where would that leave against elite teams?

Tre - Elite off ball scorer, developing on ball creator/playmaker, elite shooter
Bilal - elite defender, developing on ball creator, mediocre shooter
Sarr - developing elite defender, project offensively, good passer

Those are the solid 3. To the degree that Cam doesn't bring anything else to the table beside scoring we really don't need him. Kyshawn is too aggressive and not super skilled. The hope must be that to those 3 players we can add a top 3 pick next year.

Peterson - Tre - Bilal - Sarr now that's a squad

Peterson can play both on ball and off ball. Not sure how good of a 3-point shooter he is but I read that he shot 86% from the ft line. And he's elite at getting to the hoop. The one thing we don't have.

Read on Twitter

Tre - AJ Dyabantasa - Bilal - Sarr

Shooting might be iffy but two elite wing defenders and developing offense. Tre is good enough to score in tight spaces. Defensively we would suffocate opposing offenses.

Read on Twitter

Tre - Bilal - Boozer - Sarr
Boozer is a 3 level scorer that would create mismatches all over the court. He's athletic and quick enough to guard on the perimeter.

Read on Twitter

Peterson would obviously be the perfect fit. Hand in glove. From there I would need to see more from either Dybantsa, Boozer or someone else. The challenges of putting together a competing team is obvious. On good teams shots are allocated based on talent/ability. And players who don't bring much else to the table are going to be expendable. That's what happened to Whitmore in Houston.

Peterson on this team puts us squarely on a trajectory to be a contender.

Peterson is an elite 3 shooter already not just a free throw shooter.... Go watch his film and you'll see all he offers on display in practically every video of him playing.... He's Kobe'esque in his intensity and consistency......

But you are downplaying Kyshawn a great deal.... He's good enough to be our point forward..... He has the best handles of all our forwards, best passer, best defensive player one on one (might be a question if Bilal is better).... If anything a gunner like Cam is really going to benefit from Ky's very high BBIQ...... Dude is a steal and should not be slept on because his shots not falling... Everything else he's excelling at, so considering shooting is his strong point I'm very impressed with his progression since we drafted him.....

[dobrojim]

Their stated goal was to go undefeated in LV.

When you consider our top 5-6 SL roster guys were major rotation players last year
(not including Tre) but are playing against teams that are more in the position
of testing out guys who might have a chance to make the roster or G league,
we should be very competitive. The W last night was great and our guys showed
out well in the ways we would hope them to. But after SL is over and they'll be playing for
real. our guys are going to be playing against NBA vets in the reg season as opposed to NBA hopefuls and novices.
And many of our guys will still be in the early stages of their career progression.
So I expect our 19-21 yo players to look good now but to struggle when the real
season rolls around in 3 months and they start playing against grown ass men
with at least 3 or more years in the Assoc.

[AFM]

Doc telling others their posts are getting too long is hilarious. Anyway, I thought it was worth noting they played much better as a team last night. First game looked like a YMCA shootaround.

[dobrojim]

Sarr is looking like a bit of a beast of the defensive end and also Kyshawn is looking good on that end too.

If we can get Bub to get a better handle and find a way for him to become a less streaky shooter, this team has the makings of a really fun team.

Sarr
George
Tre
Bub

And add another top end first round pick and the team could actually become something one day

I thought AJJ also looked promising. Remember he's
also just a kid.

This is a good point that should be remembered. The Wizards players are incredibly young. I think Tre Johnson has skewed our perspective on what these guys should be capable of.

Plus AJJ didn't play nearly as much as his new first year
teammates did last year.

[pancakes3]

if you showed me pictures of the boozer twins and told me that their dad was a former Duke/NBA player, based off resemblance, I'd have thought they were Battier's kids.

[doclinkin]

Doc telling others their posts are getting too long is hilarious. Anyway, I thought it was worth noting they played much better as a team last night. First game looked like a YMCA shootaround.

I agree! But man. Even I don’t triple quote my own posts. Just try to bring new content if I’m gonna blow up the page.

[closg00]

Perhaps I will eat my words about Essengue,
In the SL environment he his thriving against the Pacers anyway, leading all scorers so-far, haven’t seen his D or play yet.

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[closg00]

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[Tyrone Messby]

Would yall say the top 3 in 2026 are arguably more promising than the Flagg, Harper, Bailey trio?

[AFM]

Would yall say the top 3 in 2026 are arguably more promising than the Flagg, Harper, Bailey trio?

Yes. But I'm also not high on Bailey at all.

[tontoz]

Would yall say the top 3 in 2026 are arguably more promising than the Flagg, Harper, Bailey trio?

Too early to say. From what little I've seen AJ is over hyped. Peterson and Ament look legit. Boozer looks like a high floor but low ceiling player.