Welcome to the District, Anicet Dybantsa Jr.

[nate33]

At 6'10, what do you guys project AJ's main position to be when he reaches grown man strength and size. Since he is an attacker, it seems like he should have two people to kick-out to (although he is more likely to "bait fouls" while trying to score. Ideally, he will also develop a nasty stroke from deep himself, so-many possibilities for him.

It doesn't really matter. He is a "wing". He can play at the 2, 3 or 4. Ultimately, he should play alongside one true big man, one more ball-handler/shot-creator, and 2 guys who are the best shooter/defenders we can find. All of his teammates should be as tall as possible while still fulfilling their necessary role.

I agree. Although, I think of AJ less as a 4. I’d rather have a Yaxel there. Someone with more bulk and strength, that is a better rebounder, but still has the athleticism to switch.

And I’d love someone in the mold of a Mikel Brown at PG. tall/long, can penetrate, has deep range, can defend, and doesn’t need a million shots a game.

Tre would be such a perfect complement if he just becomes more consistent offensively and actually becomes an average defender. A guy that can light it up playing off ball.

Klay Thompson is such a good archetype of someone that would be good to pair with AJ

I'd be pretty happy with Yaxel, Kyshawn and Bilal as his wings, and Sarr as his big. It might be good to have one more smaller/quicker guy to deal with the waterbug PG types. A guy like Burries or Suggs would be great.

AD for Yaxel
Riley and the 2029 POR pick for Burries

That would give us 6 core guys that are ready to roll:

Burries
Kyshawn
Bilal
AJ
Yaxel
Sarr

AJ, Sarr and any 3 of the other 4 form a very good 5-man lineup. They would need another 2 or so years before they're fully seasoned, but I can be patient. In the short term, Trae can help accelerate our timetable into more meaningful playoff games.

Just let those guys develop and pay to keep that core together for the next 6-8 years. You can find cheap options for extra shooters, an instant offense bench guard, wing depth, and a reliable backup center. For now, Tre, Bub, Watkins, Champagnie and Ayton work. But over time you would probably have to move on from them to keep costs under control.

[DCZards]

I’m amazed at how little love Tre J. gets sometimes. Yeah, his D has a long ways to go, but offensively he reminds me of a player just mentioned as someone who would be good to pair with AJ—Klay Thompson.

Like Klay, Tre doesn’t do a lot of dribbling, passing or ball handling—but get him the rock and he shoots his a** off. That’s the kind of marksmanship you need sharing the court with AJ.

I think some of y’all sleeping on Tre.

[nate33]

I’m amazed at how little love Tre J. gets sometimes. Yeah, his D has a long ways to go, but offensively he reminds me of of a players just mentioned as someone who would be good to pair with AJ—Klay Thompson.

Like Klay, Tre doesn’t do a lot of dribbling, passing or ball handling—but get him the rock and he shoots his a** off. That’s the kind of marksmanship you need sharing the court with AJ.

I think some of y’all sleeping on Tre.

To be honest, I'm even more down on Tre now than I was before the Summer League game.

I recognize that Tre is going to be a lethal shooter, but I was really disappointed in how he was picked on defensively. I was hoping he would make a substantial jump by getting stronger, but it looks like the problem is his lateral quickness, not his strength.

That's the massive difference between Tre and Klay Thompson. Klay was a first rate defender. Tre is bad.

In today's league, if you can't defend, you just can't be on the floor in a playoff game unless you are a primary offensive option, or at the very least, an Austin Reaves tier secondary guy. I don't think Tre will be that good. I think he is more of a Duncan Robinson type of player - which is fine in the regular season, but would get played off the floor in a playoff game. There's a role for Tre, but I don't think he is a core player. And when the time comes, I don't think I would pay much more than MLE type of money to keep him around.

Obviously, he is still young and it's way too early to make definitive predictions on guys who aren't even 21 yet. Maybe Tre will surprise me. But if I had to bet on it right now, I would bet that he pans out as a mere rotation player, a 5th-to-8th man, not an entrenched starter.

Name an off-ball third option type of scorer who is also a below average defender that starts for a contender. I can't think of one.

[anselmheifer76]

I’m amazed at how little love Tre J. gets sometimes. Yeah, his D has a long ways to go, but offensively he reminds me of a player just mentioned as someone who would be good to pair with AJ—Klay Thompson.

Like Klay, Tre doesn’t do a lot of dribbling, passing or ball handling—but get him the rock and he shoots his a** off. That’s the kind of marksmanship you need sharing the court with AJ.

I think some of y’all sleeping on Tre.

I think they all agree with you on offense, if he is what we expect there. They just don’t think he can defend well enough. Especially alongside Trae.

But I’ve always kind of hoped Tre would be a Klay Thompson. Similar off ball play. Tre, actually slightly longer. Tre actually more of a vertical athlete. Similar college stats, but Tre was better. Between their rookie years, Klay’s was better, mostly on the back of 40% 3 point shooter vs Tre at 32.

If Tre becomes adequately good on defense, and is just more consistent on offense, he will be an all star and the perfect complement to AJ.

[penbeast0]

I’m amazed at how little love Tre J. gets sometimes. Yeah, his D has a long ways to go, but offensively he reminds me of a player just mentioned as someone who would be good to pair with AJ—Klay Thompson.

Like Klay, Tre doesn’t do a lot of dribbling, passing or ball handling—but get him the rock and he shoots his a** off. That’s the kind of marksmanship you need sharing the court with AJ.

I think some of y’all sleeping on Tre.

I think they all agree with you on offense, if he is what we expect there. They just don’t think he can defend well enough. Especially alongside Trae.

But I’ve always kind of hoped Tre would be a Klay Thompson. Similar off ball play. Tre, actually slightly longer. Tre actually more of a vertical athlete. Similar college stats, but Tre was better. Between their rookie years, Klay’s was better, mostly on the back of 40% 3 point shooter vs Tre at 32.

If Tre becomes adequately good on defense, and is just more consistent on offense, he will be an all star and the perfect complement to AJ.

I think Tre Johnson could be an all-star, even if he is just mediocre on defense. The NBA is a scorer's league. I just don't see him producing that much as a 4th/5th option. Dybantsa is the annoited one, Trae Young isn't going to fail to call his own number consistently, and Davis is a big name and famously protective of his own production. It's another reason I wasn't thrilled by the deals and was hoping we got them both to trade them. I think Tre Johnson has great potential; I just don't think he'll realize it with this configuration of the Wizards.

I was happy with a team built around AJ and Tre using someone like Quickley or Suggs with Bub Carrington at point and running a multipoint offense. But we are taking shortcuts to be good now rather than focusing as heavily on development.

[payitforward]

I’m amazed at how little love Tre J. gets sometimes. Yeah, his D has a long ways to go, but offensively he reminds me of a player just mentioned as someone who would be good to pair with AJ—Klay Thompson.

Like Klay, Tre doesn’t do a lot of dribbling, passing or ball handling—but get him the rock and he shoots his a** off. That’s the kind of marksmanship you need sharing the court with AJ.

I think some of y’all sleeping on Tre.

Glad you brought him up; in all the excitement about AJ's outing we haven't said enough good about Tre last night. He was extremely activ, mobile, & aggressive on offense. Showed an ability to attack the basket that I didn't see much of last year.

Obviously plenty more development needed, but I was really cheered by his attitude & actions last night: way to go young man!

[payitforward]

nate's right about Tre's defense, to be sure.

But what I don't understand is why he can't be coached up to become adequate. Tre has the inherent athleticism to be ok on that end of the court. Defense is much more about smarts, intelligence, & effort than is offense.

[DCZards]

Steph Curry was considered a mediocre defender early in his career. Got better with experience, coaching, etc. So there’s hope for Tre.

[AFM]

Watch on YouTube

I just can't get over how good he looked (pause). He's not some 4 year project we have to wait on. He looks unstoppable at getting to the rack. This is easily the most excited I've ever been as a Wizards fan.

[WizarDynasty]

nate's right about Tre's defense, to be sure.

But what I don't understand is why he can't be coached up to become adequate. Tre has the inherent athleticism to be ok on that end of the court. Defense is much more about smarts, intelligence, & effort than is offense.

Tre lacks the leg strentgh... quads to maintain low center of gravity and move laterally. He does not have the leg stamina to maintain a low center of gravity and shuffle laterally without crossing his feet.
You would use a 40 lb. Kettle ball and shuffle diagonally stop and go for 5 minutes full length of court. Or you would have offensive player cross ball between legs and defender holding 45lb kettle changes defensive staff after 10 between leg crosses. This what wiz lack. In their coaching staff. For both bugs and points.A great defender can shuffle his feet without crossing and have his hands touching the ground.. lol... like an ape. A great defender always shuffles diagonally and funnels the offensive player toward the out of bounds line perimeter.. not the baseline out of bounds.
Remember if offensive player is dribbling with left hand you your lead foot is your left foot and you shuffle diagonally.. if the player crosses ball to right hand, you immediately switch your lead foot to right and shuffle diagonal.
Iverson was deadly because crossing the ball lightening quick from left to right forces a greY defender to change their defensive stances.
If cross ball over three straight timee. the defender has to shuffle 3 separate times and defender has to use far more energy changing stance than skilled offensive player changing ball from left hand to right hand.
A mediocre defender does have foot speed, leg stamina and desire to maintain defensiveve stance based on ball position. In order to move lateral at same speed that a offensive playe is bursting requires dedicate training with weight vest and keeping your hand close to the ground. This is grueling work.
Wizards management doesn't have trainers who can develop this with millionaire players because u dont get large contracts for this ability.
easy to see he has never trained with a weight vest...to maintain low center of gravity..and quickly switch stances... a player who hop from left defense stance to right defense stance .. who also has length and can slide through picks.. is a true three and d guy. Also you need elite shoes.. lebron 12 elites to roll on forefoot of shoes instead of bending the shoes just to get. Ourt feel when hopping from left lateral defense stance to right lateral defense stance. Staying low to ground and executing this defense stance based on crossover was key to point guard controlling the game defensively.it's like boxing.. your lead foot is always determined by offensive players dribble hand. Since they can't switch defensive stance... due to lack of specialize training... he failed look to reach his full potential defensively. Wiz dont have a player like derick Fisher .. who has power to enforce e on staff to teach this. Nearly all wiz players lack this ability to quickly change stance and dominate perimeter defensively. . Also none wear elites so... poor defense is due to poor shoe design... finally... if a player jumps off 2 feet... for offense they should land on 2 feet to absorb pressure generated by jumping off 2 feet. We keep seeing tre and dybantsu jump off 2 feet and the use one foot to absorb to foot jump. If you were not strong enough to jump off one foot to execute the offensive move.. then dont rely on one foot to absorb landing. Destroy hip cartillage. All energy created must be absorbed. However you take off.. use same motion to absorb force.

[tontoz]

Tre just played 60 regular season games and I thought his defense held up well. I am not concerned about a summer league game.

[badinage]

I’m amazed at how little love Tre J. gets sometimes. Yeah, his D has a long ways to go, but offensively he reminds me of a player just mentioned as someone who would be good to pair with AJ—Klay Thompson.

Like Klay, Tre doesn’t do a lot of dribbling, passing or ball handling—but get him the rock and he shoots his a** off. That’s the kind of marksmanship you need sharing the court with AJ.

I think some of y’all sleeping on Tre.

Preach!

The guy’s got a great stroke and can get his shot off almost anywhere on the court and from so many different angles. Great balance, too.

This notion that everyone must be well-rounded, contribute across the stat sheet, do the windows, take out the trash, get the oil changed, file the taxes … Like — for real? Players have weaknesses. Every guy in the league — other than maybe 5-7 guys.

Teams are built from imperfect players. The one that just won the title is FULL of imperfect players — FULL of guys with holes and flaws.

[penbeast0]

Yes, but Tre Johnson's defensive flaws (not based on one summer league game but on watching him since we drafted him) match up badly to Trae Young's defensive flaws; and his lack of playmaking mean he doesn't play as well offensively with any of our other PGs. Plus, we have 4 guys who see themselves as primary scorer types in the starting lineup not including the 2 guard where we need a 3 and D type if we are going with our other 4 probable starters.

You have to have synergy to win and overcome flaws; he doesn't synergize with the current personnel that well. So, either we need to change the players around him to maximize him, or he has to learn one to be much better at one of the other two key skills for an NBA guard than he is currently showing.

[doclinkin]

shoe design.

Is the new bow legged.

[nate33]

I’m amazed at how little love Tre J. gets sometimes. Yeah, his D has a long ways to go, but offensively he reminds me of a player just mentioned as someone who would be good to pair with AJ—Klay Thompson.

Like Klay, Tre doesn’t do a lot of dribbling, passing or ball handling—but get him the rock and he shoots his a** off. That’s the kind of marksmanship you need sharing the court with AJ.

I think some of y’all sleeping on Tre.

Preach!

The guy’s got a great stroke and can get his shot off almost anywhere on the court and from so many different angles. Great balance, too.

This notion that everyone must be well-rounded, contribute across the stat sheet, do the windows, take out the trash, get the oil changed, file the taxes … Like — for real? Players have weaknesses. Every guy in the league — other than maybe 5-7 guys.

Teams are built from imperfect players. The one that just won the title is FULL of imperfect players — FULL of guys with holes and flaws.

Guys can have flaws, but bad defense can't be one of them - at least not in Game 6 of a Conference Finals.

Bilal also has flaws, but I'd much rather have him on the floor during crunch time in a playoff game than Tre Johnson. At least Bilal will be a plus defender at one end and he can stand in the corner on offense, shoot 3's and attack closeouts at the other end. Basically, the worst thing that can happen with Bilal on the floor is that he has to shoot a corner 3 with minimal wind up time. That's not a great shot, but it's not terrible either. The worst that can happen with Tre on the floor is that the defense puts him in a switch and he ends up guarding somebody like Cade Cunningham or Luka Doncic in space. That's just guaranteed points for the other team.

[DCZards]

Guys can have flaws, but bad defense can't be one of them - at least not in Game 6 of a Conference Finals.

Knicks just won the championship with a bad defender who was the Finals MVP.

[DCZards]

You have to have synergy to win and overcome flaws; he doesn't synergize with the current personnel that well. So, either we need to change the players around him to maximize him, or he has to learn one to be much better at one of the other two key skills for an NBA guard than he is currently showing.

I disagree. Tre J. will have synergy with penetrators and playmakers like Trae and AJ. Tre moves well without the ball and gets his shot off quickly. That should lead to plenty of open looks for Tre when he shares the court with Trae and/or AJ.

[nate33]

Guys can have flaws, but bad defense can't be one of them - at least not in Game 6 of a Conference Finals.

Knicks just won the championship with a bad defender who was the Finals MVP.

How many times to I have to repeat myself? The only guys who can get away with not being elite defenders are primary option offensive engines who make the whole offense run. Brunson is one of them. So is Luka. So is Curry. The whole point to having a guy like that is that you can get away with mediocre offensive teammates like OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges because Brunson draws so much defensive attention. That's how you assemble a team of elite defenders. You make their offensive role simple by having a primary offensive engine do the hard work.

Tre Johnson is not Jalen Brunson. Tre Johnson is merely a Duncan Robinson, a Luke Kennard, a Malik Beasley. How many guys like that start on a second round playoff team? Heck, maybe Tre Johnson gets good enough to be a Zach Lavine. But Zach Lavine doesn't start on a playoff team either. OKC puts up with the horrific offense of Dort and Caruso rather than start good shooters like Isaiah Joe or Jared McCain because defense is just more important.

[penbeast0]

You have to have synergy to win and overcome flaws; he doesn't synergize with the current personnel that well. So, either we need to change the players around him to maximize him, or he has to learn one to be much better at one of the other two key skills for an NBA guard than he is currently showing.

I disagree. Tre J. will have synergy with penetrators and playmakers like Trae and AJ. Tre moves well without the ball and gets his shot off quickly. That should lead to plenty of open looks for Tre when he shares the court with Trae and/or AJ.

That's one end of the court where Tre will be the 4th option, maybe even 5th if everyone is healthy and Sarr is playing well. On the other end, they will hunt both Trae and Tre. Tre won't get enough shots with our projected starters to make his offense outweigh his defense. Yes, our front line needs a shooter, but our PG needs a defender even more.

As for Nate's point, I don't think defense is more important for a guard than offense, for a big man, yes, but not for a guard. But for our particular lineup, when we are building the offense around Trae Young's playmaking and have scorers at the other 3 spots, yes, it is. Put Tre Johnson in Toronto ahead of Barrett (or in place of Leonard) and he's an All-Star in the next 2 years. Here, the team is not built for his skillset thanks to the pickup of Trae Young and Anthony Davis. If we were still planning to start Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George at the 1 and 4 like we began last year, then I'd have Tre penciled in as our second leading scorer and a possible All-Star.

[DCZards]

OKC puts up with the horrific offense of Dort and Caruso rather than start good shooters like Isaiah Joe or Jared McCain because defense is just more important.

Dort may have started... but he averaged 19 minutes in the WCF compared to McCain’s 25 minutes, essentially the same # of minutes as Caruso.

There’s a role for good shooters who are mediocre defenders…even in playoff games