General manager Will Dawkins joined 106.7 The Fan to dive into Alex Sarr's development, Tre Johnson's emergence, Wizards' growth, trade interest with the deadline approaching and more
Following the three-game homestand and after splitting the last eight games to move to 7-24 ahead of the final regular season game in 2025, general manager Will Dawkins joined 106.7 The Fan to dive into the Wizards’ growth, Alex Sarr’s development, Tre Johnson’s emergence and more:
On win vs. Toronto
“That game was one of the more complete games where we had a lot of people chime in and compete on both ends, one of our better complete wins. I think I would say with our guys, especially young guys, we're seeing the early growing pains start to turn into a little bit of growth. We're a young team, so obviously we have a lot more growing to do, and nothing's really linear, but the guys are kind of figuring out. Like I told you guys, we break it up in ten game increments very often and the jumps that we've seen offensively, defensively, skillfully as a team in those ten game increments has been pretty impressive for us, and that's what we're looking to continue to continue to do.”
On Bub Carrington’s growth in year two
“I think when Bub got off to the start that he got off to, people wanted him [to] just pick up where he left off last year. And the team is different, the league is different. They know him. But credit to Bub for staying with it. He's someone that if you look at just the month of December as a sophomore player, he's top ten in everything - points, assists, rebounds, first in three point makes. So he's starting to figure out how to be comfortable playing with the players on the floor. He and Marvin [Bagley III] have a really good thing going on right now. But Bub is growing and he's growing positively, and he's playing well right now.”
On Alex Sarr vs. Phoenix
“I think with Alex, the year he's had been, like you guys said, pretty impressive. He's been up there with some of the All-Star numbers that you've seen the guys they come in. And he competed the night before against Jaren Jackson [Jr.], and it was the first time he let him play it back-to-back since he came back from his injury. He just didn't have it last night. He'll be the first one to tell you that. But overall on the year, I think he's had a dominant year where I think it's 17 [points], eight [rebounds] and two blocks. Him and Wemby are the only two guys that are averaging things like that. So for him, we expect a better effort than we did last night, but if you take the season as a whole, he's been really good, dominant on the defensive end, and really impressive on offense. So we'll find a way. They did a lot of switching last night to kind of take him away and force our guards to beat them. And that's what they do with their physicality. So we'll take a look at the film, get them a little bit more options at the rim and things like that. But again, he's under that minute cap, and it's been pretty strict to make sure we keep him healthy.”
On minute restrictions for Sarr, Tre Johnson
“Because he's a baby. I think you answered the question with the question. We got to protect our guys and their bodies, and it's his first time really going into the NBA. He came into the league with an injury, had to monitor it through summer league, and saw it creep back up again last month. So we're going to be cautious. We're going to put our players first. The reps and the minutes, they add up and they all matter. So at the end of the year, hopefully it'll be lifted by then and he'll be playing a little bit more freely, but he's doing a really good job of picking his spots, being ready and being aggressive on both ends when he's on the floor. So that's the main thing, to keep these guys healthy and give them as many reps as possible.”
On NBA’s proposed anti-tanking
“We are where we are, I think is a good way to say what you're saying. I wouldn't say that's technically directly from Adam Silver. Like you said, I think that's a lot of sources speaking right now. The league is always looking at ways to improve competitive balance. They put together competition committees with really smart people who have been in the league for a long time, but we haven't gotten any information like that yet. It's still really early in the process. I would say, eventually they come up with ideas and they send feedback to teams, and then, traditionally, we all vote on it and we adjust it accordingly. But we just [have] to make sure we're solving a problem that needs to be solved, and regardless of what it is, it's unlikely that anything like that, those changes would take effect in year one. It would take some time to adapt their strategies and new rules and put them in place. So it's a conversation that is going on. It's going to continue to go on, but nothing set in stone. Those are just some ideas that I think got leaked outside.”
On Tre Johnson’s emergence
“I think Tre even spoke on it last night in his presser - his focus has gotten better. He's been able to watch more film and see how people are guarding him and see where he can get his space. He [was] obviously an elite shooter coming out of college. We need to be able to do that, but shooting 40% from three to start your career is a very, very high number. But I think he's showing a little bit more of his complete game too. That Memphis game, which is, again, was one of our more complete games, I think he had four assists.
When you really look at the rookies who are making threes and getting to the free throw line, it's really him and Kon [Knueppel] and that's kind of what you expected coming out of the draft. So he's getting more confident. I think Coach [Brian] Keefe has done a really good job drawing plays for him out of timeout to really maximize the time that he's on the floor. But again, Tre's a workaholic. He's going to beat himself into the ground if you let him. So we do have to protect him. But we're very happy with where he's at, and expect him to continue growing.
And I think he's like 94 [percent] something from the free throw line. So we got to find a way to get him to get there too. But he's taking those strides, and we feel pretty confident he's going to continue to grow.”
On trade interest in Wizards
“I would say that we're having conversations with a lot of teams. As you get closer to the deadline, most guys start becoming trade eligible from the summer contracts on [December 15] so that's when your phones start picking up. But we have a lot of talented players that people call on and we have a lot of dialog with teams going on. But I would say CJ [McCollum] has been great for us, not just on the court, but off the court, really [in] a leadership role. You guys know the type of professional that he is and taking Bub under his wing, Kyshawn, a lot of our wings, but also helping Alex and getting them in places where he can be more efficient. So he's an everyday guy. He's a Wizard. He fits in the locker room and obviously he’s been producing as long as he's been the lead, he's going to continue to do that at a high level.”
Whether Will Dawkins has tried CJ McCollum’s wine
“I have. He is very kind, and his wife and my wife have had multiple conversations. So we got a shipment to the house. It's downstairs in the basement, so I would advise everyone to try it. It's pretty good."