Wizards GM Will Dawkins on Trae Young, the vision and impact

Washington Wizards general manager Will Dawkins joined 106.7 on Monday to kick off the week to dive into the Trae Young trade now that it’s official, how he impacts the roster both short and long-term, Bub Carrington role and the team’s turnaround over the last month.

“It's always fun, as you guys know, having negotiations and going through the process, and when you can find a player and stumble upon something that you think makes sense, not just in the short term, but the long term. It's definitely something that gets the group excited.

“I think everything doesn't happen overnight. It's a process where we had a good trade partner in Atlanta. You had a player in Trae that was looking for a different opportunity and wanting to be here in DC. So you're able to connect the dots…and we felt like what we ended up doing was exactly that.”

“I think we have a deep - not just strategy group, but evaluation group as well - and Travis is someone who I value his opinion heavily. He has a huge influence on not just the draft players we bring in, but the guys we bring in through trade and free agency. And he's been around the league for a long time. He's someone I rely on. They obviously had a previous relationship and he knows them really well, but you still do your information background, you still do your intel work. Fortunately, I've got to know Trae and his family just from my time in Oklahoma as well and kind of know what he's about. He's from the same town as my wife, went to the same high school. So I've known the family for a long time, know the person who he is, and we're excited to add him.”

“I think I do my best to try to ignore the noise and stay away from the national narratives as well. But I do think fans here in DC and the DMV basketball should be excited for what we did. I would say, Michael's done a tremendous job since we've been here the last two and a half years, making sure that everything we do, we're emphasizing the importance of remaining flexible, thinking strategically, being opportunistic during this entire rebuild. And this is something that I think reflects those principles. And we targeted players that we believe in, that fit our vision for sustained success. So he's a piece to the puzzle. I think he amplifies our young players at a high level. He's an elite creator and moves the ball forward in the direction we want to go. But at the end of the day, he's got a decision to make with his contract. You have to bet on your environment and bet on the people in the building, or have a good experience and make sure that you can find a way to partner moving forward. But again, we'll get to that when it makes sense. But I think the narrative of people wanting to play in DC, people want to get here in the draft and trade and free agency, I think that is real, and that's a part of the culture change that we've tried to make the last few years.”

“He's not healthy right now. I think we have to give him credit. He injured his knee, tried to come back a little bit. And you guys know, you overcompensate when you're injured and kind of injured his hamstring. So first order of business is getting them healthy, getting them back to 100% before we throw him out there. So this weekend, he's going to go through, have a bunch of tests and physicals and make sure we know exactly what we're dealing with. But we're optimistic that he'll get healthy and we'll have an opportunity to see him play with our guys at some point, but we don't know right now.”

“I get this question often in like my end of season presser or the beginning of the season, like, how do you know the rebuild is working? What are some other signs when you don't see the results necessarily, in terms of wins and losses, that the public look at? And I think the infrastructure that we're building - I've touched on a few times - and making it a player centric opportunity, making sure we take care of people's families, I think all that stuff adds up and word travels. And when you have players like CJ McCollum say what he said on the way out about how he was treated and what we did for his family and how he enjoyed his environment, that matters. And the player development piece that we're putting in place and being known for now, I think that matters. Players get better when they come here and there's a clear directive and we treat them the right way. So all that stuff is adding up. Hopefully we'll continue to get [better], we're not perfect, but we're going to continue to make this a place where players want to come and get better and their families can enjoy it. Because it's a big time city and a big time basketball city in a major market. So why not continue to build upon this place and work on our reputation?”

“First I'd push back on like him being out of style. I would definitely push back on that. I think Trae is a proven, elite, highest level playmaker that you can find in the league. Statistically, the shots he's able to get for himself, but also for his teammates. He's had like the second-highest assist rate in NBA history. So he moves the ball, he finds players. I think what we were missing in a point guard right now is just a pure point guard who's a setup guy. If you look at Alex and his ability to roll to the rim, he's going to make the game easier for him. And if you just look at some of the guys we've drafted in Kyshawn [George] and Bub [Carrington] and Tre Johnson, like they're all shooting above 40% for three off the catch, and they're just going to get easier. So again, I think he blends in [with] what we're trying to do. We look for advanced processors. We look for guys who make quick decisions, spread the floor and compete. And this guy's got a chip on our shoulder. He's been a high level competitor the day he walked in the door, so he's going to amplify us. We have guys around him - size, length, speed - and just continue to play fast and then we just got to guard and continue to have Alex [Sarr] protect the rim, Bilal [Coulibaly] guard the best players in the league. So we also have a chance to add another young player in this year's draft, if not two. So we're excited about where we're going, but again, it's just player development for us. At the end of the day, we expect to be a little bit better every single day and every year.”

“I wouldn't define anyone as just one position for us…we rebound, we get it up, we have size and multiple decision makers. I think, as you've seen, we've always had someone that can play on the ball, whether it was Tyus Jones when I first got here, Jordan Poole, CJ McCollum, like we split that up. Trae is just another person that can do and make those decisions. But we have full confidence in Bub and who he is, especially as a second-year player. And he's proven he can play on and off the ball, and he'll still get those opportunities. So super excited to have both of them in the backcourt moving forward.”

“I'll say this. I don't know what all happened in Atlanta. We do our own research and we have our own kind of information and feel like we have a direct source that gives us real information as well. And I wouldn't be too concerned about that here. Like Trae’s excited about the young group. He's still young himself, only 27 years old. I think he's going to fit in well and be excited about everything we're trying to do here and hopefully he's here for a little while.”

“Encouraging, encouraging. Like we break things down in ten-game increments. We knew coming into the year we weren't going to have the most established veteran-led team when we let some of those guys go and decided to play some of the young guys even more. But you see them growing, buying into [Brian Keefe’s] system a little bit more, just competing, physically, understanding the game. And like you said, we were playing .500 basketball there for that little stretch of 14 games. So guys’ confidence is growing, their skillset, their connectivity is growing. So I think we're only going to build upon that. But I think that one thing that kind of gets lost in a move like this is the opportunity for more young players to play. Last year, we drafted those three rookies and threw them right out there right away. Eventually added AJ [Johnson] and gave them [an] opportunity. It's unfortunate that Cam [Whitmore] is dealing with a medical issue right now, but Cam [Whitmore] not in the lineup, CJ and Corey [Kispert] no longer here, that depth at the wing that we had has been hit a little bit, so we've drafted three wings this year. So you get to see a little bit more Will Riley, you get to see more Tre Johnson, you get to see more Jamir [Watkins] so those guys can kind of figure it out. So the development, the rebuild is in full-go, and I think a move like this allows us to see more from our young players. And I think that's what everyone wants to see right now.”