- 10 hours ago
Chris Russell welcomes Wizards radio play-by-play voice Dave Johnson to preview the highly anticipated debut of AJ Dybantsa. Plus, they discuss Justin Champagnie's injury and what the Wizards will be missing with him expected to be sidelined until around the NBA All-Star break.
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00:05Oh, they're getting set to jump in an hour and a half, yep, from Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
00:12We've been telling you about it all day.
00:14You can listen to it live right here on the Team 980, the Odyssey app, the Wizards Radio Network, the
00:21Wizards app,
00:22all the places that you could normally listen to the radio party.
00:27And tonight it's an extra fun party because A.J. DeBonsa makes his NBA debut.
00:32Joining us right now live from Cleveland is the man who will call it.
00:36They do a tremendous job, again, on the radio party.
00:39I listen every night on the way home now that the Wizards are back and playing meaningful games.
00:45And Dave Johnson is with us at DaveJSports, at DaveJSports, along with Glenn Consor and the crew.
00:52Dave, great to have you with us. How are you, my friend?
00:56Well, you mentioned meaningful games. I think about being here in Cleveland.
00:59We've had some meaningful games with the Cavaliers, but not recently.
01:03But certainly in our history, when you talk about playoffs and there was a bit of rivalry.
01:09So it's good to be back here tonight.
01:12Yeah, it's only the fifth game of the season.
01:13So it's not a playoff game, but you can feel that edge.
01:17And we have a team that every night goes out, wants to win, believes it can win, believes it should
01:24win.
01:25And that's a lot of fun.
01:27And with the addition of A.J. DeBonsa tonight, you know, that adds some juice.
01:31Unfortunately, Justin Champagne, who was our leading rebounder, announced today, suffered a foot injury, had to have surgery.
01:39Probably will not be back until the All-Star break.
01:42And that's a huge blow.
01:44And fans were noticing just what a contribution he was making to this team.
01:49But you move on, and it is a positive that A.J. DeBonsa is going to get time tonight.
01:55645 for the pregame coverage.
01:56Dave and Glenn live from Cleveland right here on the Team 980 Odyssey app and everything in between for the
02:03radio party and A.J. DeBonsa's debut.
02:05Before we get to Champagne, before we get to the rebounding, before we get to the rest of the team,
02:09what is your expectation for DeBonsa in terms of minutes and workload tonight?
02:14Well, I think I'm probably – minutes is a good question.
02:17He will start tonight.
02:18I probably undersold it.
02:19He'll get some time.
02:20He's going to start tonight.
02:21And I wouldn't be surprised if he starts – the matchup is on James Harden.
02:26So how's that for a welcome-to-the-NBA moment?
02:30You know, one thing that's impressed us about A.J. in the preseason, you know, right out of the gate,
02:35the first preseason game, he had four steals against the Knicks.
02:39Just his defensive ability, he really is a bona fide number one pick
02:45who comes right into the league as a starter.
02:49But as he said, what he's loving about this situation is sometimes when you're the number one pick,
02:55you go to a team and, you know, there's a lot of pressure on you.
02:59And you don't get to his level without being accountable and dealing with pressure.
03:05But he likes the fact that he's been on the ball his whole career.
03:09Now he's playing off the ball.
03:11Now he gets to work with Anthony Davis and Trey Young.
03:15And, you know, that's important in terms of his development,
03:20that he comes into a situation where he can grow and play the right way
03:24and not be forced to do more than he's asked to do.
03:27You know, it's interesting, Dave, because I wasn't a big fan of the whole last three years thing.
03:33And I understand what they were trying to do.
03:34And I know nobody can say the word and whatever.
03:38But, you know, ultimately, a couple of positives came out of it.
03:43A, they finally got the number one pick in the Bonson.
03:45You know, again, we'll see his career arc start tonight.
03:48B, they built tremendous depth.
03:50We'll get to that.
03:52And C, where was I going with this?
03:57I lost my train of thought.
04:00You know, like, where I wanted to go with the question that I blanked out on is,
04:07is he comes in here and sort of to your point there, in your last answer,
04:13he does not have to be Superman.
04:15They've got the veteran experience.
04:17They've got the depth.
04:18They've got talent.
04:19They've got big man.
04:20They've got Trey Young.
04:21He does not have to be your typical number one overall pick with a terrible team
04:26and build from the top and suffer and be miserable for three years.
04:31That's where I wanted to go.
04:33Yeah, that's exactly it.
04:34And, of course, I left DeAndre Aiden out of it.
04:36He's a former number one overall pick.
04:38And he's part of not only somebody that Devonson can lean on,
04:42but just part of why this team is competitive, is strong,
04:47and I think is, you know, is going to win some games.
04:50Now, where it goes, we're talking, you know, we're not even in November yet,
04:54and we're coming off a 17-win season.
04:57But in the last three years, you know, not winning was difficult.
05:02But I tell people all the time that the great thing about being around this team
05:06the last three years, I was around teams that won more games
05:09that were not as enjoyable to be around.
05:11And that may sound strange, but, you know, think about it.
05:14These were all young guys that just a couple years earlier were –
05:18the only way they were playing against their opponents was on NBA PlayStation.
05:22And now, all of a sudden, they're playing them for real.
05:24And so every night for them was a chance to live out their dream.
05:29And they were all going through it together.
05:32There was a college spirit, and why wouldn't there be?
05:36Because they were all college age.
05:38Yeah, they were all –
05:38But, you know, it can't go on forever.
05:41And the good thing is, you know, basically we had a deconstruction.
05:47That's over.
05:47And now it's building forward.
05:50And, you know, it's not easy, but it's life in the NBA.
05:55As we found the other way, you can be in the middle of the pack
05:58and you can try to get better.
06:02But unless you build over and start over, chances are you're going to get caught
06:06in that, you know, anywhere from fourth day's position battling for the playoffs.
06:10The great Dave Johnson is with us live from Rocket Arena in Cleveland
06:14where he'll call tonight's debut for A.J. DeBonce in the NBA
06:18and for the Wizards in the regular season.
06:19We've already seen him a little bit in the preseason right here on the Team 980 coverage.
06:24Again, following an abridged version of the Power Hour starting at 645,
06:28Odyssey app, Team 980.
06:29Of course, Wizards Radio, Wizards app, the radio party.
06:32On your radio right here as Dave gets ready to call the game.
06:36All right, so you mentioned Justin Champagny.
06:39I mean, of course, during the three years of woe and, you know, whatever,
06:45he was one of the bright spots, right?
06:47You'd always be happy for him.
06:49You guys were talking about him on Monday night as I'm sitting there in traffic
06:52trying to get home, listening to the Charlotte game, and then boom, he goes out.
06:56And it seems like the air kind of went out, rebounding-wise, defensive-wise,
07:00that bad second quarter, what have you.
07:02What, I know what kind of impact he makes, but how much are they losing here, Dave?
07:09Well, and again, we talk about the difficult three years.
07:13A Justin Champagny story doesn't happen unless we're in a period of time
07:18where we're letting people play and develop.
07:21I mean, Justin Champagny, keep in mind, was on a two-way contract,
07:24not even a full contract.
07:25So his story doesn't happen unless the Wizards were in the period of time
07:31they were in.
07:33And, you know, as much as we talk about a great young core,
07:37and he's part of it, by the way, he's not a graybeard by any stretch of the
07:41imagination, but he was not a high draft pick.
07:43So there was so much focus on, you know, all of our high draft picks
07:47or first-round picks or whatever, you know, whatever notion you want to talk about.
07:53But, you know, he just showed that he belongs on the court.
07:57Trey Young said it.
07:58He makes winning plays.
07:59And it's not just, you know, he's a 6'6 guy that gets, you know,
08:03he was our leading rebounder going into Monday night.
08:07He makes cuts that bails out a play when the shot clock's going down,
08:13and suddenly an offensive possession that was going nowhere has two points,
08:18two valuable points.
08:19So, you know, the Wizards, the good thing is they do have the depth,
08:25but he will be missed.
08:26And you're right in terms of, I think about Monday night,
08:31we actually held the Hornets, the Wizards held the Hornets,
08:33for 19 points in the first quarter.
08:35I mean, that's getting it done.
08:37But then we just lost big time the battle of the boards.
08:42And this is a better rebounding team than it showed Monday night.
08:46And it did feel like, you know, whether that was the reason why
08:50the air went out of the team, even though they kept fighting
08:55and kept making it close.
08:57It just, there was something not there.
08:59And that happens, and maybe it was Champaign's loss,
09:02but, you know, tonight's a good chance to bounce back against a very good
09:08Cleveland Cavaliers team.
09:09No doubt.
09:10And a team, as you mentioned, that they have struggled with.
09:12Obviously, they've struggled with other teams.
09:14But, you know, Cleveland's got size.
09:16They've got athleticism.
09:17They've got playoff experience.
09:19I mean, James Harden will drive you crazy in the playoffs,
09:21but he's pretty damn good in the regular season.
09:25So we will see what kind of matchups these bring.
09:27You mentioned kind of the rebounding issues.
09:29Glenn was right on this, I think, on Monday night.
09:31As I was listening to you guys, again, early in that Charlotte team,
09:36in that Charlotte game, I think he said maybe in the pregame, Dave,
09:39and maybe you couldn't correct me, you know, like rebounding and getting
09:43transition defense and transition opportunities without Con Canepo,
09:47who's so good for Charlotte, was still going to be the key.
09:50And the Wizards got just destroyed on the board.
09:53And Anthony pointed out, in the two losses,
09:56they're negative 13 in each of the two losses on the glass.
10:00So that's got to get better, obviously, in a hurry.
10:04Yeah, no, and it can and it will.
10:06And this is a team, again, you can play with big lineups,
10:10with Alex Sar, Aiton on the floor at the same time,
10:12or, you know, Davis and Sar start together.
10:16So it was, look, it was disappointing.
10:20But the good thing, or the positive, is you can be disappointed.
10:24We were disappointed.
10:25The players were disappointed.
10:26There was a practice the next morning in Charlotte after that.
10:30That loss, and that was the focus, that, you know,
10:33you're not going to go 82-0, so you're going to have nights where,
10:36you know what, you needed to do better, specifically on the boards,
10:40because we're going to have nights when we're not shooting well.
10:43And we're not shooting well from three-point distance.
10:46That hasn't clicked in yet.
10:48As Trey Young said, the good thing that really needs to be fixed right now is the offense.
10:55And, you know, because this team can rebound, it has the talent, you know,
10:59it'll be challenged tonight.
11:01Again, you've got Mobley and Allen in the front court.
11:04But, you know, what better way to respond to the disappointment on Monday in Charlotte
11:10than to go up against an elite front court.
11:13Yeah, no doubt about it.
11:14Dave Johnson on the call for the Cavaliers and the Wizards.
11:17An hour from now, the pregame coverage begins right here on the Team 980 Odyssey.
11:21Again, the radio party from Cleveland.
11:24And, Dave, nice enough to join us.
11:25Before we let you run, Dave, and I so much appreciate you as always.
11:29The depth of this team is now going to be tested, as we mentioned,
11:33with Champagne out long-term.
11:35And just the grind of the regular season and back-to-back and all the travels
11:39and all that stuff.
11:41This is, again, one of the strengths, I believe, of this team is how deep they are.
11:46How do they get Will Riley untracked here?
11:49I know he had a couple of turnovers in a couple of short minutes.
11:52That's not going to help.
11:54How do they get guys like Trey Mann, who, you know, is a veteran guard,
11:59who came over here, ironically, from Charlotte and through Oklahoma City?
12:02How do they get these guys more minutes without sacrificing anything else?
12:07Well, I mean, that's going to be a challenge.
12:09And it's going to be, you know, game-dependent.
12:14But it just shows, specifically with Will Riley,
12:18when you think about what he did post-All-Star break last year,
12:22he's averaging 15 points a game.
12:23And as I've talked to people, I said, you know,
12:26I still think of a move he put on Draymond Green that left Draymond Green
12:29wondering where he went.
12:31And so Will Riley's young.
12:34His body's still growing.
12:35They've not given up on him.
12:36It's just he cannot – he can only play so many players.
12:39And that's going to be a challenge for Brian Keith going forward
12:43when we suddenly do talk about a deeper team.
12:46But, you know, the negative is obviously a loss of Justin Champagny.
12:51But when somebody goes down, there is more minutes available for somebody.
12:56And maybe that is Will Riley.
12:58But how they get involved is more game-dependent.
13:02You know, somebody like a trained man, he's a veteran, and he can adjust.
13:08But playing time is important for somebody like Will Riley.
13:11And they're not worried about if he turns the ball over.
13:14He just has not gotten a lot of minutes yet.
13:15But it's a long season, and we're going to need him.
13:20Every team needs everybody because nobody plays 82 games.
13:26And so I still believe that Will Riley,
13:32we saw so many glimpses of what he is about,
13:36but the best is still yet to come from Will Riley.
13:40Dave, appreciate it.
13:41Have a great call.
13:42I know you've got to run.
13:43Thank you so much for making time for us.
13:45Look forward to listening on my way home, all right?
13:48Well, and I have to run because now the drum line's about to attack me.
13:52So I've got to get out of here before you attack.
13:54Yeah, don't get beat up.
13:57Everybody's connecting.
13:58Thanks so much.
13:59There you go.
14:00Dave Johnson, Radio Party, coming up with Glenn Consort.
14:02We're at 645 right here after a shortened version of the Power Hour, which is next.