Cakes wanted to apologize to Wizards GM Will Dawkins for being ‘socially awkward’ when meeting him in the Audacy suite at a game this year – and there was no better time than when Dawkins joined the Junkies on Wednesday!
“You did a quick meet and greet with some of the other Wizards brass and I went up and I shook your hand, and then I immediately like scurried off to the bathroom and I didn't talk to you for the rest of the time that you were in the box,” Cakes said. “I knew that everybody else in there was gonna bend your ear and talk shop and I just wanted to get them to have the opportunity to do that, and I'm just awkward and I was a bit of a weirdo, so I apologize for that for that weird interaction.”
Dawkins was gracious and said ‘no apology needed, but thank you,’ and then it was time to talk shop: how nervous was Dawkins leading up to the NBA Draft lottery, and now how excited is he to have the No. 2 pick?
“The worst we could’ve bumped back to was six, a really big difference, but they call it a lottery for a reason,” Dawkins said. “This was the first time that I was actually in the room and could see the balls come up, and it doesn't go 14 down to one, it goes first pick, then the second pick, third and fourth, so it's a lot quicker – and once your name comes up second, there's not a lot of time to be nervous. I was excited. There's a lot of luck involved in everything you're trying to do in a rebuild, and this part of it – for the Pistons, it’s two years in a row where (dropping to No. 5) happened to them, but this (and Atlanta getting the No. 1 pick) is I think what the league wanted when a few years ago they changed the lottery. We’ve seen some jump before, but three teams jumped in the Top 4 this year, and fortunately we were the one that stayed in the Top 4.”
Part of the luck, though, is that there is no consensus No. 1 or even Top 3, but unlike the Class of 2003 where you can’t go wrong (unless you’re Detroit), this might be more like 2013 where the class has no real projected game-changers but does have solid pros.
So who will Washington be looking at when they select?
“I think there's a competitive advantage to not being out there saying that this draft is super strong if you're trying to move up and move around, so I think there's some gamesmanship going on there,” Dawkins said. “There's good players in every draft, there's gonna be All-Stars in every draft, so we gotta do our best. There's not a clear 1-2-23, which actually gives us more opportunity to see more people and have more players come through DC for a visit. So for us, it's an advantage, and I think we're gonna get a pretty good player, someone that has an opportunity to grow and develop, and put them on a track where we can take the time and take the long-term approach with them. I don't know if you have the instant gratification of the guys like last year right away, but there's gonna be guys years down the line that pop. We’re excited and we've had our eyes on a few players all year long, and now it's a little bit more real.”
Whomever they get will join last year’s first-rounder, Bilal Coulibaly, as cornerstones of that rebuild.
“His ability to transition into a pro was faster than I think anyone thought; as a person and a leader and a worker, he took strides in that from the very beginning, and we're very happy that he's gonna be someone that's like setting and displaying what a wizards player gonna be for a long time,” Dawkins said of Coulibaly. “I think we all saw the measurable and all saw the defense right away pop and his fearlessness to guard the best player on the other end. Midway through the season, we kind of moved him into the starting lineup and there were games where we said, listen, this is for your development, whoever the best offensive player is on the time that's on the floor at that time, you're guarding them. So he really grew his willingness and desire to learn and be a good teammate and really get after it defensively, we're excited about that, and offensively, he made some strides. The next thing we'll see is putting the ball in his hands, and just physically, the strides he'll be able to make this summer being in the weight room and really having a full summer to work on his body.”
And, Dawkins, who gave all of his players goals this season, met one of his own: he thinks the Wizards’ rebuild is on the right track.
Take a listen to Dawkins’ entire segment above, where he also touches on some of the other key players in the rebuild, their trade deadline moves and how they feed the future, some preliminary thoughts on potential top picks, and more!
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