Josh Robbins on what we learned from Anthony Davis' comments on Wizards' future & NBA Playoff prediction!

0:00Josh Robbins covers the Washington Wizards for the athletic. The NBA playoffs continue tonight with the last part of the play and round as I talked about. Last segment and then it gets underway with four games Saturday and four games Sunday, one of my favorite weekends of the year. Love game ones on two consecutive days with four games each day and then the schedule kind of breaks down and sometimes you get in that first round a long stretch of days between games in certain series. We'll see how the whole thing schedules out. But Josh is with us and before I get your thoughts on the NBA playoffs coming up yesterday will Dawkins address the media and said that he anticipates that Bryant Keith will be back. Were you surprised by that? No, I wasn't. No, I wasn't. I think that why I know that Wizard officials think he did an excellent job with what

1:03he was asked to do and he did it all with a level of grace and a lack of complaining that was admirable. So not surprised at all. He also collaborates well with the front office as was necessary in a season like this where it was so important for them to make sure they didn't convey that topic protected picture in New York mix and it actually turned out very well in that sense because they're going to draft in the top five coming up. You and I the last time we talked we talked about the difference between a developmental coach and a coach that's being asked to win games you know and game strategy part of it the the planning and coaching over a period of days in which you've got back to backs but the games are competitive games trying to win games and what I said the other day is I have no idea what kind of what kind of

2:04coach Bryant Keith will make once they are trying to compete and trying to win as many games as possible beginning next year. I do know this that everybody swears he's very good as a developmental coach with these young players that he's had and you told me the same what do you know about Bryant Keith that leads you to believe that he's going to be a really good coach or good enough to lead a team that's actually trying to win games. Well you and I had these discussions on air many times that it was impossible to properly evaluate Bryant Keith as an exasino's coach given what he was asked to do and what he did. I would imagine I don't even need to imagine I'm parsing my words a little too carefully I know that he had to hold himself back here these last two years in terms of the way he coach because he had to play certain rotations in

3:04order to make sure that the wizards never conveyed that pick. It wasn't just this year where they owed a protected pick they owed a protected pick last year top 10 protected I believe. So what fans saw from Bryant Keith these rotations and these playing choices that he made he I don't think he ever would have made those decisions under what we would consider regular circumstances. Yeah this was not this was NBA basketball in name only for the vast majority of the last two season. So what have I seen that tells me that he will be a good exasino's coach. Even I haven't seen a whole lot of that except that when I speak to scouts and other executives throughout the league they all tell me that they love the stuff that he draws up for ATOs and after time out situations they love how he will get on his players after they make a mistake.

4:10Those those things he has shown in abundance and yet I can't say for sure that he's going to be the right exasino's coach what I would have a concern of is that it's enormously difficult to go from a culture in which a team has tanked season which he has had to guide by the way to going full throttle to win games. That's an extraordinarily difficult 180 degree turn and I would imagine it's even more difficult when it's the same coach trying to bridge that gap and so I don't have a definitive answer for you which made it a question of whether he would return in the first place. Yeah I'm just trying to think you can help me with this. Was it Monti Williams who was the coach before becker staff in Detroit? Yes he was but Monti Williams lasted only one year. Okay. That for whatever reason was a very bad fit. Dwayne Casey preceded Monti Williams.

5:15I think an example that you might be looking for is Steven Silas, the transition from Steven Silas in Houston after several rebuilding seasons to E-May Udoka in Houston. And yet even that is not a clean comparison because E-May Udoka as good event as a coach as he is and he's an excellent coach. Keep benefited from the arrivals of Fred Van Bleet and Steven Adams and Dylan Brooks and then this past season Ken Durant so that's not a clean comparison either. Well look Josh Harris stuck with Brett Brown after the tanked seasons for a few years. Yes I remember and then the six years seemingly underachieved in the playoffs with Brett. Right. That's another example. And then Jamal Mosley led Orlando to a 49 win season two years ago.

6:16Last year they fell and I think it was 41 and 41 this year, 45 and 37 and they're going to be in a winner take all East play in games tonight. And so that's another example. All right. Tell me what you think we learned from Anthony Davis yesterday or better question is what did he mean by we're going to we got to figure things out. You know what what does he want from the team in terms of information moving forward to feel comfortable. If we take him at his word that's the issue that he wants to be in a position where the team is going to really try to contend for a title right away or be in a position to contend for a title in 27 28 which would be a hopeful after a hopeful season from now.

7:17It seems to me that he wants some sort of assurance and he's brought this up before that the Wizards would be willing to go into the luxury tax to add personnel. Or certainly I think he seems to be implying that he wants a few more at least one more veteran on the roster. One would think that he would want two more veterans who can play right away in our playoff tested. Now what he now what he might really mean potentially could be a contract test. Of course. Yeah. And so that might be what is his end game here where all right well he might still have concerns about the roster but those concerns are something that he could get over if he gets an extra two years tacked on to his contract which had a player option for the year after next. Do you have anybody in mind that you like I thought of obviously contract I

8:17thought of coach to having a saying coach but then the other part of it was consistent with today's superstar players. Hey I want to bring some people here with me and you just mentioned a veteran or two. Are there any names that come to your mind when you think about who he might want to bring here. No not immediately and keep and keep in mind this is a rather unspectacular free agent class and because he's do a lot of money and try young is going to be do a lot of money. I believe the Wizards only will have the non-tax pay or mid level at their disposal. Now the Wizards also have a whole group of young players who have some value. Yeah. For example and I'm just mentioning the name I'm not having heard him in rumors and I feel all cool about like for example three years in maybe there's a rebuilding team out there who has a veteran who could

9:18help the Wizards who might want to take a chance on below and build a right yeah had him be part of kind of a build. So it doesn't have to come in free agency if they were to make additional roster augmentations it could come in a trade and by the way I still do expect the Wizards to add a little bit more physicality down low this year. I think that's a certainty in my mind that is is they're going to want someone else who they can bring off the bench who could battle against the big and get a defensive rebound not unlike Balancuna. Now they're not going to go after Balancuna who's at the end of his career but someone along those lines who can who can bang with seven footers and hold his own physically. Alright I got I got a minute here but I wanted to ask you about the playoffs that get started tomorrow. I mentioned something and it's I don't know if this is something that's out there but for

10:20me as an NBA fan I think this is a big postseason for Nicola Yokic. You know they won the title in 23 weeks. Spected more but now Oklahoma City looks more dynastic and even San Antonio does than Denver. You know he's going to go down as one of the greatest that's ever played but his legacy is limited if it's just one finals appearance and one title. Do you agree with me that there's a little bit of pressure for him to get something done here as he enters his early 30s? Well what a great question. So great that I'm trying to process my answer. You know I wouldn't frame it in those terms I would frame it in he's only he's still not old and he doesn't play a game that's predicated on athleticism or closiveness. His game is predicated on pure smarts. So I don't

11:23really think that the time his clock is running out but I think that Oklahoma City and San Antonio arguably are only going to get better. Exactly. And so you know you only have a few real chances at this at this whole thing and and his chances are going to be limited by Wembee and what OKC has built just like in the early stages of their careers Wembee and SG8 their chances are going to be limited by Yokic. But we'll see because we're going to see the nuggets in the spurs in round two and I think that that's one where if he led them to a win over a team with no playoff experience would be big for him. Look I'm up against a hard break but just give me your finals match up in your winner real quickly. I think it's going to be the thunder against Cleveland which is going out on a limb there but and I think the thunder win. Josh thanks as

12:25always hope you're well. My pleasure my pleasure. At Joshua B Robbins on Twitter. Window nations got a great deal going on right now the more you buy the more you save that means you can save up to 50% depending on how many windows you purchase half price plus 0% interest for five years. If you've been thinking about windows all I ask is give him a chance to come out and give you a free in home estimate you can schedule that by calling them at 86690 nation or heading to window nation dot com 86690 nation window nation dot com mention my name. They'll come out and give you a free in home estimate and then let you make the choice. Back on Monday after this weekend Chris Russell's next.