Why PJ Washington Is Primed For A Reset with the Dallas Mavericks

0:00This is the Lockdown podcast network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Hey sports fans, it's JD, the host of Lockdown Cardinals. And did you know with the Discover Cashback card? It's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases. Activate and earn 5% cash back in different categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases. That's 5% cash back at different places each quarter like grocery stores on gas and at restaurants. It pays to discover terms apply see discovered dot com slash five for details. This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game's on the line, the best no way to pass because the right assist can change everything and off the court. It's no different. That's where your state farm agent comes in whether it's protecting your car, your home or helping you prep for the unexpected. That'll help set you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor state farm is there coverage options are selected

1:01by the customer availability and eligibility vary by state. One more thing PGA Washington is primed for a reset new season. Welcome. We're still locked on to the Dallas Mavericks. Your team every day. My name is Nick Engstead. Today's episode I'm going to go through my media interview with PGA Washington that Isaac and I did. We'll talk about his role. We'll talk about the vibes changing. We'll talk about his last season. He's very candid about what happened last season. I think that gives us a lot of insight into what he's, you know, what he's going to do this year. Hopefully today's episode is brought to you by Fandall making some most rewarding season ever with Fandall rewards club every week. Check out the Fandall app to see what's waiting for you. And so let's get into it. Let's hear PGA Washington. Let's walk through this interview. I'm going to pause it when I think that there's something interesting to talk about and so we'll get into it with PGA Washington. The tattoo story is just we got to talk about that because that is just one of the most insane things. All right. What are we standing on business this year? What are we standing on? We're standing on health. Everybody needs to be healthy this year.

2:02So we're standing on that. Let's go. What's the, I mean, the health thing I'm just starting it right away. The health thing is so crucial. Obviously get Kyrie back. Think about Dana Gafford season last year. In our interview with him, he said, I just feel like I never really got started last season. It's felt like every time I got back to 100% I just got knocked back down because of this injury. That ankle injury that kept coming back. PGA had very similar thing. Cooper flag and Najee were like, they only got some were like in Max. I guess from the almost we're like healthy last year that are actually back this season. And so the health is underrated to the Mavericks, but for PGA and for some of the others, it's going to be huge for them. You've been here for a bit. So you're one of the few faces around here that can speak on life a few years ago. Like, how would you say the vibes right now are different compared to even just like two years ago? I would say it's a new energy. Obviously you have a lot of young excited people in the building. And we're just, I don't know, I think we're pushing a new era and I'm just super excited to be a part of it.

3:03I mean, obviously you got a lot of young guys ready and excited to win. So I think that's what you want. And you got Miss Sao, you got Dessie. You got a lot of these guys that are a harp and a winning. So that's all we want. And I feel like we had the right team and the right people in place for it. The feeling of the new vibe shifting, half the roster is different. You look through the list of just, all right, who's on the roster now that wasn't last year, bringing in more as Johnson Jr. young player trying to prove himself, bringing over Sansi Aldama, getting a fresh start from a franchise that kind of went downhill. Like he was with them when they were competing and then now they just slowly became what they were last year. Were they just an embarrassment to the NBA at times, the lineups they were playing. Zachary Shea got to prove himself coming from and Atlanta Hawks team where he was the number one overall pick and then got traded and then got benched basically in the playoffs. Like that's a huge thing. Taric Bebehrovich coming over to the US, coming over to the NBA and trying to prove himself that he belongs in here, Sergio De La Rea, same kind of thing, rookie as well.

4:04Marcus Sasser was underutilized for the pistons, got injured at the wrong time last year and now boom, a reset. You got Masayu Giri who left the, or it was, you know, yeah, left the the Toronto Raptors and then now is ready to come back and prove himself in the NBA again. You got Dusty May who's trying to prove himself that he is an NBA coach. Got this whole coaching staff basically. It's come from a bunch of different places that are here to prove themselves. And I think that this is, you know, very, you know, roster that is ready for a challenge, ready for this new season. And it's not just that they added new players. It's that they're, you know, the front office and all that stuff that PJ mentioned is different as well. And I think that's something huge that is adding to this, this feeling like a brand new franchise basically. Like just the walls of the buildings and even some of those have changed because of renovations and things lately. But just the walls of the building and a few employees here, they are the same from last year. It's kind of wild to see. There's like a brand new team. Did you feel that vibe shift in LA? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think just having everybody here

5:04for the first time and just seeing everybody, I think it was great. Got to mingle, got to see what guys like to do. So I feel like everybody likes each other and that's kind of what you want. Who surprised you from like any of the new guys that you're talking? All of them, honestly. They've all surprised me in different ways. We skirmish like three days and they've all, they all had points in each skirmish to where they kind of like showed us who they were. I would say. How would you describe your season last year personally? This. I think it was tough. It was probably one of my toughest seasons. I had a lot of things off the court. Obviously injuries was tough. But I think it's a good season to look back on and just build from. That part where he talked about his off the court. We talked about that all year last year because we knew some of the things that were happening. There's some things off the court with his personal life that we don't get need to get into now, but they were affecting him. I mean, you think about not just even the come down from the trade,

6:04you know, the trade, the trade of Luca and AD to the Nico and then all that. And then to have off the court, stuff happened to him as well. I feel like affected his season in a big way. It's I almost look at last season for PJ and go like, I don't know if we can evaluate any of this. Like it's just just wash it off the board and just see what happens this year and make this the first year of the year where we're actually taking in information about what he looks like next to the Cooper, what he could be for this franchise going forward. What he looks like without Luca, right? Like I don't think I would look at last season and go, oh, well, that's just how he looks like without Luca, right? You also think about what Kyrie said, the other day at training camp, you know, Kevin, Kevin Gray asked him about, you know, about the last couple of seasons. And Kyrie said, hey, we can't shy away that this has been a chaotic last couple of years. And the last season was chaotic, it goes crazy at times. And then Kyrie specifically mentioned that moment where PJ Washington goes to the free throw line last season where the fire Nico chance were happening and the Mavs got upset about it.

7:05And they're like, we're at home, we're taking free throws here in our building and there's people chanting to fire our GM here. And that really affected these guys. And you can call that soft and you can call that whatever you want. But it affected them and you just think of all the different factors affecting these guys. It's like, I'm not trying to take up for it. I'm gonna say, hey, they're a bad, they're a bad because of all these reasons. But I think I'm going to just look at last season and be like, it's kind of all washing some ways. That moment where you stepped on the ball, that was that like messing you at like, I feel like you do, you are there every day. The whole summer I was in there literally every day working on legs, working on my ankles. If you're listening on the audio platform, you just see how big of like a smile of like bewilderment on PJ space. He has thought about this moment. He knew exactly what I had mentioned when he stepped on the ball, which obviously it happened to him. But like that was months and months ago, but it was such a crazy play. So if you don't remember what it was in warm ups before a game, he's out there and he's just walking around. And then all of a sudden he steps on a ball and then he hurts his ankle

8:06and he's out for like weeks. And then I get a freak accident like that. So I'm like, I literally I'm laying the ball up. I don't even see the ball. And then I just land on the ball. I'm like, I've never seen anybody ever do this, ever in a basketball game. So I'm like, what are the odds? But I mean, got through that obviously I'm back healthy. So it was just a crazy moment. I'm just and then seeing on on a replay was, you can see Cooper's face. Like the homelong? Yeah. It was definitely a tough time. But I mean, obviously looking back, it was just something to laugh at now. Today's episode brought to you by Fandall. Welcome to most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fandall. How rewarding are we talking more rewarding than a touchdown with time, expiring more rewarding than an offensive lineman getting a touchdown more rewarding than an 18 point comeback or more rewarding than your star player saying he wants to stay in Dallas's whole career. This season, Fandall's making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandall rewards club featuring exclusive offers, surprises,

9:08and more this season Fandall is offering the Fandall rewards club offers surprises much more like that. You can see what happens on the field, take advantage of it, do all kinds of things. Everybody check the Fandall app to see what's waiting for you. Go check out the NBA futures on there as well. If you don't want to do NFL and you're maybe maybe done with the Cowboys at this point, the NFL futures. If you look at, let's see, let's go some player props. There's all kinds of things. Our regular season wins. Where's one of the Mavericks on here? To Mavericks to win over 30 games this season, they are minus 240. Okay, they're feeling good about the Mavericks this year to win 30 games. They're about 35 for the Mavericks. The Mavericks won over 35 is plus 115. So they feel like they're in that range right there. If you think the Mavericks are going to be good, go check it out and use the Fandall rewards club for that. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall. Visit Fandall.com to get started. Your dedication opens doors for students every day. Now open new possibilities for your financial future with fidelity. Get support through your employee benefits with free tools and resources

10:08to help you tackle debt, save and invest with confidence. Learn more at fidelity.com slash study guide. Fandallity brokerage services LLC. Remember NYS CSIPZ. Great. How are you seeing your role this year? Obviously it's a new coaching staff, but what do you see that being? I think for me, just being a leader, being able to obviously hit shots this year and make shots on the perimeter, being able to play off guys like Cooper, Kauri, and just being kind of a utility guy for pretty much doing anything. Dessie asked me to do whether it's a guard the best player, bring them all up at times, facilitate, rebound. Just pretty much kind of do a little bit of everything. That's exactly what I said in the episode earlier today. When we're talking about why I think he's going to be a part of the starting lineup is because he can do a little bit of everything. And they do need a couple of those guys. They've got some specialists and they need a couple of guys who can just do everything. I think that Kauri can do everything that a guard can do. Cooper can do everything. PJ can do everything that you know,

11:09we would want to wing to do. And I think if they think that being part of his role is I think a big indicator of, all right, PJ's going to be part of this. He's going to do a lot of things for us. And if he bounces back the way that I hope that he will this season, then that'll be a really good thing for the maps. Have you seen any kind of, what's the biggest difference in coaching so far between Dessie and the coaches you've had in the past? I'd say Dessie is like, he has a lot of energy. So each and every day is always a new way for us to get better. He doesn't really like off days. He categorizes him as days a week and just come in and get reps or not get reps, but get reps. So for him, I just think it's, every day is trying to build for the next day. That no off day thing is a college thing and you guys got to tell him how the NBA is or what? I don't want to say anything that's going to hurt me. So I don't know. He looks riding in a camera and say that. He looks riding into our camera, riding the lens and I was like, hey, I'm not going to say anything. It's going to incriminate me in front of coach. The energy thing is palpable.

12:09Now, Dessie may comes in with a different energy than Jason Kidd did. And even different than Carlisle did, Dessie is more of a golden retriever energy if you want to go that direction. Carlisle was, I don't know, I don't know what kind of dog was Carlisle. Kidd was like a bulldog where it just like, he feel like he's super chill. Then every once in a while you mess with him and then you get the, you get the, you know, the bulldog bite back, right? How important is Kari's leadership to this team? That's super important. He's been to the top. He's been there. He's done pretty much everything in this league. So to have a guy like that back in healthy is going to be work wonders for us. Obviously he's going to be a great mentor to Cooper. And I just can't wait to see those two on the floor and see how they play together. I'm curious to see how teams guard them. And obviously, I don't know. I think in LA, I think we all see him. He's back in to who he is. So it's definitely exciting. And I can't wait to be on the floor with him. What's the most impressive? We asked every single player about Kairi and about Cooper. It's like, you just want to know what they think about the two stars on the team. We've done this for years.

13:10We asked them all about Kairi the other year. We asked them all about Luca for the years. Like you just want to know what these guys are thinking about, how they position them. And it was interesting to hear PJ say, hey, you saw him in LA. He's like back like that. He's completely back. And so we have a lot of confidence in Kairi. Isaacs obviously spoke glowingly about, about Kairi and what he expects from him this season. But the players are thinking that same thing. The thing about Cooper flag at 19. I just sometimes it's crazy to even think he's 19. Like you have to do some reminders of that. He's 19 can't even go get a drink. He can't go to a club like, you know what I mean? Like it's crazy to see him. You can enter. No, he's no chance. But PJ was not getting in trouble with his interview. He's like, he's like, no, not saying anything bad about Dusty. And though off days, not saying we took, took a coup anywhere. I don't know. I was just saying like, when you see him, you imagine yourself at 19 just seeing him up here with these guys being who he is. It's insane. So the sky's at, let me for him. Obviously he's a young superstar.

14:11And we just want to do anything we can to help him reach where he wants to be. You got some new ink this off season. How many total hours was it? And then what went behind getting some Mavericks ink on? And how many total people were working on this? So I did three different sessions. They were all eight hours of peace. I went under anesthesia and each time I had seven people working on me at the same time. We're under anesthesia. Yeah. Because it was, that's a long time. 24 hours. 24 hours he didn't tattooed. And it was just on his legs too. Because he already had his arms basically done. But if you've seen the video, he posted it on his Instagram. And you just see it, he's laying face down on the table. It looks like an operating room. And there is like six or seven people around him. Just all with tattoo pens and just like going to town. Just like, and stuff is really cool. He's got faces of like his kids on there. He's got the Mavs one. He'll talk about here in a second. Interesting to see what like what guys,

15:12what guys will put on themselves obviously. But man, go on under anesthesia to do that as wild to me. And you got Mavericks one too, right? I do have a Mavericks tattoo. It's on the back of my leg. It's me standing on business after we be Oklahoma City and the Western Karma semi. So, which is interesting because the standing on business moment happened against the Clippers. So for him to do it against the, to do the one against the Thunder, which was like the encore of the standing on business. It wasn't like the moment where Trayman's getting into it with him. And not Trayman, Terrence Man is getting into it with him. And then he has to like, you know, step up for Luca kind of deal. I don't know. I just meant something to me just to add that. And I just thought it was different. I don't really, you don't really see a lot of guys with themselves on them. So I thought it was cool. I always wanted to get a lot of tattoos. So I figured why not go under any season, get it all at the end of once. I think sitting there and getting tattooed is kind of overrated. Nobody wants to feel the pain. You just kind of want the results. So, you know what I mean? So I got to talk to the guy. Yeah.

16:12How's it going back there? Yeah. Just in pain no time I read it now. So, yeah. If I was a real radio or TV personality guy, I would be PJ Washington doesn't want to do what it takes. You could just start with that. And just like, all right, we're reading into this PJ Washington situation. You see PJ Washington and he wants to get to the mountaintop, but he take shortcuts to do it starting with his tattoos. I'm at you. I got both my legs done. I got a back piece. I still got some, some, a little bit of area I want to fill out, but we'll wait on that. We got some real estate left for some more, more tattoos. So hopefully, hopefully our next Mav's championship is what he gets next. All right. Have you jumped on the anime train with Koop and Gaffin? Another thing we asked everybody, because we knew that there are certain players, Cooper has talked about anime a lot, Gafford. When we go through the Gafford interview, which you've probably already watched, he just starts going and I'm like, he goes beyond my even knowledge of it. But I know I knew Max and Gaffin lively and Koop are all into anime.

17:16Hold on. No, that's, that's not my vibe. Um, when I was a kid and I seen the anime on the screen, I was, I was changing the channel. You too. I've changed it. Yeah. I can't, I can't watch stuff like that. It doesn't give me. All right. Do you got a TV show that you recently watched? They go like, man, I'd recommend that recently. Or it could be a movie too. Trying to think that was a good show. I just watched. Ain't broke. So I'm not really like a TV guy. My wife is, she'll give me the shows. We're like, all right. We're watching this. So what does it like? He gets it. He gets into it and talks about the, you know, the heaven is his wife watching certain shows. And we just talk about shows for the rest of it. But yeah, interesting for, for PJ Washington, I think that the stuff about last season was very telling the way that he responded when I brought up the stepping on the ball moment. I think it was a huge takeaway for me. Just like that affected him a lot. The moment Kyrie brought up in training camp where people were, you know, screaming fire, Nico while PJ was at the free throw line affected him. And let's hope that this is a reset for him. And let's hope that this is a huge reset because PJ was a huge piece going into the NBA finals.

18:16And that was a, you know, a great, he's a great type of role player that you need in the NBA. And every single team would want a PJ Washington type. And so to just get rid of a PJ Washington type or not utilize one, I think would be a mistake for the maps. And so there you go. That's some thoughts. Hopefully you guys are enjoying us going back through these interviews and given some extra thoughts on them. Subscribe to the everyday club. You can get access to the, the discord you get access to the text line as well. We're sending you a bunch of stuff and add free episodes of this show. It's 699 a month so you can just subscribe to it. Help support the show as well. So I appreciate each and every one of you for checking out the show. Thanks, social distancing to like a mask. Peace out. I'm pro football, a whole of famous Brian Dawkins. And I live for a long time with something I did not know the name of major depressive disorder. I carried sadness and anger because I thought I could handle it alone, but I couldn't. Now I want to make sure others know that that support is out there. If you're experiencing similar symptoms, talk to a healthcare professional, visit mdd Allies dot com to watch my story.

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