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00:00 All right, we'll move right on to PJ Washington.
00:03 And I mean, I'll be honest, like, despite what is definitely a down year,
00:09 like much of my analysis on PJ is pretty much the same as it's been,
00:12 because a lot of it like directly applies to his current situation.
00:16 I've long thought he is at best like a fourth option on a playoff team,
00:21 which is what he was during Charlotte's two play in seasons when among fans
00:26 and media perspective was probably when his stock was the highest.
00:29 The last two years, he's been overextended, much less efficient as a result,
00:32 especially this year.
00:34 No coincidence to me that his lowest effective field goal percentage seasons
00:37 of his career are the last two seasons where he's had the most field goal
00:41 attempts per game of his career.
00:43 Role players often have bouts of inconsistency, like scoring wise.
00:47 PJ is no exception.
00:48 But the one thing that I think is different from past years,
00:52 I think that the defense has suffered a little bit.
00:54 It's career low block and steal rates.
00:57 But I actually kind of think that that may not be the case on a better team
01:00 where it just has a better defensive infrastructure.
01:03 But still, like apart from Terry, I'd have to imagine
01:07 he's the most tradable guy on the team right now with that
01:09 very team friendly, declining contract.
01:12 And the fact that he's he does still fill the role of like a spacing
01:17 for that can attack closeouts, makes the occasional like nice
01:21 connective pass and is like a fairly versatile front court defender
01:25 that can protect the rim and small ball lineups.
01:27 So there's value in that.
01:28 But I just think that with the Hornets,
01:31 he's just kind of just shown what he is.
01:35 And there's no real way for a player of his ilk to be effective on a team
01:39 that's in the situation the Hornets are in right now.
01:42 Yeah, the I agree that he has the most interesting trade value,
01:47 you know, maybe outside of Terry's there.
01:50 I think Sacramento and Dallas are teams
01:54 who pursued him a little bit in the offseason and wanted to sign him.
01:57 And I don't think anything he's done this year is probably going to
02:00 have changed their mind on that, like shooting efficiency is a bit down.
02:04 But that that comes and goes.
02:06 And it's been, like I say, a strange situation this year.
02:08 I think he's really is a name to watch.
02:13 Now, if you move him and you lose Miles Bridges,
02:16 you could be heading into next year as JT Thorpe being your starting power forward,
02:21 which is not an ideal position.
02:22 But like equally, this team needs to make some upgrades to this roster, right?
02:26 And then at that point, you can go out to a, I don't know, Tobias Harris and say,
02:31 we want you to be our starting power forward.
02:33 You become our second or third option on the team and you've got more of a role there.
02:38 So there is an element of risk moving PJ, but.
02:41 I just think.
02:44 He doesn't fit what this team necessarily needs like this, this team.
02:49 I've been thinking about this a little bit, this team needs to get bigger.
02:51 You look at them play against Philadelphia and they are so small
02:54 and playing like six, six, six, seven PJ Washington a power forward.
03:00 Like that is part of the reason here, you know, and I think long term.
03:05 I know Miles Bridges plays more of the four generally in Charlotte.
03:09 But I think if you want this to be a bigger team that is like tougher,
03:13 more physically, like he has to play the three because he's like six, six himself.
03:17 And you need to have a guy with a lot more strength,
03:21 interior presence, defense with some size, disruptive defender
03:25 playing that four position who can maybe switch on the wings.
03:28 And I just don't think PJ fits that.
03:30 So I think he's got a role.
03:32 I think he fits a ton of places really easily.
03:35 I think people will like him as a small ball five option as well.
03:38 But just not in Charlotte, where you are already dealing with a strength,
03:42 defense, toughness issue across the rest of the roster.
03:46 Then that just, you know, amplifies it with PJ at the five.
03:49 And we've said it before, too, if the goal of this team
03:54 eventually in the long term is to just kind of make changes
03:57 and shift the deck chairs around a little bit and come at it
04:00 with a different group after years of mediocrity at best
04:04 with many of the players that are here, you got to make changes.
04:07 PJ is one of the guys that's been here through that entire run,
04:10 where the best that they got was slightly over 500, you know, like
04:14 at least give him as an individual an opportunity to prove that as an NBA player
04:18 on a slightly better team, where with the Hornets the last two years,
04:22 he's just been less efficient than he probably should be
04:25 due to being overextended offensively.
04:27 So definitely a guy to watch on the trade market in my eyes as well.