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00:00 All right, PJ Washington. I mean, while we're on the topic, I think PJ is probably the only guy
00:03 that could compete with Gordon for maybe best player on the team through six games title
00:08 right now, which is a very illustrious award to have. I'm sure that the winner of this award is
00:13 going to have it on their mantle once we send it to them. But PJ has been great so far this year.
00:18 The mid-range and floater game in particular has been so good. And this is something we talked
00:23 about like periodically throughout last season because he was flashing it a little bit.
00:28 Those games where he was like the number one option and would have those big scoring nights,
00:31 I think OKC when he had that career high, he made a bunch of those little like
00:36 Rashawn Holmes-esque push shots, like shrugging off a contact and flipping the ball like over
00:42 his shoulder, like out in front of himself a little bit. He might be like the new innovator
00:47 of those shots now that Rashawn Holmes just seems to be like banished to the bench in Dallas. Like
00:53 PJ is probably the foremost purveyor of the mid-paint push shot from eight-ish feet, like
01:00 flipping it over your shoulder. He's just so strong and fluid and has the size to shoot over
01:07 enough defenders, both like bigs or smaller bigs and bigger wings that he really can match up
01:14 against pretty much any team. There aren't that many teams that are going to have a guy that can
01:18 just lock down PJ, both like as when he gets downhill or being a guy that can just find some
01:23 spaces and get open as like a floor spacer because there aren't that many bigs that can stretch it
01:27 the way that he does. And there aren't that many wings that can keep up with him in terms of
01:32 strength when he drops his shoulder into you in the middle of the paint and creates that contact.
01:36 So, I mean, he's been very efficient so far. He's 55 percent from the field, second leading
01:41 scorer, hasn't rebounded well. And that's been like the team's biggest weakness, I think, so far
01:46 to me, defensive rebounding. So I'd like to see a little bit more there, but otherwise I've loved
01:52 pretty much everything from PJ so far this year. Yeah, I mean, I tweeted about those exact plays
01:58 earlier today, so you can go find out my timeline. PJ Washington is currently shooting 70 percent at
02:03 the rim and 52 percent from the mid-range. And that's in large part just down to these like,
02:08 they're not even Euro steps, but as Euro step, you kind of go like one way and back the other.
02:13 He just kind of drives and then just suddenly jerks to one side. It's like a half Euro. We need
02:19 to come up with a name for it. We need like, that's a challenge for listeners or a challenge
02:24 for you for next week, Chase. We need to come up with a name for the PJ Washington floater.
02:28 Like, there has to be something we can do there. Yeah, PJ Washington has looked really good.
02:35 You think about the skill development he's had since a rookie. He came in as a 3-D guy. He just
02:42 got threes, stood in the corner and shot threes. He was good at it. But now you can see that he
02:48 scores in the pick and roll. He's a good pick and roll, dive man or a pop guy. He's more pull-up
02:53 game now in that mid-range if he kind of gets run off the line. He has that floater game. He's
02:58 really diversified his offensive games since coming in as a rookie. And that's just incredible
03:03 to see. It's hard when you look back, but year by year he's just built this slowly and it seems to
03:08 be coming together this year and he's finding some consistency. Now, can we call it consistency
03:14 after six games? No, but so far he hasn't had these, you know, two of 12 performances where
03:21 he just disappears. He's been impactful in every single game he's played so far. If he can keep
03:26 that up, just what he's doing right now for the rest of the year, that would be a great season
03:31 for PJ Washington. You mentioned the defensive rebounding. Look, it's still a massive issue and
03:36 it's actually got worse this year, not better. And it was already probably one of his biggest
03:40 weaknesses as a power forward. At this point, maybe we just have to get used to the fact that
03:46 PJ is just never going to be a rebounder. And that probably does limit your ceiling as a four-man
03:53 who shoots the ball. You need to have an absolute glass eaters all around you.
03:58 Luckily for him, Lamella Ball is a great rebounder. So that kind of does fit well with the Hornets
04:04 team specifically. But yeah, I think PJ's had a really good start to the season. And I think
04:11 you're right. Probably the guy challenges Gordon Hayward for best start to the year.
04:14 Do you think, we've got some time left here on the timer. Do you think PJ Washington,
04:20 with his start to the year, do you see him moving to the bench when Miles Bridges comes back in four
04:26 games? See, that, I honestly haven't even thought all that much about that yet. Right off the bat,
04:34 I think I'd say no. I think I would probably, at the moment, I think you kind of have to give him
04:38 the benefit of the doubt, like reward him for his performance in the season and kind of just
04:42 tell Miles, like, hey, he's been playing really well. One of the best players on our team right
04:46 now. Like we just gave him a new contract. Like you got to work your way back into the lineup in
04:52 the same way that he had to work his way back into the lineup when Miles originally burst onto the
04:56 scene a couple of years ago. Like PJ got relegated to the bench and then worked his way back up and
05:01 became the player he is now. So I feel like you got to give him credit for that. I absolutely
05:06 agree. And I'm someone who at the start of the year, I would have thought Miles Bridges will
05:10 be starting, but when someone has played this well, and if he continues to do so, you've got
05:15 to, you've got to make him earn it, right? Miles got to earn that spot back. And I also do think
05:19 that second unit needs some of Bridges playmaking, maybe a little bit more as well, and that could
05:24 fit there. So, you know, as he gets into NBA shape, I think that makes sense. I think that's