What ease krack alac In Fellows Thermonuclear a Effers. I am Dan Valley,
coming at you with frequent guest of the podcast. Friend of the podcast,
Salomon Ali. He runs Red Nation Hoops. Follow Red Nation Hoops on Twitter
at Red Nation Hoops. Follow Solomon on Twitter at Salomon Ali NBA. That's
at saal m A n l a I NBA, and then subscribe to Red
Nation Hoops. The link to where you can do that their YouTube channel and
how you can subscribe to all his writing that will be in the podcast and
YouTube description as well. Excited to talk to him about the Houston Rockets if
you haven't caught that already. A team that they've been fascinating all year,
but they came on lately before the OUPA and Shangun injury, which is something
we need to get into this whole idea that not that they're better off without
autprinching goob, but is there something weird here that this happened after he left?
It was like, no, they won four or five before he went
down. But first and foremost, Salomon, how the heck are you?
I appreciate you powering through. I know that we were dealing with some I
don't know if it was my fault with stream Yard or just the mic now
through the mic issues. No, that's that's the one hundred percent on me.
But I'm glad it's working. I'm glad it's working where he's in the
handheld mic today, but it's it's a microphone and it records my audio.
I feel like I should take mine out it's cradle, just so that we're
both holding it. But I actually it's too much. It's too hard to
get in and ounce. I'm not gonna do that. Don't do it on
my account. Where you got it is fine. How are things going?
Things are going well. Things are going well. The Rockets are up until
recently had been winning games. They are a fun team to watch. I
mean, I'll be honest, Even during their losing spell in February, they've
been a fun team, like like it's it's not it's not that watching them
lose is fun. Is like during the rebuild, there were times where I
just didn't feel like I was learning anything right right because nothing mattered. Like
that first year they had nobody. Jalen Green wasn't even on the team right.
Jay Sean Tate was the only like it's the only remaining player from that
first year the rebuild. Right, wow, So and you knew that when
you're watching, Like, none of these guys are gonna be here. I
know that while I'm watching it, So I'm like, there's no point I
don't. I'm watching these games sometimes like after the fact, on replace,
I can fast forward through a lot because I know none of this matters.
Right, It's like April basketball for a lottery team, but all season,
right, right. But then they draft Jalen Green and like, okay,
that's important, right, So like now the games are a little bit more
interesting. They draft Jabari Smith obviously, they drafted Shank Doing that first year,
Tarry Easton, you know, all these little prospects that come in and
they make the team more interesting. And now they're kind of kreshendoing this year
obviously with with emy Dover kind of using them in a more coherent manner.
Right. Uh. And it is just as leading to very very fun basketball
and the team has some character now with Van Vliet and Dylan Brooks. Yeah,
I mean we talked about that extensively leading into the offseason, and it
seems like it paid off and they were just you know, I will say
I found them more fascinating once I'm and Thompson started to play is when I
really just like lasered in on them. But just the whole what is Cam
whitmore are gonna do? And then the Shang Gun improvement. But I kind
of wanted to start here as we're recording this their playoffs, their play in
chances, and well by extension their playoff chances, they take it a little
bit of a hit after losses to the Mavericks and the Timberwolves. The Thursday
night game against the Warriors looms large since that's the team that they're chasing.
This is a pretty hillacious part of their schedule. But overall they have been
basically two the month. Like over this past month the top six offense go
along with I think it was their sixth in points at per posession and fourth
in point score per possession over this stretch. And there's obviously two kind of
different versions of this stretch where you had the first five games with Chang Gun
and not without Changgoon while he deals with that that ankle injury, and I
have so many individual questions for you, but when you kind of look at
this most recent stretch from them, is there a overarching driving factor or two
that just stands out to what is really just making this stuff happen right now?
Pace, They're they are a much faster team, and I think if
you are going to make any connection from the outprinch Changun injury to how di
do the rosters playing now, I think Pace is a lot of it.
I think a lot of it is also just like some clarity, like Jock
Lande was just like a guy who played one night and didn't play another night.
Like like this this team is like, you know, it's not like
the best team in the league, but it might be the deepest team in
the league because it's just like there's like nine ten guys that deserve to play
every night, but they just can't, right because there are more important guys
in front of them. And you know, when guys go down, I
mean, it's it's unfortunate, but things kind of get easier in that respect.
You can kind of play more guys, and like, I think that's
been clarifying. Obviously. Imo Udoka made a comment during the All Star break
or post All Star break that he wanted the team to shoot more threes.
And kind of space to floor a little bit more, and they were doing
that when Shan Gun was went down before he went down, But like that
continuation of just getting that ball up more times per game, I think that's
it's helping the team out a lot more. And I think it's pretty clear
Jalen Green making jump shots is like, probably the biggest development for the past
was what are we like March mark. The biggest development in March is Jalen
Green making jumpers, like just jumpers that he was missing at the beginning of
the year. He's just now masking him now. And I think that's probably
the biggest difference in the Rocket to play right now. Yeah, he is,
Well, I guess I actually want to go here first. So do
you think that they've learned? I mean, when you're looking at kind of
the pace they've been playing before the Shang Gun injury on the season, when
you're looking at their average offensive possession time, they were twelve, so they're
not particularly slow. That's bumped up since the Shangegun injury. The biggest difference
has been though, like they are just running and blitzing after grabbing defensive rebounds,
which is not something relative to the league average that they were doing a
ton before, and is that something that or is there something else that you
think they've discovered about themselves without Shangun that you think can carry over to when
they do have him, and then how do you go about implementing it?
And I'm again, I'm not saying that Shangun needs to play faster, because
I think we're even seeing now And this was one of my questions about Jalen
is if team are gonna go after guys with double teams, that's the value
of having Shangun when you slow stuff down, Like the way he's able to
process and read the game in those situations has improved exponentially. And so but
I'm just wondering, based off what you've seen, is there anything that they've
kind of discovered about themselves that you think can carry over or be implemented when
he is healthy. Amn Thompson A men. Thompson is h I mean,
he's a real player. I mean like he might be the best defensive player
under twenty five years old in the NBA right now, or at least one
of them. He's one of the handful of guys you can make better than
Wemby defensively, that's what that'd be a spicy thing. I mean, like
he may not be better than Wemby because just because Wemby's a big right,
Like, if you're talking about perimeter defenders, name someone that's twenty years old
as good defensively on the perimeters of men Thompson, there's maybe like two,
right, there's maybe two right like his brother. Yeah, I mean,
but like he is ridiculous. I mean, like he really is so advanced
for his age on the defensive end of the floor. He's gonna make all
defensive teams. It's just a matter of how many. That's how I feel
watching him, Like I did, I thought he was a good defensive prospect.
He's really like expanded even my perspective on what he can be in the
NBA long term. Offensively. What he's doing without a jumper off the ball
is like it's really difficult to function in the NBA without a jumper. It's
extremely it's damn near impossible if you're not a center, right, And and
that's that's what a man like. He is not a center, and he
is not He has no jumper, and yet he is effective off the ball,
just playing in cutting lanes in the dunker spot sometimes being smart about setting
screens, Like he is a really, really capable basketball player, and I'm
almost curious, like, what's gonna happen when this guy really develops mo on
ball strength? Right, he already had some of that going into the NBA.
That was kind of his appeal as a prospect. I mean, when
when he actually has those moments to get the ball, I'm curious to see
what he's gonna do. Jabari Smith that you, I know you asked me
what other things for the Rockets? Carry over? Jabari Smith at center,
I think is a nice look. I think they should have done some of
that more well Shangun was healthy. Frankly, I didn't understand the the the
minute that Jacque Landelle was playing actually, frankly, well, when they had
Jabari just sit in there, who could play center just never use it and
that was never asked to play center. And you're seeing now how that could
be a real tool. What I am curious now, though, is how's
that space is gonna look when you get a healthy Shangun back and he's having
to play with the men. Thompson like those two have kind of finagled it
to make it work because they're just so smart. But when you get to
like higher levels of basketball teams are gonna it's it's very easy to game plan,
uh, maybe not to take everything away, but make things really difficult
on the rockets. When you have two non shooters out there flat out.
In today's NBA, you can't play uh. You have to play for out
at the minimum, you have to play for out. And having these two
guys is a problem for that. But that's a problem you have. You
can worry about later. For the time being, there are some stuff,
there is some stuff here that you that you can really sink your teeth into.
And it's just fun. It's just fun basketball watching them play fast,
right, like like this is something that you're right that Shang Gun does have
to learn how to play faster with the group when they come they come back.
But also like when Shangun's on the bench, this is something they this
is this is something they should try to do, emulate this style, right,
lean into it when Shangun's not out there, because it always feels like
when Shangun's out there that like they they're just leaning into this Fred van Vliet
pick and roll thing and it's like, okay, like that that that's obviously
gonna be there all day for you, But long term, it's not gonna
be there for you. Right, You're gonna have to develop an identity when
Shangoon's on the floor. So I think that's something you would look at when
Shang Gun is healthy, like can this team replicate that pace once in those
moments where he's not playing? Is that to kind of look at Amen Thompson
specifically when you mentioned that, you know, kind of establishing that identity when
Shan Gun is catching breathers, is that the pathway to not only seeing him
do this? I mean, like he's been great. You mentioned all this
other stuff. The only thing that he's been great on the offensive glass For
someone his size, his offensive rebounding rate is just absolutely absurd. The stuff
they can do with handoffs with him. But he just dunks. He just
dunks. That's all he does. He just dunks. That's his offense.
Like I'm just gonna get the ball and I'm gonna dunk no matter where I
am, no matter if I'm in position possession to dunk, like I'm gonna
dunk like that. That that's a men Thompson as an offensive player right now?
Do is do are they still invested do you think in expanding that?
But because like he was billed as a point like a like a point guard
wing coming in and we haven't seen too much of him ball. He's running
under three pick and rolls per thirty six minutes on the season. That's not
the end all be all, but it's just you mentioned it, like they're
not using him that type of role. Is that is? One? Is
that something they're gonna try and groom him forward down the line? And two
is having him run like those non Shangun units, especially in this vein like
the end goal or the best way to optimize that that aspect of his development.
Well, if they're not going to groom with some other team, is
I mean, like that's just the reality of Yeah, it's awkward. I'm
sorry to interrupt, but it's I think a lot of people have talked about
and you actually mentioned this on a podcast you recently recorded. There's been this
discussion about, you know, Amen Thompson or Alprin Shangun and there is some
functional complications there, but it really might be an Amen Thompson or Jaalen dream
thing if you're looking at trying to develop Amen Thompson more on the ball.
No, well, I I do actually think it's an Amen or shan Gun
thing. Like okay, I think I think the Jalen and shan Gun thing
is kind of a dumb conversation. They're comary. Same thing with the men
in Jalen their complimentary theoretically, what's not what's not complimentary is those three together,
right, like, because you can't have like two of those guys just
can't shoot. They need the ball, right, So, like, what
you have to figure out here if you're Houston, is like who has the
higher upside you as an organization, you have to make that call. I
don't want to say now, but soon ish because shng Gun's coming up for
an extension, yeah yeah, and restarched for agencies next summer if you want
to play that game. So you have like one more year to look at
this again. But in the next calendar year, you're gonna have to make
the call, like which one of these two dudes has the highest upside because
again you have to play four out and unless one of these two dudes shows
real promise at developing a jump shot, you know, long term, you
kind of have to bet on one of them and then let the other one
go or trade the other guy. And that's kind of what I'm interested to
see, is like, you know, can any of these guys develop a
jumper? And if not, like, how how far can a man take
this? Right? Because he hasn't had the on ball reps right, Like,
we don't really know what he is on the ball him already though when
you kind of just see it when he just comes around a screen or something,
he's just so fast and can it doesn't even it's not even like a
like the handle is fine, Like he just blasts through traffic would be the
best way to describe where it's just like I don't know when he gets going
downhill when you have the spacing necessary. But of course, as you mentioned,
that does get tougher with Alp on the floor. Yeah, and his
handle in a lot of ways, it can be better than Jalen's because like
Jalen loses the ball a lot. A man doesn't do that right, he
has like at more because he's he's used to playing point guard. And so
I wonder if, like if the Rockets can find that that's the tough thing,
like how do you find the opportunities on this roster? Right? Like,
like there's everyone's down and he's still not finding opportunities, right. Could
that be a function of what we're trying to make the plans that we're not
going to experiment as much at this point? I guess that doesn't get any
easier moving forward because expectations will only rise after this season. But as could
there be some of that or just he missed so much the beginning of the
season we didn't have time to kind of induce this stuff to begin with.
I just think it's a it's a manage, it's a expectations are high.
Like that's what it is. That's what it's been all year. That's what
it continues to be. Now. They they were expected to make a jump
this year, and they made that jump, credit to him, But going
forward, they're not going to be expected to stop, right, So,
Like I wonder, like how you how you finagle this right? Because it
may like you got Van, you got Van Vliet, you got Jalen Green,
you got Cam Whitmore and Cam was just down for like I don't know
this, this is this huge stretch and so I'm wondering, like, is
it gonna take I don't want this to happen. Is it gonna take an
injury to one of your two ball handlers, right Jalen or Fred to see
that? I hope it doesn't. I hope the Rockets can find a way
to discover that without that happening. But like, I don't know, I
mean, I'm looking at it. I'm like, what reason would the Rockets
have to give him the ball when everyone's healthy? They don't, I mean,
especially since he's finding a way to make it work in the dunker spot
and as a cutter the thing I would wonder, and like I would agree
it's a concern worth monitoring moving forward. But when you look at especially pre
injury, he played fewer than fifteen percent of his possessions without both Fred van
Fleet or Alpera and Shangun on the floor, So isn't there more room to
just stagger him? Like you could still start him, you could do whatever.
And as you mentioned, he's finding ways to make it work. And
if you're looking to establish that identity without alper and Shangun, him and Fred
van Fleet optimize each other anyway? Is there, like, especially who don't
want to make this call anytime soon. I know the extension talks with Green
and Shanggun complicate this, but isn't there room for when they're at full strength,
just more of what we can lean into amen on the ball, or
at least experiment with that while we have our to two of our offensive stars
off the court, even if it's just like you know, Alprin Shangun and
then one of Fred van Fleieter Jallen Green off the court. I'll say this,
Dan, And maybe this is naive of me, maybe this is hokey.
I've always believed as long as I've watched basketball, the best players are
gonna shine through. No matter what bearriersually put in front of them. They're
gonna they're gonna shine through. They're gonna find a way to tell you why
they're the best players. Right. So if a man is one of those
guys, he'll find a way to tell you. Right Like Shane Gun,
God knows how many bearriers he had put in front of him these past three
years, he found a way to tell everyone no, like you can't deny
this talent, right, So if a man is that guy, he'll find
a way. He's finding ways, right, now in a lot of ways
defensively, like that talent is undeniable, right as a finisher, that town
is undeniable. Now he's gonna have to find ways to get the ball in
his hands. And maybe that's just a function of him being more aggressive to
ask for it. But like I think the best players usually just find a
way. And if he's, if he's, if he's better than Shanghun,
you'll find a way to tell us. Jalen Green, how much when you
talked about you know he's hitting his jumpers. He's over forty percent on step
back threes over the past month plus. I do think he's done a better
job of like kind of changing his pace when he gets into the lane lately
as well. He's shooting seventy percent at over seventy percent at the rim during
this stretch. How much, I guess it's it's a fewfold. What's impressed
you the most about this and how much do you read into it when trying
to scale it forward when looking at, well, what's the next frontier from
Jalen Green? And can we get at least this version of Jalen Green sooner
in the season, because this has happened pretty much every year of his career
where it's like the clock turns to the middle to late February, we get
into March and he's just going off. Yeah, this happens. Even in
the Juliague get happened the second half of the year. He was better than
the first half of the year, which is just just a testament to how
streaky of a shooter he is. Like, and what I you know,
streaky jumpers are. One thing what I find kind of odd is how is
finishing just improves from like the first half of the year and second half year.
So okay, yeah, if the jumper is not falling whatever it's you
know, so that could be randomness, but like the finishing should be consistent
throughout the year. Why is it taking this jump? And that That leads
me to believe it's a mix of the streaky jumper and confidence, right like
that, it seems like the jumper leads to him finishing better at the basket,
leads to him drawing more free throws, leads to him getting more passing
opportunities. Right, It's it's all connected in the way that we all kind
of believe offense is connected. So I think with Jalen what was your question?
Sorry? Like what I guess what has impressed you the most? But
like how much do you read into this moving forward? Like, like what
can we take away from this long term to say is this the permanent or
indefinite or the the every month version of Jalen Green that we could get.
I think what we should take away from this is we shouldn't write off the
version of Jalen Green that becomes an All Star, but that he's going to
have to really work on becoming a consistent basketball player. Like, cause there
are just way too many games where like the jumper is not falling and he's
not effective, right, So he needs to find a way to be a
more consistent player, whether that's working on the jump shot in the off season,
where that's you know, I don't know, finding a way to be
a highly impactful playmaker. He's going to have to find ways to impact the
basketball game when the jump shots not hitting. So what I'll say this is
he this season and I said this before the streak happened, He's improved offensively,
and he has improved as a distributor. Right the ball handling for some
reason has lagged behind. There are still way too many moments where you can
just pick his pocket, right, There's just way too many moments where you
see that happen. A Pasky defender gets into him and just takes takes the
ball away from him. He has to get better at that. Like he's
a guard, he just has to get better at that. Long term,
I think Jalen Green's best path to start him in this league is as a
lead guard. Right. I don't think this kind of player archetype works anymore
as an off guard because he's just not good enough defensively to be that impactful,
right, or like an elite enough shooter to be that impactful. He
has to this kind of player archetype. I'm talking the zach Lavines of the
world, the Bradley Beals of the world, the Damien. Not the Damien
I mean, to some extent, like the off ball shooting guard archetypes that
were just so prevalent in the early twenty tens that worked. Right though,
that's that's not gonna work anymore. I don't think. I think you kind
of need to be more dynamic with the ball in your hands to be a
star. Now, this guy, this player might still work on title teams.
Okay, I just don't think it's gonna be as a starter, right,
Like, I just like you're that's like the Jordan Clarkson's of the world,
right right. It feels like though that he can be so the best
version of himself is still so complimentary without him needing to be your lead ball
handler like you could Thompson or he could playoff Alprin Shane Gun And so if
you're saying he'll never reach stardom by kind of being in the the two guard,
well, I don't want to call him an off guard because he operates
on the ball a ton, but I would still think that his ceiling would
be pretty high if you don't bill him as your sort of de facto floor
general. Well, here's here's the thing, Dan, Like you're you're gonna
have to form a defense around him that everyone on the floor other than him
is pretty much a positive or everyone on the floor other than him the Rockets
have pretty much done that. Well, yeah, I mean it's possible,
it's possible, but you're also gonna need to get your distribution somewhere else,
right, You're also like the goal for the Rockets and the goal for any
title team should not be how do we make how do we get the best
out of Jalen Green? It should be how do we get the best out
of this roster? And if you're trying to answer that first question, I
think you're just asking the wrong questions, right, Like if if, if
it really, if you really have to go that far to make a team
led by Jalen Green, like operate, clicking on all cylinders like that,
maybe maybe maybe you gotta maybe you gotta rethink some things. I don't know,
Like I just think if if, if I'm thinking about Jalen Green's career
long term, I don't think this archetype just works like at the highest of
levels as a star. I mean, you look at the other stars in
the NBA. They can only handle the ball. The other stars, star
guards in the NBA, there's there's not some like the Clays Thompson's. They
come around every once in a while and usually they're elite defensively in elite to
shooters. This is not one toughing that Jalen is. You know, that's
not chiling, that's not chilling in any respect. So if you're talking about
someone like this like Devin Booker became an elite ball handler. Brad Lebel became
good enough to be a lead ball hunter in Washington. Zach Lavine like that,
here's the thing, he's there's a reason he's borderline. Right, there's
a reason he's borderline. It's because he's not that Albert and Jane Gun pre
injury might even still win most improved Player. I think that field is wide
open. I know Tyres Max, he's like this super heavy betting favorite.
What is we know the usage and the overall opportunity just has increased. But
what stood out to you the most about his improvement this season? You're not
gonna like my answer here, Dan, I don't think he's improved that much.
You think you think this is like a case of he just has the
license and this is what happens when he does. I think a lot of
it is. I think a lot of it is. I think there is
there are improvements, right, Like I think defensively, he's he's he's taken
some steps up. But I mean when you look at what he was doing
last year and then he's limited minutes in a limited role or whatever, it's
not too dissimilar. He has gotten more efficient marginally, it's not too dissimilar
to what he's doing now. I just I think, really, somebody just
had to give this dude the green light because he was just the best player
on the team for the last two years and no one ever acknowledged it.
And now Ida came in and kind of, you know, to his credit,
you know, maybe there was some resistance going into that idea, but
to his credit quickly adjusted, right. And I think you're seeing you're you're
seeing what what what the fruits of that right now? What what I think
he needs to really improve upon next year is he seems to whenever he does
get the ball, he seems to feel like a like a rush to score
or paymake or like. And he needs to just find a way to exist
in possessions right without being the guy right, which is, find a way
to be complimentary without having to be the center, right like, without having
to be the center of everything. If you look at even the best,
the most impactful bigs in the NBA, they can still do that, right.
So when Jalen has it going, when Fred has it going, when
Cam has it going, he needs to find a way to kind of float
into the background or be what kind of being additive and then come back in.
I think that's something I want to see from him. Uh. Obviously
the jumper is possibly the biggest the best way you can improve his offensive game
and also fish into a like a more equal context, because if he's going
to be able to dot the arc, that's going to be more complimentary than
if he can't do that, because he doesn't need to be involved in primary
reactions as often, right, right, and that helps him. Yeah,
it would be that kind of floating in the background kind of character when he
needs to be. Yeah, and also I just think, well, I
need just I wanted to see more pick and roll reps with him with Jalen
because I saw so many with van Fleet and great like I get why the
Rockets Milks that play this year, right, it was so effective for them
this year. But again you have to look, you have to balance this
with the long term, right, Maybe doing that helps you win more games
now, but trying to win the most games long term. I want to
see more with Jalen. I want to see more with Cam, want to
see more with the men, right, I would love those those and if
if it's been I have not noticed it, but I would love to have
seen like inverted pick and rolls involving him, and I'm on Thompson would be
super fascinating. Well, I think that's resting on like okay, one of
them needs to have an operable jumper, but that would be functionally fun.
I do agree about the defensive improvement. It seems also like he matches up
better or holds his own against like the Big or Biggs, if that makes
any sense. I like, I thought, I thought he did much better
this year against the Bonus, like Sabonis kind of bullied him last year,
and this year I thought he stood his ground. And I would also agree
that just the skeleton the base of his offensive game is just eerily similar.
But it does feel like he has the game on a string more to like
where if he's gonna see more doubles or like that to who oh, excuse
me, are you making the comparison to the Bonus? No, no,
no, I'm not comparative to the Bones. I think he's I think he
has a higher ceiling than Sabonis. I think maybe not that's probably unfair to
the Bonus. But looking at Changun, I think shange Guon can initiate your
offense in more ways than Sabonis Ken and so when you go into stuff as
a score, they might be more similar there. I think Shang Gun's offense
to me improved in the sense of like kind of the decision making when he's
looking at double teams or or recognizing it how good of a one on one
score he actually is, because there's always been data to support that, and
now we're seeing him really you know, I guess what you're saying, like
maybe being too quick sometimes to try and process things, but I almost kind
of appreciate with how decisive it feels like he's been as a scorer this year
compared to some of the year's past, and that might be just the product
of, well, they finally emboldened him to do all this shit in higher
volume. Yeah, And I think I'm starting to rethink the Alpa and shengun
Like spectrum in terms of successful player like right like, I think at the
beginning of the spectrum, the way I always thought about it is he's this
guy is way too skilled to not be a starter in today's NBA, right
Like, I just thought he was going to be a starter somewhere And in
the middle of that spectrum was as a bonus, Right, It's the one
that was probably the most talked about, right because it was just the easiest
without being the most with well without while being the least defensive, right,
right, Because the end of that spectrum is yokic. Right, we've and
we've talked about that, right. But there's something in the middle of that,
and that's pewl gasaw And we don't talk about that enough, maybe because
he's not atop his mind, right, But like pew Gasol was awesome,
and he's better than the bonus, right, and he's in the that kind
of cushy middle ground where he can. Palagasol at his peak, was one
of the two most important players on a title team, right, and if
if, if, if Shang Gun can get there, like obviously you're thrilled
with the outcome, right, and he doesn't have to get to that jok
level. Right. And I feel like, you know, maybe maybe it's
because Palagasol retired kind of like five was like four or five years ago.
He retired, and we saw the best of Paalogasal like fifteen years ago.
Right, Maybe that's the reason it's not that comparison is not top of mind,
but I'm certain to think of that more when I watched Shengu, that's
that's a pretty good comp and it's also kind of proof of okay, like
we saw Palagasol, I'll always had kind of range, Like he started shooting
threes towards the end of his career and he was able to hit them.
So I've I've never thought about out pretty Shagoo in that context, So that
would be that would be interesting. Uh. The other player on Houston's front
line I think has flown under the radar this season, at least nationally.
I'm sure Rockets fans know about this. Barsmith Jr. Is just like when
you look at the counting, it's not He's not exponentially better than last year.
I mean, the three point shooting is just up, up, up,
But he has been just really rock solid across so many different areas.
Is there anything that sort of stood out to you the most? And then
what is kind of the next frontier for him look like? Especially because I
think what it's intrigued me the most is if you're gonna worry about tying all
these different pieces together. When you talk about the Alprin Shang Gun, the
jail and Green, the U and Amen Thompson dynamic. Jabari Smith Junior is
so critical to doing that because of how complimentary he is at both ends of
the floor. Now, is it like the defensive numbers and rim protection have
held up when he's played the five this year and we've seen it most recently
during this non Shanggoon stretch. But then just also like what he's able to
do on offense, Like he still likes to go to those counters, those
fades, those turnarounds. It doesn't always hit them at the greatest clip,
but like he's just more patient when he's in that center floor spot and making
better decisions there, and he's making better decisions whether to connect on the screens,
to slip the screens. And then of course I mentioned the shooting already.
To be that complimentary allows you to try all these sorts of different things
with three players who there is I don't want to say there's some redundancy,
but there's you have to invest in parts of their games that might be counterintuitive
to then keeping some of the others at their peak. And I just really
appreciate kind of the I don't necessarily want to call him a connective tissue.
But the way that he is playing just allows him to be a part of
so many different lineups and perspective iterations of this Rockets team. So my real
question, I'm sorry I went on that long rant, was like, what's
impressed you the most? And then kind of what's the next frontier look like
for him? In your mind? Yeah, I felt like talking about Jabbari
in the summer, I felt kind of mean, Like I felt like I
was starting to get into mean territory because right I started calling with theoretical basketball
player, right, because every time I heard people talk about him, it
was like, what do you could theoretically do? Right? And it's like,
did anyone watch him last year? Like Tarr Easton should have been starting
over him, right, Tarr Easton should have been starting over and we just
flat out a better player and they didn't do that move for whatever reason.
But he was really really hard to watch last year. He looked like a
broken prospect. And I think a lot of this actually stems back to draft
time when Paula Mankera was taking number one and so much of the expectation was
Jabbar's going number one for sure, right, And I think that kind of
I don't want to say shattered his confidence because obviously he picked it back up,
but it definitely put him on his back foot in a way that he
wasn't expecting because he had a bad summer league and he had a bad regular
season, and you see whatever he did in the summer, right, I
think I think John Lucas Kelly Eker wrote an article about this. Talking to
John Lucas and kind of getting out of his own head helped him a lot,
right because the Rockets could see that this was affecting him right this whole,
Like I was supposed to be the number one R pick. Now I'm
number three? Am I even a good prospect? Right? Like? And
it it? I think it. You know what's what's more confidence driven than
jump shooting? Right? I mean he was a thirty percent jump shooter last
year. I don't think he suddenly became a thirty six percent jump shooter overnight.
I don't think that that what we saw last year was true, right,
Right? But I did see like in addition to the confidence come back,
Like, I think that that's the greatest that's the biggest thing you're seeing
with Jabari just a phenomenally more confident basketball player. The second biggest thing is
the ball handling. Man, My god, I mean I've I haven't seen
a player get better at one skill during the Rockets rebuild than Jabbari did from
year one to year two. As a ball handler like that, he was
just really awkward, like and that goes back to his Auburn time. So
it wasn't like a, oh, the confidence the light turned on for him,
No, no, no, it was like he did something in the
summer. He really worked on that, right, Like he knew that was
a weakness for him. He knew that was something that everyone talked about,
Like this guy's kind of an awkward mover with the ball in his hands,
and like, I'm not really sure how he's ever going to get to like
go to scoring status if he can't ever get this. And he worked on
it. He really worked on his hips are more flexible. He did yoga
during the summer. I think I really think, you know, people laugh
when I talk about that a lot, but I really think that like that,
that that seemed to work. Like he just moves better, right,
Like he was a stiff big at Auburn, Right, He's not quite a
stiff anymore. He's much more flexible of an athlete. You're seeing him get
the ball off the rim and going full court with it a lot. Now,
It's like that's like really impressive, like not not just for like compared
to what we saw last year, but for any six to ten player in
the NBA period to be able to do right. So I'm just yeah,
I'm with you, man. He's been the most steady part of Houston season.
Like by far, he's just been a rock. And obviously defensively we
knew what he was capable of. Now, no one ever doubted that,
No one ever doubted potential on that and on the floor it was always like
what is this mystery Boks on offense? And we're starting to see some of
that. What do you make of kind of the Al prinching Gun Jabbari Smith
Junior dynamic offensively long term where it's like two guys that don't really neither really
lives at the rim. I know Al Perrinching Gun is gonna score close to
the basket and the offensive ratings been mediocre with them on the court this year.
Does that speak to kind of Houston's sort of mediocrity on the offensive end?
Overall, where they could definitely stand to have more like Banka bull shooters,
I would say, on the court during certain stretches, or is there
like some functional awkwardness there because of where al prin chan Gun likes to operate
where even Jabbari Smith Junior, like now that he can pop or he's gonna
be able to be stationed beyond the arc, it helps some, but like
he still does like to be in the middle of the floor at points.
Yeah, he loves that mid range jumper, right, that fade mid range
upper. That's like he's been that's been his go to shot since he was
a baby. Basically it's pretty when it doesn't even go in. Just like
the counters and the moves he has, they're not always the most efficient options,
but like they're fun to watch. I'm not gonna lie. And that's
the move that made me like think about LaMarcus algy Is when I was thinking
about his high end outcomes right, like like the fact that he has that
kind of turnaround jumper in his game, Like that's that's what always okay,
Like if this, if this guy's gonna work as a star, Like that's
the guy I would look at, right but yeah, uh you said,
like in relation to Opera and shng Goon, you know, what do you
make of that dynamic long term? Offensively? Yeah? Right? You know,
if I were to construct, and I've said this before, I've ever
construct a basketball player to put next to Shangoon long term, I could not
think of a better player. Ironically then both Tari Easton and Jabari Smith.
I think Tari Easton is the ideal compliment to every single player in the NBA
personally. But carry right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean though,
but those two guys is the Rockets drafted two guys that can fill that
role, and Jabbari from a shooting perspective, is absolutely the kind of guy
you'd like to have next to shan Gun because you have to play a floor
space from next to him, and someone of that caliber really opens things up
for shan Gun to operate because you can't leave him. You can't even sag
off of him, right, Maybe you can slag off atariast and you can't
do that with Jabari. And so it's interesting to see. It was interesting
to see them last year kind of be so awkward and be so combative with
each other, Like you saw a lot of them like bickering and fighting on
the corn like you guys. Like if we were to construct the perfect basketball
player to put next to you guys on draft night, it would have been
the other person. So I don't understand why, why, why this isn't
working. So this year, you know, I haven't looked at the two
man offensive stuff. It's looked fine to me. I'm not gonna lie like
like watching them like, it hasn't looked clunky. It looks like they're functioning
how they're supposed to. That that doesn't mean you can't do Jabari Smith that
center, right, That doesn't mean you can't do that when when Shangun hits
the bench again, I think that is the best way to utilize Jabari is
like sometimes as a backup center, and so I think that dynamic can work
perfectly fine. Now, again, which direction you choose to Like, Jabari
is a very flexible big he can play for you can't play five. Which
direction you choose to go with it is really dependent on which direction you choose
to go with the men or shan Gun. I'm starting to really it's really
starting to crystallize to me that a lot of the decisions you make on this
roster. Start from that one decision, right, which way do you want
to go with it? The shng gun or a men? Because if you're
going with the men, I mean you got you. Jabari plays center,
right, Jabari Smith Junior is a center from now one, That's how you
think about him. If you if you're going with Shangun Jabari is a four
slash five. That's such a tough conversation to have just because we don't have
we definitely, I mean the sheer sample size even that they were giving the
ball ton but to not have the on ball anywhere near the on ball information.
For Amen Thompson, it's we know Jabari's Mithterunior can be the five,
which in theory then I would say gives you the agency to make that decision,
but you just don't have enough information about the second player in that scenario,
which is Aman Thompson. If you're gonna make it in either or scenario,
and Tar Easton also gives you the agency to do it as well,
right because Tar Easton can slide down to the four right and play next to
Jabbari right, or he can slide up to the three. If you're going
with Shan gun right, like, like you can be flexible in that way.
Yeah, they have a ton of like line up skeleton keys, but
even just I mean it makes it harder in a good way. Like Aman
Thompson just doing what we're able to do is not a featured ball handler in
lineups where sometimes there's two or three guys ahead of him in that pecking order,
is almost just tantalizing. But I do reckon not or at least from
my perspective, you can't necessarily have this be his role like because he's he
can I think he can be so valuable as that on ball type before Jack
Yeah, right, Like like like I said, like if if they're not
going to find it, some other team is going to find it, right,
and it's not it's not gonna be what I'm what I'm starting to realize
is that people really need to sympathize with what Sam prest he was facing in
twenty eleven with the James arn trade. No one was ever able to like
put themselves in that in his shoes, right because they he they had like
five prospects that showed real promise. It wasn't just those three with Westbrook,
Harden and and Kevin Durant. Right, you had Ibaka, you had other
young you had you had other young, promising guys on the roster. Right,
maybe not as good as those four, but like you had to make
it, You had to make tough calls at some point. I think a
correct revisionist, you know kind of criticism for that trade is maybe they they
chose the wrong guy to the wrong tough call to make, right. I
think when you look back and and I'm looking at what rafel Stone's gonna have
to do the next couple of years here, it's very possible that they trade
one of the two most impactable players on their other team. Right, And
we'll look at it in hindsight, be like, what the hell are they
thinking? But when you look at the fit stuff, I mean, you
can only pick one of those two guys, right. The same thing with
Westbrook and Harden. You can only pick one of those two guys. They
picked the wrong guy, right. But I'm looking at I'm looking at the
Rockets in modern time, and I'm like, you don't unless they drastically change
the way they play over over the summer. As we said a couple of
times with the jumper, you only pick one of those two guys, and
I don't sympathize with it, man, like I mean, I mean,
like I I I don't want to I wouldn't want to be in those shoes.
I wouldn't want to do it because I would it would scare me to
death if I made the wrong call. It's it's a good problem to have
in so far as it's even a problem, but it's such a tough decision
to make if you get to that point. I still think rather and we'll
get to more of that stuff, but I wanted to ask you about the
Cam Whitmore experience really quickly. What do we make of that and how he
fits into We've talked a lot about the larger context of this team, and
I know he's played in less than half the season basically so far, and
but he's just like when you watch him, he just has some of this
these moments and I forget, you know, until he like dunked, when
some of his dunks, when he grabs the rebound, I'm like, oh,
yeah, that dude is six seven, Like I kind of forget that
sometimes. So he's another interesting wrinkle to this whole team building approach. I
find him to be the most hilarious person on the roster, and that he
wasn't even supposed to be here, Like he was not he was not supposed
to be here. Man, he was supposed to be in like Detroit Top
five is some of the mock drafts. Yeah, yeah, like he was
supposed to be in like Detroit, Washington. Like why is he here?
Like I'm glad, Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy, but I'm
like, why the hell? You know? Like this is like it's such
a luxury to have him here, and he makes he makes a lot of
the decisions we were talking about earlier easier as well, right, because he
is also so portable. Yeah, jump shots, real that jump shots.
It's not going away every We keep seeing sample after sample after sample of him
just being a good shooter, flat out good shooter. So and defensively,
he may not be it yet, but he possesses some of the physical tools
to show that he can be, you know, a pretty decent defender.
I don't think you'll ever be as good as a Man, don't get me
wrong, or Tari or Jabbari or some of the other guys on his roster,
but he can be pretty damn competent and not like that detonative size I
would call it to be to be a really impactful defender. He got a
lot of Jalen Brown comps during the draft, right, Like you heard that
name a lot during the draft because of just his body. Right, Uh,
he's got that just you know, he he's got a manned body and
he plays basketball like that, right, Cam, He's such a lot I
love Cam wentmore like And there were times during the season where I'm like,
should the Rockets have taken this, taken him at four and a ment at
twenty? I mean, that wouldn't even happen, right, that wouldn't even
happen, But like, should should they have just taken him at four?
In hindsight? But like, obviously a man plays more and you look,
you look foolish for having the thought. But that's how good he's been.
And it's it's I mean listening. The analytic community was in on this guy
during the drafty they thought he was projecting very well, right, but you
just never you would never think he would play this well as a nineteen year
old coming and it's just there's no way you would come like you just assume
those medicals must have been horrifying for so many teams to just pass on him.
I listen, you don't want to get me starred on this topic.
I I really I think about it, and I'm like, I'm gonna have
an aneurysm if I keep thinking about this whole medical thing, Like the amount
of people that just let that fly, the amount of people that do this
job, right, that that talk about basketball. They just let these gms
get away with saying pushing that bullshit, right, like not not that there
was medical problems, but that there was any possible medical problem that would justify
him fall into twenty, that that was ever in a possibility. The fact
that anybody let them that we all just let them do that, right I.
I just it really infuriated me. I don't want to get into it.
I don't, but needless to say, you want to talk about the
merits of going with Jallenhodhafino instead, I know I will. The one thing
I'll say really quickly is like, I guess if they're and I don't know
what the medical said or what the actual red flags were, there's probably a
point in the draft so high that it's too risky, But how far he
felt there's a point where it's like, okay, like we're outside the top
seven now, like these teams need to just roll the dice now. I
don't even care if it's I think a lot of teams kind of just like
we need someone now and we don't know if he'll be available, and he's
considered more of a project, like you bet on the upside and figure out
that there's a certain point in the draft and it's well before the twenties that
that he should have went. So like, yes, if it was gonna
impact his draft stock, I get it, but you get to a point
where it's just it like it should never have gotten that low. I'd be
in a greened. It's just silly. It's just silly, Like right,
like, so I had a board of guys that I wanted the rockets to
take in that range, right, he was not obviously goes to say he
was not not on that board, right, But like what I what I
do? What a name I did have on that board was brandonid Mik excuse
me, I always get his name wrong. Pajemski. Brandon Brandon Pajemski.
So I had I had his name written down because I really liked him,
and I was like, by the time the Warriors came around, I'm like,
they're gonna take Cam wentmore from us, are they aren't they They're they're
gonna do it. They're gonna take him. I had forgotten about Brandon.
I'm like, like, in theory, I should be happy that Brandon's there
for the taking for Houston. He was on my list, But the fact
that that that the Cam was still on the table, like he's the prize.
Now he's the prize, and I just listen, like there are there's
a brand of general manager in the NBA that just puts way too much into
the esoteric stuff with these players. Like you're telling me you had a thirty
minute meeting with the guy and you felt like he didn't have the heart right
like or like like whatever, it was right that this this, this this
pre draft stuff has way too much weight behind it. Then the actual basketball
games as you guys are paid to watch, Like you're not paid to interview
these players. Who cares what they say? Like like, as long as
they're not murderers, you should be thinking about them from a basketball perspective,
right, Like, I just I can't believe that there are people that are
like, oh, he didn't seem like he was like talkative enough, like
he was kind of he's kind of an introvert to quiet, Like what was
really Anthony Edwards knock? Is he interested in basketball enough? Or even Jalen
Brown, remember the whole he's too smart? Yeah, to be your best
he has, he's too many other interests. That bullshit. Yeah, Like
like this idea that you would let the the fact that he's an introvert impact
your draft decision, especially in the year, I don't think that's ever.
We're in the year twenty twenty three. At that point, you're gonna stuff
like introvert's gonna scare you away fuck off at that point. Yeah, yeah,
I mean that that draft. I mean like I again, don't get
me wrong, I love it. I loved it there it worked out quite
well for the Rockets. Yeah, yeah, I love it. Don't get
me wrong, I love it. It tells you that there's still an advantage
to be played for not being a dumb ass right in the NBA. Right,
there's there's still still to that edge. Then it still exists, right,
you know, like I thought it was gone like five years ago,
five ten years ago, I was like, no, it's still there.
It's still there. So yeah, I'm glad that subject brought you alive,
brought out the edgy version of Solomon. I'm glad that that that that led
to this U I have it's a question slash theory because like we need to
talk about just the Rockets defense at large, which is now fourth in points
a lot of per possession, which I don't think. I know they signed
Allen Brooks and Fred Van Vliet, like I don't think any and I know
they adny Meyodoka and I know what the stuff said about Amata on anyone would
have predicted they would have been a top five defense for the entire season.
You dig into it, and I'm trying to figure out what's most responsible for
it, and I think the national consensus, well, they've gotten some lucky
opponent three point shooting, and yes, that's part of it. There's nowhere
near all of it. When you look at the stuff they do well,
the ball pressure keeping teams out of transition has been incredible for them. And
my theory when I look at it, and it's kind of similar to the
Pelicans because like they don't have this elite rim protector on the team or at
least not starting at center for them, when you just have size and length
and mobility and the capacity to disrupt without just getting absolutely burned. And the
thing that I think stands out the most to me is that you have guys
who can like recover at every level to where when you look at the stuff
that they can do lower towards the basket, where if it's an Amen Thompson
or if it's a Cam Whitmore, if it was when Tarry Easton was healthy
and you have Dylan Brooks, like, you just have these players that can
be in so many different spots on the same possession in addition to the ball
pressure that it co laces into just this demonstrative, terrifying force. And that's
just maybe a little bit in it like incoherent of an explanation for their defense.
But that's just where I've sort of landed with their defensive success. Yes,
I mean so like I agree like that, that's that's pretty much it.
They have good defenders, man like, all up and down the rosters.
They just have good, good and capable of defenders. Van Vliet,
Brooks, Easton, Jabbari, Cam A man like, like, like these
guys are competent, they're all good Jayshaun Tait is awesome and he barely plays
them times or like they just have like I had them. I thought there
was a real chance that they would compete for a top fifteen defensive spot last
year. And I thought it was criminal that they weren't a top twenty defense
last year because I thought the personnel was there. Man, the person that's
there, don't tell me that they're young. Don't tell me that they're young.
When they're that good defensively, they'll figure it out if you coach them
right. And that that that's that's part of why why it was so obvious
how criminally under coach Houston was last year, is like they had the personnel
to be great in this respect and they didn't right or they never showed any
promise there. And this year it's like, yeah, when you're coached well,
your strengths will come out as a roster. And their strengths as a
roster is versatility, it's length, it's strength in a lot of ways,
and that came out this year with e May And obviously they have a chip
on their shoulder. Obviously they are they are getting so three point luck?
You're like, you're right, but the fundamentals are real, right. You
look, you dig under, don't get to the top four by accident.
That's not that's not a thing, right. You look underneath the hood and
a lot of the stuff we think about with good defense is there. So
this looking like taking a step back and looking at the big picture because of
this season, how much does their success change the calculus of what they're going
to do leading into the offseason, Because I think and I believe that fans
are fine to think this way, but we've kind of touched upon it where
it's like, well, you have km Whitmore and Jalen Green and Jabari Smith
and Alprin, Shang Gun and Aman Thompson, all these dudes are not like
those five guys are not atar esan those six. All the odds of all
six of those guys being on the next great version of the rockets is exceedingly
low. I just my question would be like, how like are we having
that discussion this summer or is it are they kind of gonna let it marinate
situation looking at their twenty twenty five cap sheets specifically and knowing how young.
Some of these these guys aren't some of the injuries they've dealt with, or
is they're going to be more of an urgency because holy shit, look at
how good they were this year. I think there is a reluctance to give
both Jalen Green and Outprin Jing Goon big deals this summer, and that's fine,
don't do it. Wait right like that, that's my thing. Give
this thing until the trade deadline next season before before you talk about the big
swings. At least if you're talking about a swing for like a regular All
star, right, if you're talking about a superstar. All things should always
be on the table. Everyone should always be on the table, right,
you're talking about one of the ten best players in the NBA Best fifteam.
But whatever, like those, those kinds of players have the merit to demand
everything beyond the being on the table. If you're not, if it's anything
less than that, wait wait wait yeah, like I I don't. I
don't see any reason to rush this. Most of the time, teams that
do rush this end up regretting it. Right, this is the hardest thing
to do. That transition from rebuild to a competitive are really hard for a
lot, especially these owners that get itchy trigger fingers, whether that's from a
trade front or from a front office point front. I'm looking at you,
Philly right like when when when when they get itchy trigger fingers, they make
dumb decisions, And you don't want to do that right now because from my
perspective, the team has been pretty well managed. So just stand pat wait
for wait for things to develop, not only from your team but from the
market. Because right now I'm looking at the market and I see maybe one
or two guys that might shake loose that might be worth it. Right I'm
looking at maybe Donovan Mitchell might shake loose, right because some of his noncommittal
comments in the media these past couple of days. Uh, maybe Trey Young
because of just how we're the Atlanta situation is I hope the kind of way
of putting it, Yeah, I mean I I hope they keep Tray Young.
I really do, because I have a lot of family down there,
I have friends down there. I want them to be a good basketball team.
I love Trey Young. I think Trey Young is an is a is
a pretty funrmogise Forbear. I don't know, behind the scenes, there are
definitely stuff when you look at the coaching in locker room dynamics. But he's
almost I don't even say almost. He's become underrated in terms of what he
can do on the court. He's ridiculous, Like I don't like if he
shakes Lousen, the Rockets can grab him, it's a steal. Well,
that's if I can interject. Then so what is the And I think it's
the way you describe by the way Raphael Stone should be opportunistic, which is
just the best thing to do after the season that they've had. And you
mentioned kind of the the level of player that they would need. Is that
what you're looking at though, that archetype of player where it's a floor general
league guard type, the Donovan Mitchell or Tray Young. And it's like,
and I guess the other part of that is we know the McHale bridges interest
in rumors that the player you describe, he's not good enough then to fit
them, Moll for Houston to act is what you'd be saying. I think
I would agree at this point if you were giving up just picks and salary
filler, where it's not giving up Jalen Green. But then I'm kind of
looking at it and like, so you're just gonna congest your rotation downline even
further. But I would agree that he's not a player. That's good enough.
So my my real question then, is you mentioned Donald, you mentioned
Tree Young. Is that kind of the the archetype or the player type that
you're monitoring the market for then, so I should be clear. We talked
about that decision with the men in Shinghun right mentally have kind of already thought
about which way they should go. Not to say that's an easy choice,
that's informative a lot. I can guess which way you're thinking may should go
based off what you've been telling me for two years, which, by the
way, I'm gonna give you your flowers every time you come on this podcast
for that. I was on yours, you were on mine. I never
said Alpern Shangun sucked, but I was just like, I don't know if
he's building block material. Multiple times time in episode after episode we did together.
This dude's a star, and so you need to take a bow metaphorical
bow if you don't actually want a bow. So shout out to you for
you were among the earliest people on Alpern Schanngun maybe the single earliest person when
talking about like what his peak. It wasn't just oh Alpern Shangun is good
and needs you were very adamant for a very long time that he was the
best player on the rockets and the center around which everything should should revolve.
Thank you. I mean like like, here's the thing. It doesn't matter
right because now it's obvious right now, now now we can just talk about,
Okay, this young kid a man. Like the reason I really want
to stress that it's a hard decision because what a man is showing as a
twenty year old is pretty damn Like it's it's something to think about. It
gives you some some pause and like having a firm direction. I bet if
he was healthy wire to wire, he wouldn't have finished above Wemby and Rookie
of the Year voting. But this version of a men Thompson playing as many
minutes as Chet Holgrin, I wonder if that would have become a debate.
That's just I'm not I'm not getting into it, but that I'm it's more
of a I'm not trying to chop down Chet. That's how good Amen has
been in his minutes this year. Dan, I talked about at the beginning
of the season if I thought he could sneak his way in there. I
really did, because I don't know if anyone it's like Wemby, like Wemby
being Wemby. But if this was a men from day one, or if
he just had the minutes like that these other two did, I'm just I'm
very curious to see he would have finished third lo lower than third, But
I'm just very curious to see what the Rookie of the Year debate would have
looked like in that top three. I think here's here's the thing. I
may have thought that he might have snuck his way in there. I thought
it would look a little bit different, a lot different than this. It'd
be with the yeah yeah, yeah yeah, right, that's a good way
too. Yeah yeah. Like the way he's doing it is still unexpected,
dude, but nonetheless, like so, so when you talk about when you
talk about the direction the guys that I named right, like, I kind
of have a you know, an idea in mind, right, That's why
I'm looking at guards. But if you if you think Amend's the guy with
a higher up side. Then you look at Carl Towns, right, because
Carl Towns, there's just I'm sorry, there's so many just interesting parallels to
the Pelicans, because like that's another name where it's like Carl. He tells
me so much sense there because of what they need. But please carry on.
I'm sorry. I meant no, it's no, it's it's a perfectly
reasonable parallel. I mean, here's the thing. Carl Towns also solves a
lot of those same problems for you. Like he also fits in kind of
cleanly, like I think Mitchell. If you swap him out for like jail
for like a men and I'm assuming they're probably gonna ask for Jalen, right,
he makes a lot of sense, right, just fitting in to what
you have going right without taking anything away. If you do the same thing
on the other end, you swap out Shanghu. Now I would not agree
with the move, right, let me be clear, I would not want
to do this. But if you were to make the hard basketball calculus that
hey, a man has this superstar upside and Shengoon is partly getting in the
way of it, and we need to kind of make a basketball call here
for the upside of the roster. We need to decide on which guy we
need, we want to amplify. Carl Towns will help you amplify Amn Thompson.
He'll help you amplify and whitmore, He'll help you amplify it the entire
roster in such a complimentary way that doesn't take anything away in the same way
that Mitchell would be from the Guard perspective. Right now, finding a fair
offer there is tough, right because even mentioning Shngoon in a possible tree aid
for Carl Towns feels kind of dirty, right, it feels kind of dirty.
But go bear in Minnesota. Yeah, yeah, I mean, but
that that's kind of where what you have to think about, right and maybe
you re route schangu into a third team, right like like like that that's
and get assets back. Because here's the thing, Minnesota's gonna have to make
a tough call. Everyone said it. I'm not new and say everyone's in
national media said it like that that the financials are there are some nothing about
and they have this weird ownership situation where it really doesn't they're another team that
should at the absolute earliest like that should not be a decision. That's made
into the twenty twenty five deadline. But because of the ownership situation that you
mentioned right now, it's kind of like, well, fuck, anything might
go this offseason. I can't remember anything like this ever. Like he's like
a special breed of like I don't know, I don't even know. I'm
not gonna root like a rod and Mark war like the way they've been jabbing
at each other in the media. That whole situations just fucked like it can't
Yeah, I mean like it really does feel like doesn't it? Like that
the Timberwolves were better than Glenn Taylor expected they would. He's like, no,
this is fine, I want to stay on it. I do tend
to side with insofar as Oliver side with the owners. I do tend to
side with Al Rodriguez and Mark lore there just because it's they were the ones
that we know drove the tim Connolly higher and kind of forced to go bear
trade through. And so I'm with you that Glenn Taylor kind of looked at
it like, oh, I have this appreciating asset where the team's also good,
so it will continue to appreciate. Yeah, I'm done. I'm just
I'm done, right, And and he had all these deadlines and stuff in
the contract. I was like, like, I I'd like to why aren't
these deadlines leaking? Right? Like why don't why why don't we know the
NBA come out like, I guess we understand that the NBA probably want to
get involved. But it's so they were mentioning has yet you have Glenn Taylor
saying they missed these NBA and post deadlines. You have a Rod and Mark
saying no, we didn't, and then the just says nothing like yeah,
and and at some point they're gonna have to step in, right Like,
at some point they're gonna have to make a ruling on this because this is
one of their thirty teams. They're gonna have to decide who gets to who
gets to own the own it, right Like, so I don't know,
uh, but but yeah, uh, the carl Town situation is coming to
ahead, right, So they're gonna have to make a tough call, and
the Rockets in their way have to make a tough call. And so you
kind of have to think about it, right Because again he does if you
go into a Men Thompson direction, he does solve some things. He does
clarify some things of the roster for you. So I don't know, it's
it's just food for thought. Again, Instinctually, I think guard, right,
I think who are the best top end guards that are gonna be come
available? I think Trey Young and Donovan Mitchell right now, the two obvious
ones. I can't think of any off the top of my head that obviously.
So I was gonna ask you because so I believe, and I'm not
saying a men would need to be in all or even any of these deals.
If you're including enough picks, there's other players involved. But I do
believe I'm thinking about when I'm thinking about the Rockets years down the line,
Shane Goon is the player that pops into my mind first. And so I
have six names here that it can be. I would either have you I
won't have you rank them because I'm doing it on the spot. Are they
players that you then would be like, are good enough to say or good
enough fits to say? Okay, let's go in now? So I have
Donovan Mitchell and you're kind of a yes there. It seems like I did
not have Trey Young, but it sounds like you're a yes on Trey Young.
Y. Yeah, it's a harder fit conceptually, but yeah, he
steasi good enough to work, like Cherry, try to make it work.
So I have four more names for you. Yeah, that players that I
could see shaking lose, one of which maybe two of which are ultra spicy,
but Darius Garland probably no, Okay, LaMelo ball. Yeah, I
would think about it. I would think about it. Yeah, I agree
with you. I didn't think you were going to say that though, so
I'm very happy you said it. I tend to be the minority when it
comes to being optimistic. A Bautle mellow ball, Yeah, Jimmy Butler,
no, and uh, like, go ahead, I was gonna my final
name is Devin Booker. That one's interesting now. That one makes me think
because it's like, theoretically, you I mean, let me just ask you.
They're gonna ask for Jalen right as one of the as one of the
and you're the most optimistic projections of Jalen have him becoming a Devin Booker type,
right, like the most optimistic. I'm not saying you, and I
like percentile outcome is defin Yeah, yeah, I'm not saying you, and
I agree with that. I tend to not agree with that because I don't
think he's a strong enough shooter or ball handler to warrant that projection. But
then again, Den Booker got better as a ball handler but shooting still early
on his career, denwork was much better than what Jalen Green is right now.
But it's interesting because like, would you would you just keep your you
know, just see what you have. But at the same time, it
is safer to just go with one hundred percent outcome. I don't know I
would. I don't know. Like that's because it's it's similar to the Donovan
Mitchell one, and yes I would be I probably wouldn't do it, but
so I agree with you on La Mellow. I wouldn't do it for Jimmy
just because the age, although he would be super interesting in general for another
year or two. Uh. I probably wouldn't do it for Darius Garland.
I wouldn't do it for Donovan Mitchell, to be honest with you, I
just don't know. He's had a hell of a season. I don't know
if I like, if you're gonna give up Aman Thompson and or Jalen Green
in that scenario, I just don't know. Like the playmaking, like,
could you be a playmaking deficit long term? Besides shan Gun, I would
absolutely do it. For Devin Booker, I like, I don't know what
the package looks like, but if you're talking if you're worried about missing the
boat on Jalen Green, like Devin Booker, I think is one of the
most underrated and valuable passers in the NBA today. And I know that Phoenix's
fourth quarter offense and some of their turnover issues muddy a lot of that,
but we've seen it when you look at his passes that lead to either assists,
secondary assists, or free throw attempts. For the past half decade,
he's always rated in just the top five of the share that his passes do
that. And it's not it's not I've used, it's not by accident.
So let me construct the counter argument for you, Dan, Then he hasn't
always been that way, right, Like, there was a pass there that
he took and Jalen Right, Theoretically, I'm not saying I agree with this
if you're a Jalen optimistic which well might be somebody in that front office,
which I mean they took him second overall. Theoretically, they see some of
that path in the playmaking department for Jalen. So what I would say to
that is, let's just say you're able to construct a deal where you're not
sending out Aman Thompson in that scenario because it's Jail Green some of the more
other propects. And I'm not gonna say one for one because there'd be way
other stuff in there, because Devin Booker is really good. But right,
Devin Booker is so much better away from the ball than Jalen Green is as
someone who provides rim pressure away from the ball as a cutter. That it's
I just and I we also saw, but I guess by year three there
was that hint of, oh, this guy can't command an offense as a
passer, and the fact that we haven't seen that from Jalen unless you think
that is purely a matter of look at how much the ground beneath him is
shifted, the rockets makeup and all that the past few years, or just
that he hasn't had that opportunity. To me, that's Devin Booker is the
one on this list. I'm probably just most intrigued by LaMelo because I'm intrigued
by LaMelo and then Trey Young and Dono Mitchell doing treat me Devin Booker is
kind of like the no brainer where it's like no if that if he's just
looking at Phoenix, like what the fuck happens here with the way this roster
turnover and everything in the outlook and we get bounced in the plane or the
first round. I would he's the guy, like I wouldn't even think twice
about it. Yeah, I listen, like I'm with you, and that
he's you mentioned the off ball threat. That's the shooting, right, like
like the Mitchell shooting in the cutting Yeah, yeah, like like like that
that's one where Jalen has not shown enough promise, you know, for me
to warrant a Booker projection. Right, I'm still personally in that Zach Lavine
Bradley Buel projection, right Like that that's very good, by the way,
then that's I hate these I'm sorry, I hate these discussions because I feel
like I end up then shooting all over Jalen Green where it's like if you're
still optimistic about him, his outcome is like perennial All Star, right,
I mean I mean like like I'm not saying I think he's gonna be Bradley
Beale. But I think I think Zach Lavine very much is still my projection
for him, right. I haven't moved off that now. I think with
the arts the passing, I have seen more on that than the shooting for
me to be optimistic about Jayleen greensvelment, Right, I think there are there's
more flashes I see from him as a pastor where I'm like, Okay,
this is kind of interesting, so listen. I I probably listen like I
the It's not the one for one that makes it hard, right, it's
the one for one plus the men, plus the pick that you're giving up
that you're the Brooking pick, right, that's coming up this year, plus
whatever else that is required from Phoenix is n It's not it's not the one
for one that's that's the no brainer, right, It's it's everything else.
And I in that respect, I kind of think that's why I like the
Mitchell one so much, because, like I think, Mitchell at his peak
is like a twenty eight points per game on crazy efficiency score, right,
And that's the kind of guy that just perfectly slought into this roster without even
thinking about it, right, just not even no no thinking right involved with
the Booker one. It's like, yeah, I mean he would fit in
perfectly, but like he would, you would also have to give up more
than you're comfortable with. I get that. Is there anything or anyone else
about the Rockets their future, this current version of them that I didn't ask
you about that you think we need to discuss? Yeah, I mean Tar
Easton has just been out. Yeah, like anyone who listens here knows we
love ourselves from Tari Easton. Yeah, I mean like he's just been out,
and I feel like something weird with him too, the way they were
reporting it, where it seems like at one point that he was misleading them
and how much pain he was in or whatever. Ammiodoka ended up saying,
So I just want that dude to stay healthy because he's beyond fun to watch.
Yeah, yeah, I mean he is. I mean, defensively,
he's the real deal, right and uh, he's shown more ball handling promise
than I thought he was capable of coming out of college. It's just just
a quick note on him, like shout out to him. Hopefully it gets
better. I want to see him next year. It would have been really
fun to watch in this fast paced Rockets offense, no nasty small ball defensive
combinations when he's very well, when he's healthy, if they wanted to,
and so why the fact that we haven't gotten to see that is a basketball
tragedy. And I cannot wait for regardless of what happens, regardless of like
how likely I think the Rockets, like I think they're like twenty percent odds
to make the planing tournament, right, I cannot wait for them to play
the Warriors tomorrow, right because the amount of like like bickering that's going on
between the two teams, and like some of it's just weird. Like Draymond,
you're like a ten time NBA Like how many All Star Games have you
made? Right? You made? Like not? Yeah? I mean he
won four championships, Yeah you might You've made like five All Star Games?
Right, Like like like what's going on? Like like like you're bickering with
like twenty three year old Tari Easton because he's on Instagram stories like talking about
how the Rockets gonna catch the words of playing tournament. Like that's that's upsetting
you? Really? Like like what about your dynasty falling apart? Man?
What about you staying on the court, like, like, how about that?
How about you stopped pushing people? Like, how about how about we
do that? How about how about we work on that before you were the
Rockets? What's the over under on? Just like the time in the game
where something happens just between him and Dylan Brooks. Is not finishing the game,
Draymond Green is not finishing the game. Deal Brooks might not finish it
either, Draymond is not finishing the game. Uh, Salmon, can you
just tell our listeners where they can find you and all the great work that
you continue to put out. Yeah, Red Nation nooops dot com, ra
Nation hoops on YouTube, at song on the NBA on Twitter. Uh.
I can't endorse this guy enough. Thank you so much for giving me so
much of your time. We went, as usual, about fifteen minutes longer
than we said that we were going to. But hey, the Rockets do
at least warranted both in the immediate and the long term. So as you
know by now, I will be pestering you again in the future. Thanks
so much for your time. Man. For sure, gostball is fun.
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