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What ease krack alac In Fellows Thermonuclear
a Effers. I am Dan Valley,

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coming at you with frequent guest of
the podcast. Friend of the podcast,

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Salomon Ali. He runs Red Nation
Hoops. Follow Red Nation Hoops on Twitter

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at Red Nation Hoops. Follow Solomon
on Twitter at Salomon Ali NBA. That's

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at saal m A n l a
I NBA, and then subscribe to Red

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Nation Hoops. The link to where
you can do that their YouTube channel and

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how you can subscribe to all his
writing that will be in the podcast and

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YouTube description as well. Excited to
talk to him about the Houston Rockets if

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you haven't caught that already. A
team that they've been fascinating all year,

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but they came on lately before the
OUPA and Shangun injury, which is something

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we need to get into this whole
idea that not that they're better off without

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autprinching goob, but is there something
weird here that this happened after he left?

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It was like, no, they
won four or five before he went

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down. But first and foremost,
Salomon, how the heck are you?

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I appreciate you powering through. I
know that we were dealing with some I

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don't know if it was my fault
with stream Yard or just the mic now

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through the mic issues. No,
that's that's the one hundred percent on me.

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But I'm glad it's working. I'm
glad it's working where he's in the

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handheld mic today, but it's it's
a microphone and it records my audio.

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I feel like I should take mine
out it's cradle, just so that we're

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both holding it. But I actually
it's too much. It's too hard to

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get in and ounce. I'm not
gonna do that. Don't do it on

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my account. Where you got it
is fine. How are things going?

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Things are going well. Things are
going well. The Rockets are up until

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recently had been winning games. They
are a fun team to watch. I

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mean, I'll be honest, Even
during their losing spell in February, they've

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been a fun team, like like
it's it's not it's not that watching them

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lose is fun. Is like during
the rebuild, there were times where I

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just didn't feel like I was learning
anything right right because nothing mattered. Like

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that first year they had nobody.
Jalen Green wasn't even on the team right.

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Jay Sean Tate was the only like
it's the only remaining player from that

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first year the rebuild. Right,
wow, So and you knew that when

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you're watching, Like, none of
these guys are gonna be here. I

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know that while I'm watching it,
So I'm like, there's no point I

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don't. I'm watching these games sometimes
like after the fact, on replace,

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I can fast forward through a lot
because I know none of this matters.

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Right, It's like April basketball for
a lottery team, but all season,

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right, right. But then they
draft Jalen Green and like, okay,

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that's important, right, So like
now the games are a little bit more

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interesting. They draft Jabari Smith obviously, they drafted Shank Doing that first year,

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Tarry Easton, you know, all
these little prospects that come in and

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they make the team more interesting.
And now they're kind of kreshendoing this year

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obviously with with emy Dover kind of
using them in a more coherent manner.

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Right. Uh. And it is
just as leading to very very fun basketball

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and the team has some character now
with Van Vliet and Dylan Brooks. Yeah,

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I mean we talked about that extensively
leading into the offseason, and it

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seems like it paid off and they
were just you know, I will say

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I found them more fascinating once I'm
and Thompson started to play is when I

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really just like lasered in on them. But just the whole what is Cam

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whitmore are gonna do? And then
the Shang Gun improvement. But I kind

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of wanted to start here as we're
recording this their playoffs, their play in

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chances, and well by extension their
playoff chances, they take it a little

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bit of a hit after losses to
the Mavericks and the Timberwolves. The Thursday

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night game against the Warriors looms large
since that's the team that they're chasing.

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This is a pretty hillacious part of
their schedule. But overall they have been

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basically two the month. Like over
this past month the top six offense go

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along with I think it was their
sixth in points at per posession and fourth

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in point score per possession over this
stretch. And there's obviously two kind of

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different versions of this stretch where you
had the first five games with Chang Gun

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and not without Changgoon while he deals
with that that ankle injury, and I

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have so many individual questions for you, but when you kind of look at

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this most recent stretch from them,
is there a overarching driving factor or two

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that just stands out to what is
really just making this stuff happen right now?

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Pace, They're they are a much
faster team, and I think if

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you are going to make any connection
from the outprinch Changun injury to how di

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do the rosters playing now, I
think Pace is a lot of it.

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I think a lot of it is
also just like some clarity, like Jock

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Lande was just like a guy who
played one night and didn't play another night.

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Like like this this team is like, you know, it's not like

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the best team in the league,
but it might be the deepest team in

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the league because it's just like there's
like nine ten guys that deserve to play

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every night, but they just can't, right because there are more important guys

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in front of them. And you
know, when guys go down, I

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mean, it's it's unfortunate, but
things kind of get easier in that respect.

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You can kind of play more guys, and like, I think that's

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been clarifying. Obviously. Imo Udoka
made a comment during the All Star break

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or post All Star break that he
wanted the team to shoot more threes.

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And kind of space to floor a
little bit more, and they were doing

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that when Shan Gun was went down
before he went down, But like that

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continuation of just getting that ball up
more times per game, I think that's

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it's helping the team out a lot
more. And I think it's pretty clear

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Jalen Green making jump shots is like, probably the biggest development for the past

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was what are we like March mark. The biggest development in March is Jalen

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Green making jumpers, like just jumpers
that he was missing at the beginning of

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the year. He's just now masking
him now. And I think that's probably

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the biggest difference in the Rocket to
play right now. Yeah, he is,

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Well, I guess I actually want
to go here first. So do

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you think that they've learned? I
mean, when you're looking at kind of

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the pace they've been playing before the
Shang Gun injury on the season, when

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you're looking at their average offensive possession
time, they were twelve, so they're

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not particularly slow. That's bumped up
since the Shangegun injury. The biggest difference

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has been though, like they are
just running and blitzing after grabbing defensive rebounds,

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which is not something relative to the
league average that they were doing a

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ton before, and is that something
that or is there something else that you

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think they've discovered about themselves without Shangun
that you think can carry over to when

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they do have him, and then
how do you go about implementing it?

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And I'm again, I'm not saying
that Shangun needs to play faster, because

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I think we're even seeing now And
this was one of my questions about Jalen

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is if team are gonna go after
guys with double teams, that's the value

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of having Shangun when you slow stuff
down, Like the way he's able to

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process and read the game in those
situations has improved exponentially. And so but

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I'm just wondering, based off what
you've seen, is there anything that they've

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kind of discovered about themselves that you
think can carry over or be implemented when

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he is healthy. Amn Thompson A
men. Thompson is h I mean,

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he's a real player. I mean
like he might be the best defensive player

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under twenty five years old in the
NBA right now, or at least one

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of them. He's one of the
handful of guys you can make better than

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Wemby defensively, that's what that'd be
a spicy thing. I mean, like

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he may not be better than Wemby
because just because Wemby's a big right,

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Like, if you're talking about perimeter
defenders, name someone that's twenty years old

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as good defensively on the perimeters of
men Thompson, there's maybe like two,

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right, there's maybe two right like
his brother. Yeah, I mean,

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but like he is ridiculous. I
mean, like he really is so advanced

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for his age on the defensive end
of the floor. He's gonna make all

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defensive teams. It's just a matter
of how many. That's how I feel

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watching him, Like I did,
I thought he was a good defensive prospect.

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He's really like expanded even my perspective
on what he can be in the

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NBA long term. Offensively. What
he's doing without a jumper off the ball

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is like it's really difficult to function
in the NBA without a jumper. It's

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extremely it's damn near impossible if you're
not a center, right, And and

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that's that's what a man like.
He is not a center, and he

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is not He has no jumper,
and yet he is effective off the ball,

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just playing in cutting lanes in the
dunker spot sometimes being smart about setting

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screens, Like he is a really, really capable basketball player, and I'm

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almost curious, like, what's gonna
happen when this guy really develops mo on

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ball strength? Right, he already
had some of that going into the NBA.

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That was kind of his appeal as
a prospect. I mean, when

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when he actually has those moments to
get the ball, I'm curious to see

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what he's gonna do. Jabari Smith
that you, I know you asked me

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what other things for the Rockets?
Carry over? Jabari Smith at center,

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I think is a nice look.
I think they should have done some of

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that more well Shangun was healthy.
Frankly, I didn't understand the the the

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minute that Jacque Landelle was playing actually, frankly, well, when they had

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Jabari just sit in there, who
could play center just never use it and

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that was never asked to play center. And you're seeing now how that could

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be a real tool. What I
am curious now, though, is how's

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that space is gonna look when you
get a healthy Shangun back and he's having

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to play with the men. Thompson
like those two have kind of finagled it

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to make it work because they're just
so smart. But when you get to

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like higher levels of basketball teams are
gonna it's it's very easy to game plan,

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uh, maybe not to take everything
away, but make things really difficult

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on the rockets. When you have
two non shooters out there flat out.

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In today's NBA, you can't play
uh. You have to play for out

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at the minimum, you have to
play for out. And having these two

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guys is a problem for that.
But that's a problem you have. You

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can worry about later. For the
time being, there are some stuff,

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there is some stuff here that you
that you can really sink your teeth into.

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And it's just fun. It's just
fun basketball watching them play fast,

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right, like like this is something
that you're right that Shang Gun does have

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to learn how to play faster with
the group when they come they come back.

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But also like when Shangun's on the
bench, this is something they this

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is this is something they should try
to do, emulate this style, right,

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lean into it when Shangun's not out
there, because it always feels like

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when Shangun's out there that like they
they're just leaning into this Fred van Vliet

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pick and roll thing and it's like, okay, like that that that's obviously

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gonna be there all day for you, But long term, it's not gonna

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be there for you. Right,
You're gonna have to develop an identity when

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Shangoon's on the floor. So I
think that's something you would look at when

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Shang Gun is healthy, like can
this team replicate that pace once in those

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moments where he's not playing? Is
that to kind of look at Amen Thompson

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specifically when you mentioned that, you
know, kind of establishing that identity when

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Shan Gun is catching breathers, is
that the pathway to not only seeing him

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do this? I mean, like
he's been great. You mentioned all this

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other stuff. The only thing that
he's been great on the offensive glass For

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someone his size, his offensive rebounding
rate is just absolutely absurd. The stuff

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they can do with handoffs with him. But he just dunks. He just

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dunks. That's all he does.
He just dunks. That's his offense.

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Like I'm just gonna get the ball
and I'm gonna dunk no matter where I

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am, no matter if I'm in
position possession to dunk, like I'm gonna

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dunk like that. That that's a
men Thompson as an offensive player right now?

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Do is do are they still invested
do you think in expanding that?

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But because like he was billed as
a point like a like a point guard

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wing coming in and we haven't seen
too much of him ball. He's running

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under three pick and rolls per thirty
six minutes on the season. That's not

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the end all be all, but
it's just you mentioned it, like they're

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not using him that type of role. Is that is? One? Is

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that something they're gonna try and groom
him forward down the line? And two

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is having him run like those non
Shangun units, especially in this vein like

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the end goal or the best way
to optimize that that aspect of his development.

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Well, if they're not going to
groom with some other team, is

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I mean, like that's just the
reality of Yeah, it's awkward. I'm

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sorry to interrupt, but it's I
think a lot of people have talked about

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and you actually mentioned this on a
podcast you recently recorded. There's been this

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discussion about, you know, Amen
Thompson or Alprin Shangun and there is some

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functional complications there, but it really
might be an Amen Thompson or Jaalen dream

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thing if you're looking at trying to
develop Amen Thompson more on the ball.

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No, well, I I do
actually think it's an Amen or shan Gun

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thing. Like okay, I think
I think the Jalen and shan Gun thing

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is kind of a dumb conversation.
They're comary. Same thing with the men

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in Jalen their complimentary theoretically, what's
not what's not complimentary is those three together,

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right, like, because you can't
have like two of those guys just

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can't shoot. They need the ball, right, So, like, what

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you have to figure out here if
you're Houston, is like who has the

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higher upside you as an organization,
you have to make that call. I

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don't want to say now, but
soon ish because shng Gun's coming up for

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an extension, yeah yeah, and
restarched for agencies next summer if you want

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to play that game. So you
have like one more year to look at

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this again. But in the next
calendar year, you're gonna have to make

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the call, like which one of
these two dudes has the highest upside because

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again you have to play four out
and unless one of these two dudes shows

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real promise at developing a jump shot, you know, long term, you

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kind of have to bet on one
of them and then let the other one

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go or trade the other guy.
And that's kind of what I'm interested to

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see, is like, you know, can any of these guys develop a

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jumper? And if not, like, how how far can a man take

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this? Right? Because he hasn't
had the on ball reps right, Like,

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we don't really know what he is
on the ball him already though when

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you kind of just see it when
he just comes around a screen or something,

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he's just so fast and can it
doesn't even it's not even like a

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like the handle is fine, Like
he just blasts through traffic would be the

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best way to describe where it's just
like I don't know when he gets going

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downhill when you have the spacing necessary. But of course, as you mentioned,

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that does get tougher with Alp on
the floor. Yeah, and his

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handle in a lot of ways,
it can be better than Jalen's because like

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Jalen loses the ball a lot.
A man doesn't do that right, he

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has like at more because he's he's
used to playing point guard. And so

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I wonder if, like if the
Rockets can find that that's the tough thing,

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like how do you find the opportunities
on this roster? Right? Like,

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like there's everyone's down and he's still
not finding opportunities, right. Could

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that be a function of what we're
trying to make the plans that we're not

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going to experiment as much at this
point? I guess that doesn't get any

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easier moving forward because expectations will only
rise after this season. But as could

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there be some of that or just
he missed so much the beginning of the

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season we didn't have time to kind
of induce this stuff to begin with.

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I just think it's a it's a
manage, it's a expectations are high.

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Like that's what it is. That's
what it's been all year. That's what

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it continues to be. Now.
They they were expected to make a jump

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this year, and they made that
jump, credit to him, But going

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forward, they're not going to be
expected to stop, right, So,

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Like I wonder, like how you
how you finagle this right? Because it

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may like you got Van, you
got Van Vliet, you got Jalen Green,

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you got Cam Whitmore and Cam was
just down for like I don't know

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this, this is this huge stretch
and so I'm wondering, like, is

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it gonna take I don't want this
to happen. Is it gonna take an

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injury to one of your two ball
handlers, right Jalen or Fred to see

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that? I hope it doesn't.
I hope the Rockets can find a way

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to discover that without that happening.
But like, I don't know, I

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mean, I'm looking at it.
I'm like, what reason would the Rockets

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have to give him the ball when
everyone's healthy? They don't, I mean,

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especially since he's finding a way to
make it work in the dunker spot

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and as a cutter the thing I
would wonder, and like I would agree

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it's a concern worth monitoring moving forward. But when you look at especially pre

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injury, he played fewer than fifteen
percent of his possessions without both Fred van

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Fleet or Alpera and Shangun on the
floor, So isn't there more room to

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just stagger him? Like you could
still start him, you could do whatever.

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And as you mentioned, he's finding
ways to make it work. And

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if you're looking to establish that identity
without alper and Shangun, him and Fred

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van Fleet optimize each other anyway?
Is there, like, especially who don't

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want to make this call anytime soon. I know the extension talks with Green

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and Shanggun complicate this, but isn't
there room for when they're at full strength,

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just more of what we can lean
into amen on the ball, or

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at least experiment with that while we
have our to two of our offensive stars

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off the court, even if it's
just like you know, Alprin Shangun and

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then one of Fred van Fleieter Jallen
Green off the court. I'll say this,

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Dan, And maybe this is naive
of me, maybe this is hokey.

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I've always believed as long as I've
watched basketball, the best players are

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gonna shine through. No matter what
bearriersually put in front of them. They're

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gonna they're gonna shine through. They're
gonna find a way to tell you why

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they're the best players. Right.
So if a man is one of those

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guys, he'll find a way to
tell you. Right Like Shane Gun,

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God knows how many bearriers he had
put in front of him these past three

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years, he found a way to
tell everyone no, like you can't deny

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this talent, right, So if
a man is that guy, he'll find

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a way. He's finding ways,
right, now in a lot of ways

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defensively, like that talent is undeniable, right as a finisher, that town

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is undeniable. Now he's gonna have
to find ways to get the ball in

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his hands. And maybe that's just
a function of him being more aggressive to

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ask for it. But like I
think the best players usually just find a

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way. And if he's, if
he's, if he's better than Shanghun,

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you'll find a way to tell us. Jalen Green, how much when you

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talked about you know he's hitting his
jumpers. He's over forty percent on step

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back threes over the past month plus. I do think he's done a better

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job of like kind of changing his
pace when he gets into the lane lately

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as well. He's shooting seventy percent
at over seventy percent at the rim during

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this stretch. How much, I
guess it's it's a fewfold. What's impressed

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you the most about this and how
much do you read into it when trying

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to scale it forward when looking at, well, what's the next frontier from

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Jalen Green? And can we get
at least this version of Jalen Green sooner

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in the season, because this has
happened pretty much every year of his career

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where it's like the clock turns to
the middle to late February, we get

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into March and he's just going off. Yeah, this happens. Even in

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the Juliague get happened the second half
of the year. He was better than

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the first half of the year,
which is just just a testament to how

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streaky of a shooter he is.
Like, and what I you know,

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streaky jumpers are. One thing what
I find kind of odd is how is

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finishing just improves from like the first
half of the year and second half year.

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So okay, yeah, if the
jumper is not falling whatever it's you

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know, so that could be randomness, but like the finishing should be consistent

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throughout the year. Why is it
taking this jump? And that That leads

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me to believe it's a mix of
the streaky jumper and confidence, right like

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that, it seems like the jumper
leads to him finishing better at the basket,

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leads to him drawing more free throws, leads to him getting more passing

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opportunities. Right, It's it's all
connected in the way that we all kind

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of believe offense is connected. So
I think with Jalen what was your question?

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Sorry? Like what I guess what
has impressed you the most? But

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like how much do you read into
this moving forward? Like, like what

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can we take away from this long
term to say is this the permanent or

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indefinite or the the every month version
of Jalen Green that we could get.

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I think what we should take away
from this is we shouldn't write off the

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version of Jalen Green that becomes an
All Star, but that he's going to

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have to really work on becoming a
consistent basketball player. Like, cause there

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are just way too many games where
like the jumper is not falling and he's

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not effective, right, So he
needs to find a way to be a

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more consistent player, whether that's working
on the jump shot in the off season,

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where that's you know, I don't
know, finding a way to be

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a highly impactful playmaker. He's going
to have to find ways to impact the

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basketball game when the jump shots not
hitting. So what I'll say this is

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he this season and I said this
before the streak happened, He's improved offensively,

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and he has improved as a distributor. Right the ball handling for some

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reason has lagged behind. There are
still way too many moments where you can

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just pick his pocket, right,
There's just way too many moments where you

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see that happen. A Pasky defender
gets into him and just takes takes the

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ball away from him. He has
to get better at that. Like he's

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a guard, he just has to
get better at that. Long term,

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I think Jalen Green's best path to
start him in this league is as a

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lead guard. Right. I don't
think this kind of player archetype works anymore

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as an off guard because he's just
not good enough defensively to be that impactful,

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right, or like an elite enough
shooter to be that impactful. He

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has to this kind of player archetype. I'm talking the zach Lavines of the

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world, the Bradley Beals of the
world, the Damien. Not the Damien

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I mean, to some extent,
like the off ball shooting guard archetypes that

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were just so prevalent in the early
twenty tens that worked. Right though,

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that's that's not gonna work anymore.
I don't think. I think you kind

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00:22:03,079 --> 00:22:07,359
of need to be more dynamic with
the ball in your hands to be a

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star. Now, this guy,
this player might still work on title teams.

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Okay, I just don't think it's
gonna be as a starter, right,

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Like, I just like you're that's
like the Jordan Clarkson's of the world,

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right right. It feels like though
that he can be so the best

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00:22:25,279 --> 00:22:30,119
version of himself is still so complimentary
without him needing to be your lead ball

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00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:34,119
handler like you could Thompson or he
could playoff Alprin Shane Gun And so if

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you're saying he'll never reach stardom by
kind of being in the the two guard,

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well, I don't want to call
him an off guard because he operates

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on the ball a ton, but
I would still think that his ceiling would

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00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,920
be pretty high if you don't bill
him as your sort of de facto floor

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general. Well, here's here's the
thing, Dan, Like you're you're gonna

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00:22:51,319 --> 00:22:56,720
have to form a defense around him
that everyone on the floor other than him

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00:22:56,759 --> 00:23:03,920
is pretty much a positive or everyone
on the floor other than him the Rockets

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00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,839
have pretty much done that. Well, yeah, I mean it's possible,

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00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:10,359
it's possible, but you're also gonna
need to get your distribution somewhere else,

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00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:15,400
right, You're also like the goal
for the Rockets and the goal for any

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00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,839
title team should not be how do
we make how do we get the best

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00:23:18,839 --> 00:23:21,559
out of Jalen Green? It should
be how do we get the best out

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of this roster? And if you're
trying to answer that first question, I

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00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:27,559
think you're just asking the wrong questions, right, Like if if, if

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00:23:27,599 --> 00:23:33,400
it really, if you really have
to go that far to make a team

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00:23:33,519 --> 00:23:37,039
led by Jalen Green, like operate, clicking on all cylinders like that,

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00:23:37,519 --> 00:23:41,960
maybe maybe maybe you gotta maybe you
gotta rethink some things. I don't know,

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00:23:41,039 --> 00:23:45,359
Like I just think if if,
if I'm thinking about Jalen Green's career

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00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:49,200
long term, I don't think this
archetype just works like at the highest of

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00:23:49,319 --> 00:23:52,960
levels as a star. I mean, you look at the other stars in

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00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,519
the NBA. They can only handle
the ball. The other stars, star

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00:23:56,559 --> 00:24:00,720
guards in the NBA, there's there's
not some like the Clays Thompson's. They

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00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,799
come around every once in a while
and usually they're elite defensively in elite to

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shooters. This is not one toughing
that Jalen is. You know, that's

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00:24:07,799 --> 00:24:11,799
not chiling, that's not chilling in
any respect. So if you're talking about

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00:24:11,839 --> 00:24:18,200
someone like this like Devin Booker became
an elite ball handler. Brad Lebel became

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00:24:18,319 --> 00:24:22,680
good enough to be a lead ball
hunter in Washington. Zach Lavine like that,

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00:24:22,799 --> 00:24:26,759
here's the thing, he's there's a
reason he's borderline. Right, there's

359
00:24:26,759 --> 00:24:33,720
a reason he's borderline. It's because
he's not that Albert and Jane Gun pre

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00:24:33,839 --> 00:24:37,640
injury might even still win most improved
Player. I think that field is wide

361
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,359
open. I know Tyres Max,
he's like this super heavy betting favorite.

362
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,839
What is we know the usage and
the overall opportunity just has increased. But

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00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:49,680
what stood out to you the most
about his improvement this season? You're not

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00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,079
gonna like my answer here, Dan, I don't think he's improved that much.

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00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:56,160
You think you think this is like
a case of he just has the

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00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,960
license and this is what happens when
he does. I think a lot of

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00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:02,079
it is. I think a lot
of it is. I think there is

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00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,559
there are improvements, right, Like
I think defensively, he's he's he's taken

369
00:25:04,599 --> 00:25:10,119
some steps up. But I mean
when you look at what he was doing

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last year and then he's limited minutes
in a limited role or whatever, it's

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not too dissimilar. He has gotten
more efficient marginally, it's not too dissimilar

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to what he's doing now. I
just I think, really, somebody just

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had to give this dude the green
light because he was just the best player

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on the team for the last two
years and no one ever acknowledged it.

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00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,480
And now Ida came in and kind
of, you know, to his credit,

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00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,799
you know, maybe there was some
resistance going into that idea, but

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00:25:36,839 --> 00:25:41,079
to his credit quickly adjusted, right. And I think you're seeing you're you're

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00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:48,319
seeing what what what the fruits of
that right now? What what I think

379
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:53,920
he needs to really improve upon next
year is he seems to whenever he does

380
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:59,640
get the ball, he seems to
feel like a like a rush to score

381
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,000
or paymake or like. And he
needs to just find a way to exist

382
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in possessions right without being the guy
right, which is, find a way

383
00:26:08,319 --> 00:26:14,160
to be complimentary without having to be
the center, right like, without having

384
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:15,480
to be the center of everything.
If you look at even the best,

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the most impactful bigs in the NBA, they can still do that, right.

386
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:26,240
So when Jalen has it going,
when Fred has it going, when

387
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,640
Cam has it going, he needs
to find a way to kind of float

388
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,680
into the background or be what kind
of being additive and then come back in.

389
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,880
I think that's something I want to
see from him. Uh. Obviously

390
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:42,880
the jumper is possibly the biggest the
best way you can improve his offensive game

391
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,440
and also fish into a like a
more equal context, because if he's going

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00:26:48,519 --> 00:26:52,599
to be able to dot the arc, that's going to be more complimentary than

393
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,279
if he can't do that, because
he doesn't need to be involved in primary

394
00:26:56,279 --> 00:27:00,319
reactions as often, right, right, and that helps him. Yeah,

395
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,240
it would be that kind of floating
in the background kind of character when he

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00:27:03,279 --> 00:27:08,240
needs to be. Yeah, and
also I just think, well, I

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00:27:08,279 --> 00:27:14,160
need just I wanted to see more
pick and roll reps with him with Jalen

398
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because I saw so many with van
Fleet and great like I get why the

399
00:27:18,079 --> 00:27:22,240
Rockets Milks that play this year,
right, it was so effective for them

400
00:27:22,279 --> 00:27:26,359
this year. But again you have
to look, you have to balance this

401
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:30,680
with the long term, right,
Maybe doing that helps you win more games

402
00:27:30,759 --> 00:27:34,119
now, but trying to win the
most games long term. I want to

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00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,119
see more with Jalen. I want
to see more with Cam, want to

404
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:41,519
see more with the men, right, I would love those those and if

405
00:27:41,759 --> 00:27:44,359
if it's been I have not noticed
it, but I would love to have

406
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,640
seen like inverted pick and rolls involving
him, and I'm on Thompson would be

407
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,400
super fascinating. Well, I think
that's resting on like okay, one of

408
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,960
them needs to have an operable jumper, but that would be functionally fun.

409
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,160
I do agree about the defensive improvement. It seems also like he matches up

410
00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,359
better or holds his own against like
the Big or Biggs, if that makes

411
00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:06,160
any sense. I like, I
thought, I thought he did much better

412
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,039
this year against the Bonus, like
Sabonis kind of bullied him last year,

413
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,240
and this year I thought he stood
his ground. And I would also agree

414
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:15,799
that just the skeleton the base of
his offensive game is just eerily similar.

415
00:28:15,799 --> 00:28:19,720
But it does feel like he has
the game on a string more to like

416
00:28:19,759 --> 00:28:26,079
where if he's gonna see more doubles
or like that to who oh, excuse

417
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:27,799
me, are you making the comparison
to the Bonus? No, no,

418
00:28:27,799 --> 00:28:30,119
no, I'm not comparative to the
Bones. I think he's I think he

419
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,480
has a higher ceiling than Sabonis.
I think maybe not that's probably unfair to

420
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,559
the Bonus. But looking at Changun, I think shange Guon can initiate your

421
00:28:37,599 --> 00:28:42,200
offense in more ways than Sabonis Ken
and so when you go into stuff as

422
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,599
a score, they might be more
similar there. I think Shang Gun's offense

423
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,680
to me improved in the sense of
like kind of the decision making when he's

424
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:52,000
looking at double teams or or recognizing
it how good of a one on one

425
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,279
score he actually is, because there's
always been data to support that, and

426
00:28:56,279 --> 00:28:59,680
now we're seeing him really you know, I guess what you're saying, like

427
00:29:00,079 --> 00:29:03,000
maybe being too quick sometimes to try
and process things, but I almost kind

428
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,640
of appreciate with how decisive it feels
like he's been as a scorer this year

429
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,359
compared to some of the year's past, and that might be just the product

430
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,519
of, well, they finally emboldened
him to do all this shit in higher

431
00:29:12,599 --> 00:29:18,319
volume. Yeah, And I think
I'm starting to rethink the Alpa and shengun

432
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,599
Like spectrum in terms of successful player
like right like, I think at the

433
00:29:22,599 --> 00:29:26,319
beginning of the spectrum, the way
I always thought about it is he's this

434
00:29:26,359 --> 00:29:29,279
guy is way too skilled to not
be a starter in today's NBA, right

435
00:29:29,319 --> 00:29:32,039
Like, I just thought he was
going to be a starter somewhere And in

436
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:33,839
the middle of that spectrum was as
a bonus, Right, It's the one

437
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,599
that was probably the most talked about, right because it was just the easiest

438
00:29:37,599 --> 00:29:41,359
without being the most with well without
while being the least defensive, right,

439
00:29:41,039 --> 00:29:45,599
right, Because the end of that
spectrum is yokic. Right, we've and

440
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,839
we've talked about that, right.
But there's something in the middle of that,

441
00:29:48,279 --> 00:29:52,799
and that's pewl gasaw And we don't
talk about that enough, maybe because

442
00:29:52,839 --> 00:29:56,440
he's not atop his mind, right, But like pew Gasol was awesome,

443
00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:00,519
and he's better than the bonus,
right, and he's in the that kind

444
00:30:00,519 --> 00:30:03,720
of cushy middle ground where he can. Palagasol at his peak, was one

445
00:30:03,759 --> 00:30:07,440
of the two most important players on
a title team, right, and if

446
00:30:07,599 --> 00:30:14,519
if, if, if Shang Gun
can get there, like obviously you're thrilled

447
00:30:14,519 --> 00:30:17,519
with the outcome, right, and
he doesn't have to get to that jok

448
00:30:17,799 --> 00:30:19,720
level. Right. And I feel
like, you know, maybe maybe it's

449
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:25,680
because Palagasol retired kind of like five
was like four or five years ago.

450
00:30:25,799 --> 00:30:30,039
He retired, and we saw the
best of Paalogasal like fifteen years ago.

451
00:30:30,599 --> 00:30:33,960
Right, Maybe that's the reason it's
not that comparison is not top of mind,

452
00:30:33,279 --> 00:30:37,119
but I'm certain to think of that
more when I watched Shengu, that's

453
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:40,119
that's a pretty good comp and it's
also kind of proof of okay, like

454
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:41,960
we saw Palagasol, I'll always had
kind of range, Like he started shooting

455
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,079
threes towards the end of his career
and he was able to hit them.

456
00:30:45,119 --> 00:30:48,920
So I've I've never thought about out
pretty Shagoo in that context, So that

457
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,119
would be that would be interesting.
Uh. The other player on Houston's front

458
00:30:52,119 --> 00:30:55,640
line I think has flown under the
radar this season, at least nationally.

459
00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,240
I'm sure Rockets fans know about this. Barsmith Jr. Is just like when

460
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:03,119
you look at the counting, it's
not He's not exponentially better than last year.

461
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:04,279
I mean, the three point shooting
is just up, up, up,

462
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:11,119
But he has been just really rock
solid across so many different areas.

463
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:15,599
Is there anything that sort of stood
out to you the most? And then

464
00:31:15,599 --> 00:31:18,400
what is kind of the next frontier
for him look like? Especially because I

465
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,920
think what it's intrigued me the most
is if you're gonna worry about tying all

466
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,839
these different pieces together. When you
talk about the Alprin Shang Gun, the

467
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,079
jail and Green, the U and
Amen Thompson dynamic. Jabari Smith Junior is

468
00:31:30,119 --> 00:31:33,480
so critical to doing that because of
how complimentary he is at both ends of

469
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:37,319
the floor. Now, is it
like the defensive numbers and rim protection have

470
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,000
held up when he's played the five
this year and we've seen it most recently

471
00:31:40,039 --> 00:31:42,319
during this non Shanggoon stretch. But
then just also like what he's able to

472
00:31:42,319 --> 00:31:45,960
do on offense, Like he still
likes to go to those counters, those

473
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,799
fades, those turnarounds. It doesn't
always hit them at the greatest clip,

474
00:31:48,799 --> 00:31:52,920
but like he's just more patient when
he's in that center floor spot and making

475
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,920
better decisions there, and he's making
better decisions whether to connect on the screens,

476
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,119
to slip the screens. And then
of course I mentioned the shooting already.

477
00:32:00,359 --> 00:32:02,640
To be that complimentary allows you to
try all these sorts of different things

478
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:07,759
with three players who there is I
don't want to say there's some redundancy,

479
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:12,480
but there's you have to invest in
parts of their games that might be counterintuitive

480
00:32:12,519 --> 00:32:15,880
to then keeping some of the others
at their peak. And I just really

481
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,119
appreciate kind of the I don't necessarily
want to call him a connective tissue.

482
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,799
But the way that he is playing
just allows him to be a part of

483
00:32:22,079 --> 00:32:27,799
so many different lineups and perspective iterations
of this Rockets team. So my real

484
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:30,640
question, I'm sorry I went on
that long rant, was like, what's

485
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:34,160
impressed you the most? And then
kind of what's the next frontier look like

486
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,599
for him? In your mind?
Yeah, I felt like talking about Jabbari

487
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,559
in the summer, I felt kind
of mean, Like I felt like I

488
00:32:40,599 --> 00:32:45,359
was starting to get into mean territory
because right I started calling with theoretical basketball

489
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:47,920
player, right, because every time
I heard people talk about him, it

490
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:52,000
was like, what do you could
theoretically do? Right? And it's like,

491
00:32:52,839 --> 00:32:55,160
did anyone watch him last year?
Like Tarr Easton should have been starting

492
00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:59,640
over him, right, Tarr Easton
should have been starting over and we just

493
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,920
flat out a better player and they
didn't do that move for whatever reason.

494
00:33:04,359 --> 00:33:07,720
But he was really really hard to
watch last year. He looked like a

495
00:33:07,759 --> 00:33:13,680
broken prospect. And I think a
lot of this actually stems back to draft

496
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:19,960
time when Paula Mankera was taking number
one and so much of the expectation was

497
00:33:20,039 --> 00:33:24,559
Jabbar's going number one for sure,
right, And I think that kind of

498
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,640
I don't want to say shattered his
confidence because obviously he picked it back up,

499
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:34,160
but it definitely put him on his
back foot in a way that he

500
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,400
wasn't expecting because he had a bad
summer league and he had a bad regular

501
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:43,599
season, and you see whatever he
did in the summer, right, I

502
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:47,160
think I think John Lucas Kelly Eker
wrote an article about this. Talking to

503
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:51,519
John Lucas and kind of getting out
of his own head helped him a lot,

504
00:33:52,279 --> 00:33:55,559
right because the Rockets could see that
this was affecting him right this whole,

505
00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,279
Like I was supposed to be the
number one R pick. Now I'm

506
00:33:59,319 --> 00:34:02,000
number three? Am I even a
good prospect? Right? Like? And

507
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:08,039
it it? I think it.
You know what's what's more confidence driven than

508
00:34:08,079 --> 00:34:12,360
jump shooting? Right? I mean
he was a thirty percent jump shooter last

509
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,199
year. I don't think he suddenly
became a thirty six percent jump shooter overnight.

510
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,840
I don't think that that what we
saw last year was true, right,

511
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,719
Right? But I did see like
in addition to the confidence come back,

512
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,519
Like, I think that that's the
greatest that's the biggest thing you're seeing

513
00:34:27,559 --> 00:34:32,719
with Jabari just a phenomenally more confident
basketball player. The second biggest thing is

514
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,480
the ball handling. Man, My
god, I mean I've I haven't seen

515
00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:43,920
a player get better at one skill
during the Rockets rebuild than Jabbari did from

516
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,440
year one to year two. As
a ball handler like that, he was

517
00:34:47,519 --> 00:34:52,400
just really awkward, like and that
goes back to his Auburn time. So

518
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:54,719
it wasn't like a, oh,
the confidence the light turned on for him,

519
00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,960
No, no, no, it
was like he did something in the

520
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,159
summer. He really worked on that, right, Like he knew that was

521
00:35:01,159 --> 00:35:05,400
a weakness for him. He knew
that was something that everyone talked about,

522
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,719
Like this guy's kind of an awkward
mover with the ball in his hands,

523
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:10,360
and like, I'm not really sure
how he's ever going to get to like

524
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:15,239
go to scoring status if he can't
ever get this. And he worked on

525
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:20,360
it. He really worked on his
hips are more flexible. He did yoga

526
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,039
during the summer. I think I
really think, you know, people laugh

527
00:35:22,079 --> 00:35:24,800
when I talk about that a lot, but I really think that like that,

528
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:30,119
that that seemed to work. Like
he just moves better, right,

529
00:35:30,199 --> 00:35:34,039
Like he was a stiff big at
Auburn, Right, He's not quite a

530
00:35:34,039 --> 00:35:37,719
stiff anymore. He's much more flexible
of an athlete. You're seeing him get

531
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:40,400
the ball off the rim and going
full court with it a lot. Now,

532
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:46,559
It's like that's like really impressive,
like not not just for like compared

533
00:35:46,559 --> 00:35:49,960
to what we saw last year,
but for any six to ten player in

534
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,159
the NBA period to be able to
do right. So I'm just yeah,

535
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:58,360
I'm with you, man. He's
been the most steady part of Houston season.

536
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:01,760
Like by far, he's just been
a rock. And obviously defensively we

537
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:05,679
knew what he was capable of.
Now, no one ever doubted that,

538
00:36:06,119 --> 00:36:08,320
No one ever doubted potential on that
and on the floor it was always like

539
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:13,280
what is this mystery Boks on offense? And we're starting to see some of

540
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,840
that. What do you make of
kind of the Al prinching Gun Jabbari Smith

541
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:22,320
Junior dynamic offensively long term where it's
like two guys that don't really neither really

542
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,239
lives at the rim. I know
Al Perrinching Gun is gonna score close to

543
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:30,400
the basket and the offensive ratings been
mediocre with them on the court this year.

544
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:35,840
Does that speak to kind of Houston's
sort of mediocrity on the offensive end?

545
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:40,199
Overall, where they could definitely stand
to have more like Banka bull shooters,

546
00:36:40,199 --> 00:36:44,280
I would say, on the court
during certain stretches, or is there

547
00:36:44,599 --> 00:36:47,880
like some functional awkwardness there because of
where al prin chan Gun likes to operate

548
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:52,480
where even Jabbari Smith Junior, like
now that he can pop or he's gonna

549
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:53,920
be able to be stationed beyond the
arc, it helps some, but like

550
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:57,239
he still does like to be in
the middle of the floor at points.

551
00:36:57,559 --> 00:37:00,480
Yeah, he loves that mid range
jumper, right, that fade mid range

552
00:37:00,559 --> 00:37:02,440
upper. That's like he's been that's
been his go to shot since he was

553
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:06,440
a baby. Basically it's pretty when
it doesn't even go in. Just like

554
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:09,039
the counters and the moves he has, they're not always the most efficient options,

555
00:37:09,079 --> 00:37:12,840
but like they're fun to watch.
I'm not gonna lie. And that's

556
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,920
the move that made me like think
about LaMarcus algy Is when I was thinking

557
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,480
about his high end outcomes right,
like like the fact that he has that

558
00:37:19,559 --> 00:37:22,559
kind of turnaround jumper in his game, Like that's that's what always okay,

559
00:37:22,559 --> 00:37:25,639
Like if this, if this guy's
gonna work as a star, Like that's

560
00:37:25,679 --> 00:37:31,159
the guy I would look at,
right but yeah, uh you said,

561
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:35,920
like in relation to Opera and shng
Goon, you know, what do you

562
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,119
make of that dynamic long term?
Offensively? Yeah? Right? You know,

563
00:37:39,199 --> 00:37:42,639
if I were to construct, and
I've said this before, I've ever

564
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,239
construct a basketball player to put next
to Shangoon long term, I could not

565
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:50,920
think of a better player. Ironically
then both Tari Easton and Jabari Smith.

566
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,920
I think Tari Easton is the ideal
compliment to every single player in the NBA

567
00:37:54,039 --> 00:37:58,719
personally. But carry right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean though,

568
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,920
but those two guys is the Rockets
drafted two guys that can fill that

569
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:07,800
role, and Jabbari from a shooting
perspective, is absolutely the kind of guy

570
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:10,440
you'd like to have next to shan
Gun because you have to play a floor

571
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:15,320
space from next to him, and
someone of that caliber really opens things up

572
00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:17,400
for shan Gun to operate because you
can't leave him. You can't even sag

573
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:21,719
off of him, right, Maybe
you can slag off atariast and you can't

574
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:27,800
do that with Jabari. And so
it's interesting to see. It was interesting

575
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,719
to see them last year kind of
be so awkward and be so combative with

576
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:35,559
each other, Like you saw a
lot of them like bickering and fighting on

577
00:38:35,599 --> 00:38:39,079
the corn like you guys. Like
if we were to construct the perfect basketball

578
00:38:39,119 --> 00:38:43,239
player to put next to you guys
on draft night, it would have been

579
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:45,239
the other person. So I don't
understand why, why, why this isn't

580
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:50,159
working. So this year, you
know, I haven't looked at the two

581
00:38:50,159 --> 00:38:53,000
man offensive stuff. It's looked fine
to me. I'm not gonna lie like

582
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:59,000
like watching them like, it hasn't
looked clunky. It looks like they're functioning

583
00:38:59,039 --> 00:39:04,719
how they're supposed to. That that
doesn't mean you can't do Jabari Smith that

584
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,000
center, right, That doesn't mean
you can't do that when when Shangun hits

585
00:39:07,039 --> 00:39:10,519
the bench again, I think that
is the best way to utilize Jabari is

586
00:39:10,519 --> 00:39:15,960
like sometimes as a backup center,
and so I think that dynamic can work

587
00:39:15,079 --> 00:39:21,840
perfectly fine. Now, again,
which direction you choose to Like, Jabari

588
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,280
is a very flexible big he can
play for you can't play five. Which

589
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:29,119
direction you choose to go with it
is really dependent on which direction you choose

590
00:39:29,159 --> 00:39:31,079
to go with the men or shan
Gun. I'm starting to really it's really

591
00:39:31,079 --> 00:39:35,199
starting to crystallize to me that a
lot of the decisions you make on this

592
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,159
roster. Start from that one decision, right, which way do you want

593
00:39:38,159 --> 00:39:42,000
to go with it? The shng
gun or a men? Because if you're

594
00:39:42,039 --> 00:39:45,840
going with the men, I mean
you got you. Jabari plays center,

595
00:39:45,159 --> 00:39:47,360
right, Jabari Smith Junior is a
center from now one, That's how you

596
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:52,159
think about him. If you if
you're going with Shangun Jabari is a four

597
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:55,840
slash five. That's such a tough
conversation to have just because we don't have

598
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,800
we definitely, I mean the sheer
sample size even that they were giving the

599
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:02,559
ball ton but to not have the
on ball anywhere near the on ball information.

600
00:40:02,639 --> 00:40:06,960
For Amen Thompson, it's we know
Jabari's Mithterunior can be the five,

601
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,960
which in theory then I would say
gives you the agency to make that decision,

602
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:15,599
but you just don't have enough information
about the second player in that scenario,

603
00:40:15,599 --> 00:40:17,719
which is Aman Thompson. If you're
gonna make it in either or scenario,

604
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,840
and Tar Easton also gives you the
agency to do it as well,

605
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,519
right because Tar Easton can slide down
to the four right and play next to

606
00:40:24,679 --> 00:40:29,119
Jabbari right, or he can slide
up to the three. If you're going

607
00:40:29,119 --> 00:40:32,559
with Shan gun right, like,
like you can be flexible in that way.

608
00:40:34,199 --> 00:40:36,880
Yeah, they have a ton of
like line up skeleton keys, but

609
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:39,840
even just I mean it makes it
harder in a good way. Like Aman

610
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:44,400
Thompson just doing what we're able to
do is not a featured ball handler in

611
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,119
lineups where sometimes there's two or three
guys ahead of him in that pecking order,

612
00:40:47,199 --> 00:40:51,800
is almost just tantalizing. But I
do reckon not or at least from

613
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:55,559
my perspective, you can't necessarily have
this be his role like because he's he

614
00:40:55,599 --> 00:41:00,559
can I think he can be so
valuable as that on ball type before Jack

615
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:04,840
Yeah, right, Like like like
I said, like if if they're not

616
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,199
going to find it, some other
team is going to find it, right,

617
00:41:07,559 --> 00:41:10,159
and it's not it's not gonna be
what I'm what I'm starting to realize

618
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:16,599
is that people really need to sympathize
with what Sam prest he was facing in

619
00:41:16,599 --> 00:41:21,199
twenty eleven with the James arn trade. No one was ever able to like

620
00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:24,639
put themselves in that in his shoes, right because they he they had like

621
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:30,280
five prospects that showed real promise.
It wasn't just those three with Westbrook,

622
00:41:30,519 --> 00:41:37,320
Harden and and Kevin Durant. Right, you had Ibaka, you had other

623
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:39,159
young you had you had other young, promising guys on the roster. Right,

624
00:41:39,199 --> 00:41:43,239
maybe not as good as those four, but like you had to make

625
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:45,559
it, You had to make tough
calls at some point. I think a

626
00:41:45,599 --> 00:41:53,119
correct revisionist, you know kind of
criticism for that trade is maybe they they

627
00:41:53,199 --> 00:41:58,760
chose the wrong guy to the wrong
tough call to make, right. I

628
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,119
think when you look back and and
I'm looking at what rafel Stone's gonna have

629
00:42:02,159 --> 00:42:07,159
to do the next couple of years
here, it's very possible that they trade

630
00:42:07,159 --> 00:42:10,000
one of the two most impactable players
on their other team. Right, And

631
00:42:10,079 --> 00:42:13,360
we'll look at it in hindsight,
be like, what the hell are they

632
00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,079
thinking? But when you look at
the fit stuff, I mean, you

633
00:42:16,119 --> 00:42:20,719
can only pick one of those two
guys, right. The same thing with

634
00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:22,639
Westbrook and Harden. You can only
pick one of those two guys. They

635
00:42:22,679 --> 00:42:28,440
picked the wrong guy, right.
But I'm looking at I'm looking at the

636
00:42:28,519 --> 00:42:32,960
Rockets in modern time, and I'm
like, you don't unless they drastically change

637
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:36,960
the way they play over over the
summer. As we said a couple of

638
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:40,719
times with the jumper, you only
pick one of those two guys, and

639
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:43,880
I don't sympathize with it, man, like I mean, I mean,

640
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:45,960
like I I I don't want to
I wouldn't want to be in those shoes.

641
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:50,920
I wouldn't want to do it because
I would it would scare me to

642
00:42:51,079 --> 00:42:54,440
death if I made the wrong call. It's it's a good problem to have

643
00:42:54,559 --> 00:42:57,840
in so far as it's even a
problem, but it's such a tough decision

644
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:00,920
to make if you get to that
point. I still think rather and we'll

645
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:02,880
get to more of that stuff,
but I wanted to ask you about the

646
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:07,239
Cam Whitmore experience really quickly. What
do we make of that and how he

647
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:12,079
fits into We've talked a lot about
the larger context of this team, and

648
00:43:12,119 --> 00:43:15,840
I know he's played in less than
half the season basically so far, and

649
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:17,159
but he's just like when you watch
him, he just has some of this

650
00:43:17,559 --> 00:43:22,039
these moments and I forget, you
know, until he like dunked, when

651
00:43:22,199 --> 00:43:23,320
some of his dunks, when he
grabs the rebound, I'm like, oh,

652
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:25,519
yeah, that dude is six seven, Like I kind of forget that

653
00:43:25,599 --> 00:43:30,599
sometimes. So he's another interesting wrinkle
to this whole team building approach. I

654
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:34,400
find him to be the most hilarious
person on the roster, and that he

655
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,960
wasn't even supposed to be here,
Like he was not he was not supposed

656
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,480
to be here. Man, he
was supposed to be in like Detroit Top

657
00:43:40,519 --> 00:43:44,239
five is some of the mock drafts. Yeah, yeah, like he was

658
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:47,440
supposed to be in like Detroit,
Washington. Like why is he here?

659
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:51,840
Like I'm glad, Don't get me
wrong, I'm very happy, but I'm

660
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:57,480
like, why the hell? You
know? Like this is like it's such

661
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:00,599
a luxury to have him here,
and he makes he makes a lot of

662
00:44:00,599 --> 00:44:04,400
the decisions we were talking about earlier
easier as well, right, because he

663
00:44:04,519 --> 00:44:07,400
is also so portable. Yeah,
jump shots, real that jump shots.

664
00:44:07,559 --> 00:44:13,239
It's not going away every We keep
seeing sample after sample after sample of him

665
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:16,719
just being a good shooter, flat
out good shooter. So and defensively,

666
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:22,119
he may not be it yet,
but he possesses some of the physical tools

667
00:44:22,159 --> 00:44:25,400
to show that he can be,
you know, a pretty decent defender.

668
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,480
I don't think you'll ever be as
good as a Man, don't get me

669
00:44:28,519 --> 00:44:31,440
wrong, or Tari or Jabbari or
some of the other guys on his roster,

670
00:44:32,039 --> 00:44:37,000
but he can be pretty damn competent
and not like that detonative size I

671
00:44:37,039 --> 00:44:40,599
would call it to be to be
a really impactful defender. He got a

672
00:44:40,599 --> 00:44:45,400
lot of Jalen Brown comps during the
draft, right, Like you heard that

673
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:49,559
name a lot during the draft because
of just his body. Right, Uh,

674
00:44:49,599 --> 00:44:53,519
he's got that just you know,
he he's got a manned body and

675
00:44:53,559 --> 00:45:00,719
he plays basketball like that, right, Cam, He's such a lot I

676
00:45:01,079 --> 00:45:06,239
love Cam wentmore like And there were
times during the season where I'm like,

677
00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:12,079
should the Rockets have taken this,
taken him at four and a ment at

678
00:45:12,119 --> 00:45:15,039
twenty? I mean, that wouldn't
even happen, right, that wouldn't even

679
00:45:15,039 --> 00:45:16,920
happen, But like, should should
they have just taken him at four?

680
00:45:17,039 --> 00:45:22,519
In hindsight? But like, obviously
a man plays more and you look,

681
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:27,760
you look foolish for having the thought. But that's how good he's been.

682
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:31,000
And it's it's I mean listening.
The analytic community was in on this guy

683
00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:38,840
during the drafty they thought he was
projecting very well, right, but you

684
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:43,360
just never you would never think he
would play this well as a nineteen year

685
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:47,079
old coming and it's just there's no
way you would come like you just assume

686
00:45:47,119 --> 00:45:52,960
those medicals must have been horrifying for
so many teams to just pass on him.

687
00:45:52,559 --> 00:45:57,000
I listen, you don't want to
get me starred on this topic.

688
00:45:57,039 --> 00:46:00,920
I I really I think about it, and I'm like, I'm gonna have

689
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:04,960
an aneurysm if I keep thinking about
this whole medical thing, Like the amount

690
00:46:05,039 --> 00:46:08,559
of people that just let that fly, the amount of people that do this

691
00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:14,079
job, right, that that talk
about basketball. They just let these gms

692
00:46:14,079 --> 00:46:17,079
get away with saying pushing that bullshit, right, like not not that there

693
00:46:17,199 --> 00:46:21,920
was medical problems, but that there
was any possible medical problem that would justify

694
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:24,119
him fall into twenty, that that
was ever in a possibility. The fact

695
00:46:24,119 --> 00:46:29,000
that anybody let them that we all
just let them do that, right I.

696
00:46:30,159 --> 00:46:32,480
I just it really infuriated me.
I don't want to get into it.

697
00:46:32,519 --> 00:46:35,880
I don't, but needless to say, you want to talk about the

698
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:42,239
merits of going with Jallenhodhafino instead,
I know I will. The one thing

699
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:44,760
I'll say really quickly is like,
I guess if they're and I don't know

700
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:47,400
what the medical said or what the
actual red flags were, there's probably a

701
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:51,760
point in the draft so high that
it's too risky, But how far he

702
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:53,360
felt there's a point where it's like, okay, like we're outside the top

703
00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:57,400
seven now, like these teams need
to just roll the dice now. I

704
00:46:57,440 --> 00:46:59,960
don't even care if it's I think
a lot of teams kind of just like

705
00:47:00,079 --> 00:47:01,400
we need someone now and we don't
know if he'll be available, and he's

706
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:05,800
considered more of a project, like
you bet on the upside and figure out

707
00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:09,320
that there's a certain point in the
draft and it's well before the twenties that

708
00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:12,360
that he should have went. So
like, yes, if it was gonna

709
00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:15,679
impact his draft stock, I get
it, but you get to a point

710
00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:19,320
where it's just it like it should
never have gotten that low. I'd be

711
00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:22,280
in a greened. It's just silly. It's just silly, Like right,

712
00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:25,519
like, so I had a board
of guys that I wanted the rockets to

713
00:47:25,559 --> 00:47:30,159
take in that range, right,
he was not obviously goes to say he

714
00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:32,079
was not not on that board,
right, But like what I what I

715
00:47:32,119 --> 00:47:37,320
do? What a name I did
have on that board was brandonid Mik excuse

716
00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:42,599
me, I always get his name
wrong. Pajemski. Brandon Brandon Pajemski.

717
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:45,280
So I had I had his name
written down because I really liked him,

718
00:47:45,599 --> 00:47:50,519
and I was like, by the
time the Warriors came around, I'm like,

719
00:47:50,679 --> 00:47:52,360
they're gonna take Cam wentmore from us, are they aren't they They're they're

720
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:54,920
gonna do it. They're gonna take
him. I had forgotten about Brandon.

721
00:47:55,039 --> 00:47:58,960
I'm like, like, in theory, I should be happy that Brandon's there

722
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:00,920
for the taking for Houston. He
was on my list, But the fact

723
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:04,840
that that that the Cam was still
on the table, like he's the prize.

724
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:13,440
Now he's the prize, and I
just listen, like there are there's

725
00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:16,639
a brand of general manager in the
NBA that just puts way too much into

726
00:48:16,679 --> 00:48:21,400
the esoteric stuff with these players.
Like you're telling me you had a thirty

727
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:23,760
minute meeting with the guy and you
felt like he didn't have the heart right

728
00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:29,119
like or like like whatever, it
was right that this this, this this

729
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,360
pre draft stuff has way too much
weight behind it. Then the actual basketball

730
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:37,039
games as you guys are paid to
watch, Like you're not paid to interview

731
00:48:37,079 --> 00:48:40,079
these players. Who cares what they
say? Like like, as long as

732
00:48:40,079 --> 00:48:45,079
they're not murderers, you should be
thinking about them from a basketball perspective,

733
00:48:45,199 --> 00:48:49,320
right, Like, I just I
can't believe that there are people that are

734
00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:52,880
like, oh, he didn't seem
like he was like talkative enough, like

735
00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:55,360
he was kind of he's kind of
an introvert to quiet, Like what was

736
00:48:55,480 --> 00:49:00,000
really Anthony Edwards knock? Is he
interested in basketball enough? Or even Jalen

737
00:49:00,039 --> 00:49:01,920
Brown, remember the whole he's too
smart? Yeah, to be your best

738
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:06,400
he has, he's too many other
interests. That bullshit. Yeah, Like

739
00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:10,000
like this idea that you would let
the the fact that he's an introvert impact

740
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:13,960
your draft decision, especially in the
year, I don't think that's ever.

741
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:16,599
We're in the year twenty twenty three. At that point, you're gonna stuff

742
00:49:16,639 --> 00:49:21,559
like introvert's gonna scare you away fuck
off at that point. Yeah, yeah,

743
00:49:21,679 --> 00:49:27,400
I mean that that draft. I
mean like I again, don't get

744
00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,840
me wrong, I love it.
I loved it there it worked out quite

745
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:34,559
well for the Rockets. Yeah,
yeah, I love it. Don't get

746
00:49:34,599 --> 00:49:37,039
me wrong, I love it.
It tells you that there's still an advantage

747
00:49:37,039 --> 00:49:40,519
to be played for not being a
dumb ass right in the NBA. Right,

748
00:49:40,519 --> 00:49:44,679
there's there's still still to that edge. Then it still exists, right,

749
00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:47,440
you know, like I thought it
was gone like five years ago,

750
00:49:47,519 --> 00:49:50,119
five ten years ago, I was
like, no, it's still there.

751
00:49:50,159 --> 00:49:54,039
It's still there. So yeah,
I'm glad that subject brought you alive,

752
00:49:54,119 --> 00:49:58,960
brought out the edgy version of Solomon. I'm glad that that that that led

753
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:02,679
to this U I have it's a
question slash theory because like we need to

754
00:50:02,719 --> 00:50:07,280
talk about just the Rockets defense at
large, which is now fourth in points

755
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:09,400
a lot of per possession, which
I don't think. I know they signed

756
00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:13,440
Allen Brooks and Fred Van Vliet,
like I don't think any and I know

757
00:50:13,480 --> 00:50:16,480
they adny Meyodoka and I know what
the stuff said about Amata on anyone would

758
00:50:16,519 --> 00:50:20,000
have predicted they would have been a
top five defense for the entire season.

759
00:50:20,360 --> 00:50:23,320
You dig into it, and I'm
trying to figure out what's most responsible for

760
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:27,760
it, and I think the national
consensus, well, they've gotten some lucky

761
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:30,599
opponent three point shooting, and yes, that's part of it. There's nowhere

762
00:50:30,639 --> 00:50:34,320
near all of it. When you
look at the stuff they do well,

763
00:50:34,639 --> 00:50:39,559
the ball pressure keeping teams out of
transition has been incredible for them. And

764
00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:44,400
my theory when I look at it, and it's kind of similar to the

765
00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:46,920
Pelicans because like they don't have this
elite rim protector on the team or at

766
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:52,639
least not starting at center for them, when you just have size and length

767
00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:59,039
and mobility and the capacity to disrupt
without just getting absolutely burned. And the

768
00:50:59,039 --> 00:51:02,159
thing that I think stands out the
most to me is that you have guys

769
00:51:02,639 --> 00:51:07,239
who can like recover at every level
to where when you look at the stuff

770
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:09,679
that they can do lower towards the
basket, where if it's an Amen Thompson

771
00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:13,480
or if it's a Cam Whitmore,
if it was when Tarry Easton was healthy

772
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:15,440
and you have Dylan Brooks, like, you just have these players that can

773
00:51:15,480 --> 00:51:21,960
be in so many different spots on
the same possession in addition to the ball

774
00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:28,119
pressure that it co laces into just
this demonstrative, terrifying force. And that's

775
00:51:28,199 --> 00:51:31,559
just maybe a little bit in it
like incoherent of an explanation for their defense.

776
00:51:31,559 --> 00:51:37,719
But that's just where I've sort of
landed with their defensive success. Yes,

777
00:51:37,639 --> 00:51:42,440
I mean so like I agree like
that, that's that's pretty much it.

778
00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:45,719
They have good defenders, man like, all up and down the rosters.

779
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:47,920
They just have good, good and
capable of defenders. Van Vliet,

780
00:51:49,159 --> 00:51:54,320
Brooks, Easton, Jabbari, Cam
A man like, like, like these

781
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:59,800
guys are competent, they're all good
Jayshaun Tait is awesome and he barely plays

782
00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:05,000
them times or like they just have
like I had them. I thought there

783
00:52:05,039 --> 00:52:09,519
was a real chance that they would
compete for a top fifteen defensive spot last

784
00:52:09,599 --> 00:52:14,159
year. And I thought it was
criminal that they weren't a top twenty defense

785
00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:16,280
last year because I thought the personnel
was there. Man, the person that's

786
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:19,880
there, don't tell me that they're
young. Don't tell me that they're young.

787
00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:22,840
When they're that good defensively, they'll
figure it out if you coach them

788
00:52:23,039 --> 00:52:27,679
right. And that that that's that's
part of why why it was so obvious

789
00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:31,639
how criminally under coach Houston was last
year, is like they had the personnel

790
00:52:31,679 --> 00:52:37,039
to be great in this respect and
they didn't right or they never showed any

791
00:52:37,039 --> 00:52:42,880
promise there. And this year it's
like, yeah, when you're coached well,

792
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:46,480
your strengths will come out as a
roster. And their strengths as a

793
00:52:46,559 --> 00:52:52,599
roster is versatility, it's length,
it's strength in a lot of ways,

794
00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:58,000
and that came out this year with
e May And obviously they have a chip

795
00:52:58,039 --> 00:53:00,199
on their shoulder. Obviously they are
they are getting so three point luck?

796
00:53:00,239 --> 00:53:05,400
You're like, you're right, but
the fundamentals are real, right. You

797
00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:08,119
look, you dig under, don't
get to the top four by accident.

798
00:53:08,360 --> 00:53:13,280
That's not that's not a thing,
right. You look underneath the hood and

799
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:16,559
a lot of the stuff we think
about with good defense is there. So

800
00:53:17,079 --> 00:53:21,599
this looking like taking a step back
and looking at the big picture because of

801
00:53:21,639 --> 00:53:27,280
this season, how much does their
success change the calculus of what they're going

802
00:53:27,360 --> 00:53:31,440
to do leading into the offseason,
Because I think and I believe that fans

803
00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:35,079
are fine to think this way,
but we've kind of touched upon it where

804
00:53:35,119 --> 00:53:37,719
it's like, well, you have
km Whitmore and Jalen Green and Jabari Smith

805
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:40,280
and Alprin, Shang Gun and Aman
Thompson, all these dudes are not like

806
00:53:40,360 --> 00:53:45,440
those five guys are not atar esan
those six. All the odds of all

807
00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:49,559
six of those guys being on the
next great version of the rockets is exceedingly

808
00:53:49,639 --> 00:53:53,800
low. I just my question would
be like, how like are we having

809
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:59,840
that discussion this summer or is it
are they kind of gonna let it marinate

810
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:04,800
situation looking at their twenty twenty five
cap sheets specifically and knowing how young.

811
00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:07,159
Some of these these guys aren't some
of the injuries they've dealt with, or

812
00:54:07,199 --> 00:54:10,599
is they're going to be more of
an urgency because holy shit, look at

813
00:54:10,639 --> 00:54:17,760
how good they were this year.
I think there is a reluctance to give

814
00:54:17,880 --> 00:54:23,159
both Jalen Green and Outprin Jing Goon
big deals this summer, and that's fine,

815
00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:29,880
don't do it. Wait right like
that, that's my thing. Give

816
00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:34,880
this thing until the trade deadline next
season before before you talk about the big

817
00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,800
swings. At least if you're talking
about a swing for like a regular All

818
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:43,039
star, right, if you're talking
about a superstar. All things should always

819
00:54:43,079 --> 00:54:45,639
be on the table. Everyone should
always be on the table, right,

820
00:54:45,639 --> 00:54:47,480
you're talking about one of the ten
best players in the NBA Best fifteam.

821
00:54:47,519 --> 00:54:53,320
But whatever, like those, those
kinds of players have the merit to demand

822
00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:57,719
everything beyond the being on the table. If you're not, if it's anything

823
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:01,719
less than that, wait wait wait
yeah, like I I don't. I

824
00:55:01,760 --> 00:55:06,719
don't see any reason to rush this. Most of the time, teams that

825
00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:09,920
do rush this end up regretting it. Right, this is the hardest thing

826
00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:15,639
to do. That transition from rebuild
to a competitive are really hard for a

827
00:55:15,639 --> 00:55:20,199
lot, especially these owners that get
itchy trigger fingers, whether that's from a

828
00:55:20,239 --> 00:55:22,039
trade front or from a front office
point front. I'm looking at you,

829
00:55:22,119 --> 00:55:27,400
Philly right like when when when when
they get itchy trigger fingers, they make

830
00:55:27,480 --> 00:55:30,719
dumb decisions, And you don't want
to do that right now because from my

831
00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:36,519
perspective, the team has been pretty
well managed. So just stand pat wait

832
00:55:36,519 --> 00:55:39,559
for wait for things to develop,
not only from your team but from the

833
00:55:39,599 --> 00:55:45,559
market. Because right now I'm looking
at the market and I see maybe one

834
00:55:45,639 --> 00:55:47,559
or two guys that might shake loose
that might be worth it. Right I'm

835
00:55:47,559 --> 00:55:52,599
looking at maybe Donovan Mitchell might shake
loose, right because some of his noncommittal

836
00:55:52,679 --> 00:55:55,039
comments in the media these past couple
of days. Uh, maybe Trey Young

837
00:55:55,480 --> 00:56:01,800
because of just how we're the Atlanta
situation is I hope the kind of way

838
00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:06,320
of putting it, Yeah, I
mean I I hope they keep Tray Young.

839
00:56:06,400 --> 00:56:08,239
I really do, because I have
a lot of family down there,

840
00:56:08,519 --> 00:56:12,519
I have friends down there. I
want them to be a good basketball team.

841
00:56:12,559 --> 00:56:15,639
I love Trey Young. I think
Trey Young is an is a is

842
00:56:15,679 --> 00:56:19,719
a pretty funrmogise Forbear. I don't
know, behind the scenes, there are

843
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:22,800
definitely stuff when you look at the
coaching in locker room dynamics. But he's

844
00:56:22,800 --> 00:56:24,920
almost I don't even say almost.
He's become underrated in terms of what he

845
00:56:24,960 --> 00:56:30,800
can do on the court. He's
ridiculous, Like I don't like if he

846
00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:34,840
shakes Lousen, the Rockets can grab
him, it's a steal. Well,

847
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:37,960
that's if I can interject. Then
so what is the And I think it's

848
00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:42,800
the way you describe by the way
Raphael Stone should be opportunistic, which is

849
00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:45,079
just the best thing to do after
the season that they've had. And you

850
00:56:45,199 --> 00:56:49,679
mentioned kind of the the level of
player that they would need. Is that

851
00:56:49,719 --> 00:56:52,199
what you're looking at though, that
archetype of player where it's a floor general

852
00:56:52,320 --> 00:56:57,559
league guard type, the Donovan Mitchell
or Tray Young. And it's like,

853
00:56:57,639 --> 00:57:00,280
and I guess the other part of
that is we know the McHale bridges interest

854
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:06,119
in rumors that the player you describe, he's not good enough then to fit

855
00:57:06,159 --> 00:57:09,000
them, Moll for Houston to act
is what you'd be saying. I think

856
00:57:09,039 --> 00:57:13,920
I would agree at this point if
you were giving up just picks and salary

857
00:57:13,920 --> 00:57:15,639
filler, where it's not giving up
Jalen Green. But then I'm kind of

858
00:57:15,639 --> 00:57:20,639
looking at it and like, so
you're just gonna congest your rotation downline even

859
00:57:20,679 --> 00:57:22,960
further. But I would agree that
he's not a player. That's good enough.

860
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:27,639
So my my real question then,
is you mentioned Donald, you mentioned

861
00:57:27,639 --> 00:57:30,079
Tree Young. Is that kind of
the the archetype or the player type that

862
00:57:30,119 --> 00:57:37,480
you're monitoring the market for then,
so I should be clear. We talked

863
00:57:37,480 --> 00:57:42,800
about that decision with the men in
Shinghun right mentally have kind of already thought

864
00:57:42,840 --> 00:57:45,039
about which way they should go.
Not to say that's an easy choice,

865
00:57:45,360 --> 00:57:49,679
that's informative a lot. I can
guess which way you're thinking may should go

866
00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:52,639
based off what you've been telling me
for two years, which, by the

867
00:57:52,639 --> 00:57:55,280
way, I'm gonna give you your
flowers every time you come on this podcast

868
00:57:55,320 --> 00:57:59,320
for that. I was on yours, you were on mine. I never

869
00:57:59,360 --> 00:58:00,920
said Alpern Shangun sucked, but I
was just like, I don't know if

870
00:58:00,920 --> 00:58:07,000
he's building block material. Multiple times
time in episode after episode we did together.

871
00:58:07,840 --> 00:58:10,559
This dude's a star, and so
you need to take a bow metaphorical

872
00:58:10,599 --> 00:58:13,599
bow if you don't actually want a
bow. So shout out to you for

873
00:58:14,159 --> 00:58:19,119
you were among the earliest people on
Alpern Schanngun maybe the single earliest person when

874
00:58:19,159 --> 00:58:22,639
talking about like what his peak.
It wasn't just oh Alpern Shangun is good

875
00:58:22,639 --> 00:58:27,000
and needs you were very adamant for
a very long time that he was the

876
00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:32,000
best player on the rockets and the
center around which everything should should revolve.

877
00:58:34,639 --> 00:58:37,119
Thank you. I mean like like, here's the thing. It doesn't matter

878
00:58:37,199 --> 00:58:42,280
right because now it's obvious right now, now now we can just talk about,

879
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:47,199
Okay, this young kid a man. Like the reason I really want

880
00:58:47,239 --> 00:58:51,119
to stress that it's a hard decision
because what a man is showing as a

881
00:58:51,119 --> 00:58:55,280
twenty year old is pretty damn Like
it's it's something to think about. It

882
00:58:55,320 --> 00:59:00,599
gives you some some pause and like
having a firm direction. I bet if

883
00:59:00,639 --> 00:59:05,280
he was healthy wire to wire,
he wouldn't have finished above Wemby and Rookie

884
00:59:05,320 --> 00:59:07,880
of the Year voting. But this
version of a men Thompson playing as many

885
00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:09,519
minutes as Chet Holgrin, I wonder
if that would have become a debate.

886
00:59:09,639 --> 00:59:13,880
That's just I'm not I'm not getting
into it, but that I'm it's more

887
00:59:13,920 --> 00:59:16,159
of a I'm not trying to chop
down Chet. That's how good Amen has

888
00:59:16,199 --> 00:59:20,599
been in his minutes this year.
Dan, I talked about at the beginning

889
00:59:20,599 --> 00:59:23,079
of the season if I thought he
could sneak his way in there. I

890
00:59:23,119 --> 00:59:28,400
really did, because I don't know
if anyone it's like Wemby, like Wemby

891
00:59:28,440 --> 00:59:30,760
being Wemby. But if this was
a men from day one, or if

892
00:59:30,800 --> 00:59:35,519
he just had the minutes like that
these other two did, I'm just I'm

893
00:59:35,639 --> 00:59:38,039
very curious to see he would have
finished third lo lower than third, But

894
00:59:38,079 --> 00:59:42,159
I'm just very curious to see what
the Rookie of the Year debate would have

895
00:59:42,239 --> 00:59:45,559
looked like in that top three.
I think here's here's the thing. I

896
00:59:45,639 --> 00:59:49,360
may have thought that he might have
snuck his way in there. I thought

897
00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:52,480
it would look a little bit different, a lot different than this. It'd

898
00:59:52,519 --> 00:59:55,559
be with the yeah yeah, yeah
yeah, right, that's a good way

899
00:59:55,639 --> 01:00:00,000
too. Yeah yeah. Like the
way he's doing it is still unexpected,

900
01:00:00,079 --> 01:00:07,639
dude, but nonetheless, like so, so when you talk about when you

901
01:00:07,679 --> 01:00:10,159
talk about the direction the guys that
I named right, like, I kind

902
01:00:10,159 --> 01:00:14,320
of have a you know, an
idea in mind, right, That's why

903
01:00:14,360 --> 01:00:17,320
I'm looking at guards. But if
you if you think Amend's the guy with

904
01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:22,800
a higher up side. Then you
look at Carl Towns, right, because

905
01:00:22,880 --> 01:00:28,320
Carl Towns, there's just I'm sorry, there's so many just interesting parallels to

906
01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:30,719
the Pelicans, because like that's another
name where it's like Carl. He tells

907
01:00:30,760 --> 01:00:34,360
me so much sense there because of
what they need. But please carry on.

908
01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:37,559
I'm sorry. I meant no,
it's no, it's it's a perfectly

909
01:00:37,599 --> 01:00:44,920
reasonable parallel. I mean, here's
the thing. Carl Towns also solves a

910
01:00:44,920 --> 01:00:47,159
lot of those same problems for you. Like he also fits in kind of

911
01:00:47,159 --> 01:00:51,519
cleanly, like I think Mitchell.
If you swap him out for like jail

912
01:00:51,960 --> 01:00:55,239
for like a men and I'm assuming
they're probably gonna ask for Jalen, right,

913
01:00:55,920 --> 01:01:00,920
he makes a lot of sense,
right, just fitting in to what

914
01:01:00,039 --> 01:01:06,639
you have going right without taking anything
away. If you do the same thing

915
01:01:07,159 --> 01:01:10,159
on the other end, you swap
out Shanghu. Now I would not agree

916
01:01:10,199 --> 01:01:14,159
with the move, right, let
me be clear, I would not want

917
01:01:14,199 --> 01:01:19,119
to do this. But if you
were to make the hard basketball calculus that

918
01:01:19,199 --> 01:01:23,440
hey, a man has this superstar
upside and Shengoon is partly getting in the

919
01:01:23,480 --> 01:01:27,840
way of it, and we need
to kind of make a basketball call here

920
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:32,679
for the upside of the roster.
We need to decide on which guy we

921
01:01:32,719 --> 01:01:37,880
need, we want to amplify.
Carl Towns will help you amplify Amn Thompson.

922
01:01:37,920 --> 01:01:42,400
He'll help you amplify and whitmore,
He'll help you amplify it the entire

923
01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:46,039
roster in such a complimentary way that
doesn't take anything away in the same way

924
01:01:46,039 --> 01:01:52,920
that Mitchell would be from the Guard
perspective. Right now, finding a fair

925
01:01:53,039 --> 01:02:00,280
offer there is tough, right because
even mentioning Shngoon in a possible tree aid

926
01:02:00,519 --> 01:02:05,960
for Carl Towns feels kind of dirty, right, it feels kind of dirty.

927
01:02:06,440 --> 01:02:12,639
But go bear in Minnesota. Yeah, yeah, I mean, but

928
01:02:12,880 --> 01:02:15,199
that that's kind of where what you
have to think about, right and maybe

929
01:02:15,239 --> 01:02:19,159
you re route schangu into a third
team, right like like like that that's

930
01:02:19,519 --> 01:02:22,719
and get assets back. Because here's
the thing, Minnesota's gonna have to make

931
01:02:22,719 --> 01:02:24,760
a tough call. Everyone said it. I'm not new and say everyone's in

932
01:02:25,159 --> 01:02:30,840
national media said it like that that
the financials are there are some nothing about

933
01:02:30,039 --> 01:02:35,320
and they have this weird ownership situation
where it really doesn't they're another team that

934
01:02:35,480 --> 01:02:38,039
should at the absolute earliest like that
should not be a decision. That's made

935
01:02:38,079 --> 01:02:42,159
into the twenty twenty five deadline.
But because of the ownership situation that you

936
01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:44,960
mentioned right now, it's kind of
like, well, fuck, anything might

937
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:51,480
go this offseason. I can't remember
anything like this ever. Like he's like

938
01:02:52,320 --> 01:02:55,320
a special breed of like I don't
know, I don't even know. I'm

939
01:02:55,360 --> 01:02:59,719
not gonna root like a rod and
Mark war like the way they've been jabbing

940
01:02:59,719 --> 01:03:02,039
at each other in the media.
That whole situations just fucked like it can't

941
01:03:02,599 --> 01:03:06,800
Yeah, I mean like it really
does feel like doesn't it? Like that

942
01:03:06,920 --> 01:03:10,360
the Timberwolves were better than Glenn Taylor
expected they would. He's like, no,

943
01:03:10,440 --> 01:03:13,199
this is fine, I want to
stay on it. I do tend

944
01:03:13,199 --> 01:03:15,679
to side with insofar as Oliver side
with the owners. I do tend to

945
01:03:15,760 --> 01:03:20,559
side with Al Rodriguez and Mark lore
there just because it's they were the ones

946
01:03:20,639 --> 01:03:23,599
that we know drove the tim Connolly
higher and kind of forced to go bear

947
01:03:23,679 --> 01:03:27,559
trade through. And so I'm with
you that Glenn Taylor kind of looked at

948
01:03:27,599 --> 01:03:30,719
it like, oh, I have
this appreciating asset where the team's also good,

949
01:03:30,760 --> 01:03:32,599
so it will continue to appreciate.
Yeah, I'm done. I'm just

950
01:03:32,679 --> 01:03:37,480
I'm done, right, And and
he had all these deadlines and stuff in

951
01:03:37,519 --> 01:03:40,119
the contract. I was like,
like, I I'd like to why aren't

952
01:03:40,119 --> 01:03:45,719
these deadlines leaking? Right? Like
why don't why why don't we know the

953
01:03:45,800 --> 01:03:47,960
NBA come out like, I guess
we understand that the NBA probably want to

954
01:03:47,960 --> 01:03:53,079
get involved. But it's so they
were mentioning has yet you have Glenn Taylor

955
01:03:53,119 --> 01:03:57,400
saying they missed these NBA and post
deadlines. You have a Rod and Mark

956
01:03:57,480 --> 01:04:00,920
saying no, we didn't, and
then the just says nothing like yeah,

957
01:04:01,079 --> 01:04:04,440
and and at some point they're gonna
have to step in, right Like,

958
01:04:04,480 --> 01:04:08,119
at some point they're gonna have to
make a ruling on this because this is

959
01:04:08,159 --> 01:04:11,840
one of their thirty teams. They're
gonna have to decide who gets to who

960
01:04:11,840 --> 01:04:15,239
gets to own the own it,
right Like, so I don't know,

961
01:04:15,400 --> 01:04:17,960
uh, but but yeah, uh, the carl Town situation is coming to

962
01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:20,519
ahead, right, So they're gonna
have to make a tough call, and

963
01:04:20,639 --> 01:04:25,599
the Rockets in their way have to
make a tough call. And so you

964
01:04:25,719 --> 01:04:29,239
kind of have to think about it, right Because again he does if you

965
01:04:29,280 --> 01:04:32,159
go into a Men Thompson direction,
he does solve some things. He does

966
01:04:32,559 --> 01:04:36,440
clarify some things of the roster for
you. So I don't know, it's

967
01:04:36,559 --> 01:04:42,840
it's just food for thought. Again, Instinctually, I think guard, right,

968
01:04:42,880 --> 01:04:45,679
I think who are the best top
end guards that are gonna be come

969
01:04:45,679 --> 01:04:47,480
available? I think Trey Young and
Donovan Mitchell right now, the two obvious

970
01:04:47,519 --> 01:04:50,639
ones. I can't think of any
off the top of my head that obviously.

971
01:04:50,880 --> 01:04:54,239
So I was gonna ask you because
so I believe, and I'm not

972
01:04:54,239 --> 01:04:57,440
saying a men would need to be
in all or even any of these deals.

973
01:04:57,440 --> 01:05:00,559
If you're including enough picks, there's
other players involved. But I do

974
01:05:00,679 --> 01:05:04,280
believe I'm thinking about when I'm thinking
about the Rockets years down the line,

975
01:05:04,800 --> 01:05:09,119
Shane Goon is the player that pops
into my mind first. And so I

976
01:05:09,159 --> 01:05:13,800
have six names here that it can
be. I would either have you I

977
01:05:13,840 --> 01:05:15,639
won't have you rank them because I'm
doing it on the spot. Are they

978
01:05:15,679 --> 01:05:19,159
players that you then would be like, are good enough to say or good

979
01:05:19,280 --> 01:05:24,800
enough fits to say? Okay,
let's go in now? So I have

980
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:29,320
Donovan Mitchell and you're kind of a
yes there. It seems like I did

981
01:05:29,360 --> 01:05:31,880
not have Trey Young, but it
sounds like you're a yes on Trey Young.

982
01:05:32,559 --> 01:05:38,320
Y. Yeah, it's a harder
fit conceptually, but yeah, he

983
01:05:38,440 --> 01:05:40,840
steasi good enough to work, like
Cherry, try to make it work.

984
01:05:41,159 --> 01:05:45,039
So I have four more names for
you. Yeah, that players that I

985
01:05:45,039 --> 01:05:47,400
could see shaking lose, one of
which maybe two of which are ultra spicy,

986
01:05:47,480 --> 01:05:59,239
but Darius Garland probably no, Okay, LaMelo ball. Yeah, I

987
01:05:59,559 --> 01:06:01,880
would think about it. I would
think about it. Yeah, I agree

988
01:06:01,960 --> 01:06:03,880
with you. I didn't think you
were going to say that though, so

989
01:06:03,880 --> 01:06:06,400
I'm very happy you said it.
I tend to be the minority when it

990
01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:11,920
comes to being optimistic. A Bautle
mellow ball, Yeah, Jimmy Butler,

991
01:06:13,159 --> 01:06:16,480
no, and uh, like,
go ahead, I was gonna my final

992
01:06:16,559 --> 01:06:24,280
name is Devin Booker. That one's
interesting now. That one makes me think

993
01:06:24,320 --> 01:06:29,320
because it's like, theoretically, you
I mean, let me just ask you.

994
01:06:29,360 --> 01:06:31,519
They're gonna ask for Jalen right as
one of the as one of the

995
01:06:32,480 --> 01:06:41,079
and you're the most optimistic projections of
Jalen have him becoming a Devin Booker type,

996
01:06:41,119 --> 01:06:43,239
right, like the most optimistic.
I'm not saying you, and I

997
01:06:43,480 --> 01:06:46,119
like percentile outcome is defin Yeah,
yeah, I'm not saying you, and

998
01:06:46,119 --> 01:06:48,639
I agree with that. I tend
to not agree with that because I don't

999
01:06:48,639 --> 01:06:54,000
think he's a strong enough shooter or
ball handler to warrant that projection. But

1000
01:06:54,159 --> 01:06:57,400
then again, Den Booker got better
as a ball handler but shooting still early

1001
01:06:57,440 --> 01:06:59,920
on his career, denwork was much
better than what Jalen Green is right now.

1002
01:07:00,840 --> 01:07:06,199
But it's interesting because like, would
you would you just keep your you

1003
01:07:06,239 --> 01:07:10,960
know, just see what you have. But at the same time, it

1004
01:07:11,039 --> 01:07:15,199
is safer to just go with one
hundred percent outcome. I don't know I

1005
01:07:15,719 --> 01:07:19,320
would. I don't know. Like
that's because it's it's similar to the Donovan

1006
01:07:19,320 --> 01:07:25,480
Mitchell one, and yes I would
be I probably wouldn't do it, but

1007
01:07:25,719 --> 01:07:28,760
so I agree with you on La
Mellow. I wouldn't do it for Jimmy

1008
01:07:28,760 --> 01:07:30,920
just because the age, although he
would be super interesting in general for another

1009
01:07:30,960 --> 01:07:34,400
year or two. Uh. I
probably wouldn't do it for Darius Garland.

1010
01:07:34,400 --> 01:07:36,920
I wouldn't do it for Donovan Mitchell, to be honest with you, I

1011
01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:40,239
just don't know. He's had a
hell of a season. I don't know

1012
01:07:40,239 --> 01:07:43,800
if I like, if you're gonna
give up Aman Thompson and or Jalen Green

1013
01:07:43,840 --> 01:07:45,480
in that scenario, I just don't
know. Like the playmaking, like,

1014
01:07:45,480 --> 01:07:50,159
could you be a playmaking deficit long
term? Besides shan Gun, I would

1015
01:07:50,199 --> 01:07:53,639
absolutely do it. For Devin Booker, I like, I don't know what

1016
01:07:53,639 --> 01:07:56,800
the package looks like, but if
you're talking if you're worried about missing the

1017
01:07:56,800 --> 01:08:00,119
boat on Jalen Green, like Devin
Booker, I think is one of the

1018
01:08:00,119 --> 01:08:04,880
most underrated and valuable passers in the
NBA today. And I know that Phoenix's

1019
01:08:04,880 --> 01:08:09,239
fourth quarter offense and some of their
turnover issues muddy a lot of that,

1020
01:08:09,639 --> 01:08:13,679
but we've seen it when you look
at his passes that lead to either assists,

1021
01:08:13,960 --> 01:08:16,840
secondary assists, or free throw attempts. For the past half decade,

1022
01:08:16,880 --> 01:08:20,840
he's always rated in just the top
five of the share that his passes do

1023
01:08:20,920 --> 01:08:24,880
that. And it's not it's not
I've used, it's not by accident.

1024
01:08:25,079 --> 01:08:28,920
So let me construct the counter argument
for you, Dan, Then he hasn't

1025
01:08:28,920 --> 01:08:31,920
always been that way, right,
Like, there was a pass there that

1026
01:08:31,960 --> 01:08:38,079
he took and Jalen Right, Theoretically, I'm not saying I agree with this

1027
01:08:38,439 --> 01:08:42,199
if you're a Jalen optimistic which well
might be somebody in that front office,

1028
01:08:43,039 --> 01:08:46,079
which I mean they took him second
overall. Theoretically, they see some of

1029
01:08:46,079 --> 01:08:53,279
that path in the playmaking department for
Jalen. So what I would say to

1030
01:08:53,359 --> 01:08:57,319
that is, let's just say you're
able to construct a deal where you're not

1031
01:08:57,399 --> 01:09:00,279
sending out Aman Thompson in that scenario
because it's Jail Green some of the more

1032
01:09:00,319 --> 01:09:04,520
other propects. And I'm not gonna
say one for one because there'd be way

1033
01:09:04,560 --> 01:09:10,000
other stuff in there, because Devin
Booker is really good. But right,

1034
01:09:10,279 --> 01:09:14,720
Devin Booker is so much better away
from the ball than Jalen Green is as

1035
01:09:14,720 --> 01:09:18,560
someone who provides rim pressure away from
the ball as a cutter. That it's

1036
01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:25,279
I just and I we also saw, but I guess by year three there

1037
01:09:25,439 --> 01:09:28,479
was that hint of, oh,
this guy can't command an offense as a

1038
01:09:28,479 --> 01:09:30,720
passer, and the fact that we
haven't seen that from Jalen unless you think

1039
01:09:30,760 --> 01:09:34,199
that is purely a matter of look
at how much the ground beneath him is

1040
01:09:34,239 --> 01:09:39,359
shifted, the rockets makeup and all
that the past few years, or just

1041
01:09:39,399 --> 01:09:43,479
that he hasn't had that opportunity.
To me, that's Devin Booker is the

1042
01:09:43,520 --> 01:09:46,159
one on this list. I'm probably
just most intrigued by LaMelo because I'm intrigued

1043
01:09:46,159 --> 01:09:49,640
by LaMelo and then Trey Young and
Dono Mitchell doing treat me Devin Booker is

1044
01:09:49,680 --> 01:09:53,119
kind of like the no brainer where
it's like no if that if he's just

1045
01:09:53,159 --> 01:09:56,319
looking at Phoenix, like what the
fuck happens here with the way this roster

1046
01:09:56,399 --> 01:09:59,520
turnover and everything in the outlook and
we get bounced in the plane or the

1047
01:09:59,520 --> 01:10:02,479
first round. I would he's the
guy, like I wouldn't even think twice

1048
01:10:02,479 --> 01:10:11,720
about it. Yeah, I listen, like I'm with you, and that

1049
01:10:11,760 --> 01:10:14,920
he's you mentioned the off ball threat. That's the shooting, right, like

1050
01:10:14,920 --> 01:10:18,199
like the Mitchell shooting in the cutting
Yeah, yeah, like like like that

1051
01:10:18,199 --> 01:10:23,000
that's one where Jalen has not shown
enough promise, you know, for me

1052
01:10:23,079 --> 01:10:27,680
to warrant a Booker projection. Right, I'm still personally in that Zach Lavine

1053
01:10:27,680 --> 01:10:30,680
Bradley Buel projection, right Like that
that's very good, by the way,

1054
01:10:30,760 --> 01:10:34,479
then that's I hate these I'm sorry, I hate these discussions because I feel

1055
01:10:34,479 --> 01:10:38,399
like I end up then shooting all
over Jalen Green where it's like if you're

1056
01:10:38,439 --> 01:10:44,079
still optimistic about him, his outcome
is like perennial All Star, right,

1057
01:10:44,239 --> 01:10:48,159
I mean I mean like like I'm
not saying I think he's gonna be Bradley

1058
01:10:48,159 --> 01:10:51,600
Beale. But I think I think
Zach Lavine very much is still my projection

1059
01:10:51,680 --> 01:10:59,600
for him, right. I haven't
moved off that now. I think with

1060
01:10:59,800 --> 01:11:05,000
the arts the passing, I have
seen more on that than the shooting for

1061
01:11:05,039 --> 01:11:09,960
me to be optimistic about Jayleen greensvelment, Right, I think there are there's

1062
01:11:10,000 --> 01:11:12,840
more flashes I see from him as
a pastor where I'm like, Okay,

1063
01:11:12,920 --> 01:11:16,479
this is kind of interesting, so
listen. I I probably listen like I

1064
01:11:17,359 --> 01:11:21,279
the It's not the one for one
that makes it hard, right, it's

1065
01:11:21,319 --> 01:11:26,119
the one for one plus the men, plus the pick that you're giving up

1066
01:11:26,159 --> 01:11:29,439
that you're the Brooking pick, right, that's coming up this year, plus

1067
01:11:29,760 --> 01:11:32,560
whatever else that is required from Phoenix
is n It's not it's not the one

1068
01:11:32,560 --> 01:11:38,159
for one that's that's the no brainer, right, It's it's everything else.

1069
01:11:38,800 --> 01:11:41,880
And I in that respect, I
kind of think that's why I like the

1070
01:11:41,920 --> 01:11:45,159
Mitchell one so much, because,
like I think, Mitchell at his peak

1071
01:11:45,479 --> 01:11:51,640
is like a twenty eight points per
game on crazy efficiency score, right,

1072
01:11:53,279 --> 01:11:57,880
And that's the kind of guy that
just perfectly slought into this roster without even

1073
01:11:57,880 --> 01:12:01,359
thinking about it, right, just
not even no no thinking right involved with

1074
01:12:01,479 --> 01:12:04,800
the Booker one. It's like,
yeah, I mean he would fit in

1075
01:12:04,840 --> 01:12:09,720
perfectly, but like he would,
you would also have to give up more

1076
01:12:09,720 --> 01:12:15,159
than you're comfortable with. I get
that. Is there anything or anyone else

1077
01:12:15,600 --> 01:12:17,760
about the Rockets their future, this
current version of them that I didn't ask

1078
01:12:17,800 --> 01:12:21,840
you about that you think we need
to discuss? Yeah, I mean Tar

1079
01:12:21,880 --> 01:12:27,039
Easton has just been out. Yeah, like anyone who listens here knows we

1080
01:12:27,079 --> 01:12:30,239
love ourselves from Tari Easton. Yeah, I mean like he's just been out,

1081
01:12:30,479 --> 01:12:33,640
and I feel like something weird with
him too, the way they were

1082
01:12:33,680 --> 01:12:38,880
reporting it, where it seems like
at one point that he was misleading them

1083
01:12:39,439 --> 01:12:43,319
and how much pain he was in
or whatever. Ammiodoka ended up saying,

1084
01:12:43,640 --> 01:12:46,680
So I just want that dude to
stay healthy because he's beyond fun to watch.

1085
01:12:47,840 --> 01:12:53,840
Yeah, yeah, I mean he
is. I mean, defensively,

1086
01:12:54,239 --> 01:12:58,720
he's the real deal, right and
uh, he's shown more ball handling promise

1087
01:12:58,800 --> 01:13:00,520
than I thought he was capable of
coming out of college. It's just just

1088
01:13:00,520 --> 01:13:02,560
a quick note on him, like
shout out to him. Hopefully it gets

1089
01:13:02,600 --> 01:13:04,279
better. I want to see him
next year. It would have been really

1090
01:13:04,319 --> 01:13:10,560
fun to watch in this fast paced
Rockets offense, no nasty small ball defensive

1091
01:13:10,560 --> 01:13:14,199
combinations when he's very well, when
he's healthy, if they wanted to,

1092
01:13:14,279 --> 01:13:17,560
and so why the fact that we
haven't gotten to see that is a basketball

1093
01:13:17,600 --> 01:13:24,119
tragedy. And I cannot wait for
regardless of what happens, regardless of like

1094
01:13:24,159 --> 01:13:27,920
how likely I think the Rockets,
like I think they're like twenty percent odds

1095
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:30,479
to make the planing tournament, right, I cannot wait for them to play

1096
01:13:30,520 --> 01:13:34,680
the Warriors tomorrow, right because the
amount of like like bickering that's going on

1097
01:13:34,720 --> 01:13:38,720
between the two teams, and like
some of it's just weird. Like Draymond,

1098
01:13:38,720 --> 01:13:42,319
you're like a ten time NBA Like
how many All Star Games have you

1099
01:13:42,359 --> 01:13:44,399
made? Right? You made?
Like not? Yeah? I mean he

1100
01:13:44,560 --> 01:13:47,079
won four championships, Yeah you might
You've made like five All Star Games?

1101
01:13:47,159 --> 01:13:51,000
Right, Like like like what's going
on? Like like like you're bickering with

1102
01:13:51,039 --> 01:13:55,880
like twenty three year old Tari Easton
because he's on Instagram stories like talking about

1103
01:13:55,880 --> 01:13:59,520
how the Rockets gonna catch the words
of playing tournament. Like that's that's upsetting

1104
01:13:59,560 --> 01:14:02,840
you? Really? Like like what
about your dynasty falling apart? Man?

1105
01:14:04,000 --> 01:14:08,720
What about you staying on the court, like, like, how about that?

1106
01:14:08,880 --> 01:14:12,039
How about you stopped pushing people?
Like, how about how about we

1107
01:14:12,079 --> 01:14:14,880
do that? How about how about
we work on that before you were the

1108
01:14:14,960 --> 01:14:17,960
Rockets? What's the over under on? Just like the time in the game

1109
01:14:18,000 --> 01:14:23,960
where something happens just between him and
Dylan Brooks. Is not finishing the game,

1110
01:14:24,319 --> 01:14:27,840
Draymond Green is not finishing the game. Deal Brooks might not finish it

1111
01:14:27,880 --> 01:14:31,640
either, Draymond is not finishing the
game. Uh, Salmon, can you

1112
01:14:31,720 --> 01:14:34,319
just tell our listeners where they can
find you and all the great work that

1113
01:14:34,399 --> 01:14:38,960
you continue to put out. Yeah, Red Nation nooops dot com, ra

1114
01:14:39,000 --> 01:14:43,439
Nation hoops on YouTube, at song
on the NBA on Twitter. Uh.

1115
01:14:43,560 --> 01:14:45,000
I can't endorse this guy enough.
Thank you so much for giving me so

1116
01:14:45,079 --> 01:14:47,800
much of your time. We went, as usual, about fifteen minutes longer

1117
01:14:47,800 --> 01:14:50,119
than we said that we were going
to. But hey, the Rockets do

1118
01:14:50,159 --> 01:14:54,720
at least warranted both in the immediate
and the long term. So as you

1119
01:14:54,720 --> 01:14:56,960
know by now, I will be
pestering you again in the future. Thanks

1120
01:14:57,000 --> 01:14:59,359
so much for your time. Man. For sure, gostball is fun.

1121
01:14:59,399 --> 01:15:12,880
Davi MPI outpoint spen up pot and
public scot As outpoint