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Speaker 1: So twelve thirty one on Sports Shock seven ninety The

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Matt Thomas Show with Ross. I'm here in New York City,

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Ross back and Houston Rockets and Knicks. Tomorrow night. You

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can catch the game right here on seven ninety beginning

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at seven thirty. If you are watching on television, you

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will see the game on channel thirteen ABC, where the

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Man will be calling the game alongside Mike Breen will

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be with us now a first time guest of the show,

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and I mean absolute no brainer when ESPN decided to

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make a change in their booth to have Tim Langler

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as a number one game caller. Tim, It's Matt and Ross.

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Thank you so much for coming on Legs. How are

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you this morning? And thanks for joining us.

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Speaker 2: Hey, I'm great. How are you guys doing. I'm doing

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very well. Looking forward to tomorrow night Man Madison Square Gardens,

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Saturday Night ABC Primetime Rockets next. Doesn't get much better

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than that. I'm looking forward to it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. I want to say, first of all,

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I'm so happy that ESPN made the decision. I thought

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you and Scott on your on the Sports Center at

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night really had a terrific chemistry. Take us through that

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show because look, your parent network, it's so much, so

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good at so many things, but some things people go, eh,

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I can give it or take. But that diconomy of

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the Sports Center with Van Beltpel yourself when you were

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doing it was was kind of almost like musty television

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after any big NBA sporting events.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think you know what, we really hit our

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stride because Scott and I have known each other a

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long time. We have a great friendship, so our chemistry

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is pretty natural. And what we were able to kind

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of provide was that that breakdown, that breakdown with touchscreen

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telestrations trying to make people smarter what they just watched

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became very very popular. A lot of people connected with

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that because you know the game ends, you want to

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find out And I think what I tried to do

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every night and sitting there watching the games with Scott

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and then knowing I'm going to go on the air,

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was I was always trying to find you know, that nugget,

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hidden nugget within the game that I knew was like

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really important to why the outcome happened the way that

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it did, and maybe people watching didn't know it was

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that important. And that's what I was always trying to

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look for. Scott was the perfect person to sort of

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find that with because he loves basketball. He's he's an

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incredible studio host. It has to cover all sports, but

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that guy loves basketball, and so those segments I think

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kind of brought that out. Two guys that love hoops,

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that love talking about the game, and were able to

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sit down and break it down afterwards and make you smarter.

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Speaker 1: Tim, I love basketball. I'm the proud voice of the team.

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You have been in the league as an analyst, as

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a longtime NBA player yourself, and we were talking about

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this very early in our show today. For as wonderful

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as the sport is, and this is going to go

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for Major League Baseball, go for the NFL, there are

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so many extra things outside of the sport itself that

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gets a lot of attention, primary on the social media streets.

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And I mentioned this last night because I was in

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Charlotte calling the Rockets Hornets game. When you get in

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the arena and you watch Kevin Durant and you watch

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Conkiniple and you watch Brandon Miller and any of the Rockets,

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when you sit down and don't focus on labor or

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resting or tanking, it's still a wonderful game. Do you

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still find yourself having to battle the separation between the

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ninety four feet and then stuff outside the business of

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the NBA.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, it's it's you know, those topics are always

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coming up, so you're always you know, kind of forced

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to address them, to talk about them, and and but

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the bottom line is you're right and sitting courtside, you

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still see it every night, Like when you're sitting there

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calling a game, you can still see every night how

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hard these guys are playing, how much to care. There

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are other problems, like larger picture problems sometimes with maybe

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the load management or player availability. You know, star players

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being hurts a lot of injuries star players, and that

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really dramatically affects our product because those are the guys

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that you're dying to see. Those are the guys that

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really kind of change the game, and when they're not there,

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it is a different product. So and then the tanking, obviously,

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he's been a lot of talk here recently about that.

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Adam Stilber was trying to get control of that, figure

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out new measures to control. So all that stuff is

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always kind of going going around in the air and

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in the surface and you're trying to kind of work

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your way around it. But when you get to the

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game and you're watching these guys play, and you're watching

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the talent and the skill and how hard they play,

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if you love basketball, that is a basketball fan's dream.

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And I still think this time of year now after

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the All Star break, when everybody is just sitting there

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battling and trying to play as hard as they can

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for seating, and you play in situations and you're trying

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to make your mark, there's a sprint to the finish

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when you come out of the break. This is when

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the most intense basketball on the planet takes place. And

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that's what the area we're about to enter into right now.

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There is no better time for a basketball fans.

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Speaker 1: Tim Langler from ESPN and ABC with us here on

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The Matt Thomas Show with Ross, Rockets and Knicks tomorrow

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night on ABC. I have the last ten years called

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James Harden and I've called Chris Paul Russell Westbrook. I'm

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just talking about the Houston players that I've had the

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pleasure pleasure of calling. But there's something different legs about

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Kevin Durant thirty seven years old plus last nine heats,

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taking twenty shots, he's making thirteen of them. He's thirty

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five points for them against the Hornets. He's carrying this

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team offensively on his back. I know you're not supposed

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to be amazed bout players, because hell, Lebron's been doing

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it for twenty plus years. But tell me about in

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your particular thoughts about watching Kevin Durant, even in just

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the last five years.

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Speaker 2: He's a machine. And look, and I was watching the

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game against the Hornets, and I'm sitting there going during

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his time in the league, right the number of years

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he's been in the league, which is, you know, approaching

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twenty years, there has been no more shot to me

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that is more automatic as a result than Kevin Durant

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going to his right hand for a pull up jump shot.

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And you think how hard it is to be efficient

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and you shoot a lot of contested jump shots, and

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you're basically a perimeter based player, which he is. How

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hard it is to be efficient and get up into

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that fifty percent field goal range. The guy's done it

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for at least thirteen consecutive years. I mean, you go

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look at the best mid range jump shooters in the

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history's league. You look at guys like Michael Jordan, you

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look at guys at Kawhi Leonard, you know, their longest

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streaks of their career are like five six years in

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a row. Kevin Ntlin's thirteen years straight. And to be

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doing it at his age and to be that automatic,

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particularly going to his right hand pull up fifteen eighteen

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feet with his length, the natural lean back, you know,

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the perfect shooting mechanics. You still marvel at it. And

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on those nights when he does it in the fourth quarter,

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like he did against Charlotte last night, you're still just

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you know, it's awesome to watch. You really are kind

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of just watching this guy. You're going, this is one

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of the all time great generational talents and he can

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still do it at that level. And when he's able

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to put together a strets like that in the fourth quarter,

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there's nothing you can do defensively to be able to

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stop that, because that shot is almost impossible to deter

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because of the area of the floor in which you're

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taking the shot. You know, you can't run out and

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take it out of his hands. At the three point line.

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He doesn't have to get all the way to the

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rim twelve to eighteen feet, pull up one on one situation.

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It's as automatic as it comes. And he did it

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again last night. So you know, appreciate these guys, you know,

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Steph Curry, Lebron James, Kevin Durant. You know these guys.

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You don't know how much longer you're gonna get to

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see him, But I think you need to just appreciate

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what you're taking in every night because they're one off,

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each of those guys in what they do and Kevin.

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For Kevin Durant, that means contested mid range Jeff Shotts.

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Very few guys, handful of guys in the history of

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this league have done it as good as he does.

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Speaker 3: Russell, do you here as well? Tim in Houston? And

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on Kevin Durant, we love hearing him here in Houston.

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I'm a long horn fan. I love Kevin Durant, But

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I'm just curious your perspective because there are some reasons

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to be a Kevin Durant detractor, because of the burner stuff,

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joining already made Golden State team and now this even

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more recent burner stuff. How do you weigh all of

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that with somebody who is an all time great and

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right now as we speak, chasing down Michael Jordan on

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the all time scoring list.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I think for me it's easy. I'm a

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basketball and so some of the stuff that with the

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burner accounts and some of the stuff you're going to

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see on social media, I kind of stay away from that.

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My job is to break down Kevin Duranta player. And look,

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sometimes that does bleed over into locker room stuff or

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leadership or decisions that guys make in their careers when

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they change teams, like and it's obviously part of my job.

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You're going to comment on that. But when it push

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comes to shove, I'm sitting down and I'm about to

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watch these guys play. I'm going to focus on what

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this guy is as a player, and how unique he

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is and how talented he is. And when it's all

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said and done, you know, there will be a time

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and place when all these things get put into perspective

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where do they rank historically When you starting to put

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together these lists top ten, top twenty players of all time,

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all of this stuff will factor into it. But for me,

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in the moment, I'm just trying to appreciate Kevin Duranta

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player and all that stuff kind of keep keep to

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the side. I'm looking at him and what he does

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and the unique challenge that he represents for defenses.

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Speaker 3: Continuing with Tim Legler here on a Sports Talk seven ninety,

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I want to get your thoughts on him in Thompson,

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especially first Team All Defense, great defender and a blur

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in transition. But the thing that has been holding him

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back has been his jump shot. And I'm just curious you,

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as a great jump shooter, your perspective on how do

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you find or get somebody to find their ceiling as

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a jump shooter, especially young in their career, because it's

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something we've said about Giannis and maybe Russell Westbrook and

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other guys we can point to to say if their

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jump shot would get there, and sometimes that just doesn't

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come to pass.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Look, one of the things that Aman

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Thompson is going to be dealing with is the fact

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that he's so successful in other areas of the game

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and really still a very effective offensive player without having

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to do that. Sometimes it requires guys being forced into

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it because their weaknesses are exposed to such an extent

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that now they're not even as effective offensively as they

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need to be. To help their team win. It's not

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really the case with him and watching it last night,

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like he had situations where they clearly were determined not

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to rotate to him when they were trying to run

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extra traffic at Duran or Shengun, and they're saying they're

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gonna live with am and Thompson catching the ball with

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fifteen twenty feet of space at the three point line

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and live with the results. And a couple of those

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he shot missed, you know, they weren't particularly close. But

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then there's other plays he catches it and regardless of

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all the space, he still drives it down the gut,

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and he's so athletic that he can come to a

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jump stop in the paint, you know, hang in the

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air longer than other guys, and still make a play

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at the rim, or make a pass from that position

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or put pressure on the defense. So he's still able

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to be effective and put up actually pretty respectable stat

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lines offensively. Even though that shot right now is a

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win for the defense if he takes it, very few

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guys have been able to pull that off normally. If

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you're exposed to that extent, it becomes a real problem,

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and it becomes a dilemma for the coach to keep

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you on the floor. It's not the case with tom

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and Thompson, because clearly you want his defense, but there's

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a lot of great defenders in this league that he

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couldn't shoot. Then eventually they're taking off the floor because

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the weakness starts to overshadow what they are doing well offensively.

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It's not really the case with Aman Thompson. He's still

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able to walk that line as a playmaker and a

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finisher around the rim and a rebounder and like the

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push he has up the floor in transition, there's still

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so many things he can do well offensively without that. Now,

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if he ever figures that out and and you know,

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he just gets confidence and he continues to work on,

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you know, tightening up his mechanics and there's some things

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mechanically that he can work on. If he gets to

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that place, man, now you have an all league caliber player.

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So we'll see. He's very very young. He's still having success,

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which hasn't forced him into addressing this, probably to the

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extent that he needs to. By all accounts, he's a grindary.

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He's in the gym, he works. So if that's the case,

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I think it will get there. And certainly he's already

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shown great dramatic improvement from the foul line, like that's

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really important for him. But now the three point shot

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would be the next thing, and maybe over time next

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couple of seasons you might see, you know, a pretty

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dramatic improvement there as well.

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Speaker 1: Lakes, we let you run. The West is a hot

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mess like it was last year. We found out that

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being the number two seed was not going to give

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you a guaranteed success with that seven game series against

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Golden State. It is a long winded question for you

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or with the long answer, how do you size up

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the West? What can the Rockets do? I know that

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the Fred van Vliet injury has been talked about a lot.

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The Steven Adams being out for the year has hurt

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the rebounding. From a Houston perspective, what has to happen

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for the Rockets to really go after the okay Cs

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and the Denvers and maybe not even San Antonio for

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supremacy in the West coming up in the playoffs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, you know you mentioned those teams Okay Seed, Denver,

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San Antonio. Houston's in the mix. You've always going to

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have the Lakers sort of looming. You've got the Minnesota

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Timberwolves hanging there as well, who've been the last two

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conference finals. The West is loaded. It's a juggernaut full

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of land mines. All of these teams have had different

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stretches of the season where you start to look at

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their vulnerability. Oahoma City has gone through that. They're twenty

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four and one. You're thinking, oh, well, let's just play

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in the parade route. They're going to win another championship.

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Who's beating this team? And then all of a sudden,

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San Antonio shows up eats to three times in ten days,

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and now everybody in the league goes, they wait a second,

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Maybe they can be had, Maybe there is a way

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to get Okay, see, Denver's going through it right now.

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I mean, but and I think for me, the common

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theme with a lot of these teams is the lack

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of continuity with their top ten rotation. And you look

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at what Denver's dealt with even ok see, like how

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many Knights I've locked okac this year and they're still

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like really good defensively. And I look over and Alex Caruso,

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Louke Dorton street clothes, He's like, wait a second, the

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two of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. They're

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not playing tonight and they still held some team to

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one hundred and two points. So but their death hasn't

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really come to the surface because they're always missing people.

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Denver is still going through it right now without Aaron Gordon,

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Peyton Watson goes out. Just get Christian Brown back. You

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know this is Caam Johnson, just goes back. So everybody

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has dealt with this lack of continuity and as a result,

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they're still shuffling the deck. To me, in the Western Conference,

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I would still say, okay, See is the favorite. I

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think San Antonio and Denver are probably toe to toe

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as the next best challenger to Oka See, And then

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I would put Houston just behind them because I need

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to see a consistent stretch out of the Rockets where

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they run off eight nine in a row, and they

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are so consistent on both ends of the floor. And

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when you have this great answer and Kevin Duran offensively

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now that they didn't have a year ago, you take

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them much more serious. But the inconsistency and some of

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the stretches I've watched them play this year, you go Okay,

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maybe they're not quite there yet, so I would still

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say Oklahoma City is the Betty favorite. San Antonio Denver

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would be on the next shelf, Houston's just behind them,

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and now I think the Lakers in Minnesota probably hovering

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as Welllke's.

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Speaker 1: Great to visit with you. Thank you so much for

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the time. You're good luck charm because I think you've

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seen the Rockets once on Christmas Day and that was

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a fun night in Los Angeles, so hopefully history repeats

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itself with the local team. Thank you for the time,

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safe travels to the city and we will visit with

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you tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Thanks again for the time. We really appreciate it. Yeah,

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my pleasure, looking forward tomorrow night. Take care, guys,