The Houston Rockets are trying to trade for a star | The Athletic NBA Show

The Houston Rockets are trying to trade for a star | The Athletic NBA Show

The reporting that matters the most with and it doesn’t have a it’s kind of half of the reporting we we now know some of the Rockets intentions we just don’t know what it might amount to but it is very very interesting is that you know in this post James Harden era where you

Know Daryl Mory goes off to Philadelphia um Rafel stone is promoted longtime Rockets attorney and executive who’s been in that position in the front office for I think four years now three and a half years um they hire em Oka Last Summer uh and and in terms of their new

Operation and their culture and their and their kind of the way they function uh eay has just absolutely you know put his imprint on the Rockets program from day one we saw that with the way that with Rafel they built the roster out in the summer they they take a pass on the

James Harden reunion which was telling in its own right that here’s a guy who’s you know a former MVP going to be in the Hall of Fame one day uh eay in particular was not feeling that he wanted Fred vanet you know like on balance one guy is far more accomplished

Than the other but Fred for em purposes fit what he wanted to do they pick up Dylan Brooks they were close to getting Brook Lopez they thought they had him that would have been a GameChanger um so a super interesting summer for the rockets and and they’re adding veteran

Talent edgy defensive-minded talent to the young core that they had um and what I think we now have learned is that you know we have this breakout season from shenon who is clearly a foundational piece for what they’re doing and I’ll be honest and not to like hit the rewind

Button too much but man like the Steven Silas era was obviously just one of those that will kind of be forgotten as they pivoted you know during the the post hardened time but I will say that you know sangon and what he is now compared to the kind of the party had in

The program under Silas is just vastly different and E has pulled that out of him I think he deserves credit for that um but Jaylen green is was the focus of the story that that uh Kelly and Shams and I put together and essentially that that uh he’s just he’s not seen

Internally as the building block uh and that they have been open to not only talking about him but looking at bigger names they’re star hunting so to speak so what what is what’s Jaylen Green’s value right now because you know part of the reason that what you’re saying has

Happened which is them kind of maybe souring a little on on his like long-term SE is because he hasn’t played that well right I mean he’s shooting 41% a very low efficiency like volume scorer who’s not really going to help a ton on the defensive end he’ll have a highlight

But he’ll have his three or 14 shooting nights like you know and he’s going to be extension eligible this summer um what I I feel like the Rockets hope would be oh he could be the centerpiece that like you said helps you go get a star but like is that

You know are they are they overly hopeful of what his value actually is right now on the open market yeah I think probably and and really I mean honestly you guys know how this works sometimes you know this kind of messaging getting out through the media

Uh you know there’s times when when a team might hope that it helps at least spread the word um like their dream Target that I definitely do not think is happening is Mel Bridges right like um you know the idea of Mel coming to the Rockets and a jayen center deal would

Would make eem company very happy um you know I and they’re not only looking at at a guy like that I mean they’re trying to add bigs and and just build out the roster I I think regardless of or I guess without knowing what they’re able

To pull off um I will say in doing this piece that it it did remind me that I find them the Rockets to be one of the most interesting non-c contending teams in the league right now um they they are you know clearly have a vision of where

They want to go what they want to be you see that win over the Lakers the other night when you know every so often they they just compete differently honestly than today’s NBA this is the the the scoring binge era uh where we’ve seen so much the last couple of weeks and this

Is one of the few teams that that will punch you in the mouth and piss you off and play a little more old school which we don’t see a lot of these days and build big Dylan Brooks guy Sam am is hey man he’s I’m not but he’s had I he’s I

Mean he’s had a pretty good it’s like its own version of a comeb back Player of the Year award I mean you get cast aside in Memphis um and and become you know one of the guys that’s a culture Setter out there um it’s it’s been a

Good run for him so far isn’t it funny got paid but yeah I mean we all we I shouldn’t say we all I I I definitely did it I definitely talked about Dylan Brooks going there and that’s the guy you want setting your culture after everything they went out in Memphis and

Like the culture is totally different like you look at they had one of the worst transition defenses just they had certainly the worst transition defense in the league the past two years and you look at it now they’re like really good at it and they get back and some of

That’s Fred Van Ved I’m sure some of that’s Dylan Brooks I’m sure a lot of that’s em udoka I think I think it’s udoka mostly but yes you’re right he got his type of players but look D Dylan Brooks you can say whatever you want about Dylan Brooks

That dude competes like there is that he has never gone 90% on any play in his entire life he is 110% on every single play I did not like his foul on Vanderbilt the other night though and I feel like that was lost in the whole situation because there was some stuff

With him and LeBron that’s always going to get some headlines and like the Vanderbilt when Vanderbilt got ejected like nothing actually foul happened in that sequence but did you guys see the foul that Vanderbilt was was mad about I didn’t I only saw the the kind of the push of the

V’s going up for a dunk and Brooks pushes him like it’s a light sh but it’s one of those that that makes him fly into the ston basically and it reminded me a little bit it was it wasn’t as you know uh violent or it certainly didn’t

Have the injury impact but remember the Gary pton the second foul in the playoffs where he clubs him around the head and Gary Pon breaks don’t get it twisted Slater I’m not trying to to say he’s not got a dirty element to his game

I he does you know U and I think also it’s so telling that let’s go back real quick and talk about eay eem’s one season in Boston was one of the most impactful for a head coach that I’ve ever seen when you talk about a team

That was already Elite you know you walk into a place that’s got Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown you get the trust of Brad Stevens at the time and obviously everything that happened on on the way out was was you know as bad as it gets from a PR standpoint but that season he

Made a mark and convinced Jason and J Jaylen to to share share the ball to play differently to have more Edge to compete differently and that kind of mentality which he at least partly picked up from Greg papovich in his years in San Antonio uh I mean he may

Was a an average NBA player and defensive minded you know put together U whatever it was eight nine Seasons but as a coach he’s been the same guy from San Antonio Philly Brooklyn to Houston and it’s very telling when you know uh you go out and one of the first mov you

Make is to go get yourself a Dylan Brooks I mean it said everything about the way emay was going to build it yeah it’s a good point I mean that that’s that was his represent assistant like that was that was the way he that

Was the way he came up that was the way players talked about him so it’s not a there were never any questions about em oda’s basketball smarts or ex’s NOS after he had that season in Boston right you know it was it was only about the

Stuff that went down off the court Sam I mean the the the story you got guys wrote was interesting even if nothing goes down uh over the next few weeks with the or over the next week with the Rockets trade-wise because you know it’s it’s kind of paintting a picture of like

You know the the leadership structure Shifting the priorities of the franchise shifting in some ways but do you do you think something is potentially going to go down I mean do you think like is this just a Rockets like hopeful yeah sure you know like look we’re looking into

Things or like could they do you think they might be like a stealth like oh you know they really strike at the deadline Chang things uh nothing imminent nothing nothing hot right now I mean the openness to you know to kind of do something the the idea that that once

You get past um you know shun and a few other guys that uh that they’re going to be open to talk you know could lead to activity uh but like you said I think this one was more I’m a sucker for these kind of pieces where you’re basically

Admitting all right we don’t know what they might do but guess what here’s what they’re hoping to do I mean if we could have the credit because he’s got a good pulse on the team you know if we could have a story like this and and you guys

Do this on your Beats too where you just tell people you know here’s what’s on that whiteboard internally and what they are trying to put together the the wish list if you will because we all know we sit on pods like this and talk about what might happen you know if you’re in

The offices with these teams these are very real list that they get put together and and the public never gets to see so I don’t know where it’s all going to go but the big takeaway is the Rockets are are trying to speed up their

Timeline here I I I have a question for you Sam yep what’s what’s a star to them like they’re 11th in the west right now what is what is a star you say okay they might use Jaylen green as as a tool to go get a star obviously would take green

Picks whatever else what’s a star is dejonte Murray a star or is like an all NBA player well he Mel Bridges is the name he use and that’s probably like the threshold we’re talking yeah but the Nets from everything that everybody hears like they’re not trading him like

They not trying to get worse for sure but I think he profiles as like you know a clear you know delineation Point whatever of like what the rocket right they’re not saying hey we’re gonna go get Jason Tatum or something it’s like well but there is a gap and I think Fred

You’re hitting on this is like yes there’s a there’s a gap and and a confusing uh disconnect if you will between the fact that Bridges you know Rockets say yes but Nets say no two other names that that you know our information was that that these do not

Entice the Rockets is dejonte Murray and Zack LaVine so okay we have we have a yes and we have two NOS uh I don’t know who sits in between I don’t know exactly who else you know they’re looking at

The Athletic NBA Show discuss the Houston Rockets’ plans for the NBA trade deadline.