Should Jalen Green Come Off the Bench? Alperen Sengun’s Slump and Houston Rockets Expectations!

Should Jalen Green Come Off the Bench? Alperen Sengun’s Slump and Houston Rockets Expectations!

I have out there starting and try to get five competitors on the court at one time to poor starts like that so I will look at all that over the break um look in the mirror myself and figure out the best way to move forward to get us off

The better starts welcome to the first episode of let’s talk Rockets um this is going to be a new thing that me and my boy roou are going to be embarking on here on the chop shop trying to keep it real Houston none of the fluff that you

Know I mean that you will see from you know a lot of the not you know not saying media and podcast and stuff like that but I feel like personally bro right now for where the Rockets are we need to cut through all the noise and just get straight to the business none

Of the agendas that people see so we thought you know bringing together both of our great basketball Minds on a podcast platform we’ll be able to deliver that to the fan base but what’s good with you bro what’s what’s up how you feeling man I’m chilling it’s been a

Long day um but I’m feeling good I’m excited to do this excited to you know two forces uniting to form like Voltron um you know excited to right to take part in The Chop Shop platform so look man to your point I like to talk hoop I

Don’t care if it’s good I don’t care if it’s bad I just love the game obviously I love the team I think we both do because we kind of psychotically spend a little too much time focused on it on the internet right so um so I’m excited

Man I’m excited to get underway all right first things first obviously you know on the social media thing it’s kind of a bit of a buzz around um one there’s two things one coach adoka um as you guys seen the comments he made post game I’m going to read tweet from Kelly EO

Who says and this is quoting and he’s quoting Jonathan Fagan so like some Inception level of quoting who’s quoting coach adoka and he said it’s definitely a concerning problem maybe I have to look at the rotation and lineup I have out there starting uh and try to figure to

Get five competitors out there at one time to avoid poor starts like that I will look at all of that over the break look in the mirror at myself and figure out the best way for uh forward to get us to better Starts Now that that’s a lot to unpack in there in

The in what coach adoka said and this kind of prompt is something that you had um you you know me and you have talked about before that you kind of made public and for the people listening I’ve seen a lot of the comments on Twitter it

Is real like it’s it’s I you know I can vouch for it that these are real interactions but you can go ahead and kind of set that up what is it that you you know you’ve seen behind the scenes and based on those comments from adoka

Like what are you thinking yeah so look I’ll I’ll lay it out if you if you need let me know so um so first of all the only reason I bring this up is because of Coach oka’s comments right to me I I hear that and I think oh that sounds

Like benching Jaylen green and it could mean benching more than Jaylen green it could mean benching someone other than Jaylen green but Jaylen green did not play the last what 18 minutes last night against the Grizzlies um Nate Hinton by the way mind you g leager g leager and

He got outplayed by Nate hin you know what I mean like so and it’s not the first time has happened this season it’s not the second time it’s not the third fourth fifth or sixth time right so there it has been an ongoing theme and it also seems like they’ve tried to kind

Of get Jaylen going at the beginning of game so it just seems like there’s a lot of energy that’s been put on this topic and then we get that comment so that brings us to a month ago and we’re recording this on February 15th and it was exactly one month ago which I

Believe was MLK Day Rockets play the the Sixers okay um they get blown out by the Sixers Jaylen green had a really bad game in the fourth quarter when they’re down by like 20 25 he he put up like 10 points real quick and made the stat line

Look pretty um but if you really go back and look at that game he was having a terrible game and so was the whole team but we’re focusing on Jaylen right now and so I tweeted I said hey if you go look at my timeline I said something to

The effect of I’m ready for jayen green to come off the bench like that’s where I’m at something like that I was like Jaylen Green’s got a no longer started shooting guard and I was indicating that yo I think it’s time for cam Whitmore to get get a chance because he’s looking

Better but that’s what I said I didn’t mention cam Whitmore mention Jaylen five minutes after that buzzer sounds I mean literally five minutes after that buzzer sounds um I had a DM and I was like you know you know when you get a DM from somebody that you

Don’t follow and they don’t follow you so you have to accept the request right it was one of those and I looked at it and I saw his name jaylen’s name and the picture and all that my first thought was oh this is one of these like Stan

Accounts or whatever you know I didn’t think it was for real and I looked at it closer and I thought oh that’s actually him so I won’t read it all I won’t unless you want to hear it we can go there but just no just just I guess and

This is I’m gonna say this just he redacted a lot so the people that are saying it’s making him look bad it’s it’s it’s a lot that’s redacted that um I think just pointing out what you pointed I was actually like that to me that’s like just basic stuff it could

Have been a lot more could have been way worse way worse yeah but way way worse so anyways and then also for for anyone that’s wondering like oh why are you exposing convers ations I Al I real quick want to address that I’ve had interactions with players many times

Before Rockets players non- Rockets players I’ve had Rockets players come into my DMs exactly as he did very angry and to anyone who’s wondering well how do you know he was angry Frank I think we can all yeah agree he was angry right and what I do in those situations is I

Talk to them and I say hey look man I get it I get that you’re pissed I understand because like if I heard someone random talking about me I wouldn’t like it either right I get it and I and I usually say hey let’s just hop on the the phone and talk because

Once you talk to me I think you’ll realize like where I’m coming from and you’ll realize I can actually talk about the game and maybe we have a productive combo maybe we don’t I don’t know and that’s worked in the past and I built relationships with players in the past

Lasting relationships to this day where some of those guys will just call me out the blue just to be like hey what’s up and just talk talk Rockets okay so that was my Approach I was like cool like you know calm down I get it let’s just talk

And we did so we transitioned from DM to a phone conversation and it was a brief phone conversation and he was not happy on the phone he was not happy in the DMS he was not happy on the phone I get it okay at the end of all that and that’s

When he told me on the phone by the way he was he’s two things and these are the quotes one he said I’m not no six man the other one he said was I’m not being used properly which I thought was really interesting because number one you know

It shed light into the fact that like yo he’s coming off the bench is a serious thing for him and I get it we all get that but like it really is that’s number one number two not being used properly to me that was interesting because I was

Like okay first thought is there’s that’s a lack of accountability right like there’s he could play better he could do things to play better second was it kind of gave me my first insight into oh okay well he really is unhappy with certain things about how he’s being

Used whatever they may be right and then not too long after that what did we see right we saw the postgame comments where he was like we got to do this after the Timberwolves game where he said we got to you know run more they got two bigs

Or whatever so he clearly has philosophical differences it seems with udoka but long story short man we talked I said my piece whether he took that to heart or not I doubt it I don’t know who knows um and then you know a couple times after that I sent him a

Couple messages after games where he played well and I was like hey just encouraging messages like yo you did XYZ right look good keep it up something like that right and the last thing I told him was yo it sounds like you’re doing some of the stuff we talked about

On the phone and it’s working so that you know it’s awesome and he came back and and basically was extremely rude yet again to that and that’s the last I heard from him only reason I bring that up is because when people talk about exposing combos there was never an

Expectation of privacy or confidentiality in this specific context he was just trying to on me he was doing his best as best as his mind could come up with to just on me as disrespectfully as if I came up to you and said that on the street Frank you’d

Either have something to say about it or yeah we squaring up yeah exact exactly so that is the full Universe of kind of all of that now um I’ll kick it back to you though like when you hear those comments what does that make you think

Like how does how do you process that from his perspective and then thinking about the team yeah I mean from a competitor’s P perspective like you said of course he’s going to say he’s not a six-man um I think to me the bigger like stepping back the bigger thing is why is

He even engaging with you you feel me like and that was when you first told me that was my thing like obviously you know love you brother but we’re not jayen we’re not in the NBA we’re not we’re we’re not Shams I’m not uh Brian windhorse you’re not Stephen A Smith you

Feel me so like what if if that to me that’s just like shows a little bit of um immaturity in himself and and and a little self self-consciousness about what people think about it and I think Koka had the best quote for him it says what people think about you is none of

Your business you feel me and that’s that’s facts and that’s that’s comes with you know having that mental resolve and and to me that that was what was concerning is like you’re calling people up and like trying to like you know I mean interact with people over Twitter

Comments and social media posts um after a game bro lock in in a gym man and and to me everything with jayen and you know I mean I’m not people on this channel know I try to be as unbiased as possible if he’s bad I’ll say he’s bad I’ve been

Somebody that looked at his upside for most of his time here in Houston it was recently until this season that for this same reason based on his is to me it’s more mentals for him that I’ve taken him off that perch of being somebody I could

See being like a star player it’s not has nothing to do with physical abilities I think God gave him all the tools to be a a great NBA player he has all you know all the stuff he could work on to do that but to me where I’ve seen

The the kind of the most disappointing thing is the mentals and this is a ongoing theme it’s like there’s something there that’s he’s not just not focused enough on what the main thing should be right now this was a thing that happened in his first summer as a professional when people were accusing

Him of traveling around the world instead of locking himself in the gym um and he was kind of backlashed and said you know wherever the money’s at some some weird statement like that like all through this time it’s like bro lock in like this summer coming up for jayen

Green is g to be the biggest thing like biggest most important part of his career as far as up to this point because it’s going to determine whether are you a are you going to be a six-man or are you going to be the person that

You were drafted to be now I was on Rockets watch when you guys were on I joined late there was something you brought up um that I I think that we people need to understand about what is going on with the team and with the

Jayen situation and I I do want to hear your thoughts on it the way I view it is that we are running out of development real estate and the uh the call for development and the call to be a competitive team are in opposition to each other right now because as you have

More demands to win a player’s development kind of that is obviously for Jaylen he’s been one of the on the starting five for most of the season a major negative compared to everybody else that was positive while the starting five still is a net positive um if if his development is

Pulling the team back and you have other players coaches front office people that want to win that does get to a point where something has to give and you know I mean I don’t know where the front office on the Rockets are right now but

I can see why they been kind of kind of you know the the rumors of him being put in trade packages and stuff like that like do you think that has any bearing on it like them moving forward as being a competitive team and his play up to

This point because I do feel like he gets a longer row because he’s a number two pick obviously Stone picked them etc etc but there has some some at some point in time it’s gonna Clash yeah I mean first of all I just want to say did you ever listen were you

Ever you remember bodies let the bodies hit the floor you remember that song yeah I remember that I remember that something’s got to give you just said something’s got to give that system was that system of no no no it was drown they were just like one and done as far

As I remember it was that okay I’m not a big uh I I you know I got a little rock and roll back but not not right right so I you know for me it was like the the main one but I remember the only thing

On your mind while I was talking like damn he was reciting the song the whole time just ignoring what I was saying go to to the point though um and look you mentioned this and I also want to mention it because I get all the criticism of like oh you’ve been

on jayen All Season people forget when you know you me everyone we were positive about Jaylen super gassed him up maybe maybe a little too much right people forget that it really wasn’t until this season where it was like oh man I’m actually concerned and

The reason is it’s basketball so you had the you you mentioned the mentality which is true right like why is he coming why is he worried about what I have to say personally like I’m not offended by that at all I agree with you

Right I’m like who am I to him you know but um for me there’s a lot of reasons but the main reason if I had to pick one put a gun in my head said pick one he cannot shoot he cannot shoot threes you can’t be a star shooting guard if you

Can’t shoot threes he’s shooting 30.7% as we record this Tonight Frank J Shante is shooting a better percentage than him from three damn and that crazy 30.9% 30.7% for Jaylen so so to the point now about building with him right what what I don’t think people

Understand is that and I won’t go too deep into the cap complexity and gymnastics of it because there’s people that know it much better than I do but if he gets to restricted free agency which would not be this summer it would be next summer and the rockets don’t

Have an extension figured out his cap hold is somewhere in the neighborhood of 36 to 37 million okay that’s a lot of money so if you’re not sold on him being that guy and you’re going be operating with a 36 to $37 million cap hold that’s

I mean what 89 million away from the Zack LaVine deal right RJ Barrett got I think 30 million a year 30 like 30 and change 32 million I forget what it was uh three and 120 or like three and 130 three and12 I can’t four something like

Like 30 yeah I think it was um it was 30 it was like 28 28 uh like 303 something like that something like that right he’s going to be expecting 30 to $40 million a year here and and again that’s why the comments I made that I reported about

Him I think are important to keep in mind because you kind of get a little glimpse into his mind right I’m not no six man to me that sounds like pay me my money as well right 30 to 40 million I’m not settling for you know 18 million 22

Million and even then if you’re paying 22 million for an inefficient six man is that even a good decision I don’t know but to your point so do they if they want to build and win now how much developmental rope do they have for him like how much

More Runway does he get especially if coach is already seeming to replace him with guys like Nate Hinton who’s a g- leaker Aaron holiday he gets replaced by Aaron holiday frequently like this ain’t the first third fourth 10th time this happened and earlier in the season when it happened the Rockets were actually

Winning games when t e was playing right that’s lately that has not been happening but you get the sense and this is just me guessing but you get the sense that udoka is like hey I need something else this kid is not really working you know maybe they’ll try him

Off the bench and if I had to guess I would guess that that the front office and Rafel Stone I mean he was the highest rocket draft pick since Yao main right that’s that’s that’s not something to just kind of brush off like that’s a

Really big deal he was the first pick of the rebuild right when Tilman ferto was sold this plan of like Hey we’re gonna tank we’re g to draft these kids and then we’re g to spend $60 million in free agency and boom we’re back it’s not happening right they’re not they they’re

Three six games under 500 they are the 21st they have the 21st best record in the league um I don’t think that’s what Tim Envision right that the play in is very quickly getting out of Out Of Reach and then Jaylen was the face of the

Rebuild at first right I mean they the number two pick and you look at some of the guys they took that were taking after him when you look at like Jabari it’s there’s no one after him that was the obvious pick right there’s Jay dub um it may be a couple guys I’m

Forgetting but there but those are like good finds right but Evan Moy is right there sitting right behind Jaylen green at the number three pick and ironically enough the rockets need what a defensive big who they just traded three second round picks for by the way uh Stephen

Adams so it’s like these things add up over time and if you’re if he’s if Jaylen green is just a wasted pick if that’s what he ends up being and they got to attach assets to just to get rid of him or if his value is not enough in

A trade to where you actually get something in of value in return I think that’s a big problem um so I would imagine for all the reasons I listed coach maybe not seeing eye to eye with with the front office which is something to monitor I’m just guessing there but

If you read the te leaves it kind of looks like ok might be on one on one page and Rafel Stone might be on another totally and then and then the cap hold like that that’s the other thing by the way when you read these articles they’ll

Say things like they’ll use the buzzword right oh the Rockets are loaded with draft Capital they’re armed with first round picks they’re really not uh as far as the Nets picks go they have two first round picks left they have two first round pick swaps left that is important

Because this Summer that first pick is due so if the Rockets don’t trade it it Los loses that value I was saying it’s in Rockets watchat I don’t know if you heard when we were there but when you’re when you’re making a deal you reference

The market for the deal right you go buy a house you’re like hey these are the houses in the neighborhood that were sold recently this is what they were sold for based on that here is my offer right yeah so on the trade market it’s the same thing you know here are these

Players or sorry yeah here are these players you know this player is similar to that player that player went for three picks so I’m going offer you three picks whatever you can scale value you can change value you know whatever you know what has objective value a first

Round pick and first round picks fall in the lottery they fall in the middle they fall late so that’s how they differ in value but that Nets pick has a lot of value right now it’s probably a lottery pick that’s as valuable of a pick as you

Can probably ask for soon as the Rockets draft that pick the car’s driven off the lot and it loses its value and if it’s a good player okay it’s a good player but guess what happens if you draft at tar een I’ve had people say this to me oh

But you know they drafted t e what if you drafted t e great you’re not going to want to trade t another team might disagree with you about his value when you’re trying to negotiate that trade they can’t disagree with you about the value of a lottery

Pick so that’s the thing if they don’t if they’re not able to flip Jaylen if that if that’s what they decide to do with that Nets pick they end up drafting another young kid and they’re stuck with one first round pick and two swaps and

Things get a little a lot more in my opinion a lot more difficult to make that swing for a star so I think they have a lot of very serious decisions uh to make coming up I think we could probably do a whole episode on uh Rafel Stone because honestly everything U I’m

Not going to go down that rabbit hole today uh cuz all of that a a lot of this is just based on preceding um events and preceding decisions that have led us here we’ve almost backed oursel into a corner um um but just focusing on the

Jayen part of it with his like you know I know a lot of people are preaching patience and uh we had a spaces after the the uh the last the Memphis loss talking and I was just telling people like once again I’m all for patience and

If this was a perfect world you would have uh each guy that we’ve drafted over the next like eight years just have them methodically build up their skill set and then you know etc etc but that’s this that’s not the real world you got to pay dudes money when money gets on

The table conversations change and for Jaylen I’m all for development but am I going to pay him development money and that’s where the the disconnect is going to happen because because like you said and rightfully so if I’m him like if you want to be successful as athlete you got

To be rational yeah he doesn’t think he’s a six-man that’s all cool but it’s it’s not cool when hey bro I’m not paying you like a star right you’re because you’re not you’re not playing you could think whatever you want but I’m not going to pay you like a star if

You guys want him to develop over the next few years he has to take development money and development money is on the lower end right if you’re going to be a development player and development uh players don’t get big money reps so that means you got to take

Off the bench reps and and to me that’s where the impass is going to come with this situation because I’m all for yeah let’s keep him for the next decade but scale up what he is doing um to the Reps he gets and what he gets paid and if you

Do that basically he probably would be coming off the bench and he probably would be making a mid-level contract um as a guy because you still have to factor in the potential and all that he’s not like a j shant Tate or a KJ Martin obviously there is a player there

That has a skill set that you hope over the years can develop but that’s all to me where the issue is going to come when they get to these negotiations because one he’s going to want the bag because he’s been kind of been put front as the

Franchise guy for two out of the three years before they get into this fourth year and then you know obviously his camp and his agency they’re going to push for that so I don’t see that um coming up as a thing and then for Rell Stone this is something that you you

Kind of brought up this is the biggest draft pick that he’s he’s he’s made and this is um more a big large part of what they told to Tillman fatita in the front office about the tanking this is like we’re tanking to get high level players are going to change impact this

Franchise for him to basically abandon chip in the context of everything else that’s happened over the past few years man that’s dude he might as well leave with Jaylen green I promise you I promise you that that jayen situation is going to be one that hang

Because and I I can you know I to me that’s just me reading it in context of everything if jayen is a failure and I’m hoping it’s not for the sake of rockets but if Jaylen doesn’t work out in Houston I don’t think I don’t see a world that justifies Rafel Stone keeping

His tenure as the GM for the Houston Rockets because that number two pick is literally franchise altering a lot of uh teams don’t get that opportunity to make those type of selections and to not only make the selection but even if you dislike like Jaylen I do think uh the

Way that they developed these players over these last two years impacted where we are today because if they had email DOA as their year one jaylen’s rookie year coach I I I can guarantee you the player he is a year three is going to be different um so that was part of stone

As you he like I see in these interviews he separates what he does is acquiring players and what the coaches do like he’s not a Personnel guy that hires the coach that’s like me owning a store and uh you know I just hire the manager and

I hire a manager he’s stealing and I’m not and the the you know the head headquarters like bro you’re losing money hey man I just hire the guys no that’s your store brother yeah fire the dud is stealing get somebody else that won’t steal your product like come on

Stone like can I can I say on that point go ahead in the conversation I had with Jaylen I could not and and maybe I’m wrong here so if I’m wrong I’m sorry but I could not help but think man this kid needs somebody around him to to get his

Head on straight to to show him hey man this is how you act this is how you behave this is how you speak this is how you talk to somebody this how you address something and I felt like he didn’t have those those first two years

His his twin was kpj who probably would have handled the situation the exact same way right coach was Stephen Silas who didn’t have that voice to be like hey man what are you doing young man sit down let’s talk you know what I mean and

So I agree with you I mean let let me ask you this two two scenarios one if jayen just Flames out doesn’t work the Rockets have to dump him not even trade him for Value dump him and Rafel Stone stays what is your reaction to that that’s question one question two what if

They flip him in a couple picks for Mel Bridges I think for me um stone is really going to be judged if if the dumb scenario happens and then I I’m scared for everything he does after that I’m scared for any moves he makes to me this

Has been the easy part up to this point of this rebuild now we’re in in the part where you got to make some big decisions about who to pay who not to pay how to use your assets if you can’t do the easy stuff then how can I trust you for the

Hard stuff and and I’m hoping Tillman fatita and and the rockets for an office people which I’m not even sure who all makes all the decisions I hope they are viewing this from a macro skill and understanding that um this stuff scales up just like with players if a guy can’t

Do the basic stuff you’re not going to throw him in the NBA finals and think he’s going to cook so um I honestly I’m I’m St you know up to the you I think most of the people people call me a hater I don’t hate them I love the

Rockets and and from what I’ve seen um over these past few years I think he he can he’s good at like contracts I think he’s a smart dude I think he understands the you know the front office and as an executive I just think there’s a disconnect there with actually putting

Together talent and reading how that Talent com combines with each other and that’s been a constant for his whole time from the from the start and so yeah I I I would be shocked that if all of if if the dump jayen and he’s still here

After that if they do flip him for Mel Bridges then it’s going to be based on what the team’s outcome is and how they look are they going to be a playoff team the last video I did I played a snippet from the interview when they hired coach

Adoka I re went back and rewatched that Tillman said it phase two is playoffs phase three is championships so those are the expectations they’ve set that the ownership has set that all this stuff the fans are talking about kid list waiting d That’s not hey I’d love

To wait but that’s not what the the owner said he wants so if we’re going to base it off of what they’re using assets using money paying for playoffs and they’re not making the playoffs then we should be concerned we really should be and to add on to that I don’t I think

People have lost concept of time next season marks year five I mean that’s half a decade yeah it’s the be it’s the beginning of year five it’s not close so technically it’s not half a but that’s half a decade right 2021 Harden tear at all down okay

2122 22 23 last season 23 24 that’s where we are right now I mean are we going to go half a decade of just suck you know because it looks like I’m assuming we don’t make the plan this season right unless something really like I mean they’re 24 and 30 they got

28 games left right they’re 24 and 30 yeah I think it’s uh I think it’s 24 and 30 but you can keep going I’ll confirm it sure so they got 28 games left in order to get to 40 wins they got to go 16 and 12 and that they’re not on a 16

And 12 Pace I think they’ve been above four games above 500 like once all season right so first of all that is seems with Out Of Reach and that’s and that’s if tares never comes back I don’t even know if they are and that’s the most underrated Storyline by the way I

Think they mismanage that injury to the point where he needs all this time off who knows maybe he only maybe he would have needed less time off if they just kept him out to begin with I don’t know who’s to blame for that I don’t know what those decisions were what went into

Them but that’s that get to 500 they got to go 17 and 11 they’re not going to do that right so I think it’s pretty safe to assume uh that they will miss the play in Golden State’s heating up uh I think they’re above 500 now or they’re

About to be or maybe they’re close to it whatever they just seem Out Of Reach for the rockets and I don’t think the schedule gets much easier right when they come out of the All-Star break they gotta play Phoenix and then OKC I think three times and then maybe the Pelicans

Again like it doesn’t get any easier so well my point is okay they missed the play in this season but they’ve gotten better the one thing I can hang that the Hat on so far is it’s a top six top seven defense and we’ll see where it

Ends up at the end of the season if it falls out of the top 10 maybe the sentiment changes but the defense improving is something especially with that with you know tar hurt Jabari and Dylan Brooks getting hurt Fred being out and all this that’s something to hang

Your hat on but if you go into year five and we’re marking half a decade that’s like Bro think about it kids went freshman year through at the end of this season they will have graduated with the Rockets being this bad I mean that’s a long time right so and then

Year five if they are still bad I mean how do you justify that at what point can you at what point do we stop buying the whole yeah yeah yeah yeah no next year no no next year next year at what point is it like hey what is actually

Going on right because teams have turned it around quicker not every team and I understand that but this team intentionally tanks they loaded up with $60 million of draft Capital they fumbled that Brook Lopez situation which might have been a in dis Skies who knows and they don’t really have all that much

To show for it Dylan Brooks who we can talk about is starting to kind of come back down to earth a little bit yeah um and is not really looking like a thrilling $2 million signing I got a lot of love for Fred Van Ved you know I’m

Happy he’s here they had to overpay him just to be here but you see what happens when he’s out this team is very bad when he’s out I think they’re one and six now without him and the one win required the referees making a terrible call at the

End of the New York Knicks game which we’ll take but I don’t know I don’t want to like sound the alarms but it’s just kind of like I don’t to what degree to what extent are people kind of like yo this is not that great yeah I mean I think it’s it’s like

You don’t see the big picture like I’m a big big big picture person and five years or four years is a long time and and you wonder how teams other franchises like the Kings get into where they’re you’re 20 years in haven’t made the playoffs is because of people like

That so that’s why we have people like that are able to try to keep it objective like I said like I think that’s very important um and I think that’s why a lot of people appreciate um you know the Chop Shop platform is one of the reasons we made it was because at

The time like a lot of people with the silus era a lot of people were just blowing smoke just to be cool on social media and if you say something negative it’s like oh my God you’re a hater well you know what I mean reality

Is go ahead I said who are you who are you talking to right so you are right 24 and 30 the the Warriors actually at 500 the Lakers are at uh about five games above so it is it is getting pretty bleak uh for the Rockets I still have a little bit of

Hope uh one player that we have seen um this year that has really kind of shown us and to contrast it with Jaylen what a a uh a leap looks like and what a young upand cominging player looks like warts and all and I think the warts and all is

Important because those are part of the the steps you have to take to get to that level and uh Alin shenon obviously he’s been the Rocket’s best player this season um a lot of the metrics like he has all the All-Star metrics you could think of and

And uh you know lately past 10 games 15 games he’s been kind of on a on a downturn one of the things I noticed uh his defense rating on the season as a whole is a 113 um the last 10 games is that 117 Point like four he is uh second

To last in the people that play meaningful minutes behind Jabari Smith who’s worst uh defense rating on the team uh in the last 10 game stretch uh his offense output is down to from 21 over the season last 10 games of 17 points um seems like he is just to me he

Looks exhausted um that’s what that’s what I’m going to attribute it to he looks exhausted I think a lot of our guys Fred before he got hurt looked exhausted I think uh Dylan I think the starters are exhausted there was a point in the season where the Rockets starting

Five until like late December had the most minutes played together in the NBA by wide margin it was like by a couple hundred because we overly relied on that unit where guys were averaging mid-30s in in those units and not having a roster that supports that which makes

The deadline moves kind of like why not like do something at least just to spell your guys if you really want to make the play in not having the uh the the roster to support that injuries were going to happen this wall that they hit it makes

Sense to me now looking back at how much these dudes have played and the level of play that they had for that two and a half month stretch we know this from watching like James Harden in recent years a lot of the veteran teams chill until this point they’ll be 500 like the

Lakers are right now right the veteran teams the teams that don’t have nothing to prove they know how to Pace themselves they get through this part of the year like okay there are two games above 500 and then second half of after star break turn up you know I mean

They’re like you know they just go on a on a stretch and we did the inverse of it as a young team trying to come out and prove ourselves played really really hard for the first half of the season and then hit this wall and shenon is is

A casualty of that I do expect him to play better going forward um I think a lot of the concern by people is overblown uh as far as I have no concerns at all I’ve seen enough to know that the Rockets won if if a player Jaylen said they’re not using him right

If that’s the guy that they’re not use him right right if if the Rockets would actually use him right I think there’s a lot more they they could do out of him but uh I know he’s been playing bad I I’m still I’m I’m perfectly fine with

What alpen shanon’s been doing uh this year yeah man Alpa and shenon dude look the kid first of all I agree I think they are exhausted and I think that I think you were actually the one that tweeted about it slow and steady wins the race man and when we came out the

Gate they were super intense they were excited to be winning but we already saw like man at one point Fred was leading the league in minutes per game he not anymore but it was like 37.9 or something which is crazy right and you knew he was going to get hurt his his

Career says he’s going to get hurt he playing that many minutes he’s getting older he’s gonna get hurt and he is hurt and the rockets are one and six by the way there are six games under 500 they’re minus five games without Fred one and six so do the math on that and

That’s that’s factoring in Tara not even playing but they don’t use him correctly because they don’t cut off the ball and that’s one thing I’m trying to figure out is that em udoka stylistically saying like Hey we’re gonna post up and spot up or is it a player thing because

Am men Thompson Cuts tar cuts um Jaylen doesn’t really cut I guess Jon does every now and then Jabari sometimes hits that Baseline cut Dylan doesn’t really cut he posts up and gets into shenon space which kind of conflicts with what shenon does sometimes but they really

Got to lean into in my opinion to make things easier into pistol action you’ll see de Damonte sabonis have those like crazy triple doubles and he’s not half the passor shenon is but he’s just getting dho handoffs or pistol action rubbing off the shoulder or dumping it

Off someone cutting into the basket and he just hits some you know simple stuff basic stuff at the end of the day basketball is not a complicated game you don’t got to make it complicated it just requires understanding your personnel and how to get them into the right spots

But they’re just posting shanga up they can’t even be a front a lot of times which to me is kind of kind of perplexing um but yeah man I mean he’s just I don’t think he’s ever played this many minutes in his life and I don’t

Want to make excuses for him he’s going to have to figure this out um ultimately but um and and also by the way uh Jaylen green shooting 30.7% from three shanon’s like 29 point or 28 or 29 point something he’s not far behind I think shanon’s 29.3% so put that into

Perspective right shenon can’t shoot the three so um but yeah I mean look he’s been the bright spot um he’s been the player where it’s like yo if there is anyone that looks like a star so far it’s him I have high hopes for cam Whitmore High Hopes for amen Thompson um

I will say a lot of people always say oh why don’t you talk about shenon playing bad and it’s like look there is a concept where you earn enough trust and you earn enough real estate that you’ve proven yourself to where when you do have bad games we take it a little bit

Easier on you because we know what you’ve already done and and the norm for shenon the averages for shenon far outweigh the down games and it’s the inverse for Jaylen right his negative games outweigh the flashes of greatness that we see um and that that is why I

View them a little bit differently but at the end of the day the defensive effort does have to get better I do think it’s encouraging that they’ve been able to be a top six seven def defense even when sometimes he’s not playing good on defense and even without uh

Again tar een and Jabari and Dylan were hurt on and off because he needs those types of guys around him I brought this up before I don’t know if you’ve heard me talk about this but Brook Lopez was not ever really a good uh considered a good like Defender

Right he was kind of like a soft big maybe blocked some shots but just kind of like a soft ofie big especially when he was younger and like big physical play was a little bit different than it is now Brook reinvented himself and how did he do that he got to the Bucks

Obviously playing with Giannis under buen hoser system and they had Drew holiday so they had awesome perimeter defense they had Giannis who’s super you know defensively versatile but they had awesome perimeter defense also Chris Middleton they would funnel the ball handler into the middle and then Brook Lopez could just basically stick his

Hand up and force a really difficult kind of low percentage shot from that mid-range floater pull up whatever it is and a lot of guys don’t like to take those shots so my point is philosophically they found something that worked and they really killed it

And I feel like the Rockets were on to that they had tar Jabari Dylan even Fred playing Stout point of attack defense flanking shenon and shenon was able to do enough to make it really work right he didn’t have and he was also doing his

Job in in a lot of respects but when he has to step outside the box and clean up um and you know do things that are outside of what he’s able to do it really gets magnified you know so even though the players that made the defense special on the perimeter like Jabari

Dylan tar have all been hurt on and off they’ve still maintained top six top seven status so I think that’s encouraging I think to some degree it puts to bed some of that stuff about like oh you can’t build a defense with shenon I think it’s definitely possible

Yeah and and to me the roster doesn’t even support that type of defense that that you would you’re describing where you have those versatile Wings maybe a weak side shot blocker I think we have some players the men Thompson of the world T een Jabari in some aspect not

Jabari like I I don’t think he can really be that help Defender but um there’s still a lot and when I look at shanon obviously yes to me he’s been lazy lately a lot in the games he looks like he he kind of he gets winded like I

Said with the exhaustion thing I think all of that all those things are fixable he can get in better shape he can get stronger he can get smarter those are things you can fix you know what I mean I can’t fix a guy that can’t pass at all

I can’t fix a guy that can’t read the game like those are innate flaws that some players have he has his strengths are things that are rare to find and his limitations are things you could supplement and to me if that combination is is okay and I think that’s why you

Know I’ve been saying this phrase now even though he might not be the like best player on the team I know he’s a player on this team I want Al shenon on this team if if guys get better than him I don’t care I don’t care if a man

Thompson is the best player on the team I want Al shunan that skill set is so rare and to me he’s like a big man version of James Harden everything he does is hard ISO like get it out the the mud I gotta go go like beat two dudes oneon-one

That’s hard basketball and he’s still averaging 21 sabonis is literally doing dhos to guys flying off for screens and shooting a lot of his stats a lot of his scoring comes off of pick and rolls and slipping to the basket um he gets a couple post-ups here and there but it’s

Really nothing that he’s doing out of his own just pure Elite offensive skill set to score you watch him in the playoffs I mean the Warriors basically uh exposed him that he is a offensive liability for their team so I don’t think that’s ever going to be an issue

For Shango the defense needs to get better it will get better the roster needs to get better his uh endurance and conditioning all of that those are things you can work on so overall I I think that going forward um for this break and now we can end with this what

I would like to see for the Rockets to close out this this session in in light of Coach adoka statements about um looking himself in the mirror they need to just like we we keep like the team is dancing around elephants in the room if it means Ben ing Jaylen green then go

Ahead and do it go ahead and do it either put I would I would be okay with a man Thompson starting his place I would be okay with Cam Whitmore if he’s healthy to start in place I would be okay with with t een starting in his

Place um because I think they have options there are players that at different points in the season I’ve said this guy should be starting uh um if that’s what they’re going to do then bench jayen and then bring him along like you did with Cam and a man because

Sometimes watching and having you placed in ideal situations actually improves your confidence and can help you and then maybe in training camp you have a chance to really show what you’ve learned over the summer but to just give a guy at this point we’re getting to

That point where if benching him is GNA destroy him then I don’t want him to be my franchise player because you have to have a a a a mental fortitude at some point to be able to carry a franchise so if we’re not talking about him being a franchise

Player then why are we allowing him to lose games for us as one of the key reason we’re losing so once again there’s a tug of- War people need to really focus on what do you want for the Rockets do you want it to be Jaylen green and we’re going to experiment him

At all cost or can we find a world where we can develop him without him costing the team and I think right now the best route for that would be for them to put in better players that can get off to better starts and then insert him into

Second units where he can get to do more of the style of play that he likes yeah I mean my final comments I’ll say first of all I agree I think I think there would be some level of defeat within the Rockets if they accepted that their

Number two draft pick was a sixth man that’s just me guessing but I feel like they would take that as a defeat and it would be a defeat if you draft you know a Jordan P or Jordan Clarkson I got killed for saying Jordan Clarkson by the

Way I just want to say not looking too far off right now we’ll see um you should make a shirt for that just put the sweet on there but you know if you drafted that number two overall um that that just wouldn’t be great and I’m with you man

It’s like look I know that the Rockets I know there was basically a mandate where Jaylen green was playing when he was young when he was under Silas and I’m I support that they should have given him all the Reps they did I don’t think they wasted any reps early on maybe his

Rookie year when they plugged him in the corner and weren’t really using them but we got to see a lot of Jaylen green now it’s like man and you and you know you’ve been in locker rooms when the team is forcing one thing at the expense of everybody else and especially at the

Expense of winning games resentment starts to build at least with certain people maybe not with everybody but certain people really start to take heart to that because they’re like Y what are we doing here I signed up here to win I came up here to change this

Thing and turn it around not to babysit player X’s development you know not to hope he figures it out so we can just keep losing games we’re halfway through we’re more than halfway through we’re six games under 500 so um I do think tar amen cam all could start it just depends

On the style tar and a men defensively immediately amplify you and they cut cam gives you that release valve so you can kick to a shooter which is what this offense quite frankly has just been desperate for um but I will say lastly we have put a lot of stock in tar

Een myself included I’m like hey I’m not worried because T E’s hurt they’re missing all these games because tar E’s hurt right they’re 12 and 10 when tares in plays and that includes playing injured and playing limited minutes by the way minutes restriction which he was

On for pretty much most of the season and then without him they are what 12 and 20 godamn so without him they’re 12 and 20 right now we put a lot of stock in that that’s not a good thing usually for a role playing bench player to be

That valuable that important it tells you there’s a huge flaw in the roster construction and it sets you up for a let down because maybe t comes back and they they don’t start winning games the way that we’ve kind of mapped out so that’s just something to Monitor and

Something to kind of keep in the back of the head but yo let’s talk Rockets I think we’re off to a good start this was fun appreciate you bro yeah shout out to all the uh you know listeners if you guys agree with our comments let us know

In the uh chat or in the comment section if you disagree let us know as well also um if you guys are new to the channel hit the Subscribe button if you like this video hit the like button keep rocking with The Chop Shop we going to keep dropping that Fire Oh

In this episode of Let’s Talk Rockets Roosh and Frank discuss: should Jalen Green Come Off the Bench? Alperen Sengun’s Slump and Houston Rockets Expectations post allstar break!

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