Houston Rockets Coach Ime Udoka Talks Alperen Sengun’s Upside, Teams Offensive Struggles, and More!

Houston Rockets Coach Ime Udoka Talks Alperen Sengun’s Upside, Teams Offensive Struggles, and More!

Oh welcome to another episode of rockets talk I got my man roou with me bro big week for the Rockets man we’ve been in the media a lot uh these past few days and it feels kind of good I’m not going to lie though it does man uh first of

All uh the people spoke and we listened to them we heard so we have a microphone thank you for um bullying Works guys it really does we need to bring it back play but yeah yeah so so hopefully that doesn’t happen if it does know you

Ask shall receive um look man this is honestly the most excited I’ve been about this team I think this is top five most ex excited I’ve been about the team just watching one of the players have that kind of like official national tele nationally televised and also against

The best Prospect maybe ever right um definitely since LeBron and has like these career nights you know 45 uh 16 and like five steals three assists or something and then 23 points 19 rebounds 14 assists like I’m excited um Kornheiser wil boner talking about him right uh Jack is talking about him

So I think I think we have a lot to talk about it’s it’s a lot and um and we’re gonna use this Kelly e article that he had dropped a few days ago actually before the Shang goon kind of uh explosion onto the national medium the Rockets being front and center both

Playing Wy and then with which all the attention he he brings then the next night Harden returned back to Houston so before that I think this was a timely article because eme kind of touched on everything basically throughout the rebuild G gave us a peak into his mind

And uh the link for that article is going to be in the uh description of this podcast for video It’s called email DOA on seeing glimpses of rockets potential Jaylen green Shang goons development and more and there is a lot more in there so what we’re going to do

Bro we’re going to go through some of the questions Kelly asked and then talk about we took away from ‘s responses um and you know that could take us anywhere uh based on what the topic is the first one I think uh appropriately is uh he

Brought up you know when and I’m Marita verba when you first took over you knew how much work it would take to turn things around with less than six weeks left in your nugur rocket season has the reality of the current situation made the task at hand bigger or have your

Expectations always been the same so I’ll I’ll go first on this one um basically Kelly is bringing up the the big picture view of what eay probably saw when he came in you know the famous quote I’ve never missed the playoffs now staring down the barrel of missing the

Playoffs I think it is appropriate for him to kind of reflect on that based on his expectations and uh to me what was interesting about one of his responses you know one of the things that he said is uh the he said it will take a little

Bit longer with young guys whether it’s a half season full season whatever the case may be guys learn grow and change at a different pace I was shocked bro be not shocked but I think what I gather from this article is something that um it really does tell me that he has

Invested in development um from this team and um and that kind of aners some of the questions about you know people question his lineups like you think about the jayen green playing thing and benching guys like Jaylen Jabari shenon in some cases um I think that at first

You know some of the disc course around eay was like he’s this like win at all cost I got to make the playoffs type of Coach but it’s kind of reassuring to me in a way to know that he is measured and with the influence he has on the

Organization and we were talking about this um off air you know I mean about the James Harden which will come up a little bit later situation and when Stone and said he kind of jokingly said in the press conference when they were doing EMA’s introduction that uh they’ve

I don’t know what the quote like rolled up their sleeves already and had tough discussions the only thing they could have talked about at that point was James Harden and I I if eay won that argument he has a lot of power and for me it’s reassuring to know that a guy

That has that much power also doesn’t have that I got to get it now all that once’s view so you know that that’s just what I took away from that yeah I mean I agree with that right he says uh that that he knows what he’s signing up for

And so it’s like okay cool um you know that would give you the impression that he came here with the longterm in mind and and maybe hopefully uh with like a different mindset than Boston right he walked into Boston and inherited a good talented team the expectations were

Really high and I mean I think he fulfilled them right took them to the finals in his first year um and so maybe he saw a situation where he was like look I want to lay my roots and I want to you know cement like a legacy I don’t

Want to just be this guy that comes in and has to win and win and win um I want to build something from the ground up and that seems like what he’s been doing with these players and it’s also um it kind of shows you you know we were

Talking about last week how it feels like now three years later we’re in the same spot that we were you know kind of in some ways three years ago and this season would be the ideal way to tank right a ton of development um you you’re seeing Alber shenon break out the

Structure is there guys are getting their habits coached up and they talk about this in this article elsewhere as well um and then you’re still in a position where if you wanted to you could technically and I don’t think they’re going to but you could technically shut Fred down shut Dylan

Down Go full youth probably end up with like 31 wins and have decent Lottery ODS obviously they don’t have their pick this season so that’s that’s out of the question but regardless um I I say that to say it’s impressive because I keep telling people this he inherited a

Defense that was 29th and all they added in terms of significant impact value defensive players it was Dylan Brooks and Dylan Brooks comes with his own warts by the way he’s not you know he’s good at defense but he’s also got some serious flaws

Um and then Fred Van v who’s I guess an upgrade over kpj but you know he’s he’s a good team Defender but he’s not like oh my God Fred Van vet going to transform your defense and his defense has transformed with Jaylen green playing 30 something minutes a night

With Al shenon playing 32 minutes a night seventh right now top 10 all season and that just shows you like he he talks about what stood out to me in that in that answer was he talks about being positive like I was surprised at how often he was like man you just got

To be positive so it seems like he’s got tough love but at the same time he’s you know keeping guys heads up he’s keeping guys motivated um and and we talked about this before for all of the offensive issues which they talk about why the offense is so simplistic by the

Way and we’ll get into that but for all of those issues the biggest sign that this team has bought into to him as a coach to me is exactly what I just said he took that roster with those two guys as being main additions um add in Aaron

Holiday as like part of that rotation who’s not a good Defender take away tar een for most of the Season by the way and then they don’t even have a backup Center all season so but they W with that same Core group of guys they jump 22 spots in defense like that’s buyin

Period so long way of saying that um it’s cool that it sounds like he came here to build from the ground up understood that assignment and to your point um I don’t think he would have done that if he didn’t see a situation where he his voice was of importance and

Magnitude which it seems like it is yeah that’s I mean that’s um to me it’s very important because we know what’s happening this summer they’re going to be making a lot of big decisions ision about what they need to do all one thing that I’ve noticed with the national

Attention that we’ve gotten um I I’ve heard a lot of different people chime in on the rocket situation uh whether it’s uh Nate Duncan and a um his what’s his co-host Danny Laro the GM Whisperer uh and uh you also have Tim legler and his guy uh and his podcast they talked about

The Rockets comparing them to the Orlando Magic um uh you know different media Outlets have talked about you talk about corn in them but everybody everybody is saying the same thing that and they have to pick a Direction they have to pick a direction especially with

What Al shenon is doing and to know that he’s not like you know we’re not going to trade the farm for Mel Bridges only um if you’re thinking about development and you have that future view of these guys then it does kind of help you feel a little reassured and I really like

That that he said that um one thing he did uh you know he talked about in the article when Kelly asked him the biggest reason you brought up the offensive inconsistency um the offensive issues Kelly asked what is it is it a lack of practice poor starts a new system or

Something else and um interestingly to me um you know he said what a lot of us have been saying is guys are getting accustomed to their roles uh guys got to grow and learn from playing with better players and Veterans or different types of players whether it’s Alp going into

His postro understanding uh how well he’s doing adjusting how their teams are defending or Jaylen who had the ball a lot more and to me the jayen one is very very interesting to to stand on because I’ve said from um at the start of the Season his transition into playing

Winning basketball is going to be the longest because he was so IM immersed in Silas ball as the main character of that movie and a lot of the guys that are adjusting better shenon Jabari they were role players they were uh the side characters so they didn’t really have

Prominent roles so essentially you you know they’re just doing you know shenon is having a huger role in this season now way more but he wasn’t the main FOC focal point so he’s learning something different but Jaylen was the man he was the guy that ran the most pick and roles

Last year on the team over Kevin Porter Jr and then for him to come into this setting where they’re asking him to play off ball and I don’t think eem is relenting on that uh because he says that he has to learn to do that play

Both on and off ball I you know I love that um I really do think that one of the issues is going to that and jaylen’s adjustment to that is with the national media once again everybody sees what we’ve talked about about Jaylen green you know people can’t have rational

Conversations within the fan base without devolving to you’re a hater you’re not a hater but it’s pretty clear like obviously jaylen’s not playing great you know he’s been better as of late um but his adaption uh how he adapts to this team is solely going to

Be based on whether he can fit within the context of what the team is doing and not what he can do and if he can’t do that I just don’t see the fit long term but I always tell people this summer for him is going to be the most

Important and he needs to be able to answer that question can I play in the way that helps us win and if he can answer that then you know we saw the glimpses in the sun’s games you even saw the game against San Antonio even though

He didn’t shoot well he PR played pretty good defense it was kind of all over the court I like how he’s been playing lately um but it’s all on him at this point um and I think udoka is giving him every opportunity to be successful yeah I mean first of all to

The point of all the national media I do want to emphasize man in this fan base we we talked a lot about over the years like oh who cares what national media says and now we care right because it’s good so just you know capture that feeling you know

Encapsulate that little feeling and just remember what it feels like because it’s like this is why it sucks when it’s the other end of the stick and they’re like oh man Houston’s a clown show what is going on in Houston um because it does feel awesome when you’re when what

They’re saying is oh Houston has that kid who might be a star this is a lot of fun now it’s like hell yeah we’re back right I forgot what this felt like so so that’s that’s part one um part two uh you know about like the guys growing

Jaylen green specifically so I thought it was really interesting because he’s saying he’s it’s the first time he’s playing with a true point guard he says true point guard right and we had all these point guard debates and discussions and all that right but it’s true first time he’s playing with a true

Point guard and he’s he’s off the ball so it’s interesting cuz like he had those two good games in Phoenix if you really look at the last like 10 maybe it just really hasn’t been that good man um it it’s weird with the fit because it’s like if he can’t learn how

To play off the ball next to a real point guard and next to a guy like shenon like what is the fit what you really need in that role is someone who plays defense maybe 66 65 uh scores 15 16 points a night on like 12 shots a

Night close to 5 threes a game around 37 38% right not Dynamic but serviceable um and if you could just kind of get that type of player because like the problem is he can’t shoot right and you’re seeing it lends to the to the argument of like yo when jaylen’s going off is

The team actually winning right when the ball’s in jaylen’s hand and he’s going off and it’s you know he’s individually playing well does that produce the best team basketball and usually the answer has been no somewhere in there e may talks about you know we got to get him

To to do more than just the pick and roll right they want him to do more make more read and and you know we’ve kind of seen him be limited because a the shots have not fallen 31% from three on the season it just is what it is um and then

He’s limited to the pick and roll or just kind of straight line driving when he’s on offense and attacking but regardless um he does say it’s going to take time you know for some of these guys but they do have the decision coming up with Jaylen green so you

Wonder does Jaylen green fit into eem’s offense sometimes he wants you know a shooter or someone that just provides space space is so valuable he even talks about e may talks about in his answer he’s like in the beginning of the Season we were making threes now we’re not you

Know and sometimes it’s that simple um the dude said it’s well documented yeah yeah he’s like I promise dude it’s not my fault so all all the people like when he says we need shooting and we didn’t get any shooting I’m telling you bro I

Have a feeling that like he he was not happy with the deadline I just I just have I Feel It In My Bones man yeah he to say it’s well document is wild about your own that’s like it’s on paper bro we suck shooting which is funny because

What did Stone say in that interview when he was like jaylen’s a good fit on paper yeah I love that I love our team bro anyways um now this to me this is one of the more interesting parts of the article where he talks about uh Kelly

Ask him about Boston and um he asked him uh in Boston have you uh been able to bring over to this team uh uh from let me start from how much of what you ran in Boston have you a been able to bring over to this team are there certain

Elements of the offensive principles you used in Houston or is it completely brand new now we talked about this briefly where he brings up Tatum and brown um having a inverse as the the postup players that they use to generate open threes on the outside because they’re bigger wings and they post up

Smaller guards but he said in Houston is different um obviously shenon is is that post Hub now um and the difference is honestly shenon is a passor out of there probably more Dynamic than Tatum and brown he uses a term that I like though um about guys being offensive receivers

Yeah and creators so there’s like a distinction there between a guy that can create shots and a guy that can receive shots and he’s saying basically we’re lacking both yeah so we don’t have guys that can create except Shane like we point out shenon in the post and then

You know obviously Fred Van vet um can create somewhat and Fred is a he can receive as a you know with the catch and shoots and things like that when you look across the roster there’s not a lot of outlets for good for the for the main

Action and I think when he you know he talks about you know adding like what they had Rob Williams that gives them another outlet and having that you know a different type of look for guards like players that can’t shoot to me gives an extra Dimension to the offense that’s

Why I think it’s important for the Rockets to get a kind of a a non- changon type of Center not not a Brook Lopez like a typical Rim Running Center because what that does Stephen Adams not Stephen Adams not Stephen Adams which is I we’re gonna have three centers I

Promise you and hopefully the third one is in ban we’re gonna have three centers uh on this team because Stephen Adams to me he’s he’s what Ban’s really supposed to be a guy plays 10 at one point in time he was a lob threat he was lot of

Threat before he grew his hair out basically you know no I mean he do with long hair but the issue is he’s coming off a knee injury right multiple injuries I mean he’s he’s a good I love I love Stephen Adams I’m not gonna slander him but I just think that that

Uh extra Dimension offers a reception from offense from guys that like the am man Thompson of the world it’s it just gives you a different wrinkle and I think it is important when you think about what this team needs to build going into the summer we’re talking

About about I think more than anything we do need creators like we have a lot of guys that cannot dribble but having guys that you can we saw the games like uh when Shang gun was playing I saw a clip bro um one of the on the clips uh

On the against the Clippers kawwai Leonard and Paul George were double team in Shang goon and I’ve said this I said this on my the last video I made the last time I saw that was in the year of 2019 when James Harden was averaging 30 plus yeah y’all remember the same damn

Game where he hit that that step back and fell and was saying wow wow wow that was the last time I saw a rocket get double team by two of the best Wing defenders in the NBA they they that’s not something you do that was December

2019 and was the one that fouled him right yep coming over after they were trying to trap him at half court I’m seeing all these things and we like the the game against the Clippers I mean we just lost cuz guys just sto hitting their shots yeah that was the main difference you

Know we were generating a lot of like they have three creators right they got Harden they got Paul George they got Ka that’s why when people talk about Harden versus Fred Van Ved it’s like you could talk about the trade-offs all day you could pull up Harden stats all day he’s

In a perfect situation he gets to play Third Wheel to two guys who are still in their primes while he’s slowly starting to exit his right and it’s a perfect situation basketball-wise he handles he shoots he creates those guys finish they’re on the wings the Clippers have

Needed a point guard like it’s a perfect it’s a perfect match what he would be asked to do on this team I think he could do but it would be too much and I think a he’d get worn out and B people forget bro he like he had no tolerance

For people that were not hooping right he has not been in a situation where he was with people that were not hooping um pretty much ever he went from Houston with CP and Westbrook to Brooklyn KD and Kyrie to Philly with M and now he’s in

LA with Paul George and kawhai like I think he would have run out of patience with Jaylen green having these nights that he’s having Jabari crossing over and losing it out of bounds like he he gets fed up quickly that is and he did with Chris Paul it was the year that

Chris Paul fell off all that’s a side note though what’s interesting to me about eem’s answer here is he goes like you said uh with us a lot of times young guys are struggling to do both in terms of create and receive and then he says

At times you want to rely on Fred to get us into certain sets but you also want to get him shots as well and to me that tells me he doesn’t trust anyone other than fr Fred right which is probably why he plays 36 37 minutes a night so when

People take Fred for granted I I try to stick up for Fred because I think he gets a lot of flack like he he has his warts he’s not perfect but man this thing would crumble offensively without him then you also look in B he says in

Boston he had bigger wings and guys who could probably initiate offense and be the recipient those two things here’s the important part The Playbook grows exponentially right a big complaint that people have is is the offensive the lack of creativity on offense and this article kind of tells me that

A lot of that’s probably intentional we can get into the pace numbers here in a little bit um but for example I don’t know if you saw this but against the Clippers probably three or four times uh both I think Jabari and amen cut from the Baseline straight under the rim and

Shinon hit him right that was on purpose um I don’t know if it was designed by emay like hey let’s go do it or if it just clicked in their heads because they talked about it pregame like hey that Double’s going to come from the weak

Side when it does Flash to the rim out people will find you right but like you can see like the light turn on um so it’s interesting because he talks about how the Playbook grows when you have these things that the Rockets don’t have so what does that mean the Playbook is

Probably not you know all that grown um and things are simple because he doesn’t trust anyone to handle the rock other than Fred he doesn’t trust anyone to create other than Fred and now you know Alp is creating more um and outside of that it’s like just a bunch of guys

Trying to finish the play yeah that I mean and just to park on that in the Clippers game real quick um I think that first half was probably some of the best offensive execution I’ve seen them play all season long it with intentionality because as you pointed out not only were

They intentional about cutting but even setting uh flare screens uh a couple pin downs and things like that to get Guys open on the weak side and some of it looked sloppy at times it didn’t look it looked like they were trying to do it

But it just looked weird but you can see how I mean that first like half against like we were destroying them and and to me that is a picture just a glimpse of how tough the Rockets team can be with the right pieces around them and this is

With to me they’re doing it with smokes and Mir mirrors with the guys that we have in the poor shooting that we have um and you know with the poor shooting you’re going to hit get backs to average at some point so just to see that and

See and he did point out to what you were talking about with the pace when uh Kelly asked him about you know what is his philosophy on Tempo does he like to slow because you know there’s been a lot of complaints about Fred like you you know you said people hate that he

Doesn’t run in transition and I’ve always to me I already knew why we slowed the pace down we slowed the pace down because last year people think just because you have an athletic team you just should run yeah but such a such such a misconception it’s a huge huge I

I don’t know where I was listening to it was an NBA player I was listening to a podcast today saying that the best teams in the League are slow down the pace all the best offense like the best teams they don’t run their Pace because

They’re going to get you and I was a coach I watch out watch out Frank because people are going to come because they’ve done this to me and they’ll be like oh but go look at the pace numbers and the fast break numbers you know the nuggets the Bucks and like they’ll go

Through the years no nuggets is not nuggets is not a fast like the thing is that people confuse pace and run running is not pace right this this I don’t know if it was an article I’m I’m I’m mad blanking but this person equated pace

And this wi view Pace how fast you get into your actions yes right how F that’s Pace pace is not just fast breaks fast breaks is fast breaks people confuse the Rockets not running in transition as Pace that’s not pace guys just because we’re not throwing lobs to KJ Martin

Doesn’t mean we’re slow pace is how long and for the rocket we take so long to get into our actions because one you know we can’t get an entry pass there’s guys cutting in the there’s so many things that go into that I’ve noticed and he says in the article

That um coming out of the the All-Star break that this was a focus for them to play faster and getting into their he says but we do want to increase our Pace especially all these young guys amen’s going to play at a different pace than Fred once we solidify certain areas get

Those down get our turnovers and shot selection under control we want to build the pace so he is like you said building from the ground up you cannot play fast if you don’t know what you’re doing playing fast is intentional playing fast means I know where my cuts are coming

From and that half of against the Clippers bro when I said they were like we people complain about Shang holding the ball too long the double came whiz whiz whiz three-pointer and it was just moving moving moving and it’s just so many things I watch about our team that

Is so Elementary and it’s hard for people to give surface level analysis of what’s going on without actually seeing like the real basketball of it uh uh for them to really know but um I I think the biggest thing I took away is that e is a

Really smart dude I do agree that Fred can play with a little bit more Pace I love when they do when him and shanon get into twom man fast it kills the defense you know what I mean you know who the pace killer on the team right

Now Jaylen green if we keeping the butt and that’s why it’s because he over dribbles right does he snakes the pick and roll and then he pulls it back out and then it’s like all right well now what right in order to play fast you got to have some combination of certain

Things that are that are vital in basketball whether it’s skill skill can come in the form of actually like skill on the ball like the Suns right they could get into what they could get into the the seven seconds or less Sons because Steve Nash was a wizard with it

And and he was just running options left and right penetrating either he had someone cutting or if he didn’t he had he had a cutter you know sucking a Defender with him pause bringing a Defender with him and then and then kicking it out for a three or he’d pull

It back out and get a mismatch whatever but but they had skilled guys they had high IQ guys and they had Shooters right do the Rockets have that that Rockets don’t have that you know not not they have that in Spades and spurts but they don’t have that at large right they

Don’t have a roster of guys who were all thinking like it’s just natural there was one play in the first uh first half where it must have been the second quarter because J shant Tate was in um alpie posted up on the right side Tate

Cut in the middle and you had sorry you had alpie posted up on the right side Tate up top Brooks on the opposite elbow and then I don’t know who was in the corner but I think someone was yeah I I think I remember the play right and um

Yeah t down the middle guy that’s helping on the corner the the corner Defender sags over just has to respect it yeah exactly right goes with them Alp kicks it to Dylan I think Dylan kicks it to the corner three right or Dylan shoots the three something like that

Maybe there’s not a corner guy I can’t remember but the point is T cut and it took a defend it was it was a Jabari 3 I think it was a I think it was a Jabari 3 yeah okay and so take cut and the only reason the Defenders go with them is

Because they know hey Alp that guy can get it to him right and and everything else just becomes natural from there that’s when it’s good basketball you don’t have to overthink it you’ve talked about this before you don’t just cut to cut you’re not just running around like

Hey here I am right people think they just think like a video game like hey if I just hit the turbo button and go to a spot like I’ll just get the Rock and boom boom right but it has to be there has to be a rhythm to it and there has

To be a reason to it so take like I said cuts down the middle the only reason that works is because the defense knows Alp is capable and will deliver that pass so now subconsciously and that’s that by the way the big thing about the game of basketball is you just have to

Make the defense make a mistake for one one second point8 seconds they step the wrong way oh they’re out of position now the ball’s skipping somebody’s wide open it’s it’s like that’s that’s all you need right which is why I was really critical of dant Tony being so predictable I wish they

Had some at one point you know you’re just giving an advantage away to the defense but that’s a different conversation um but running through Alp opens that up right you can make them like now they’re worried because they’re like oh if I don’t step it’s a

Layup so he just takes one step ball Zips over your head somebody’s open hand down man down right and that’s what Alber shenon makes available for you but it feels like as a team and under emila they’re just now getting into that my favorite part possibly the whole article

Is in response to that question um and it really shows you how high iqe of a of a basketball guy you’re dealing with with em Oka so he says um I took a deep dive into all the from last season and the areas we struggled uh struggled in on both sides

Of the ball and I wanted to avoid a lot of those we were a high turnover team 29th last year a lot of those came in transition playing too fast or guys going one onone so our biggest thing was executing in the half court limiting these turnovers which turned in uh to

These fast break points and being 29th in that area and defens defensive transition as well so it’s like he understands hey my team is limited so I got to put them in the best position that I can put them in to succeed and what is that we play safe you know we

Don’t force we don’t force the issue we’re going to keep the ball in Fred’s hands and we’re going to run the safe action Fred and LP pick and roll everything else will peel off that and we’ll see where it gets us and then if we can establish that we’ll start to you

Know Elevate and and have more wrinkles right that’s how he’s thinking about it so like I said from the ground up and I think that’s the right way I think that maximizes this specific this specific team and roster’s ability to win by way without tar een because when you do the

Other stuff you open yourself up to a lot of variants ball starts turning over guys are just kind of running to run structure gets lost and that’s how games get out of hand quickly that’s why these rockets for the most part have always been in a game and even when they when

They start falling down they claw back into a game because they’re just steady and constant nothing crazy nothing flashy but he’s establishing that strong foundation and man if we can just get some Talent which is the tricky part you could see how this could really turn into something no I mean you

Spitting there and you think about the style of play is really a playoff style where you value every possession that’s what we play Pace always slows down in the playoffs everything slows down in the playoffs the Rockets have been playing that Brandon basketball all season long um because for our

Limitations honestly even the defensive style we play where um you know uh Tim legler on his podcast was kind of criticized an eay for not doubling Kawai that’s kind of been our the whole season leaving guys on an island like we he trusts his Defenders to at least make

It tough on these great players and we’re just you’re just going to have to beat us in isolation because your initial action we’re going to blow that up whether it’s you trying to get into a pick and roll we trapping it and so I’m seeing the little cat and mouth stuff

That he does like you said the talent when you replace guys with better players the talent can really make the difference between a team winning 35 games and like he said in the article they they have about 10 games that they could have won if some stuff didn’t you know go the

Wrong so that’s 45 45 plus wins for that team um you know real quick before we go to shenon the jayen uh question he asked when Kelly asked him about Jaylen you know he says he’s talented um and you know he has games where he’s efficient other games where he struggled and found

Himself on the bench what are those talks so he’s talking about talking with Jaylen about where he needs to grow and I think you know what E’s overall summary was that um be aggressive when guys go under be ready to shoot the ball when you get to the paint and guys are

Funling you into the bigs know where your Outlets are so that’s kicking it out your drop offs your kickouts and so that’s the biggest thing with him seeing the whole Court seeing how the defense is guarding him and that’s what we continue to preach making him a well-rounded offensive player that’s

Been the biggest learning curves for him not just looking to score for himself but make the reads and get in into other sets for everybody else to your point about about when he scores it doesn’t really move anything to me his scoring is like the icing on

The cake right now um if if he is giving you a positive game where he’s actually scoring with the Baseline stuff that you’re GNA get from Fred Alp Dylan you should win most games because that position is such a big need for us that when it’s positive it’s like yeah we’re

A good team um but for me his scoring is such in a vacuum right now because it’s so just he’s not using even when he makes tough layups and there’s three four guys around him that should be a three right that should be a kick out for a

Three go ahead he’s doing it my big my big thing is he’s doing it in transition like I don’t care if he can do it in transition that’s cool that he can but can you do it in the half court can you break a defense down when they’re set

And defending you because to your point that’s a that’s playoff basketball B that’s when the Great shine and I’ve talked about this before they have moves and then counters and then counters to the counters those are the greats the wing players the skill players with the

Rock and that’s what I don’t see from them and that’s not even mentioning the 31% from three but he shoots 15.5 times per game that’s second on the team to shenon who shoots 15.6 shots per game can you believe that 15.6 and jaylen’s at 15 we we’re giving

15.5 shots per night second most on the team by at least two probably a little bit more than two shots and he’s got 52.5% TS so sorry I think I butted in there but like I just no you’re good that’s the context of what we’re dealing

With and to your point it’s like yeah when he plays well icing on the cake when he doesn’t Beyond replaceable that’s how it feels right and I mean th those and I think as as you know eay obviously understands that he talks about him not just being a one type of

Player um just being more well-rounded I think for him until he can leverage his actual strengths and I don’t think he’s identified what his strengths are until he can leverage at least the driving into the paint he has a very quick first step if you can’t see the court out of

That it does really put a cap on your offensive ceiling as a player there was some discourse about um in the past few days about team builds and what and this could lead into the AL shenon um section of the article about what type of player um should the Rockets build around right

And people I’ve heard people say Jabari people said amen Thompson nobody really said Jaylen but uh you know other players they’ cam Whitmore is going to be the guy you’re gon to me this is the easiest thing to build around a big man because and what and eay alludes it

Somewhere in the article what shenon does takes nothing away from the perimeter players because everything he does is something you could benefit if I’m a guard I don’t care if you brought James Harden Kevin Durant you brought the tyres halberton on this team you pair them up with a dominant post player

That Garners double and triple teams they’re that much better so not only does he he can play with anybody he actually enhances the perimeter the the Twan game with anybody else on the court when you build a team building around somebody to me there’s a misconception about that

Being like the guy that takes the most shots and I think that’s what people keep harping on like Shango needs to be this like you know 25 shots per game maybe there’s some nights he will have 25 shots per game cuz he has a mismatch

Like wiama but for our team to me the only way you can try to keep at least a majority of the players is if they build around Al shenon because if you go the am men route you gotta get better Shooters than what we got right now

That’s not going to work can I just real go ahead building around in men times is gonna be really hard I know people the hardest be hard it’s the hardest it’s the hardest like the Ben Simmons comparison is cool but I think people need to realize Ben Simmons is the peak

Of the Ben Simmons comparison right so far as far as actual player that we’ve seen and and by the way Ben Simmons is not LeBron that’s a totally different class of players right right as far as the Ben Simmons archetype goes He Ben Simmons is your Pinnacle of the Ben

Simmons AR you know I mean so at best he will be Ben Simmons um Ben Simmons scored 16 at night and he was 6 foot1 which makes a huge difference right and you you pointed out on Twitter his handles were Elite not just like capable but like from Magic Johnson St yeah yeah

Yeah so and that was 168 and8 right and even then building around him required a Joel and beid right like one did they really build around Ben though I think he was they they supplemented him yeah yeah but I think it was yeah right right so

Correct but the point is building I just want to it’s an unpopular opinion people will probably get upset but I just kind of want to set that expectation cuz I think a man is a good player I think think he’s a I mean he’s one of the most

Fun perimeter Defenders I’ve I’ve seen maybe ever I love watching him play defense it’s so much fun um on offense though I think he’s a connecting big and I didn’t want to yeah keep keep going about Shang but I just had to get that

In there because a man is like I I I think it’s so clearcut that shenon is the guy you got to build around because there is really no other answer that makes any sense I don’t know if you agree with that no I mean yes 100% And I

Think am man Thompson is um I’ve used the com for Aaron Gordon um as because I see him more as a playmaking wing than actual just a ball it’s really hard if if you’re going to build you can’t build around a a point guard that can’t shoot that’s that’s the hardest

Type of because you you’re going to need nothing but Shooters and you need specific type of players I don’t think people really do the mental exercise of thinking about these things that they assume um about like the players they could you know you can’t build around Shan you can’t build around a man

Thompson but a man Thompson can be an elite player on a championship team and I think um for that level of player um having a a player like shenon unlocks a lot for his game because a big man that could Garner the double team a man now

Has a cutting option he has the pick and roll option with the same player he could do inverse pick and rolls with that same it just opens up a lot the whole world for him just like Denver runs inverse pick and rolls with Aaron Gordon and joic so uh with the shenon

Obviously you know we’ve seen like you pointed out 45 15 and whatever it was then comes out the next night at home has a triple D a triple double 20 plus 15 plus rebounds has uh what 11 assists 2319 and a career high 14 dim 14 14 dimes I mean like and

And you know what’s funny about it it didn’t really look like it was all that like you know when a guy is have one of those games it’s like they’re doing a lot all of that came within the flow of the game natural in a game that wasn’t

Even high scoring and didn’t go to overtime he was it was just just the flow that was the most sabonis type game I’ve seen him have as far as the offense actually catering to his um his just the natural things he does on a play to play

Bases that’s why I said that first half was really impressive to me with the offense they ran because that looked like something like a team that’s more developed like the Kings would do whereas he gets the ball even though it’s different for him he’s not running dh’s but once the double comes kick

Shoot three bang that’s an assist uh you’re G to do you know you’re coming at me with a trap a guy’s gonna cut bang that’s an assist he can do that like he can average eight assists nine assists a game if we had like a a high IQ team in

My opinion bro yeah and some Shooters right um I mean look that those back to those back back to back games oh and by the way before I forget on a man you know the big problem with with building around a guard that like can’t shoot

That bad and again if when you’re going to bring up a comparison it’s got to be someone who literally cannot shoot not someone that you know not like Westbrook oh he’s a bad shooter Westbrook can back all the way off of Westbrook he’ll eventually make a few and you know

Throughout the course of the Season he’ll probably make like 44% or something but amen Thompson you literally don’t even have to guard it what they do they’re just going to go manto man no one’s going to help off the Shooters and and like is just going to

Be him driving doing that little ugly broken hitch flip shot or the the little midi he takes that he doesn’t make you know and then your offense is subject to that at the outset of every single game it’s really hard to do that um anyways on shenon those back-to-back games for

Me was the first time probably since the Harden era um that I feel like okay I I think it’s Crystal Clear what the direction should be and it’s you build around this kid if you want to trade him and make your like Tyrese halberton sabonis trade sure you can also explore

That but I for me I wouldn’t do that I would tap into the Homegrown talent that you drafted that is growing before your eyes in a league that where the tide is turning and the big man is back and it’s the Euro big man which is kind of crazy right you

Know what I mean joic uh Giannis um why am I forgetting the other big men sabonis sabonis is out there I mean you got embiid who’s from camer I mean it’s all these International big man that’s dominating the NBA right now yeah yeah so so lean into that right um you know

He’s been playing really well this season and I I I think he’s been by far in away the best player on the roster but those two games to me like that’s the coming out party that’s the official Alin shenon coming out party 40 oh wanyama is is another one uh Chad hren

Is another one even though I guess he’s American but um to the best Prospect ever Victor wanyama owned him on National television and then backo that in a back to back with those numbers back to back bro that’s what I keep for that game was on a back the Clippers

Game with the 20 whatever you said that was a back to back and he played like people forget people like oh man he gota make his thr bro he played 42 minutes on a back toback he’s probably that’s probably the most he’s ever played in

His life literally in two days Y in a two game two day span right so um I just think you know for most of the season it’s been so inconsistent and up and down I’ve always been a shenon guy but I could see the argument to where it’s

Like well maybe we don’t build around them but those two games to me was like all right I mean what are we doing here we haven’t even leaned into this fully for real fully like that Clippers game was was full-blown Shen Hub we talk Shen Hub that is exhibit a right you lean

Into that and you actually get some good players and maybe you get tar back maybe a couple Shooters maybe a backup center and I think you have something you know something worth building on so that’s how I felt it was just kind of like all right all right the vision’s been up and

Down inconsistent unclear those two games gave me like okay that’s it lean into this do whatever you got to do to maximize the prospects of this right and I won’t mention Jaylen green again but one of the first thoughts I had is I just don’t see Jaylen green fitting in

To a team built around this I know they had their Twan game when they were you know last season season before that but I think his style just kind of it kills some of the flow because of the over dribbling unless he’s making his shot and if he shoots his shot

Quicker right but we’ve kind of seen enough to know like I don’t know if he’s going to make that shot at that rate so but anyways Direction this summer is for Jaylen like I’m gonna keep saying it like if he’s going to have a miraculous like coming

Out of of as far as being just a player that gets it it has to be this summer but to the sh I’m I’mma let eay tell y’all what he thinks about shenon so um Kelly asked you mentioned alprin shenon he’s unlike most big men you’ve coached what has the process what what

Has the process of working with him been like em says it’s been great I mean the scoring piece I’ve had a ton of big scores in the uh scores in the past I’ve worked with jool and be obviously Tim Duncan Lamarcus alers I’ve had a lot of

Low post scores that I’ve coached and played throughout my career but the overall game and where you can plays him on the court the only other guy that kind of matches it is Joel but even with that Joel is not really the p the out print is I want y’all to really

Understand what e is saying here bro I had I’ve I I’ve wondered honestly bro what his perception of shenon was because of some of the discourse that comes out of the Rockets about shenon to me this is Crystal Clear he gets it right I’m gonna keep going he says um um

Or he wasn’t let me start but even with that Joel is not really the pastor that outr is or he wasn’t when I had him he’s gotten better in that regard but yeah he’s very unique and it’s a luxury to have a guy like him you can move all

Over the court to do a lot of things with Once his shooting improves it will open up the court for him and the team the thing is understanding and and US adjusting how teams are going after him he had a hot start not a lot of post

Scores in the league so teams have been focused on taking him out and making us improve it from making us prove it from three so the lack of shooting once again is pointed out there that has been the Rockets ailles Hill this whole season where I said we need a shooting

And people are like oh well you can’t build it no bro the NBA is smart they see you got this dominant dude he’s doing this we’re going to stop him from doing this you can’t punish us until you punish us we’re going to keep stopping

You from doing what you want to do and he said that he had a lot to start not a lot of post scores da da he said it’s really about how he adjusts and is putting him in better positions but also growing and adapting to the success he

Had this year so far so with the shenon thing to me the games watching that Tilman fertita was at I think the Wy game if I’m not mistaken yes um I think he was at the Wy game there’s a picture I sent it to you of him hugging Tillman

Looked like he’s probably hugging money that’s how the smile that was on his face and I joked with you um about the like the Rockets I don’t know why it’s taking them this long to like lean into this on a marketing standpoint this is a layup

You have turkey who is what like the 11th most populated country in Europe or in the something like that they have a large large large fan base we’ve seen this movie with Yao Ming obviously there’s way more people in China but still like marketing wise the NBA has

Done a lot to to prompt a young Euro big they understand the impact of international players on growing the game as a brand the Rockets are hustling backwards bro you know you know what’s about that is when we had Yao and then later Jeremy Lynn and Joe Chi really understood leaning into

That right and like there are Chinese fans that maybe not anymore because of his political controversy but up until that point even though yaming was no longer on the Rockets there are there were still like very loyal Chinese Rockets fans because they tapped into that um to your point it’s a layup bro

You could build uh you could build these roads with the Turkish Community if you if you do it right you know and you saw you had that graphic that you shared where it’s like all this it basically uh accounted for numerically all of like the contribution from Turkey right

Viewership and like increas in streams or League Pass viewers or whatever and it’s like dude yeah why aren’t the Rockets generating that right it’s interesting so it’s it’s it’s a question and you know I mean once again I’m going to reference the the the Jack the Tweet

Jackson put out about somebody from the rocket front office uh saying that they’re not really whoever that person is at this point they’re irrelevant uh is that opinion hopefully has changed um I think there’s a point where he’s going to transcend who whatever the perceptions of front office Executives

Is because when your ownership can sit on the court and feel the energy bro I was looking at the crowd I remember as I was young when hakee played in his prime you know I was really young my stepdad used to watch like religiously I’m Nigerian hakee is

Nigerian in our community he’s the goat like that’s the guy in Houston if you’re a Nigerian Houston all the African dads in Houston like they worship aiman like he could do no wrong so I grew up watching this I had to sit down and watch this dude the the reactions in the

Crowd I seen a dude do one of these bro shoted at a play sh I was like yeah man it’s over you you know the dude I’m talking about if you watch the game there’s the you look at the faces there’s people that looked they’re shocked and OD at

What they’re watching from their home team because of this dude if the if I’m an owner and I’m looking bro what are we talking about yeah this is a layup it’s a layup man this it’s easy like it’s it’s to me it’s There’s No Going Back

The Genies out the bottle at this point is this summer I think it’s it’s weird to say two games can change a direction of a team but I honestly think that these games uh may have forced something within the Rockets organization feel that it feels it feels like it it feels

Like like part of me is like I’m overreacting I’m I’m in the moment and then part of me is like well yeah but I mean it feels like that felt special that’s what I was trying to talk that’s what I was trying to like capture earlier is like man he dropped 45 on

Wy’s head and then back doored with historic it was a historic statline no big has ever done that I think because of the two steals 231 19 14 and two steals like I don’t know it just felt like yo it felt like when James Harden had those first two games as a rocket

The Detroit game where he dropped what did he dropped like 44 and this yeah he like okay this guy’s here 37 and 45 or something like that right it was Detroit and maybe Atlanta but I don’t know I can’t remember um and like because I

Remember at the time I I I I didn’t get why we went all in on James Harden I was like super wrong about that and I’m happy to be wrong about that um but when I saw those two games I was like oh whoa hold up then and with

Shenon I feel like that it was that it was just like dude until your point I’ve been big on shenon the entire time I didn’t know who he was when the Rockets drafted him but once I saw that first Summer League game I was like yes I’m in

And the reason and and he’s got his downfalls he’s got his warts so like he’s not perfect and and you know you got to build around him correctly to make it work right if you don’t build he’s not one of those players that he’s not like Harden in 2014 LeBron LeBron

And Luca you know where BR Harden was dragging like Costas Papa Nicola and Joey dorsy to the to the Western Conference Finals you know so he’s not like that but the main thing about him that I like dude is he’s just fun to your point of like the dude in the crowd

Like oh he’s just fun right he had that um that bounce pass against the Spurs where Fred transition that no Look to You know like those you know bro that play got man and then even further back to me you don’t get to that point where two games matter without laying the

Foundation over the years I’m not even going to say it was just those two games I think that was the peak of a lot of like this dude is balling like you think about the playin game against the pel like there’s so many Landmark games he’s had this year where you’re like damn

This dude can play you I’ve like since last year you hear NBA players after NBA players after NBA players saying man play through him he’s good he’s I don’t know like he’s cold everybody and Paul George k KD Luca joic everybody keeps saying it people ignore that I watched the opposing coaches postgame

Conferences to a man damn near every single game yeah we we we know uh game plan was try to stop him it’s a tough cover we had to taloo said the same thing after the Clippers game our plan was to stop shanon he’s a tough cover I

Think we did a good job blah blah blah blah blah these are champions bro yeah taloo is a champion he coached like so I’m saying all that to say if the Rockets can’t see this bro then I don’t like to me then we have no hope as a

Franchise this is easy and even at worst the complaint about like uh you’re a second round exit if you don’t have a who cares bro we’re we’re broke right now it’s like two broke people arguing about what type of Bentley they’re going to pick when they get bro you you you

Don’t have a house let’s get in the house let’s get the money you feel me then if we get to the point where we arguing about the Bley we want to buy then we could you know maybe we will but we are homeless that’s you what are we talking about

Second round exit yeah go ahead that’s where people get it twisted bro because it’s like look some I think some people got warped by the tank because they’re just like a we’ll just Prospect there’s a new Prospect you know we’ll trade shanon and build and draft the Prospect and it’s

Like bro it it if you’re lucky you can do that maybe a couple times but you got to be really good and you got to get a lot of luck when you got the Bird in Hand take don’t take that for granted right and I would like to remind folks

We were being sold kpj and jayen green Shan was sitting right there right and we had to watch Christian Wood get all the Reps and we had to watch Daniel Ty start and like I won’t go down the list but man don’t forget that because the Rockets got really lucky that a few

Things happened and The Rock bounced into shanon he was thrust into the spotlight and like they needed him right don’t forget Brook Lopez they tried to sign Brook Lopez um and for everyone that says that they would have shared the court maybe I don’t know but if they

Had signed Brook Lopez shenon would have been the backup center because the two guys they signed as the backup centers Jack landale and Jeff Green were signed with the money that went to Brook Lopez right so the intention of how they structured it was yeah we’re GNA sign

We’re gonna spend 25 million Brook Lopez shenon the backup unless Brook Lopez would magically accept the backup role for $25 million maybe he would I don’t think so um and then your third string Center was was boban right so don’t get that Twisted um but yeah I I think he’s

Given them no choice you have to like shenon is your best player I think he’s made the decision of like hey what’s the vision for this team very easy now just build around them just use the the the assets you have the capital you have the draft Capital that you have

Figure out which one of these prospects you might be willing to let go if you have to make a couple trades and bring in some big boys because I think next year after the foundation they’re laying this year if if Stone in the front office can actually make the right couple moves if

Then there’s hope in Houston but that is where the that is where the burden lies they got to make the Right Moves because if they don’t um you know extensions start to be due and then I don’t know how those things start to look right but that he

He’s given them a path so I think it’s Crystal Clear facts and I’m I’m we’re gonna close with this and to your point about the Brook Lopez situation Jake fiser dropped an article um today where he interviewed op Shen goon to me once again I saw what he said how he talked

About um I’m talking about shenon on the Paul George podcast with whatever the kids Call Aura he got it like the the he his English doesn’t do him justice as far as his confidence and like that bravado he got that not even like the dude he got he

Got he got like swag he he’s confident if he was a black like if he was like he would be like ant like the dude talks he talks that talk bro this dude said this the this the quote that I was like yeah he says about Brook Lopez if he was

Coming shenon told Yahoo sports I was fighting for my spot man I love that I was like that’s a bar that’s a bar we can end on that bro we can end on that so the Rockets got I think we had what like Portland and uh a stretch of

Games I think it’s Portland we it’s like f uh we got a game Friday and Sunday I’m not sure but it gets Friday Kings on Sunday Spar on Tuesday Thursday so if they get their together they could rattle four off in a row if they really want to be serious

What’s your Hope on the playing I’m kind of hopeless I’m out it’s over okay back I think there’s six games back with um 20 games to go I think it ain’t gonna happen unless unless the Lakers I mean collapse you know what I mean which I don’t think

That’s going to happen so yeah so that’s okay okay you still get games like we just saw right where you get to watch young guys so for me keep balling I want all our players to have these flash moments so to me that’s important I think that’s why you don’t just shut

Down the season let them be out there get some some good games under your and take that momentum into the off season but appreciate you bro another uh this is episode four of rockets talk we’re going to be back with y’all next week keep rocking with the chop shop and we

Going to keep dropping that fire

In this episode of Rockets Talk Roosh and Frank talk about Kelly Iko’s recent article interviewing Houston Rockets Coach Ime Udoka as he talks about Alperen Sengun’s upside, Jalen Green’s role, the teams offensive struggles, and more! #houstonrockets #nba #podcast #alperensengun #jalengreen

Read @KellyIko Article here: https://theathletic.com/5315924/2024/03/05/ime-udoka-rockets-interview-jalen-green/?source=emp_shared_article&access_token=969375

Listen to the Rockets Talk Podcast on all audio streaming platforms: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2317781/share

Get exclusive access to all the best Chop Shop Content and become a member today! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUV_6ruDGYAVsY-KkutlrWQ/join

Follow the HTX Chop Shop on all platforms: https://t.co/Anycu1Mqto

Follow our speakers on Twitter: @ftank58, @RooshWilliams