What does Sengun Injury Mean? | Time for Jalen Green to Step Up? (w/ Frank from Rockets Chop Shop)

What does Sengun Injury Mean? | Time for Jalen Green to Step Up? (w/ Frank from Rockets Chop Shop)

Welcome to Houston sports talk with your host Robert land thanks for checking into the best Houston sports podcast and back with me is Frank with rockets Chop Shop check the Rockets Chop Shop YouTube channel for all his incredible content and hey if you’re a Texan fan we dropped

An emergency Texans free agency show today so please check out that ASAP but let’s talk Rockets Frank and we can start with a sigh of relief after Rockets Nation held its Collective breath Sunday when shenon was wheeled off the floor we breathe a sire of relief because it’s just a sprained

Ankle and a bone bruise on his knee how you feeling well first of all I bet you your emergency P for the Texans probably is about five minutes long because not much happened with the Tex um I didn’t know how much shenon was important to the team until I actually saw him get

Hurt it was really depressing as a Rockets fan it just brought back flashbacks of ya of Chris Paul of all you know it just seems like when the Rockets get a player that’s going to help us do something productive they always get hurt or something some weird

Stuff happens with T-Mac um so Ralph Samson too Ralph Sam I mean you can go back it’s just like a I don’t know I’m not gonna say it’s a curse but for for us to hear that it’s nothing more than just a a a bone bruise and a severely

Sprained ankle um miraculous I was worried the way he fell the way the leg kind of looked limp as he was he was falling I’ve seen that before usually when you lose control of your ligaments kind of just fell and it got caught under him so I you know all all the

Worst was going through my mind but it is I think for the Rockets this was such a it’s a big day for Rockets uh the front office and the fans because to me uh Al shenon is the only tangible asset that we have that we know for a fact

That at Baseline this guy is good everybody else is still pending and for us to possibly could we could have lost him for a significant time and then you know with these injuries uh especially with big guys sometimes they never come back if it’s a structural damage to the

Person they were prior to and uh I I just think it’s a big S Le for Rockets nation and I’m I’m glad that it’s nothing more and hopefully he can get back uh this summer and keep progressing on as he’s been doing this season yeah it wasn’t just the concern about could

This lead into next year but also the contract extension that you you know that was going to be discussed this Summer Frank yeah I mean I said that I made a video reacting to his injury and uh you know I said one of the thing I

Felt bad for him because going in this is not what you want going into your extension year especially for a guy playing as well as he has and he’s going to deserve and Garner a lot of money you know if he keeps up what he’s doing next

Year uh you know his agents are probably going to be asking for the rookie scale Max and uh for somebody that’s put in all this work to get to this point to have it cut off by injuries uh it it would have been unfortunate but you know

For the for the Rockets I heard you I think you had a quick space yesterday on on X talking about uh potentially like the Steph Curry thing where you get a guy that’s not quite 100% but you know he’s really really good so you’re able to get him on a sweetheart deal that

Kind of helps you build out the team going forward I mean just depends on how he comes back but regardless I think either way what we want is a healthy shenon and I’m glad that that’s what came out at the end with 18 games left in the season I’m not expecting to see

Him again very unlikely and you can do as a Rockets fan now is hope that something good comes out of the rest of the young Corp with him off the court likely of the core six it appears to be a major opportunity for Jaylen green

Most of all Frank he gotta step up I mean simply put Jaylen is is the highest drafted player since Yao Ming he is supposed to be where shenon is right now if not with him in parallel he’s supposed to be better than him as based on where he drafted the stock the team

The equity all the stuff they’ve invested into jayen green he’s gotten it all right all the Reps throughout the rebuild um the focus of the team shenon being better than people thought this early was is a buffer for Jaylen green it gives him a shield from the scrutiny

Of being the top pick in a franchise that’s trying to rebuild so instead of focusing on some of his woes and downfalls he’s kind of been almost put to the side a little bit to okay that’s just Jaylen having a bad game if Alber shenel was not good the spotlight that

Would be on Jaylen green not only from a national the national NBA audience and the local NBA audience I don’t think he would have survived them mentally so it it’s been a a double-edged sword for him um as far as with his struggles obviously he probably possibly I’m not

Speaking for him feels a little bit marginalized by shenon success but at the same time it’s been a blessing for him because he’s going under the radar and slowly taking his lumps and steps and trying to get better as a player without that full Spotlight of being the

Guy in Houston so this is his time this stretch we have coming up is Jaylen time I mean this is it bro like you got to step into it if he wants to make a case to get paid next year honestly if he goes on a run where he actually keeps a

Team afloat based on his merits I think goes a lot says a lot towards that and it’s going to build a lot of Goodwill with the fan base as well every time we see a glimmer of hope though from Jaylen you hope he’s turning a corner we’ve anticipated more turned Corners than the

Indie 500 uh Frank over his last five games his true shooting 58.6% wow that’s a lot for for Jaylen green it’s a it’s a big jump and udoka is routinely praising his offense and even if his defense is this anything what do you think I I would say it’s

Something um I I’ve seen some just I think right now the main thing for him based on the skills he has right now he’s um applying them efficiently the shot selection is still questionable um I think that’s kind of one of the things I’d love for him to clean up is knowing

When to shoot certain shots he does have a tendency to over overdo it with the bad shots sometimes when he gets going um but that’s even improved itself the defense the effort is there it seems like he’s turning the page on on being a lazy Defender um the the making the

Right reads is improving on that and the way he’s scoring is not uh just him getting hot from threes as we’ve seen in the past which anytime where Jaylen scores a high amount of points and he goes like six for nine for three I really don’t count those games because

He’s not a good shooter right now the games I like are the ugly ones where he’s driving to the basket again to the free throw line he’s forcing the issue and then making plays um off of the attention he gets and coming into this stretch without shanon without shanon’s

Gravity on the court it’s really going to challenge that because it’s it’s going to be a lot of him trying to create space and make decisions without somebody else there to take the defense with them we’ve seen him struggle with that uh but we’ll see like I said this

Is primed and laid on a plat for him to step in and really make a claim to be a guy that the rockets need to consider not to trade you know he’s been in trade discussion so he can really make a name and say that you know I deserve to be

One of the names that’s you know the big names on this team going forward into next season on into the future yeah one of the things you talk about is the space that maybe he won’t have because shanon’s not there but it all depends on who’s going to be playing instead of

Shanon who’s going to get most of that playing time because if it’s somebody like cam Whitmore there’s going to be more space opened up if they want to go small or do something like that who do you think is going to be in the starting

Lineup with Shang out it has to be Jac lelle and and it has to be Jac lelle just as a function of a screener the problem with our team Robert of of playing Five out as a full-time regimen especially in the starting five is that one obviously there’s a lot of talented

Big men in the NBA number two we don’t have a lot of guys that could dribble and playmake they use the pick and rolls and the dhos as a form of creating action that gives our guard simple reads you know dump it off to the roller kick

It out to the corner you know simple things like that when you get into isolation which going small you have to have guys that are able to break down the defense get feet in the paint not only just throw your body into a you know crowd of Defenders but make plays

Off of that I do not trust fredman Le to do that because I don’t think he can break down the defense consistently I don’t trust Jaylen green to do that because I don’t think he can make the play once he get into the paint um

Obviously cam I do not trust him to even think about dribbling he might just shoot as soon as he gets the ball am man Thompson has dribbling issues Dylan Brook’s decision- making is questionable to me that’s going to be the biggest issue is is do you trust um our our guys

To make plays and I think the two-man game even though Fred and and shenon and Coach oku relied on it heavily it’s the simplest most effective action that we had to generate offense for our team or the you know Shang get into a postup so now they just have to be creative the

Way I see it Robert I think that we need to just divide up shanon’s uh usage amongst what other guys do very well get Dylan Brooks into the post-ups like he started at the beginning of the Season get Jabari into that M High post area

You can run some Twan with ja land Fred needs a screener to generate space so that’s going to help him jayen needs a screener to generate space if you want to go small though I think now they have the optionality to play Jabari more at the five you could even do some Jabari

And Jeff uh front court stuff um instead of rolls now you’re doing more pick and Pops um so there are some things that they could do to make the defense kind of put some pressure on them but it’s all going to come down to the ball handlers able to make the decisions to

Me that’s going to determine everything um if they can’t make those reads then we’re we’re going to look like the bad offense that we’ve looked a lot of times when shenon isn’t on the court yeah I feel like it’s a far cry from the landal that nobody wanted to see within 300

Mile radius of uh the Toyota Center to now go okay he’s goingon to start and if he starts typically the starter is going to get at least 30 minutes or 25 to 30 minutes or something like that I I I guess I understand why you under why you

Think that um he’s the guy why you think he should start but you know they they have a lot of trouble scoring when shenon doesn’t play and the only guy that can put the ball in the basket consistently on this team that’s up when jayen well Jaylen can put it in the

Basket it’s just not consistently but the only guy that does it consistently is Cam and and he opens things up and it opens things up when him and Jaylen play together if you’ve noticed Frank because it seems like that really works well because it also opens some space up with

Cam you know being able to shoot like he can let me ask you this Robert do you trust Jabari to play the five honestly full-time or at least not even full-time but for a good margin of the game I I just don’t think this is about I mean

We’re not what are we trying to do here we’re not getting the play in I mean the the idea here is you know just let let’s see these guys develop and I want to see more of the guys that we think are the future like cam Whitmore not guys that

Like Jack landal that we’re talking about you know in a couple of months he’s gone I wholly disagree with that I’m gonna tell you why Robert when you were watching that Kings game yesterday didn’t you like the the atmosphere don’t you feel like there’s a little bit more

Ump in these games for the Rockets because they understand that every single game in fact I think they’re playing already started to started a few games ago oh yeah no I totally agree with the whole idea of you’re trying to win I’m trying to win more than you know

Along with with the development I think it’s a big benefit but I just I I just don’t believe no matter who you’re going to stick out there on the court right now without shanon the one guy on this team that draws doubles that creates you know open shots that scores I mean I

Just don’t see over a 48 minute game that you’re going to consistently think that you’re going to be in it at the end of the game especially if you’re telling me that Jack landel is gonna be out there for 30 minutes Jack land’s gonna be out there for 30 minutes you said you

Said 25 to 30 so I’ll give him the 25 the low end of that of that range but what I mean by that is if they get mathematically eliminated or it’s like it’s it’s so crazy that they can’t make it then I’m with you but I I honestly

Believe that they still even though they they are likely not going to make the play and the fact that they have a chance and that belief is within the players even for players like cam Whitmore I I value that you can bring

Cam in to close a game on a on on uh in a game that matters towards that goal so I’m not caught up on the starting per se I’m C I’m caught up in the moments that these kids get to experience and I think those moments are more beneficial than

Just a uh uh just you know somebody just saying starting that’s more ceremonial to me can you get Cam fourth quarter 5 minutes left Cam and Men you guys are going to go in because you know obviously we’re not going to tr now we can go small Jabar you’re playing the

Five here’s what we’re g I think that that’s what I’m trying to capture if they do what your with you know just going all development or trying to see the young guys the games are going to be over before they start so it might get there I’m not arguing with you about

That but I think that they should give themselves the structure to at least attempt to put together a regular competing basketball team and if it you know if it looks bad after a couple games then I think udoka and stone are smart enough to know like all right Fred

Dylan hey we’re GNA start cutting your minutes down we’re going to Pivot this a little bit and try to get some data and some reps with certain lineups but right now with the Warriors you know Steph being hurt I mean the Lakers are on the road right now so it really looks like

The Warriors are the ones that we I don’t know if we have a chance but if that window does open up I just value even the thought of them thinking that they can make the play in even for the young guys yeah no I yeah keep trying I

Mean so I’m not saying not try just like I’m I’m just trying to be the real person here you’re you’re pessimistic naturally so well it’s it’s I think it’s more like being real at this point in season um you know Jaylen talking about him he’s going to be a father in may we

Just found out I could care less about the gossip angle Frank but speaking as a dad is there any way as a dad do you think this helps him yeah I mean I have some theories about Athletics and family like I think for me one of my big

Markers for a star player is that they’re married I don’t know that’s just me uh to me I just feel like a guy that has a home and is married to somebody I can trust with my franchise that that’s on that but as far as fatherhood I you

Know it’s mixed because there’s a lot of clowns in NBA that have kids but for Jaylen um what what I’m hoping is that as a young man he’s only what 22 years old when I had my first child the realization that you have a child does

Make you look at the world a little differently but it didn’t really happen till after the kid was born so I’m not sure I think it can go either way I got some friends that have kids that they act the same pre-child post child but

For Jaylen I just think he just needs to mature more and it seems like he’s just growing and maturing more I have noticed that after the news came out uh the fact that he was going to be a father publicly his his play didn’t improve I don’t know if it was causing some

Anxiety or he it was something he was thinking about or was on his mind but now that it’s out and open maybe he feels the burden of relief that okay everybody knows this let me go out and just hoop but you know more power to him

Um you know you know I’m I hope that you know his uh his uh lady has a safe delivery and uh yeah I think fatherhood may you know may help him just mature a little bit faster so he can uh really have perspective on basketball being the

Main way to help his child and help his family out going forward as as he has done to get to this point but yeah more power to him I I just hope that uh that uh he just keeps maturing along in his path as a man I don’t know what their

Situation is but if Jaylen and her are together in the same house the one thing that we know since the baby’s coming in May jaylen’s going to be getting up early so maybe you know that that getting up early maybe uh inspires him to be at the gym even earlier than he

Normally would be in the summer I remember Robert there was a story that came out a couple years ago I think when they were rookies or something like that and it was released by I don’t know who released it but there saying like Jaylen green has been waking up to work out

Early and it was like 8:00 a.m. I’m like come on bro like the story was like he gets up at 8:00 a.m. to go to the gym and I’m thinking about guys like Kobe and guys that wake up at four in the morning so yeah I definitely you know

When you’re young a lot of these kids they they don’t take care of their bodies they don’t really focus on what the main thing is as now he’s becoming a father in the NBA growing he’s 22 he’s gonna be 23 next season you just hope everything clicks for him because the

Talent is there we’ve talked about Jaylen over and over and over again to me a lot of his issues well he does have some holes in his game but even though he’s super talented is just mentality um I think he loses focus a lot um but I

Like the stretch he’s put together it feels it feels real um it feels real because he’s not always having the best games but it’s he’s helping the team win so I think that’s what what I like and that’s what I want to see going forward a baby makes you focused doesn’t it act

Ran Fleet after after he had his baby in the finals he turned into one of the the the best finals performers guarding Steph Curry hitting big shots yeah yeah it’s it’s a big thing let’s uh move to the offense uh because udoka told the Athletics Kelly EO that he has not given

These guys everything he wants to do offensively he wanted them to master a few things before he gives them the whole bag and you’ve shown concern about oka’s offense did this change your feelings I mean stepen silus said the same thing if you remember yeah yeah he

Was saying that he so I don’t know it’s kind of more of the same to me either our players aren’t very smart as a collective or we just have had bad luck with offensive coaches on back-to-back ten years here in Houston but I definitely understand with a young team

There’s not a lot of vets um but even in that there’s still a lot on the table with DOA to me personally is left um undone there’s a lot of meat on that on that bone that he’s left like you talk about with Cam Whitmore to me not

Playing him in certain lineups more as a spacer electing to play him play other players I know cam is a ball hog right now sometimes but I think his catch and shoot um ability does open up a lot for the team you’re looking at a lot of the

The things that they run it’s really one-dimensional uh I can’t I won’t believe that a team that has fedan Dylan Brooks and shenon at least those three collectively they could run a more diverse offense than just pick and rolls or post UPS um and I don’t know what

Benan does he’s a shooting coach we the worst shooting team in the league guys are not hitting their free throw if he is the offensive coordinator we’re one of the worst offenses you know let me tell you this Robert post All-Star break the pace has picked up to top five in

The league our shooting has went down we’ve gotten worst we’re not as efficient we’re worst uh points per possession on offense everything has really went down so I’m not sure where you really go from here with the offense to me their issues are personality base more than anything and that’s a raell

Stone thing to fix in this offseason but I’ve kind of given up on offense bro I think right now they just need to try to win games Scrappy and and run in transition and and try to do the little things to try to win rebound and just play good defense yeah it’s almost

Impossible to have a fast-paced offense when Fred Van vet’s playing 38 minutes a game when you’ve got Dylan Brooks out there who you know he’s not slow but he’s not somebody at the wing that’s gonna get out and run and be fast and shenon who’s who wasn’t fast and of

Course that that won’t be an issue at this point but I mean that’s that’s something I I understand what they want to do and when I’m men in cam out there it makes total sense because those guys will get it up and down and they’re in

Holiday as well but like the guys that they’ve got I just don’t think it’s um all that realistic I I do want to give a little bit of shine to Fred van because his shooting struggles are over looks like the injury made him look bad for a

Month but what we saw pre-injury and post injury those the 10 games that he struggled and then the post injury with the few games that he didn’t have it together that was about health not his ability I mean he shot the ball most of the year if you take away that stretch

Great I mean he’s been fantastic and I do think though that Dylan Brooks’s oblique injury is actually still bothering him Frank one night his defense looks good the next night he’s getting blown by routinely do you agree yeah I saw a play um I don’t it was two

Games ago where Dylan tried to Pivot and he tried to change direction and it looked like it was painful for him to do so um I I just I haven’t I’ve watched him a lot throughout his career because obviously we played Memphis a lot and I

Like John Moran as a player so I followed the Grizzlies like one thing you can count on is he’s he’s a decent Defender and he’s been really really struggling these uh pretty much for the whole month of February into March right now I have to believe that that oblique

Injury is just not fully healed or there’s some limitation on his Mobility there because his change of direction is is not great he looked better yesterday but um he’s been getting beat a lot in isolation giving up a lot of drives to the to the rim and yeah and Fred yeah

You’re right Fred has looked great um the shooting is back the turnovers are you know he’s been pretty good at that the assist numbers are great one of the down Parts about the Shang gun injury is that um I think him and Shang gun and Fred really feed off of each other so

I’m going to be curious to see how his efficiency looks without Shang because they’re really tied to each other um on the court but um to your thing about the the the the pace now there’s a misconception now the players you described Cam and the man they’re good

In transition but when it comes to Pace men times is one of the slowest Pace players on our team because the pace you got to think about is how fast you get into your sets and a lot of these guys cannot dribble and when they get the ball they’re just standing there over

Dribbling trying to categorize what the defense is doing and it really does bog down the team I want them to get into their sets fast like as soon as you get there try to attack the defense before they load up on you um to me that’s where Jaylen

Comes in as a player he can do that Fred is a bit more methodical but Fred actually knows what he’s looking for um but for some of the young guys when you get the ball make a quick decision and go with it um yeah just with with amen

Though I will say this um it seems like he’s trying to either have van vet or holiday out there and basically running the point guard when amen’s in there so he’s not bringing the ball up the court hardly at all anymore I’m with that because I know a lot of fans don’t like

That but we have to be real am man Thompson right now is not a great ball handler it’s not a guy that you’re gonna run a million pick and rolls with right now I think over the offseason that that’s going to change I trust his work

Ethic but um to me he’s being played as a wing uh forward kind of this uh combo Wing forward playmaker and I think that’s appropriate for him and honestly on the team where if his shooting never develops that’s might be where he he ends up being is that kind of that Aaron

Aaron Gordon kind of playm that Scotty Pippen type of playmaking forward um that’s a good Defender rebounder and he can playmake in certain sets but for the most part I’m okay with putting him in different parts on the court if that it’s really hard to win in the NBA with

A guard as your lead baller that cannot shoot that is a hard ask especially as you go and the tal the talent level goes up in the playoffs and things like that is a guy that dribbles the ball the most can shoot it becomes it’s very problematic so for him he either needs

To get better as a shot maker not even behind the arc just on the floaters finishing mid-range game um to be able to to be that that ball dominant point guard that we think that he was drafted to be or is going to be playing that off

Ball role where he’s doing uh different things from different angles on the court and he might still get some reps as a point guard too doing that as well by the way you talked about Cam and as a as a lead member of the cam Whitmore publicity team I just want to tell

Everybody that I am noticing more and more him giving the ball up him making passes uh he he’s not trying to go in against three or four guys every single time like we saw earlier I I I think we’re seeing progress and it’s happening before our eyes I think if you’re

Missing it then take a take a watch to see what see what he does these days and and we saw him recently in the last few games I’ve seen him run some pick and rolls and done a nice job you know not going into the teeth of the defense but

Just pulling up for a nice 12 to 14 foot open jumper and you know that’s the type of stuff that you want to see from him I think the biggest thing I’ve taken from cam this season and it’s very important for him and his his fit on a team is

That he’s learned to become a catch and shoot shooter and that’s a big deal when he came in cam could not shoot the ball off the catch without having to dribble dribble a couple of times to get himself set up now he’s able to catch it and go

Straight into a shot I think that gives him the ability to be on the court in different positions because right now ball handling is not his strength so he’s playing more as a wing right now and as a wing in in the NBA in 2024 you

Have to be able to get get the shot off um because once you’re you’re offense creates that space where you got to get it off and he’s been doing a great job doing that I still think the shot selection in stretches has been bad but

He’s 19 so that’s what you just you just you just tack that up to being 19 what does cam look like at 21 years old what does cam look like at 22 when he’s jaylen’s age that’s a totally different player but like you said the micro

Development is what you want to see um he is he is passing the ball a little bit more I’m not going to give him any super credit for that but I think the catch and shoot ability has been my favorite development from Wendy if you go watch those early games it’s like as

Soon as he caught the ball it was like dribbled I got to get my step back in just getting the ball out on the on the catch and shoots I think really opens up our offense and ex it’s exactly what we need and I think that’s why he gets a

Lot of burn with Coach AOK yeah I just the people that I know are saying well I’m and Thompson and over cam wh or or maybe they feel more comfortable that am man Thompson’s going to be the guy down the road I just know I just feel like

Cam cam what he he needs to get fixed as much more correctable I’m in not having a shot outside of a dunk is is is a long long long run way to go for him yeah but I’m in is he’s such a versatile player I

Think uh I would disagree I think a man thinks the game a little bit more than Cam and I think that’s one of the harder skill sets to have is a is a guy that’s more cerebral about basketball I can mitigate a lot of things if you the

Difference with am in right now with his shot is going to be whether he’s going to be a prominent uh fixture as a as a focused player on the team or just a very elite role player with Cam um I think he has similar upside is he gonna

Be a prominent offensive like Creator a wing that you can give the ball to the the Jaylen Brown types the Jason Tatum types or is he going to be a six-man that you just bring into microwave score um but I like just amend the fact that he’s such a reliable Defender as a

Rookie and that’s only going to get better I think his skill set his smarts The Cutting all that stuff to me just scales up to like he’s really going to be good but it’s a good I mean they’re to me why not both right we want both of

Them to be successful um I think that uh the Rockets really really did a good job drafting both of those kids and I think odok is doing a great job a lot of people complained when they were sent to the G League you know I mean a lot of

People complained I think cam definitely needed that you can see the fruits of that now towards the end of the season so I’m really uh excited to see how they develop over the next few years anything new at Rockets jop shop uh no just same same uh making the Rockets content

Postgame lives and yeah just you guys stop by if you want to hear some uh really good talk about the Rockets once again look for the link to our brand new free agency special on the Texans the show that we just put up today in the

Next 30 seconds you’re going to see it if you’re watching Youtube the link will be there always good to catch up with you Frank and thanks for the time yes sir you’re listening to Houston Sports Talk hey don’t forget to support us by subscribing and commenting on YouTube

You can always listen to us on Spotify apple or your favorite podcast app tell your friends about us and share our Show links on social media spread the word everybody thanks for [Applause] [Applause] listening

Host Robert Land & asks Frank with Rockets Chop Shop what Alperen Sengun’s potential season ending injury means, will Jalen step up & what Udoka had to say about his offensive limitations. Plus, we hit on Dillon Brooks & Fred VanVleet’s health & recent player.
(:26) Sengun injury updat
(3:00) Is this opportunity for Jalen Green?
(4:33) Is Jalen’s recent play a great turn?
(6:14) Who should start for Sengun?
(12:10) Will Jalen’s fatherhood help his game?
(15:00) Should Udoka hold back part of the offense gameplan?
(20:36) Cam Whitmore improvement
(22:21) Whose weakness is easier to fix: Cam or Amen?

Subscribe on Youtube, Spotify, Apple, iHeart & Google
Tiktok @HoustonSportsTalkRobert
X @HSTPodcast

#alperensengun #jalengreen #imeudoka #rockets #camwhitmore #amenthompson #fredvanvleet #dillonbrooks