Takeaways from the Houston Rockets Winning Streak, Ime Udoka’s Genius and Jalen Green’s BRILLIANCE!

Takeaways from the Houston Rockets Winning Streak, Ime Udoka’s Genius and Jalen Green’s BRILLIANCE!

P Welcome to another episode of rockets talk the Rockets rou the Rockets bro we are 10- one in our last 11 games we won I think what is it eight in a row nine in a row now um this team is been balling lately and uh are we ever going

To lose I guess that’s the question of this pod are the Rockets going to go undefeated for the next uh five years what do it does not feel like they’re ever going to lose at the moment I mean this is the best basketball we’ve seen decade from the Rockets um I consider

The decade by the way to start with the one right so 2020 is the end of the last decade um this is the best basketball we’ve seen of the decade period right uh and there’s a lot to kind of talk about a lot to to kind of look at um they

Started playing this way when they were when they beat Phoenix and then beat Sacramento and almost beat the Clippers um and they’ve just carried it through and it’s like it’s like the natural progression right they were getting it they were figuring it out and now they’ve just just turbo boosted and it

Feels like there’s no going back so I mean it it’s it’s hella impressive um the change from where they were prior to the all-star break to the post All-Star break I know one of the things that I saw early on they started playing faster um their Pace really increased uh post

All-Star break but the efficiency was trash for like the first three or four games the three-point shooting actually took a dip um and then just like that it just hit and this is something that um you know viously eay gets a lot of credit and we’ll we’ll talk about him

More later on but I’m going to go over just some things that uh some stats that I think are interesting uh for this uh Rock his team right now so uh during this streak uh the team has been playing literally like one of the best teams in

The NBA um throughout these uh 11 games we have uh the number two offensive rating since that Phoenix game bro in the NBA right behind ironically enough uh the Boston Celtics coach soka’s old team and in that stretch as well the Rockets are uh the number six defense in

The NBA for a net rating of number two bro we are we have the number two net rating in the league in that uh since that uh streak started we are also uh one of the teams that is uh really shooting the ball well we if you guys

Know for the most part of this year this calendar year the Rockets have been one of the worst teams at three-point shooting uh to me one of the unspoken things about why they’re doing so well is is the how everybody across the board has just really picked up the shooting

Um and you add that to another fact that I tweeted about this yesterday the transition play um there’s a lot of discourse on the timeline about transition uh about Pace I think people get them mixed up the Rockets Pace uh post allar break has been top five for

The like hey question I know the answer do you know what their pace is on the season whole season uh right and everything combined together just pace for the regular season for the haven’t looked at it separated from pre and post allar what is it if you if you had to

Guess for the just talking whole season if you had to guess where they rank in the league where would you get a whole season I’m gonna because they were so slow I’m goingon to say they’re probably down like 25 14 damn y’all know how crazy that is

14 so there’s a lot like I don’t know and I’m gonna double check that as we talk right now but I checked it you know about an hour ago there’s a lot to like for me I’m kind of I’m trying to figure out what it didn’t look like it and for

Most of the season I don’t think the numbers even reflected that no they were they were botom they were like 30th for like last I was checking was in January I I would say honestly they were like 30th 14 they are uh it’s 99.8 no sorry

99.66 uh possessions per 100 I guess I think they’ve done a lot of heavy lifting over these past few games one thing I I have noticed with the with the pace um and this is uh with more one of one of the things to me why we were able

To keep our defense so good ear early on in the season is the fact that we played at a lower Pace because the team the other team then has to usually when you slow a game down the other team is going to be slowed down naturally and I think

Keeping the possessions low our uh points per game opponent’s Point points per game was really low I’m seeing that number creep back up but we’re doing it um because we’re playing faster so teams are going to score more and it’s kind of weird to see and I don’t know if I can

Draw any inferences from this about how pace dictates defense and defensive rating and some of those numbers how maybe not saying the Rockets are a bad defense or we’re gimmicky with it but I think some of the numbers about our defensive efficiency and rating um you know obviously we’re a good isolation

Guarding team is part of the reason uh to me is that we played at a slower pace and we’re able to keep teams it’s like in football right if you’re like a methodical ground game team you rest your defense they have to defend the field less right so in theory you’ll be

A better defense unless your defense is just terrible it’s kind of the same thing you’re protect I think eay was protecting them right from themselves before they were until they were ready U because once you like once you let the cat out of the bag it’s hard to put it

Back in and so I think that he has kind of stuck to a methodical approach of like yo we’re going to build it Brick by Brick we’re going to start with the basics that’s why the offense was so kind of just simple and basic and safe

Pick and roll find the open man nothing crazy nothing nothing overly creative that is conducive to turning the ball over um and then as you know once they got to a certain point start building off of that um and we started seeing it you know they beat Phoenix they beat

Sacramento both on the road I think people forget that that that’s a for this team that’s a big deal um then they almost beat the Clippers on the second night of a back toback they choked that one away and then again they’ve taken off and it’s all just kind of like it

All it all just seems to add up man I mean 14th in Pace and if you look at um the net rating man they are they have the same net rating as the Warriors they 1.4 plus 1.4 they are right behind Dallas and someone else Sacramento who

Are both plus 1.5 they have a better net rating than Miami and the Lakers right um so as a team it’s like it’s all coming together and what’s crazy about this stretch they have fallen one spot in defensive rating since shenon went out they were seventh when he went out

They’re eighth right now uh but I think the numbers have roughly stayed pretty much the same relative yeah they have jumped I’m GNA double check this right now they have jumped four spots in offensive rating so it’s funny man we have this discourse about let me see

Yeah they’re they’re 20th they were 24th in offensive rating they’re 20th right now um and so we have this discourse about like oh you can defend better with shenon they’re playing better offense without shenon and it’s weird it’s like this Ying Theory type thing and we could

Talk about if it’s sustainable you know we could talk about whether teams will game plan for this def for this offense and eventually figure it out we could talk about if this offense is going to work in an actual playoff series uh we could talk about matchups right like

Against teams like Denver and Sacramento I think you need shenon um but it’s interesting it’s a lot to kind of like figure out I mean and we’ll be keep it real I I’m not dismissing what they’ve done but they haven’t played good teams you know Utah without marinan is not a

Good team Washington twice not a good team Spurs not a good team they beat Cleveland missing a few players but still beat Cleveland um Chicago is an okay team so we’ll see I don’t know I mean definitely this this stretch of games um after this uh Portland game on

Monday is going to be huge and I think that’s really um I seen San Vini make a tweet saying that that’ll be the Telltale sign for the team and for like jaylen’s play and how and we’ll talk about Jaylen as well one thing I’m gonna

Ask you this then I’m going to go over some numbers is there a play style difference because obviously the numbers are similar I think the output results um on most of the what the rocket are doing um with uh Shang gun out of the starting lineup with his injury now is

There a play style difference on something that you could tangibly see um from the team that you would say is just different than how they play um with their current starters versus when uh Alp was playing so when Alp was playing it seems like they all deferred to Alp right um a

Lot of us wanted them to move off the ball I think they still struggled to like figure out that timing and to figure out you know how to play around Alp because again playing around a big like that isn’t something that just intuitively happens you got to figure it

Out right certain players get it quicker than others amen Thompson immediately understood um but he has a high basketball IQ I mean like he he he hadn’t he said he hadn’t set a screen until e may asked him to this season which is crazy to me because he’s a

Really good intuitive instinctive role man off ball player tar een great cutter obviously has been hurt but then you had guys that that operate with the ball in their hand right like Jaylen um Jabari was kind of a spot up guy uh with with shenon now they’re just playing like Fast Helter

Skelter moving the ball um driving kicking look the transition and and the getting out in transition um I had kind of looked at that as like yeah that’s kind of a copout right like okay sure we get we get in transition but basketball’s played in the half court um

Now watching them I’m thinking okay no getting in transition has really helped this team I still don’t know what it’s going to do in in the playoffs um if that if you can rely on something like that in the playoffs but they are a fast more athletic team I mean we’re seeing

The lobs that they’re throwing we’re just seeing like when they get the ball they move quickly um Jaylen is catching lobs in transition amen’s throwing them amen’s finishing them Fred is starting to throw them finally um and then the shooting it’s the shooting I I don’t know what has happened Fred Fred vanet

Tied the single game franchise record with uh what James Harden and Chandler Parsons 103 yeah was crazy you know by the way he’s he’s having the most efficient season of his career by far right now he’s over 57% TS he’s never been over 50 he’s never been over I

Think 55.3 TS and he’s up in the 57s right now which is crazy he also has the lowest usage of his career as a starting point guard with the Raptors he was around 22 23% usage he’s at 19% right now um so I don’t I just think to answer

Your question um I think that they are playing the type of ball it’s kind of like the Mavericks back in the day with Rick Carlile when they had Jason Terry and Josh Howard and darkk and their whole Mo was to ISO and attack right and

And and back then it was like this kind of semi- revolutionary thing it was like no people don’t do this right people don’t just ISO perimeter players and just attack attack attack now it’s kind of common place but they are isoing with their athleticism and they are attacking

And it’s working and then when they get when help comes they kick it and they are on fire from three so it’s it’s I call it it’s like small ball with with an injection of athleticism yeah I mean that’s that’s that’s a great point I would say one of the biggest um differences

Obviously not you know I think they still run some of the actions with landelle that they do with shenon um but you’re you know you’re not going to have that gravity so teams are able to play them more straight up but like you said they’re spreading the teams out allowing

Their guys to be able to attack in isolation and guys are hitting their shots but to me the biggest difference in their points uh increase uh because I think last I checked their points per possession was like 134 which would be like the greatest offense ever can can I

Make one more point before you get into numers um I think and this is a lot about jayen too but I think it’s the whole team I think they’re they have found Rhythm right um they have found a rhythm that you cannot quantify you can’t you don’t you can’t explain how to

Capture it but if you’ve ever played a sport if you ever watched a sport you know when a team is in Rhythm right like when Mahomes and the Chiefs and the chief’s offense is just like hitting and you already know when he drops back they’re getting yards there’s nothing

You can do to stop it the Warriors the way they used to be right when it was like oh man Steph has three people in his face from 40 fet out that thing’s still going in it doesn’t matter they’ve hit that level and I think that has to

Do partially I’m not saying they play I’m not saying they’re a better team without shenon necessarily but I’m saying that without deferring to shenon they have stopped standing around because like when you play with a good player it’s easy to just like give him the ball and watch and be and rely on

That player and then kind of defer to that player there’s no more deferring there’s no more standing around they have all collect L basically filled whatever void he left and and they found a rhythm doing it um which is why like Jaylen is like throwing up step back

Threes over two dudes and turning around and running down the court before the ball hits the net and it’s going in like there it’s a rhythm um and when you get in that rhythm with talented players it’s really hard to stop and so that’s that’s what it is I mean shenon out

They’re not standing around and just watching the guy who leads the team in scoring and they’re all moving as a result of it so rhythm reminds me I remember in um there was a that game where Chris Paul led the war the Rockets to beat the Warriors when uh James

Harden got hurt and guys were cutting I I don’t know if you remember that game it was 24 17 assists from that was one of my favorite uh performances him that one in his him and the Jazz Chris Paul is one of my favorite Rockets ever I

Don’t care how long like ever I’m just throwing that out there but you remember that game I don’t know that to me I remember the discourse was like why don’t we play like this all the time you want to know something was a uh that was a

Very fracturing moment for that team too because Chris Paul was like and James Harden was like nope so so it is interesting the Team Dynamics and when you have but obviously you you know Chris Paul wasn’t going to lead us to a to a Conference Finals playing that

Way um but you know to me one of the the key things that I’ve seen from the team I think is really the the transition I think the transition play and this is for everybody across the board Fred being more intentional about it I think uh even Dylan all the guys that were

Usually slower paced let’s meth you know methodical let’s get a good half courts set get a good shot are running and it’s more of those guys than it is anything but I think the number one guy that’s impacting is a man Thompson um I’m GNA

On cleaning the glass uh what I did I filtered some lineups um just to see some things right now with the uh the current line of the starters that we have with uh Amen in place of shenon with everybody else the Rockets are scoring in transition 138.4 points per

Possession which is way number one in the NBA right this is 147 possessions that’s czy that’s crazy um points per possession 9.6 that means in transition they’re scoring 9.6 points per 100 possession which is way number one in the NBA um the frequency is Middle slightly below below average so um the

Frequency has came down a little bit uh with this group but when they get into transition they’re going to score like no matter what they’re going to score um relative to our team the frequency is up um points per play 171 points point4 points per possession in transition the

Number one action that kicks them into transition is off steals so I call this the men Thompson effect you’re gonna ask how do you know it’s a men okay you know what I did I filtered out um I took him off the starters and just left everybody else on

There the fourman group of Jabari Fred Jaylen and Dylan without amen without Alin shenon just to see if anybody else has that impact on there you know where we rank with just those four guys without shenon and the men we’re the worst team in the league in transition Wow points 99.1 points per

Possession that’s dead last wow dead last frequency uh almost dead last points per Poss possession we’re negative we’re actually losing the transition battle against the opponent without amen or shenon so I’m trying to just isolate to see who’s the biggest Catalyst for this new burst and running

It’s to the am man Thompson effect it’s got to be yeah this dude is such an impact player when he’s off the court uh we are pretty much below average in every transition metrics when he’s on the court we are 84th percentile in all transition metrics um 70th in points per

Play 96 percentile in off steals scoring um off steel frequency uh you know 96 like so to me that does beg the question bro like if he is impacting and I I think there is something to him being on the court does that change the calculus

Of how you view how do we like put together this team um going forward once everybody’s healthy you know it’s tough man so I love shenon right um he was I think he was the best player on this team when he was healthy right um I think it’s I think that’s objectively

The case uh he had an All-Star campaign he’s the only player on this team in this franchise this decade that has had an All-Star case and and not just like the fans think he has an All-Star case but like seriously had one right top five in voting uh probably would have

Been in the All-Star game as a reserve if someone got hurt kind of like how Scotty Barnes made made it in the East right but it’s clear that amen Thompson has to play he has to play so the question is okay who spot does he take and what we’re seeing when he takes

Shenon spot good things seem to happen so I I don’t know what that means I don’t know how you build it I’ve been trying to go through it in my head um and think of like all right what is the offseason what are you do in the offseason because

Previously we were talking about man we need to we need to find a shooting guard uh I think that discourse has ceased maybe not permanently but for the time being it has ceased and shifted to what do you do how do you improve this team because I’m looking at this team and now

I’m thinking well okay just improve the bench um get like a backup point guard uh you have your backup center right uh or you have starting centers if shenon is not available like I I don’t know it just seem it’s starting to look like a complete team uh because like you like

You’ve been saying and you deserve your credit the team was a jayen leap away and Jaylen has taken enough leaps for two or three players over the last like 10 games um you know what’s really interesting we were talking about this in Rockets watch someone brought it up

So it was not my original idea uh I forget who brought it up credit to them but it this reminds me a lot of when Yao Ming went down during the 22 game win streak if you remember that I think he went down around like game nine game

Eight or nine or something and it felt like oh damn season’s over and then they rattled off another whatever 12 or 13 in a row right as this like small ball unit uh dmbe Matumbo stepped up and did his role Carl Landry Steve Novak you know like you you remember right

So was that team and then that team got to the playoffs and they lost to Utah because they just didn’t have enough right the the magic that they had GA bottled the Rhythm that they had hit just kind of it just wasn’t enough to carry over um but this kind of reminds

Me of that it’s not the same because there’s a lot of cornerstones here and that team was more so like McGrady and just like a bunch of dudes outplaying their their worth um over that time span I think Bobby Jackson if I remember correctly Bobby Jackson was one of them

Um but that’s what it reminds me of so like how do you view the building of this team now that we’re seeing this I don’t know but I do think that there is really something to the athleticism and the pace the whole issue was shooting coming into the season right the way I

Broke it down the simplistic way I broke it down was they’re undersized and they can’t shoot and both of those things are problems you can usually overcome one of those things if you have the other they didn’t have either and so I was like I don’t know how they’re going to do this

Um lately the shooting has been through the roof Jaylen green has gone from being literally having one of the worst three-point shooting seasons of all time to over the last whatever 10 games being like the Western Conference player of the month possibly by the way interesting stat I don’t know who posted

This I saw it on Twitter so I apologize I think over the last five years no player no non all NBA player has won Western Conference player of the month yeah I and Jaylen green that’s crazy and Jaylen green is like unless he falls off a cliff over here in the last

Couple games I think he’s going to win Western confence player of the month right so that like that is when when we talk about him specifically it’s it’s impossible to talk about the team without talking about him because he went from being statistically one of the worst starters in the NBA to now

Statistically being like one of the five best players in the entire NBA it’s crazy I have you I want to ask by the way have you ever seen anything like this the only thing I can think of is LIN sanity but that’s not even the same

N not not from the contrast of it um I I don’t know I think this this this will allow me to sneak in something I did want to talk talk about from that LeBron James podcast um real quick but before we do that um as far as with the team

Build this I mean not to me it’s it’s it’s an easy problem to fix like you have am man Thompson you have Jaylen you have shanang goon uh I always Bank on talent in this league you need talent to win um you will not get to the levels

That we need to get to with this team like this is a obviously a nice story um but if you want to compete against Denver if you want to compete against uh Clippers you want to compete against the the the Celtics you’re going to need as many blue chippers on your team as

Possible so the build going forward is still the same let’s find out a way to maximize all these players and that’s why Oka makes the big bucks like he has to figure it out I’ve seen um chemistry between a man and shanon they play well really well off of each other i’ we

Obviously know Jaylen and shanon play well off of each other we all we know amen and Jaylen play well off of each other so they all individually play well off each other in pairs is just um they have to like cook that up and make it

Make sense for the trio now as far as like next year to me the only people spots that would be open it would be Dylan Brooks or Jabari or Jabari as far as if a man had to be inserted into the starting line because I’m not moving

Fred I love what Fred Van is doing um off off the ball I wonder if you noticed this real quick if you notied that Jaylen is getting a lot of reps on ball um as as not really the initiator but Fred is really letting him finish out

The plays and acting as a what coach adoka calls a receiver and letting Jaylen be a play starter and and I think Fred’s efficiency off ball to me has opened up a different Lane that I knew he could do this but when I think about his third-year option it makes me want

To like maybe we could restructure this for you brother and see if you could be here a little bit longer because to me the long-term goal is always going to be jayen and shenon to game because that’s that’s going to be your two best offensive players using their gravity in

Tandem and then having guys at different parts of the court that could feed off of the gravity they’re going to create and Fred being able to play off ball to me makes that move to the bench or whatever people thought like a man was going to be the main point guard I kind

Of want the ball in jaylen’s hands now if he’s gonna play like this and that’s another Dynamic we’re talking about shangu in the man I’m talking about jayen in the man like I like how they’re using him as a screener I like him right

Now as as that I think as he gets older Fred gets older he may be able to usurp him in that uh ball handler role but to me it’s G to be the two man with Jaylen and Alp am men’s role I think as a disruptor on defense and as a a cutter

Like a souped up super version of KJ Martin and then Fred as a off ball kind of guy and then Jabari I think I would keep Jabari there I think Dylan you know I know people love Dylan to me Dylan’s Expendable to me personally me too that

Is me too I put a tweet out last night about what would this team look look like with Paul George playing small forward instead of Dylan Brooks that that’d be CRA right I got some mixed mixed feedback um but like you know now real quick I mean we’ve been talking about

This how do you continue to feel about amen Thompson off the ball I feel like it’s a no-brainer yeah like off the ball he is he WS Havoc off the ball on the ball I feel like that limits the the effectiveness like as a screener he’s so

Strong and athletic that he’s potent um as a secondary tertiary like playmaker passer that’s where he really does his damage um when you know not when he’s the the focal point but when he’s just another guy and now he’s creating um and then also man like before the season we

Talked about Fred and amen could fit because Fred could play off ball and amen could play on the ball but now it’s Jaylen playing on the ball um and Fred is playing off the ball but man Fred Van vet I was thinking think I was like yo

Is he already like the fifth best Rockets point guard ever right like Calvin Murphy Chris Paul I’m not going in order here just just listening him Calvin Murphy Chris Paul Steve Francis Kenny Smith who else Sam Cassell but like Sam Cassell wasn’t starting in this

Type of role with this type of load some of the old head’s gonna get with you on that one but yeah well look I love don’t get me wrong I love Sam and what he did to win championships obviously reign supreme but I’m just saying like there’s

A conversation to be had you know like Fred Van vet this franchise point guard wise up until we got Chris Paul and by the way James Harden’s a shooting guard to me yeah um and if you look at his listing on basketball reference I think yeah there’s only one season where he

Was listed as point guard and that was I think danon’s first season so he’s a shooting guard but this franchise has not been a point guard Rich franchise at least in the 2000s right it was Francis and then it was uh rord what Bob Sur ra for alustin Aaron Brooks

You know Aaron Brooks had a hell of a that one season where he dropped like 19 Kyle Lowry but he was still younger Kyle low you know Pat Bev but like I think van vit’s a better player than Pat Bev you know what I mean so interesting

Thought um but all that to say Jaylen on the ball is starting to do all the things that we were we’ve been wanting him wanting him to do that I didn’t know I thought he could do and then I got to the point where I was like man I don’t I

Guess it’s just not there he just seems like a when I get the ball shooting kind of guy and that’s not what’s happening um but what’s interesting is man this the the level of difficulty of shots that he’s hitting I know I see some people always talking about like because

Kind of to your point right um Jaylen on the ball trust me I get a lot of tweets about the Rip Hamilton comment that yeah yeah that’s like a new a new joke yeah it’s like the New Meme right I will point out the very first bucket he made

Against I think the Bulls ran off the Baseline caught whipped a three that Wizards to I broke down that game um they ran a off ball screen for um aen Thom for him and aen and he got a corner three off the rip off that play to me

That was I think that I think it was that game not the Bulls game sorry yeah so um but yeah on the ball look look man if he’s doing this on the ball we have a whole new dimension unlocked for this team right because that was not there

Previously we saw flashes of it but like it wasn’t a reliable thing if he’s doing this on the ball um it’s it’s over I mean have two young stars that can do that can create for themselves they can score 20 30 40 whenever they want and

Then can open it up for other guys and then now the shooters matter Fred vanit Jabari if Dylan’s hitting um so yeah it there’s just so many points of attack and by the way tar E’s not playing Kent whitmore’s not playing yeah like we’re doing this with um shout out to Jeff

Green Jeff Green has come alive lately he’s back right this is what happens when Jeff Green’s making threes Jack land playing out of his mind it’s just amazing to me how many guys who looked like at one point were not playable are now Beyond playable and you got to give

Them credit individually but for me I think I think em Oka this is this is a wizard at work that you’re seeing this is a guy who knows how to get by in and a guy who knows how to elevate um because for a while my thought was all

Right well we have good talent but do we have Elite NBA talent and we hadn’t seen them get to that level yet collectively now I’m thinking yeah we do have pretty damn good potentially Elite NBA talent but but you’re seeing the difference between a coach that you know kind of

Got them going and a coach that has extracted their greatness and is putting it front and center on display and that’s kind of the biggest contrast that I’ve seen and before we get to the eay thing um LeBron uh and JJ reck have their their

Podcast um what is it mind of the game or whatever it’s called one of the one of mind the game mind the game one of the discussions and I think this ties in and we’re gonna talk about Jaylen green here that um came up with them was um

LeBron was really talking about a lot of the players and JJ as well aren’t being potential the potent the potential versus um what guys do and they tied that into development and uh basketball processing and kind of how guys are taught as they’re coming out of the uh their

Whether there’s High School aaou Etc when I think about Jaylen green and when they were talking um I I he really did come to mind for me not in a negative way but you think about his journey to the NBA um he is literally one of the

Poster children for the aaou type of player right uh number one in his class basically like a Transcendent high school player um goes to the g-league ignite who’s literally being shut down uh for failing to develop the players that they were supposed to and um that’s

Where he’s coming out of and then you go straight from that to stepen silus I’m no shot at Silas um but obviously he was in over his head trying to develop a team with guys like kpj Christian Wood you had all these characters that coming

In and out um no real you know we see the contrast with Coach adoka as far as when it comes to to me what’s the most important thing with young players and building them up is accountability and structure a lot of this stuff to me with

Jaylen is that the talent is always been there um but when you don’t have the proper development the game really suffers and I think what he is honestly he’s been a victim and you know you could say it’s his fault for not training more or maybe his coaches but

To me he’s a victim of a system that doesn’t emphasize teaching the game and what it looks like to me is that over the this year as he is under new coaching come you think about what Oka said after one of the Clippers losses where he said him and Jaylen sat on the

Plane and watch film on shots he could have taken um I’m hearing a lot of jaylen’s postgame interviews on watch film I’m doing this I’m doing that he’s becoming somebody that is learning how to play basketball because one of the most impressive things uh offensively for me obviously like right now he’s

Averaging 27 in the 11 games we we’re referencing for this pod 2 7.8 points 51% uh field goal 41% from three um 5.7 rebounds 3.5 assists a team High plus 14 um per game like he’s averaging a plus 14 in that stretch so he is a winner and

He’s playing good defense um what what what I’m seeing from from from that version is somebody that’s starting to learn the game of basketball because a lot of the stuff I saw before he was playing off of instincts and kind of just out there running around and I think what people don’t value

About the the players with really high IQ now I don’t know what jaylen’s IQ potential is but um when it comes to the question about and I’mma ask you this question what I see about players me personally I think IQ is a Nate um I think IQ is like you’re born with it

LeBron thinks that too JJ thinks you can learn to a certain point and I agree with that I think you can teach somebody the game um and there’s a balance between uh IQ and talent and I think you could take a talented person and give them enough like development and training and that

They will get to a happy medium and they could be like a championship level player but I agree like to me my view is that I want as many high IQ players on our team as much as possible that’s why you value a men Thompson Shan goons of

The world because to me when you have a healthy mix of talent and IQ that’s what you can really do anything that’s why throughout that dword um last time for Jaylen to me um personally obviously there’s a few guys in the league that are Savant I think Lucas the hardens the

LeBron’s I don’t think he’s a savant but I think he has a skill set that he is a genius at which is scoring and for him the development that I’m going to see for him going forward is for him to keep learning the game because everything

Else will come in after that um but it was just interesting to me like to watch what what we’re seeing right now and even though it looks like an anomaly to me what it looks like is a guy that’s learning basketball and I’m just curious

What your view on uh on all that is I mean I I think it’s layered it’s a really like a it’s a complex discussion right so on one hand um IQ so I think IQ is innate but I think there’s levels to the IQ so I agree with JJ you can learn

You can you can become better I think I would equate it to the difference between like if we’re talking academics the difference between someone who’s just a brainiac genius and then someone who you know isn’t isn’t stupid but they’re not a brainiac or genius they

Have the ability you know maybe like a B minus level student and then with maturity they become a B+ a minus type student right instead of like top 1% of their class right the LeBron’s the hardens the Lucas they’re like the one percenters shenon isn’t a one percenter

But he’s he’s closer to it than not being close closer to it right if you could imagine shanon’s IQ with jaylen’s skill and athleticism that is like a one % player right am man Thompson yeah keep going well well to be seen we’ll see we’ll see yeah yeah yeah if if a man

Could shoot then absolutely am men’s IQ though so that is part of what allows him to be dise effective right like I I think we talked about it I can’t remember if I said it on here or before we got on he hadn’t said screens he says

He hasn’t been a screener until he got to the NBA now screening should be just like a it’s obvious right you screen you roll but the feel he has and the effectiveness he has as a screener and how quickly he’s picked it up like that

Just shows you how smart that kid is but so there’s there’s IQ and then there’s maturity I think we’re seeing from Jaylen what we’re seeing from Jaylen is maturity right he’s starting to figure out the fs and and I want to be clear right udoka said this in a postgame I

Think after beating Utah last night he said that jayen is learning like what shots not to take it’s not just his shooting I want to I would like to get more from him on that answer because to me I’m still seeing him take like crazy shots but they’re going in which is

Which is badass don’t get me wrong um but he’s taking like contested step back backs um these are the same shots that you know they just weren’t going in and instead of being five for seven for 11 points to start the game he would be like two for seven you know for four

Points to start the game but now they’re now they’re going in so I don’t know if he’s taking I don’t know if he’s like cutting out bad shots I think he’s just become a super shot maker um but I Elite IQ versus maturity and then there’s other portions of that discussion right

Like being surrounded by Christian Wood Kevin Porter Jr um Josh Christopher I don’t think Josh Christopher is a bad dude I don’t know him at all I’m just saying that being in a situation where you’re surrounded by younger you know just when you’re younger you’re more

Immature that just is what it is right it’s not anyone’s fault we were all younger and when we were younger we were just less mature that’s just what it is um but you’re surrounded by younger less mature guys and that team that he grew up on with the Rockets had like seven or

Eight you know 21 year olds or younger right so it’s just impossible which is the value of vets of course um but you you put that and then you add that with the coach like Silas who probably a great guy probably knows the game very

Well but did he have the ability to get his hand around a situation and say hey this is what it is you’re going to listen to me and this is how we’re going to do it period to get his message to resonate right like this is a simple way

To break it down but if my Coach is like got his his head on his 20 20-y old Stars chest like laughing and stuff you know what I mean there’s just like a a paternalistic kind of like lack there we we have not seen any type of photo like

That from eay right eem’s always just strong firm directing traffic not like getting on their level in this kind of you know big bro little bro right type way he’s very much like the Father Figure or so it seems from the outside he’s never told a player he loves them in an open

Conference he has he cried because someone got an extension right and I know we’re ragging on Silas you know maybe it’s unfair shot sorry yeah yeah maybe it’s unfair to Silas but I mean Frank you played college ball bro like you tell me what was your coach like

When you played college ball he was a hard ass um and but you know in retrospect that’s that’s really what you love some of my best coaches they have a balance of demanding a lot from you at the same time you know they actually care about your well-being and you can’t

Just be a a Rah like we’re gonna I’m GNA run you into the ground at the same time you can’t because I remember when I was younger like in high school we had a cool one of our young coaches was cool we used to take advantage of him we’d be

Chilling during practice you know playing around uh but when I got as as I developed and got older when you get to those coaches that are about that business they demand excellence and you almost don’t want to let them down and I think to your point um what udoka has

Done and there was a after the game yesterday they asked him about uh whether he he’s ever seen anything like this with Jaylen and in the most Oka answer his response was that Jaylen is you he was playing good now he’s on a good streak the shots are going in but

Yeah I’ve seen a lot of guys like this uh he said he’s up there with them and to me that is just him to a te because people accuse him of hating alpr shenon after one of his many good games udoka would be like yeah he’s playing great

But the team the team was great today as well guys were hitting sh and the some of the fans were like oh he hates Shang goon he does the same thing this is him he is a guy out of the papovich tree once again if you guys understand the

History in San Antonio um Greg papovich made it his point to almost to a fault use Tim Duncan as an example of discipline and accountability to the other players because if you’re going to hold your best player to a the highest standard everybody else is going to fall

In line and I think that that mentality you can see it how it permeates throughout the season and tying this back into jaylen’s development um I think that this like what we’re seeing where oku used the words he has to break a lot of things bad habits break it down

And rebuild I think we’re seeing that player rebuilt because uh your question about the shot what I think what he’s talking about and he’s alluded to this early in the season it’s not really about like he Dal still takes bad shots and they’re going in some of those shots

Are bad like the double step back threes like but when you’re feeling it you know whatever but the shot to me it’s the reading the defense like when a guy goes under shoot it if you have a mismatch attack it I think that’s what he wasn’t

Doing early on in the season and I think the right shot shot is whatever the leverage that you have against the defense use it make or Miss and live with it and I think he’s doing that way more now than he was doing before where he was either deferring or just doing

The opposite of what you were supposed to do like you got a slow big why are you snaking it to take a contestant two when you can beat him to the spot at The Rim um there’s a guy going under on you pull up like don’t uh reset for an iso

Like so those type of thing I think that’s what he’s doing a lot better that’s what I’ve seen anyways yeah I mean I just want to make this comparison because I’ve been thinking about it it’s like watching a Pokemon evolve like skip the middle Evolution charmon to Charizard bro like

We charmanders the Charizard right I mean I mean right though like we haven’t seen like everyone says oh progression isn’t is not linear which I which is correct that is correct his like there was no gradual you know there were flashes but just the numbers themselves were pretty similar and some of them

Regressed and then all of a sudden it was like nope boom you know like it’s kind of like at the end The Matrix when Neo like looks down and he’s like oh [ __ ] I am that guy you know and he just all of a sudden realizes it and all the

Craziness starts happening but yeah I mean I just think there’s a level of maturity and and he more than anyone and I said this um and I got some interesting push back from it or criticism or whatever but you said this earlier I forgot I said I forgot to

Factor in or sometimes I forget to factor in how poor his development structure around him was right g-league Steven Silas for two years factored in with all those young guys immature players that like Christian Wood who was a journeyman for a reason right um kpj obviously has evidenced his immaturity

Right like that’s just not good to have around a player so he really I I have and people say how could you forget to factor that in and for me the reason was the underlying reason one of the reasons the main reason was that he could not

Shoot and shooting is coach proof to me right obviously you can get a shooting coach to help you learn how to shoot and that’s not what I’m talking about because if you’ve ever played shooting coach is going to help you shoot when you’re stand still off the catch right

Shooting coach cannot help you or can only marginally help you off the dribble right that the the fluidity and how fast the action is and the and the the quick reaction time you have to have to gather and adjust over where the defender is like that that is rhythm and that’s

Innate so all the other stuff aside he just couldn’t shoot even when he was wide open he just couldn’t shoot for me that’s where I was like man that is a big problem um and so that’s why I was like look you could talk about the silus

Stuff you can talk about the G league but like the shot he should be able to shoot at least decently right not like this historically bad level um and so that was kind of you know from me that was my perspective but I guess it’s just all starting to come together and and

Look if he’s got the step back because his first step is so quick that when he crosses it back you have to respect it if that shot’s falling and and if that step back is is falling all of a sudden he becomes extremely difficult to guard

Because now you have to pay attention to the step back now you have to bite and he’s so fast that if you bite first of all he’s making it he’s making it and you’re screwed but if you bite on that step up now you can’t guard him because

He’s gonna go byy you um and now he’s starting to finish it’s just it’s just insane but but yeah what what em Oka has done kind of to your point like you can be the bully like a bill O’Brian but that [ __ ] runs out once once you’re once

People stop being scared of you that [ __ ] runs out and it’s no longer effective you have to have that balance and you have to have that that long-term play of hey psychologically I need to keep you guys motivated and kind of what you said motivated to not let me down

Right at this level of sports it’s all about Focus U it’s not all about Focus but focus is a big part of it it’s like when you’re driving the slightest loss in focus and you crash and maybe it’s like a huge catastrophic crash right same

Thing in sports you lose a little bit of focus you’ll come out and get your ass beat by 20 or 30 right but maintaining that Focus through the ups through the downs and then taking that focus and transforming that into confidence and Rhythm it’s like this all weirdly

Connected thing that’s when you get what you’re seeing right now and not just from Jaylen green but from the team Jeff Green he’s shooting threes again you know like he’s in a rhythm it’s they’ve gotten to a point I was talking about this on Rockets watchat last night

They’ve gotten to a point where they’ve stopped thinking right y they’re not thinking they’re just playing and it makes me wonder if for Jaylen specifically that child news the the pregnancy news it’s it’s hard to think that that wasn’t Weighing on him in some way because like once that became public

Knowledge and it something that I guess he didn’t have to suppress and I don’t know I have no idea but I’m just guessing he’s just playing free and all the talent is just like molded together so it’s as a fan of basketball it’s one of the wildest Things I’ve ever

Witnessed I’m just watching these games like laughing because I’m just like yo this I don’t even know how to make sense of this it’s insane to me there there is no going back for Jaylen as far as not the efficiency I think it I think coach

Adoka alluded to it that he he’s in the Rhythm shooting right now and once you see it going see he’s going to be a streaky shooter I think most of his career but I’m seeing scalable things I think the finishing has been good for some time at The Rim I think the defense

Has been good for some time I think those are kind of some of the trailing um signs of change that were coming uh prior to even what we’re seeing where when it’s showing up on the court um um but for him he he he I don’t think I

Personally believe that he will never go back to that player we saw at in December and January just because I think something did click and for me it’s as athletic as he is it’s it’s always been about Focus as you alluded to there’s no reason Jaylen shouldn’t be

A good Defender except lack of focus and understanding of the game um his decision- making obviously as JJ luded in the Pod you can teach guys even if you have to tell them where to be and draw it up for them to see it you can

Teach guys like how to do their jobs and um I think that that’s something that he’s learning at least he has a baseline for it um I think that what makes him so intriguing as a prospect the question is what what have I ever seen this he’s one

Of the few athletes and this is where when he we first drafted him I made the comps to Kobe and I used to go crazy you know I go crazy where our comes for our young guys but what they’ve taught me over the years is cool out but uh

Anyways um who who were you telling I know right but uh one one thing he is probably one of the first players in the NBA of his archetype and what I mean by that is that he has the explosion of Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook with

The potential shot making of like a not like Steph but like that I’m coming off the screen and you better guard me if I’m on yep yep you think of all Devon Booker M none of them have that combination of top 1% athleticism that could potentially be a good shooter and a

Driver Zack LaVine zv is not he can shoot he can drive in some ways but he’s very stiff his is like one I’m talking about the handles of like coming off that screen where I can mix you I can get you on a step back Jack Lavina is

Like he’s almost a stiff player like I’m gonna attack he’s athletic as hell though yeah he’s cold efficient like he he’s cold but he’s not as to me he’s not as fluid as what we’re seeing from Jaylen right now Jaylen is doing it really really Jaylen hit an In-N-Out

Cross yeah and then Z Zack Zack gonna get to you he gonna footwork you he gonna get off the glass he gonna stop and pop he might you know change direction on you but when I say like rose and Russ I’m talking about change of Direction within the drive where I’m

Going really hard downhill stop then go back again Zack ain’t doing all that stuff like that’s damn near on some John Morant type stuff um all of this does lead to the question of and you know I wouldn’t end this PO without us having something that people are going to be

Mad about our opinions um when it comes to these extension talks I know you already know it I know you were like damn I almost made it out of here without we got to give him something to be mad at um when it comes to extension

Talks does or let me let me fra frame it in a way that gives you wigle room what would make you say that you know what maybe we do need to take care of Jaylen this summer and just get out the way what would make me say that um the way

He’s playing right now I mean that’s the that’s the cop out but that’s the easy answer if this is the guy that he is yeah you want to keep him on this team I think there’s no question about that right um what sucks goddamn what sucks

Is that and before we do get get out of here let’s make sure I don’t think we Dove deep enough into email the Celtics so but um what sucks is that Shango went down so now we have these questions right I hate the questions and then what

I hate hate more than having questions is having to wait six months five months to get an answer to that question and then even once you wait six months until October well we got to wait till December to let them get rolling so we’re not going to know this we’re not

Going to really know what’s what um for what we’re in April that’s We’re Not Gonna Know for at least eight months what’s what and that’s a long time right um even if shenon comes back like ankle injury we see we we we’re seeing Jack Landell we we’re seeing amen Thompson by

The way um took him a minute to come back so ankle inj Ines um like even if Shang comes back like what do I make of that right it’s tough because they were starting to find it naturally from a basketball perspective the same way that people say like oh jaylen’s you know so

Talented he’s got to figure it out and now he is shenon and Jaylen are both so talented and their games fit on in theory their games fit you got a guy that can do everything down low who can also pass and hit Cutters you got a guy

Who now is an elite perimeter score um we’ve seen we know what pistol action is we know what happens with dhos we know when you get Jaylen downhill with the passer they should fit right joic Murray sabonis Fox like this is not a new thing

Uh Pal Gasol and Kobe is is one of those Pal Gasol is is a is an example is a comp for shenon that I really love he’s a little bit shorter and not as long but um so they started to put it together right and now we now we get deprived of

Seeing them both do it at the same time it’s also it’s almost like t ma and Yao um because right as one is going off right the other one got hurt um and when one was going off earlier the other one just was struggling so what do you do I

Don’t know I really don’t know I’d like to think in an Ideal World there is no reason that you don’t keep these guys together I don’t know why you wouldn’t unless I don’t know there’s some type of like we saw the Pacers trade sabonis right um the Pacers never had I want to

Point out those Pacers never had a perimeter an elite perimeter player the best perimeter player those Pacers had was Victor Oladipo who was I you know um this version of jayen blows Victor Oladipo out of the water to me so um I just don’t know what the vision for team

Building is and I’ve been critical of uh I’ve given some heat to Rafel Stone um however what they’re building right now and the way these players are coming together there is I mean it it’s almost like we’re eight deep with who we drafted and then the free agents we

Signed right between the between the core six and then Fred and Dylan and now what Stephen Adams and jock and Jeff like that’s 10 right there Jan Tate 11 you know so it’s like what do you do with this team what is the ceiling of this team and we’re not going

To know because they’ve been so inconsistent so that’s the tough thing for me I just don’t know um but yeah I I I think every team’s ideal when they rebuild is to draft two players that fit that have star potential and I think the Rockets have done that on a surface

Level but what do you think um uh to me it’s it’s an easy answer yeah you you keep them together you have two uh complimentary positions two complimentary players um a lot of Jaylen Green’s best games in his career are playing next to Al shenon in fact if you

Go look at his high scoring games it’s when shanon is him they’re cooking in two man so I’ve seen it honestly to me the conundrum for the Rockets is we’ve seen Fred and Alp what we got this year was alin’s greatness with a very limited two-man game meaning Fred is not getting

To the cup so teams play them a certain way um I I don’t see why it shouldn’t be better with a guy that can get to the basket on a breeze so I think it they’ll open up each other’s game I’ve seen uh teams start trapping Jaylen a little bit

They do it in stretches I’m curious to see what smart coaches like Miami’s uh sper is going to do to try to stop him but I I don’t understand the the point of I have a great player so that means that the player that would literally

Make his life easier they can’t like to me those are they’re each other’s Outlet valves if is cooking like this teams are going to trap him and when teams trap him give the ball to the other guy that can cook and then now you have to solve

A very hard problem and I think Oka is a smart enough basketball mind to understand that and know that this is how we’re going to win right because regardless of how they’re playing now it’s not going to be to me this where they look right now is not how you build

A team they’re very unbalanced as a team right now um this will not win a playoff series in my opinion or a championship um you need not only just Shang you need other complimentary pieces we still need to me another Rim running kind of rim protector big on the roster you need

More shooting on the roster I don’t want to rely on Jeff Green in the playoff series so I think um I’m looking at it from once again back to that dynasty how do you build a dynasty you get a lot of smart guys a lot of talented guys on the

Same team and then you plug in the holes where they have Collective deficiencies and you move forward so if you also you also get a little bit of financial luck yes and you get lucky with a guy getting hurt you know what I mean a guy getting

Hurt key players getting hurt some guy underperforms for a stret so you you know what I mean and then what you do is you have a smart coach which we have uh with eay and you kind of just kind of build St stack by Stack step by step I’m

Just to be clear when you when you say guys get hurt I think what you mean before the comments go crazy on you I think what you mean is you get someone for a cheaper price because they got hurt that you mean yeah yeah let me let

Me clarify sometimes um like Steph Curry is the like the Golden Boy for that storyline sometimes things like this happen and you know it’s if we’re looking at it I know we we love these players but at the end of the day if you look at it from the perspective of the

Rockets um you know some good things that can happen with these with these with when players get down not that we want anybody injured but it does give you some leverage which shenon to me um the body of work is already there uh he’s going to get paid whether here or

Any he he’s worth whatever they’re going to offer like the uh what they call the fun Max um Jaylen is working his way into that conversation uh I think he would have got it probably at some point because I thought next year he would have had a good year but the way he’s

Playing now as far as getting into early uh PRI in this summer to me if he if they keep this up and they actually do make the plan um I think it’s like you have to you have to give him that money because he has shown you what you wanted

To see like can I trust this guy to help carry my team those are type of players that you you give the money to um shenon carried the team for the first uh about 60% of the Season 65% he goes down Jaylen green carried it for the rest so

If I’m a front offense I’m seeing like I got two guys that can carry this roster I’m looking around the roster Jabari Smith Jr I don’t think he’s goingon to be a max player I don’t think T’s gonna be a max player honestly I don’t think

Cam Whitmer is gonna be a max player the man Thompson I think he’s gonna be all defensive guy and I think that’s your third Max so that’s your that’s your Draymond money that’s your money yeah that’s your money you’re going to give to him the shenon thing I don’t know if

This is right but if he goes and makes all NBA next year does he he’s eligible for the uh the designated Max right or or are the rules different I don’t know the answer to that question if y’all in the comments know let me know there is

Some incentive for them to get it out the way because I feel like if we are on this pace of winning if he puts up let me and before we even uh dive into coach adoka I’m going to tell you the uh the stats for the team post uh in this 11

Game stretch this is everybody and this could give you a vision of what this team could look like at their Peak Jaylen Green in this 11 game stretch since the Phoenix gamees averaging 27 points per game five rebounds three assists Al Shang goon in the stretch he

Played with five games during 11 games he was averaging 24 points per game uh 12 rebounds five assists Fred Van Vleet averaging uh 19 points per game shooting 47% from three which is crazy Jabari is giving you 12 and uh six uh how many dimes for Fred Fred is averaging and my

Bad 10 19 and 10 not saying even even if you take off some of this let’s say this is the peak of like this is what they look like to me like I mean this is it man I think I I’ve seen I want to like you yeah this

Is it this a good team let let me say I was going through some of my old tweets and I saw that I want to say it was November 14th that I said this maybe not if you uh someone wants to go through my Twitter go for it um the Rockets were I

Don’t know what their record was I don’t remember they were winning though and they were number one in defense in the whole league right um and their net rating was like plus five as a team um and I forget what their record was but

It was like I want to say I don’t know 15 or so games through the season so it’s interesting to me how quickly we forget these things right 10 15 games for the season number one in defense we’re buzzing then they go down um and then now they’re doing it again right so

Like they’ve done this in bits and pieces they’ve done it in different ways which is the most impressive thing to me right there isn’t just this one way they’ve relied on they’ve done it riding shenon they’ve done it you know riding Jaylen green um they’ve done it without

Shenon even playing not just riding Jaylen green but without Shang even playing they’ve weathered the storm with injuries to tari and Jabari and Dylan Brooks who are like their nucleus of wing perimeter Defenders so they’re just just versatile um but it’s not like this is the only time this season we’ve seen

It they’ve done it in different ways and so it’s up to udoka to figure out and and the front office to push the right buttons um but I think they’re in a it’s a good problem to have so this is like the most positive I felt about this team

This decade um but they are now it’s almost at that point where the fun is almost not over but like the the honeymoon fun type you know like the Texans the Texans had their season now the Judgment happens right if the Texans go out next season

And they perform the exact same way they did this season they will get criticized for that you know what I mean because now it’s not good enough um so now they’ve hit that level and and I just don’t know what you do and I’m not saying it’s that you can’t do it I’m

Just saying I don’t know what you do to take this to the next level I don’t know what the answer is I really don’t I mean internal development I think is going to happen this summer summer is for the young guys biggest leap the starting fight for the rockets for up until

January um they were a top 10 top five net rated in the NBA I’m talking about for two and a half months and that’s before jayen broke with Jaylen green being a negative in that starting five they were if you look points per possession and both on offense and

Defense not separate the team and all the CTE players we have off the bench we’re talking about that starting five with Jabari young Jabari young shenon young jayen with Dylan Brooks and Fred van Le was right between I think the Celtics and the Nuggets or something

Like they were like number three or four it was OKC it was Celtics nuggets I think us OKC and I forgot who the other team was and Clippers um with the harden when he kind of uh started uh rolling over there so it’s it’s a real team and this does

Open up for the coach adoka thing with coach adoka and the Celtics and how they looked last year I mean with coach adoka and the Celtics and how they looked in the season that he was coaching over there they started off pretty rough um to begin the season and kind of hit a

Stretch is there anything that you’re seeing similar between that Celtics team and this Rockets team so they started 25 I’m going off my memory here but I think this is correct 25 and 25 through the first 50 and that was a team with expectations and like All-Star players already and then they

Finished the season 26- six so that’s 32 games plus 50 that’s 82 right yeah I think the math is right on that and they finished 51 and 31 I believe so on paper they took off it was like late January now what coincides with that was that

They traded for Derek white and they needed a point guard and Derek white wasn’t like pure point guard but he you know he’s a capable point guard um but he gave them that extra versatility that they needed both in terms of being a guy who could handle a guy who could shoot a

Guy who could defend and a guy who did enough creating and distributing to perfectly fit because they before his arrival they put a lot of that pressure on Marcus Smart and Marcus Smart is not that guy right um to to do those types of things Marcus Smart needs to kind of

Just play his role Marcus Smart to me is like a free safety that isn’t great at coverage but he will you know knock you out at the line of scrimmage right um and they needed they needed like an actual coverage safety as well to kind of complement that and they got that um

The Rockets didn’t do that the Rockets didn’t make any move I mean they they got Stephen Adams but he’s not playing right so that’s the difference to me is it’s like that Celtics team got a piece that allowed everything else to shake loose and begin flourishing this Rockets team just

Figured it out now you could argue that maybe shenon going down did that but I think that we both agree that they started playing like this before shenon went down right um and they were turning that corner kind of as a team and then obviously everyone has stepped it up in

His absence so it’s really interesting because in oka’s first he’s not even done with his second season but this man has we’ll just say two seasons of NBA coaching as a head coach under his belt and in both seasons we’re seeing his team’s struggle relative to the

Expectations um I guess the Rockets were at expectation and then they started falling below once they started losing those games but the Celtics were definitely below expectations and then hit this point where everything seems to click and they take off now what we don’t know about him is how do his teams

Respond in the following years because he hasn’t had that opportunity um and that kind of goes back to the comp with the Texans right everything’s peachy right now um if they’re 9 and 8 10 and seven next season people won’t be happy if they’re a wild card team next season

People are going to be like damn it’s going to be below expectations because the talk around the Texans right now is Super Bowl sleeper which is crazy that’s a different discussion but it’s crazy so the talk around these Rockets let’s say they make the play in it’s not going to

Be yeah let’s go make another plan it’s going to be wow this is the next young core and they’re on traj they’re on the OKC trajectory and if you look at those numbers in terms of their win percentage these Rockets they are on the OKC trajectory these Rockets are right now

Getting to where OKC was last year and so people obviously expect more and more so we don’t know that about udoka right we know his first punch seems to be uh very potent we don’t know what the rest has in store I believe in him I have no

Doubts about him um but I’m just saying we don’t know it now in terms of a parallel I just don’t I don’t even know I mean they’re defending he seems to get guys to buy in it’s kind of the thing where he’s like stubborn about his

Message he seems stubborn in a good way stubborn about his message like no trust me this is what it’s going to be I’m not going to make any knee-jerk reactions credit to him for not benching Jaylen green a lot of people like me thought Jaylen green should be benched he was

Right people like me were wrong um but he seems very like stubborn and sticking to his guns and then it just works and man he he seems to understand that once it works it really really works it’s not like it just kind of works so yeah I

Mean the Rockets are what 10- one in their last 11 those Celtics were 26 and six in their last six we got 13 games left the Rockets are now in a position that in order to win in order to win 40 games they got to finish five and seven

Which I I would be shocked if they don’t do so that’s kind of how I see it man I don’t know what you think I think um to me logically you would um continuity in structure should yield more better results I think the consistency from

Year to year I’m curious to see what the Celtics would have looked like with him a year or two I I think they would have won a championship by now in my opinion because as much especially if you gave him po yeah yeah especi you know I think

The impact he has on on motivating men is probably the biggest attribute that a head coach ex andos I think assistants are more ex and no guys and I I’m okay with that when I played football our head coach um he didn’t really talk X

And no that much like he was really the guy that a a head coach on a sports team is more like the team’s manager um and they’re the one that make big decisions but a lot of the task of the day-to-day is delegated to the assistant coaches and Personnel

Downstream but they’re like the CEO of the team structure and as you know Roose you work in Corporate America I work in in corporate uh having a transformational leader is the number one thing that people look for a person that galvanizes people motivates them brings the best

And draws takes them to that next level and I think when you have one of those type of leaders in your organization it really does impact everybody and if you can take a you think about Jabari how bad he was last year to being a pretty

Good player as a starter you think about Jaylen inconsistency still inconsistent this year but what he’s turned into as a Defender as a rebounder as a guy that’s uh playing winning basketball now think about Shen goon a dude who was a anary secondary player under Steven Silas to

Drawing out this player that a lot of us saw early on in his career to being what it is Fred having one of his more efficient Seasons Dylan Brooks Fred’s having a career he’s unlock that not talked about enough he has unlocked Fred Van like fred is just perfect and then

Dylan Brooks quite as kept I was scared about not just his you know he’s gonna do what he does but I thought he was gonna be a ball hog uh and this dude there games he’ll take five shots and still play clamp defense in the fourth last minute of the fourth quarter with

No hesitation Dylan Brooks was benched by coach adoka in the game and you didn’t hear not one peep about it a disgruntled so I look at all that and I think that scales up to me the next step I don’t know if you saw during the game

John Collins was dapping him up and like saying something to him they were laughing back and forth at each other to Oka yeah to Oka like in the middle of the game middle of the game just it was like coming out of half they were like

Laughing dapped him up gave him a hug the next step is you scale that up let’s get get in some better players and then draw out of so I would have agreed with you on the better players like five days ago but now I’m like I don’t I don’t know

Are these guys really Jeff uh Jeff Green lale all of that is nice uh give me a give me better players sure um I don’t know I’m just gonna throw out a name Stephen Adams would be a good steep let me see what Stephen Adams unlock looks like I want to see

What real NBA Talent that’s not like damn can jock do this for I love jock and whether he plays good or not to me the Rockets view him as a piece of money because they’ve bloated his contract to be used trade he he’s structured for a

Trade so whether he plays when he plays good as gravy for us but I don’t think stone is gonna be like damn I don’t know if I gota keep I want to get this shooter from this team but man Jack is making a real nah bro he well go ahead

Sorry what’s interesting is that their philosophy throughout this time has been hey let’s accumulate Talent let’s see what happens with the talent and then let’s structure the cap and let’s structure rure these contracts in a manner that gives us the ability to go swing for the swing for the fences right

Prior to this season if you would have asked the Rockets they they’ have probably told you yeah we we’d love a player like a Zion Williamson or a Joel embiid right and you need contracts that have the salary that also are attractive enough to another team like a jack

Landale who has a bunch of Team options that you can just Decline and treat it as expiring salary right um to go get those types of players now I wonder what their approach would be I feel like that has to have changed I feel like the

Swing for the for the fences let me throw in a couple of these young talents like a cam Whitmore or you know whoever whoever else Jabari Smith or whatever I feel like that might have changed a little bit because maybe unless this is not real maybe you have these star

Players already here and you don’t need to go swing for the fences and now you just go get you know they’re in a position to me it reminds me of Phoenix in the bubble right Devin Booker Aon Bridges they started balling and they started winning and what they did that

Summer was they went and got Chris Paul and then they went to the finals right they didn’t go get Giannis or something they got like this veteran who obviously Chris Paul was a very very good player but they got that that last piece to really give them the juice who’s that

Equivalent for this team I don’t know but to your point about udoka what I see to your point about managing like egos you know the Bulls uh the the architect of the triangle offense was a guy named Tex Winters who was an assistant coach uh it wasn’t Phil Jackson it was Tex

Winters Phil Jackson and I read his book uh I think he has two I think I read the second one 11 rings or whatever um he all he talks about is managing egos right uh and making that manifest into something else so with those Bulls like

He was and Phil Jackson was real on like some hippie type [ __ ] which you know he’d have like meditating sessions and like just all these little things to keep the egos balanced it wasn’t about X’s and O’s it was about getting guys to buy in it was about selflessness and you

Think about your own individual career and anyone who’s listening to this think about that as well confidence and doing it for someone other than yourself are are two things that you can’t quantify you can’t really track analytically but you know it unlocks this whole different dimension and why is that important because if

You’ve ever worked for a boss that makes you want to do it for them to not let them down to not make them look bad that brings out a different type of worker in you and when you have the confidence to do it at the same time that’s usually

When you’re doing some of your best work so how is that relevant if has these guys not wanting to let him down right like you said uh you tweeted something like you let your mother-in-law down on the is screwed off and I heard the the saxophone from Let Nas

Down that’s that’s what I keep hearing right um but it’s that it’s like could you imagine I and I’m just guessing here but you gotta imagine that letting Steph Silas down feels different than letting udoka in this season that’s fact right and we can’t prove that but you just

Have to think and and to to you know people know my views on as far as trade I never wanted a big star um when I meant trades I mean ancillary player so you’re going to upgrade aelle with like a um I don’t know I just a a center

That’s could start but maybe it’s a backup because I think as they move forward those are the type of players you need you upgraded Aaron holiday for another don’t you do it you said what don’t you do it don’t don’t don’t trade Aaron holiday that’s my guy okay I

Forgot your holiday season crew uh K but hey maybe he’s not whatever but my point is that like they they still need they need better players to compete with the elite teams and I feel like we can be an elite team but I love how you close that

Out so we we can we can end it there um do want to let the uh viewers and listeners know if you guys we do have these podcasts on all streaming platforms on Spotify Apple um so check it out it’s Rockets talk on there and as

Always if you’re new to the channel hit the Subscribe button if you like this video hit the like button keep rocking with The Chop Shop we going to keep dropping that fire Oh

In this episode of Rockets Talk Roosh and Frank discuss takeaways from the Houston Rockets winning streak, Ime Udoka’s genius and Jalen Green’s BRILLIANCE! #houstonrockets #nba #podcast #alperensengun #jalengreen #amenthompson

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