Houston Rockets Trade Rumors: Brooklyn Nets Deal In The Works? + Stephon Castle Intel & More

Houston Rockets Trade Rumors: Brooklyn Nets Deal In The Works? + Stephon Castle Intel & More

on today’s show Yukon Stefan Castle being a little picky about which team might ultimately select him in this year’s NBA draft how that impacts the Houston Rockets plus Houston to re-engage the Brooklyn Nets ahead of the NBA draft will unpack what that means as well as the Rockets who made the top 25 under 25 list and so much more on today’s locked on Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition sequence start 6 5 4 3 2 2 1 what’s up and welcome to another edition of lock on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your host Jackson Gatlin native houstonian a credentialed media member I’m also the host of locked on NBA Mondays be sure to follow along wherever you listen to your podcast or on YouTube just search locked on Rockets be sure to like comment and subscribe we’re the best way you can help our show out is to comment anything below on the YouTube video just even if you just go there and type go rockets that helps us out a ton now today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MBA for $20 off of your first purchase terms apply and as always thank you so much for making lock on Rockets part of your day every single day whether it’s on your way to work on your lunch break in the gym thank you for being an every day also my apologies we missed a couple days here uh started this week had some personal stuff going on all taken care of now now but uh we are back on track and we’ve got a bit of a aorus board of topics to tackle on today’s show that we’re going to get into we’re going to talk about Stefan Castle here in just a moment some of the reporting around uh his draft stock and and kind of him maybe angling to go to a you know a couple certain teams in the lottery uh we’re also going to get into some of the reporting about the rockets and their uh desire to re-engage the Nets ahead of the NBA draft uh and kind of what that could look like what that ultimately means for those two teams uh any any trade permutations rumors and stuff going on there as well as the Rockets who made the top 25 under 25 list crafted by the ringer so let’s start with yukon’s Stefan Castle uh there is some reporting by ESPN’s Jonathan gavone uh that is as follows Castle appears to be avoiding private workouts with teams that already have starting point guards in place a strategy that might not be as effective as in the past since every team in the top 15 has his Medicals because of rule changes implemented this year so uh really quick to preface some backstory here right so previously uh prospects did not were not required to submit their Medicals to uh all the teams in the lottery this was like a a big sticking point where you’d maybe have a prospect who didn’t want to go to a couple certain teams you know that were in the pecking order at the top of the lottery or whatever and so they would kind of try to Strongarm uh those teams by saying oh we’re we’re not working out for you we’re not giving you medical records like all this stuff um cuz that’s one of the things that happens in private workouts right you do physicals you also see you know onc Court drills open gym environment that kind of stuff you also get a chance to really connect with these prospects on a human level right interviewing them asking them questions vetting them uh trying to see if they’d be a good fit for your team your organization your roster all that so it’s kind of an old older style draft tactic uh that castle is seemingly trying to implement this year where he doesn’t want to go to a team with a starting point guard so effectively that would theoretically rule out the Rockets because they have Fred Van vet and not only do they have Fred Van vet they have Jaylen green who is not a quote unquote point guard but handled the basketball quite a bit and you know largely was uh one of the Rocket’s primary ball handlers and primary initiators last year they also have a Min Thompson who they drafted to be a point guard now whether a Min Thompson Will ultimately become a point guard is still kind of up in the air TBD especially after we saw how effective he could be in more of a wing Centric role in his rookie season so first off I understand why Castle is doing this because you don’t want like if you’re a prospect if you’re getting ready to have your dreams come true you’re going to the NBA you don’t want to be drafted and then immediately buried on the bench or you know stuck behind you know a a veteran guy or not able to Showcase your talents or skills right away especially if you feel like you can be a day one contributor and the way that castle has been so vocal about I’m a point guard I’m a point like talking at the combine and stuff gassing himself up obviously his confidence is on 10 right he wants a starting spot he wants to be in a position where he can step in day one and make an impact for a team unfortunately I am not describing the Houston Rockets right now because even if the Rockets selected Stefan Castle number three overall and drafted him and brought him in he’s not going to be part of the rotation day one he’ll whoever the Rockets take if they take somebody with this third overall pick they are going to slow playay the development of this Prospect so you look at some of the top teams right Atlanta with with Trey young dejonte Murray the Wizards don’t really have a team that that or a team a player that fits the bill as a you know quote unquote de facto starting point guard uh the Spurs are another team that don’t have a a long-term solution at the starting point guard spot and then maybe the Utah Jazz is another one you know with some question marks about their long-term starting point guard availability and whatnot so uh it’s very it’s very possible that castle is kind of maybe angling himself to get drafted by the San Antonio Spurs right because who wouldn’t want to potentially team up with Victor wiama and you know be part of a soon to be unfortunately probably wrecking ball in the Western Conference for years and years to come that would make a lot of sense right and castle playing next to Wendy and playing under papovich would probably be like one of my worst nightmares that would be awful but I would hope that this reporting this approach wouldn’t dissuade the Rockets from taking him with the third overall pick as long as they think that he is the right fit or the right Prospect or the the best player available what have you uh to take third overall because again you know they the Rockets got a really good look at all these prospects at the combine now there is something to be said for again if you don’t get these private workouts you know you don’t get a chance to see these players up close you don’t get a chance to get secondary and tertiary interviews with them and kind of really gauging if they’d be a good fit for for your team for your organization so that is a little bit problematic But ultimately uh I understand that castle is doing this because he probably wants to be able to you know step into a role right away right out of the gate um what does this mean for the Rockets right like does this suddenly would this take Castle off of the Rockets board should it you know eliminate Castle as a prospect that the Rockets would even be remotely considering with the third overall pick again I’m in the camp that I don’t think it would uh there’s enough tape on this guy and there’s enough kind of pre-draft film to look at to be able to gauge and evaluate and make a decision rather than just you know whether a two or three hour you know in-person personal workout would be the Difference Maker for a Prospect uh it shouldn’t swing it shouldn’t swing in organization’s opinion one way or the other um but it’s at least worth noting here which is why I wanted to bring it up on the show because it Castle is a guy that the Rockets should be and could be looking at with that third overall pick so coming up I want to get into the reporting about the Rockets interest in re-engaging the Brooklyn Nets ahead of the NBA draft as well as their desire to of go hunting for a star player and what that could ultimately look like we’re going to get into that here in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by game time game time makes getting NBA Finals tickets even faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to tip off they’ve got killer last minute deals all-in prices views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets look I don’t know about you my least favorite thing when I’m buying tickets could be to go to a game could be to go to a concert whatever is you’re going through the process you’re trying to buy your tickets and you go through you get to the end and then suddenly they throw out like digital handling fees and service 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in trade talks with the number three overall pick one of five potential first round picks that the Rockets can trade this off season in a package to land a star player uh that they’re going to be active in trade talks all the way up to and including the NBA draft night um on top of that there was also there has been reporting that has suggested that the Rockets have re-engaged and will attempt to or have in the past engaged the Nets in discussions about swapping their own draft Capital the Nets picks that the Rockets own with the nets for the Suns picks that Brooklyn currently owns by way of the Kevin Durant trade um Jonathan Fagan of the Houston Chronicle was the first to report on that and apparent L the Rockets are also now willing to re-engage the Nets in those trade discussions up to and including the NBA Draft so what does this all mean for the Rockets um first off if it wasn’t already painfully obvious at the NBA trade deadline it should be even more painfully obvious now as we are approaching the NBA draft that for the Brooklyn Nets a a team that is in what feels like a lot of disarray right uh no clear Direction their best player is currently male Bridges they just lost their pick this year to the Houston Rocket and it’s currently sitting at number three overall granted it’s a weaker draft but this is it has been screaming to me like like at the top of its lungs it makes so much sense for the Rockets to try and renegotiate a trade or to try and engage in trade talks with the Nets to get them their draft picks back we’ve talked about this a lot here on this show and the reason we talk about it a lot is it makes a lot of sense the problem is and this is my understanding of the situation the the you know the people that I’ve spoken to within the Rockets organization it seems like the Nets and you know their Brain Trust doesn’t enjoy the idea or isn’t really you know a minim to the idea of bottoming out that’s not what Joe Sai wants to do that’s not what Shawn Marx wants to do and even though it’s the smart thing to do like we look at the Rockets right they were topof thee World Western Conference you know NBA NBA championship contenders year on year out with James Harden then James Harden wants out everything comes crumbling down in Houston and guess what ownership embraced being a bad team for a handful of years and now we’re starting to see the fruits of that labor payoff the Rockets were the NBA laughing stock for three seasons in a row and boom they get to season number four start a phase two the rebuild and they bust out a 41 and 41 season and there’s a lot of optimism and a lot of Hope on the horizon that the Rockets are headed in the right direction there is a clear-cut identity for this team there is a vision for the future of this team and they have a lot of assets and a lot of young talent to be able to swing for trades and to make splashy deals and to to really be a player in the NBA landscape again right there you know hopefully this is a team that we’re talking about you know making a a playoff Run next year the Nets don’t have any of that right now and they don’t own their future draft Capital so they are not currently incentivized to tank or to bottom out uh the only silver lining for the Nets is that they do own the future draft capital of the Phoenix Suns but as it currently stands the suns are also not incentivized to be bad right now right out of the gate now maybe things blow up in Phoenix over the next season or two with KD and Booker and Beal and and suddenly Phoenix turns into a dumpster fire and then the Nets are like o we got all these juicy picks from the Sun but it’s it’s like uh it’s like this uh Rabbit Hole or or where you keep going down and guess what even if things do blow up in Phoenix the Suns because they won’t have their own picks are no longer incentivized to be bad so what are the Suns going to do what is Matt ishbia going to do in Phoenix they’re going to be probably a middling team scrapping and clawing and trying to win as many games as possible even if it means they’re playing barely 500 basketball then you know those picks aren’t going to be cream of the crop topend lottery picks you’re going to have to get some luck from the basketball Gods like the Rockets did this year admittedly where the pick jumps up from 9 to three so what does this ultimately mean for the Rockets one I think that if the Rockets are to re-engage the Nets in trade talks I think it could happen in one of two ways one the obvious one is re-engage the Nets and try to get them to bite on a trade for male Bridges because he addresses first off he fits the mold as an Oka type player um to a T and he also addresses the Rockets distinct or or clear lack of shooting Right male Bridges can shoot the lights out of the ball he’s a great versatile Wing Defender all NBA caliber Defender right and he’s been kind of thrust into a role with Brooklyn that doesn’t work for him because he’s not a number one option he’s a hell of a like third option or even a fourth option depending on you know the hierarchy of offensive Talent ahead of him but he’s not a guy that you want to rely on consistently to be your number one or number two guy that’s just not his Forte he’s much better served being a reliable upper echelon 3 and D Wing type player so if you’re the Rockets you try to re-engage the Nets around the idea of getting male Bridges and that could simply be you know the number three overall pick this year plus any number of the rest of the picks that the Rockets own via the Nets um and then I don’t know salary filler I guess at that point because the unique thing here is the Rockets could theoretically uh just draft a player uh with the intent to trade said player to the Nets down the line and if they do I mean the third overall pick is clocking in what somewhere around $10 million a year something like that starting value contract um I don’t have the numbers right in front of me I’m going off rip here but uh the players at the top of the draft right they make more money on their rookie scale deals so that player could be aggregated in a trade down the line to get a m Bridges type so if the Rockets get on the phone with Shawn marks and they’re like hey all right which player do you want at the top of the draft we’ll draft him then we’ll trade him to you and we’ll trade him to you once he’s on his rookie scale deal that way we can actually factor that money into the trade for Michel Bridges so as to not have to include too much you know dead salary or or you know the the pieces that the Rockets have which they still have Jack landale they have Jan Tate they have Jeff Green they have stepen Adams they have a lot of expiring contracts a lot of quote unquote salary filler to be able to throw in a trade from male Bridges but you also wouldn’t want there’s a couple of those names right like you wouldn’t want to give up step Adams or Jeff Green those guys at least right now project to have important roles on this team next season now Jack landale and J shant Tate a little bit easier to stomach if you have to lose one if not both of those guys to get up to the salary floor in order to absorb m Bridges back if you’re the Rockets now the problem here is are the Nets going to continue to be stubborn because if you’re telling me that Shawn marks for the cost of male Bridges could get back the Nets picks that he gave up in the James Harden trade it would allow the Nets to be able to control their own destiny to bottom out to be bad for a couple seasons and to recoup some of that value uh and be able to actually have what you would hope is is a little bit of Hope for the the future of the franchise instead of right now I don’t what are they pinning their hopes on trading for Donovan Mitchell like that’s kind of where the Nets are at is that like they’re putting all it feels like they’re putting all their eggs in the Donovan Mitchell basket and hoping that they can maybe initiate some kind of a trade with the Cavaliers to bring Donovan Mitchell to the Nets but what what is Brooklyn going to do with Donovan Mitchell like the Cavs are a much better constructed team right now with Donovan Mitchell than the Nets would be and I don’t even know what the trade would have to look like to Pride Don Mitchell away from Cleveland obviously it would likely include some of the Suns picks um I don’t know if male Bridges would have to be the piece going back to Cleveland maybe it’s a couple again it it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me um and if that is there like big play if that’s their like Saving Grace move is hey we’re GNA we’re going to trade for Donovan Mitchell we’re going to sign him to an extension or he’s going to you know reup next summer when he’s an undried free agent and then that’s going to be our our ticket back to relevancy then man good luck Brooklyn cuz that does not sound like a recipe for Success now as it stands from the Rockets perspective like what would you be willing to give up to Brooklyn to be able to get on the kale Bridges type or here and this is the I think the more interesting option if you’re the Rockets is if the Nets are hellbent on chasing a donard Mitchell type right fine let him do it the Rockets could get involved as a third team facilitator and potentially get in there and and try to grease the wheels by sending some of the Nets picks back to Brooklyn Brooklyn gets whatever piece they want and then maybe the Rockets are able to walk away with you know a couple pieces that fit what they need right now add some shooting add some defense what have you or quite possibly uh maybe even walk away with one or two of those Phoenix Suns picks because those Suns picks are right now those Suns picks are essentially what the Brooklyn picks were a few years ago when the Rockets originally got their hands on on all those years worth of Brooklyn draft picks so we don’t know what those Suns picks are going to turn into but they are probably some of the most prized Assets in the NBA landscape right now that’s all the that’s all the Nets have to hang their hat on is they’ve got the Suns picks to work with and male Bridges who is a relatively attractive trade Target what are they willing to do with those what are they willing to part ways with and how stubborn will Shawn Marx and Joe Sai ultimately be when it comes to the direction the franchise because again everything that you know all the reporting and everything that the Nets did this season suggests that they’re going to continue to be on the treadmill at mediocrity for years to come hopefully they can come around to seeing reason and if they do then I mean what better trade partner than the Rockets be able to get your hands on your picks and be able to send send out male Bridges send out you know a player or two in fact in fact actually let me double check something because if I’m unless I’m not mistaken uh hell even the Rockets could re-engage the Nets uh on a deal structured around Dorian finy Smith or Cam Johnson as possibilities as well right it doesn’t have to be male Bridges but it could be something as simple as hey Brooklyn we’ll give you guys some of your picks back or all of your picks back give us like serviceable player X so you know again take your pick cam Johnson M Bridges Dorian FY Smith whatever give a serviceable player X and then we’ll give you you know one of the Suns picks two of the Suns picks maybe I think that is at least a trade that has some legs where maybe the Nets use a little bit of the sun’s draft Capital to cash in to get their own picks back the Rockets scoop up another serviceable you know player that can can be injected in the rotation or kind of a depth addition whatever um and then Brooklyn gets the best of both words where they’re still holding on to a little bit of the Suns Capital probably maybe the ones that are a little bit further out um and then the Rockets are able to walk away with one or two pieces of the sun’s future to kind of diversify their assets a little bit because again right now all the assets the Rockets have are the Nets Assets in addition to their own draft capital and the Nets have zero incentive to be bad so those picks especially especially if the Nets somehow land Donovan Mitchell like that’s going to be problematic if the Nets somehow get Donovan Mitchell and they’re they somehow don’t give up mcale Bridges um then you’re looking at a situation where I mean and hell I mean for Cleveland maybe it’s as simple as just the Nets are able to throw Ben Simmons into a deal Ben Simmons has an expiring contract this year maybe it’s Ben Simmons and I don’t know Ben Simmons and cam Thomas for and and a bunch of the Suns picks or all the Suns picks for Donovan Mitchell maybe that’s a trade that Brooklyn’s willing to swing then suddenly that’s a brook team that’s probably like looking at being top six flirting top six in the Eastern Conference and suddenly those picks that the Rockets have lose a lot of their value and that’s the concern here is if Brooklyn actually is able to swing a big trade you know a franchise altering trade and get back to a place where they’re playing above 500 basketball then the Rockets lose all the value that those picks should have conveyed if the team continued to be in disarray or turmoil or mediocrity or whatever so I do feel like it the rockets need to do their due diligence and find a way to capitalize on those picks it could be with the Brooklyn Nets that’s the one that makes the most sense because they have the most those picks have the most value to Brooklyn than to any other team in the association but it doesn’t have to be Brooklyn it could be any number of other teams in the NBA that have players that could potentially be on the trade market right borderline Allstars that are looking for a new home right Brandon Ingram with the New Orleans Pelicans uh Lowry marinin with the usah Jazz maybe and and I’m not a big fan I actually I like Lowry marinin quite a bit uh I feel like the asking price would be way too high with Danny a but not a big Brandon Ingram fan point is it feels like there could be a lot of movement this off season in the NBA landscape and the rockets as ever and as always will be active in trade talks uh ahead of the NBA draft and they’ve got this year’s draft pick as well as up to four other additional future firsts uh via the Nets and their own draft picks that they could trade to try and land a star player if they if if one who fits the bill becomes available this off season coming up I want to get into our final thing here on today’s show which is the Rockets who made the cut for the NBA’s top 25 under 25 list via the ringer we’re going to get there in just one moment and final segment here at locked on Rockets all right let’s get into the Rockets top 25 under 25 list so every so often different Outlets will publish these lists uh and and you know top 25 under 25 is a recurring theme right so who are the best players in the NBA under the age of 25 and there were I I was a little bit surprised in all honesty of the names of the rockets that actually made the cut on this list this time around so let’s start at the top the first name for the Houston Rockets that made the cut was Jabari Smith Jr right on the edge of making the entrance he coocks in at number 25 on the top 25 list uh and in for each one of these players uh there was a reason for Hope and a reason for doubt so if you didn’t read the article I’m going to give the excerpts here really quickly so for jabarus Smith Jr Reason for Hope picture Aaron Gordon except give him Jade McDaniel’s arms and a silky jump shot that’s the promise of Smith who combines two of the most valuable Commodities in today’s game length and shooting the 21-year-old forward can be a menace across the defensive Spectrum on the ball and off it and his shooting ability 36% from three and 81% from the free throw line this past season suggests untapped offensive potential even if Smith doesn’t become a superstar it’s easy to imagine him as a game-breaking role player on a championship team that gets the people going too fully agree there right even if Jabar isn’t ever a true blue Superstar which and aside here I still think he has the skill set to become a superstar um because again he’s got an unguardable jump shot uh and you know if he cleans up the handle just a little bit more he might not ever be your primary play initiator or a guy that you give the rock to and say go get us a bucket but if you put him in the right spots on the floor I think he can be still be incredibly effective and be a really important offensive option for this team now reason for doubt uh it’s not a great sign when a three pick be begins winnowing his role in just his second season as Smith did on the upand cominging rocket Smith’s ultimate Destiny especially on a team with so many young mouths to feed maybe as a streamlined offensive finisher and strong Defender there’s no shame in that but the offense is still somewhat theoretical and many metrics Su suggest Smith isn’t even very impactful on the other end so I do think that itest says that Jabari got a lot better as a Defender this year there’s still a lot of room for him to grow um but those are the those are the two blurbs on Jabari Smith Jr number 25 I think that’s I think that’s relatively Fair given uh his really rough rookie season and then how much of a jump he took this past year I think we’re in store for another big jump from Jabari Smith Jr this next year again there was a reason there was a lot of hype surrounding him going into his draft class why he was projected number one overall the physicals the measurables everything that he brings to the table uh there’s still I think a lot of tapped potential there all right next on the list for the Houston Rockets we have number 22 Jaylen green Reason for Hope Jaylen green has always had the ingredients for stardom twitch unpredictability electrifying movement patterns Elite confidence and hints of three-level scoring ability absolutely true after a tumultuous inconsistent first four months of the Season green finally put it all together in the final 17 games putting up 24.6 points 6.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists on 38% shooting from Beyond the three-point line we’ve talked about this we know about this Jaylen green had an absurd month of March he had an absurd close to the season that the the talent has never been the question with Jaylen green the question has always been the consistency can he be this player all the time again Jaylen doesn’t even have to be the player that he was in March because the player that he was in March was arguably one of the best players on the planet for about a month straight he doesn’t have to to be that he just he just can’t be one of the worst guards in the NBA which is what he was for the first four months of the season so striking a balance between those two points is how Jaylen continues to grow and build his career and submit himself as a fixture with the Rockets Organization for years to come now reason for doubt Green’s rise came in the absence of alarin shingon whose absence gave Green a bigger Runway to attack the rim you hope that greens improved decision-making defense effort and three-point accuracy will hold when the two are reintegrated next season but the greatest determinant of whether green will hit his offensive ceiling may be shon’s progress as a floor spacer I fully disagree with this blur from the ringer and this is one of the reasons that I wanted to tackle this because I think that this is super lazy analysis yes fine shenon can’t shoot doesn’t space the four from three that is not why those two didn’t work for the first however many months of the season that they that Jaylen green struggled yes obviously playing with five out spacing opens things up a little bit more and opens up some driving Lanes but couple points here one the Rockets were already playing at a much faster Pace before Alper and shingon went down due to injury they were playing at a much faster Pace post All-Star break that was a point of emphasis from em o DOA was trying to get out in transition and open up opportunities for Jaylen green am Min Thompson cam Whitmore to attack to use their athleticism and their speed and their explosiveness in transition so there’s that two Alper and shinon makes life easier for everybody else on the floor that’s just a fact you put the ball in alp’s hands He commands a double or sometimes a triple team and then his teammates get to attack off the catch they get to attack a broken scattered defense that on paper should work out incredibly well in Jaylen Green’s favor right how many times in the first few months of the Season while Jaylen was struggling did we see opportunities where Jaylen was able to attack off a Clos out or where shingun commanded a double team and generated a wide open Catch and shoot shot for Jaylen green but because his shooting numbers were wildly inconsistent and he was really struggling especially on the road to put things together we saw you know these really consistent bad shooting performances where it really felt like he wasn’t making an impact or making the most of the opportunities given to him and lastly here’s my final Point uh to start the season Oka deployed Jaylen green in a variety ways but for the first chunk of the Season jaylen’s role was to run the second unit that second unit had five out spacing that second unit was basically supposed to be the Jaylen green show where it was Jaylen green plus four Shooters and it was supposed to be Jaylen green attacking getting downhill and and basically bending the defense to his will and either him scoring himself or getting to the free throw line or commanding a double team and kicking it out for an open shot or getting the defense in rotation and we saw what that looked like and it looked really bad because Jaylen just didn’t have it at the beginning of the year right he had a really rough start to the season so and I’m sure I could come up with a few more examples as to why this is a complete BS reason for doubt on Jaylen green Jaylen and shingon can absolutely work together and in fact I believe they can Thrive together their skill sets are so complimentary of one another I will say with one caveat that yes if shingun does develop a more consist an outside shot it will not only open things up for J it’ll open things up for everybody it opens things up for himself it opens things up for Jaylen sure is that the reason that things might not work between those two absolutely not shenon doesn’t need a three-point shot for that duo to work case in point go look at damont simonis and dearon fox put Shooters around those two it’ll work all right last rocket here uh clocking in at number 12 on the list alperin shenon Reason for Hope shanon’s third season saw him be a finalist for most improved player with major strides taken on both ends in a competitive winning environment he won’t ever be as good as Nicola yic but does a better job mimicking the world’s best player than anyone else with more athleticism and organizational support than the three-time MVP had in his early 20s I think a sweeping definitive statement like he won’t ever be as good as niika yic is dangerous now it’s probably true you know yic is a three-time MVP he’s already won a championship like will shingun ever be as good as joic who knows can he come close maybe we don’t know what shingun ceiling is that’s the exciting part is we saw him take a massive step forward this past year we still don’t know how many more steps forward he can take we don’t know what his true ceiling is shenon might be good enough to be a top 15 top 10 player in the league one day we’ll see now reason for doubt it’s fair to be concerned about a young Big’s lacking three-point shot until he makes it respectable but shinon is so good in too many other areas for it to really matter the greater issue in a playoff context is his defense can the Rockets ever survive four rounds with shingun as their anchor or will the front office have to add a real rim protector again I’m a little against this like reason for doubt because the Rockets were able to Anchor a top 10 defense with Alper and shingon in fact their defense got worse when Alper and shenon went down due to injury so I think the concerns about shon’s defense are largely overblown at this point in his career I think he is G I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt at this point that he can be at least a net neutral if not at times a positive Defender as a big as a fiveman in today’s NBA uh there’s one area that I do need to see him continue to get better in and that is his rebounding um there’s definitely some games where you need to feel his presence on the boards a little bit more but the Rockets are also able to hedge that with Bigs like a St Adams and they can also play in a variety of different ways with Jabari or Jeff Green at the five spot instead so they have options there if there’s ever a matchup that is just you know super unfavorable when it comes to shingun or if it’s just an awful matchup for him then they have counters on counters on counters that they can go to with their other players but at no point is shingun like a defensive liability to really be oh my God he’s going to get played off the floor in the playoffs hell no he just helped anchor a top 10 defense now is that a guarantee that the are going to be a top 10 defense again next year no do they have all the makings to be another yet yet again an elite defensive team while also taking significant strides forward as an offensive team absolutely so I don’t really agree with the reason for doubt there on shingun um I will say though the some of the other names on this list uh let’s get into some of the names at the top I I thought it was a little the list itself was a little clunky when it started getting to the top uh they’ve got wimy listed at number one ant Anthony Edwards listed at number two SGA number three and they’ve got Luca at number four I don’t know how you can have Luca donic at number four in this list the other three players ahead of him the only one that I think you can make an argument that that has that could be ahead of Luca on this list is SGA maybe ant hasn’t earned it yet uh maybe a little bit of recency bias with how good he was against the Suns as well as his Series against the Nuggets I think there’s some recency bias going on with this article and yes wimy projects to be this insane all-time presence Talent whatever and he had a hell of a rookie year but I don’t know if you can comfortably put wimy at number one yet Luca probably deserved that number one spot so uh even though I I do not like defending a Dallas Maverick uh I’m just trying to be fair here uh halberton at five Tyrese Maxi at six Chad hren at seven Jaylen Williams at 8 poo bener at nine I’m just reading off all the ones ahead of Alper and shenon Zion and johnar both tied for 10th place and then Alper and shenon at 12 I feel like this is kind of a fair list Jaylen Williams at 8 is a hell of a reach that is kind of crazy um I don’t know about that one I I know Jaylen Williams has played some incredible basketball for the Thunder I don’t know if he’s he look on his ringer top 100 ranking he was ranked at 37th uh so I think the ringer is definitely drinking some of the OKC Kool-Aid over there and shet holr at seven probably probably Fair given his impact as rookie season I don’t know give me your thoughts I’m curious what you think about the ringers to uh you know top 25 under 25 list how do you feel about the Rockets potentially trying to re-engage the Brooklyn Nets what would you want to what what would you want a trade to look like would you be interested in male Bridges or possibly one of the other names cam Johnson or Dorian finny Smith as possible additions to this Rockets team let me know in the YouTube comments but as always thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening we look forward to having you back right here at locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball [Music]

Houston Rockets Trade Rumors: Brooklyn Nets Deal In The Works? + Stephon Castle Intel & More

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) discusses the latest NBA Draft intel on Stephon Castle, reporting that the Houston Rockets are attempting to re-engage the Brooklyn Nets in trade talks ahead of the NBA Draft and what a deal between the two teams (or possibly a third team) could look like, as well as the Rockets who made the cut on the Ringer’s “Top-25 Under 25” list.

#Rockets #NBA #Trade

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