Houston Rockets draft special! Should they trade or keep the pick?

Houston Rockets draft special! Should they trade or keep the pick?

want to talk about to our sponsor bet online bet online is your number one source for all your summer Sports this season from MLB golf NBA and NHL Playoff stats all the latest stats news and scores available to follow your favorite teams get the latest odds and lines including the latest team match up player props and odds on just by every sport out there head to the website today or use your mobile device to get in on the action online where the game starts we are here to field Rockets news this Rockets field podcast presented by believe Network and sponsored by bet online of course I’m your coach lar Binkley you can always find me on Twitter at Binkley Hoops all my written work written work over at ESP Nation or the dream shake and before we introduce our special guests I want to give my co-host a chance to introduce himself hey what’s up y’all it’s Vader uh you can find me on Vader Sports on Twitter and also on Instagram for your Rockets related news all right and as you see we have a very special guest it’s been a while since we’ve been on but we all know it’s the off season so uh besides a couple teams still playing it’s not a lot going on in NBA right now um but I wanted to introduce a person I’ve had on the podcast several times definitely a friend of the podcast one of the best when it comes to scouting high school and basketball players um I always like to have them on the show because um uh when it comes to my knowledge of you know college basketball is definitely not that you know extensive so I like to have people on the show that actually know what they’re talking about that follow these players all the time we are joined by toas baz of the athletic how you doing today devis I’m doing well man thanks for having me on absolutely and before we get into it of course you’ve been on the show a few times but if you kind of just let our listeners um and viewers know you know a little bit about your background and how you got into this uh so for now yeah I work at the athletic I just made two years three weeks ago so uh that’s been going well um before I worked here I did some stuff with Adam zor I was Scouting For Him doing some high school college basketball recruiting stuff and I was also working at MB Sports as well so this is my second year going on year three at the athletic and I’m happy to be here absolutely like I said we’ve talked you know several times and I always appreciate you uh jumping on the show and especially this year because I think a lot of rockets fans just like you know just like myself even covering a team didn’t really think that the Rockets would be a a huge player in the draft we knew that there was a Poss they were going to have a top 10 pick because of the um you know that they had Brooklyn’s pick going into this off season but most people thought it’s going to be around the you know n910 range but it you know we all of course we found out several weeks ago that the Rockets will be drafting in top three so of course that kind of kickstarted the draft coverage over here Rocket Fuel and um that’s kind of where I want to start I wanted to get you know you follow these players you know all year long not just the last few weeks I want to get your top five kind of going going into this draft because from what I’ve seen in the mock draft there’s a lot of you know uncertainty of you know who’s going to be in that top five I think the top two may be kind of um uh more concrete but at least as far as the top five I kind of seen it all over the place so what’s your top five you know as we you know talk about today’s uh draft so I mean if top five you’re just going like you know one through five I guess yeah just kind of yeah just kind of like you’re one through five not necessarily doesn’t to be in order but yeah okay well I guess so in this one SAR uh Zachary Rich say we were struggling with that off air but for sure um kingan probably should be in the top five even if he’s fifth um and then it’s I mean it’s kind of hard too to go against L Shepard I mean his shooting splits were unbelievable what he did at Kentucky I’m sure he’ll I’m sure he’ll go on the top five and then for that fifth spot you’re looking at either topic or probably uh buellis that that isn’t my favorite five players but if I was guessing in in some order that would probably be the top five that goes off the board well hold on hold on who’s your favorite cuz that’s that’s all me personally cuz I like there’s like now that we going through the draft cycle and everything like I know one one particular player who um like a lot of a lot of people like but they’re not sure if he’s NE neily a fit here with the Rockets is a guy like Rob Billingham is he is he in one of your is he in your top five like as far as favor he’s he’s he’s really really really talented I guess the thing with him is just um players like him they really have to go to the right spot because we’ve seen guards that’ll be able to score like him kind of be able to do some of those things but they go to the wrong fit and they and it’s tough for them to succeed so I think that he could probably be like a version of like Lou Williams I can see him kind of coming in the league over time and developing into that type of role because the talent is there I mean he’s unbelievable with the ball in his hands I just think for him the biggest thing would be fit he probably needs to go somewhere where they’re generally pretty young you know where they can kind of let him grow as the team grows together but um the biggest thing with him is just going to be you know maturity will he be able to continue to grow and be mature as a you know a main ball handler on the floor yeah because kind of follow on Rod Holland I don’t know he sort of reminds me a little bit of you know amen Thompson as far as being a yes he play a lot of guard but maybe his best position is going to be forward in the NBA because yes he has he can score inside the paint but do you think he can ever develop that jump shot because that’s kind of the question now with Thompson is yeah he has a great athleticism um he great playmaking great feeli for the game but will he ever be able to develop that jump shot do you think that Holland can develop that jump shot and is that kind of why he hasn’t been in a lot of people’s top five right now so I’ve been I’ve been watching Ron probably since the eighth grade you know he’s a Dallas kid so I’ve been watching them for a long time um love that kid love his family extremely hard worker versatile defensively rebounds play super hard I think the jumper can get better he he he’s an interesting player shooting wise because he shoots it well from spots typically players his position don’t like he shoots it at least when I’ve been seing him he shoots the ball well from the corners which you typically don’t see so I think that he can be respectable I don’t think he’ll be you know some 36 37 38% three-point shooter but if he can be average can he be that between 33 and a half to 35% I think that’s reasonable it may take some time but his calling card is always going to be you know defensive versatility slashing and you know just his motor yeah and he’s like a 68 guy with like a 71 wingspan I think they said or something like that so yeah he he is um he’s an intriguing Prospect but like um for a team that’s lacking shooting and needing shooting like the brackets he’s he’s kind of a tough sale but man I I really like when I put the film on like there’s a lot to like about Ron Holland and like with a guy like ma adoka like what he could do with a guy like that oh another another kind of controversial uh person that people have been bringing up and you didn’t mention him is is Castle what do you think about him look so if you’re talking about my favorite five players he’s probably one he’s probably my favorite if not second favorite player in this class he’s another one jumper needs to improve but he’s a big big guard who can facilitate he can slash he’s powerful body can get to the rim finish around the rim and he’s a versatile Defender I think there’s a I think the Rockets may not make sense but I think he’s definitely a top eight to nine pick for sure um but yeah he’s probably my uh probably my favorite player in this class yeah cuz I’ve been hearing like there’s a lot of people on um on Twitter for example who like either really love him or they think that he’s overrated so I definitely wanted to ask your opinion on him because that’s been like a like in in spaces and things like that that I’ve like listened in on that’s been like a point of contention people been arguing about like whether or not um he was going to like what what’s his projection what what do you think he’s going to be and you know is is he worth a top five pick and things of that nature so um it’s kind of cool to hear that you you’re pretty high on him as well yeah no I’m I’m a big fan of him I think what he does well to translate like again the jumper we we know the jumper needs to get better that that’s I won’t argue with anyone talking about that but there there’s a it can it can get better you know could he you know could he be a high-end Bruce brown type of player could he he’s a little bigger than Bruce but can he be some variation to that and Bruce learn how to shoot overtime too he can she can make shots so I think that castle his ability just to be had a ball in his hands to be a big playmaker and him be able to guard most positions on the floor I think that translates and he’ll approve on the jum that’s what shooting that’s what shooting coaches are for they’ll help him get there and he’ll fix that over time yeah I mean it definitely Castle’s another one that’s kind of popped up on some people’s mock drafts even as high as number three but kind of going back to the the top of the draft uh when it comes to of course most people have been saying that alexar is gonna go number one but just from what you’ve seen and what you’ve heard do you think that there kind of a a he’s locked in at that position and if he doesn’t go number one do you think there’s a chance Falls all the way to number three because you know we know Washington has to pick at at number two nobody has any idea who who they who they’ll take when it comes to drafts but do you think that’s pretty much locked in at number one and number two who’s going in those positions I think I think so I mean I think for Atlanta they have to consider all options right because they’re probably there’s a chance they move some of their better players like there there’s a chance Trey young isn’t back there so you know with them this pick is probably going to look into to be the future their franchise going forward they do decide to move out for Trey young so I think that he’s probably the pick that makes sense this draft is very unique it’s a lot of more role players than Stars so I think that you know teams that do their due diligence and Scout properly will end up coming out of this draft successfully but I think that star probably he’s probably the pick at one and and do you think Zachary is pretty much guaranteed a number two or is it kind of just hard to say because we’ve seen like I said with Washington draft history that they don’t always make the best decision when it comes to the draft I mean do you think there he’s still Zachary’s pretty much a lock at number two um with Alex going number one I think I think he goes too I I think I think I think so I think that just you know and you know and again Washington they’re kind of they’re kind of all over the place you really never know what they’re gonna do but I can see him going to you know do they maybe reach in the saying go after ropic does does that make sense for them I can see them maybe trying to you know dble and Dabble with some of that but I think they’ll take probably one of those foreign guys at too and and you just mentioned topic as far as is there any concern with his injury history I know just recently like a couple weeks ago last week he had another wasn’t a major injury but it seems like he’s had several injuries over the last couple years do you think there’s any kind of injury concern with that and will that possibly keep him out of the top five I think there is some there is some concern with you you know teams are going to try to get the you know the best information about his medical history that they that they can get but I mean in this draft I think that and some people aren’t really high on him like that but I think in this draft you have to probably take him in the top five I I think if the injury concerns are not just glaring I think you probably have to take him that high yeah so that kind of leads me to my next question of course um the Rockets have the number three pick and we’ll get into just overall do you think they should even keep that pick for for right now they do have that number three pick and I mean if you’re the Rockets uh just as we just talked about with with Zachary and with alexar going number one number two you know kind of with their makeup of their team right now where like Vader mentioned earlier they don’t have a lot of shooters that was like one of their main problems this last season was they just could not make outside shots do you consider a reed sheeper at number three do you think he has a high enough ceiling or who do who would you take at number three if you were uh in the rocket front office if I would probably take two players I probably take Reed Shepard and this this guy next guy not the shooter but I would also consider Donovan Clingan I would probably take one of those two Reed obviously the main reason you just said you need shooting he shot his shooting splits were unbelievable I mean so I think that that just immediately jumped off the page he was what 53% from the field 52% from three so that’s I don’t that’s super uncommon so he’s definitely someone take a look at but I know we’ll talk about this in a second but I would be more intrigued they tried to trade that pick that that’s what I would do if I were them the Rockets you know they didn’t you saw they took a step forward this year they don’t have a in my opinion a ton that they need you know shooting is an issue but just generally speaking they don’t have a ton that they need so I wonder could they trade that pick and maybe combine that with another asset on the team and maybe try to get like one of those younger Stars that that may be a free agan this year so what let me ask you as far as re Shepherd because of course we heard a lot about his shooting um that’s kind of been the main thing but you know when it comes to ma he’s definitely one that looks you know heavily on the defensive end as well and that kind of determin a lot of times whether you could even be on the court when you’re playing on a team that you know Ma is coaching um from what I’ve heard his you know he may not be an elite Defender but he’s definitely not someone that um other teams are going to try to take advantage of on the defensive end do you think that’s one of his other stronger points is maybe not his overall defense but just his overall toughness and his hustle on the defensive end yeah I think that you know defense is mainly effort and length I think that if you’re willing to try and put in the eff I think that you can at least be serviceable I mean at the end day it’s the NBA are most of these guys playing defense consistently probably not for the most for the most part but I think that he does have a he does try and put in effort you know you have a thompon when you have a couple other guys on your team that defend they’ll help him that’ll help him you know with those early and he’s a rookie so people are going to try they’re going to try but when you have other perimeter Defenders on your team that’ll help his confidence one it’ll be able to help him you know just learning certain things how to be in the right position yeah I’m a little concerned uh I know his defense was pretty good in college he had like pretty good like stocks I believe but I don’t know I I forgot what he measured but um I don’t think his wingspan was like any anything like super impressive so I just just wonder um I know he had a he had a really good vertical though you know there’s there’s some things that he tested out really well at so I don’t know I just wonder um when you pick in third and I like re Shepard a lot I just wonder um like if if if the rock is wanted to keep the pick like I’m I’m probably more in favor of trading the pick like you saying we’re gonna get to that yeah but um if they were to keep the pick I I don’t know do you draft her do you draft her fit or do you like try to take a home run swing with a guy who maybe you might consider has a higher upside like what do you think a guy like Donovan kingan’s upside is you know could he be like um Perle could he be like per play with the spur I think with the Raptors again I believe they got him back could he be some variation that I like I like clink you know he had a phenomenal tournament he was unbelievable in tournament especially the last three four games or so and you know in the past the Rockets have been looking for a five they were you know they were talks last year they were trying to get involved with Brook Lopez and a few others so I think that’s an issue you can solve you obviously have Alp you have Jabari so there’s kind of a log Jam with the men at that four five spot but like you said if you don’t if you’re concerned about Reeds defense wingspan if and if you have to pick somebody I I like I like Clingan if that you have to pick somebody there and another play I wanted to ask you about because he’s been especially since I started kind of looking into this is Mattis pelis he seems like he’s one of the more versatile players in the entire draft um he did struggle a little bit last year you know with his shooting but you know just from interviews I’ve heard him talk about he said that he he’s not really overly concerned because in the past he has been a better shooter overall um what’s kind of his upside and is he’s you know is he another player that could possibly go in the top five or because I think one thing the Rockets are missing is vers versatility at the four position um I mean they do have you know Atari een of course who’s coming back from injury like you mentioned Jabari Smith but even with Jabari Smith he’s more of a uh more of a set shooter he’s not going to really take too many people off the dribble he’s he’s still you know working on his overall skill set but it seemed like with pelis he’s kind of already at the point where he is a multiac and it especially on the offensive end type of player so what’s kind of your opinion on him so he so you remember maybe like a year and a half ago they had him going one he was projected to be the number one pick in the draft so he’s super talented you know he can score from all three levels I know that he had some issues he struggled a little bit in the G League at night which is expected he’s at the time 18 19 years old playing against grown men so that was expected but he’s he’s he’s super talent I think he probably goes in the top five to six especially at the Pistons I think the Pistons really do like him it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t go maybe to Houston they probably would pick him but um he’s a he’s like you said he’s a multi multi- talented guy he can play multiple positions he’s very versatile he just he’s he’s a tad skinny I don’t know defensively will he be able because he G to be with a three four can he physically even guard those positions especially early on because he’s gonna need the minutes so that’s maybe an area of concerned but offensively I think that he has some stuff in his tool box that’ll definitely translate he can be a to be successful there and you brought up the NB uh you know G Le and night who we all know now is kind of dis dissolved after last season and that kind of play into a lot of these scouting reports as well like how do you as far as when you’re looking at these players and you know they play for the NBA you know the G League ignite team does that factor into kind of your scouting because we know that one of the reason why they dissolve is because it it didn’t seem like it was a lot of teaching going on with a lot of the players there and we know that from you know here when jayen green was playing with Ignite which I think personally that kind of set him back a little bit and that’s why it’s taking him some time to get to where he is right now but how much do you factor into that that okay they play before the g- league ignite and if they would have went to college maybe we would have been seeing a different type of player I’m I’m always in favor of the college component I just think it’s just a better model I think one thing with the ignite the problem was was you know they really haven’t had any Star players come out they were getting some of these top seven top six recruits in the country yeah and and they’re fine like Jaylen green he’s a solid player kaminga is solid when they put them on the floor you know some of the other guys are not even in the NBA so I think that was one of the one of the bigger issues there was where where’s the star power we were getting these high recruited guys why aren’t they becoming allars you know so but I think it does play a significant role in you know into your scouting those players that he’s playing against some of those guys may or may not play in the NBA but that the physically it looks like that so what does he look like going against those type of Players He’ll get better naturally but I think it does play you you have you have to consider because that’s the most recent film that you have with those players so I think you definitely have to consider it yeah like I said with Jaylen it did take him a little bit more time and say you haven’t really had any just breakout Stars since they started the G League at night Anderson really struggled too out the gate that’s another exactly that’s another one that kind of factors into all this when you’re talking about uh scouting these players but uh another thing I wanted to ask you about as we’re starting to see more and more international players just kind of taking over the NBA and we just talked about earlier how the top two players possibly are going to be from France after last year of course with Victor wiama uh being the number one overall pick is that kind of just how it’s going to be for a while now the trend where it’s going to be a lot more international players in the top 10 and maybe one or two State Side players um I think there there’s definitely going to be more of them coming just over the next several there’s gonna be several in this in this draft to get drafted but I think this year this year was just a a weaker draft than most you you know I think I I think I think this this would just happen to just be the year that it was weaker you know so and that’s no disrespect to the guys in the draft I think they’ll be you know I wish them a a good long successful career but this draft just was weak that that’s that’s just what it is period it just it was we got some guys coming up next some guys coming up next draft that’s State side that pretty good Cooper flag I think yeah right yeah and I think um yeah I I think that it’ll it’ll be able to it’ll eventually correct itself but you know every x amount of if we have bad drafts and this will be this one and there’ll be some gems in this draft there’s some players we might not even talk about you know they may come out of nowhere and be be Stars they might be an Allstar very serviceing play that happens every year and I think that this is a draft that I think Scouts really just have to do their research get their Intel and just be on top of their game because you can there’s some good players in this draft that you can get especially in those in that later in those later rounds yeah and and just kind of just thinking back to last year DFT and that’s actually something I want to talk about in this second half I actually want to start off with that just talking about the Rockets draft last season and how you know the two players that they drafted I’m in a camp how they kind of played out throughout the season I definitely want to get your opinion on that um but yeah I guess it’s kind of a you know it goes in Cycles just like anything else like you know we’re seeing now where the NBA is being dominated by players like Luca and Nia joic and jool embiid and players like that but you know eventually they’ll kind of work his way back around then maybe we’ll see you know Anthony Edwards or players like that kind of just you know eventually take over league and become MVP type players but uh what I want to talk about in the second segment I want to also you know like said talk about last year’s draft get Tobias opinion on that also want to get a little bit more into you know what we were talking about earlier as far as trading that pick um instead of keeping a number three overall pick and also want to get tobias’s opinion as far as sleepers in the draft that maybe a lot of people are not talking about and something that um we maybe we should be paying a little bit more attention to as far as what players are kind of standing out maybe towards the end of the draft that a lot of people aren’t talking about so we’ll be talking about all that in the second segment so please stick around and welcome back to Rocket Fuel podcast presented by the believe Network and sponsor by bet online and in the first segment of course we talked about uh the top five or at least who we think is going to go in the top five and we talked about you know some of the other players that U may be a little bit out side of the top five but are definitely interesting prospects and um we also talked about who the Rockets possibly talk take at three and we also spent a little bit of time talking about should they even trade that pick um but before we get into whether they should trade that pick or not I wanted to get tobi’s opinion on of course last year’s Rockets Team Rockets had uh another uh couple of players that they took um in the top 20 last season and am man Thompson and cam Whitmore who both at times looked like they should have possibly been the uh a top two or three pick in the entire DFT draft so I wanted to kind of get your opinion on that as far as going into the draft what did you think about amen and Cam and what did you did they kind of exceed your expectations last year or were you kind of expecting what they did um for the Rockets last season well first I really love what the Rockets did I mean they were you know they were at one point they were considering taking cam at four um you know you and you get them at what 20 I believe so that was that was unbelievable get for them and they came in and they were productive both of them were you know they they you know especially especially cam he came in right away you know they were concerns about the I think the hip issue whatever but to him play 47 games aage 12 points four rebounds he had a he had a hell of a season and I think the same thing with uh I mean Thompson as well he made the all rookie team he’s very good defensively so those are two building blocks for your franchise going forward that you don’t even have to worry about and I think that something that they needed were those two three wingy type of players and they got two of them so so like I said going forward you don’t even have to worry about that position really going forward you can find other things that you need and you kind of mentioned as far as needing two two three type players do you think ultimately uh am Thompson’s position is really G to be because we kind of talked a little bit about earlier with Ron Holland how yes he plays some guard But ultimately he’s probably better at as a forward do you think that’s ultimately kind of where amen is going to end up is more at the small forward sometime even a small ball four because he did play that position especially when um Al Shang went out with the injury he played a lot of four for the rock the end the season do you think ultimately he doesn’t really end up as a primary point guard and more of a a slashing forward I think that he could be that main Balland maybe with the second unit but I think that you know the NBA the NBA changes every year you’re seeing a lot of fours even some fives are playing under size you you see you see that all the time some of these fours they’re 66 67 they’re not these big 69ine 610 guys like we’ve seen in the past there’s a couple teams that do that but for the most part not really so I think that if you put him at the small B four it’s fine he’s just as tall as anyone else is four you know yeah Aaron Gordon at the four he’s what 6 eight maybe six eight and a half they’re around the same size so it’s not a gigantic it’s not a big deal for them to do that and he plays so hard super athletic with long arms he’ll be fine I think his handle is kind of holding him back um how how fixable do you think that is at this point I think I think I think I think it’s fixable I mean he’s what 21 yeah he he it’s fixable you know he got to get in the gym and they’re known for their hard work so I think that if anyone can fix it it’ll it’ll be fine I don’t think he’s going to be out there and just be some super duper ball handler but he just need to be able to be able to you know make the right reads make the right plays and he he he’ll be okay I think that’s flexible yeah cuz we saw when he was able to like have some control with the ball I mean he’s he’s pretty he’s a devastating athlete so I would love for him to you know tighten that up I’m I’m actually more um I’m more hopeful that he can get that resolved than him actually developing a a consistent three-pointer feel like he got a lot more there’s a lot more that’s gonna have to happen for his uh his shot to come around but I man we saw this dude putting up like triple doubles and near triple doubles when he was a starter with two like pretty GL caring holes in his game so like that just tells you how how how high his basketball IQ is how good he is how athletic he is for him to be able to go out and play like that without you know a reliable jump shot and with a kind of a a shaky handle and for him to still go out there and play like that it’s pretty impressive so like I feel like if he can tighten his handle up a little bit um I don’t know I feel like skott’s Theon for him honestly yeah because he has natural gifts that you just can’t teach and you we were able to see some of that some of that last year so the handle will get better like I said he’ll probably be able to fix that more than the jumper at least early on in his young career but for him to be able to put that up like you said with those two laring holes in this game was impressive and there’s other players like that around the league you know they different player different player but jery soan he’s he he sometimes he gets stuff done he’s super awkward and kind of running around doing whatever he’s doing but he but he plays and he and he sometimes he you productive minut it so there’s players that are around the league that can do that not comparing Thompson and soan but you get my point there are players with glaring holes that can find valuable minutes on the floor and get things done yeah absolutely and not to put you on the spot here but before we move on to the next topic I want to ask you if you’re looking at it just from your point of view uh who do you think has to higher upside between Cam and ammen because some of the things we talked about with amen that he struggles with as far as just shooting and you know anything outside the paint that’s not something necessarily that cam struggles with um of course there’s a lot of things that he still has to work on as far as on the defensive end becoming a better passer but if you’re just looking at from your point of view who do you think has a a higher upside or is it still just kind of too early to tail on that if you asking me I’ll probably say cam whip more to me I just think you know like you said some of the things that Thompson is working on cam kind of already has that Cam’s issue was Health you know if if Health wasn’t a concern he’s probably not a rocket anyway true he he probably he probably goes last year top seven I mean you saw I think beginning of the year last year obviously we knew Wy was going one but they had cam at one point going like two or three at one point last you go way way back before you got hurt so the Rockets basically got a top four pick at 20 so again assuming if he was healthy all of last year he’s probably not a rocket he’s probably in somewhere else yeah yeah I mean I remember there was yeah several articles in you know people talking to them that Rockets yeah they were actually considering taking them at four and then yeah of course if they do that then they don’t have all men so to get both of those players in one draft is is pretty amazing um and that kind of leads me into the next topic that I definitely want to talk about was the whether Rock she even keep that number three pick um let me ask you you said earlier that you would actually feel like it’s better for the rocks to trade that pick does that go with it does it depend on who’s actually there let’s say that SAR somehow does fall to number three does that kind of change your mind or do you still are you still of the mind that set that this draft is not as strong as previous drafts and The Rock would be better off with let’s say tra trading number three and um Dylan Brooks for like a Mel Bridges or somebody like that do you no matter what are you still trading that pick or it just depends on who’s there I think you have to consider it all you know if someone does fall there and you feel that at three I mean you’re picking at three so most players you can get right that’s just generally you can get most of the players in this draft at three so if they get three and SAR is still there and you love SAR go for it now the now the problem is is the Log Jam the bar Smith you drafted two years ago you got going at the file who’s unbelievable how do how how does that work like how do what what is what is the sale that what is it what is the minutes like how do you roster construct that so I think that they should you could maybe move down could could you could you move down and address another issue you know maybe maybe get some other say could you just trade the pick in general and add another player maybe get a Mel Bridges maybe you know get another one of those young up and coming players like that yeah and I guess that’s kind of the the question as far as trading down or just trading completely out of it because I don’t think there’s an easy answer for the Rockets because they’re kind of in limbo they were better last year but they still weren contended nobody expected them to you know even though they were close to the Warriors as far as making the playoffs nobody really could you know thought they were going to go any further in the playoffs so they’re kind of in that middle section where they want to win now but they still got all these young players on the team so I I I think that’s definitely something that’s going to be the big question on is whether you know should they even keep that pick because now you’re adding another young guy on to a squad where you already have several guys that are under 21 I have a potentially hot T might might be hot I don’t know I personally think seon is y’all’s best player personally for the short and potentially in the long term for me so if if that’s the case some of those guys got to get moved yeah that that’s just for me some of them have some of some of them I think some of them may have the ceiling is they’re approaching their ceiling I don’t know if some of them can get any better than what they are despite the age they’re going to get better right so so which players you think is closer to ceiling I like Jaylen green I I I I think that he’s I think that he’s close to his ceiling and he’s and he’s a good player this is this is not me talking about him at all I think he’s a good player but okay this is what he’s going on the year four I believe okay it’s year four is he gonna turn in the Bradley Bill is he going to turn into Devin Booker at what point what point is he going to turn into this Allstar caliber player yeah he might he’s more than talented this is not a talent issue he’s more than talented can he can definitely do it but but what what we’re waiting maybe year four is the year we get the year far and he’s about the same be going into year five is is he is he is he ever gonna be that and if not Al’s my best player if Al’s my best player we’re going to have to put some perimeter defensive shooting players around him that can that’s that’s what I would do and and maybe Jaylen green you know he can continue to develop and get better but I think that that may be that that may be something to consider you know J Jabari Smith super talented he’s kind of in some ways the odd man out some some in those situations sometimes he’s get fourth fifth player shots how does that how does that fit so so so it’s not a matter of are they good enough or can they develop this just may not be the place you know one of them may go to a different team he may really pop it’s not the Rocket’s fault it’s just that how their team is constructed they may not be able to grow into what it is I different example but you look at like Evan Moy his rookie year we thought this dude was gonna take over the lead we thought that he was gonna be like because he honestly if you look at him in from a microscope he looks similar to Anthony Davis he looks very similar especially at that age he looks similar I’m not saying he’s gonna be Anthony Davis but he does similar thing he can do similar things well we’re what two years down the line we don’t talk about every Mo like that anymore not his fault they have Darius g d spider they take most of those shots so his development in my opinion is being altered it’s not his fault it’s just that if if if you took when they weren’t on the team and when they were hurt he was Bing when he comes back he get third fourth player shots same thing with Jabari I think it’s the same thing same thing with with the green he’s getting the shots up I just don’t know if he’s going to develop into an off yeah I mean the clock is obviously ticking on those guys because they the the you know the thing that we’ve been talking about a lot is you know it’s time to pay some of these dudes the those contract situations are about to be are about to enter the enter the chat into the conversation and so when you start talking money and investing you know a lot of your salary caping the guys you got to be sure so yeah I’m 100% with you on you know this this is a very interesting offseason for the for the Houston Rockets and I think probably the offseason and then leading up to the trade line because I do think like you said they’re going to have to probably make some decisions on one or two of these dudes that we are like considering it being our core and they they unfortunately you know may not be here because that’s just how that’s just how what it is like you said um they may go on and flourish elsewhere but you know from a from a team construction and a team building perspective it’s like you you have to start identifying who you want to be here who you want to pay and what pieces you need to put around them and so Stone has some tough decisions to make pretty soon yeah the fit the fit is always going to be more important than than the talent and you know and granted these are good problems to have I there are a lot of teams in the NBA right now a lot of them that wish they had this potential problem sure a lot of them wish they had a Jaylen green and Jabari Smith they even could potentially trade or do whatever they want with them so these are good problem it’s just a matter like you said the clock is ticking you gotta start paying these dudes only so many can’t get paid and and we we have picks we have guys to draft so something something has to give and then an Ideal World obviously because you took Jaylen Green Third overall in the draft you want to see him develop into that like Alpha score you know somewhat to what we saw like guys like Booker and Anthony Edwards being able to do in the playoffs you know take over you know take over some playoff games and things of that nature um and you want to see you know Al shenon continue to develop and then you have a good onew punch you know well that happen um I don’t know like this is the like they pretty much have until um I mean these decisions might happen over the over the summer but like I feel like if Jaylen comes out and struggles um you know first half of this season he he may be on the tra I feel like if you know or if he comes out and really establishes himself and you see that he and shenon you know it’s still a clunky fit and you can’t figure out how to get those two to to like flourish simultaneously and that you know and I think a lot of that is on coaching we’ve seen uh Jaylen and shenon have good games at the same time so I’m not saying that but like there’s definitely um it’s going to be a very very interesting very interesting first half of the season for the rets yeah it’s yeah it’s in a in a nutshell in different teams but you know you see the little I always find these funny you know they have like the yic the mon sabonis Alp the little like you know the little transition period right why that works in in Sacramento you have Fox the rest of those guys 3 and D shooting caliber players with the Rockets they have a Jabari Smith who was a top four top three pick who’s Mega talented you paid Fred vanley who’s a champion who won the champion on the championship team who was cooking you have Dylan Brooks who’s made deep playoff runs who’s been super productive in the NBA and then you have Jaylen so that is the that’s the thing you know if if if you know you had more shooting it probably works it probably works Jaylen and it probably does work but for how their team is construct constructed and who you just paid you might have to do something different what kind of fit do you think and see like I would I wouldn’t mind bringing Mel Bridges in I kind of feel like when you start talking to um Brooklyn they’re gonna they’re going to want that uh piig swap next year and I feel like that that 25 pick swap man I feel like some that might be like a deal breaker you know what I mean because next year I’m sorry what did you say toas yeah I’m agreeing with you I can’t do that one yeah yeah and I I feel like when you start getting in that conversation with them yeah okay we’ll give you pick three and we’ll give you you know some some contracts to make it work and you you know maybe we’ll give you something else to sweeten it um and you send us Mel Bridges but like I just can’t see a world where we get that deal done without them asking for that 20 that 2025 pick and like you said next year’s draft is actually a good draft and they are not a good team so like you’re potentially like you know what I mean you could be trading you know Cooper flag to them you know what I mean so and you know that’s like a highend scenario but like I I don’t know I feel like that that little that one little thing right there might be like a thing that like like prevents any deal with Brooklyn from happening but what do you think but that as side what do you think about Mel bridges’ fit with Houston I love the fit I think I think I think that dude’s still underrated you saw when he first got to Brooklyn the type of numbers that he was putting up he’s a I think that he’s a immediate like plug andplay guy he’s a 16 17 around that caliber guy he can guard your best we can guard the other team’s best player he can we know he can make shots I think him playing for Team USA in the summertime last year really really like helped him you know mature as a player and learn different things so I definitely think he would be one to uh get I guess the other question is we know the top we know the 2025 draft is loaded the question would be is how valuable do the Rockets how Val how valuable is Mel Bridges to them because if he’s if he’s the piece that they feel that to help them take this jump would then I think you have to do it then if if that if that’s the case because because if you get him that 20 yeah that 225 kid he there’s a chance he could be a star but he’s still unproven he’s still a kid I know what Bridges is so you know we we’ve seen unfortunately a lot of guys get drapped out they can’t play so if if you value Bridges as that level to take get us over the hum I think you have to do it and another thing about bridges is he never misses games I don’t think he’s missed a game since high school um which is which is pretty amazing especially in this day and age with load management uh I mean I I think that’s a skill in itself just being able to be on the court so I mean I’ve always loved Bridget’s game of course he took a step back last year but you also got the factor in that Brooklyn was horrible and we know being down here in Houston how being on a horrible team can affect your overall play um so that’s that’s that’s gonna be a really interesting thing because I know raell Stone did just get his contract extension but that’s the type of move that can really either you know propelled you forward or almost cost you your job if you trade for Mel bridg is GNA say you trade away that 2025 pick and that 2025 pick he comes out he’s he comes out and he’s the best rookie in theti I mean it’s kind of a you know you never really know like you said you don’t really know with any of these players I guess we knew what Victor W biama was going to be but for the most part you really don’t know what these high draft pick players are going to be because they never played in the NBA and it takes some time for them to develop that so yeah it’s GNA be a real interesting like Vader said offseason because the Rockets have a lot of decisions to make not just with the draft but if they’re gonna sign alpr shanon and Jaylen green beyond their current contracts um and like you said you think Al shenon is the best player on the team I think majority of people last year thought Al shenon before his injury was the best player on the team so I mean that that’s a big factor into whether they’re gonna give these guys Max contracts I mean I don’t see them giving Jaylen green a Max contract regardless shenon possibly but I just think that the Rockets are really still kind of figuring out okay is either one of these guys going to be our franchise player at the you you don’t think if you don’t think if if we get March if we don’t get if we get March Jaylen green who was second only to Luca donic and and and player of the month voting if you don’t you don’t think they’ll give him a max if you see that like the first at the you know the first half of the season oh if we get March jayen green yes but that’s the that’s the big question are you getting March Jaylen green or you getting October through February Jaylen green so that’s that’s the question and it’s interesting to me because it’s always interesting how much better players play when they coming into that contract here it is unbelievable it’s amazing how how the money just is always just it’s that one little thing you know they’ll be they’ll be whatever the first couple year as soon as that Contra comes around they start doing things you didn’t know they could do always so you know I didn’t know you can make that skip pass you never made it before now all of a sudden right right you know you pay him and then oh that skip P we don’t see that that often anymore you know it’s always super interesting so I think you know but yes what Y what y’all say is right I think that he comes out there he’s playing that way gotta pay him because the talent is there this is not tent he’s one of the more talented players in the league but I want to see the consistency and you know I drafted you what we are you gotta be Allstar bro that’s just what it is at least Allstar caliber I know you’re in the west is gonna be hard but yeah you gotta get to that you got to do that yeah absolutely and that’s what it’s gonna come down to for him coming up this season with his contract I one more thing I want to get to before we get to the final topic um which kind of ties into the free agency and who the Rockets can potentially bring in or who want to actually come play for the Rockets we talked about this in the past um just some of the things you heard about the Rockets organization you know before they you know this was before they brought in Ma and kind of changed the culture um but what do you uh what have you heard or what do you feel is kind of reputation of the Rockets now because we know before it was kind of a it was a hot mess let’s just be honest the the previous three season with you know coach silage and all the mess that was going on even with John Wall and things like that but what do you think is kind of the perception around the league as far as when it comes to the Rockets organization now I I think that the perception has definitely changed you know you got some adults in the room you know it’s not just a bunch of kids throwing everything on the walls anymore I think that they’re saw last year they took a step forward they look better you know you didn’t hear as much chaotic things you know just going around so I think that the organization is viewed as a organization that’s going in the right direction which is a good thing when you’re attracting free agents and other type of players so I I think they’re I think they’re headed in the right direction I I think so yeah yeah absolutely like you said that’s kind of the determined factor with a lot of these free agents I mean yes the money is a big factor as well but at the end of the day a lot of these players can get this you know if you go if you’re going for a top tier player players they can get the money from any organization so a lot of times you know the way the organization is ran definitely factors into that uh one more topic I wanted to get to before we wrap up the show is uh something you mentioned a little bit earlier where you were saying like aot some of your favorite players are not even really in the top of the draft and maybe that ties into the Rockets possibly trading back in this draft and getting a future draft pick but what’s some of the players that we should be looking at that maybe a lot of people around the country and Scouts and just people on social media aren’t talking about uh one me jumps off the page to me is uh Jaylen Tyson that was that was that Cal he had a um he had a great year and his you know his story was interesting he went to three schools in three years but he was able to figure out he’s another Dallas kid been watching them for a long time actually actually spent some time with him knowing personally great kid and average what 19 points a game seven rebounds shot 30 36% from three he kind of reminds me of like a high-end version of uh Caleb Martin the wers with the uh with the Miami Heat he’s a little bit bigger so the ball but if you’re getting him I’m looking at some Mar draft they have him going a little around 25 maybe a couple spots below a couple spots after if you’re getting that I think that’s a make because you’re a playoff team at that point so you’re getting a 20 plus minute guy off the Jump 67 68 can handle the ball can can can defend he Cal was terrible this year so he really had to be their point for he was scoring a lot of the points rebounding guarding the best player so I think you’re getting a player that’s super he’s super season they can come in and make a make an uh make a direct impact he’s one for sure Kean George at Miami major fan of that kid Switzerland dude big big guard I think he’s like 68 in the quarter can really shoot the ball he he was he was kind of in the Log Jam there at Miami he was getting fourth fifth player shots I think that he’s one he could actually pop in a couple years especially if he goes to the right team Tyler Smith Houston kid went to Bush High School before he end up going to um overtime Elite overtime Elite then then the night last year I think that he could be a uh down I think he has a chance I think he has star potential I think that dude could be like an Allstar down the line he he’ll be someone that probably goes around 20 big major fan of him and then last one would be probably uh Carlton kton at um Pittsburgh he know he start off the season super super hot I think he they were projecting him to go like in the top nine top 10 at one point shooting struggled towards the end of the year but he’s another team a lot of these guys are probably going to play in the G for a little bit but it’s just will they be able to get better I think he’s a kid that he may spend some time in the in the G league for a little bit but I think he’ll be successful and then last one is Jaylen Bridges at Baylor I think he could come in and be like a Robert kovich in roll I think he can come in and be that big six eight and a half three and D guys so those are some of my sleepers that I’m looking at for this year’s draft I want to ask you about uh where what do you think about him like where too I mean he was a kid at Oregon we thought he was going to be a top 10 pick coming out as a freshman you know so all the all the talent is there he can score on all three levels the motor kind of comes and go I think he showed more of that this year but super talented kid he’s he’s one that’ll probably late back of the lottery maybe right after but again he’s another one that that that’s the one that if if they get him right you’re looking at you might have a gym I think that’s that’s one that that could he could be a gym down the line yeah because I remember last year uh when we thought he might enter the draft I was like trying to decide who I like better out of him and Derek lley and so I was kind of like looking at looking at both of those just because they were both like really highly thought of and then they didn’t like really produce as much as you probably would have expected um I don’t know like so different players but yes where has the offensive skill set he’s offensively just more naturally gifted Lively has what you see now the athleticism perfect spot and yeah perfect spot he’s doing well yeah yeah one more play I want to ask you about before we wrap up the show of course Jamal shed you know a lot of us know him down here in Houston um I’ve kind of seen you know different reports on him as far as how he’s been performing this offseason but where do you think he can possibly go and kind of just what your overall thoughts on his game going into the NBA um I want the Timberwolves to draft him so bad I I think I think he’d be a really good fit there he learning from a a supervet Mike Cony who’s been you know Mike Conley has a interesting perspective on the NBA he was he went from being you know a high draft pick to a second third option you know dealing with some injuries and got moved so I think that he would be a perfect Mentor for Jamal sh he was in Jamal’s a guy that he works hard I remember when he was a freshman at Houston and Kelvin was tarning him you know Lim from limb we didn’t know if he was gonna make it now look at him so you know I’m a super big fan of that kid and I would love to see a team like Minnesota has a young core who’s good they need a back they need a point guard for the future yeah go go drave go draft J Mar yeah that sound that sound like an actually a great fit for Jamal shed because we saw in the playoffs that that’s one of the main things that Minnesota didn’t have was any type of secondary ball handler and that definitely came back to bite him against Dallas in the West Conference Finals um before we wrap up the show Tobias uh first off I want to thank you for coming on the show I appreciate it every single year you come on you definitely give us a lot of knowledge that we we need you know because we’re following the NBA all season and this definitely helps us as far as what players are going to be out there during the draft so I appreciate you coming on the show no problem man than thanks for having me on I’m sure you know we’ll be talking more and more as the uh as the draft approaches but yeah whenever you guys want to have me on thank you and this is one of my favorite podcasts I actually get to come on so thank you guys for having me on we appreciate you man and I you know I I still talk to Tobias every now and again on Twitter so um he does great work on there make sure you follow him on Twitter T like he’s he’s covering you know he’s doing a lot of the the the heavy lifting and U people are like kind of eating off of his hard work you know go to his site when you want to you know get some information on some players and then you can go into like another space and sound like you know what you’re talking about when you follow Tobias you definitely absolutely and yeah before we wrap it up why don’t you let everybody know where they can find that great content again uh you can follow me on Twitter at Tobias bass that’s TB iore bass like fish um you know I work at the athletic going be producing a bunch of content over um you know the NBA draft you know Scot reports Etc that’s coming up over the next couple of weeks uh the transfer portal is basically done so I hope but you know you can follow me on Twitter for any updates on whether some of these prospects may be uh ending up absolutely make sure you follow into bu he definitely one of the best in the business and and thank you again for coming on and of course Vader appreciate you coming on we took a little bit of break there but we’re going to be getting right back into it as we ramp up the draft and free agency and whatever other craziness that goes on in offseason so appreciate you coming on as usual of course man I’m looking forward to it yeah I enjoyed my little break but yeah it’s time to time to get going man season is uh it’ll it’ll be here before you know it you know we got to do this the summer league and you know all that other all that other fun stuff but yeah it’s always a pleasure man absolutely and of course that’s going to do it for Today’s Show we always appreciate the support let us know down in the comments what do you think bar rocket should do with that number three pick who you think they should draft or whether they should trade that pick or not um as usual we appreciate the likes we appreciate the subscribers if you’re not subscribed make sure you subscribe to the channel because we’re definitely going to be bringing you great content all off seon and as usual make sure you check out the next episode of the rocket Fiel podcast [Music]

We are joined by Tobias Bass of The Athletic on today’s Houston Rockets draft special.
We discuss:
Top five prospects
Who the Rockets should take
Should they trade the pick
Sleepers in this year’s draft
Higher upside, Cam or Amen?

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