Houston Rockets Playoff Grades, Off-Season Moves, and More!
gang. Welcome to another episode of Rockets Talk. We are back after the Rocket season is over officially. Um, it took me a couple days of grieving, bro. And I didn’t want to like jump straight in because I would have probably said some crazy stuff. So, I think after what, four or five, however long it’s been, we can have a levelheaded conversation that’s not emotional about the Houston Rockets. So, that’s that that is where I’m at. Um, post the sevename series versus the Warriors. Um, how are you feeling, man? man. Um it’s it sucks because I’m watching this Warriors Wolves series and I’m thinking we probably could have beat Minnesota, you know? Um it’s one of those things where it’s like I think that the way the Rockets played the Warriors really took a toll on the Warriors. I think you can see that, right? Steph has like his first actual real hamstring injury, I think, ever, of his career, right? Um not to say like that’s a positive thing, but just to say like we really made that that team work. I mean, they really like that was a dog fight. Um, so, you know, it’s bittersweet. I mean, I think there’s a lot of positives to take away from the series for the Rockets. Ultimately, they lost the game, so that sucks. Um, and then we got to wait, you know, to get the next iteration of it. So, so bittersweet, but but I’m still optimistic. I walk away from it with my head up. Yeah. I think generally probably after like the initial night of reaction um I you start seeing the the silver lining in in it um I would say I said this when the season series started this is the worst match up for the Rockets. It was the worst matchup from a stylistic standpoint. It was a worst matchup from a um a experiential standpoint. Um to me coaching as well, Steve Kerr is one of the few coaches that repeatedly gets the best of Emo Doka. Um and even for some of our key players, you look at their numbers and I think we talked about this in our one of our pods. Um, Shangun and Jaylen really struggle against the Warriors. Like they for some reason just have a number on them. And for them to push them to seven and honestly um to me a schematic uh move away from actually beating them um it it does give you some kind of hope about what this team could be. Um but you know I would say that from once again the schematic thing I feel like um just getting into the actual game seven itself in my opinion the Rockets were out coached for the most part and Steve Kerr had the last counter and that’s what counted like he countered by going uh three three guard back court basically with pods with uh with Steph and with uh Buddy Heield and Eay was still stuck doing the double big and trying to play size and just never adjusted and by the time he did adjust it was already too late. Um, so I I think that that kind of rubbed me the wrong way a little bit because I feel like that is something that I was calling it out during the game like when GP uh Gary Payton the second got hurt and they put um I think it was pods or one of one of them was not supposed to start but they put him in the starters and you watched the first few minutes of the game. the spacing that they had with that lineup. I was like, "Oh, yeah. This is not good." And I was like, "Eay, go back to your base defense. Stop playing the zone." And we This is not a Stephen Adams game. And it came true. And I think that was one of the few games Stephen Adams was actually a negative. Um, if I remember correctly. I think I think it was the only game he was a negative. So, I I have a different So, I think Eay should have the change he should have made um was he should have dug a little deeper into the bench. like Jaylen didn’t have it um all series obviously except for game two and at some point when they were getting away with the with the zone that they were running at some point you got to get a shooter out there and and I thought like and this is again why like the coaching is the last thing I blame out of this series um because when you’re thinking like yo man we got to put Aaron Holidayiday in the game like that’s not even really an adjustment that’s that’s a prayer he should have done it just to see because we needed shooting um but I just think that Steve Kerr had so much more to work with I do think that Dylan Brooks was actually in game seven, Dylan Brooks was awful defensively. Um, yeah, but hey, we talked about it, man. Like I told you, a Buddy Heel game was coming. Buddy Hill was gonna do something, you know, and he was he he was not effective for the series. So, like I it’s hard for me to blame Eay. Um, because he was sticking to what was working and for six games, Buddy Hill really didn’t kill us until game seven, Buddy Hill just like obviously went off, right? And Draymond had a a hell of a Draymond played really well offensively, not just defensively. So, they were just hitting shots. Some of it, a lot of it I thought was Dylan Brooks making terrible rotations. Um, they should have played Jabari a little bit more. I thought should have tried to go to Aaron Holiday just to get some shooting somewhere. Um, but at the end of the day, I think and by the way, GP2 being out was a blessing in disguise. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, like I don’t know. I give Kerr his credit, but if GP2 had played, you know, we probably win the minutes that he plays and who knows what happens in the game. But, but look, all in all, I mean, you’re playing four-time champions. you’re playing arguably possibly the best offensive player to ever touch the rock. Um, definitely a top 15, arguably a top 10 player of all time. Um, arguably the best defender of this modern generation, right? Both anywhere on the on the court really. And then behind those two guys, you got Jimmy Butler. And then behind them, Buddy Heield had, you know, put on a shooting display and showed you what he’s capable of. So, it’s hard to get too down about it for me cuz we weren’t supposed to be there. I will I still disagree stylistically. Like I think we showed up. I think if anything I’m I’m glad we got that match up stylistically because I think they I think they walk away like hey man we can we can hang with these guys. Um had we played a team like the Clippers for example I think we would have really felt the impact of a big guy like Zubach. Um to the point where it might have you know like the whole double big. Who knows how that would have even played out like against against the Clippers. I just don’t really see an advantage that the Rockets have on any at any part of the court. and also perimeter defense. Like they got Zubach who’s a hell of a defender. They got Kawhai, um Chris Dunn, like I mean I I just felt like they had more individual defenders, but the Warriors play excellent team. Yeah. I would say what you the last thing you just said is why I think that the Warriors because um like I said maybe a few pods ago, when you’re guarding the Warriors, you’re not guarding players, you’re guarding a philosophy. And I think that with the Clippers, you’re going to guard players. You’re going to have to guard Kawhi. you’re going to have to guard uh Harden and some of their other creators uh um Pal. You’re going to have to guard those guys. And I personally feel like that’s where the Rockets actually excel is isolation. Um we want teams to play into isolation. Um, I think what I will agree with you is that your takeaways, the fact that we played them and not only what we played, but how how complimentary they were in the postgame press conferences about, you know, being I think one I don’t know if it was Dre or Steph said that this is one of the hardest series they’ve ever played in. And to me that is a hell of a compliment thinking about they played the Cavs, the Rockets, you know the all these great teams over the years and to say that physically this is one of the hardest series. I think it was theft that said that and to give the props to Amen Thompson the way he guarded him. Um you know for Draymond to talk about Alprren Shenon and giving him tips about saying that he’s he’s a guy and you know he just needs to stop you know whining which I 100% agree with. Um, I agree. Like that that’s saying something that and I I I I you know from a developmental standpoint to me after you go seven with those guys there should be no team that scares you at all in the NBA. None. No system, nothing. Like every team we even no matter where we land on the bracket next year, it should just be like we’re going to go take care of business. Yeah. It’s like they fought like the heavyweight, you know what I mean? So it’s like everyone else after that just can’t feel that tough. I mean, to your point, I think it was Steph said that was the toughest defense he’s ever played in a series. Like, wow, what a compliment, right? Um, you know, there’s a lot of talk about Shenon. He did not have a good game offensively um in game seven, but Draymond’s high praise for him. Like, I think I think fans really need to take a step back and understand what that means, right? Like, Shenoon is a dog. He was elite defensively. He didn’t have it offensively. That was the best defense um in the NBA after the Jimmy Butler trade. And they have Draymond Green, who I’m not complaining about the refs. I think the rest were actually pretty decent for most of the series cuz they let contact go both ways. But Draymond Green guarding you in the post, man, you know he’s getting away with whatever he’s getting away with and Shenoon had to take that all series, right? Um so and and the Rockets had no shooters so like he did not have a release valve. Um and Amen Thompson wasn’t playing well for the first three games. So like offensively things were just out of whack, right? Um but even despite the the because you’re right, right? Like we have excellent individual defenders. So when you’re when you’re guarding like I think you said this um Amend Thompson guarding split action takes away from his defensive right right you don’t need to be a big 67 athletic freak to guard split action you have to have crazy like team connectivity to understand rotations anticipate like you don’t Yeah but you throw him on Kawaii or Harden 101 he might give them a really hard series trying to fight screens and you could still trap and do all those things but they’re going to want to is ISO more though. Um, but let’s get into the players though. Like, so, um, real quick, real quick, I just wanted to say all that being said, we still played excellent defense in the series. We did. So, you know, obviously they gassed out at the end and the Warriors did what they did, but that’s because we could not score, right? Right. The Rockets had like 29, 30 something points. Um, so just and Steph had three points. I mean, we were losing the game, but like I don’t know what they had in the first half, but Steph only had three points. So, they played very well defensively. It was just offense where that was like Yeah, the offense was was was really I think all the ugly parts that we saw all year kind of came to a head on that game seven. Like the lack of, you know, real good ball handling, the lack of shooting, um no go-to person per se, um no offensive system to really counter what the the zone the Warriors employed cuz they started playing a zone, which for me, they should have ran more zone on us throughout the series. I think I’m not even sure if courage just waited for the right moment cuz I think that strategically too there are some coaches that they’ll have something that you know works but they won’t use it until they have to just to throw you off. And I really appreciate that about them. Um, and I think I mean once again I respect the Warriors um as a team, as an organization, their coaches, their players because they have that Patriots thing where it’s you just as long as you have they’re Tom Brady is Steph Curry. You just you can replace the parts and Steph andre to me they they’re a pair. You can replace the parts with whoever it is. Uh Barbosa, it’s it’s Pods. It’s this guy. It’s you just keep flipping through these random players and I mean they’ll just keep doing what they do. So much respect to them and I I you know I really feel like this series is a launching point for the Rockets. Um but let’s let’s get into what what I want to do, bro. Let’s talk about some of the main players throughout the main rotation players throughout the the playoffs and kind of what we saw from them. Good, bad, and other. We can start with the the head honcho, the the new head honcho, not Kevin Porter Jr. Uh Fred Van Fleet. Uh so let me start. So Fred to me, he played he played pretty good this series. I would say overall in aggregate I actually like how he played. Um obviously game seven he kind of went back to to being the Fred that we saw a majority of during the season not able to hit shots but I think we don’t get to a game seven without what he did. I really saw him elevate his game. I saw him elevate his defense on Steph. He played some great defense on Steph Curry fighting screens. He kind of has a knack for guarding him. um and and you know we said that earlier. I also like the fact that um you know his ball handling and just overall he just elevated his game um uh in in the playoffs. I know there’s some discussions about his future here in Houston. Um I’m still kind of I I really don’t even know what to think about Fred right now because I get both sides of the argument. There’s some people that want him gone. There’s some people that want him to stay. To me, I understand both. I kind of want him to stay but not in the same role. How do you feel about what we’re looking at with Fred? Um, so it’s I do want him to stay. Um, what that looks like contractually is the question, right? Do you pick up the option? Does he stay for $43 million, albeit as an expiring contract that you could maybe trade if you had to kind of thing, or do you restructure him? And if you do, what does that look like? Is it three for 90? Because that’s kind of scary. That’s the number I’ve seen thrown around. Yeah, that’s what I that’s my guess at at what it would be. Um, and that’s exp I mean, that’s expensive, man. And plus, he his he already showed a like decline this season, so he’s only going to continue declining, right? So, it could end up at one point where it’s like, you know, um like the Chris Paul contract except at a younger age. Um, but that being said, man, I don’t know what his averages were for this for the series. I think it was like here I have it right here. I think it was like 18. Um, well, I can’t say. He averaged 18.7 points on 43% from the field, 43 from three, uh, four rebounds, four assists. So, he went two of 13 from three in the first game of the series. And he ended, uh, the series shooting 27 of 62 from three, which is 43 and a half%. So, he started two of 13 and he still ended the series at 43 and a half%. If you take that first game out, he shot over 50% from three. If you take those first two games out where he was six of 27 and you do the numbers on that, it’s like, I don’t know, 21 of the 35. 21 to 35 from three in games three through seven. So, I mean, he showed up, man. He was a leader. Um, he was like a real Warriors killer. You could see that right in those games four, five, six. Um, and you could tell, man, like there’s something special about going to battle with your teammates. And you could tell that those guys go to battle for and with Fred Van Vleet, right? So, he was like an extension of EO out there to me. I I’ve been saying it all season. Fred Van Vleet’s that when he’s struggling, it’s because he’s miscast as a top two option. And that’s just really not what he is, right? And it really coincided with Jaylen Green playing poorly, right? Um, and that’s what it was like at the beginning of the season till Jaylen Green turned it on, but that’s what it was like in the series. So our top two was Shenun and and Shenun is our leading scoreer and Fred Vanble is our second leading scoreer for the series, right? So he can do that, but if he’s your fourth best player, right now he’s really valuable. Um and so and he also keeps turnovers down. So super super pleased with Fred Van Vleet, especially after seeing how Harden went out extremely sad in game five. It did like cuz that’s the whole like oh we should have signed Harden and this this that. I just think it would have been like depressing to go through this Warrior series with James Harden. Oh my god. Right. Like, bro, between Balen and Harden, oh my god. Oh my god. I didn’t even think about that. The way the way that Fred fought and like, man, those games where he was dropping 27 and, you know, whipping it from three, like Harden doesn’t do that against Golden State. So, um, super happy with Fred. Hope he comes back and but I but, you know, just got to understand what the intention of his role is. I I think that’s the key point is is going to be his role if if they do restructure it. And um you know, let’s not forget to mention that the Rockets pushed his did they did they officially do it where his his um deadline which was 5 days after the season and has been extended to the normal June whatever uh I think it’s July but yeah July something. Okay. So, to me, I mean, the pros and cons to me, I see the pros of if you uh pick up his the team option for the $44 million, and shout out to the Thunder that just went off, the $44 million that um that he would he would get. Um I mean, that’s a big trade trade bait because I don’t see that happening and then his contract just expires and he just walks, right? So, you assume the Rockets would try to use that to get something back. Um, and that would be discussions you would have to have with him early on. And I don’t know what that even looks like. Um, if they do restructure his contract, I think that what you just said about the fourth him being the fourth player, we cannot have him in a in a perfect world, he shouldn’t be like the lead primary ball handler and like decision maker for the Rockets. if to me if they’re trying to elevate their team. Um, and this is assuming that we see development whether from external circumstances whether they’re bringing in a player or from Jaylen and the men uh on the Rockets to kind of take over that role because I I I totally agree with you. If as Fred and Shangon are your two-headed monster, you’re probably not going to beat a lot of the elite teams that have the Lucas and LeBron and the you just need more talent and more just god-given ability to just break defenses at that level and and he just doesn’t have that. So, I’m cool with Fred. Um, but I’ll be even cooler with him if he is taking a third back seat. In fact, if they could find a way to bring in somebody or just take him off the ball or or just have him as a kind of a three and D guard or even come off the bench, I’d even that even be better for me because there’s something that I saw online that I totally agree with. I don’t know you said it. I don’t know who said it, but those reps that he’s getting, I would rather just give those to Amen Thompson and let him start just use this season because I think Amen could is one of the players that he’s so impactful impactful on winning that he could still explore his game in the regular season and you could still win games because he’s not just like a crash dummy. So yeah, that that’s you know that’s kind of my view on the Fred thing. And also when we talk about Yodoka, just reiterate, Rocket’s top two players in this series were Alpin Shenun and Fred Van Vleet. All right, so coach wasn’t perfect. We can talk about some of the mistakes, but like he didn’t have much to work with compared to the other side having Steph Curry and and Jimmy Butler, right? So just keep that in mind. All right, so let’s uh so let’s talk about Dylan Brooks now. So now you pointed out earlier his defense was definitely problematic and somehow his shot making just went away. Let me see. From he shot 34% from threeon-our attempts, which wasn’t isn’t terrible, but it just felt like to me that in the moments where he usually made big shots, he just it just wasn’t there in this series uh for him. And um you know, he played some okay defense, but to me, he was getting cut on a lot. Um just not overall the impact I would have expected from him as well as as he had this season. Um, I would say that from what I’m seeing out on Twitter and from talking to some people in in real life, if there was a player that fans are okay with the Rockets moving on from is probably Dylan. Um, for me personally, I I actually see the value in what he brings, but to me, he is a even more uh what I’m asking for for for Fred, which is taking a step back. Honestly, I don’t think Dylan Brooks needs to start anymore. That’s just me. I think we have enough wing depth that uh and our other wings are just more dynamic. They rebound better. Some of them shoot better. Um well, let’s let’s not say shoot better, but they just do more ball handle better, shoot better. Some of them make better decisions. And you could throw Jabari in there um as a possible three. Um so, yeah, I’m I’m okay with Dylan uh not starting on the Rockets anymore. Um you know, if they don’t want to trade him, that’s fine, but I I just I’m kind of done with that that that lineup with him as a starter. Yeah, I completely agree with you. Um the sentiment that like, you know, if there’s if there’s somebody that I wouldn’t mind, like if we got to throw a a player in in a trade, throw Dylan Brooks in. Um but but on the flip side of that, I did see his value. I mean, like the toughness he brings is kind of stupid to like count that as a value, but at the same time, it’s not. And you saw it in that series, man. When it when things got chippy, Dylan was in the middle of it. Um, and you know, on one side it’s it’s a it’s a negative to like provoke Draymond and to get into it with Draymond, but on the other hand, he does a really gooduh job of getting under Draymond’s skin, and he’s just like embodies that attitude, right? Um, when teams get that attitude about themselves, it’s very important, and I felt like he was really instrumental in that. Um, but he didn’t have a great series. He played I think he played down from how he played in the regular series. His lack of lateral uh speed is like and quickness is was on display for that series. Like I said, he was losing Buddy Heield um in that coverage and a lot of those open Buddy Heel threes were like directly Dylan Brook’s fault. He gets blown by and also he had the foul at the end of game four uh which you could argue lost the series for the Rockets had he not done that. Yeah. Right. Like maybe maybe the Rockets are still in the playoffs right now. Now I agree it was a weak foul, but you got to know better than that. Especially when Jimmy Butler’s the guy shooting the three, right? It’s not like it was Steph wasn’t Buddy Heels. It’s Jimmy Butler. You were in his face contesting. Live with the contest, right? cannot give him three free throws in that scenario. Um but yeah, I mean the shooting wasn’t there and then also game six uh where the Rockets I thought was probably their best game maybe against the Warriors in the series. um he was on the bench when they made that big, right? And like that to me that was the moment where I was like they don’t need Dylan Brooks to get this done. And I think he only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble, but he ended up plus one in that game and the other starters were like plus 17, plus 20 and all that. So like there was a big gap um between how he contributed u and whether or not they really need him. So I agree. Yeah. So yeah, I’m I’m I’ I’d like to see either Jabari or Tari uh get that those those minutes from him. Um if not, you know, if if not, which one? Uh you talking about the two? Yeah. I don’t know. We won’t talk about each of them. So I guess I’ll let you. Okay. Go ahead. Also, shout out to the Rockets because they signed Dylan and Fred to be like those, you know, transition pieces and and two years in like that’s exactly what they’ve been looking exactly like what they did. Yep. And shout out to to the Rockets for that. Okay, let’s let’s jump into it. Let’s go to Tari. Um since since you brought him up, um Tari was a mixed bag for me. Um, yep. A some good. We got to see a good I think two games out of the series he was impactful. I would say I saw a lot of what you fear from the negatives about Tari because to me Tari E is he is one of those players that he he is like um there’s these people that if you take away something from them that’s a that’s a flaw, it kind of takes away who they are. And I think for him, the fact that he plays in chaos and and just this helter skelter where it’s just up and down, let’s just go. That’s what makes him him and it works for him. And that’s really kind of the value cuz he can get a he’ll get a tip pass, get it off, go dunk, then come back, get another this and that. That’s cool. The problem is in the playoffs that chaos can really kill you. And we got to see a lot of that out of him where in a regular season where he’ll get a defensive turnover um and he’ll run down and go oneon- four and maybe he gets the layup. Maybe in the playoffs you don’t get that layup, bro. That could be a five-point swing. And I literally saw a couple of those plays where good job Tari now give it back. No, don’t. They get the ball, the Rockets are out of position, kick back to the other side of the court, wide open three, and it’s a back breaker for the game. And so for me it’s like the thing I fear about him is because my development for Tari is that he needs to develop his poise and learn to play under control more. He has all the tools. He has all the physical tools. He has a he’s to me he has a lot of upside still in this game. Like there could be an element of him being a ball handler. Um, you know, I love that he may try to integrate him running some pick and rolls and being kind of initiating the offense and all that good stuff, but like you got you can’t make those type of mistakes, especially in key moments. And to me that it really comes down to them understanding their roles. One of my biggest pet peeves for the Young Rockets is that we have too many guys trying to be the guy. And if they don’t understand that I’m a role player and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m part of I’m trying to win a championship here and I have to part of us winning a championship is me understanding that this moment in time I have a job to do and anything outside of that is wrong. Um then you know then it’s going to hurt the team and I just saw too many instances of that. But I think that I’m hoping cuz after the press conference um after the game, he seemed like if he kind of self-reflecting on himself that he knows he has a lot of things to improve on. Um honestly to me, most of his stuff he needs to improve on is just being focused and mentally engaged in what his role is on the team. But um I expect a lot from him next year. Um like I said, these playoffs, these are what the things you learn from him. So um I’m hoping he comes back better cuz honestly, if you would asked me prior to the playoffs who I wanted to start, it’d be him. no-brainer, but I don’t know. I’m kind of split right now between him and Jabari. Yeah, I mean, honestly, I I agree with pretty much everything you just said, so you took a lot of the words out of my mouth. Um, you know, the the chaos he plays with can be a positive. It can also be a huge swing. Um, still does some of that dumb [ __ ] Uh, back to game three or four, whichever game it was, um, I think it was game four, he fouled Kawhai right at the end of the third quarter for no reason on an inbounds pass with like a seven. You mean not Kawawaii. You said Kawhai. Um, uh, Butler. Jimmy Butler. Yeah. Yeah. That that that was Oh my god, that was crazy. Yeah. Yeah. And the Rockets lost by what, one point, two points. So, like technically that could have been the game. Um, obviously, you know, I I know how you how we analyze games, but I’m just saying like that was a big moment, especially because the Rockets were like making some, you know, a push and then he has the stupid foul, you give just three points and Eay was furious, right? So, he still does some of that dumb [ __ ] Um, unfortunately, um, he shot well. Well, he shot like 37% I think on 19 attempts. So, that was nice. His rebounding was down. He didn’t make that same impact on the boards. Um, but I I think he lost some value to me. Not like, oh, I’m down on Tar Eim, but I just feel like I’ve always thought Tar’s a role player, right? Some maybe it’s a small, but some segment of brackets fans think like, oh, you know, the you’ve heard people compare him to Kawhi Leonard. Um, and people think like, you know, he’s just a role player to me. Um, and role players can be expendable, especially when you’re in a situation where you’re only playing eight players in the in the in the playoffs. But, um, it was his first series, so, you know, a guy like Tari who just plays off emotion and heart and like that’s what drives his game, I’ll give him a series to like maybe settle in and hopefully bounce back. But, um, but yeah, that that the mistakes, you cannot make those IQ mistakes. If you’re going to be that type of role player, you got to be reliable, smart, high IQ. Um, you can’t be the one that’s that’s making the mistakes, right? So, bro, 18 18.9 minutes is his average. Would you have thought that Tar E would only average 18 minutes as impactful as he’s been as in his uh tenure as a Rockets player? So, to me, that just shows that EA didn’t trust him. Yeah. 18 minutes. Yeah, 18 minutes is crazy because Jabari got 20. Um and yeah, so yeah, so we can move on to Jabari. I would say for me, Jabari was a very pleasant surprise um in the in the playoffs. Um I don’t think I had much expectations for him, him being one of the I think he is. Yeah, he’s the youngest player in the um pretty much in the rotation. He might be the youngest player on the team, I think. Uh no, Reese Shepard is. But as as the players playing, he’s the youngest player. Uh 20 minutes, he shot 50% from the field, 45% from three on three attempts. Hit some big shots. Um 80% from free throw. He averaged, let’s see, just seven points. But, um, I think to me the biggest thing with him that he probably could have gotten more minutes. He struggled on defense. And I know it’s it’s people won’t be able to tell cuz it looked good, but if you’re watching from a big like the bird’s eye view of him on defense, he could not keep up with the motion of the Warriors, especially on the weak side. He was losing players. A lot of rotations he wasn’t making. And you could even see in some of the games where everybody’s looking at him and he’ll just have his hands out like like damn what am I supposed So he had a lot of blown uh blown defensive assignments and I think that’s why as good as he was shooting and the spacing and all the stuff the lineup data with him Shangun and Adams um I’m sure E just like we just got to just kind of pick his spots with Jabari. I still think he should have played a lot more than he did. I think that in the zone the Warriors were playing, we could have used him a lot more to break that zone. Um, I would have loved to see him play in the middle of the zone where Shangun was, just turn around and shoot it. Um, as we’ve done earlier in the season when teams are trying to play his zone on us. Um, but, you know, it is what it is. But I I actually love what I saw from him. And I would say my views on him after the playoffs are definitely much much much better than they were prior to I agree with that. Um he hit big shots. That was the biggest thing for me was like there were numerous times where the Rockets needed a bucket and he he drilled a three 45 46% from three on the series. 10 of 22 10 of 22. Um and that’s huge, right? And and that’s what like that matches what he was at Auburn. He hit big shots at Auburn. So he’s got that in him and we’ve seen him hit a couple game winners for the Rockets. So to see him do that in the playoffs against the Warriors was really encouraging. Um totally agree about defense. He was not reliable and that’s what people don’t understand. I do think he should have played more. I agree with that as well and I even tweeted that. But that’s what people don’t understand defensively. Like when we people talk about Shenon and you know some of the other weaknesses, manning up is one aspect of it, but against the Warriors, man, you got to be crisp with passing defenders off or passing the guy that you’re guarding off. Um making the rotation knowing when that split action comes, who’s taking high, who’s taken low, right? And there are numerous times like visibly he went high when he shouldn’t have. And so the back door cutter was his fault and they just got like one of those classic Warriors back door cut layups. Um, and those are the types of things that he may probably sees and goes, "Oh, man. All right, sit down." Right? I can’t trust you. Um, and then also, you know, it was discouraging. There was a possession where the Rockets really needed a bucket. I can’t remember game six or seven and he post up Steph and like just nothing. You know what I mean? There were a couple possessions too where like he tried to drive and he just straight up lost the ball. Either lost the dribble, got ripped. Um, and so kind of in in the same vein as like with Tari, I need Jabari to understand he’s a role player, right? If he wants to go develop into a star, like he’s going to have to be on a tanking team because he’s not going to get the reps or or the ability to do it on this Rockets team. I do think Emeoken needs to adapt the offense. Yes, we can talk about that later. And if they do that, Jabari Smith would be a great piece to use as a movement shooter, as we have all speculated about and talked about since drafting him, and we just haven’t seen him seen it. um they they’ve just used him as a spot-up shooter for the most part. So, I think he has a lot of potential as a movement shooter, but I do think he should have played more. Um I thought that he was really impactful for the Rockets and and I agree like after seeing what he did in the playoffs, I was like, "Okay, cool. Jabari, I think is is a solid piece. I don’t think he’s going to be a star, but I do think he’s a contributing, you know, winning basketball player." Yeah. And I’m I’m gonna quote uh Uncle Mike from Twitter. This is what he said about Jabari when we were drafting him. He said, What is what’s his he has I forgot what his phrase for Bari is. Uh but u I think I think he says bookabari bookabari. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um he said Jabari is a player that’s never going to hurt you which even that he does hurt you sometimes but the sentiment is that because his skill set is so it’s it’s vanilla in a good way. like a a 611 shooter that is, you know, when he’s gets to his point, he’s going to be a he’s a decent defender that plays good defense and hustles. You you can always use that on every NBA team. So, he is the ultimate like just plug him in for him to play. Like I said, he’s 21 years old. He is going to get better. Um I feel like he does have a lot of growth to do physically. Um, so he doesn’t get punked by players like Steph in the postups and things like that and uh get outmuscled by Draymond and some of the other uh players that we see. But yeah, I definitely um I’m I’m higher on him than prior to the playoffs. Okay, let’s go to a Go ahead. Real quick, let me amend Mike’s phrase from he he’ll never hurt you. He’ll definitely hurt you, but he his but his style his play doesn’t go out of style. I think that like you can kind of generally what he meant. Yeah. Yeah. Right. You can plug Jabari Smith into any era of basketball and he’ll be fine. He’ll be he’ll be something, right? He’ll play he’ll be in somebody’s rotation. Um like he looks straight out the 70s or the 80s to me honestly if you really think about it, right? Like y can’t really dribble all that well, but has the polished ability to shoot, hit, you know, from mid-range, hit the post up fadeaway, hit a three-point shot, tough on the boards, all that kind of stuff. Um so yeah, done. He’s a classic. His game is is just there’s always a place for for what he brings to the table. Yes, sir. All right. Amen. Thompson. um a man was he was he had two two series to me. The first half was bad. He was really really bad. The second half was amazing. Um and for a young player and I you know people forget a man is a sophomore in the NBA. So second year player he’s not a third or fourth year player. He hasn’t even got the quote unquote thirdyear leap yet. Um for me uh same same old. I I still think as far as all around what you look for in a blue chip prospect, um as physical intangibles, the heart, all that good stuff, he is number one on the Rockets when it comes to that. Now, that’s all in theory because at the end of the day, what the Warriors did exploit from him um in most of the series was his inability to shoot and they really took advantage of that. in a lot of the um the lineups that we put out there that couldn’t score uh is because they were just packing the paint and helping off of him or Steven Adams, whoever it was. Um for me, I think I am way more encouraged about him though because what he showed me is that he is not the Ben Simmons mentality type of player where because you’re taking something away from him, he’s going to shrink away from the situation and become like a passive shell of himself. He actually elevated his game every like as the series progressed even till game seven he was one of the few players that was on like pretty much the entirety of the game. So I think that a man um to to me his career is going to be based on him if he actually like continues to put the work in. I think first things first to him is not a three-point shot. His handles need to be good enough for him to probe the paint and reset his dribbles without picking up the ball because a lot of the trouble he gets into is when he gets downhill because his handle is shaky, he picks up the ball early and if he doesn’t have a lane, he’s going to do a jump pass and he had so many turnovers trying to get airborne because he already picked up his dribble on the drive and you can’t do that against a good defense. So get those handles tight where you can navigate the pain like John J could get right to the basket off off straight handles. If he can’t do that, then he’s going to struggle all the time in the playoffs. Um I think if he can get that, I want him to work on that. I want him to use next season to craft and cultivate that skill set. Um because I still see a world where he is a point guard or point forward or whatever you want to call it. I don’t think he’ll ever be like a, you know, like a real Chris Paul, but, you know, the Russell Westbrook thing I I think is is is really on the table for him where he’s just a rim pressure threat every time he touches the ball. But the defense was was, you know, just exclusive. Steph talked about it. He did everything. Like to me, you just saw I always keep in mind these dudes are young, bro. like for a second player, what he did in the playoffs, struggles and all, I am I’m totally I’m good and I’m I’m looking forward to what he has for us for his third year. Yeah. Um so, one thing I want to talk about and we we I forgot to bring it up with the other players, but is who who improved their play from the regular season in the in the playoffs, right? Um statistically, I think that matters. Um obviously, like you always see how people separate themselves. Like Jamal Murray is a guy where you’re just like, man, regular season like, "All right, cool. whatever playoffs like he becomes a different guy. Um, and that’s just like one random example. Fred played better in the playoffs. Fred was a gamer. Dylan played worse, slightly worse, but worse. Um, Jabari, Tari, Tari played just about the same really. Honestly, he shot slightly better. Um, he rebounded worse. Jabari and And with both Tar and Jabari, they had less minutes. So, you got to judge it like that, right? They had more limited roles, but like did they do certain things better with Jabari? um 40 45 46% from three like that’s you know I think in the playoffs that’s that’s significant yeah right in the playoffs right yeah like a whole 10% more than the regular season right so I think that’s pretty significant that being said um Amen Thompson for the series 16 like seven and threeish which is better than the regular season um but then over those last four games 20 points eight rebounds two and a half dimes two and a half steals one block did it on um 55% from the field right so he definitely rose What I love about a man Thompson and the reason I’m so high on a man Thompson and one thing I like I didn’t understand about him until we started watching him more and caused me to change like how I you know what what I think the outlook is on a man Thompson is man that dude processes the game in real time at an elite level and then on top of that he will turn around and fix his mistakes in real time. We saw it in the series, bro. Like when when I first saw him playing with the Rockets, I was like, "Yo, Amen Thompson’s a project. It’s all there, but it’s going to take a while." I totally whiffed on and and underestimated how quickly he understands what what went wrong and then fixes it. Like, whoa. And so, you saw it in the series, right? First three games, they the Warriors totally took him out of the series and then the last five games, right, he averaged, like I said, 20 um seven, eight, you know, two and a half times, whatever. Um what’s interesting is he was in the first three games he had 13 assists. He only had 23 assists in the series. 13 of them came in the first three games. Um and the Rockets, you know, he did not play well. A man Thompson did not play well. But then when he started attacking, he really started to to play much better. And one of the big things about him, man, is game seven everybody looked dead. Amen. Thompson didn’t. Amen. Thompson was still like he he did not want to lose that game. when we came back and made it 62 60 or whatever it was, it felt like Amen. Thompson was a big big part of that and then you know accordingly once he had the calf strain or the cramp or whatever it was like we fell off and we couldn’t keep up because we needed his intensity, right? So um I think a man in year three, we always talk about oh the year three leap. I think you’re going to see the year three leap with that kid. Like I think he’s going to show you like the the quintessential stereotypical thirdyear leap. Um, and we’ll see what that looks like. But I I still don’t think he’s Russell Westbrook. I think he’s elements of Russell Westbrook. I don’t think he’s 48 minutes of Russell Westbrook. Um, and I still think there’s a ton of value in him off the ball with his athleticism. Um, and with his ability to cut, especially if the Rockets can revamp their damn offense and utilize those gifts. But yeah, super high on Amen Thompson. The last four games of the series, I said that Shenun and Amen were our top two and they were for the whole series. Yeah. Last four games of the series and man Thompson was right up there with him. Yeah. Yeah. I think um last two like the once he kind of got on the aggression uh side of his game, it just really changed because I I said it in theory Jaylen and Amen should have carried this series for us because if you look at the Warriors roster, they don’t have any like any type of athlete that should be able to contest either of them at the paint. like their interior defense would be guys like Post and Draymond who you know but they play smart defense. They use you know obviously we talk about the team stuff. So um I think a more mature version of a man that’s older should be able to pretty much force them to do a lot of things and then um you know once once he gets that dribble down I think that it’s really hard to guard like he can change direction. He does all the stuff that you asked for that we everybody talk about Jaylen needed to do is he can absorb contact. He can he can slow and speed up his pace on drives and then he can he has touch. He can finish that. Oh that layup he did. Um oh my god that was just that’s one of the behind the back and then like up and under and like flipped. It was it looked like ballet like it was it was just beautiful. So I was like oh my god you don’t see people do that. Yeah. They need to just get like he needs to find like the Rockets need to prioritize him and Shangon um as far as when it comes to developing what their team is going to look like because there were stretches in that series where they were like going back and forth. Yeah. And in certain games where it’s like okay, you know what I mean? But then they wouldn’t sustain. But um I you know I’m just to me the roster isn’t built for all of our players because um you know I understand how they aggre they got the talent together. It wasn’t about building for fit. It was more about trying to see if you got a guy. Um I think I’m hoping as we go forward with our uh our team that they start fine-tuning the roster to fit the guys that they think are are going to be guys. But it is a it’s a process and I understand that and it’s probably going to take a couple uh season or two more to really kind of see what that full like elite roster they want to build is going to look like cuz I’m sure that Stone is holding out hope uh for the I think the next player we’re going to talk about. We can just jump into Jaylen for Jay. Go ahead quick. Last thing on Amen. One way you know you got a guy is when they get to the free throw line in the playoffs. Let’s see what he shot. Amen Thompson. So over the last four games, sorry. Yeah. over the last four games once he woke up he shot 81% on six and a half attempts per game. That’s dope, right? Which is like much better than his regular season and and the Rockets, you know, needed somebody to get to the line and he made them, right? So, um so I think that’s also a very very positive sign. But I’m with you. Hu like my number one takeaway from the series is that Shenon and Amen are for real. I’m going to give you one. He shot 83% from the line in the fourth quarter. Oh wow. So that’s that’s to me that’s important as well. Late in the game you’re tired. Do you have the the hutzvah whatever the those people say to to to be able to do that and pretty much hutzah. There you go. Um and I live in Midtown so I should know this, bro. But uh let me let me stop. All right. All right. Uh so um let’s move on to Jaylen Green. A pivot from a awkward joke. Um so this this I this is what’s going to get the chat riled up. Oh yeah. So Jaylen on the seat. Yeah, let’s do it, man. Roo, get your you I know, Roo, if you’re watching this back. I know you’re in the comments. You’re in the comments right now arguing with uh some of them and I’m going to be defending you. All right, so all right, Jaylen was underwhelming. Like I’m not going to gaslight y’all cuz I hadn’t I haven’t spoken about him since the series. Um there is a way to struggle as a young guy and that looks like Amen. That looks like um that looks like Shenun. Um that looks like hell even Tari. I’m okay with young guys struggling in the playoffs. First playoff series, tough team. Your percentages are ugly. A lot of turnovers, but you put it out all out there on the line. I personally didn’t feel like Jaylen put it all out there on the line this series. I felt like he shrunk away from some of the moments. And um to me the excuse that Eay gave of they were blitzing him, it was like he’s we’re not dumb, bro. Like Jaylen Green is being blitzed and trapped damn near for two years now. And I’ve even when he was going on his tier when Shangun got hurt in March, teams blitz and trapped him and he still was able to get off. Um obviously it’s the playoffs, but that is not what I saw. like yes he was getting blitz and trap but there were plenty of moments where he had single coverage and he just would wasn’t able to get around really bad defenders. Um he he just seemed rushed, he seemed nervous. Uh and he seemed okay with not not being that guy in that moment. Like and to me that’s that’s what I don’t care about like shooting. I would have been okay and y’all I’ve been saying this though for years. If you’re in the playoffs and you go six for 22 on a shooting and you’re the team’s primary score, you did your job, bro. You didn’t make your shots, but you you try to put your team in the best position because mo more than often if you’re the leading scoreer of a team, they are expecting you to score. And if you’re not even attempting to score, then you’re forcing uh other people to do uncharacteristic things. And that really throws off the balance of the team. And I think that the the offense looked anemic because Jaylen wasn’t in the mix like that. And you could tell this dude only played in the playoffs 31 minutes per game. Whereas a man played 33 minutes, Fred played 40 minutes, and Shangu played 36 minutes per game. That’s telling from your leading score. And I just feel like my view on Jaylen going into next year, I’m not um I’m still like I feel like there’s something there, but if I’m the Rockets as a billion-dollar organization with all these other players, there’s no way I’m going into next season and into the playoffs next year hoping and dreaming about Jaylen figuring it out. So, even though I’m not like trade him away or whatever, we have to have a Jaylen Green contingency on the Rockets, there has to be a contingency for him. Like, to me, that’s the wise thing to do because even he could have a great regular season. We’ve seen players that are just not they just don’t perform in those in those moments. I’m not saying that’s him. maybe he needed this to like wake him up or whatever to say I need to work on this and that or whatever, but I don’t trust him and I don’t want to have be a one seed or a two seed with him averaging 25 points and we get in the playoffs and he’s averaging 13 points because then your whole season it gets pissed away because of one player’s temperament. We’ve seen this. Not saying James Harden is in that boat, but James is he was dropping 40 in the 40 and 50 in the regular season. Then you get to the playoffs and you’re 23 points on bad efficiency and then everybody start coming up with excuses. Then apply that to LeBron because LeBron and some of the other great players, they still drop their 40s and 50s. Some of them averaged 25 and dropped 40 in the playoffs. So we’ve seen it. So you can’t tell me that, oh, it’s because of the defense, bro. Yeah, you’re a good player. The defense are going to try to stop you. That’s not an excuse. You can’t use the defense stopping you, Roo. You can’t say my excuse for not being good is because the other team did their job. That’s basically what uh email do was trying to tell us like bro like but anyway so yeah I I think uh definitely did not rise up to the moment. Um I think that he needs to attack this off seasonason like with everything he got. I don’t know what the Rockets are going to do with him. I don’t feel like they’re going to make any moves or trade him. I I just don’t see it cuz to me the contract and his play and the fact I think they actually still have faith that he’s going to figure it out. I just we gotta go into next season with with a plan B in my opinion. Look, look, I apologize in advance if I talk too long. If I do, just cut me off because I got a lot to say. But go ahead, let it off. Um, so number one, weak mentality. He has a weak mentality. Um, he’s he gets scared sometimes. He does he hits big shots sometimes, but like man, he looked scared. He looked terrified, right? Um, and he didn’t ever ride. He answered in game two and then he just sunk and he sunk and he sunk. You got to empty the clip. You know, if you’re that guy, you got to empty the clip. The whole they blitz him like like you said, man. Come on. This is the playoffs. You didn’t think that was going to happen. There’s also a difference between blitzing a guy because you’re terrified that that guy’s going to kill you versus blitzing a guy because you think you can make him make some mistakes, right? Like in football, right? If you bring heavy pressure, for example, it’s like maybe it’s because it’s the quarterback that that performs poorly when the pocket collapses and doesn’t know how to keep his poise. So, you’re going to try to force him into mistakes, right? It’s a that’s what it didn’t feel like, oh my god, we got to stop Jaylen Green at all costs, you know, like like when you got to guard Steph Curry, you got to make the decision of, okay, do we go man up and and take our chances with Steph doing what Steph does, but try to suppress the others or do we double Steph and then dare the others to do something like that’s like a you’re making a do or die decision. The way that they blitz Jaylen was not a do- or die decision. It was tactical because they they knew that if we can flumx him, if we can pressure him, it’s like a domino. Everything’s going to kind of fall fall from there. And that’s exactly what happened. You said it threw our whole offense off. Second, I took a lot of crap. I took a lot of crap about the whole Jaylen Green thing. Twitter after every game he’d go off, I people like, "Oh, I wonder what Rush Williams was saying." Haha, Rip Hamilton. Haha. Well, haha. Homeboy averaged 20 what? 12 13 points. 13 points in the series. If you take away game two, and I know it doesn’t work that way, but six games out of seven, my guy averaged nine points a game on 31% from the field on 19% from three. I don’t even want to know what the TS percentage on that is. It might be under 40. I don’t know. Right. So, there’s just no excuse. The only silver lining is that we knew and we did it. We we crunched the numbers, you and I, coming into the series. We knew that Golden State was a very bad matchup for him, right? other than that fourth quarter where he dropped 10 straight to close it out in the final game of the regular season. He was awful against Golden State. They have his number for whatever reason. Um I do think he would have played better if we won the series and and faced Minnesota. I do think he would have had like a bounceback series and maybe the discourse is different than it is right now. Unfortunately, when you’re in the playoffs, none of that matters. You play who you play and that’s just that is what it is, right? Chris Paul and James Harden and Mike Dantony’s legacy is going to be what it’s going to be to everyone other than Rockets fans because they ran into the Warriors and they couldn’t beat him. It’s not going to be well but you know they ran into the greatest team of all time and if not for an injury blah blah blah. Like you just get judged on the results, right? And so the results of Jaylen Green are poor. Um I took great great laughter and joy in the clip of Kenyan Martin saying verbatim that the Rockets should use him like Rip Hamilton. I thought that was hilarious. Um, and the reason, by the way, again, is not that I think he plays like Rip Hamilton or that he’s going to be maximized like Rip Hamilton, but it’s because of these types of moments where he’s on the ball and he has nothing. When that’s the case, you got to find a way to be effective. You got to find a way to get open. You got to find a way to do something to create space for your team other than standing in the corner and letting your guy double off. He made eight threes in game two. He made five in the other six games combined. Wow. less than a three a game in the other six games combined. That’s crazy. All right. So, you got to find he was a total negative, right? He wasn’t his assist I think like two or three assists a game, you know, like nothing phenomenal. So, you got to find a way and with how with how athletic he is, like man, if you just run around and create some chaos, like you could take someone with you, you could get some momentum for yourself, get some rhythm for yourself, find a way to force your way to the basket because you damn sure were not doing it off the dribble, right? Um so, I thought that that was interesting. But, um, you know, where I’m at with Jaylen Green, and this is the issue that I’ve always had with him, is that he doesn’t have a go-to move. He doesn’t have a go-to skill set. He’s just fast, which is cool, and that works for some people. And I’m going to use a phrase here that uh I I know will get some hate in the chat. It’s like a volume score or I’m sorry, a microwave score, right? Like he looked like a microwave score in that series. He looked like a microwave score that didn’t have it, right? And that’s what you get when somebody that’s like just like a micro I’m gonna say it as many times as I want just to piss people up. When when you get a microwave score who’s off, that’s what it looks like. When they’re hot, it looks awesome. When they’re off, it looks like that because they’re not affecting the game in any other way positively. I will give him credit. He was good on defense. He was. And that’s why he played, right? That’s why Eay didn’t go to Holiday or Cam Whitmore because he was like, "All right, I’m gonna hope at some point Jaylen figures it out offensively, but in the meantime, he’s executing on defense." Okay. And so, I give him credit for that. Um, but he doesn’t have a go-to move. It’s just a step back three, and he’s not really that good at the step back three. And that’s why in the in the playoffs when the defense is schemed for you, he has no tactic, right? His whole game is like, "Let me just kind of bounce it side to side, back and forth, and then boom, I’m gonna explode." But when they got two defenders coming at you or when they’re packing the paint and that’s all you got and you’re not finishing at the rim, what else is there? Right? We even saw him in game seven. There were two possessions. I think it was either two times on the same possession in a row or it was two possessions consecutively where he got by his guy and he had space. He could have easily pulled up a midi or hit like a little fade midi or anything. He was scared and he pulled it back out and passed it and did nothing with it. Right? So, he has no go-to move. Um, and that’s the issue, right? If you’re going to be a go-to guy, wing player from the perimeter in the NBA in the playoffs, you got to have moves like go-to moves that create separation reliably and then you know you can hit that shot. He doesn’t have that. Speaking of guys that rise in the playoffs, like Jamal Murray, like if I if I would if I would have told you in the middle of the season when Jaylen Green was going off, "Hey man, would you trade Jaylen Green for Jamal Murray?" People would laugh you out of the building, right? In that playoff series, if the Rockets have Jamal Murray, they’d probably win. Yeah. So interesting to think about it that way. Um and yeah, now we’re done with the regular season, like who are you in the playoffs is now a relevant thing. And mentally, man, I I his game seems too volatile mentally, right? When he is mentally dialed in and locked in, he can be as good as he wants and we’ve seen it. But he gets shaken easily and when he gets down, he continues to get down on himself and he continues to get down on himself. Um, and then it trickle it has that trickle down effect and that’s what you saw. So, I I’m fairly certain the Rockets will not trade him this off seasonason. I don’t even think they’re going to explore trading him this offseason. Um, maybe I’m wrong about that, but that’s that’s, you know, the vibe that I get. Um, but they do need to find a contingency plan. He could still figure out. He’s still young. Like I said, he could have bounced back against the against the Wolves. Like, it’s not over for him. Um, but he is now he has now lost all benefit of the doubt from not just Rockets fans. I mean, you should hear the way that other fan bases and and objective like commentators talk about him. They are the NBA is out on him. He is RJ Barrett at this point. So, um the burden’s on him now. It it really is. And um I think to me to to summarize him, it was a tweet that Brending Brending Jennings put out. He simply said, "Jaylen Green doesn’t know how to play basketball." And no, no, no. But I I know he didn’t mean it in a sense of I know what he means. You know what he meant, right? I mean, that’s what I was just talking about. Yeah. He doesn’t he he doesn’t know how to play basketball. Not that he can’t hoop. Jaylen can hoop, but he doesn’t understand basketball. And if you understand the game and you’re what Rooe was just describing when they’re talking about the traps and even Doris Burke or whoever was calling one of our games was saying, look at the difference when Fred invites the trap. All the commentators are basically trying to talk him through in the middle of the game. Like, bro, they’re giving you what you want. Like, you gotta, you know, I mean, you got to do this. Stop going here. Stop trying to dribble out of it into the defense. Invite it. Then, set your teammate up. Like, that’s basketball. And Brandon Jennis simply just said Jaylen Green doesn’t know how to play basketball. And he didn’t mean it like he’s not a talented basketball player. Duke can’t he’s his reading of the game for a primary ball handler is is not where it needs to be to be a primary ball handler for a playoff team that’s trying to win against a really really good team in the And I I honestly do agree with you. If we played another team that plays like drop co simple drop coverage he would have killed because the reads are pretty much easy. The Warriors they do so much different stuff and disguise it’s almost like like they they will blitz you one play they’ll play you straight up. they’ll switch and they’re helping so far. The nail defenders are damn near next to the primary defender like so the reads it really does confuse and even Shangon struggle with it. Um so I get all that but yeah he really did go also Fred I want to point out because the whole the whole blitz conversation drives me nuts. Fred Van Vleet got blitzed as well. You just alluded to it, right? He would invite it and he would know how to play off of it, right? It’s like in a fight like when somebody like you’re wait you’re anticipating the right cuz you’re ready to dip it and then to use that momentum that came at you right against like against the guy that you’re fighting. It’s it’s like the the blitz comes you’re waiting for that timing. You might even like dip off to the left so that they kind of veer over just a little bit and then boom you use that momentum again against them. you go and you’re anticipating the elbow or the corner defender or whoever is down there at the nail, whatever, to help over and then you’re anticipating that drop off. And we saw those plays where Fred would wait for the blitz. He would time it such that when their momentum was forward, he would attack. He would draw the extra defender, drop it off, buck it. Like it’s it’s right here, right? And and that’s all it is. And with Jaylen’s athleticism, like if he had the mental and the processing, he would have smoked it uh in a positive way, but he didn’t. So yeah, I think I mean even Steph Steph gets blitzed probably more than anybody and he still knows exactly how to 30 point games against us because even if you the initial showing is a blitz to me what one of the things um he did wrong was he waited too long to even initiate and invite it because if you’re like playing around trying to size it up by the time you they actually blitz you there’s only like 8 seconds left your team has nothing else you see when Steph and the Warriors do it they know you’re coming they’re going to set call for that queen early, let you blitz him, and then he’s going to go reset somewhere else and run to go get open to get a shot. And so there’s so many ways to attack it, but you can attack it before the blitz comes if you understand the timing of it, right? Everything. I mean, but that to me that also goes back to coaching. I’m not going to let Eay off by cuz his comments align with what we saw. It’s like he just expects Jaylen to I I don’t know. To me, if I’m a coach, I know the limitations of my players. I got to have some wrinkles in there to help them out. And I feel like it was a bad matchup of a coach that gives his players a lot of autonomy with players, a player and players overall that have limitations on offense. And it just the it just looked like ugly offense. Man, it was some nasty work that we got to watch in the playoffs um for but yeah, we’ll see what Jaylen um you know, I think his role largely stays the same to me. I don’t see any indication that. And uh and real quick while we’re there um speaking of indication of his role changing uh Jackson Gatlin on from Locked on Rockets asked a question to Rafel Stone uh I think I don’t know verbatim but basically asking him that um what do they see uh what are their views on the fact that when Jaylen’s on the court the team doesn’t play they play worse than they do when he’s off the court and Stone’s response was that’s a flawed question and to one that’s on brand for Rafelstone because he always has this lawyer talk where instead of addressing the actual questions people ask he tries to attack the underlying premise or the presuppositions that the person has which is is just nasty work for a G like bro just answer the question because data is data like overwhelmingly if y’all want to know the numbers for it uh so when Jaylen’s on the court uh this is from cleaning the glass 549 97 possessions. The Rockets are a plus three, right? We’re a winning team, a number two seed. When he’s off the court, 2273 possessions, we’re a plus 11. So that’s damn near a 10-point difference, right? That’s the difference between being one of the best teams in the league and uh you know, being the fourth or fifth best team in the league. Um so that is that is objectively factual that the Rockets are better when he’s off the court. To me, the question is not flawed. The response was just weird. If you’re stoned, give us the the reasoning why you don’t agree with that question. That is a valid question to ask because one of the reasons I could, you know, if I was stone, I’m looking at the lineup data. Um the the second most lineup we have is the starters with a man Thompson um in place of Jabari, right? That’s 649 possessions. That’s the second most ahead of our regular lineup with Jabari starting. That’s a negative 7.4. So that is a you know that’s a a lot of possessions of a negative but if you look at it um the third most is with Amen and Jaylen and Dylan and Tar and Shangon 308 possessions is a plus 22 the on the negative side the uh when he’s off the court the most frequent lineup is only 130 possessions. So if I’m stone, I’m going to say the sample size of the lineups that you look at for Jaylen being a positive there there is a 300 possession lineup that has him has him as a plus 22 whereas the largest uh uh positive sample with him off the court is only 130. So I’m going to say well if we played certain lineups more he might be a positive. I could say it’s the people we pair him with. There’s so many things but to attack Jackson’s questions and to me that’s not even cuz I expect that from Stone. The worst part was the laugh by the other media members in the room. That was so weak because y’all are already weak as a Houston Rockets me. Let let me just like the the local media is so so uh they’re so bad at being critical of the Rockets. I I you go ahead. They kiss ass. They kiss ass, bro. I’ve never Y’all have to understand the reason one of the reasons, bro, we started this channel is be is because of that exact reason. fans and media have a part and I truly believe this. They have a part in pushing a team towards a championship because if some of the worst teams worst sports cities in the country in any sport, they just accept losing, right? They go whatever the teams are saying. And some of the teams that have dynasties and they don’t play. The fan base doesn’t play. The media is aggressive because it’s all part of the game, bro. We have a certain pressure that we put on the franchise. The media has a certain pressure they put on the franchise. It’s not always right. Sometimes it’s ugly. Sometimes it’s stupid. But at the end of the day, you are the customer, right? You should demand certain things whether they hear it or not. It does help your team say, you know what, our team hated that or our fans hated that. Let’s try to be better. Or there’s a lot of negativity about this player and the fans don’t like it. Maybe we should move them or we shouldn’t be doing this or this or that. So yeah, to me that that was just wrong. Like just laughing like come on bro. Y’all got to be more objective than that. I won’t make it personal because I could but I won’t. Don’t um I won’t. But um I agree with you. It’s it’s unfortunate and that’s one of the reasons I do what I do right on this podcast on Twitter. I believe hard truths um make you make you better and that’s any aspect of life, right? So like there you should never be hiding from a question or whatever. Um and you should never be afraid to ask certain questions, right? So I agree with you, man. And I mean I it’s just kind of weird and laughable, ironically enough that people don’t ask hard basketball questions. Like that’s just as simple as that, right? They want like nice little narrative bow gift wrapped like, "Oh, this is a cool fun story." It’s like, "No, man. I mean, just let’s get into the nitty-gritty of it. We just we just lost a series and Jaylen Green didn’t have a good series. Let’s talk about it." Like, we should be able to do that. Um, as far as Stone with the Question, I agree. Like discrediting the question, I think is a mistake. people people some people say, "Oh, Stone had a point about, you know, I can manipulate data to to tell you whatever I want it to tell you." Yeah, obviously, right? Like numbers numbers don’t lie, but the you don’t always have the context to make those numbers, you know, say what they’re supposed to say. I get that. Um, and I get, you know, I thought the I thought the weirdest response to the whole thing was, "You expect them to trash his trade value in the press conference?" No, I don’t expect them to do that. What are you talking what? It’s not even like the on the menu of options of things we’re talking about. All I’m saying is discrediting the question I think is a weak move because it’s a legitimate question. I expect him to sidestep, but you got to be prepared for that question and you got or something like it and you got to be, you know, prepared with like a savvy little side step like, hey, you know, I know I know the numbers you’re talking about. Um, but you know, we see things a little bit differently if you look at the lineup data or if you look whatever you look at the sample size, whatever, you know, we can have that discussion, but but we just see it differently. Like it’s you could be so political about it and be done with it. Um but to say but to attack the question I just thought was weak. It’s like come on. So that’s a flawed question. Yeah. To me that if if I can’t give you a objective number um that is open to interpretation to Stone’s credit and it be flawed then what are we even doing? Like imagine you we lost lost the game and I I go hey uh coach or Rafel um the team played didn’t play up to par. They didn’t play as good as they normally do. and he goes, "Well, that’s a flawed statement because by our metrics, they played really well even though we lost." Like, what is that? Like, you could apply that logic to any question. Um, to me, it’s it’s it’s it’s crazy. I I I just um I think that um they just need to do a better job um with being able to talk to the med uh to the media. And I think that the media has just accepted that the Rockets just aren’t transparent and they’re okay with it. As long as they get to write their little think pieces about, oh, Jaylen Green’s new summer workout or Alprren Shangon and the trainer, they fly like, bro, just we love all of that, but at the end of the day, people want to believe that what you guys are saying is actually real. And I think when Jonathan Fagan retired, I really I don’t know who you can actually trust to actually write a story. Not that you have to write hit pieces, but like sometimes we just need to hear what’s going on and hear the point of view. To me, those are invitations for the coaches and the front office to share their insight about certain things. It doesn’t have to be, oh, Jaylen sucks. Just like you said, just tell us, yeah, um, you know, these are some of the lineups, da da da, you know, be smart about it or give an insightful answer. Or, and by the way, Jonathan Fagan, very good at his job, super professional. Tons of love for Jonathan Fagan, but I don’t think he was critical. At least not he’s the the most I he would he would at least he’s what I would call balanced. Um you know Fox News. I don’t know. But he’s B, you know, he’s balanced. I just like I don’t think any honestly I think the most critical questions I’ve seen have come from Jackson. The most the most like or or McMahon when he’s in Houston randomly. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But but I don’t consider McMahon to be Houston. Yeah. He’s not local. He’s not local. You know, but you know what? You know how you could have answered the question too? Hey, kid had a tough series. It happens. But we have a ton of faith in Jaylen Green. Done, right? Like you just throw your backing behind him and it’s it is what it is. So anyways, yeah, it was nice to see the question um because it’s something we talk about all the time. Thought they should have been able to answer it a little bit better. Um but either way, whatever. Yeah. And Sh and Jaylen was actually a in the playoffs he was a positive on the court. Um you know, FYI for any anybody asking, which yeah, the defense and he was Yeah, he just he just couldn’t score, couldn’t do um really anything putting the ball in the hole. Um, so, okay, last player, Alprren Shenun. Uh, actually I do I will talk about Stephen Adams after him a little bit. Uh, but for Shangon to me, um, I I leave this series, I’m on a hundred, uh, you know, about him because the four years leading up to the playoffs, what was the number one narrative that we heard in all sorts of context about Shangon in the playoffs? Shangon is gonna get played off the court on defense. Defense. and he was he might have been one of the best defenders on in the series outside of Draymond. Um when it just comes to I mean some of the clips um that that I’ve you know that I’ve seen like the rotations him navigating kind of being the quarterback him and Stephen Adams Steven Adams was really impactful and their one-two game on defense was just elite. um the ability to trap Steph, to recover, to have multiple closeouts and still guard in isolation all in the same possession. Um this is not no gimmick like real defense, like real defense. And I think that the fact that we were able to see that at such a high level um was a huge positive. Obviously, the offense was um was a a negative in his efficiency. To me, the shot selection was trash. Um, I feel like he was a little scared of Draymond Green because when it wasn’t Draymond Green guarding him, anybody else, he would look like his regular self. When it was Draymond, he didn’t look he looked like he didn’t know how to attack him. Did he want to take him off the dribble? Really couldn’t want to back him down. Draymond’s really strong and Draymond was fouling the hell out of him. So, it’s like it it probably compiled in his head. But, um, I think that and my takeaways from it, those things are the least of my worries. like he’s he was drafted as a offensive talented player. That was his leaning was an offensive wizard that could pass, playmate, could score off the post and do all this stuff. This defense that we saw, never saw this coming. I knew he wasn’t a bad defender like people try to paint him to be, but to be this level of elite um against a team that in theory he should have struggled the most um to me the most encouraging thing that I’ve seen because now when you’re building out a team, you can never say that I can’t build a team around this guy because of defense. Because most players that are so offensive leaning, they try to you have to supplement them with like these extreme rigid 3 and D wings. No, we just saw he just you just put him around a bunch of guys that can’t shoot. um some of them aren’t that great of defenders like with Dylan Brooks and we still had a top five defense for two years in a row. So the sample sizes there um I think he needs to work on his touch. Obviously to me it’s really just the in between game and his shot selection is is really really bad. Um a lot of people try to compare him to other he’s not a typical center. The only shot profiles that I found that matches his Embiid Bama Adabio and a little bit of Anthony Davis. And if you look at some of their playoff numbers from certain years, they’re shooting field goals in the mid-40s. So if you’re looking at at a center, you can’t look at Clint Capella or Zubac and try to compare him to Alan Shangon when it comes to true shooting all because they’re those guys aren’t taking fadeaway jumpers or onelegged jumpers or in between. So um he needs to just get a lot better on the offensive side of picking his shots, having a mid-range game. Um I think otherwise I mean he shot 37% from three in the playoffs which I think was also underrated uh on like almost one one attempt a game um if I’m not mistaken. So yeah 37 37.5% three of eight for this series which is yeah just over Yeah. I mean he I’d like to see him get up to two or three like a Horford range. Um but to one last thing I’ll say about him I think that what fa people fail to understand last year he was rehabbing all summer. That was his he wasn’t working out for basketball. He’s working out to be healthy and get his strength back this year. Now that he’s healthy, he can work on basketball skills. And I think that’s going to go a long way in getting him back on track on offense. Yeah, I mean, I agree with all that. Uh yeah, I came out of the series thinking like, yo, Shangun is a dog. Obviously, he had uh trouble scoring the basketball efficiently, man. But who who do we know who has ever had success posting up Draymond Green for a series? I don’t think I can think of anyone, literally. So that’s why for me I’m just like he was guarded by Draymond with an offense that could not shoot threes, right? So he didn’t have space to to operate. Um and I tweeted this Albrin Shenon’s not supposed to be your leading scorer. He’s not. Right. People say he’s not a number one on a contending team. As far as a scorer, I don’t think so. I don’t think he is. I think he’s an excellent like 1B or two. And if you look at the games that they won, uh game two he had seven assists. Game five he had nine assists. game six he had six assists, right? In the games that they won, he was dishing the rock. And that’s why I think Emodoka needs to revamp the offense to to rotate to revolve around Shenun creating, right? Cuz like those type those games like game um five where they blow out win, he had 15 points, nine rebounds, nine assists on six of nine from the field, two steals, two blocks. He’s not expending too much energy on the block posting up and battling. He’s creating for others and then he’s picking his spots, right? Um would have easily had a triple double had it not been a blowout win. And then he has that energy for defense as well with steals and and blocks and all that. He averaged uh basically two steals a game, 13 13 steals in seven games. Um he led the league in led the team in assists, right? And he had a double double, was a monster on the boards. And then also to the point of like free throw attempts, you know, certifying a player, he had 40 free throw attempts for the series. So I don’t know what the math is on that it’s almost it’s almost six a game, right? So which is more than his almost six. Yep. more than his uh regular season average. And also in a in a series where like free throw attempts were hard to come by unless you were Stephen Adams. So um yeah, I mean I I saw some of the discourse. What’ you say? You know, I said Stephen Adams and if people didn’t know, they they would have thought like Steven Adams getting a lot. Yeah, they were hacking them. They were hacking them. Yeah. Um but I saw some of the discourse people like overly upset about Shenon missing shots. I don’t It’s It’s just confusing to me. It’s bizarre world, bro. I I don’t Yeah. No, no. It’s It’s crazy to me because I’m just like this was a dogfight series. Nobody shot well except for Steph Curry, you know, like what I I don’t He led the team He led the team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. I mean, like on any in any other year that’s like a holy [ __ ] this dude was going crazy, you know? And but like for some reason our fans are like, "Oh, you got to trade him. He can’t this. He can’t that." And then to the point of defense, I thought he was going to be better at defense than people thought. But to your point, I did not think he was gonna be that good when he had those possessions where he was like literally in Steph’s grill with two hands out 30 feet from the basket. I was like, yo, I did not think he was he was ready for that. And he was going toe-to-toe with Draymond. And you saw Draymond give him that respect. Draymond doesn’t just hand that out. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched The Great British Baking Show by any chance. No. No. That’s definitely too white for me. But yeah, I’ve show they make some crits on Netflix. crazy crazy desserts and it is a excessively white show but um but one of the judges he’s like famous I guess in the UK or I don’t know his name is Paul Hollywood but like when someone really really you know kills it he gives them a handshake and so like he he doesn’t he doesn’t hand those out liberally right like when you get a handshake from Paul it’s like oh my god I’m gonna call my my family and tell them Paul gave me a handshake you know so for Draymond to give out that praise like that’s real you know um and again people forget this it’s funny man we hear oh Jaylen Green, he’s only 23. Alpine Shenun’s 22. I think people forgot that as well. So, um, all in all, could not be more thrilled with how him and Amen Thompson played. And like I’m if I’m the Rockets, I’m looking at that and I’m like, "Okay, we have two very real building blocks. We got some other pieces around them. We have a lot to work with and a lot to be excited about." Yeah. Big facts. Big facts. Okay. Real quick on Stephen Adams. Um, I know he is a what is he? An expiring contract? Yeah, he’s done. He’s a free agent. Okay. So, do you think the Rockets resigned him? Because I actually I liked how he looked down the stretch of the season, especially after January. Um, I love the double bigs lineup. I think that he brings a you even though to me like there’s bigs that could do certain things different than him and kind of simulate some of the stuff he does well. I don’t think there’s anybody that could create the rebounding um ability and the the the gravity he has on the interior. And I think something works with that. I’m still curious about that pairing with him and Shangon and then maybe kind of build around it a little bit better. Not building around Stephen Adams, but I I kind of like what I what I saw with that because it does cause a lot of issues for teams. Do you think they’re going to pursue him or do you think the price is going to be too high? Because I think his price went up. I think his price went up. I hope that his age and injury keep some teams, you know, at bay. Um I’d like to bring him back. I think the Rockets would like to bring him back. It’s just about the price. Um, I mean, he’s a he’s a real vet. Like, when we talk about vets, what we saw from Stephen Adams, like that’s what a vet does. Um, and and chemistry is hard to replicate. Like, you could go get another big. Okay. But are they going to play the same way with Shenon, right? Like, you know, it’s proven with Adams. You don’t have to worry about that that variable. So, that’s big to me. Um, and again, yeah, M, you want to maximize your best players. Steven Adams clearly maximizes Shenon, right? as we talked about, it creates the matchup disadvantage where you either got to put a smaller guy on Shangon or you got to put a smaller guy on Adams and you get dominated on the boards. Also, he showed us something uh protecting the rim. Stephen Adams isn’t like for his career, he’s not like a you know, shot blocker. Um but man, he had four blocks I think in that one game. Like when he wants to block shots, he will. And so he’s a 16 game player, right? So you you resign him with that in mind. um reminds me a lot of Na Na on those old Rockets teams, you know, not maybe they don’t play the same, but just that impact where like Na Na would miss games in the regular season, wouldn’t play backtobacks, like yeah, you could tell sometimes he was holding back, but then when it was time to play, like Na was there and he was a man. You know what I’m saying? And so it brings this different element to that team that just makes them harder to play against the the enforcer. It’s like it’s a classic cliche, but it’s also very valuable. Real quick, one of the few players that I didn’t never see Draymond Green try to mess with was Na Na. Like Yeah. Yeah. He never like did nothing. Yeah. Na Na did not play that. That dude was was was about his business when he was on the court. Yeah. And Stephen Adams is the same way, bro. Like nobody’s gonna play Stephen Adams. Like you know when the guys in the league know, like that’s how it’s real. And yeah, that’s a big big large strong dude. Yeah. So, yeah, I’m I think we we we can uh do Do we miss anybody? I think we went through all the main people. Obviously, we have the Young Bucks, Cam and Reed. Um you know, just overall, I think that they’re just going to I I don’t know. I think the more the more serious the team gets, um if if they don’t make Well, I don’t know. I think Reed is is is going to get a chance. I think Cam is going to be he’s putting himself as the odd man out right now because as the team advances, some of the development stuff starts going by the wayside where they start actually need real contributors uh from the bench, not just theoretical, well, we’re going to work on this guy and could you could possibly see something as soon as this draft of a player that is probably older than Cam Whitmore that comes in just contribute right now. like if the Rockets do end up drafting in the middle of the draft, they trade back or or whatever it is. But um you know, I’m hoping they figure it out. I expect a lot out of Reed Shepard this coming coming season. To me, Reed is is a because he is physically limited, um his impact is not going to be felt to like his year three or four. Um because I think he has to develop um the entire game for for you to see it. Uh you could throw out athletically gifted players and they’ll figure it out just by just being faster, stronger early. players like Reed, he he has to marinate in the NBA. Then you’ll see like his real value. So that’s my read on him. I think that he’s he’s gonna slowly progress. By the time he gets to year three, four, he’s going to pop and you’re just going to see it. Like where did that come from? The Rockets think very highly of him. I think he’s a part of their like internal improvement plans. And I just hope they’re right because it’s easy to get excited and to be like, "Oh my god, these guys are so young. They have the whole future ahead of them." But I am on the skeptical side because windows close very quickly in today’s NBA, right? I know people are like, "Man, we’re not the Kings." Okay, fine. But you can make some comparisons. Everyone thought, no, no one thought the Kings were like a little flash in the pan and they were going to go away. They were like, "Oh, man." Sabonis hit his stride. Fox has finally like become a star. You know, Malik Monk has hit his role. Kevin Hurder is a nice young player. Like they thought it was all boom and it’s upside from here. And that was they maxed out that one year. 48 wins. they and then they quickly went downhill and now Darren Fox is no longer even on the team, right? So, or you could look at the Grizzlies, right? Like the Grizzlies when they went to toe-to-toe with the Warriors um in that second round. I was like, "Oh man, these guys are like this is a championship team for the next couple years contending that, you know, they’re going to be that team. All it takes is your star player getting involved with guns or someone getting hurt, right?" Like, I think people really underestimate how devastating an injury could be. Amen. Thompson scares me, by the way. Um, he plays so athletically and so explosively that like he could get hurt. I’m not knocking, but like those are the types of players that get hurt. And if you lose an Amend Thompson, for example, even if it’s an ankle, he always rolls his ankle. Um, yeah, you could fall in the standings and your season could be over, right? Or it could be drastically changed. So, windows close quickly. I hope the Rockets are making the right move and I hope that their evaluation of Reed is correct with how much stock they’re putting in them. Yes, sir. Well, with that said, we can go ahead and um kind of end this one went probably o over an hour. I guess it made up for all the days. We missed after the season ended. Um off season’s here, so you know, the stories are just going to come out. We’ll try to keep up with what’s going on with the with the Rockets. Let us know who is your player that you want to review. Let us know in the in the chat or in the comments. Go ahead. Hold on. The one thing we didn’t really go back and forth on before we wrap it up, Odoka. Oh, the coach. Uh, I mean, to me, Eay is Eay. I I really, he didn’t show me anything different than I already thought. Uh, from what I think that he’s a great coach. I think he is a great culture setter. I think he’s a great defensive coach. I think his offense is very basic and rudimentary. Um, I also think he’s very late on adjusting. Um, and I think that those flaws are heightened in when in the playoffs, but especially against elite coaches and players. So, um, it’s no, I I think Steve Kerr overall made the best tactical decisions as the series went along. Even though we had them on the ropes, it just came down to who adjusted last. So, I still think Eay um I think he’s developing as a coach. I’ve seen him change. I’ll give you something real quick. The way they played Steph with Boston is totally different than how the Rockets played him. um if you like he was so boneheaded in the way they were playing him. They stuck to their defense of having a kind of a you know a shallow drop with Horford or they would just switch it out. Whereas now he dedicated to just blitzing him blitzing him as much as he could and if worst case scenario we’ll just send a double um if we can’t get the blitz right and you might get burnt once or twice but to me that’s growth like he wasn’t prideful or anything he just did what he had to do to win. So he is also a this is fourth year I think uh as a coach or third year. So hopefully he learned from this series and he moves on uh going forward. I heard I saw the comment he talked about offense that he wanted to establish defense and now um you know I think he was lying but he said something about like offense is now where he’s going to be focus. We’ll see. We’ll see. He said that like recently it was something Yeah. It was a I don’t know if it was in the Vanessa interview or one of the articles that um that uh somebody wrote after the season that uh he says that he’s a offensive coach too and that’s something he wants to start opening up or something along those lines. Y’all could y’all could find out in the in the comments or in the chat. What about you? Um yeah, I mean I will give Steve Kerr a lot of credit. um they switched starting lineups like how many times in the every game it felt like right that’s crazy people I think that I think that totally went under under the radar like that’s crazy people don’t coaches never do that so but give him credit right because it worked um but I give I give Steve Kirk credit because he will pull he will pull guys off the bench one through 12 and he will play them in big moment and he’s always been like that um and it’s always worked against us so guys like Quinton Post, Pat Spencer, Moses Moody, whoever it was, uh, except everyone basically except for Jonathan Kaminga, but whoever it was, it was like it made a difference and you could tell that, um, certain guys would get it going early because Kerr played him and then they might end up contributing in that game even if they didn’t contribute in any of the other games. And that could if Eay had maybe a similar philosophy. I’m not saying he should have, but I feel like he could have played a Cam Whitmore. They could have played an Aaron Holiday just for a few minutes to get someone a breather against a specific defense to try to utilize their shooting or whatever. And if they have it going, you keep riding that horse until they until you can’t, right? It would have been nice to maybe establish Cam Whitmore with a couple wide open threes just to get him going and get him some confidence. So when Jaylen struggling down the stretch, you’re like, maybe I can go to camp. Same thing with Aaron Holiday, right? But when you never play those guys and and on the flip side of that, when you’re just like reluctant um to even play certain of your bench players too many minutes, like I think Jabari Smith played like 12 minutes in game seven or something like that. Um it can end up hurting the team. So shout out to Steve Kerr. Give him credit. Wish E would have done that. Um Eay did also in game four he pulled Stephen Adams when they started hacking him. Yeah. Um and he didn’t even give Adams a chance, right? And we saw in that other game when Adams went nine of 16 or whatever from the free throw line, like if you give them a chance, you could have punished um that hacking defense because when they’re hacking, they like they got nothing else. So if you can punish him right there, we really probably could have won the game down the stretch. I think he pulled Adams with like three minutes left or something um in the fourth quarter. Especially because you’re not allowed to intentionally foul with, you know, under two minutes. So like they were almost there. Um, but yeah, I’m a big believer in in letting the guy try the free throws, especially a vet like Stephen Adams who’s been there and done that and just giving him a chance. So, I thought those were mistakes. Otherwise, um, I was happy with EA. I do think that they need to make an offensive improvement. I think that’s the next step is they really got to lean into the fact that they got a big who can pass and create for others. Um, and on top of that, that you got some really top-notch athletes that could benefit from offball movement. Um, so that’s the next next step for Eay. But, um, but yeah, I I do feel good about about him as the head coach. Yeah, I I do. I think that well, he’s really I mean, getting us to a a number two seed playing the way we did, you you have to feel good about that. And um to me, if I’m if I’m Rafel Stone, um I I try to straddle the fence of being patient um with the team, but also trying to give him more pieces to be able to work with because you’ve seen what he’s done with a rag tag bunch of young talented players, the Fair Vanle, Dylan Brooks. Imagine if he actually had some like, you know, if they did make a star level trade to add to this team. So, um, I think Draymond said it best when he was talking about the Rockets and their potential. He said the thing about the NBA, I’m just paraphrasing. He said something like, "When you’re on the way up, you’re on the way up." But basically saying that could change in a flash. Like just being on the come up. You’re on the come up to you’re not on the come up. He says something like that. Um, and you think about some of the teams you just named. So, um, I agree. Um, I don’t think it’s a you just assume that we’re just going to keep progressively getting better every year. Injuries happen, players get moved, stuff the NBA changes, a new power team comes out that makes it so you have to have a sense for your windows, but I still think that the Rockets are doing the right thing. Playing the the CBA, I think calls for them to keep doing what they’re doing and also playing the the most the teams that are winning championships now are really homegrown. um the super team era is kind of phased out and it’s really these Milwaukees these team that have core three four four guys that have been together for three four five six years um the Bostons of the world so the even the Warriors kind of one of those first iterations in this modern era the way that it used to be it used to be yeah with the Spurs and the the Bulls and you know so we’re getting back to that so we’re getting back to that um the Lakers etc so uh but yeah we could stop there um y’all let us know in comments in in the chat who was your player of the series and you know kind of give us a review just like we did. What was good? What was bad about them? I want to see what you guys have to say so we can argue with y’all. Appreciate you Roo. Um we did this damn near hour and a half, bro. So y’all can leave us alone for a good month at least. Yeah, you’re good. We had a lot to talk about. It was a great season, a long season for the Rockets. first taste of the playoffs and we came out um with a lot of positives. You know, even though we talked about some of the negatives on the spot, um just the overall sentiment I think for both of us is that this team they are to me this is going to be the launching board for them going forward. Um and it’s just what the what are these guys going to do with it? Um but with that said, go ahead. final word um is that the last positive takeaway is aside aside from the very end of game two and game seven when it was just like it was over and it was obvious the Rockets fought every minute of that series literally they were in it for every minute they did not go down like they they were never not fighting at any point and that is like it’s rare you see blowouts a lot in series so that I thought that was awesome and that’s a direct reflection of Mayoka big facts big facts big facts if you like this video. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. If you’re new to the Wait, I messed that up. If you are new to the channel, make sure you hit the subscribe button. If you like this video, hit the like button. Keep rocking with the chop shop. We’re going to keep dropping that fire.
Houston Rockets Playoff Grades, Off-Season Moves, and More!
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48 Comments
This team needs an elite offensive assistant coach ASAP
Tari gotta learn and develop better Basketball IQ and also his shooting. Jabari should be far ahead of him next season. For me Jabari was the most efficient player against the warriors. As young as he was the stage didn’t fazed him. Rooch said jabari would only be a star in a tanking team. No sir. He can be a star in this team. If he go to a team like the warriors he would be a star as well. In that warriors team jabari would easily be a starter. They could’ve had a starting five of Currry,podz,Draymond,jabari, butler = Size,spacing,shooting,rebounds & defense.
Include Dillon in all trade packages. We have 4 young wings that need minutes: Bari, Tari, Amen, Cam. Major log jam
Yeah Jabari is a Rashard Lewis type… if he can continue to improve his ball handling he’ll be extremely valuable for us. I was out on him but when he came back from his injury late in the season he turned up.. has to continue to improve like everyone else he’ll be great for us
For me Alpi and Steven were more than OK. It was the failure of the guards that could not shoot which brought the elimination. The first of these failures was J.Green. That experiment should be ended. He cannot be trusted. Tari was a near failure. Javari and Amen were very good. Fred one on one off. As for Dillion, he was average. And being average does not help in playoffs. Ime knows the defensive side of the game but he does not know much about offensive game.
Tough end to the season, still waiting for the day we finally get a win against the warriors 🥲 5 times in the playoffs is crazy lol
Looking forward to more shows from you. This is good experience that hopefully springboards the team to success next year. Lets pray for Cooper Flagg lmao.
We need to sign Adams brfore it's too late.
Al pee dump pass to amen is sick
Jabari over Tari as a starter. Tari's chaos is perfect for coming off the bench; Jabari's spacing is perfect for starting lineup
JG showed some improvement for sure. But he is fragile.
I was surprised we didn't see Jabari at the 5 during the series. The double big lineup was undoubtedly powerful, but a change of pace could have worked.
Jalen green's problem is that he doesn't have a 2 point perimeter reliable jumper. To be a star shooting guard in the NBA. You need to have 3 offensive arsenal, 3ps, 2 points perimeter jumper and the drive.
We need an elite shooting coach, upgrade Jalen if possible and resign Fred for 25 mil. Im only trading Jalen if its a clear upgrade.
If the Suns decide to blow it up, why couldn't we make a big splash and swap Booker and KD for JG and Alpi plus assets and picks? We'd have a definite top two duo plus an elite defense. Instant title contender.
They need to put Green in the 6th man role. Put Bari in the starting line up and use the 2 man game of Amen and Sengun with 3 floor spacers.
Amen- B plus he was awful the first few games but he was way better in the last couple of games. We know we got one, now he just needs to get a handle and continue developing his shooting
Sengun- A- or B plus he was awesome on defense and he hit some big shots but he needs to get his touch back maybe he lost his touch due to having to put his energy on being a better defender. But regardless he needs to work on getting his touch back because if he can do that he going to be a 24-25 ppg.
Jabari- B he hit some big shots but Ime didn’t play him enough I get it his defense wasn’t the best but at the same time you needed spacing and shooting and Jabari provided that.
Fred B-: He was awful the first two games but turned it on for game three, four five and six. Loved what Fred has done for us.
Dillion Brooks: C he had some solid moments but he been bad by doing some dumb shit. I love what Dillion has done for us but I think it’s time to trade him or at least put on the bench I think you said it Frank your 50/50 on starting Jabari over Dillion. I leaning towards starting Jabari.
Tari same grade: I think we know Tari is a high level role player he got to be better with his IQ and situational awareness I don’t value him as a potential starter anymore
Jalen Green F: He shrunk the moment was too big he was inconsistent and pretty much a non factor. I’m in the trade Jalen Green camp.
But like you said Frank he probably going to be on this roster next year because of his contract and Stone wants to hold out some hope for him.
If Jalen is on this roster Stone going to have to face the music that he not a number one option. He not someone that you can give the ball to you in crunch time.
He a not a guard that can get you a bucket. We need a closer and Roosh just said it if we had Jamal Murray or hell maybe even Ant Simmons or Zach Lavine and Devin Booker or Andrew Nimheart we win the series.
So yeah if Jalen is not the guy who can give you a bucket then they need to find someone that can weather in free agency or in the draft. If we get lucky and somehow land the second pick maybe Ron Harper.
With that said Amen and Sengun should be the two players the rockets should build around everybody else needs to get in where they fit in. Build a roster with those two. Great video Roosh and Frank always appreciate you guys
Thanks guys
How much more rope does Jalen get? Has he already played himself off the team? Does FVV deserve another year, even if for less $$$?
One thing is for sure, for the Rockets to be contenders at the highest level, they must have some guys who can contribute consistently from range. JG wasn't that guy and FVV struggled through most of the regular season with his shot as well.
Alpi played with his heart and before that with his mind and high IQ in defense. That is why he was successful. Most players do not have or use any logic when they are playing.
man i love this channel. i mean after reading so many crazy takes on rockets, it's liike therapy to listen to these guys talk rationally and actually have good takes with data to support it. cheff's kiss!
At the end of the day, the whole team has to get better this summer so we can punish any double team on Jalen. The whole team has to be a threat if we want to be OKC like.
Great pod guys. BEST POD OF THE YEAR. I enjoyed it. this is the most complete evaluation I have heard. I agree with most of what you presented. I expected you guys to be harder on Jalen , but I found your arguement hard to refute. I agree if we had advanced in the playoffs Jalen probably would have responded better. GS just seems to have his number. I knew GS was probably the worse matchup for us, but I am glad we showed fight. I know many are calling for major trades this summer already. but I think we saw our two stars. Alprern and Amen. we need to build around them. I don't think we should get rid of Jalen but he has droped a slot in the pecking order. I hope the Rockets resist the calls to trade away any of our core, Jalen included. I want them to add without busting up what we have
After more thinking, I am all in for keeping Jalen if we can trade for Durant with a young bench player + suns picks. Or if we swap him for a Devin Booker. Other than that I wont be mad if we keep him at least until trade deadline.
Hey Frank, love your work man, Roosh also brings the spice out for the conversation, really enjoy you two together.
What is your thought on Sengun more as a player maker and we get some shooting in the roster for Amen and Sengun? And you think Udoka will finally cave in and go for it?
Jalen blue got terrorized from Draymond green!
I SAID BEFORE PLAING VS F WARRIORS I DONT WANTED THEM TO PLAY WILL THEM BECOUSE WE DONT HAVE CHANCE TO BEAT THEM TRADE F JALEN GREEN I SUCKS GET HIM OUTTTTTTTT
Celtics get -KD, Brooks, Whitmore 1 Rockets pick
Rockets get – Jaylen Brown, Beal
PHX get – Jalen Green, Shepperd, 2 Rockets pick and they get to salary dump Beal
Who says no?
If the Rockets can sneak let’s say into that 5th pick overall in this draft I think they should draft Tre Johnson from Texas… if think he could be the Jalen Green replacement after next season… considering we don’t see the growth in Jalen’s game… odds are definitely stacked against him as we haven’t seen much growth since his first year. I agree that he doesn’t know how to play the game mentally and strategically… looks the same from his high school YouTube videos
Where are y'all at on adding a guy like Booker or Trae Young this summer? Or are you okay just running it back and making small changes like getting a couple shooters to space the floor better for guys like Amen and Alpi?
chapters wouldn't hurt for people don't have enough time
Been waiting on this episode, love the content.
We all are disappointed but look how far we came. And i know we all are disappoonted in jalen but he never played any college ball. He is learning the game from a REAL coach. We need shooting, 3 point shooting to be specific and a defensive minded big. No need for big trades
Man, y'all funny as hell. I'm going to miss this pod. Amazing conversation and I agree if there's a player I'd move off of is Brooks. I'm alright with keeping Jalen, the whole point was that these players would enter the playoffs then see how they perform. Now the next step is let's see how playoff experience has convinced them that any training they've been doing just isn't enough for the next step.
The good news is that the weaknesses were already so glaring we should be able to tell on first week of next season. that they at least have been working on it lol. Yall be easy have a great and safe summer
Sry but Dillon,Tari and Jalen are maybe one of the most IQ less players in the whole league.They are making so much stupid mistakes in a lot of games that make any sense.
Cam is the youngest player
The Rockets don’t win because of JG but they do lose because of JG
Lazy yes men media sucks. Happy Jack Gat asks the tough questions and even more so that you guys backed him up.
I know y’all didn’t want to fuel the fire but I wish you would’ve thrown out some realistic trade targets or free agents that could fit, not the generic garbage about KD or Giannis but role players we could to fill some of these gaps
I want you to tell JG that he's scared in in his face Roosh. To say this is hilarious. You need to choose your words wisely. Just because you talk fast doesnt mean your words are wise. Fred Van Fleet can miss 10 shots in a row and stay in the game but the minute JG misses a couple of shots he immediately gets pulled. JG is not being coached fairly.
Make free throws and ROX win series. Increase mid range shooting. Don’t die by the 3. Look at Celtics. Chris Paul’s career extended cause scoring 2 pointer. JG gets one more chance 🤷🏻♂️🏀
One thing positive I can say about JG he's not a selfish player. I will say he does need to take more shots and demand for the ball in crunch time
Jalen has to Leave Rockets.He Ain't Fit in Houston.his Not a Rat Race Person.well Maybe He Must.i think The Best for Him is To Be Surrounded with The Teammates who Are Threat Also In 3pt Shootings
And An Already Established Career not Looking for Spot.A Coach will Truly Help Him.For Sure jalen Gain An Experience from His Failure.If Rockets will Keep Jalen His Situation Will Be More Difficult.So If I were Jalen I Must Have a Vision to look For The Best Team For Him.Rockect is Full of Young Future Star.
Man I don't want to underrate Steve Kerr but i don't want to overrate him neither
Steve Kerr coaches in a very specific way, and he has more veterans in disposal to carry out the way they want to play. We don't, Fred was important for our team because he is the coach's extension on the court. If Steve Kerr is coaching our team instead, I don't know if we are this good at all
Jalen got snatched 5 min in the first. So he can go double big with 2 bigs who can't shoot. That was the game right there. He benched all the scores Tari Jabari Jalen Cam. And played Sengun and Adams who was hurting us on both ends of the court. This one definitely goes to terrible coaching. Guys Jalen barely played 25min how is it his fault? It's IME he needs help on the Offense side of the ball. He has no clue!
Fuck Jalen Green! How the hell Amen shoot better from the line than you?!!!
The Rockets were a #2 seed with a lottery pick who couldnt play himself on the floor. Team is in great shape moving forward.
I agree with the dillion and fred take. I don't want fred as one of the top 3 options on the offense. I don't want jalen on this team. He seemed like he was not interested in the games.he has been in the league for 4 years and still highly inconsistent. I have watched alot of games jalen green has no counter moves when a decent defender figures out what you like to do. He has no bag of moves he just relies on his God given ability to jump and be fast. When u watch how the warriors guarded him 1 on 1 jalen would do the same thing then would get stuck and pass it out. He needs to get in the gym and actually learn basketball. What I mean by that is he needs to get a bag of go to moves and counter moves. Because right now he is just a waste of talent because all he is doing is relying on his athletic ability and takes alot of bad shots. It seems like something is going on in his head. I don't know if it's mental or he just lazy and has not been working on his offense the last 4 years because I have not seen much improvement on offense. To me I would trade him because I feel like he is alot of what's wrong with this offense. Fred brings more to the table he just needs to take a step back. If jalen figures his game out somewhere else good for him. But this is not a serious team if jalen is a top 2 option on offense.
Build around Amen Thompson. If he is setting the table for the offense a la Russel Westbrook w/ OKC and this team will CLICK. Taking Fred and Jalen more off ball to be secondary shot creators and shooting off ball will help their efficiency and Jabari inserted back into the starting lineup as a stretch big (Jabari is due for a big leap as a player). Dillon Brooks becomes a nice trade piece to acquire a true 6th man scoring guard like Colin Sexton or Malik Monk to be the shot in the arm they may need when Fred or Jalen struggles.