Can Amen Thompson be a First Round Pick | Houston Rockets Dynasty Fantasy Basketball

Can Amen Thompson be a First Round Pick | Houston Rockets Dynasty Fantasy Basketball

[Music] Hey, [Music] Whether you’re an NBA team or really anything else in life, having an abundance of wealth, an abundance of assets is a great position to be in. Specifically for the NBA, it’s also a fairly not even unique probably isn’t the best word, but it’s uh an important situation where you need to make the best decisions because you can either if you if you mismanage your assets, and this could be a life thing as well. If you mismanage your assets, you could screw yourself out of your great position. If you manage your assets properly, then you can create a dynasty. Houston is kind of at a crossroads right now. I think they’re in a great position. We’ve seen a number of teams be in similar positions in recent seasons. We’ve seen some of them do a good job of either trading the right players or extending the right players, knowing when to just let the team develop versus when to accelerate the timeline forward, who to hold on to, who to move. There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered. I’m going to give my thoughts on how I would answer these questions. Um, and how the Rockets could opt to answer them in different ways and how that could impact the dynasty value of certain players on the roster or guys that they could acquire to make this roster better and how that could change things for this team. All in all, it is a great position to be in. But I just want to remind you guys before we talk about that, The Bet Online is the world’s most trusted betting platform and your number one source for all of your sports betting action. We’ve got baseball season, we’ve got the NHL playoffs, and of course, the NBA playoffs are still going on, and boy are these games getting good. Um, we saw OKC escape Minnesota uh take a 3-1 lead in the series. Um, this is the ad read, so maybe not the best time to just complain about the ending, but the NBA definitely needs to find a solution that avoids these phenomenal games just ending in let’s foul and and it turns into a free throw shootout because there’s nothing worse than a super exciting game coming down to who hits their free throws. It’s a high pressure situation for the players, sure, but it’s kind of it’s not fun. Anyways, another another rant for another time, but tonight we have uh the Pacers and the Knicks uh playing game four. So far, I home team has not won uh in this series, but the Pacers are still favored by two and a half. If you’re interested in getting in on the action for that one, bet Online is a great place to do that. They have the largest selection of odds on everything from the MLB to the NHL to UFC and they remain the number one online source for all your sports wagering info. Bet online, the game starts here. Okay, as I said, Houston Rockets, this is a uh this is probably how I would build a team in 2K with having a number of different young players with different strengths and weaknesses, plenty of upside, extra picks. It’s exactly how I build a team. It’s exactly how I try and build my dynasty teams as well. If you’re just looking at these players just as individuals, which is what we do in fantasy, it’s a great situation. You just let these guys develop, but things work differently in the NBA. You have contracts to think about. You have team fit to think about. These players age, and they some of them get better with age, some of them don’t progress the way you want them to. Uh none of these guys are to the point where we’re worried about them falling off a cliff in production. Well, maybe a guy like a Fred Van Vleet is on the older side, but he’s not tremendously so old that he’s like last season or two. Uh, and then you also have cap space to think about. Yes, these guys want to get paid. And sure, you have to figure out the right amount to pay them, but you also have to pay them the right amount within what you have to work with because these players may be deserving of more money, but you don’t have the money to pay them that. It’s an interesting situation the Rockets are in. We’ve seen other teams be in similar situations in recent years where they have all of these players that are either for top 10 picks, former lottery picks, and some of them have already panned out. Some of them were still trying to figure it out. Some of them just haven’t worked out super well. Uh Houston doesn’t have many of those guys in that roster. To their credit, they’ve been drafting very well. Um, probably not perfectly, but I don’t think there’s anybody on there that is just an absolute bust and just like looking back like, wow, why did they pick them? Um, but you see that with other teams. I mean, I think a few that come to mind, Orlando’s had so many lottery picks over the last, I don’t even know, eight years, and they finally have put together a very solid team, but only a few of those guys are are surefire part of the future guys. Um, you know, we have Paliban, Carol, Fran Vagner, Jaylen Suggs are 100% part of the future and then a number of other lottery picks that are you’re not exactly sure and some of those guys held more value at one time and had they traded them, maybe this this team would be more more dominant than it is. Uh Atlanta had a number of players and this is the Atlanta is probably the example of for Houston to say okay this is what we don’t want to do because they had uh John Collins and then they drafted Trey Young. They had Kevin Herder. They went Cam Reddish and DeAndre Hunter both in the top 10 then Yaka Ku and it was in in a really good spot where you’re like okay you see the vision you got all these guys within a few seasons and now you just need to develop them. Well, they waited too long on basically everybody and they traded away all those guys except for they still have Chay Young, still Congo, but the other four they traded away for pennies on the dollar compared to other points of their production. And if you compare that to what Houston has now, you see the upside with players like Jaylen Green, Jabari Smith, Cam Whitmore. Like you see the vision with them. You see the vision as well with guys like Reed Shepard, Tari E, and then Amen Thompson, Alpert Shenun. I don’t even want to say you don’t see the vision. You see what’s happening before your eyes. Like you see how good those guys are. And those aren’t the types of players that I’m talking about. I’m I’m talking more about the other guys where you’re like, “Okay, the idea of Jaylen Green is phenomenal. What we’ve seen so far sometimes is phenomenal. Other times it’s not. So what do you do with that?” Well, there’s a few options that Houston has. Uh they can continue to just say, “We’ll just stick with what we got. We will let these guys develop and make those decisions later on.” You can be more active about it and trade some of them in a consolidation package to bring in more win now talent and still keep a few of those guys. And there’s actually like probably just a few different ways to do that. Um and then just try and say okay if we bring in get players help us win now continue to develop around say Amen Thompson Al Shenu and one or two other guys that we that you’ve accumulated over the last couple years and then those guys are still the future so you can win now and in the future. Um hopefully not sacrificing too much of your future draft capital while doing that. or you can totally cash in and say, “Hey, we have all these guys. We’ll keep a couple of them, but we’ll trade everyone else, trade all of our picks, and we’ll just stack the roster right now.” And you see that sometimes in dynasty leagues, you don’t see it quite as often in the NBA. Um, and it’s just a lot of times, I guess, if you see that in the Dynasty League, you know that that manager is probably going to quit in two seasons. Well, we’ll try and win some rings, then we’ll uh we’ll leave the league and try something else. We don’t like those guys. It’s kind of annoying when people do that. You could see an older owner that’s like, you know, not in like a morbid way, but like maybe doesn’t have as much time as a younger owner and wants to be more win. Now, I mean, uh, Pat Riley’s 80, and this is again not not trying to be morbid or anything like that, but he’s 80, so like you’re probably not going to see him want to be super patient through a rebuild. Um, don’t know how I did that was not a plan. did not plan to to get on that topic at all, but it just happened that way. Um, basically trying to lay out a few different paths for Houston. Um, keep in mind they also have the number 10 pick in the draft, which they got from Phoenix. Uh, so they have they also have pick 59 along with that. And then looking ahead, uh, they don’t have their own 2026 first. They don’t have their own 2027 first or excuse me, they do and they have the right to swap it with Brooklyn as well. They have Phoenix’s first and 2027. They have their own 2028 pick. Um they will in 2029 they’re actually set up fairly well. They’ll get the two most favorable picks between their pick, Dallas’s pick and Phoenix’s pick. And then Brooklyn will get the least favorable. So if say I mean Dallas is more set up now that they have Cooper flag but that could pretty easily be if if Phoenix they’re not able to kind of turn things around that could be another lottery pick there and they have their own pick 2030 2031. Um so 2026 is the year that they don’t have their own first. Um and it’ll be traded away in a random pick swap. Don’t know exactly who it’ll go to. Brooklyn, OKC, someone. Um, but for the most part, they have their own picks and they have a couple extra picks, some that could be pretty valuable. And if we’re looking at this roster, they have a team option for Fred Van Vleet next season, which is a fairly interesting one because he’s uh set to be paid $45 million. Do they accept that and then trade him with picks and young guys to bring in a superstar? Do they just full on say, “Yeah, sorry. We’re not going to pay you that much, but we’d love to keep you. We’ll decline that option. We’ll figure out a new contract to pay you longer, but we’re not going to pay you $45 million.” Or do they just pick it up and say, “Hey, we we value you. We want you here for another season, and we’ll figure it out the next year.” Who knows? Um Aaron Holiday also has a team option. And then the unrestricted free agent, Steven Adams, who was very valuable for them in that first round series, brings a pretty unique dynamic um that Albert Shenun doesn’t. So playing them together or just having Stephen Adams on the floor at all was helpful. Uh Jeff Green and Jan Tate also unrestricted free agents and then a couple restricted free agents that weren’t even part of the rotation. For the most part, their young core is under contract and that’s uh Jaylen Green’s contract is set to is like his extension. Uh he’ll make $33 million that’ll start kick in next season. Dylan Brooks is still under contract. We have Reed Shepard, Jabari Smith, Amen Thompson. uh Alper Chenun’s extension will also kick in. So he’ll be making just under $34 million. Atari E and Cam Whitmore and again the number 10 pick. So, you have all these assets and you can say, “Okay, we’ll just let everyone develop and in two years, maybe even next season, everybody’s developed enough that we have this 10-man rotation that we’re deeper than basically everyone else in the league. I mean, the Thunder are probably the only other team that really compare with their depth.” Or you can consolidate a little bit. Maybe trade some of these younger guys for players or like a superstar and then add more veteran players that will help win. Now they’ll have options. Um but they definitely need to figure out how they feel about certain players. And I think that’s what we’ll try and get into uh here in a minute. But uh the just trying to like piece together rumors or reports, no inside information here, but seems like Giannis isn’t necessarily on the table. Um I guess we’ll we’ll figure that out probably closer to the draft or after that, but they definitely can put together one of the strongest packages for Giannis. just does Giannis have any interest in being in the Western Conference when you can stay in the East and maybe be a little bit more competitive, have a better chance to win a championship because you’re not uh playing these Western Conference teams until the NBA finals, you know, having to beat multiple Western Conference teams. Is Kevin Durant a more realistic option? Do you trade one or two of these younger guys and that’s enough to bring in Kevin Durant, enough for Houston to part with them? So if say it’s for example um a guy like Jaylen Green because his his contract extension and I haven’t gone to check to see if there’s any like can’t trade because of the cap coming in or because of the new contract or anything like that. Don’t think that would be the case. I haven’t verified, but it could be like a guy like a Jaylen Green plus another younger player like a Cam Whitmore, a pick, maybe someone else to match a contract like a Jock Landale, something like that. Um, to bring in a guy like Kevin Durant. Now, Jaylen Green is a is an upside swing for for Houston. Um, he can learn from two players that you probably want to compare him to if he’s at his peak, and that’s Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. Um, an interesting fit there, but a young player they can take an outside swing on. They get a a pick or two. Cam Whitmore also an exciting young piece, but maybe that’s a realistic option because then you have quite a lineup and you have this proven scorer that in the postseason, you know, you need a bucket. You’re down four with 45 seconds left. you need to score and then get a stop and score again. And Kevin Durant can is proven he can be that guy. Like you have other players that can score, but Kevin Durant is is that guy that can just go do his own thing. So that I think that makes a lot of sense for Houston. All right. Now, we can get into some of the specifics for some of these guys. Uh talk about maybe some of the paths that they they can take. Um, we’ll talk about the the first guy because he’s pretty intriguing. Probably I think polarizing is a fair word and that is Jaylen Green. Uh, 21 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists. I think it’s definitely just fair to have mixed opinions about him or just kind of be super unsure because I think it’s pretty easy to see the the vision of who he can be. And I think what his archetype is, the idea of him is fairly valuable. Um like just a player that can just go create his own shot. um hit threes, hit contested shots, get to the rim, athletic. Um but what has actually happened hasn’t been phenomenal. He hit 2.9 threes per game this year. Shot 42.3% from the floor. Not phenomenal uh for fantasy basketball. Not phenomenal as what they draft him to be. Uh because he went number two overall, went right before Evan Moley, went before Scotty Barnes, went before Fran Vagner. a lot of those players that there’s there’s other players in that that draft class. He went for Alporn Shenun obviously and so the I but the idea is a a player that could potentially lead the league in scoring create his own shot and that is valuable in today’s NBA. But Jaylen Green just hasn’t been able to do that consistently. There’s been some stretches and everybody knows about it. Jaylen Green will have these stretches where you’re like for two or three weeks, oh, okay, this is who he is. This is this is the best player in the league. And it usually works out well for fantasy basketball as well because it’ll be in category leagues and you’ll see, oh, past two weeks, Jaylen Green top five. And it’s like, what? Oh, he’s averaging 35 and and hitting six threes per game or something ridiculous like that. Something is just the definition of unsustainable. You don’t know when it’s going to stop, but at some point it will. And then he has those like those stretches where just can’t get anything going. So, it’s very polarizing because you see the vision, but I I’m not a believer that Jaylen Green is going to be a very consistent 25 point per game scorer or anything like that. I think it’s going to continue to be these ups and downs. He is still young, so that gives you a little bit of optimism there that maybe by the time he is 25 or 26, it can happen more consistently. But Houston was the number two seed in the West this year. They’re ready to win now. And it’s a very young course, so they can still get better through trades or just these guys developing. He’s played 82 games the last two seasons, and that’s also very encouraging. Each of the last two seasons hasn’t missed a game. It’s great, but Houston’s in a difficult spot with him because I mean, not that it’s timesensitive, like they have to make a decision this summer no matter what. Like, they don’t have to do that, but I think it’s a good opportunity to with certain players potentially available for trade. The upside of Jaylen Green is tremendous. The downside, it’s not great. Houston’s also a really good defensive team. Jaylen Green’s not a phenomenal defensive player. Personally, I think that the best option for Houston is to trade Jaylen Green in a move that brings back someone that’s more ready to win. Now, I am not a like a massive believer that Jaylen Green is going to be a superstar, but I see the vision and I think if he’s traded somewhere that is less ready to win now, more willing to give him time to develop that maybe that can happen. I think a change of scenery is is a good thing. Potentially a good thing. If it doesn’t happen, I’m not fully giving up on him. I just I wouldn’t not banking on him becoming a superstar. So, I think for fantasy, that’s also the ideal situation is for him to be traded because in Houston, as I said, ready to win now, potentially trading for someone else, but if not, like we see how good Operon is, we see how good Aman Thompson is. Jaylen Green’s going to slowly get pushed down the pecking order as these other players that are developing continue to demand the ball more and more. Jaylen Green was a leaning scorer this year. Are we confident that if they just run it back that that’s going to happen again next season? Could he take a step? Sure. But if he doesn’t take a a pretty sizable efficiency step, not confident that Jaylen Green’s going to lead the team in scoring again. So, how do you approach it if he’s on your dynasty team? Well, I think that of the players they have, he’s probably the most likely to be traded, but that doesn’t guarantee anything because maybe every team they try and trade with, there’s a reason that he’s the most likely to be traded and they’re not super interested. That’s possible. It is it’s a it’s a pretty difficult place to approach in Dynasty because maybe they do trade for Kevin Durant, but the Suns aren’t super interested in Jaylen Green. They’d rather trade for Jabari Smith and Cam Whitmore and picks. So now Jaylen Green is on this team with Greg Bleet and Ahmed Thompson, Kevin Durant, Alpin Chenon. So what’s his role now? He’s not the best scorer on the team anymore. He’s not the best shot creator on the team anymore. It limits what he can do. Sure, again, he’s still young, learning from Kevin Durant, playing alongside Kevin Durant. Not a bad thing for his development. I think uh it’ll be interesting to see what happens this summer. I I think the bottom line is we’re kind of hoping for a fresh start here. I think it’s not the worst thing that happens if he doesn’t get moved. Still could work out in Houston, but I think it’s more likely to work out in a different scenario that maybe has a little bit more time for him to develop and can put the ball in his hands as much as possible because they’re trying to continue his development as opposed to win a championship. We’ll see what ends up happening. All right, moving on. Uh, that was Houston’s leading scoreer last season. We’ll go to number two. That’s Albert Shenun, who was fantastic again this year. And his game is definitely built for fantasy basketball. They call him Baby Joic. I’m sure you’ve heard that before. Um, 19.1 points per game, 10.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists. very well-rounded, big, good playmaker. Um, also averaged 1.1 steals, not really doing anything from the three-point line. Uh, not a great free throw shooter, but again, you see the vision here. But honestly, I’m questioning whether this is the best spot for his development. And I don’t mean that in a sense of like Houston fans shouldn’t want Albert Shen. I think they should. They should want him to be there as long as possible. I think he has superstar upside and he’s kind of already I mean he made the All-Star game this year. We know what type of player he is, but they haven’t truly just ran the offense through him. And I think that maybe his defensive limitations, he’s not again like I think he’s improved, but he’s not an elite elite defender. and there’s other players in this team that are, but they haven’t just fully ran the offense through him. Could having him in as the featured player in a trade for a superstar. Now, I don’t think you trade Alpurn Shenon for Kevin Durant, uh, respectfully to KD, I think the idea of a 20, uh, he’ll be 23 in July. 23-year-old Alpert Shenun is a lot more attractive as an asset than Kevin Durant at his age. But I think if Giannis to the Houston is a reasonable option or there is just another superstar that becomes available, I don’t think Alan Shenun should be off the table in a deal. I think that the one player on this team that I I just wouldn’t part with no matter who’s available, I say no matter who’s available, but like if someone that’s not going to become available like Victor Women became available, then sure, you you talk about trading Aman Thompson. But I think Aman Thompson is the one player on this team that I would say unless like a top five player in the world is available. I’m not really looking to trade him. And and you could say, oh well, like Giannis is the top five player in the world. You’re right now that I’m saying it out loud. But I think if you have the choice, you trade Open Shenon before you trade Aman Thompson. I think is the point I’m trying to hammer home here that Aman Thompson is the most valuable player on this team. Um, I think the idea of Shenun is is super fun and we’ve seen this type of center have a lot of success. Again, the baby Jokic cop, but also a guy like the Bonus Sabonis, but I think it’s still just the idea of of the upside that hasn’t fully been there yet. Like if he is traded to a different situation where he is like the the hub offensively, could we see those assists go up? For sure. Played 31 and a half minutes per game this year, 10.3 rebounds is a careerhigh. Could we see him get up to 33 34 minutes and maybe average more rebounds? Sure. Uh get staying around a steal and a block is phenomenal. 1.1 steals, 0.8 blocks this year. Not expecting too much else. Can he expand his range outside the three-point line truly? Or is he just going to be kind of like, oh, he takes one a game, doesn’t shoot him at a high rate. Like, can he be a a 37% three-point shooter while taking four or five per game? That would be a huge step for him. Field goal percentage drop below 50% this year. Could we see that get back up because it was a 53.7 the year before? Hopefully. Not a great free throw shooter. So, there’s definitely limitations that make me less confident that he’s going to get anywhere near uh what Jookic and honestly even Sabonis have been able to do, but I would bank on it happening. I I I just want to see the growth happen hopefully next year. And in a new scenario, I don’t hate that happening. I think the odds of him being traded are astronomically low and I think it would basically be Giannis becoming available and interested in Houston that would put Shenun on the table here. I think honestly we just and this is nothing that he needs to work on. I think it’s just we just got to hope it happens and that’s that just says, “Hey, let’s give this guy the ball more and let him kind of orchestrate the offense.” Fingers crossed. I mean, there’s not really much else to say there other than hopefully they feature him more because he is a stud. Would like to maybe see him shoot more efficiently, but it just kind of a a slightly down year in that regard. he can bounce back and and be one of the best picks or best value picks in fantasy next year. I guess depending on how early he ends up going, but in Dynasty, you just enjoy the ride. This guy’s a stud. I think again, if we’re just being like what is even in an unrealistic scenario, what’s the best thing for his individual statistical development? I think being being traded isn’t terrible. Like if he was traded to Milwaukee in a trade for Giannis, I think that would be good for a Shenun because now it’s like there’s not much there’s not much optimism to be had in Milwaukee, but if you all of a sudden have a guy like Kalpern Shenon, you might as well run all the offense through him. So that I guess that’s kind of my point with him. Um, let’s see who else we got. We’ll just keep going down the list of scores. Um, we’ll skip on Fred Vanble because he’s Fred Vanble. Not That sounded kind of rude or almost, but just like uh he’s on the wrong side of 30. Not too much to talk about with his development like he’s just going to keep being Fred Vanble. low field goal percentage, high threes, high steals, good assists, solid player, whether that’s in Houston or elsewhere. Um, Aman Thompson, as I said, talk about a superstar. This was, I think, Houston’s most valuable pick over the last five years. A man Thompson. That was because of my voice, not because of Amed Thompson, but I guess it kind of fits too. 14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals, 1.3 blocks, uh 32.2 minutes per game, started twothirds of the year, almost a little less. Jabari Smith doesn’t get hurt and we don’t like we potentially don’t see Amed Thompson slide into the starting lineup and like fully take the reigns as a permanent starter the way he did. But yeah, this guy’s a uh a superstar. Def like I would almost go ahead and make him a lock for the All-Star game next year. Um let me let me verify this. Did he make all defense? I’ll pull that up um as I’m talking about him. Yeah, he was uh all defensive first team. So, in year two, all defensive first team while not even starting most like not most of the year for part of the year. Unreal defender. Um Victor Wyama is probably going to be defensive player of the year as long as he plays enough games for like the next decade plus. But Aman Thompson’s going to be an alldefensive first team player for the next decade plus. Very consistent player that could be an allNBA guy as well. Um the thing with both him and his brother is the jump shot. It’s going to be the difference between Assar as well having that upside, but specifically for Amed because we’ve already seen it. the difference between him being like a top 20 25 player in the league and being like a top 10 plus player in the league. I think he’s still even as top 10 of that even if he doesn’t pick out the jumper. But maybe the difference between him being like a top 15 guy and a top five guy is the jump shot. And that doesn’t mean that he needs to become a 40% three-point shooter. doesn’t mean that he needs to hit two and a half threes per game. Just to not be a liability, not to have such a clear glaring weakness in his game, which would be the jump shot that defenses can’t simply like not close out or just help off him dramatically uh to clog driving lanes or to like help on other players. That’s going to be huge for him. If you can get to a point where he’s a 33% three-point shooter and taking three of them per game means hitting one opens up the world for this entire offense and then using him in other ways which he had success on offense even without that this year and just continuing to be dynamic with him as a cutter, as a screener, putting the ball in his hands. Um, the other thing with him is that we saw him play point guard some, but he is a player that I think can be a point guard, but Fred Vanble is still there. So maybe it doesn’t happen for a couple more seasons. Maybe it’s just one more season Fred Vanble has one year left on his contract. Maybe Fred Vanble becomes or excuse me, Ahmed Thompson becomes the point guard after Fred Vanble is gone. Could he get up to six, seven assists per game? potentially we could be looking at like a 18 n and seven guy with two steals and two blocks. Like that’s probably peak, but it’s a it’s a possibility for this guy. I mean, you you value him as a top 15 at least dynasty player, potentially higher, and I think he can continue to improve on his value. Um, I think, as I said, the player that I you’d have to make a pretty uh a special pretty special player available for me to consider trading on Thompson. And that includes having him in Dynasty Leagues as well. Not really looking to trade this guy. No matter what happens, no matter who Houston trades for, whether they just keep everyone around, you just don’t trade him. It it probably won’t be long before he’s a top 10 player. Consensus in Dynasty Leagues. straight up superstar and arguably even better in fantasy that he is in real life, which is pretty scary to say considering how good he is in real life. Um, couple more of the more intriguing guys to talk about. Um, Jabari Smith Jr. who I don’t know, maybe this is just in my eyes, but I know I I really don’t think I’m alone in this. Um, Jabari Smith Jr. is probably at least part of the reason that certain people are a little lower on Ace Bailey than you would have been five years ago. Um, I think we saw Jabari Smith in college and and I think now that just everyone just seems to be getting a little bit more aware of our deficiencies and our our quickness to compare players that probably aren’t now that we’re looking at the best comparisons. Um, I know I wasn’t the only one, but I know I thought, “Oh, Jabari Smith, this guy could be the next Kevin Durant.” I see the vision for it. Oh, he’s hitting contested mid-range jumpers in college. Yeah, he’s Kevin Durant. Who else would he be? Oh, so now that’s why we’re all doing that with Ace Bailey where some people are saying, “Oh, see guys, he’s he’s 610. He has defensive upside. He hits these ridiculous shots. You you don’t call him a a shot creator. He’s just a tough shot maker.” because Ace Bailey/Jabari Smith, they’re not really creating these shots for themselves. They’re just hitting these tough shots. Um, and I think Jabari Smith is an incredibly valuable NBA player. I think his archetype as a 3 and D guy, um, and that’s probably even like limiting comparison. Like he does more than that. very good defender, can space the floor, uh has shown to be a good rebounder at times, but I think a three and D4 is what it boils down to. And I think again 3 and D just kind of almost seems like a demeaning description, but it’s not. Um, incredibly valuable, but I think if he reaches his peak, then he’ll end up being worth that number three overall pe uh pick. But I think when there were there was talks of him going number one o overall to Orlando, the idea and the vision was much higher. So Ace Bailey, you can thank Jabari Smith in my eyes for why not you’re not a consensus number two or number three overall player even though most people still have Ace Bailey at three. Um there’s a reason there’s a lot of push back from the I don’t know fantasy community, draft community, dynasty community, everyone. Not everyone is as high on Ace Bailey as you may have been five years ago if a player like Ace Bailey came out. It’s just interesting. But Barry Smith this year uh worse statistical season as a pro and I think part of that was the injury uh and then part of it was the emergence of Amed Thompson that reduced his role after he came back from his injury. 12.2 points, seven rebounds, 1.1 assists. Uh all those were career lows. 1.7 threes, 43.8% from the floor. Doesn’t really get you defensive stats, but make no mistake, he’s a good defensive player, can stay in front of the ball. And I think that’s what makes him a valuable player. You don’t necessarily see in the box score, but a 610 guy that can defend, I’d say probably one through four. Maybe you don’t ideally want him guarding ones, but I think he can move his feet well enough to guard him, guard point guards in possessions. Um, that can rebound pretty well. Doesn’t need the ball in his hands a ton. Like, that’s valuable. In fantasy, I’m not super optimistic that he’s going to become a star, but in real life, I I’m pretty confident he’s gonna be a very good player for a very long time. And yeah, it’s kind of it’s kind of where I’m at. I don’t think that he’s the one that Houston should be looking to trade. I think he fits in well if they are going to say in the scenario they get like a Kevin Durant. I think having Jabari Smith on the floor with Kevin Durant at the same time can be valuable because again Jabari Smith doesn’t necessarily need the ball in his hands the whole time. you can work on giving Kevin Durant the ball and then he can Jabar Smith can space the floor, knock down catch and shoot shots, take on more responsibility on defense. That’s a good scenario for him. If he is traded, then maybe we do get to see if he can reach that offensive peak that we thought maybe get to when he was drafted. Not super optimistic about that, but I think if he’s traded, we could potentially see the team that acquires him explore that. If it is in Phoenix, then I think he fits in well with uh Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, whoever else they end up having on that roster. Um Ryan Dunn will be there. I wouldn’t I mean Ryan, it’ll be interesting to see what that lineup looks like. That’s a hypothetical we don’t I guess have to explore the specifics of, but maybe you see Jabari Smith take on a little bit more responsibility if he is with a new team. But I think for his career, remaining in Houston is a good scenario. I think he fits a lot of things of what they want to do and what they’re about. I think his competition for minutes has like kind of made this past season a little bit subpar statistically, I guess, a fair way to put it. Um, let’s see who else we have here. Tari E. Talk about a a player that is built to be great in fantasy basketball. Um 12 points per game, 6.4 rebounds, one and a half assists. Not the most attractive numbers there, but 1.7 steals, 0.9 blocks, 1.1 threes per game. the uh the injury wos through I mean just in years two and three have been a little concerning but when he’s on the floor fantasy stud um the combination I mean really the the defensive production sets him apart from most other players but can also score pretty well hits a three rebounds at a decent rate like you see the vision with this guy of him being a and I I think it’s just going to come down to him getting more minutes uh 24.9 per game this year was a careerhigh. You get him into like 28 minutes per game. I’m not even asking for like 34, but like 28 get closer to two steals in a block while also hitting a three. Rebounding okay. Fits in well with this team. Fantasy stud is a valuable trade piece for Houston as well, but I think he also is just a player they shouldn’t be actively looking to trade because he fits what they want to do so well. um the the defensive potential for this this team over the next five plus years to have Jabari Smith, Tar Een, Amen Thompson switching on the perimeter and also Dylan Brooks is still there as well who’s very good defender. It’s very exciting. The difference with Tar Een versus Jabari Smith is that works out a little better in fantasy for Dar East. he’s more of a defensive playmaker. Whereas Jabari Smith’s just a good on ball defender. So hopefully we’ll see him get more minutes. Um if there is a consolidation trade that takes two or three of these young players out of the equation, good for Tari E, assuming he stays. And I’m not I’m not expecting him to be the one moved if there is a trade that happens. All right. Um another guy that was drafted the same year as Aan Thompson. we’ve talked about a little bit. It’s Cam Whitmore. And I believe that there is some excitement or some op optimism about what Cam Whitmore can be, probably both with Rockets fans, but also definitely with Dynasty managers. But I have legit concerns about his fit specifically in Houston. Um I think he’s another guy that could potentially benefit from being traded. Uh, and I think it makes sense if Houston is making a trade to have Cam Whitmore be included as an upside piece. Played 16.2 minutes per game this year, 9.4 points, three rebounds, one assist, 1.33 threes. He can score for sure and he is an athletic player with some fun dunks. Um, but as a rookie, the 0.7 assists with a turnover per game this past season, he was able to get over or get two, not even over, two, one assists per game versus 0.9 turnovers. Now, it’s not his role to be a playmaker. That’s not what Houston needs him to do when they put him in the game. They know that he’s there to get buckets, but I think if he’s in a different situation, such as Milwaukee, if there was like a Giannis trade or Phoenix, if there’s a Kevin Durant trade and he’s able to start play 28 minutes per game, 30 minutes per game, we’ll see him take more shots and I think two things will happen. One, the numbers will be better than they were this year. We will see him potentially gets like 20 points per game. I think that is a realistic scenario. I think it’s also very real that it will become not a glaring issue, but it’ll become more prevalent why this guy wasn’t playing more. And I think that like I don’t want to sound too harsh, but like because he is a very talented basketball player, a very talented scorer, but I think the deficiencies in his game don’t necessarily fit with every single team. I think the lack of playmaking, he’s not, you know, doing a ton defensively. Like he again, he’s there to score. So if he’s not scoring one at a high rate and two efficiently, what’s he really providing super positive? Now the push back here, he will turn 21 years old in July. There is so much time for him to develop, so much time for him to figure that out. I don’t think he’s going to be able to figure that out with the Rockets because when he gets in the game, he’s playing 16 minutes per game this year. And yeah, he can help with the score, but I think working through things and developing, like had he been drafted to Houston two years before, he came out two years before because he was older, like obviously it’s not something he should have done differently. It’s just the way things work out. Drafted to a Houston team that in year two was the number two seed in the West. So, he doesn’t have these developmental years that a guy like Jaylen Green got to work through these issues, to have to shoot bad and learn and grow. like Houston’s more ready to win now. So, I think a fresh start for Cam Wait more to take time to develop will be good for him, but I’m not super high on him in a dynasty because I don’t think he really gives you defensive stats. Don’t think he’s going to shoot super efficiently. He’s not going to give you an assist. It’s not a Maybe he can get you got three rounds per game this year. Say he’s playing 28 minutes per game. If he gets you five or six, cool. the points there, the threes will be there if he’s playing more. Like those things are like there are positives here, but I think overall he doesn’t fit phenomenally for a category league. I don’t think he fits phenomenally with what Houston’s trying to build. So, I’m not super optimistic on Cmore, especially if he if he stays in Houston. He is trained. It’s a fresh start. I will keep a close eye on him and be rooting for him to develop into a winning basketball player. I just don’t think that that’s where he’s at right now. And I think that even if Houston doesn’t make a trade for like a superstar, make the home run swing, get a Giannis, get a KD, if they’re trading for someone that is more of a win now piece, I don’t think they should hesitate to part with Cam Whitmore. I think he has enough upside them to get a good player from another team. But I also don’t think he fits super well with what they want to do. All right, I think the last player that we’ll talk about because there are some other there are other players on this team that are role players or that play a role. Um, like Fred Vanbley is valuable in in reddraft leagues and he still holds value in dynasty leagues, but we’re we’re going to focus on all the upside guys that Houston has. um including one that was kind of pushed out of the rotation here as a rookie that I think for some reason people still had pre-season been talking about this guy as a potential rookie of the year. Don’t really know why. We were we loved Reed Shepard. A lot of dynasty analysts love love love Reed Shepard. I think if you’re a uh a spreadsheet guy with the numbers the they were so in favor of Reed Shepard. Um, he went number one overall in a lot of my rookie drafts, but the idea was always that, oh, he’s going to Houston. Oh, he’s not going to play much early on, but long term, this guy’s still gonna be very good. So, he averaged 4.4 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, played 12.6 minutes per game. Didn’t look all that good when he was out there. Played 52 games, started three times, but that was that was always the plan. was never going to come in to his Houston team with the way it was built. And maybe that was part of the issue in some people’s minds, some people’s eyes was, oh, this Houston team that hasn’t made the playoffs and since James Harden left, Mar will have no problem beating out Jaylen Green for minutes. Well, Re Shepard was still super young. Like, he’ll turn 21 in June, but he had he had a few games down the stretch of this season that were pretty encouraging. he had uh in a game against the Thunder, he had 25 points, five assists, two steals, and a block. And then in that was in March. Then in April, he had a 25 and four with two steals and six threes against the Clippers. 14 uh 3521 with four threes against the Lakers. And some of these games were, you know, after Houston had already kind of locked up the two seeds, so they weren’t force-feeding the starters all the minutes. So, there’s not much to take from Reed Shepard’s rookie year other than we still know what he was at when he came out of college and that was a player that could do a number of different things offensively, could shoot, could playmake, okay, could defend and all the advanced stats were really in favor of him. And now next year, I think the from what I remember either reading or seeing, I don’t remember exactly what it was, so I don’t want to cite anything or use quotes, but that the idea would be for him to be more part of the rotation next season. He basically got a a red shirt year. That’s okay. It’s a good thing for his long-term development. Now, I think we’ll see him have a really good year, too. And again, still one of the most valuable players in this class, the 2024 class A for dynasty, but the expectation was never that he was going to come in and just dominate from the jump. There’s never our expectation. I think maybe there was hope for it or you could talk about there’s a path for it like oh this like Jaylen Green who we’ve already talked about the same issues that Jaylen Green we talked about this year this episode were the same exact things we were talking about last year. So there was a path for Reed Shepard to take on that role. Didn’t see it but that’s okay. Still love Reed Shepard. Still super high on him. Excited to see what he does in year two. Um, that’s going to do it for this episode of the Young Man Squad Fantasy Basketball Podcast. Um, and excuse me. Oh, um, still getting over being sick. I know everyone was expecting Matt to be here. Uh, it’s a Tuesday. He had something come up with work. So, we are going to just circle it back. Tomorrow will be the Matt Lawson episode. It’ll be a Matt Lawson Wednesday, but it will be here. And we’re going to continue with our mock draft, hit the next 24 players, probably end up doing that for a few weeks to break all these guys down, give you our thoughts to hopefully give you a maybe not perfect, but a a pretty good top 96 Dynasty rankings. But as I’m losing my voice, I’m going to go ahead and just say we’re we’re wrapping up this episode. You can like, comment, subscribe, all that fun stuff. And I will see you uh tomorrow.

Houston is in a great spot with plenty of young assets and draft capital. To truly maximize what they have, they need to make the right decisions on what to do with their guys. Noah gives his thoughts!

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