Did the Rockets Rebuild the Right Way? Cam Whitmore Trade Rumors Explained

Did the Rockets Rebuild the Right Way? Cam Whitmore Trade Rumors Explained

wrong coach, wrong time, and it led to a lot of losing, but in some ways that losing, not even in some ways, in some direct ways, that losing led to your ability to stack talent. So, it was not good basketball. People had tuned out that team. But, if it’s the basis and the foundation of what may be to come, who’s to say Steven Silus isn’t our Lovey Smith? So, Jabari Smith sat down. He sat down for a podcast with KCP on it’s the Dog Talk podcast and they talked about quite a bit. You get a NBA player to sit down with you, you’re going to talk about several topics, but the thing that keeps popping up online is how that rocket team was run when Steven Silas was around. And I’m one of the people who is like, do we always have to bury Steven Silus? He was put in a tough spot. He came in to coach Russell Westbrook and Harden. And then before he could even get really situated, Harden was like, “Actually, I don’t want to be here anymore. Let’s let’s get me out of here because we can’t win.” And then he was stuck coaching a a team that wasn’t talented and then became a team that leaned into youth and it wasn’t the spot for him. And I haven’t heard players bash him at all. It’s been a lot of well, it’s hem’s just different. uh we we do things differently and has worked out for us. So here’s Jabari Smith talking to KCP and Jordan McGrder of the Dog Talk podcast about how Steven Silas knew basketball. He was just in a bad spot. Yeah, Silas was our first coach. He was a he was a good coach, but like I said, man, that could could nobody control control that was it was just a wreck. You know what I’m saying? It was like And if anybody know And if anybody know Coach Silus, like he the nicest dude in the world, you know what I’m saying? like he know basketball, he know what he talking about. It’s just like as far as controlling that, it’s just like it was it was it was tough for him. But but
Eay came in and put some EA Fred and Dylan came in and put some put some control on.
So the EA Fred and Dylan thing is important because later on he talked about how yes, Eric Gordon was one of the vets during his early years with the Rockets. In fact, Jabar is going into year four, so Eric Gordon was there for year one with him. Uh but that wasn’t enough. you said they didn’t have enough veterans. They there was a lack of understanding of how the NBA game was. And when it’s just a bunch of young guys trying to figure things out, you’re going to have what you had under Steven Silus where Steven Silas, hey, I just want to coach, I don’t know if he was ready to kind of reel in everything that was going on there. Just just a lot of young dudes trying to find their way. Wrong coach, wrong time. And it led to a lot of losing, but in some ways that losing, not even in some ways, in some direct ways, that losing led to your ability to stack talent. So, it was not good basketball. People had tuned out that team. But if it’s the basis and the foundation of what may be to come, who’s to say Steven Silus isn’t our uh Lovey Smith? And the reference there is Lovey Smith wasn’t a guy looking to tank. So he tried to win that Colts game and of course led to CJ Shroud. There was the the thing where that Colts defender missed what was was pretty much a popup for a pick. He missed it led to a Texans touchdown and they wound up winning that game. So another sliding doors thing. What if Lovey Smith was more on the tanking? What if Steven Silas maybe was better suited for the position? maybe you don’t get the chance to take the guys you took and uh build this roster to where it is now. So, it all it all came together.
Yeah, they got like the most like medium lottery luck that you could possibly get where like they they never like fell in the draft or in the draft order. It didn’t fall far, but they never got like the number one pick. They never had that moment the day of that night where everyone’s like envisioning what it would mean to have the number one overall pick. It never came to fruition. I mean, they had the two pick after Cade and so they got uh Jaylen Green.
They had the three pick after Paulo and Chad
and then in 23 they got the four pick after Blimpy. It’s like it’s like they didn’t like
again they didn’t get screwed over like the Wizards or the Jazz or the Pistons other than the K draft. The Pistons would always drop as far as they possibly could.
Sure. the the they just got like the most like okay yeah all right and they just kind of assembled pretty good NBA players but they’re all 19 years old so they needed to be guided along there’s no like you know Victor Wmanyama where it’s like your team is just immediately much better now because you have this guy or LeBron where it’s like even as a rookie this guy just immediately oh we have some some real high level, high level talent that like almost no one could screw up. It’s like no, they actually had talent that was good, but it was possible they screwed it up.
And uh he went on to talk about some differences between Silus and Eay. And he said, “Hey, everyone knows Eay has a screw loose.”
That was one of his quotes. And yeah, when you call LeBron James a uh I don’t know if that’s I don’t I don’t know if that means you have a screw loose, but you you don’t care about the conventional things other people care about in that spot.
Yeah. You’re you’re a different type of coach. You’re different. Yeah, he’s different as as as you can say. Eay is definitely different and has led to a turnaround where now they’re trying to cash in. You talk about their lottery luck and where they where they landed. Okay. Jaylen Green, you take him at two. I don’t think anyone was really pushing back against that. Everyone loves a potential high-scoring guard.
Yeah, there’s like a little bit of Moy like a little bit, but no one was like, I can’t believe they just drafted Jaylen Green over Evan Mobley.
Yes. at in the moment that was not a thing people thought
that would be the one if you go back and say could they have had a better player considering where they picked yes they could have Thompson at four so far that looks like a clear clearly the right choice even though you didn’t get the ultimate lottery luck that you wanted Jabari Smith we had this conversation yesterday maybe I didn’t I don’t remember it correctly but I thought people were upset that because they thought Jabari leading up into like wo boots.
Yeah.
Betting odds changed.
Yeah. They did like the Orlando Magic did this weird thing where they like headfaked who they’re going to pick. They smoke screened who they were going to pick with the number one pick.
Yes. When you don’t have to do that.
Yeah. And so it everyone thought like as we were leading up to the draft, we were talking about the uh the different guy and we’re like wait man Carol is the one that could like actually like lead an offense. He seems like a guy who could get hard buckets that you need all these things. He’s big. He’s a wing. And you’re like, wait, how is how is he not going to go in the top two? Like, how why is this happen? And then turns out he didn’t. And you’re like, okay, this makes more sense of like how these I guess how these prospects line up of like you have the guy where you feel really good about kind of conventional number one pick. Then you have like athletic freak or just I guess physical freak of Chad Chad Homegrren where it’s like this is just a home run swing that the Thunder are making and it’s like yeah the pretty solid big shooter from Auburn who doesn’t really dribble that he goes third. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah. What you laid out I remember and believe makes sense. I just am trying to figure out if Rocket fans were upset because they thought They may lose out on Jabari because of the head fake the magic. Yeah.
Unneededly were trying to do. I don’t remember how that played. I felt like I feel like they they want a lot of people wanted Jabari because of the shooting. Yeah. Because
and because like anyone who’s 6’10 and can shoot immediately Kevin Durant.
Yeah. It was a lot of that. Uh so either way it worked out. I was trying to think Aman Thompson obviously take him no problem with anyone that really went behind him. It was between to uh Thompson and Whitmore actually on at four and Whitmore fell all the way to 20
and they wound up with both and for for now. We’ll see where I get to that part of the this Rockets transactional offseason in a little bit. But Jabari, do we think Keegan Murray’s a better player? That’s debatable.
Uh Jaylen Williams was in that draft certainly. But that’s a guy no one
Yeah, I can’t fault him for not taking he was a reach at whatever 11 or wherever he was.
Uh 12. I can’t fault him for not taking Jayen wins. He wasn’t in consideration. So that would that would be tough on them to say, “Oh, you missed out.”
Was pods in that draft? They missed out on pods. Sure. Jake Laravio, they missed out on him, too. Uh, so I guess the only one you could go I guess Keegan Murray, Jaden Ivy, Jay Ivy’s coming, he’ll have to come off an injury. But taking Jabari there was a sensible, reasonable choice. That That’s the thing. It was all like they made the reasonable choice every time, but they never had the opportunity to get the like well everyone in their mom would have picked Cade or Wimyama one
and they didn’t get the chance to do that.
Yeah, they just they ne and they never did anything that has the entire and they drafted entire world shocked by the moves as well.
They drafted decently well with Een like their later first round picks Een trading up to get Shingun
Shun. Yeah, they’ve done look Rafel Stone’s done a very good job building this roster. One guy he may have missed on though in the same draft as Jabari. Although it felt like can’t believe Cam Whitmore failed us. Did he go on the Jabari draft?
He was in the Thompson draft.
Thompson draft. Yeah, we just talked about it. He was in the Thompson draft and he felt he fell to the Rockets and everyone’s like look how look how great our luck is.
Now if the reporting suggests that Cam Whitmore will be part of the trade that’s brings Dorian Finny Smith in. Yes, there’s this giant basically nothing new is happening or I guess other than Cam Whitmore maybe getting traded, but we already kind of knew that was going to happen. But it’s just all the moves this off seasonason that have happened are basically getting folded into a gi giant sign and trade with the Durant deal. Yes. So Ken Whitmore is the rare case where a new player that we hadn’t heard that was going to be on the move is involved in this because a lot of it is things have already been agreed to. We’re just going to change the structure of these of these uh trades to maybe make it more financially beneficial to the player and the team making the trade. So Cam Whitmore would be an ad to a potential larger trade. Uh and it would mean the Rockets are sending out one of their uh one of their core seven at least at the time he was listed as that.
So and that would be the second core seven member to be sent out
because uh Jaylen Jaylen Green has already been sent out. So two of them sent out in the same
salute for the core seven. No, because this show never believed that that thing was real anyway. partly because of this when there’s always a chance a couple of those guys are going to get sent away.
Yeah.
For differing reasons and Cam Whitmore different from Jaylen. Jaylen Green was used as the prime piece along with the 10th pick overall for Kevin Durant. Cam Whitmore is in a spot where it’s not a fit here. Much like Steven Silus wasn’t a fit for for the roster he inherited. It turns out Cam Whitmore is not a fit for what the Rockets want to do. It’s not a an attack on him. Sure, there’s been some questions about his attitude. Look, I can’t. He’s what, 20? He’s been He’s a young 20-year-old kid or player at least. I I don’t know what he’s going to be when he’s 26. He just didn’t fit here. Probably best for all parties for him to find a spot. Not sure he’s going to get a lot of playing time with the Lakers. Uh team, a team who feels like no matter what the drama is around LeBron, they’re going to be trying to win. I don’t know if they’re a good developmental spot. Cam Whitmore.
It It’s funny cuz this the Rockets are a team that’s like we have a bunch of wings. We have a bunch of guys that play your position, but we don’t really have anyone that does your skill set.
Yeah. But just how we want to play, whatever. We just don’t feel like we can carry you on the roster if we’re not going to use you or, you know, again, there’s four wings ahead of you in the rotation or zero. Some say zero.
Tell it to John Hollinger. Yeah.
Yeah. But uh and then he goes and then if he goes to the Lakers, it’s well, we have all the scoring down. We really just need someone who’s 6’6 and can physically play defense.
Yeah. The Lakers are are looking for a wing. I don’t know if Cam Whitmore fits exactly what they want. They may still be in in the market for one. Andrew Wiggins is someone they apparently want. It’s just that the asking price currently is more than they are willing to give. Uh I think at last last look Andrew Wiggins would go to the Lakers in a trade but that he are not only asking for Dalton connect. They don’t think I guess much of Ruy maybe um because they’re also asking for a first round pick. Uh and Lakers at the moment are saying that’s too rich for us. We don’t really have a lot of first round picks to to dole out and giving one up for Andrew Wiggins along with dealing our recent first round pick in D Connect feels like too much of an ask. Yeah, but that’s why negotiations happen.
They’re in the Lakers are in a situation where it’s like we really need more players that can play for us. We The Lakers famously had what was it game four of the Minnesota series where they didn’t make a sub the entire second half. All five guys that started the third quarter played the entire second half.
And that’s just what you do when you only have uh five guys that you trust. And one of those guys was Ruy Hatchimura. So we can’t And I think one of them was Dory Finny Smith. It was Finny Smith, Hatchimura, and then Reeves, LeBron, Luca. If I’m the Lakers, I’m like I don’t think we can keep trading away guys or losing guys and only get one person back in return. Like I don’t think we can play or we can get rid of Brewie and then get Wiggins back. So,
without adding some other person because we lost Finny Smith. Well,
I guess Laravia,
they did add Laravia and if they need another wing, uh, the money I think works if you add Haywood Highmith, who’s another wing defender who shot pretty well from three, I think around 40% catch and shoot guy. So, that might
if I’m the Lakers, I’m more worried about the defense than I am.
Well, Haywood is a Haywood is a defender. I would I would go I would you know we always talk about 3 and D wings and normally like a guy’s more of a defensive wing that can shoot that can’t it’s like he can be passable shooting or he’s a shooter who can be passable on defense. I would lean defense for the Lakers given uh their three best players. I guess LeBron’s still pretty good at defense when he when he has the energy to try. But Luca and Reeves, it’s almost like it’s almost not just that they’re bad at defense or they’re attackable at defense. It’s that everyone knows that they’re going to attackable. It’s like it’s like part of the game plan is just like we’ll just go after him every single time.
Yeah. It’s uh it’s it’s a feature of what the other team’s doing now. Like sometimes not falling back to that.
Yeah. You can put a bad defender out there and like teams just won’t mercilessly attack them. Luca and Reeves, they just get mercilessly attacked.
The reputation is such that why wouldn’t we run our offense just attacking these two? So,
Heismith and Wiggins would fit the profile of defensive wings that the Lakers are desperate for. We’ll see if they become another contender, which at this point most people don’t think they are with the and then you have the LeBron thing hanging over their

Was Stephen Silas ever the right coach for the Houston Rockets — or just a case of wrong coach, wrong time? 🤔
Jabari Smith recently shared his thoughts, and it’s clear: with Ime Udoka now at the helm, the Rockets have taken a huge step forward in their rebuild.

We break down:
🗣️ Jabari’s comments on Silas
⛹️‍♂️ Why the team’s lack of vets hurt development
📈 Rafael Stone’s front office success
📉 Has Cam Whitmore failed to meet expectations? Is a KD sign-and-trade on the table?
🍀 Have the Rockets rebuilt through smart moves — or just plain luck?

It’s a deep dive into the past, present, and future of a team on the rise. 💥
Let us know in the comments — was Silas set up to fail? And would you trade Cam?

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