Reed Sheppard Summer League Heroics SILENCE Rockets Critics | Jalen Green Speaks About Being TRADED

Reed Sheppard Summer League Heroics SILENCE Rockets Critics | Jalen Green Speaks About Being TRADED

On today’s show, Rocket Summer League game one in the books. And we saw exactly what we needed to see from Reed Shepard, plus Jaylen Green’s candid comments to media about being traded to the Suns. It’s all coming up right here at Locked on Rockets. This is mission control Houston. Ignition sequence start. 6 5 4 3 2 1 What’s up and welcome to another edition of Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. As always, I’m your host, Jackson Gatlin, native Houstononian and credentialed media member. I’m also the host of Locked on NBA Thursdays. Be sure to follow along wherever you listen to your podcast or on YouTube. Just search Locked on Rockets where the best way you can help us grow our show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. On today’s show, it’s all about the Reed Shepard summer league showcase, his 28 point performance in a loss, unfortunately, against the LA Clippers. Rockets falling 9592, but the final score doesn’t matter. Summer League isn’t about wins and losses. It’s about what you saw on the floor. and we saw exactly what we needed to, what we wanted to see out of Reed Shepard. Plus, a little bit later on in the show, we are going to uh hear some very candid commentary from Jaylen Green about being traded to the Phoenix Suns. So, stay tuned for that a little bit later in the in the show. Uh first, today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off of your first purchase. And as always, thanks so much for making Lockdown Rockets part of your day every single day, whether it’s on your way to work, on your lunch break, in the gym. Thank you so much for being an everydayer. All right, Reed Shepard was easily the best player on the floor between the Rockets and Clippers. Easily. And that was one of my things. That was one of my my sticking points talking about what we needed to see from Reed Shepard in summer leagues. when you come back as a returning player, one year of NBA experience under your belt, you should absolutely look like the best player on the floor. And al right being honest, right, things started out a little shaky for Reed. Um he wasn’t great in that first quarter. Really struggled to get get things going offensively, but then he really kind of locked in in the second and third quarter, that third quarter especially, uh where he was on fire. He had a at one point in the third quarter had his own personal 9 run to bring the Rockets back from being down I want to say it was double digits at one point in that quarter. Uh you know three straight triples in the third quarter to bring the Rockets within you know to make it a one possession game in that third quarter. um for the game for Reed Shepard. 28 points, 10 of 25 shooting, six of 15 from downtown, 40% on his three ball, just two of four at the free throw line, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals, three blocks, three turnovers. Led the Rockets in every major statistical category except for turnovers. Shout out Nate Williams. Um, look, we saw out from this from Reed Shepard in this game. We saw scoring, we saw playmaking, and we saw defense. Those are all the things you needed to see out of Reed Shepard, and we saw a little bit out of all of those. Um, I’m just going to go go in that order. And look, this is not going to be this isn’t going to be a traditional like, you know, game recap episode. This Summer League Squad, it’s primarily focused on, you know, Reed Shepard’s development. So, that’s what we’re looking at. It’s the Reed Shepard summer league showcase is what it is. So, uh, starting with his scoring, he did it in a variety of ways. You know, it wasn’t just, you know, it wasn’t just the three ball, and it wasn’t just like spot-up threes either. He had he had some re the very first three of the game he hit was a relocation three where he moved without the basketball, found an open seam, and, you know, his man lost track of him and he got the kick out and then boom, knocked down a three for the Rockets first bucket of the game. Uh he had some pull-up threes. He had a step he had a really filthy step back three-pointer uh in that third quarter when he was kind, you know, kind of on a heater. Um you know, really getting it done in a variety of ways on the perimeter. Uh and then inside the ark, the efficiency wasn’t great inside the ark, unfortunately. Only 40% shooting um inside the three-point line. So 40%, you know, shooting overall, 10 of 25. But we saw him get to the rim a little bit, right? Right. He had kind of a a like a little bit of a a finger roll, hook shot, teardrop kind of, you know, driving, you know, scoop shot on the way to the on the way to the rack at one point. Um he drove in a couple different times and drew fouls. Got to the free throw line. Um he also hit a a pretty nice like drove in turnaround midi fadeaway in the paint. Um, and realistically, here’s the thing is, you know, offensively, Reed Shepard is is the number one and really like the number two and number three. He’s Reed Shepard is the one like legitimate offensive threat on this Rocket Summer League roster. And that’s the unfortunate set of circumstances that he was dealing with in this game is, you know, the Clippers defense really only had to try to key it on Reed Shepard. So, you know, they did guard him, you know, with pressure, you know, sometimes even picking him up, you know, at half court, fullourt pressure, whatever. And the moment the that Reed would start to make his move and try to, you know, penetrate, get into the teeth of the defense, whatever, he would have guys lunging. He’d have guys, you know, jumping in and blitzing from the perimeter, um, you know, digging at the ball. And it’s not like these things aren’t going to also happen at the NBA level, but you know, Reed Shepard playing in summer league with, you know, Nate Williams going four of 15 shooting overall and Kavon Harris three of seven shooting. The team only shooting 33% from downtown. It’s a very different dynamic than when Reed Shepard is going to be playing alongside the likes of Kevin Durant and Alpin Shingun or playing offball to Amin Thompson or Fred Van Vleet and letting them kind of initiate some offense and he gets to be more of like an ancillary piece um and attacking, you know, or or creating opportunities off the pressure that is also created by those other guys. seeing the way that he was able to create his own offense, create opportunities for his teammates, really running the show for this summer league squad. He did about as good of a job as you could hope for. You know, at the end of the day, you know, the Rockets did lose this game. I think their defense was a little a little loose at times against the Clippers, but Reed played a really really solid game outside of, you know, the struggles to shoot the ball in that first quarter. And he went scoreless in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, I think he was a little gassed at that point. Um, you know, he had played 33 minutes of a 40-minute basketball game, so only seven minutes of rest. And a couple of those minutes came at the very end of the fourth quarter where he drove in on a, you know, on a fast break, you know, transition take and uh landed a little funny and he it looked like he, you know, might have probably probably was just cramping a little bit with his left calf and, you know, would have stayed in the game if it had been like a game that was that actually meant something more than likely. He looked fine that he was going to keep playing, but the coaches subbed him out. um it was a whole thing and then he came back in for the very very final possession of the game for a chance to try and tie it up at 95 and force OT. So, you know, for me at least, I loved that we saw Reed really hunting a shot, really looking to score the ball, understanding that he was the focal point of the offense for this team, and we didn’t really see him at any point get passive with it, right? like he was gunning from the very moment that he stepped on the floor. I mean, literally just the just the first quarter, he wound up got he wound up getting up what was it like eight shots in the first quarter, seven shots in the first quarter, something like that. Um, and that that really kind of set the tone for the whole game where he was hunting a shot, looking to score, which is exactly what the Rockets wanted him to do more of during his rookie season. But at times he looked a little passive. He looked a little I won’t say scared, not scared. Um but a little timid at times. And he didn’t look like that at all in this summer league game. And that’s an encouraging sign, right? Seeing the way that he was able to really take the reigns, control the offense, get his own shots, and create plenty of opportunities for his teammates. He only walked away with four assists, but he could have had way more than that. Coming up, I do want to talk about his playmaking in this game as well as the defense, which might have been the most impressive part of Reed’s Reed Shepard’s little summer league showcase here. We’ll talk about that. We’ll talk about what we saw out of some of his teammates as well as kind of what went wrong in the game itself. Uh, and a little bit later on get to the Jaylen Green stuff. Uh, we’ll get to all of that here in just one moment. First, today’s episode is brought to you And continuing on here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast, home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. All right, want to talk about the the playmaking and the defense on display from Reed Shepard in this summer league game. However, I want your thoughts, right? What impressed you the most about Reed Shepard’s summer league uh game one? Was it was it the scoring that we talked about in segment one? Was it the playmaking or the defense that we’re about to talk about here in just a moment? Or maybe did he not impress you? I’d be shocked. Um but, you know, let me know your thoughts in the YouTube comments. Um the playmaking from Reed Shepard in this game, he only had four assists, but he very easily could have had, you know, he probably had anywhere from four to five potential assists on top of the actual four assists that he did record. Uh, and he did a great job of really surveying the court, making sure to get guys involved, making the right reads, uh, no pun intended. Uh, and he had at least like I want to say three different like really good kick-head passes that directly led to buckets for the Rockets in transition. He had a really nice one uh, early in the game where he kicked it ahead uh, to Nate Williams and then Nate found Nefali Dante for a lob dunk in transition. He had another one where he kicked it ahead to Kennedy Chandler who that that pass got tipped like a little bit but Chandler was still able to recover it and then lay it up for two at the rim. Um and he had a number of great finds like in the half court too where he would penetrate the defense, you know, get inside and then and then swing it out for, you know, a wideopen shot or finding, you know, making like the skip pass to uh the weak side corner and, you know, getting a wide open three-pointer there. Uh unfortunately though just did, you know, his teammates really weren’t able to convert on a lot of those opportunities unfortunately. Uh so could have walked away with a lot more assists than he actually did get in this game, but the looks were there, the process was there. Um the playmaking chops were fully on display, right? And when you imagine Raid Shepard, not just what he was able to do, you know, for himself scoring the basketball like we talked about in segment one, but then you package that the the scoring threat on top of, you know, the the shooting gravity, the scoring threat as well as his court vision and ability to find his teammates and, you know, make the right passes to guys. And then you imagine him playing alongside like legitimate offensive threats like Kevin Durant, like Alpin Shingun, like Amin Thompson. You know, Reed’s going to be he’s going to be awesome next year. I’m I’m really not worried about him at any point. You know, this and I know it’s summer league and summer league’s all about overreactions and big takes and um you know either like you know overreact overreacting in a positive manner or overreacting in a negative manner. Um, but like the biggest thing to me was like the level of confidence that Reed was playing with. You know, whether it was him, you know, confidently hunting his own shot or getting into the defense and making these great passes out to his teammates. Um, he just played a really solid all-around game. And then defensively, man, wow. Um, I think the defense might have been the most impressive part of his game in this one. You know, there’s still moments where you see Reed and he’ll, you know, he’ll gamble occasionally on defense. He’s a pretty He’s usually a pretty like reliable defender, but there were a couple spots where he maybe gambled for a steal that he probably shouldn’t have. Um, you know, moments where he let a defender uh get by him a little bit too easily, but the the steals, the blocks, um the active hands, like the deflections, Reed Shepard has such quick hands, it’s ridiculous. And I don’t really I don’t have any I guess really like long-term concerns about Reed as a defender because again if Fred Van Vleet can be a a plus level defender at his size um for as much of his NBA career as he has been, Reed should be able to get to at at least that level defensively um if not better on defense because again once he fills out a little bit more, gets a little bit stronger, um starts to understand, you know, defensive positioning a little bit better, how to um you know take away driving angles and really to you know cut off some of those driving lanes for the guys that he’s guarding at the point of attack defensively um things will start to get better for him. But the fact that he’s able to still make such an impact like he at one point there was a threeon-one fast break that Reed was defending and he literally had three guys barreling at him and he timed it so beautifully and got the strip off of I I forget whatever Clippers player it was and like a a threeon-one fast break should absolutely be like a a foreground conclusion like that’s a that’s a bucket 99% of the time and so for Reed to be able to hold his own and not just a not just give up on the play and then b to make that play right to save the possession is huge and that’s the kind of defender that Reed is capable of being at the end of the day. So, loved his scoring, loved the playmaking, loved the defense, didn’t love, you know, the uh the cold start, didn’t love the zero points in the fourth quarter, unfortunately. Um, a big part of that being the fact that the Clippers were able to just really hone in on Reed in that fourth quarter, which is part of the reason why Kennedy Chandler like got going a lot in that final frame. Uh, didn’t love the, you know, the the the leg cramp that he dealt with probably and had to sit out for the final couple minutes of the game. Um, we don’t know at this point. I I haven’t seen any word on whether or not Reed will uh be held out for the remainder of summer league or if he if they intend to keep playing him. Generally, when like an injury happens in Summer League, it’s like you’re just shut down. You’re done cuz Summer League ultimately doesn’t matter. Um, but if it was just like a little bit of cramping, then I’m sure he’ll be back out there for at least game two uh on Sunday. I hope he’s out there for game two on Sunday. Otherwise, these next four summer league games are going to be real tough to watch without Reed Shepard. But, um, I think overall Reed delivered. He was the best player on the floor. He showcased his offensive skills. Defensively, he was a plus across the board. Um, still some areas for him to improve on. Absolutely. But this is what you wanted to see out of a guy that projects to have a decent sized backup role on the team next season. And again, nobody’s expecting Reed to come out and average, you know, 28 a game and shoot 40% from three every night or whatever. The Rockets just need Reed to be a serviceable backup point guard. And I think that is more than within his wheelhouse at this stage of his career. Um, and you know, I mean, shoot, if he starts to really excel in that backup role, then, you know, who knows how long it’s going to take for him to eventually supplant Fred Van Vleet as the starting point guard for this team at some point down the line. But, I mean, the the the picture is there, right? Reed Shepard or Men Thompson the future Rockets backcourt uh is right there and it’s it’s not far away from from actually happening it feels like. Um the other things from this game I want to you know Rockets wind up losing this one. They they just they couldn’t get stops when they needed to against the Clippers late in the game. Um and despite Reed’s best efforts offensively I I definitely felt like he he kind of he was a little spent in that fourth quarter. He played 33 minutes out of a 40-minute basketball game. So only seven minutes of rest. And again, two of those minutes came at the very very end of uh regulation when he sat after, you know, that that, you know, leg calf injury, whatever, uh coming down off that fast break attempt. So, uh Reed looked a little a little worn out by the end of the game. Uh at one point when he did the the sideline interview uh with 3D, he was he was like, “Hang on, I got I got to catch my breath.” Um, so you know, that’s what you get when you play the entire, you know, first quarter, 10 minutes straight, the entire third quarter, 10 minutes straight. Uh, and then, you know, he checked back in pretty early into that fourth quarter with like eight minutes to go. And so he was he was a little gassed by the end of the game. Um, so it’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to deliver more in that fourth quarter, but his teammates, you know, I I was most impressed with Kennedy Chandler. Really liked what I saw of him. I don’t know if he actually has like a future at the NBA level. He’s really undersized. He’s only 5’11. Uh but 22 points uh seven of 14 from the floor, seven of 11 from uh from the free throw line. Uh hit a big three at the end to pull the Rockets, you know, within striking distance to to make it like a legitimate game. Hit some clutch free throws at the end. I I really thought the Rockets were about to pull off like the comeback even after Reed’s injury uh or like Reed being subbed out, whatever you want to call it. Uh was really disappointed in Nate Williams, man. like Nate Williams, eight points on four of 15 shooting. 0 of seven from downtown, six rebounds, three assists, five turnovers. Just a really, really rough game for Nate Williams. They they tried to rely on him as the primary ball handler when Reed Shepard sat and didn’t look great. Um, and you know, but the whole thing with Nate Williams, I he plays hard. He’s a solid enough defender. Uh, I’m sure he’s great to have in practices to to, you know, scrimmage against and to have, you know, for different, you know, different lineups, whatever. But the Rockets can do a whole hell of a lot better for the 14th man on their roster than Nate Williams. They really can. And so if at some point they decide to wave Nate Williams, which they would need to decide to do that before the start of the NBA season, um they can free up enough money to go sign somebody on like a vet minimum deal for like $2.5 million uh and still stay below that first apron uh where they’re hardcapped at the first apron line. And uh it would not be harder to go get somebody who’s going to be a little bit more impactful than Nate Williams could be at the end of the day. He’s like a poor man’s poor man’s JSH Tate. Kind of a one-trick pony lefty. He does the drive and the spin and like the scoop left-handed shot at the rim and that’s basically what he’s got. And he’s got kind of a busted three-pointer. And it’s disappointing because Nate’s a good dude and he plays incredibly hard. uh great locker room guy, but you know, at the end of the day, like when you look at the depth and and trying to maybe squeeze a little bit more value out of that 14th roster spot, it certainly feels like the Rockets could do a lot better than him. Um, a couple other things from this game I will say, uh, Cam Matthews impressed with his defensive intensity. Uh, had Cam Matthews had a few different passes where like you kind of like raise your eyebrow. I was like, “Okay, Cam. All right, you could pass a little bit.” Um, and then on top of all that, he had a moment where he got tangled up with, uh, who was it? Flowers. Uh, Trenton Flowers for the Clippers was setting a screen and he set that screen like like he was like, you know, like an offensive lineman like blocking and like walked him all the way over to the Clippers bench and then gave him a little shove at the very end and a little like scrum broke out, right? had some technicals assessed and it’s like the Rockets are the exact same team in summer league uh as they are during the regular season. Like they’re not afraid to to get into it with other guys. And unfortunately, they’re also the exact same team because there was a there was a possession at one point where the Rockets missed like four or five straight shots, just multiple like offensive rebounds and missed layups like right at the rim uh repeatedly like over and over and over and it was kind of embarrassing. And then uh one more continuation of this Rockets summer league roster really embodying the spirit of their regular season roster uh was the 5-second violation at the end of the game. The Rockets had a chance to draw up a play, hit a three-pointer, maybe tie this thing and send it to summer league OT, which is always fun. And they had a damn 5-second violation. The moment that 5-second violation happened, I was like, “Of course, of course the Rockets would get a 5-second violation in Summer League.” And I think they were still sitting on a timeout, too, if I’m not mistaken. So, like just bad bad management on that play. Um, it is what it is. It’s just it’s more funny than anything else at the end of the day. Um, but, you know, disappointing the Rockets weren’t able to uh escape with the win against the Clippers. Uh, they kind of put themselves on a hole with that that first quarter, losing 21 to6 there. Uh they either I I guess they they lost the second quarter 227-26, but they outplayed the Clippers in the third 28-25 and they played them dead even in the fourth 22 apiece. Uh so that that’s what got you to the three-point deficit in this loss. So with that, um you know, really impressed from Reed. Couple a couple of other names out there played some solid, you know, solidish basketball, but you know, nothing really to write home about, I think, from anybody else on the roster. Uh Nefali was okay. I just there’s no reason why Reed Shepard should have walked away with the most rebounds on the team. Like there’s a reason like Moses Brown hasn’t been able to stick to an NBA team. There’s also a reason he only played three minutes cuz he didn’t doesn’t rebound the basketball very effectively. He had three rebounds in his three minutes, but like not great or didn’t look great out there um in his very brief stent. And then Nefali is was Nefali was okay. Um, you know, I wish you would looked like a I wish he did a better job being a rim deterrent in this game, but otherwise, you know, not a lot to take away from from anybody else in this one. Um, coming up, I do want to talk about Jaylen Green’s candid comments about being traded to the Phoenix Suns. We’re going to get there in just one moment. and final segment here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast, home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. All right, Jaylen Green spoke with media at Vegas Summer League and has some very candid commentary about being traded to the Phoenix Suns. Let’s hear Let’s hear what Jaylen had to say about being part of the Suns. Now, I’m super excited. A great organization, great people. Um it’s going to be fun and uh the position we in I think uh it surprised a lot of people and make a lot of noise. So I’m curious when you look at just you started something with Houston like you were there when they were trying to figure it out and then you part of them making the ascension and then you get traded. How how did you deal with that or dealt with that? I mean it hurts. You know Houston was is home to me and forever will be home to me. um you know I started you know my NBA career there and I’ve you know built a lot in there in that situation. So um obviously it was sad to leave obviously but it’s it’s a business though. You got to understand that we coming into the NBA and uh I’m just thankful that you know I have the opportunity to play basketball again you know for another team that has been in the playoffs been to the finals and you know winning basketball in general. So yeah, I’m curious just when you look at you and Dev, both of you can obviously score with the ball and there’s been question of how can these two work together. Can you answer that for us? I mean, we are two people who are going to accept a double team and be able to play off each other. So when you look at something like that, it’s like we’re two people who know how to score the basketball. You know, we’re two people who know how to attract the defense and everyone’s going to shape around us. So, I mean, when we’re doing something like that, you got to pick who you want to score tonight. And me and him both is going to be a deadly scoring duo, no matter what the situation is. So, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be exciting. Um, you know, people going to say what they’re going to say, but this is a great opportunity for I think for myself and, you know, Deb Book is a winning player in general, so it’ll work out. So, some comments there from Jaylen Green. also proceeded to um he told and I don’t know if it was that exact same scrum or in a private interview, but he wound up telling uh Danielle Learner of the Houston Chronicle uh when she caught up with him uh talking about the Rocket Suns trade, he said, “Yeah, I had a feeling they’ve been trying to trade me since last year. I’m not tripping. It’s for the better of the team. I know it’s a business at the end of the day.” And a little bit later in that same scrum, uh, Dylan Brooks spoke to media as well at summer league and and Jaylen kind of came up behind Dylan Brooks and was, you know, behind all the reporters and was kind of, you know, jokingly uh was like jokingly going going, you know, trying to prompt Dylan, you know, basically saying like, “Oh, you have, you know, we have mo motivation for for next year playing against the Rockets. Um, you know, Dylan said, you know, he he loves the trade. It gives him and Jaylen an opportunity. Uh, and and Jaylen’s in the back of the scrum. He’s going mo motivation. It gives us motivation. Um, so look, at the end of the day, you know, hearing Jaylen say, right, you know, Houston is home and will always be home. It’s sad. It’s it’s tough because when the Rockets drafted him number two overall, they really did envision him, you know, being a long-term part of the organization. They hoped that he would become the player that they thought he could become on draft night. And unfortunately, that didn’t happen. uh at least not not at the rate that they wanted it to or he didn’t, you know, meet the expectations that they had internally of him as their number one option as their lead guard, as their primary scorer, what have you. Um, and you know, there there will be Rockets fans that want to debate this, that want to be like, okay, well, those are, you know, they they they pulled the trigger too early. They gave up on him too soon. It’s, you know, I think that he was given plenty of opportunities to really show that he could be that guy. And if the Rockets were confident that he was going to turn into that guy, then they wouldn’t have traded him, right? They saw what they needed to see through four years of regular season basketball and one playoff stint um enough to make the decision that they were ready to move on from him. But not only that, it’s that comment that he had to Daniel Lerner um about the fact that the Rockets have been trying to trade him since last year. And that goes back to the reports and the rumors, right, about the Rockets potentially offering uh or or looking at potentially trading Jaylen Green and the Nets picks back to Brooklyn for male Bridges. Right. So, this isn’t like a it’s not a brand new thing. It’s not something that that came out of nowhere. It’s probably been something that’s been in the works for a while that the Rockets had been looking at opportunities. And again, when you when you dawn the tinfoil hat and start to kind of look at things and start to connect the dots a little bit, there’s a reason that Rafel Stone gave Jaylen gave Jaylen the contract that he gave him. um rather than you know the the safe play which would have been just let Jaylen get get to a restricted free agency and you know make him have a prove it year in year four like are you really worth uh a rookie extension um especially a top dollar rookie extension. He gave him that contract because it made him tradable this summer. If the Rockets had let Jaylen Green go to restricted free agency, then they would have been negotiating with Jaylen Green right now about his future contract and at risk of losing him for nothing or at risk of signing him to a long-term deal that they didn’t like uh or another team coming along and offering him the bag and then having to match that contract and then the earliest they would have been able to trade him would have been this upcoming NBA trade deadline. So instead, Rafel Stone comes up with this very unique contract structure. um and gets Jaylen at a dollar figure that perfectly pairs with Dylan Brooks’s contract to be able to get them Kevin Durant. Like, nobody’s going to be able to tell me otherwise that that wasn’t 1,000% a pathway that the Rockets were fully considering and looking at when that Jaylen Green contract was negotiated. Um being able to pair those two salaries together and go get a guy like Kevin Durant. Um, and it worked out the way that it worked out. I’ll tell you what though, there’s going to be there are going to be some fireworks the first time the Rockets and Suns play each other this next season. Um, it’s going to be crazy when Phoenix comes to Houston. It’ll be crazy when Houston goes to Phoenix. Uh, that’ll be KD’s return to Phoenix and he’ll be booed upon his return to the desert. Um, Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks should both be cheered when they come back to the Rockets. They absolutely should. um at least during the introductions and then during the game they need to be booed to hell. But during the introductions those those guys both deserve cheers. Um and look, you know, imagining Jaylen talking this talk, you talking about motivation and wanting to go out and show up his former team. thinking back to how he was barking at Draymond Green in the playoffs and then after, you know, after game three, talking about how Draymond just is all talk and doesn’t do much of anything on the court and then coming out and putting up that stinker in game four. I find it tough to imagine that Jaylen’s going to be talking this talk and then try to show up, you know, against the Rockets and not get straight up clamped by Amin Thompson. Tari E. He’s going to have to deal with Fred a little bit on the defensive end, I’m sure. Um, and somebody’s going to be like, “Oh, Amin Thompson’s going to guard Devin Booker.” Amen will guard everybody. Amin will guard Booker and Jaylen. There’s going to be stretches where where Amen’s probably out there and Jaylen’s out there and Booker’s on the bench, right? And and so Amin will have plenty of opportunities to check his old teammate and, you know, put him in the ameniti, if you will. So, it’s it’s very interesting to hear a player be that candid about, you know, being traded. Um, he’s approaching it with a healthy mindset, though, and at the end of the day, it just didn’t work out in Houston. But, you know, because of what he meant to the Rockets franchise and because of, you know, at the end of the day, you know, knowing that the Rockets had tried to trade him or knowing that he’d been, you know, for the past year or so that they’ve been exploring trade discussions with his name included, um, that’s got to be really tough on a young player. It really does. And so for him to know that and still maintain his level of professionality, his commitment to the team, his work ethic, um you know, Jaylen Green, the person is awesome, you know, and Jaylen Green, the basketball player, is still a good player. It just wasn’t what the Rockets needed or wanted out of him. It wasn’t to their level of expectations. And so that’s why it ultimately ended the way that it did for them to be able to go get a talent like Kevin Durant. So with all that said, you know, it it was sad to see. So, you know, Jaylen and Dylan were both sitting they were both sitting courtside at Vegas Summer League and they both had they both threw up the H during their uh their little photo op with the the Vegas summer league photographers and uh that that hurt a little bit to see. And then even seeing Dylan Brooks was literally hanging out with Eay and Rafale and Patrick and Amen and just like just kicking it like he was still a member of the Rockets and and I I got in my head. I was like, man, Dylan really loved this team and really loved being on the Rockets. And there was like a video of Dylan the other day like touring the Suns practice facility and chatting with a couple of their like, you know, assistant coaches or whatever. and and you know he was laughing and it was it was like it was one of those you know like smile through the pain kind of moments because I I do feel bad for Dylan in this you know for Jaylen it’ll be a it’ll be a much better opportunity for him to you know get to a different different team h not have to be the number one op option offensively get some of the pressure taken off of him by playing alongside Devin Booker. Um, but for Dylan, it’s like he’s he’s going from being on, you know, the number two seed in the Western Conference in a very, you know, in a winning environment on a team that loved his intensity, his personality, um, his defensive approach to the game to a Suns team that has none of that. Like, he’s going to have to be the culture setter and it’s kind of a reset for Dylan to have to go in and basically play, you know, culture setter a second time in Phoenix after doing it two years ago in Houston. So, I do I look at the end of the day, I wish them all the best going forward. I wish Dylan Brooks the best. I wish Jaylen Green the best. Um, not not too much of the best though because the Rockets still own those Suns picks. So, it’s kind of like when James Harden got traded to the Nets. Still like James. Still had a lot of love for James, but we still also needed the Nets to fail and they did. And we also still need the Suns to fail. So, with that, um, maybe hopefully they do really good at their next stop after Phoenix. Let’s go with that. I want them to have career success post Phoenix. Um that way the Suns picks are still really juicy and delicious. With that, um I that’s all I got for today’s episode. Uh I’m very curious again your thoughts from the summer league game one against the Clippers. Uh tell me your thoughts about Jaylen Green’s commentary about being traded. Uh put all that in the YouTube comments. Remember, the best way to help us grow the show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. But as always, thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for listening. We look forward to having you back right here at Locked On Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball.

Reed Sheppard Summer League Heroics SILENCE Rockets Critics | Jalen Green Speaks About Being TRADED

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) breaks down Shepherd’s impressive showing against the LA Clippers, highlighting his scoring prowess, playmaking skills, and defensive potential. The discussion covers the Rockets’ overall Summer League strategy and the development of young talents like Nate Williams and Kennedy Chandler. Gatlin also analyzes Jalen Green’s candid comments on his trade to the Phoenix Suns, exploring the implications for both franchises and Green’s potential fit alongside Devin Booker.

Tune in for an in-depth look at the Rockets’ evolving roster and the ripple effects of recent moves shaping their future.

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