Why NBA MUST shorten season + Houston Rockets deep dive: Durant & Sengun are LEGIT contenders
Jason reacts to the Houston Rockets beating the Cleveland Cavaliers and does a deep dive into the three reasons why he feels they can become top tier NBA title contenders. He breaks down the growth in Alperen Sengun’s game, how the Rockets different style is successful, Reed Sheppard’s growth, and how Kevin Durant is bridging the timeline gap. Then he breaks down why Adam Silver should listen to Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr about shortening the season and why it would be better for the league than they realize.
All lines provided by @hardrockbet
Timline
0:00 – Start
2:30 – Rockets win over Cavaliers
5:45 – Rockets deep dive
28:45 – Shortening the season
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28 Comments
I’m literally working on a diy home project while listening to this😂
Been watching since like 2022 and shoutout to u cuz u have been preaching this since I started watching
Steph is 38 years old this season dude. He’s not gonna play forever. Steve Kerr only said that because they’re losing. The league should never shorten the season. Players need to take the offseason more seriously. That’s the problem. They make too much money.
Shortening the season makes no since 😂 these players hurt and it’s only been 15 games I would understand if they all played 70 games didn’t miss anytime and right before the playoffs they were hurt but it’s the beginning of the season and another thing stop saying the league needs to change for guys that are old and missing time that is normal for there body to decline Steph dame kawhi LeBron AD embid kyrie Fred these guys are all over 30 and been in the league for ten plus years why change the league because Father Time is catching up with them 😂 Wemby is too tall same with Chet bol bill walton Yao Ming we seen this archetype before not last in the league but we changing the league because Wemby ass can’t stay healthy ?
Instead injuries , idk maybe the guys should go into the season in shape and actually have a training camp, they are paid MILLIONS they can work 82 games a year
I wish you could make that argument (the contractor analogy) to my ex wife for me. I've been saying that. As for the actual issue, I'm surprised you're surprised short sightedness is capitalism's biggest blindspot.
As others have said they have been playing 82 games for years. Michael Jordan played 80 to 82 games almost every year. It’s not the schedule so what else could it be? They have better care now than they ever had, the league is much less physical than it used to be. Could it be this generation of players are just weak?
If the Rockets can continue to rely on dominant rebounding as a safety net for off games, they should remain to be a contender.
So let's say they shorten the season, Steph Curry is basically making 60 million this year, 727,000 per game. Say they shorten the season from the current 83 games, including the NBA Cup Championship, to let's say 70 games do you think he would give up the difference in pay 8.725 million dollars !?!? F**K NO !!! If you want to limit injuries extend the season by 2 weeks or bring in coaches that run mainly half-court offenses and not the run and gun style !!! SLOW THE GAME DOWN !!! And if you say that's not exciting then STFU about injuries
Guys, the only reason theyre looking into shortening the season is not because they care about the players. They care about their ratings and revenue, basically if the star players are not playing in the league less people would watch the games which in turn effects the ratings which then ultimately effects revenue. Moral of the story is, if they shorten it they would only do it to protect their $$$.
I agree with shortening the schedule. The reasons are reasonable. HOWEVER I'm curious about why this has become such an issue now. I mean, we've had the 82 game marathon for as long as I remember. Why are calf muscles and Achilles exploding more now than ever, if that's the case. And this is not some cynical, 'these kids today are soft' argument. I am genuinely interested in all the factors here.
As a rockets fan I rather watch some games without our stars rather than watch fewer games in a season. The offseason already feels so long and boring, now less games? Screw that
If shortening the season doesn't come with the elimination of load management it's not guaranteed to solve the problem. And I don't see a logical way to force players to play when they can sit games under the guise of an "injury". If the legitimacy of injuries starts being micro-managed by the league, you'll see the current injury problem get worse.
Mailbag:
Hey Jason, great episode as always.
Coming up on about a quarter of the season played, who would be your MVP so far? Do you think Shai will go back to back because of how transcendant OKC has been? Personally I have Luka in first, he just has to keep playing the way he has all season and play enough games. What are your thoughts?
Just cut out the back to back games
Sengun has similar production to Jokic when he was 23 and he is already better defensively, especially help defense and protecting the rim. Both are extremely high IQ, but Sengun is still improving dramatically. Sengun even outplayed Jokic head to head in Eurobasket this summer.
And on paper, and on the court, the Rockets ARE the best jump shooting team in the NBA. This is due to the addition of the best jump shooter in the history of NBA, Kevin Durant, and the leap in play by Alperen Sengun. How sustainable this is not up to pundits. The majority of the pundits also said that Rockets were no longer a top team in West after Fred injury. Pundits got that wrong too. And no one should be surprised by Rockets dominance on boards especially OREB because Rockets already proved they were elite in this area last season even before the acquisition of KD. Adams-Sengun-Amen-Smith Jr.-Eason-Capela are ridiculous rotation of rebounders.
Weird is good. 🙂
Love to hear the respect for Houston. Still a concern HOU doesn't have an elite ball handling guard with the FVV injury … not sure how the PG by committee goes deep in the post-season. Seems like a big liability.
Hey Jason I've been kind of obsessed with this change to the NBA schedule for awhile to the point I actually emailed the league at some point.
My idea is this:
In the NFL EVERY single game feels like it matters A LOT. Not every team plays every team, but some teams play each other twice a year which gives them awesome rivalries, teams the know eachother, etc. So how do we bring that to the NBA?
My proposal is having NFL style scheduling, except instead of one game, you have a series. Each series would involve two consecutive games in the same arena. If you split the 2 games, you get to play a 3rd game after the allstar break in the opposite teams home stadium. For the teams in your division you'd play 2 of theses series every year, one where the first two games are hosted by each team.
As for which teams you actually play every year I'd make it the same as the NFL as well. 2 series against your division. One other division from your conference. One from the opposite conference, and then some more matchups against higher or lower ranked teams from your own conference depending on team performance from the previous year.
The element of this schedule that would transformative and make every game matter overall win/loss would become the first tie-breaker, but your overall record would be determined by series results, rather than individual game results.
In that way every game matters, ESPECIALLY the tiebreakers that take place after the allstar break.
Other awesome benefits of this is that you get to see adjustments game-to-game since you get every team on your schedule in consecutive games. You also save a ton of time/money on travel.
Tell me this wouldn't be awesome Jason, because I think you'll agree it would be.
NO MORE BACK-TO-BACKS PLZ
If they shorten the season that won’t allow future players to have a chance to break records.
Funny how the Warriors get the most B2B and barely any rest aftewards? I mean why the hell Lakers get 4 days off barely any B2B but the Warriors have a B2B 3 straight weeks yet no 4 days off? Rigged NBA…its no wonder how the hell LukFt/ReavFt won many games because of the LAREFS..Talk about it man. Imagine if Curry and Buter even avg near 15-10 Fts a game…I just dont understand how the NBA favored some teams ESP THE DAMN Lakers. Shorten season is not the way..Extend the months of the season is fine..Just barely any B2B and many rest days then NBA wil be fun but lets be honest the REfs have to improve first then players like LukFt, SGA, ReavFt..stop manipulating the game, not thats basketball if you do that go play street ball damn it.
OMG THANK YOU FOR ACTUALLY REALIZING WHAT SENGUN CAN BE!!!
There will always be injuries. But With a shortened season every game matters more. This is why we love the playoffs. I personally would watch more games with a shorter season.
Been 82 games for decades . They fine . It’s there job . 300 million over 5 years is great lol
Not going to shorten the season.
It's a "No" for me.
Season should be shortened so that every game is important. Like the NFL.
I used to think if you shortened the schedule players would still find time off for injury but I dunno. Kind of seems like it might need to happen.