Instant reaction as Rockets decide their full-strength lineup

With Fred VanVleet back healthy, Rockets coach Ime Udoka announced Friday that Houston (37-22) plans to start start Amen Thompson and Dillon Brooks at forward for the foreseeable future (ahead of Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason).

Our Ben DuBose explains the reasons behind those choices, including the importance of building chemistry and continuity among the starting five as the 2025 NBA playoffs approach.

Episode Transcript

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What's Off? Ladies and gentlemen, Happy Friday, Welcome to the weekend.
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(00:59):
As we at this Friday, February twenty eighth, the Rockets
are finally, for the first time in more than a month,
more than two months, actually back to full health. Javaris
Smith Junior came back from his hand injury after the
All Star break, and now this Saturday, Fred van Fleet
will be back from the right ankle strain that he
suffered in the first game of February. So for the

(01:20):
first time, the Rockets are whole and they are going
back to the lineup that was established during that stretch
of ball in January when they had some of their
best wins two against the Grizzlies, two against the Cavs,
one on the road against the Celtics that everyone remembers
with Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet in the backcourt, Dylan
Brooks and then Thompson as your forwards, and all Parish

(01:41):
Goon at center. Imyujoka was waiting until everyone came back
to announce his starting lineup for the home stretch of
this season. I understand why he didn't want to say
it prematurely, because you don't want guys focused on things
beyond the task in front of them. But now with
Fred coming back as of this Saturday, the home game
against the Kings, we know what the Rockets are planning

(02:05):
to do down the home stretch of this season. He
may said there could be some variants, and certainly I'm
back to backs. It could be that one or more
of your veterans needs a game off. So especially with
guys like Fred that are just coming off the injured
list or the NBA's version of an injured list, I
don't think they want to write this in stone as

(02:25):
saying this is for sure the way it's going to
be every game the rest of the way. But I
think we now know as expected that this is the plan,
that this is what the Rockets, assuming health, assuming availability,
want to do, and if for some reason things go
into a tailspin the results aren't what they anticipate, then

(02:45):
of course they have the right to revisit this down
the line, but I think it's pretty clear that this
is the group the Rockets want to sink or swim
with down the home stretch of this season. And when
you're within six weeks of the playoffs, because Saturday is
the start of March, so you're only about six weeks
out from when the playoffs begin in April, you want

(03:06):
to have a group that's consistent in your starting five
so you can begin building chemistry. That's one thing the Rockets,
ever since the calendar turned to twenty twenty five, have
not been able to have much of because of the injuries,
because of the constant in and outs of the rotation
and the lineup, because of all the back to backs,
they haven't had the same group, they haven't had much
practice time. Now you're getting back to health, the schedule

(03:29):
is a bit more spaced out, and so you do
want to build a little bit more chemistry down the
home stretch of the year. And so I think it's
important to Imbudoka to be able to have a fairly
consistent lineup and rotation as consistent as it can be.
So if those guys can start the process of you know,
it's not starting from scratch because they have had some

(03:50):
time together this season, but really try and hone in
on what makes them great and putting each player in
the best position to succeeds. And so Friday's practice was
the first one in which Fred was a full participant.
Rockets announced that, as expected, he will be in the
starting lineup on Saturday, and so with that he may

(04:12):
more or less declared his starting lineup for the remainder
of this year, with a Men and Dylan at the
forward spots and Jabari Smith Junior and Tarry Easton both
coming off the bench. Jabari, prior to the All Star break,
in his three NBA seasons to date, had never come
off the bench a single time. He's showing a lot
of maturity, in my opinion, handling this very gracefully and

(04:32):
trying to make the best of the situation. He will
still play a lot. The Rockets frequently say it's not
about who starts, it's about who finishes, and that may
vary from game to game, matchup to matchup, but there
is some cachet, some pedigree, some intrinsic value to being
as starter, and so I think ultimately, even though they're
going to hype up this idea that it's about the

(04:54):
closing lineup, they also want to put themselves in the
best position to build leads and not have to come
back in the fourth quarters. And so hopefully that means
your starters going out and excelling in the first and
third quarters of the game, so that you're playing from
in front. And ultimately, this is the group that ema
Udoka thinks gives the Rockets the best chance to do that.

(05:15):
And so in this special mini episode No Polo, I'm
just doing this actually just got home from today's midday
practice on Friday. I just want to give you guys
a little bit of you know, my reading of the
tea leaves also some conversations I've had behind the scenes
and what ima Udoka told us today in his media availability,
but more or less just my interpretation based on a

(05:38):
few factors of why the Rockets went in this direction
and what the implications are down the home stretch of
this season. The Rockets are in a really good spot
when it comes to their position in the standings and
by extension, what they can potentially accomplish the remainder of
this season. I know it got harry earlier in the
month when they had that six same losing streak and

(06:00):
like they were on fumes and they had all the injuries.
But now not only are they healthy, but they've won
five of their last seven games. They swept the home
back to back against the Bucks and the Spurs. Defensively,
they got back to their roots against the Bucks, held
them to just twelve points in the fourth quarter. I
know the offensive execution wasn't always great, but look, you
hold the team with Giannis and Dame to twelve points

(06:22):
in the fourth quarter. That is the identity of the
Rockets before the injuries, when they were consistently the second
or third best defense in the league. To see that
on the big stage against a Marque opponent, it shows
you that that is still in them somewhere. Obviously, the
challengers on the players and the coaching staff to bring
that out much more consistently, and hopefully that's going to
happen now that they're back to full health. But it

(06:44):
was good just from a morale standpoint for them to
show the NBA and to show themselves that they still
have that end them. But I think when you look
at what they've been able to do three and one
since the All Star Break, the only loss that frustrating
one where they got out rebounded by seventeen in Utah,
and then they've responted immediately and not only beat the
Bucks and Spurs, but beat them up. Were plus sixteen

(07:07):
and plus nineteen on the glass in their next two games,
showing that what happened against the Jazz was indeed an
outlier night to the back to back. Notari Easton got
into their hotel at like four am local time the
morning of the game, those types of factors. So by
and large, they have really improved their position. I know
they're still in virtual tie with the Lakers for the

(07:28):
four seed in the West because the Lakers they've won
four straight games, and ever since adding Luca, as expected,
they've been a much better team. But the Rockets are
tightening the gap on the teams at two and three,
and they were really starting most importantly to build some
real separation from teams in the play and Range. So
right after beating the Bucks, Milwaukee turned around and beat

(07:49):
Denver on Thursday night. So the Rockets are only a
game back of Denver for the three seed, and the
Rockets are one to zero against Denver, so then in
a pretty decent position to potentially when tiebreaker there, Rockets
are only a game and a half back of Memphis
at number two. Rockets have already won the tiebreaker by
beating Memphis three or four times this season. And then

(08:10):
you look at the teams below the Rockets. The Clippers
are at six. That's not the play in tournament, that's
still a direct qualifier. They're at twenty six losses, so
that's four games of separation. When you look at the
teams actually in the play and Range, you've got the
Warriors at twenty seven losses and the Timberwolves, Mavericks, and
Kings all at twenty eight losses. So the Rockets will

(08:32):
enter March with a buffer of at least five games
and in most cases six in the lost column over
teams in the play and Range. So while not a guarantee,
they certainly have not mathematically clinched, they are in an
extremely strong position I would say eighty percent plus to

(08:52):
directly qualify for the playoffs without having to go through
the play in tournament and thus get at least one
best of seven series, ultimately probably better than fifty to
fifty now to get home court advantage in at least
one round. Because you've got four teams between two and five,
the Grizzlies, the Nuggets, the Lakers, and the Rockets, all
Houston has to do is outplay one of those three

(09:15):
other teams and they're going to be in the top
four by default. And the Rockets have an easier schedule
than all of those three. And for all to talk
about the Rockets being weaker on back to backs, there's
only two of those left. So I think the odds
are pretty good. Grizzlies at twenty losses, the Nuggets and
Lakers at twenty one, the Rockets at twenty two. I

(09:36):
think the odds are pretty good that Houston's going to
be able to pass at least one of those three teams,
especially when you consider they're in good tiebreaker position. They're
one to zero against the Lakers and Nuggets. They've already
won the tiebreaker against Memphis, and then as far as
anybody catching the Rockets again, they've built some real separation
in terms of, you know, the four games over the
Clippers at six, the five plus over teams in the

(09:59):
play in range. So while it hasn't necessarily shown itself
yet in the standings in that the Rockets are still
on that four or five line the way they've been
for a lot of February, the fact that they've won
five of seven games is allowing them to build separation
from other teams in the West and gain a little
bit on teams like the Grizzlies and the Nuggets since

(10:21):
the All Star break to where there's a ton to
play for. It's not a guarantee, but it's pretty damn
closed that the Rockets are going to be playing true
playoff games at Toyota Center for the first time in
six years. I mean, they haven't been the playoffs in
twenty twenty, but that was the COVID bubble. They haven't
had a home playoff game at Toyota Center since that
deflating Game six loss to the Warriors without Steph Curry

(10:43):
in May of twenty nineteen. It has been a long time,
and I bring that up to say opportunity is not
a lengthy visitor. You can't assume that you are going
to be in this position every single year. Things happen
in the NBA. Fortunes can change on a dime. Just
look what's happening to Kevin Durant and Devin Booker with
the Suns their fighting guns under five hundred and likely

(11:04):
to miss the playoffs altogether. Which you know, it's great
that the Rockets will likely get a lottery pick this
year out of that based on that draft deal from
last offseason with the Nuts giving Brooklyn back their picks
for effectively shorting the Suns in future years. But more importantly,
I think that shows you how fragile life in the
NBA is, even when you think you're in a really
good position. So with the Rockets right now and you

(11:26):
look back at, you know, the wilderness they've been in
to start this decade, you can't just treat this as
house money. If you are able to get in, especially
the top half of a loaded Western conference bracket, the
West is so much better than the East, you have
an opportunity not gonna say the Rockets should expect to
win a championship or think they will, but it's not nothing.

(11:51):
And so with an opportunity this precious. Again, this is
going to be the first playoff basketball in Houston in
six years. They're taking these games down in the home
stretch of the season very seriously, and they're taking decisions
about the lineup and the rotation very seriously because they
want to be able to give themselves the best possibility

(12:15):
to win games. And who knows. I mean, maybe if
the Lakers are on the four or five line and
Luca and Lebron go crazy against the Thunder, maybe okay see,
I know they look like a jug ornut, but maybe
okaysee ends up getting knocked out and all of a sudden,
the pathway is there for the Rockets to do something
special like we saw at times with this lineup in

(12:35):
January when a men started going off and look like
a star. So that's where I want to start our
discussion by reiterating where the Rockets are in the standings
and why they're not just looking at this through the
lens of development. I'm sure there are some that will
see a veteran like Dylan Brooks starting ahead of guys

(12:55):
like Jabari Smith and Tarry Easton, the third year forward
who will come off the bench and say, why don't
the Rockets get more information and give the most runway
to all their young guys. I mean, to a large extent,
they're doing that, but they also want to win. This
is a rare opportunity if you are going to qualify
for the playoffs in a loaded West without having to

(13:16):
go through the play in tournament in all likelihood, you
can't just assume that you're going to continually get these opportunities.
They want to give themselves the best possible opportunity, and
so they want to take advantage of every single margin.
So I state that off at the top before we
go into the analysis, because I'm sure some will say, look,
the Rockets aren't a true contender this year, why can't

(13:36):
it be about the young guys. For the most part,
it is. Again, it's still a very young rotation. But
when you're this close to the playoffs, just six weeks away,
and you're in a really strong position, let's talk about
the here and now. We can look at all the
developmental factors this offseason, and there will be plenty of
time for that in the future. Most of the young
guys are all under contractual control for some time, so

(13:59):
I think that's the way emy Udoka and this staff
is looking at it. For those that are wondering about
the developmental factors, it's March and the playoffs are basically
a little more than a month away. It's about the
here and now, and that's where emy Udoka started this
process in terms of deciding his starting lineup the rest
of the way, and I'll keep it short and simple.

(14:21):
With a Men Thompson, that was a no brainer. Amen
Thompson is the best player on this team when it
comes to two way production, the impact he makes on
ball off ball offensively, already being one of the most
dynamic and versatile defensive players in the league. The best
version of the Rockets includes playing Amen Thompson true starters minutes,

(14:43):
which means thirty six plus per night. And he's not
going to get there if you bring him off the bench,
because if you bring him off the bench, We've talked
about it myself and Palo al as my usual co host.
Amn's not going to play eighteen consecutive minutes. No NBA
player is if you're trying to seriously get the best
version out of them, because they're probably going to wear down,

(15:05):
and that's the only way he can play thirty six minutes.
If you're bringing a men in midway through the first
and third quarters, and if you're bringing them in at
the nine or ten minute mark, then why the hell
wouldn't you just start it? That doesn't make any sense.
So players need breaks in each half to get the
best versions out of them. And if a men is

(15:26):
going to play thirty six minutes, it's just not going
to happen. If you're bringing him off the bench that
he's not going to play eighteen minutes straight in each half,
and the best version of the Rockets includes playing a men.
Thompson as many minutes as he can reasonably handle a
men was going to start when he did what he
did in January on both ends of the court and

(15:48):
showed that it wasn't just about playing against backups, that
his production would extrapolate against the best of the best.
It was a no brainer he was staying in. We've
talked about the reasons before. It was just a matter
of who he would start in place of, and you
look at the other four spots, Fred, Jalen and Shongoon
all brings something that is irreplaceable with Fred, and we've

(16:12):
seen it in his absence in February. It's not just
the point guard skills and the three point shooting, though
those are important. It's also the leadership, the intangibles, the organization.
He is so important on both ends of the court
to getting this team producing and playing as a unit.
Jabari said that I asked him at Friday's practice and

(16:35):
he said, the biggest value of Fred is in control
of the offense, because as we saw in January, and
to quote Shabari or as we saw in February, excuse me,
things get hectic without Fred, they get sped up. This
is a team that, outside of Fred and Dylan, does
not have a lot of experience on the big stage.

(16:55):
And as the games get more meaningful, you need Fred's presence,
you just do. And that's before we talk about his
floor spacing and his passing and all the things that
he brings from a basketball standpoint. It's more the leadership,
the intangibles, the culture. Fred is going to be out there.
He's paid at the max level for a reason. All

(17:17):
prind Shooon is an all star. He's clearly the best
big man on this team, and Jalen Green is the
leading scorer, someone that's gotten a lot more consistent and
can generate offense in sticky half court situations from the perimeter.
He's not the consistent a one just yet, He's been
much more consistent than he was. He's not quite too
that Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker tier that we want him

(17:39):
to be at the true tip of this steer, but
he's getting a lot closer. And so with that, his
spot as the leading scorer for a team that's top
four in the West is pretty secure. So amongst your
clear top seven, you've got four and a Men because
he's the best player, and Fred shouldn Gooo and Jalen
because they have unique skills that aren't replicated anyone where

(18:00):
else that you basically have to start. So that leaves
you three guys for one spot. Dylan Brooks, Jabry Smith,
Tarry Eason. I know Paolo the other night made the
case for potentially starting Tari alongside of Men, and they
do have some synergies from the whole Territs wins dynamic
off the bench, But I think it's pretty simple why

(18:20):
the Rockets didn't start Tarr and it comes down to availability. Look,
the Rockets are very high on Tari as a prospect,
and it's entirely possible that in the future he becomes
a starting level player or an actual starter for this team.
But right now he's still not even cleared to play
on both ends of back to backs, and we're barely

(18:41):
more than a month removed from when he missed I
think thirteen fourteen consecutive games with that lower leg issue,
which now goes back multiple seasons. I hope he puts
it behind him. I think he can. I hope he
gets back to the healthy version that played all eighty
two game as a rookie. But it's March. The Rockets

(19:03):
are not going to blindly trust that Tari is going
to be out there on an every game basis. And
that's the point of putting together a consistent starting lineup.
It's the opportunity to build chemistry from that consistency. Benches
are going to be inherently unstable in the NBA because

(19:24):
nobody has a clear cut top ten. It just doesn't
work that way. From a talent perspective, everything's going to
be sort of situational matchups who has the hot hand.
So in terms of your secondary units, there's going to
be a lot of volatility throughout the year. You might
have a consistent sixth or even seventh man, but you're

(19:44):
not going to have a consistent backup four or backup five.
And so because of that, it's the starting lineup that's
the only spot where you can truly build cohesion to
where guys can get used to not just you know,
how they want to play themselves, but how they can
best function alongside four other players and put them all

(20:06):
in the best positions to succeed, to put them all
in the right spots on the court to give them
the best opportunities to collectively score or defend at a
high level. And so as good as Tari is, the
Rockets don't want to chance him being unavailable, which we
already know he would be for the last two back

(20:26):
to backs half of those, because then you're having to
change your lineup frequently. And so the opportunity to actually
build chemistry within the starting five is it going to
be there if you're inherently changing the starting five, Because
it's not just about that one spot, is it Tari?
Is it Jabari? Is it, Dylan, No, It's also about
the other four guys and building a routine playing next

(20:48):
to one another. So I think with Tari, that's why
he was scratched. I understand basketball wise, and Paolo did
a good job in our pod earlier this week laying
out the case for why you might should consider that.
But just from a a practical standpoint, it just wasn't
realistic to think the Rockets would trust Tari's consistent availability

(21:09):
to that extent this season, considering the time he's already missed,
considering the back to back limitation, it's already there, considering
what happened last season. I think it's possible that Tari,
you know, the Rockets organizationally certainly view him as a
starting level player and perhaps more than that, and so
in years ahead, there's an opportunity for him to be
a starter for this team. And you can make a

(21:30):
basketball case that he's already won the five bess, But
I just don't think the trust is there quite yet
when it comes to his availability, the durability for the
Rockets to put him in that five man unit that
they want to be as consistent as regular as possible
so that they can build chemistry. So I think Tari
was the easy choice as far as leaving out, and
so that leaves you two guys for one spot, Dylan

(21:52):
Brooks and Jabari Smith Junior. I went back and forth
on this myself. I made the case the other night
for potentially having del as you know, a six man,
where you can give him twenty five minutes and six
fouls and turn him loose and if there's some wearing down,
which it feels like in both the last two seasons
there has been, defensively, you let him, you know, manage

(22:13):
his body a little more by capping his minutes. The
same reason why you know you're not capping Amend's minutes
by starting him. Whoever you bring off the bench, you
are probably capping them in the twenty five to thirty
minute range, assuming there's no crazy foul trouble or something
like that. I think you can still make a solid
case to start Jabari over Dylan based on those reasons.

(22:35):
But I think the reason Dylan got the nod is
about the collective. You know, some will say Dylan's the veteran,
he's twenty nine, Jabari's twenty one and simplify it to
e May just trusting the veteran more. There might be
some of that, but I really don't think it's that,

(22:56):
at least not predominantly. I think in some ways it
would have been easier to bench Dylan. He's already got
his four year contract worth like eighty five million dollars.
He's contractually secured. Jabari is not. Jabari's playing for a
potential contract extension this summer. He hasn't got this first
big deal. He's a guy who was drafted number three overall.

(23:18):
Most people thought he'd be number one overall in twenty
twenty two, and as of a week ago, he had
not come off the bench a single time in three
NBA seasons. In fact, he's been in Houston a year
longer than Dylan. So I give Jabari a ton of
credit for being willing to come off the bench. And
I don't think it was easy for Imy, Rudoka or
Felstone in the Rockets to have these conversations with Jabari
to sell him on this role. As much as they

(23:40):
say it's not about who starts, it's about who finishes, no,
there is some pedigree to being in the starting lineup.
It can certainly help you in terms of contract negotiations
because you get more counting stats and so on and
so forth. I don't think it was easy for the
Rockets to move Jabari to this bench role, And in
some ways, it might have been easier to bench Dylan
even though he is a veteran, because he's more secure

(24:02):
in his status and his style of play and who
he is. With Jabari, who's twenty one. Yeah, there's still
a lot of untapped potential in my eyes, and so
I don't think, you know, there might be a slight
factor to wanting to surround a men's Shingoon and Jalen,
three really young guys in your starting lineup with two veterans,
but I think it's more about just stylistic preferences. I

(24:25):
think Jabari would have made you probably a better defensive
team based on the additional length, the size, the extra
rebounding because we know where the Rockets really slipped defensively
is when they don't rebound the ball well. When teams
like the Jazz last weekend get second chance opportunities. Even
if your initial defense is good, there's a whole cascading

(24:46):
effect when it comes to you not being able to
prevent second possessions and it's very easy for the team
to get demoralized over forty eight minutes, and so I
think that's something to watch. With the Rocket being a
little smaller without starting Jabari, there's not one position and
they're starting five where they're clearly above average when it

(25:07):
comes to height. And so I talked about this with
Ema the other night. It's gonna put a lot of
pressure on your wings, guys like Jalen Dylan, Amen Tari
to rebound because a lot of times you're gonna Neaed
Shangoon just to sort of try and keep the primary
big off the glass. And so you're gonna need your
wings and your guards to get those longer rebounds, shoes
their athleticism in ways that perhaps over eighty two games

(25:31):
are hard to do because they'll wear down, and especially
in the stretch of the schedule where the team is
shorthanded and there's a ton of back to backs, it's
not realistic. But now down the home stretch of the year,
fewer back to backs, team is healthier, so nobody should
be super over extended minutes wise, and there's more adrenaline
because the games are way more important. Maybe this formula
can work, and so what would look on paper like

(25:53):
a rebounding deficiency without the size of Jabari Smith Junior,
maybe it won't be quite as much because down the
home stretch of the year and then you get into
the playoffs where games are more spaced out in the
first round. Rockets are now fourteen and two this season
in games with two or more days of rest, which
in the first round you have a decent bit of
because the series are so spaced out with the NBA

(26:13):
trying to maximize national TV opportunities for all eight of
its series. That could be a small factor as well
that the Rockets are able to trust these guards and
wings down the stretch of the year to help out
with rebounding now that the games are more important and
more spaced out in ways that they couldn't throughout the season.
But I think the two biggest factors. Number One, there

(26:36):
already is a month of chemistry that was developed with
this starting five fred Sjalen, Dylan Emen and Shingoon. They
played next to one another during that brilliant stretch of
January where Imi Udoko won Coach of the Month and
the Rockets had some of their best wins two over
the Grizzlies, two of the Cavs, and the memorable one
that Amen won at the Buzzer in Boston. That was

(26:59):
perhaps the best strutch of basketball the Rockets have had
this decade, and it was with those five guys. Jabari
has not functioned in a starting lineup next to the
quartet of Fred Jalen, a Men and Shinoon, not saying
he wouldn't have been able to, but when it comes
to the concept of building chemistry, the Dylan group had

(27:20):
a month head start, and when you only have a
month to six weeks left before the playoffs, being able
to double your sample is potentially meaningful. And so I
think that month of January and the fact that starting
Jabari would have basically been a brand new starting five,

(27:40):
I think that was a factor. I also think that
when you look at how a men and again this
is all about a men the biggest reason for the change.
It's not a shoy Atari, it's not a shot at anybody.
A Men's just the best player on this team. But
the way a Men is especially used when Fred van
Fleet is back, he functions offensively as something of a
quasi big. He'll probably get a few more on ball

(28:02):
reps because you know, I do think he got better
with his so called point guard skills from the month
of February when he had to slide to that position
when Fred was out. But by and large, it's still
gonna be Fred and Jalen initiating the majority of sets
for the rockets, and so you see a men functioning
often out of the dunker slots and making these backdoor
cuts the way he's most effective with his elite athleticism

(28:24):
and shooting limitations. I mean, he's hating better as a
shooter this year, but he's still below average clearly. So
a men functions as a quasi big, and Shamoon is
a prototype big. Shabari is much more of a big
than Dylan Brooks. I would call him a shretch big
because certainly Jabari is someone that you can trust from

(28:44):
three point range, but he's still a big. Jabari is
not particularly shifty. He's not someone that can really you know,
he can shoot over guys in the mid post, but
you're not really gonna give Shabari the ball behind the
three point line and say go get a bucket one
on one. Dylan Brooks, primarily we think of him as

(29:05):
a shooter. And you know, part of the argument for Jabari.
I mentioned earlier this week that Dylan was at thirty
eight percent and that was a little bit ahead of
his career long marks. So maybe, you know, Jabari at
thirty five, thirty six percent, Dylan that closer to forty
most of this year. Maybe Dylan is due to regress. Well,
Dylan shot the lights out against the Bucks and the Spurs,
and now he's at almost forty percent, So it doesn't
look like that's going to happen. Credit to Dylan for
doing continued work and having his best year as a

(29:27):
shooter in his NBA career. I think that's certainly part
of it. But more than that, he's also got a
little more wiggle to his game. It's not a huge
part of his game, like nobody's ever going to expect
Dylan to go out and score twenty plus points per game,
but he can help the Rockets out of sticky situations
in the half court. He can do a little bit

(29:48):
of self creation and generating his own offense. He functions
the bottom line as a perimeter player, and the Rockets
are used to as our Most NBA teams function with
at least three perimeter players on the floor, which they
will with Fred, Jalen and Dylan. If you started Jabbari

(30:08):
in place of Dylan, you would be more or less functioning,
especially with Fred back at point guard, with two perimeter
players and three bigs with a men Jabbari and Shinoon.
And again it's not that you couldn't overcome it. You know,
a man is certainly not a big only there's some

(30:30):
versatility to his game, and I think, especially if it
was training camp, I think the Rockets might come to
a different conclusion because you would have eighty two games
to work this out, and also the rebounding issues that
come from being a little bit smaller. You're probably not
gonna be able to sustain that over eighty two games.
But with just you know, twenty or so games left

(30:51):
in the final four to six weeks before the playoffs,
the Dylan and a men forward version of the Rockets
already having a month's worth of experience, and the Rockets
having an entire season, really two seasons ever since ima
Udjoka took the job. In the twenty two to three
off season, they functioned with at least three prometer players,
you'd be better defensively with Jabari in place of Dylan Brooks.

(31:14):
Of course still in still a very good defensive player,
but just overall, Jabari a good defensive player but superior rebounding.
I think it's clear that data shows it that the
Rockets will probably be better be better defensively with Jabari in
the starting lineup, But I think offensively, it's a pretty
big change to have Fred and Shalen be the only

(31:35):
true perimeter players that are out there and you're starting five.
The spacing could get a little bit clunky, and it's
just not the time of year to start from scratch,
to experiment with something that conceptually is brand new. Every
game counts, and so that's why I think the Rockets
made this decision. I don't think it's necessarily the way

(31:57):
the Rockets will start next season. I think I think
if you have a full six months, eighty two games,
and you're starting a new in training camp, the Rockets
might come to a different conclusion if they have more
runway to sort of iron out the kinks from Again,
it's not all bad. There's advantages to being bigger, there's
advantages to being even more versatile defensively, But right now,

(32:21):
you want to stick with what you know, what players
there familiar with, not just the players individually, but the
collective and philosophically, the version of the Rockets starting Fred Jalen, Amn,
Dylan and Shingoon. It's just philosophically more in line with
the way most players on this roster are used to
playing than the version with Fred Jalen, a Men, Jabbari

(32:46):
and Shangoon. To me, that's the bottom line. You could
make a case in a vacuum for Jabari over Dylan.
You can make a case for Tari over both of them.
But I just think when you look at the time
of the year and you look at the collective, you
don't have a lot of time to start playing a

(33:06):
different way. You don't have a lot of time to
change your lineups more if Tari goes out again, you
want to stick with what you know at this point
of the season. And I think that's where Dylan got
the heads up or the leg up. It's not so
much that he's a veteran, it's more just philosophically how
the Rockets have played and how starting Tari or especially

(33:31):
Jabbari would potentially change that in a way that four
to six weeks before the playoffs just probably doesn't make
the most sense for the group. Now, that's not to
say that Tari and Jabari won't still be important, because
they will, and there may be games. You know, one
benefit to bringing Jabari off the bench, you'll be able
to use him as a backup five even more. And

(33:52):
so there may be games where Jabari is in the
closing lineup ahead of all Perishan Goon because it's a
tough matchup for ALP defensively. There may be games we've
seen the times in the last two years where Tari
finishes games ahead of Jalen Green because Tari is bigger defensively,
and especially if Jalen is cold or not getting a
friendly whistle and you need a little bit more size,
a little more rebounding, Tari may play instead of Jalen

(34:14):
to finish some games. So what the Rockets are saying
in terms of the closing lineups matter more than the
starting lineup, that's true, and there's still a pathway for
both Tari and Borri to be a part of those
closing lineups. The Rockets will play the hot heads, that's
the way amy Udoka has always done it. But in
terms of the starting lineup and how we got here.
I just think it was pretty clearly the Rockets wanting
to give the collective the best chance to build chemistry,

(34:41):
and Dylan he fits with philosophically how they played. He's
generally been very available. His production, you know, it abbs
and flows a little bit, as do most players, but
he does take care of his body. He's out there frequently,
and I just think the one opportunity with your starting
five what's different than units, is that you are able

(35:01):
potentially to build some consistency to where guys get used
to playing with those other four guys and being used
to in those minutes playing in certain ways. Rockets already
have a head start with the Dylan unit relative to
an alternative, the Chabarri Aritari. It's late in the year
and it's not like the potential upgrade would have been

(35:23):
so clear cut that you say, you know what, I'm
going to toss a pre existing experience, the style of play, consistency,
those factors aside. You can make a case for Chabari Ritari,
but it's not so clear cut, and I think at
this point of the year they would need something clear
cut to make a change of that magnitude. So I

(35:46):
think with Dylan and THEMN this is the group that
Rockets had when they were arguably at their best in January.
Maybe the rebounding will pick up even more now that
you know there are fewer back to backs, healthier roster,
team doesn't have to conserve its legs as much. That's
the hope, and we'll see how it plays out for
the rainder of this season, starting Saturday night against the Kings.
All Right, that'll do it for this many episode. Just

(36:08):
wanted to give a few thoughts on why the Rockets
made the decision that they did and hopefully it starts
working out. We'll see against the Kings. Rockets are owned
too thin Sacramento this year, but both those losses were
in Sacramento, this one in Houston. Rocket's been very good
at home this year twenty and nine, and as mentioned,
they're fourteen and two in games with at least two
days of rest, which they will have since they have
not played since Wednesday night. Anyway, that will do it

(36:29):
for this one and until our next episode. Will have
a full show next week with myself and Powlo. The
best place to get insight is on Twitter, I'm on
their at Bunjubo's, Powow's on their appaloves MBA and the
shows on their at the logger Line where if you
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(36:50):
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(37:13):
Enjoy your weekend, enjoy the start of March, and we'll
be back soon with another full episode of the Logger Line.
Go Rockets,