State of the Rockets: What we learned in 2024-25 season’s first half

With the second half of the 2024-25 NBA season officially underway, this week’s episode reviews what we’ve learned about the Rockets (28-14), who remain in an impressive No. 2 standings spot in the Western Conference.

Topics include some regression in recent weeks from Alperen Sengun and Houston’s team defense; why the ascension of Jalen Green and Amen Thompson has largely offset that; and important lineup and rotation considerations moving forward involving players such as Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Steven Adams, Dillon Brooks, and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Cheers, Rockets fans, Welcome to the Logger Line, an exclusive
podcast from the home of the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
The Logger Line, It's proudly served to you by car
Box Clutch City lagger It is good.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Oh yeah, Red Nation, get Ready, Ready, get Ready.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
The lagger Line starts now.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome aboard, Welcome in to another new episode of The
Logger Line, as always served to you courtesy of Clutch City,
Logger of Carback Brewing. I'm Benjubos, your host, editor of
USA Today's Rockets Fire, contributor to Sports Talk seven ninety,

(00:51):
official flagship radio station of your Houston Rockets Today on
this Wednesday, January twenty second, a snowy January twenty second
in Houston. At least some of it's still on the ground,
although it is melting quickly. The Rockets are scheduled to
be back in action tonight against the Cavaliers. At least
they are as of our recording date. Knock on wood.
Hopefully that will be the case and stay the case.

(01:12):
That is, because we don't want to see the Rockets
having any more back to backs added to their schedule.
They already have a makeup game and Atlanta slated for
next week from a game earlier this month that was
postponed due to ice and snow in the Atlanta area.
So hopefully the Rockets don't have one of their own
to add to that mix as well. Hopefully all of
you listening are safe and warm. It's definitely been a
chaotic week around these parts anyway. This is going to

(01:34):
be our first full show at the Logger Line, both
myself and Palo Ali's her co host and producer out
of Portugal, and while Powell's been under the weather this month,
but he's good enough to resume playing now, so Pollo.
Before we get into topics on the court for the Rockets,
who are twenty eight and fourteen, number two in the
West as of our recording time, although the schedule is

(01:55):
about to get much more difficult. Before we start with
basketball analysis, Powow, are you officially off the injured list?
Are you still dealing with discomfort? What's your status moving
forward and your availability? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:07):
At this point I would say I would say the
designation is probably probable. I'll say so. I'm not healthy
all of the same. I have the little just a
nasty mess. I think it was a goal of the flu.
I don't know how the what the translation is because
we have two different words in Portuguese, but it's like
the most the more severe one. And so it's been

(02:27):
like three weeks and I still have just I have
none of the symptoms, just a nasty cough that won't
go away. So but I'll just I'll try my best
for you guys not to notice. I'll just try to
mute the mike if I ever have to, and you'll
try to fix it in in post production. But yeah,
I think at the very least I'm well enough that
my brain's back to working so I can actually do

(02:49):
the part, because when I get sick, listen, it's complete shutdown.
I'm I don't know. In the US this is a stigma,
but in Portugal there's a whole kind of meme that
men they struggle as much with the cold as they
struggle taking a shot, like actually being shot. So you just,
I don't know, maybe it's an eantactic that men are

(03:09):
like I guess, I guess I'll say, manner like pussys.
And it comes to dealing with golds and so we
just completely died. You can't think, can't work, can't do anything.
It's just completely useless for a week. But you know,
I'm back to at least of being a functioning human bee.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
So you're basically in Tari Eastern mode and that you're
probably going to play in that you're good enough to
provide value and you're not going to make it worse.
Yet you're still not one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, but I hope that that you know, this isn't
a multi year thing.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
It shouldn't be. There was actually a good article that
Daniel Lerner or the Houston Chronicle had on Tari right
after he came back last week, and Tari actually this
goes back to one of our pods a few weeks
ago when I said that one of the unfortunate things
was that with these medicals situations, the people who actually
know are not ema Udoka. It's the medical staff and
they're not made available, so we don't often get insight

(04:08):
on what's actually going on. And the player involved, who
second to the doctor would know the most, is also
unavailable because he's recovering from injury. Well, Daniel Lerner, or
the Chronicle beat writer, now that Jonathan Fagan has retired,
talk to Tari, and Tari said Basically, he's got a
titanium rod in his leg now, so it's not like
last year. It is very different. It's just a matter

(04:31):
of pain tolerance, and you know, as Steven Adams has
alluded to, with these lower leg injuries, there can be
sort of a two year recovery process, and this was
year one. It stiffened up a little bit during that
awkward break in the schedule between the NBA Cup and
the schedule resuming right before Christmas. And while not one
hundred percent now, I think reading what Tari said, I

(04:54):
feel more confident that he's not going to make it worse.
This is not the stress reaction he had a year ago,
which was constantly at risk of breaking and requiring surgery,
which ultimately it did in early March, ending his season.
This is something different. I can't tell you one hundred
percent that it's going to be fine, but he thinks
he can play on it, and Toatari's credit, he's looked

(05:15):
very good in the three games since coming back. It's
not like he's come back and then been, you know,
a partial participant. I guess they are limiting him to
twenty five minutes per game for the time being, but
other than that in terms of how he plays in
those minutes. To me, he looks like himself and that's
a silver lining for this team. Anyway, I'll let you
guys hear more from Powlow on this pod, because with
Powlo under the weather, you've heard a lot for me

(05:36):
in recent weeks. So I'll try and be a little
lower usage here so that Powloll can be higher usage
or as high usage as he can stand given his
limitations at the moment. And as far as where we
start our discussion, it's been, it's been a mixed bag
for the Rockets. There's clearly some good. Look. They hit
the halfway point on pace to win fifty six games.

(05:58):
They're still at number two in the West, even with
a bad loss to the Pistons at home on Monday.
By the way, it's funny the Rockets opened the first
half of the season with a bad loss at home
to Charlotte. Now they open the second half of the
season with a bad loss at home to Detroit. Pistons
are a better team than the Hornets, but they're certainly
not a good team by any stretch of the imagination.
But the larger point, it doesn't have to define your

(06:20):
second half of the season in much the same way
that lost to the Hornets didn't define the first half.
Every team can have a bad night or a bad
day in this case because it was a matinee game
on Martin Luther King Day, the holiday here in the States.
So I wouldn't make a mountain out of a mole
hill with that one game. Yet the Rockets have lost
two of their last three, so depending on how you

(06:44):
do the framing, you can look at it a little
more pathemistically, especially because the schedule is about to get
much more difficult. Two against the Cavaliers on the schedule
than one in Boston against the defending champs. Then night
two of a road back to back that makeup game
against the Hawks that we just referenced. So that's the
glass half empty view, but the class half full view look.

(07:05):
Jalen Green is reigning Western Conference Player of the Week.
The Rockets went three and one last week and the
only loss was Night two of a road back to
back in Sacramento. No frev n Fleet, terrible officiating, and
yet you still had a chance in the final seconds
of that game to tie it. And I think by
and large, the good outweighs the bad. Again, that's not

(07:25):
to say that there aren't some potentially ominous signs in there,
but when you zoom out, I think over the last
week or two, however long it's been since we've recorded,
or really however long it's been since we've had an episode,
because I did have a couple of solo things in
between the last show for Polo and myself. I still
think as of our recording date, at least on January

(07:45):
to twenty second, the good outweighs the bad twenty eight
and fourteen number two in the West. All they do
have Memphis and Denver hot on their heels, the one
area of concern I have. So it's been a very
good stretch for Jalen Green Western Conference Player of the Week,
but really going all the way back to thanksgetting Eve,

(08:06):
he's been a very efficient player. We've talked about it.
His rise has been enormous for this team, not just
in the micro but the macro as well. He's becoming
a candidate potentially for most improved player in the league.
I think, Paula, you could expand on that if you'd want.
I think the Jalen upturn is very real However, there

(08:26):
are some concerns with all per in Shongoon. His last
nine games, he's shooting just forty seven percent from the
field for the season. He's below forty nine now against
the Pistons. Look, the Rockets entered as the best rebounding
team in the NBA, and I think technically they still are,
but they're out rebounded fifty two to thirty nine, and
they just could not handle Detroit's physicality. That's what Imo

(08:48):
Udoka said after the game. Pistons won on the glass
by thirteen. Shingoon had I think eight boards and shot
just five of fourteen from the field, maybe while Jalen
Durn went eight of eight and had fourteen boards. Chingoon's
downturn has been a story for a while. It just
hasn't meant a lot in terms of wins and losses

(09:08):
because Jalen has been playing so well and obviously at
Men Thompson since replacing Jabari Smith Junior in the starting
lineup has been incredible in his own right, so it
hasn't really cost the Rockets in terms of wins and losses. However,
the struggles for Shingoon, and I'll say that the defensive
and the rebounding issues against the Pistons, that might be
a little bit of an outlier, but in terms of

(09:29):
finishing at the rim, that's been a struggle for him
all year long. We've talked about it, and we've said
that over time it should correct itself, this issue of
Shininggoon missing bunnies, and yet we're now past the halfway
point of the year and for whatever reason, it hasn't.
And that's not to say that Shingoon's having a bad year.
I still think he's the leading All Star candidate for
this team, and if the Rockets stay in the number

(09:50):
two or number three spot in the West, I think
they're highly likely to get an All Star. So let's
not act like that Shangoon is having a bad year.
Yet I also think it's fair to say that he's
playing below his potential, And I think Alpi would say
the same thing if you asked him. He thinks he
should make more of those shots. He doesn't think he
should go five or fourteen against the Pistons and a
game that was there for the taking at home. So

(10:13):
I guess my question for you, Paulo is how you
sort of balance what we've seen over really not just
the past week, but the entire month of January, which
is the ascension of Jalen Green and a Men Thompson,
but also a little bit of an underwhelming performance from
alperin Changoon, and especially within the context of not just

(10:33):
this season, but really the entire careers of Alperenshangoon and
Jalen Green, because there's been this nagging question all along,
which is can the Rockets get the best version of
those two players at the same time. We talked about
that as one of the key things to watch entering
this season, and we've always said that on paper, there's
no reason why their games can't be complimentary, and that

(10:56):
there just needs to be a larger sample of both
near peak form. Yet here we are midway through year four,
and it feels like we're still sort of having these
same discussions in that Shangoon had a strong month of November,
but Jalen was playing well beneath his potential. Since then,
Jalen has been a lot better, but Shangoon hasn't been
quite the same guy, So we're still waiting to see

(11:18):
both in peak form. At the same time. You see
glanses from time to time, you see certain games here
or there where it looks really easy, and again, on paper,
I don't see a reason why they can't coexist, But
in terms of the big picture, it feels like we're
still waiting for the first sustained stretch where both of
them are in, you know, a level form for a

(11:39):
sustained period. I guess there's two ways you can look
at it. The glass half empty way is, yeah, we're
midway through year four and we're still having these conversations.
The glass half full way is, look, the Rockets are
twenty eight and fourteen, number two in the West, even
with this low hanging fruit that they can potentially get
better if they just get their two best offensive players
or at least two as scorers on track at the

(12:02):
same time. So, Powell, what's your view of sort of
all those competing interest in how things are coming together
are not coming together as we enter the second half
of the season.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
This is kind of like a state of the Rockets
type of segment. So I think the overarching point that
I wanted to make that I was making a week
and a half ago and getting absolutely like decapitated for
it on Twitter, but I think people are coming on
to now is that there's been a trend. Typically, I

(12:33):
don't know if you guys remember my point. I used
to say that there's no trend with Kevin Green, but
with this team, there's been a treaded spend that's been
very easy to track with. His effort has been on
the downslope for a good month now, and it coincided
with Killen Green's outwurst and so there was so much
that could be improved by just at the time, by
replacing Killen Green with a just an average shooting shooting guard,

(12:57):
well we not only do we get that we got
an outste ending, got an all star level shooting guard,
but at the same time, and the reason that some
of these games remained close was that the defense fell
off a cliff, and not just the defense, just efforts
in general fell off a cliff. You can say that
Harry said, getting injured play the factor. Yes, it did,
JAMARTI Smith getting hurt played the factor. It did as well,

(13:22):
and or perhaps it made it so other guys had to,
you know, increase their effort level, and that has you know,
worn out on our team. And I think that's mostly
what's been happening. And I think this tracks with everybody
on this team, but I think especially so with Shanegun.
And I know people will just pull up my track
record and say that's because I hate ching on or

(13:43):
whatever it is. It really isn't. It's just it's very
logical because Shane Gun, the way we were playing to
begin the season, is the guy that's or from who
most effort is demanded on that game to game basis.
He is the focal point of the and see he's
either posting up, which is a very high energy type

(14:04):
of play because he has to literally be fighting with
the other center and and the NBA has a lot
of physicality, so there's that aspect of it. When he's
not posting up, he's either running Vibal handoffs or running
pick and roll, so he's always moving. On offense, he's
always touching the ball, and then on defense he's obviously
he plays drops sometimes, but he's obviously having to move
around a lot. And every single possession unless our guys

(14:28):
can keep their matchups in front of them, involves opron changle, right,
And I think most teams when they look at the Rockets,
they will try to target him as you know, kind
of the weaker link in a team. That has a
lot of really good defenders at this point, and he
had been answering with at least defensively passing with would
find goers up until you know, about a month ago,

(14:52):
and it started declining then, and it's we started seeing
this phenomena where by the.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
Way, to your point, let me jump in quick, the
Rockets are not a top ten defense in January. Just
wanted to add some statistical data to that.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, absolutely, And I think that matches the eye test,
and I think everybody would agree that the defense has
just fallen off a cliff. We were giving a forty
point quarters and we do sometimes, you know, give a
forty point quarter and then follow it up with a twenty
point quarter. It means that you know, it's not I
don't think team and Tomorro was telling me this on
Twitter earlier today. I don't think our defense has been

(15:26):
figured out. I think it's just that we're not able
to play our defense and we can only do it
for small stretches. Because I think the team, it's not
that they're tired, and I don't think it's something that
you fix with just a game off. Here learn you
could have prevented this by doing that up to this point,
but I think doing it from now one is tough
because I think it's more jadedness or compound fatigue than

(15:49):
it is just guys, you know, not being one hundred
percent as far as recovered from the game before. And
so I think it's just that. And it happens on
lot in and I always wanted how it didn't happen
in the NBA, but it happens a lot with in
football or European soccer, in which as the season wears out,

(16:10):
teams kind of starts falling off as effort wise, and
I think that's what's been happening with the Rockets, and
I think they all Star Break is going to be
really good because it is because it's it's a few days,
it's almost a week.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
It's more than a week. It also comes at the
time in which the Rockets lost Jabari, and so there's
no obvious hedge if the Rockets start getting attacked with
shingoon and pick and rolls, because it's not like you're
gonna drop in Stephen Adams and the defense is going
to be significantly better at that specific limitation. I think
sometimes in the past teams might be a little bit

(16:45):
tentative to truly target Shingoon because there was this obvious counter,
especially in high leverage spots, that ima Udoka could turn to. Well,
now that there's no Jabari at the five lineup, you're
more likely to see Shangoon or Stephen Adams, but realistically
Stevens limited by matchups in minutes, Realistically it's shod Gooon,
and so teams are much more likely to sort of

(17:05):
spam the hell out of those actions because without Jabbari
there's there's just not a counter that he may can
turn to. I think your point on effort is valid,
there's a lot to that, but also personnel. Since losing
Jabbari there's also not a counter, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
One hundred and I think you can really tell that
this is something that's going on, just because I don't
think it's how do I say it. I don't think
it's lack of commitment. I think it's just especially Weich
think when if you pay attention to him specifically, I
think he's just a second slow everywhere. It's not just
on defensive offense as well. He's missing some leads that

(17:40):
he typically makes.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
And maybe that pactors ended the shooting percentage.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, and I think I'll get into it offensively with him,
but I think defensively you often see like guys that
are not be quick enough, and especially not this new
version of saying that we've gotten the season to not
be quick enough to get by him, are getting by him.
And he's rotating late to guys driving, he's you know,
giving a fouls on charges that he shouldn't be giving up.

(18:04):
He's getting late and fouling guys and giving a pembulance.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Because of it.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
It's I think it's it's exactly. It's he's tired, right
and rightfully. So it's why I advocated for it. If
you give him five games of rest throughout the season,
that's the game every what every sixteen seventeen games, so
eighteen games, you kind of manage this caatedness since the
beginning of the season. And I get what he made

(18:27):
doing because this team, this seems very new to being good,
and so you want to take You want to extract
as much use as you can because you don't know,
you don't quite well if it's real until you do
it throughout an entire season. But I think it's you
watch them play and it really feels like he's just
a little bit out of sorts because it's the second
late understanding everything that's going on. Bigmos about it. The

(18:48):
primiutive defense hasn't been as good. The defensive rebounding I
don't think has been as good, at least from the
anes perspective. And then offensively witlingn as well. And I
don't want this to look like I'm just saying this
is not the only one. Dylan Brook has been awful
for like a couple of weeks now. But offensively, I
feel like you can tell a little bit of this shadedness,

(19:10):
in this cloudiness in his thing, in his you know
kind of response time, because the passes that he's hitting
are the ones he you know, typically since he has
been on the team, has it the most often, so
it feels like it's predetermined. He knows that pass might
be there, so he looks for it and he gets it.
But when he had when he's faced with a new

(19:32):
situation where it's a new guy that's open, whether it's
you know, a week side corner, even sometimes stroke side corner,
it's it's kind of crazy. He's missing some leads on
guys that are you know, teams are helping off of
you know, just one pass away the corner of the
sideling wi thing is on and he's not seeing that.
He's not kicking out quickly. He's taking a few a
few seconds to do it. But the passes that he

(19:52):
does make instantly are you know, kick out back to
Fred than fleet that those ones that are still there,
the dump puffs to the dunker spot, those are still there.
Hitting cutters when they do cut which is not a lot,
but those passes are still there. He's missing some of
the reads to the other shooters on the floor, and
I think it's that shadedness combined with a little bit

(20:14):
of a new shot profile, I think, because now he
has that floor that's more of a go to even
when he's posting up the little baby hook.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
That he does.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
If you throw it back to year one in year
to Shane lun Yes he did have those moves occasionally,
but seventy percent of the shot of the of the
times he was scoring, he was posting up diyes and
backing them all the way back under the basket and
then having the little spin moves right and left and
getting and get into the basket that way and actually

(20:46):
very little of it was these mid range, folding type
of shots. You first we saw the flamingo come into play,
and now he has a lot of that, that push
shot that he does off of the pick and roll
and then the little baby hooks. And because those shots
are shots that he can get a little bit further
away from the basket. When he's faced with resistance and

(21:06):
more people packing the paint, he can still get those
shots off. They're a little bit tougher, but you know,
the shots out can still works. Two years ago, he
didn't take those shots at all, or very few of them,
and so I don't think it clicked as an option
as much, and so he would look for the past
more and he would, you know, more instinctively find these shooters.
What's happening now is that because he has that as

(21:27):
a weapon and it's okay that he shoots those shots,
he's not looking to see who's open as much when
people collapse on him in the paint. So that's my
theory on it, right, And that combined with a little
bit of jaidenness and kind of fogginess in his thinking
as he's playing, is leading to missing some of these windows.

(21:47):
I don't think it's a problem long term. I think
it's it's it's something that he can work on, and
it's something that I'm sure in the off season because
it probably doesn't have the time to address it too
much now, but in the off season, for sure, it
will be a sticking point with with the cooking Staffe, Like, yes,
you're good at this post little baby hook. You're good
at these bush shots. You can even get into the

(22:08):
dominio and most of them it's a good shot, even
though it's a shot that you know how to take.
Now it's lower in the backing order of an off
liensive outcome for a possession then it would be to
kick out for an open sure, and that's something that
he needs to really get his mind to.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
I think, yeah, well, I think that's a pretty positive
outlook because it sounds like what you're saying, and I
think I'm largely in agreement, is that it's not really
about any changes structurally to the team.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
It's not like that dialing up Jalen's usage is materially
changing the shot profile or the opportunities for Shingoon all
that much. It's not like replacing Jabari with the men
is making it that much more difficult for Shangoon to
have the room to operate. Basically, this is stuff within
Shingoon's control, and time will tell if he's able to

(22:56):
fix it this year or if it's something that he
needs an off season into fix. But it sounds like
what you're saying, and I'm inclined to agree that it's
less about you know, the coaching staff. It's less about
how Jaalen and the men and Jabbari and his teammates
are being used or not used, and it's more about
just technique for shouldn't doing himself and how he attacks.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Right, Yeah, I think I'll equate it to what it
would be for the shooting guard. Right. Let's say a
shooting guard the words on a step back three, right,
and he's you know, he's a good step back for
the punch shooter, but it is not necessarily the best
outcome for an offensive possession. It more times out of
you know, nine times out of ten kicking it out

(23:38):
to an open if you get, if you get, let's
let's look at James something. He gets doubled, right, he
has the space to pull up and hit a step
back three, but there's an open shooter and it's none.
At ten times, it's better to hit the open shooter
and get an open shot or hit Capela on the
road than it is to step back into a jump shot.
Even though you're good at step back camp shots. Mindoshan

(23:58):
Gun is good at the bushots. If I'm Shingun is
good at the domingos, and these are valid shots for him.
The kickout to one open man is still a better shot,
and so he should. You should still do it. And
it's you know, he'll learn these new shots and they
are okay for the offense. He just needs it just
needs to be instilled in him that even though they
are good shots, better shots may be available. It's as

(24:19):
if shan Gun learned the step back three, as if
Jill and Green learned the step back three, and all
of a sudden, he just he's just spending it. He's
not even driving to even if it's a slow matter,
I mean, even if it's been he's being guarded by
a bit, he's shooting step by fleas anyways, instead of
trying to blow by the guy. Well, it's a valid outcome,
but it's not the best out and that the best

(24:40):
shot that you could have got. It's that that's what
I'm trying to get to, so people don't, you know,
overanalyze what I'm trying to say.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
And as far as the defensive limitations, I really do
think some of these have been played up since losing
Jabari Smith Junior because the value of having those subari
at the five lineups it's not just realized when Shubari
is a the court in those configurations. It's also the
optionality and what that means to other teams, because if

(25:07):
that's something you fear, you might not want to spam
the living hell out of every Shingoon action up top
if you think Ida's got that club in his bag potentially,
Whereas when there isn't an alternative, you're much more likely
to just lean into exposing Shangoon, exposing Steven Adams in

(25:28):
whatever actions you can, because there's not realistically another alternative.
We saw for stretches against the Pistons. The Rockets actually
tried uh Tari at the five lineups, but that's going
to be more difficult for a lot of reasons. So
I think having Jamori back, not only are there some
some gains some matchups where it benefits you to play
that way, it also potentially benefits you beyond just the

(25:51):
lineups that Jamori is at the five, in that the
option of that for ima Udoka and the Rockets can
enter and affect and influence the thought process is for
other teams and how they attack, because they may not
want to force the Rockets into those types of lineups
if it's going to make the Rockets do something that
in the long run, especially if it's super high leverage,

(26:11):
do something that might make life more difficult for them.
The reason I've been thinking about this a little bit
more besides the fact that obviously Shangoun had a bad
game against the Pistons. So we're at the midway point
of the year, so it's a point in which there's
a lot of bigger picture reflections state of the Rockets,
as you put it. We're also coming up on All
Star selections. The starters are actually named tomorrow, the Rockets

(26:34):
will not have any of those reserves are named next Thursday,
the thirtieth. I think if the Rockets are top three
in the West, they're likely to have at least one,
most likely should Doon, a small chance of Jalen Green
because he is the leading scorer, and if Jalen has
some big games against the Cavaliers or the Celtics, and
all of a sudden he's the leading scorer on the

(26:54):
number two team and he's still on a sharply upward
trajectory and doing it again big time opponents. There's a
small chance that Jalen Green could sneak in there, but
I think more than likely it's going to be Shangoon
because it's not, in most cases just a half year
award with All Stars. There's a certain narrative component to

(27:17):
the voting and Shangoon just being on the radar last
year when he was much more efficient and wasn't having
these issues nearly as much. The fact that Shangun was
in the conversation a year ago is going to put
him much more on the radar for the coaches around
the league that are voting on these teams, as compared
to someone like Jalen who has come on very strong,

(27:38):
but just within the last six to eight weeks. So
I think Shangoon is still the odds on favorite for
narrative reasons to get the All Star spot for the Rockets.
I think it's too soon for a men Thompson in
year two and I don't have an issue with Shangoon
being an All Star. I love the guy. I hope
he is, and if I had to bet, I think
he will be an All Star. I think it will
be deserved. I'll be happy for him, and so I've

(27:59):
thought about that. However, earlier this week, when I was
on Jackson Gatlin's Lockdown Rockets podcast, he was doing a
mid season review and he asked me who I thought
was the most valuable player on the Rockets. I thought
about it. The obvious answer would be Shin Gooon, and
I went in a different direction, partially because I didn't
want to be boring. I knew that's who Jackson would take,

(28:20):
and he did take Shinguon. But I also think that
when you look at some of these deficiencies and you
shrip away the narrative components, when you strip away strictly
the counting stats in terms of who has the best
package of points, rebounds, and assists across the board, and
you look at who actually impacts winning the most. I
went with a Men Thompson as the Rockets MVP because

(28:43):
I think he's foundational in terms of his impact on
you defensively, and even though the defense has slipped a
little bit in January. Look, there's still top four in
the NBA for the season. As a whole, that's the
foundation of this team. He's provided value, and yet he's
also really dynamic offensively, and we've seen that since we
replaced Shabari in the starting lineup than it's basically averaging

(29:03):
like seventeen points, eleven boards, three or four assists, two blocks,
two steals a game ever since becoming a starter. I
personally don't think they're going to be able to take
him out of starting lineup. But that's a different discussion.
But I just think when you factor in all the
value defensively, the versatility being able to guard one through five,
it's almost like, to me, there's been two iterations of
this Rocket's team, the first twenty games, which were about

(29:25):
the Terror twins and just being so disruptive defensively with
Shinouon doing the heavy lifting on offense, and then the
second twenty games, which were all about Jalen Green, and
a men has fit in both of those configurations. I
think clearly, you know, I don't agree with the framing
I've seen from some that Jalen needs a men to

(29:46):
succeed No Jalen had really started going off prior to
Jabari going out to the starting lineup. I think a
Men helps Jalen some because the men's a really good
basketball player. But I think a Man helps everybody because
he's a really good basketball player. But the larger point,
to circle back to our discussion about Shooingoon in this team,
I really think you can make a case that a

(30:09):
Men has been the most valuable player already on this team,
especially now that he's averaging right at thirty minutes per game.
I think for stretches of this year when he was
limited to twenty six twenty seven due to coming off
the bench, you could say that even if he's the
most impactful player on a permanent basis, which I've said
for a while, you would have to lean to Shingoon

(30:32):
or Jalen one of the thirty three to thirty four
minutes per game guys, simply based on the totality. But
now that a Men is starting, and now that he's
been a clipse thirty minutes per game for the foreseeable future,
to me, there's a strong case for a Men as
your most valuable player. And that's before we even talk

(30:53):
about Jalen Green, who I think certainly has an argument
as well, given the workload he takes on off defensively
and the ability to score at all three levels, especially
in crunch time. Somebody the other day showed me the
numbers in the last five minutes of close games, and
Jalen has been significantly better than Alp in those situations,

(31:14):
I think because he threatens the defense at all three
levels and has gotten a lot better at getting to
the free throw line and making those free throws. So
you could make a case for Jalen as well. I
would lean him in because of the defense, but it's
not like Jalen's the defensive liability he's been at times
in his career. There's a reason why he may Udoka
isn't pulling him from those closing lineups anymore. But it's

(31:35):
just sort of fascinating to me and that narrative wise,
it feels like Shongoon is going to be an All Star,
and whenever the Rockets go on TNT, which they were
last week, there's an obvious Shinoon All Star case that
gets made because he's the most visible player on a
team that's exceeding all expectations. Yet when I look at
this team, I don't think it's a given that he's

(31:58):
the most valuable player on this year's team. And that's
not to say that he can't be in the second
half of the year if he makes a type of
improvements that we've been discussing. That's not to say he
can't be in the future. But right now, I mean,
I think it's pretty close. And I'll say, you know,
there's people in the building that I've talked to inside
totison or that agree with me. Now that's not to
say necessarily that's trefell Stone. I mean, you know, to

(32:21):
be clear, people in the building, there's a lot of
different perspective in basketball operations, and so it's healthy to
have different views. And then ultimately it is the job
of the GM just sort of hear out different arguments,
different valuations and then come to a conclusion. But I
know there's people inside the building that view a men
as already their best player and already a star level

(32:43):
player in the NBA. So I'm curious your thought on
the MVP of the Rockets through the first half of
the year because it's sort of interesting to me in
that gun to my head, I think Shaoo is going
to be a first time All Star next week and
we're going to sell break that. Yet I'm not even
sure he's been the best player on this team this season.

(33:06):
How do you sort of balance all of that?

Speaker 3 (33:09):
So if you had picked Shingle, I was gonna go
with the men, Thompson. But since it picked the men
and that, I think I think it can make a
very good argument for single and and and I'll go
with Chingun. I think I see your points with the
men and essay. As I said, I would have made
the argument for him had you taken Singun. But I think, honestly,
it has to be Singing not necessarily because he's played

(33:31):
the best.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
And because only one of us can draw the ire
of Turkish fans on social media slash YouTube. That was
another thing I didn't realize before making that argument on
Lockdown Rockets Boy, the YouTube comment section is scuring me.
I might be banned from making a trip to Turkey
this summer. But yeah, so let me take the let
me take the heat, and you can you can get

(33:54):
on the good side. Man.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Listen, I think it's it's way bastard for me. For
for me being on the good side, that there's anything
I can do, and I kind of I don't. I
don't want to be on the good side because I
don't want to kind of you know, they're not the
shingul on defense or not. Let's say it nuanced enough
to be able to to hear something that's not pure
praise and take it as you know, just you know,

(34:20):
an opinion that's not just absolubly shitting on. I'm not
gonna be you know, I'm tired. I'm tired, and I've
been tired of the entire dynamics. So what I will
say is that the argument for single, and I think
it's a valid one, is that I don't even think
he has played the best on this team, but I
think he is the most valuable because, as I said before,

(34:43):
he is involved on literally every action defensively and offensively
at this.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
And there's a certain gravity to him.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yeah, exactly. And I think that you know, if we
are literally involved in every single thing the offense does
and on defense you've had a massive leap. There's there's
really no argument to be made. It's kind of like, God,
what me anger the two most toxic fan bases in
the NBA all in one fell suite. It's kind of

(35:13):
a little bit Russell Westbrook in the sense that so
much runs through him that he has to be the
m v B, even if he might not have been
the best player on the team so far this season,
even though you can make an argument for other guys
that just so much running through him that brings value.
And I think you can make the argument that Shane

(35:35):
gun has been our four razer and that and that
Leland Gwinn has been our ceiling razor, and Adam and
Thompson someone in between, and I think that's a fair statement.
But at the same time, the team's not. The team
loses more wins from losing Apron Shingun than it loses
than it loses from losing a man Or then it

(35:55):
loses from losing Kmfe. That's the beauty and the downfall
of a guy that's a four racer. It's that well
Or that has been a four razor this season. I'm
not deeming that he's going to be a four racer
going forward, but that's what he has been. He brings
the wart of value. But it's not he's not exciting,
it's not you know, out of one hundred, he's bringing

(36:18):
like sixty percent. He could be bringing eighty percent, but
the sixty percent he's bringing nobody else can bring. And
I think if you don't have thing goon, I don't
think kill and Green can provide that type about it,
partially because he plays a different position, but that's why
you know, it's it's very hard to argue against. For example,
you'll get for MVB in most seasons because he has

(36:39):
to do a lot. He's the center. The center, the
center has a critical role in every single possession of
and sly for good or for bad, and so because
of it, it brings the most value on the team,
even though or would be my pick for this year,
but it's mostly because of team record, and so I
think it's hard to argue against shiningun for for MVP,
even though if I were building a team, I would

(37:04):
always start by the ceiling razers and then get the
flour raiser, but it can I don't think you can
argue that the flour raiser isn't the most valuable just
because of this year volume of value that he brings
rather than and I think this surpprise even when kilm
Green has been awesome. I think if you have an
awesome killing Green and no Shanglun versus what the version

(37:28):
of England that we have had and no Jillium Green,
I think the team with the King that we have
had over a large season with the same supporting fast
wins more games.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Yeah, I think that's reasonable, although I will say that
if Jalen can sustain his level of true shooting for
another ten to fifteen games. So now since Thanksgiving Eve,
the last twenty three he's at almost twenty five points
per game on better than sixty one percent true shooting.
If he does that or thirty five forty basically approaching

(38:02):
half a year, I don't see how it can't be
Jalen at that point. But again, we can have that
conversation in a month, right Like I think with Jalen,
we can acknowledge the positives and say, you know what,
let's just see how long this run lasts. And it's
already lasted longer than runs he's had in the past,
so that's the source of encouragement. But if if this
continues into the All Star Break, then I think at

(38:27):
that point it is clearly Jalen Green's team for now,
though It's sort of an interesting debate because you can
make cases, in my opinion, for for all three of
these guys, right.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah, And if if Fred hadn't been so offul, we
could have been argument for him as well, from the
perspective of the same perspective that kinguns as a flow raisers.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Okay, and I guess to close the loop on my
amend comments and probably finish out this episode. Are you
in agreement with me that there's just no way he
can come out of this lineup? I mean, I mean
no disrespect to Jabari because I don't think it would
have to be Jabari that goes out. I think you

(39:06):
can make an argument for Dylan Brooks as well. I
just think it's more likely to beat Jabari because I
think politically he's younger. There's another year or three guy
in Tari Easton that you can point to and say, look,
Tarry's a fabulous player. He comes off the bench. It's
not a shot at you. I think it's just easiest
for Jabari to be the guy that goes out, because,

(39:27):
especially if the Rockets are winning games at a high level,
you can say we're just gonna stick with what's working
and amen. Thompson is clearly working. That's not a shot
at Jabari. That's not a shot at anyone. You just
need to max out his minutes. And if he's coming
off the bench, he's gonna be capped at about twenty
eight minutes per game because the only way he's going
to get to the thirty six plus he needs to

(39:50):
to maximize the Rockets and their abilities as a team
is if you're not artificially saying going into every game,
he's not going to play the first six minutes of
the first and third quarters because he's not starting, and
obviously he's not going to play the final eighteen minutes
consecutively of each half. So because of that, if you
want him to play in the thirty six minute range,
you've actually been playing closer to thirty eight to forty

(40:13):
than shorting the starting lineup. That's how good he is
that I feel like he's got to be in the
starting lineup. And the news that came out in recent
days that Jabari's not gonna have surgery, He's not going
to have a pen inserted into his fractured hand. They're
going to let it heal naturally. That doesn't significantly impact
the timeline, but it could add another week to it,

(40:35):
and so because of that, I think it's more likely
that Jabari is out through the All Star break, and
if that's the case, when he comes back in late February,
you're going to be basically just six weeks from the
start of the playoffs. So at that point, if you've
been going for almost two months with this configuration of
Fred Jalen, Dylan Amen and Shingoon as you're starting vibe

(40:55):
and assuming you're not hemorrhaging games at that point, assuming
you're winning games and a respectable amount, I think you say,
you know, what, this is who we are right now.
Maybe it's not who we are in the off season
or by next year. Maybe there's deals that happen in
the off season that change how this team looks moving forward.
There's also you know, the Rockets will never say this,

(41:18):
but there's also the benefit of you know, if Jabari
and Tari's minutes are capped, which they are a little
bit at the moment, then it helps you in potentially
contract negotiations this summer because the counting stats to warrant
super huge deals on extensions. The Rockets will never say that.
I don't think they would let that influence their thinking,
but it certainly it certainly can't hurt I'll tell you
that much. But I just think with the men playing

(41:41):
at the level that he is, unless the team loses
a lot of games, or unless the level of his
play goes down, I just I don't see how they're
going to take him out. And that's not a shot
at Jabbari, because again, it doesn't have to be Jabari
that goes out. I don't think there's really a huge
difference between Jabari and Dylan Dylan green Tylan Brooks it
terms of their value to the team this season. I

(42:03):
just think by circumstance it's likely to be Jubi. The
bottom line for me, Men Thompson is just too good
not to play at least thirty six minutes per dame
assuming he's healthy, And I just can't see a man
coming off the bench again for the Rockets. Am I
off basing that.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
I think, if we're serious, it's Dyling Brooks. But I
don't see me doing it until at least we reach
the playoffs, and even then it will be a stretch.
So I, and this is gonna sound really crazy, I'll
probably move them.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
And by to the bed.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
It's really and I think you've got to find a way.
And it's one of those things where you point out
here and you don't have the solution, but you've got
to find a way to play him. He's thirty whatever
minutes it is, even if like maybe you start dealing,
but you start the third quarter with them, And I
don't know what it was to be the.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Only thing that I could think of. And the Spurs
did do this when May was on their bench. There
were times that even though obviously Manu Genobili was their
sixth man, they would bring him in crazy early, like
at the eight nine minute mark of the first or
third quarter, specifically for that reason, because they weren't going

(43:17):
to be able to get him anywhere near mid thirties
if you waited until that under six timeout. And you know,
the counter argument to that is, oh, you want to
let your starters get into rhythm, and if you're going
to make a sub that early, why wouldn't you just
change your starting lineup? But I don't know if you think,
for one reason or another that it makes more sense

(43:38):
to bring him off the bench, I guess you could
try again. It's not unprecedented this first of this At
times with Ginobili, it's just you would have to find
some way to insert him earlier than the under six timeout.
Does that make sense? Yeah, I think he's not going
to play eighteen consecutively. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
But I think the most important point is that I
think this stretch has shown how important Tabari is towards
rebounding on the steep that especially with the effort problem,
and I think that's you know, Tabari being hurt. He
I think I would assume he comes back with a
lot more energy than what the other guys will played
the entire season have done, unless there's some conditioning issue.

(44:20):
I think it has really, you know, come to the
forefront of my attention that he's really, really, really important,
even if it doesn't necessarily show up on the box court,
just on the general way that the same place and
in size and everything. And I think if, if, if
he truly wants to win the most games that he

(44:41):
possibly can, I think you start them Antipari and you
bring Gone off the bench, And you could even sell
Dylan on a row like that by saying, hey, if
you come off the bench, he'll have more offensive freedom
to get your own buckets than you do now, especially
because listen and in the Pistons game, this is striving
me insane. We believe even a lot of matches for

(45:01):
for Dylan Brooks are mismatches, and they are not like
Dylan Brooks on Tobias Harris is not a mismatch. Obyas
is not a good defense. It's not backgrade over the vendor.
But he is strong enough that he'll hold Dylan in
the post and Dylan fadeaway Midrian shot might be, you know,
an acceptable shot from time to time with a defense,
start expecting it and they're all draped all over him.
But he took some terrible, terrible, terrible shots when in

(45:24):
that distance, in that distance game. And so listen, if
you're gonna hold people accountable, you're gonna also hold accountable
your vets as well. And I think Dylan is a
lot easier to make the argument for bening than would
then for the Way for example.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
And I think you could make the case that Dylan's
creation in the half court, which was something I think
we both talked about earlier in the year, was a
little undervalued by Rockets fans, that you needed him in
these sticky situations in the half court to bail you out.
That might be a little less important now that you

(46:04):
have this version of Jalen Green and Aman Thompson is
taking steps forward offensively as well. You know, he's not
a super great creator yet, but he's getting better at
those little push shots, going downhill, doing a few more
things on ball. And then you combine that with Jalen
being much more consistent. Not that Dylan was ever like

(46:25):
a you know, an operational offensive creator or bucket getter,
because clearly he's not, but there were definitely times early
this year when you needed him in the half court
to you know, bail you out of sticky situations. And
that maybe now, if you have Jalen in peak form
and you have a man getting better, maybe you don't
need that as much late in close games.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Right, Yes, and I think this is something that should
be revisited once we, you know, reach the playoffs, because
this was another man. There was many way that I
forgot when I talked about the entire dynamic in Florid
and ceiling laser. When it comes to the playoffs, we
are going to desperately need a half court creator from
the perimeter as we have you know, earlier in the season,

(47:09):
but even more so. And at that point you could
make the argument again that you should move a man
back to the bench and you should start dealing Brooks
because of that dimension that a man doesn't prit because
he's gotten better. He's one of the best finishers at
the rim, inflated by how many delks he gets. But
you're not going to get that from a man in
a half court setting in the last five minutes of
the game. And so because of it, the argument could

(47:31):
be made in the playoff setting you could swat on
Brooks back into the starting lineup because of what you're saying,
because of the fact that he, you know, is a
better initiator and a better bucket getder than the man is.
But I think get this point before being honest with ourselves,
and if he mays be honest with himself, he just
you have to bend Lellin Brooks. And even from a
long term perspective, I mean, if you pent Leven Brooks

(47:54):
now you have one fight on the floor and this
team will probably be better than it is as currently constraint,
you know, as a current version. So what does that
say about the future that the best version of this
team no longer, you know, is reliant on having you know,
two of the three starters being Vets and him childering
such heavylow, there's those guys have done, which has been decreasing, but.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Still Actually it's interesting that same since Thanksgiving Eve stretch
that we reference for Jalen so frequently Dylan in twenty games,
since he did miss three with a minor injury, he's
shooting just thirty four percent from three, which isn't bad,
but it's not the clearly above average level that he
was at earlier this year. So if that trend processed

(48:39):
and he's you know, certainly not a liability as a
three point shooter, but it's not like he's been a
marksman for a while. He hasn't been that thirty eight
to forty percent guy that he was to start the year.
If the thirty four percent that he's been since Thanksgiving
Eve over his last twenty games is more indicative than
then maybe that adds to the case as well that
he's someone you could consider taking out. It sounds like

(49:01):
we're largely in agreement. You've got to play a man
in thirty six minutes, and you know, regardless of if
it's still and if it's Jabbari, if it's you know,
you do something crazy like the Spurs we occasionally do
with Genobiley and bring him in at the eight slash
nine minute mark of the first and third quarters. Then
you do it. But regardless, you've got to play a
man at thirty six minutes, right, Like, I think that's
a better way of putting it than saying a men's

(49:23):
got to start. I mean, he most likely needs to start,
but the bottom line is, at this point, at the
Rockets are serious about making noise in the playoffs, you've
got to play a man at at thirty six minutes.
That discussion is pretty much over at this point. The
idea that you can only play am in twenty eight minutes,
that's a better way of putting it, right.

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Yeah, I agree, And I think something else that comes
to mind that might be important on the Star versus
bench this question is how do you factor Steven Adams
into it? Because I think a man plays better when
he switch Englund than when he is with Steven Adams.
Although he does play with Steven Adams as well if
they're not maturely exclusive, but I think he brings more
in those lineups. And so if you want a maximum

(50:00):
are minimum rather than maximize simultano. If you want to
minimize time with Steven Adams, you're probably better you have
to start them.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Basically, it's a really good point because the conventional wisdom
on Rockets Twitter has become, oh, you just let it
ride as is and bring Jabari off the bench, and
you can make Jabari, in addition to his minutes at
the four, your backup five. Well, if you're making Jabbari
your backup five or bring him off the bench, how

(50:28):
are you going to slide in Steven Adams, who legitimately
has been a good player for this team, and I
know internally has a lot of fans. They want to
be able to play that style in certain matchups that
are less conducive for Alphahinchhin Goon. So if you're bringing
Jabari exclusively off the bench and trying to factor him
into the five, how does that work playing three centers?
That's another argument potentially for keeping or trying to find

(50:51):
a way to keep Jabari in the starting lineup.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
Right, Yeah, And I think at this point, you know,
Stephen Adams is in full like up and running mode,
like he is a decent. He's as much of a
PC as I remembered him being with Okac and with
the business, Like, yeah, he's one hundred percent back. And
you know, the only thing I can add on on
on on Stephen is that I made the argument earlier

(51:13):
in the season that they should extend most of the
Vets for one more season, even if it's not guaranteed.
If he can, like if they can get Steven Adams
at the same money he's making right now, like that's
a no brainer. He's still a starting level center in
this league. And it's just really hard to quantify what
he brings to the Devil because he's not necessarily a
great defensive big, right He's not doesn't have the best hands,

(51:35):
he doesn't you know, shoot free throws very well. It's
just he creates extra possessions and he takes you so
much easier for killing grew to play basketball and the
guards that are playing with it. It's kind of like
he has gravity like he I think this is a
cool analogy. I think he has he has gravity on

(51:56):
the perimeter as opposed to most centers who have gravity
inside it, So he generates spacing because of that gravity.
The privilege because when he's setting a screen, like everybody's
worried about what's going to come out of that screen.
And then some of it is his reputation, but some
of it it's just that I don't know what he does.

(52:18):
He just generates massive advantages and gets extra defenders to
be paying attention to him, and it's in a weird
I think I've never thought about it. This went up
until this moment, So I'm sorry if the point isn't
too you know, well articulated. But when you look at Hngoon, right,
he doesn't set the hardest screens. He tries, but he
mostly has to be setting moving screens for them to

(52:40):
be that effective, and even then sometimes the car just
get around them. He generates his gravity as a Roman,
and he generates his gravity as the post player. That gravity,
you know, draws defenders inside. Where if Steven Adams sets
the screen you know, two steps away from the three
point line, he's trying defenders out of the p threat

(53:00):
is not that he's going to roll. The threat is
that he's going to generate so much space for the
three that you have to commit, you know, extra heart
to the guard. And even if and even if he
isn't the guy finishing the play at the room because
he's up the best finisher unless it's basically basically wide open.
He also has and we've seen this especially in a

(53:21):
couple of games ago. I can recall the team, Uh
there was, there's a couple of highlights plays as a
struts roll paster as well, because he canerates that space
he's wide open. He and he makes the right decision
are out of that short role. And so it's just
completely you know, I think this team breaks a lot
of my reconceived notions about backetball, or I guess I'll

(53:43):
say this team takes advantage of a lot of things
that are not that are very unique to its players
that you can't really turn into archetypes. Kingkon generates a
lot of advantages that are just really nuanced and that
you can't really He's not Sabonus, he's not Flusovich, and

(54:04):
he's not Yoki. It's different type of center. He brings
little different things. Steven Adams is not your run and
dunk screen setting room running big, but he thus set
an excellent screens and he is an excellent offensive rebounded.
So we as combo because there's nobody like him in
the league. Men Thompson is the exact same thing. He
can get down here and finish at the rim, but

(54:26):
he can kind of only finish at the rim in
certain situations.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Right.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
There's types of contests that make it that make it
a lot harder on him versus others and the whole
offensive rebounding component of the entire team. Kinges a lot
of things as well. Dylan Brooks is not Robert Covington.
He's not PK Ducker, He's not wuk by a mute,
He's not Daniel Huwks. He is a three and D wing, yes,

(54:50):
but he's not sard with the best on ball on
guards anymore. And on offense, he's not threes and layups,
and he can be pretty effective in that in between
as well. And he's more comfortable shooting threes in different
situations versus your typical three indwing, and he can put
the ball on for he's a little bit different than
either a defensive wing or a three. In New Wig,

(55:12):
Prevan Vliet is a pick and roll operator and a
dribble handoff operator that just cannot finish at the rim whatsoever.
And he shoots really really deep threes any he has,
you know, I think on most occasions his long twos
are good shots for this offense. And it's just not

(55:35):
quite like any you can't really fit him into any
type of art that. There's not really any other prevent
leader on the league that doesn't have the volume that
he does. Jalen is, you know, playing as is a
sixty percent shooting guy. But it's not like he can
just against any matchup get his own and any you know,

(55:55):
reliably even when he's not like he can. His shots
have to come in a specific way for him to
be really effective, and even getting to the rim, it
has to be the right angle and he has to
be the right type of contest for things to go right.
And there's types of defenders that really really give him
a lot of trouble. It's not gunning ms. It's not

(56:15):
like Kyrie, it's not like Kim's hard, and it's not
like any of these well, it's not like zech Lavine,
it's not like any of these types of prototypical shooting cards.
It's not necessarily a drivel pull up guy. He's not
necessarily gonna finish through you guy. He's not necessarily an
excellent touch at the rim guy, but he kind of
combines little traits and little facets of all of these

(56:37):
types of players. And I think with this team sometimes
it's hard. It's hard to have an argument with people
who don't launch the team every night, because we just
really extract value. We squeeze out value out of the
most weird, non replicable traits of our players, right, and

(57:00):
it just works together. And it's why a guy like
Steven Adams just really can't be taken out of the
lineup because he brings a lot of value. It's just
really hard to pinpoint them fortify what it is.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Yeah, it's value, not just individually, but what he means
for the collective. And I think that's a good place
to leave off because we can revisit this in a week.
I think when we talk more about the trade deadline,
I think Steven in particular, but also, as you mentioned,
guys like Jay Shanta, Jeff Green, the other expirings. It's
sort of intertwined with what the Rockets do or don't do,

(57:34):
because if you don't do anything major, you need to
consider at least you know, one or two of those
rolling over the salary so that you have that tradeable
filler into next season as well if you don't make
an impact deal at this year's trade deadline. Again, we're
putting that for next week for a couple of reasons.
I think we haven't heard much concrete in terms of

(57:54):
the Rockets plans to this point. Next week will be
the week prior to the trade deadline. The deadline is Thursday,
the sixth of February, so next week will be about
seven to ten days ahead of that. So that's where
you might hear some more juicy rumors around not just Houston,
but the entire NBA. So we could have more info,
some tidbits to react to. But in addition to that,

(58:17):
we'll have more information on the Rockets as a team
because I think while we're largely positive right now twenty
eight and fourteen, number two in the West, the next
week is not going to be easy. Again, You've got
two against the Cavaliers, best record in the NBA. They
may not have m Oldly, but they're still really good
SASA Phoenix Suns, so they blew out the other day.
You're gonna have one in Boston against the Celtics, and

(58:38):
then night two of a road back to back in
Atlanta against a winning Hawks team. So if the Rockets
go zero to four, one and three in that stretch
and you combine that with a loss to the Pistons,
maybe we're thinking not so optimistically the way we have
been in recent weeks, with the Rockets far out kicking
their coverage in terms of you know, performance, fell out
to expectations this year. I think we'll learn a little

(58:59):
bit more for better or for worse over the next week,
and then combine that with getting more information in terms
of trade rumors about the Rockets or other teams, and
that will make next week more opportune time to talk
about you know, trade possibilities leaving up to February sixth,
and what the Rockets do or don't do, and if
they don't do anything major, then of course that could
perhaps play into the calculus for retaining guys like Steven

(59:21):
Adams not just be on the deadline this year and
playing the minutes, but into future seasons as well. There's
definitely a case for that, Stephen, in particular for basketball reasons.
We can talk more about that next week when we
start to see how the trade deadline might take shape
and how that might influence things until then, that's where
we will break, and until that next show, we'll hope

(59:42):
for the best. With the Rockets playing these really good
teams without Jabari Smith Junior. Other than Jamori, they do
appear to be healthy. A man had a minor issue
with his calf last week, but he's off the injury report,
so knock on wood. Hopefully he's put that behind Thementari
Easton off the injury report as well, so hopefully that continues.
You can get back to Terror Twins basketball, and maybe

(01:00:03):
the Rockets can get back to closer to the fourth
three to defense they've been for the season overall than
the twelfth three to defense that they've been in January.
That's the hope. We'll talk more about that over the
next week as we see how the Rockets do against
these upper echelon teams. Anyway, until that next show, this
is where we'll break. And if you want more content
but sjoining now and then, the best place is always
to get it is on social media. Best place is Twitter,

(01:00:26):
slash x where I'm on there at Bendubo's pollows on
there at Polo Outs NBA. You can get our real
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(01:00:47):
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