October 9, 2025 • 33 mins
As part of a “ClutchFans Live” postgame show, Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty recap Houston’s 140-127 victory over Utah on Wednesday night. The Rockets are now 2-0 in preseason play.
Topics include an electric Rockets debut for Kevin Durant, who had 20 points (70% FG) on elite efficiency in only 23 minutes. The discussion also hits on Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Amen Thompson, and Reed Sheppard, who all showed promising signs — perhaps due in large part to the attention drawn by KD.
Defensively, however, the Rockets gave up 20 made 3-pointers on nearly 45% shooting. Could Houston’s identity be shifting to something more offense focused?
Wednesday’s show breaks it all down. The episode can be viewed in video form on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_qGdlMnOZs
Topics include an electric Rockets debut for Kevin Durant, who had 20 points (70% FG) on elite efficiency in only 23 minutes. The discussion also hits on Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Amen Thompson, and Reed Sheppard, who all showed promising signs — perhaps due in large part to the attention drawn by KD.
Defensively, however, the Rockets gave up 20 made 3-pointers on nearly 45% shooting. Could Houston’s identity be shifting to something more offense focused?
Wednesday’s show breaks it all down. The episode can be viewed in video form on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_qGdlMnOZs
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Joe.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm here with Ben Dubos after the Rockets one to
one twenty seven win against the Utah Jazz in Houston.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Rockets Go moved it to and zero in the preseason.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
More importantly, we saw Kevin Durant's Houston Rockets debut. Ben,
I know this is something we've been waiting for for
a while. It was against a Utah Jazz team that
is by many predicting that might be the worst in
the league and was missing several players. At the same time,
(00:32):
Utah played quite well, so it made for an interesting challenge.
But let's talk a little bit about Kevin Durant's debut
and which you saw it so far.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, I mean Utah shot twenty of forty five from three,
nearly forty five percent at volume, and you still won
by thirteen points. So I know there were some concerns defensively,
and we'll get into that, especially the communication. But it's
a very good day at the office on offense when
you're able to put up one hundred and forty points
against anybody and over come that level of shooting from
(01:01):
the other team. And yeah, above all else, this was
just his celebratory environment at Tutor Center. As you can tell,
I'm decked out because I went to this one as
a fan, not as media. I've got a ticket package
this year. I'll sell some of them, but the preseason
obviously you're not gonna be able to sell them for
big value. So I kept tonight's ticket. Took my mom, who,
as you know, Dave is retired this year, so I was,
(01:22):
you know, I'm gonna take her to a few games
this year, and somehow it ended up being the debut
of Kevin Duranta. Was fitting because my mom helped me
get into the Rockets when I was a kid during
the Hakeem days, and now it's probably the second greatest
player in franchise history, at least in terms of the
NBA pyramid. Now you can make arguments, you know, for
Moses Malone and other guys throughout NBA history, but I
(01:43):
think pretty clearly, if you're going to rank NBA players
that have played for the Rockets, it would be Hakeem
and KD at one two all time. And so yeah,
I enjoyed being able to see it with my mom because, yeah,
it was a fun night at Twooter Center, and after
he missed his first three shots, Dave. He made his
last seven and so in twenty three minutes he shot
seven to ten from the field, so seventy percent, shooting
fifty percent on threes, one hundred percent on free throws.
(02:05):
It felt like he got off to a slightly slow start,
a little bit of nerves. He hasn't played with these
guys before, and he finished with twenty points in twenty
three minutes on insane efficiency. That's just how damn good
he is, even at thirty seven years old. And I
guess for me that's the biggest takeaway. I mean, you
can't do a victory lap on one preseason game against
the Utah Jazz. But if there are any concerns about
(02:27):
this being the year that KD finally shows some signs
of aging, I don't see that after tonight. Not saying
it can't happen, but so far, so good, and I
know some Rockets fans are looking for it. There was
the report from Schams at ESPN today that the Rockets
and Kevin Durant are both optimistic that a contract extension
is going to get done before the season that will
(02:48):
probably take him through his age thirty nine years. So
I'm sure some fans are sort of watching with the
raised eyebrow. Was ave. I didn't see any signs of
aging tonight. This looks This looked like vintage Kevin Durant,
and really it fixed a lot of things for the
Rockets offense as a whole. You know, we talked on
Monday's postgame show about you know, a men and read,
especially in the half court, looking a little unsteady. Tonight,
(03:10):
I thought everything ran more cristally. Obviously, the one hundred and
forty points speaks for itself, and I just think, you know,
Kevin's efficiency is a lead and the gravity that he
still commands that made life easier for his teammates. As
far as Kevin specifically, I think it was a pretty
clearly an A plus debut.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, I would agree actually with that. You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I think the main thing that you worry about a
little bit with his age is just injuries. If he's healthy.
I think we saw it last year. I remember watching
the game when he was here in Houston. He had
quite a few turnovers, but it was just unbelievable offensively.
You know, you can't help but be impacted in a
great way by what he does. He is so efficient.
(03:49):
As you pointed out, there were a couple of plays.
I think shan Gun threw it one time to the
top of the key. He just immediate, quick fire free
drained it. It's something that's been missing on this team
noice respect to Jayalen Green, just not anywhere near as
consistent or excuse me, as efficient as Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And so the impact is, you know, it's felt right away.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
We're going to talk more about overall, you know, how
the big picture is. But offensively what the Rockets did tonight,
We'll talk about Shanhu and we'll talk about Jabari, We'll
talk about the men, but those four, along with KD
were just incredibly efficient. KD as well, excuse me, read
Shepherd as well. But I really include the main four,
(04:31):
uh you know, the big three if you want to
call it, along with Jabari, really were effective offensively tonight.
But from what I saw from KD in this game,
just you know, I would give it an A plus.
I thought he did really, really well.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, and I thought the chemistry with his teammates was
really impressed. Sate for only having had a couple of
weeks of practice with these guys. You see the movement
off the ball. I thought he did a good job, Kevin,
of making the defense respect to all three levels, and
when they closed out on him, he had a couple
of nice passes to his teammates. It just felt like
not only was Kevin drawing a lot of attention as
(05:06):
she would expect, but he already had a plan for
how to attack and how to best put his teammates
in the right spots to succeed. And he didn't have
a lot of assists because when it ended up happening
on several occasions, I can think of one to Shongoon,
another to Jubari, Kevin drew the attention and what ended
up happening it was the you know, basically a hockey
assist where it led to a foul and so it
(05:28):
should be considered free throws. Well, I guess it's not
a hockeyssist because that would be the assist before the assists.
But the point is it led to made free throws
for the Rockets, and so even though it didn't go
as an assist in the box score, he was making
plays for his teammates and so I think he just
helps this offense on so many levels. It was night
and day compared to last year, where the big weakness
for Jalen Green, it felt like, especially in big games
(05:50):
in the playoffs, defenses did not have to respect him
in those middle areas. He was either going to rise
and fire from three or he was going to attack
the rim, and too often when attack the he didn't
have the physicality or the size to finish. When not
only does Kevin have more size when he goes to
the basket, but more importantly, defenses have to account for
him pulling up from anywhere from ten feet, from fifteen feet,
(06:11):
from twenty feet. That's the beauty of Kevin Durant and
it really changed this offense and it felt like it
unlocked a lot more for his teammates as well. And
that's what really impressed me. This is a guy, you know,
I sort of object to the characterization. You know, I
was reading the I think it was Kevin Pelton of
the ESPN had the article today projecting wins sotos based
on their analytics model, and he pointed out that Kevin
(06:31):
since getting the Phoenix, hasn't impacted winning to the same
extent according to the models that he had earlier in
his career. I'm actually not sure that's true, because I
think the Phoenix situation was sort of set up for
him to fail, and that they mortgaged so much to
get him to the Suns that really the only teammate
(06:54):
he had that wasn't a specialist was Devin Booker. Pretty
Much everyone else on those Phoenix Suns teams was very
one dimensional. They had one skill. There weren't a lot
of well balanced players. There weren't a lot of young
players with upside as opposed to here in Houston. You know,
obviously all for in Shanmuon is already an All Star,
but Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith, Reed Shepherd, Charie Easton. There's
(07:15):
a lot of diverse skill sets on this team, young
players that can get better. And I think, you know,
again one preseason game against the Utah Jazz. Let's not
get carried away, But I I think there are things
that Kevin can do for his teammates in Houston that
he couldn't in Phoenix, simply because the roster composition wasn't there.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, you know, it was an interesting game right out
of the gate. As you pointed out, Katie missus his
first three shots. I actually didn't make that connection I
knew he was one for four, but as you pointed
out first three, then made his next seven. You know
that Rockets fell behind eleven to three, and I was,
and they had some early turnovers, and so I have
to admit I was, you know, in the playback room,
we were talking about it, and I'm thinking this has
(07:56):
been a concern in the back of my mind without
Fred quite a bit, like thinking Reid is just inexperienced.
It's not a knock on anybody. Shangun, relatively speaking, as
the full time schn Hubb is a little bit inexperienced,
and of course a ment is you.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Know, quite an experience as the point guard.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
At this point, Shangun had an early turnover and the
other guys had one or two as well, and I thought, well,
here we go. And then from that point on they really,
uh you know, kind of excelt that.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I think they had five.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Quick turnovers in the first quarter, only a couple I
believe in the second quarter, and you know, Shangun really
led the charge there. If this game is any indication,
as you point out, it is a very weak in
jazz team as well as they played tonight. I mean,
there were some guys on the Utah squad that I
honestly were impressed with. Hendrix Ace Bailey is a rookie,
(08:45):
quite impressive sense of ball as well. But you know,
if tonight is any indication Shangoon's your point guard, Like
that's just what's gonna happen, because the other guys are
just yeah, I mean, Reed Shepherd and the Mentoms are
gonna have the ball in their hands. They're gonna create
as points at times. But you know, Shangun is obviously
the most reliable. Thirteen assists tonight, and I believe one
(09:08):
turnover unless he picked up another one later, I believe
he only had the one.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Turn Yeah, a man had one, Red had too, and
the two from Reid were just miscommunication things. Yeah, they
were much better at taking care of the ball, at
least in the back court tonight.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, and he just looked very this was you know,
he had I think six assists in the first game,
probably was well on his way to double digit assists
in that game he only played the first half.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
You know, he just looks comfortable.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Obviously, Katie being more efficient, Jabari being improved this year,
those things are gonna help. But he made some really
good Reads tonight. Also, I thought we saw a lot
of Shangun like Sabonis tonight, a lot of it, like
the dribble handoffs. There was a play I know, I know,
I've got that clip in here somewhere, but basically he
(09:56):
just handed it off to Katie coming around the screen.
He took out Katie's defender and Katie bolted while Nurkic
couldn't adjust. And we saw that at least three maybe
four times tonight where that dribble handoff was quite effective.
So yeah, I was impressed, you know, with what Shanghun
did tonight.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Is the point and the rockets are just so big
that when you get athletes that are that long going downhill,
it's really really tough to stop. When you're able to
flank Shingoon with Kevin Durant, with Amen Thompson, with Jabari
Smith Junior, and with Tarry Easton, at times it's very
difficult or especially a bad NBA defense, which the Utah
(10:36):
Jazz without Walker Kessler probably are well even with him,
but yeah, it's not it's not going to be easy
to defend this offense. That's what stood out to me
about this game tonight and you know, Amen is lethal
in transition, like he's already in like the ninety ninth
percentile I would say of NBA players and transition efficiency.
(11:00):
But what was really different between game one and game two?
And you know, you have to adjust for competition a
little bit, But I think in the half court, at
this stage of his career, you can contend for a
championship with the men as I think your third best
half court offensive creator. I don't think a min is
(11:20):
yet to the point where he can be your best
or second best in the half court. And that's not
a shot at him. Again, he's still working at his
jump shot and he's just twenty two years old. But
I thought the floor opened up so much more for
him because you had both Shingoon and Kevin in the
half court tonight. I thought that was night and day
different to Monday, and so it helped a man have
(11:44):
a little bit more of a simplified role. And then
by extension, you know, it pushed Read a little bit
further down in the pecking order and that got him
some better opportunities as well. And so I think, you know,
in transition, a men is elite defensively, he's elite in
terms of half court execution and offense, he's good. I
don't think he's yet to the level to where he
(12:04):
can be the best or second best player in half
court on a championship team. That needs to be the
way this team is built. Kevin and all perin Shingoon.
And again you got to adjust for the sample size,
all the caveats. One bad opponent in preseason, but so far,
so good. And I think if you had any concerns
about a men and Reid in a half court on Monday,
(12:27):
I think those should be alleviated based on what you
saw tonight.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, a men nineteen points tonight, nine to fifteen shooting
in the first half, he was nine of thirteen.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
He had a really nice corner three by the way,
just dead on.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yes, absolutely, I know. I've got that clip in here
as well. Yeah, he was really good. Obviously, you put
a men Thompson out in the open court and the
Rockets out scored him sixteen to two in transition tonight
or not overall in the first half, I believe, or
by mid third quarter, and you know, Rockets just dominated
in that stretch. There were plenty of where a men
(13:01):
looked you know, terrific defensively, getting out quickly, out in transition,
and you know, to me, a men is You know,
he had a first game where I think we were
criticizing a little bit, not us particular, but some fans
were a little bit disappointed with his performance. I thought
tonight put some of that to rest. As you point out,
it is the jazz. You have to keep that in mind.
(13:21):
But you know, this was the three point shot. I
believe he hit that. I'll play this here real quick,
that he hit off of a nice pass from Reid actually,
and yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
He's looked comfortable so far.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It's two preseason games, but he's not having a problem
with the catch and release corner three.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
And last year I think he was what mid to
upper thirties from three in the corners, like if you
isolated specifically to the cornerers, he was actually pretty decent
at that last year. So to see it look that
crisp again. You know, I'm not saying he's prime PJ.
Tucker just yet, but these are promising signs. And I
agree with you on reed, that was a nice read.
I think again, and having both Kevin and all Print
(14:03):
out there is sort of like training wheels for men
and read when it comes to, especially in the half court,
being the floor general. And you know, I don't agree
with really calling either of them the point guard, because,
as you said earlier day, I'm in full agreement with you,
like Shoungoon is the lead playmaker. Now, he's who they
are running their offense through primarily, So you might have
(14:24):
a man who read dribbling the ball up the floor.
But I don't think any of or either of them
is a point guard in the in the traditional sense.
But yeah, I thought they both looked a lot more
comfortable in the roles they were in tonight. Some of
that is due the competition, but I also think a
lot of it's just due to, you know, the Rockets
having a much better overall team with Kevin Durant and
not allowing them to sort of focus on the skills
(14:46):
that they're already good at, as opposed to having to
overextend the way they did at times in the first half.
And you know, really the biggest difference between tonight in Atlanta,
you know, the one stretch and we talked about this
on Monday's post game, the one stretch where they had
really sustained offensive success against the Hawks other than the JD.
Davison minutes, and by the way, they were limited tonight.
But Jady Davison, you know, as president of the j. D.
(15:07):
Davison Fan Club, they were plus seventeen in his minutes tonight,
I think fourth most minutes off the bench, So another
strong night for him. JD. Davison Fan Club is still
accepting memberships, so get in while you still can. But
other than the JD factor and the double Big on
Monday night, it was very sticky tonight. They almost ran
no double big. You know, Steven didn't play as expected,
(15:31):
second game in three nights. They're still building him back up.
He's in his thirties. Shada YadA. And then the double
big lineup in the first half they did it very briefly,
but those were actually some of their worst minutes, at
least in terms of plus minus. You know, Clint had
a big night from a rebounded perspective. Offensively in the
half court. When they tried to play capella and shouldn'tun together,
it was a little bit of a slog in part
(15:51):
because Clint wasn't really finishing at the rim. He seemed
to have butterfingers at times, probably just an off night.
I wouldn't read too much into it exhibition, but the
larger point, I think the Rockets had success tonight without
the Double Big, And that's really important because so much
last year we talked about it Monday, the formula was
(16:12):
using the double Big, all the offensive rebounding, all the
screen setting to get these second chance opportunities because they
just didn't have enough creation. They didn't have enough wiggled,
they didn't have enough that they could turn to. Tonight,
they were able to generate a lead offense without Steven
Adams and basically without going to the double Big at all,
and so I think that's noteworthy as well that they
were able to execute much much more traditionally. Reed Shepperd
(16:34):
got a second straight start in the starting lineup, which
I think tells you what imo Udoka is thinking as
far as you know, longer term, what he wants to
do the sustainability, not saying it's a given that Read
is going to start, but I think in a perfect
world they want him to be ready for that type
of role. And I just think that not just the
numbers and the efficiency, but the way they got those
dumbers without having to go for the double big stimulus
(16:57):
was noteworthy. I mean, they still want the double big
as an option be really good in certain matchups, but
last year, I don't know if they're geting one hundred
and forty point against anybody on good efficiency without the
double date.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, you're right, and that's actually leading me kind of
into what I want to talk about here. And this
is not criticism, and maybe it's a mild concern, but
I do you know right now they have added what
they didn't have last year, you know, and that's Katie,
and they have an assassin. They can hand the ball
to it down the stretch.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
They also come on David.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, I mean, clearly the second best player on the team,
there's no question, but you know they have that. But
really like the five starters they have right now, I
don't know if Reid's going to stay in there or not,
but they're all kind of offensive weapons. Jabari is an
improving offensive weapons, certainly, but all of those guys, they're
not really any offensive liabilities. I do want to talk
(17:50):
a little bit about whether this team's kind of identity
is going to change right now. They don't have Dorian
Finney Smith and I have been concerned I guess is
the right word a little bit about just losing Fred,
losing Dylan, and to a lesser extent, losing Jalen. You've
lost three starters that were at least kind of you know,
(18:10):
together for a couple of years, and that was a
big part of your identity. Defensively, Dry and Phinney Smith's
going to be a key player.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
The Rockets are clearly improved offensively. I think we've seen
that in the first two games, even if it is
just preseason. Have they taken a step back defensively a
little bit? And I say this because the Hawks torched
them from three point rangs in the first half. That
was the Rockets starters or key guys and the Jazz tonight.
Some of those were contested, but they were on fire
(18:40):
from three point range. Hendricks draining them, sensible, draining them,
Ace Bailey hitting tons of shots. Again, Maybe the identity
is gonna change and the Rockets are gonna win more
games with offense than their defense. Maybe they step back
to it just you know, tenth eleventh in defense. Again,
I don't know if that's gonna be the case, but
I'm just wondering, if you see some of that until
(19:00):
Phinny Smith gets.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Back, especially early in the year without doriy on Pinny
Smith and integrating these new pieces, we saw at least
two classic Ima Ujok of rage timeouts. Even in the preseason,
those still exist where there's a breakdown in communication and
he immediately, just in discust, brings them to the bench
to yell at them. Even in the preseason, he May
is still going to e May and I think it
speaks to the larger tread. Look, if the Jazz don't
(19:24):
shoot the lights out twenty to forty five forty four
and a half percent from three, that's really good. With
a little bit better lock the Rockets win this game
by twenty plus, But the forty five to three point attempts,
that's too many. You talk to anybody in the NBA
and they'll tell you, Look, three point shooting accuracy, that's
generally luck based for the most part, but three point
shooting volume is not. That's what good defenses can control.
(19:46):
And so giving up forty five three point shots and
so many of them were just you know, lapses in communication.
You know, two guys looked at each other and you know,
one thought that the other was going to pick up
the assignment and then it just didn't happen. And I
think it's just the perfect storm. It's not that they
can't do it. And I do think it's something that
you know, the glass half full of you. As they
(20:07):
get more experienced playing with each other and you get
Dorian Phinney Smith back, I think they should improve as
the year progresses. But right now you lost to communicators
and Fred and Dylan. You're supposed to get one really
elite defensive coordinator and communicator excuse me in DFS. He's
not ready. And then you have all these new pieces
(20:27):
playing with guys they haven't played before, most notably Kevin Durant.
And yeah, it's it's a little spotty at times, and
some of the live ball turnovers play into it as well.
It wasn't quite as bad as the other night, but
when you have these live ball turnovers, that's where you
end up getting these clean three point looks in transition.
And so, yeah, the three point accuracy from the Jazz
(20:48):
was sort of fluky, and that you know, they shouldn't
shoot that well against air, but the volume getting up
forty five three is I'm sure that's something that's going
to drive ema Joka and his staff up the wall
and it's going to be a talking point and they
can get a little bit better. But I do think
it's a little concerning in that, you know, when you
run a lot of double big and someone in the
comments is saying they're trying to zone in the preseason
that they won't in the regular season. Yeah, I've seen
(21:10):
some of that, but I do think also that tonight
was a little worrisome and that typically they give up
volume when they run a lot of double big, and
especially that zone. To give up the volume they did
tonight without doing much double big. Again, it is the preseason.
It's an outlier, but it's something that I do think
you should have a little bit of a raised eyebrow for,
(21:31):
especially when we know they lost a couple of really
valued communicators from last year's team and you don't yet
have DFS who is supposed to excel at that specific thing.
So the glass half full view that I would offer
is that you know, as the year progresses, as they
get more used to playing with one another, that should
resolve itself pretty organically, I would think, but at least
(21:53):
to start the year, I think it's a fair concern
and also read just being in year two. Let's be honest,
you know, read individually, he wasn't foul prone as he
was in his debut on Monday. That's a step in
the right direction, but true, if you're starting a guy
at what twenty one years old year two, he's probably
not going to be an ELEAD NBA communicator. So that's
(22:14):
another drawback if you go that route. So, you know,
it's one of those things. I don't think it's end
of the world, especially if you're able to be as
a lead offensively as they were tonight, and there are
reasons to think they'll get better as the year moves along.
Philly is to start the year, Yeah, they might not
be the top five defense that were used to simply
based on the changes and not having Dorian just yet.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, because so much of it is just cohesion chemistry.
I'm not saying these guys aren't capable of building that again,
And maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Maybe it is right.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Out of the gate that good, but I feel like
it's just going to take a little bit of time
with so many kind of new pieces, even if some
of them were here last year coming off the bench,
you know, last year.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
They won with defense, they won with.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Very low turnovers, great three point defense, and they won
by just killing you the possessions battle of rebounding. Tonight,
Rockets won the rebounding battle in the first half. I'm
really studying the first half, primarily when the starters played.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
They did go into the mid.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Third quarter, but looking at the first half, Rockets won
the rebounding battle twenty two to sixteen. In that half,
out shot them fifty one field goal attempts to thirty eight,
eleven to seven in turnovers, So that right there was
a recipe for success, even if it was close. The
reason the Jazz were close to the Rockets at halftime
is because they just shot so darn effectively.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I would also pay attention to the first half of
the third quarter. Someone noted in the comment section that
the Rockets switched to more man in the second half,
which I would agree with, and that's when the turnovers
started to pick up. So yeah, maybe some of its
tactical They went a little zone heavy in the first
half and the Jazz exploited that. I also think the
Rockets had more I don't have the splits between first
and second half, but by the eyeball test. They had
(23:52):
a lot more of their turnovers in the first half.
I think that contributed as well. But yeah, I think
you might can pay attention to the third quarter as well.
And so there was again, if you squent hard enough,
a little bit of progress. But yeah, it's not something
that you should overlook entirely either.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Good.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, let's let's hope that's the case. I wanted to
bring up a comment here. I know Snail Champion made
just right here what we can we can close on
this topic, but he just says Jabari looks like a
completely different player. He was seven of eleven tonight for
eighteen points. Had a good, a great start to the
first game. Matter of fact, both of these games, first
game and second game pre season opened with the Jabari three.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Very first possession. Tonight was just a little bit better.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Obviously had some nice you know from from Shngoon passes,
dunks and things of that nature. But excuse me, Jabari
was good tonight. And what are you seeing first two games?
Is you know, all the hype about his offseason real
to you.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yeah, there was a possession in the first half, at
least one where he caught off ball to the bucket
and finished. I thought those were really encouraging. I also
thought there was one possession where he ended up sticking
a three where he wanted to give the ball to
Shangoon to sort of create out of the high post,
and his defender sagged towards Shangoon to make that a
(25:08):
little more difficult. So he just dribbled into a three,
and it looked much more fluid that it has in
his first three NBA seasons in terms of there was
very limited. There wasn't much in the way of wasted
movement from getting his handle to a shot, and so
I thought he looks again. A lot of this I
(25:30):
think is the simplified role, and that now that you
have at least two top shelf playmakers, and you hope
a man can grow into that. But right now I
think KD and Shangoon are the clear top two and
a half court and the rockets aren't searching for you know,
maybe you had won the last two years with Shangoon
and I don't want to sell him short, but I
(25:52):
think Shaangoon is better now than even the last two years,
probably because of euro baskets. I think he's in incredible
form right now. This is probably, at least for my recollection,
i've ever seen him play. I think, you know, Jabari
has clearly done a lot of work in the off
season on his handle, on his body. He doesn't get
bumped off his spots. You know, in the preseason, I'm
(26:13):
less focused on the stat lines because you don't have
the minutes. The shot attempts for things to normalize, so
it might be really good or really bad. It can
be wonky in a given game. I'm more looking at
the process, and so Jabari is not getting bumped off
his spots the way he was very frequently in previous seasons.
He looks more comfortable in his body. There isn't as
much wasted movement. If he needs to rise and fire
(26:34):
relatively quickly, like that three he had when the defender
sort of went towards Shangoon a little bit. He's more
comfortable doing that. He just looks like, again, someone who's
much more calm and within himself. And I think a
lot of this, you know, some of it is skilled development,
but some of it also is simplicity of role. You know,
the last couple of years, the Rockets have sort of
(26:56):
been searching for who the stars are going to be.
Obviously in the rebuilding years, even the last two years,
they haven't had that clear outfit. So it's sort of been,
you know, all the younger guys, certainly Jalen, but also
Jabari as well at times Tari and you can go
up and down the lineup with the young guys, the
Core Sex, the Core seven at times, and they've all
been sort of searching and taking turns. Now, I think
(27:17):
it's much more clear where Jabari fits in the big picture.
I think there's a much more clear hierarchy, and I
think one of the big benefits is that the more
ancillary pieces like Jabari, like Reid can sort of be
a star in their role as opposed to having to
you know, search for what that role is.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yeah, we'll do this before we close. Last question, Luke
sent this in. We talked about this a little bit
on the last show, But if we happen to make
it to the finals this year, is there a chance
Fred will be back by the month of June. I mean,
I'll let you chime in on that, but I don't
I just personally don't see it. I mean, I'm looking
at just I'm a big fantasy football guy and just
(27:53):
looking at so many players coming back from ACL injuries.
I know football is different than basketball, but it just
takes time. And I can't imagine the Rockets rehabbing this
really furiously and then thrusting him into a mid playoff situation.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I could be.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Wrong, but so the study that I've seen, the average
ACL recovery timetable in the NBA is nine point eight months,
which would take until around the start of July next year,
which is after the NBA Finals. Now, if you squint
hard enough, you can argue that, you know, technology is
improving by the year, and some of those nine point
eight months include the off season, so they maybe take
(28:28):
a little bit longer because you can So maybe if
you squint hard enough and you know he rehabs hard,
you can get it closer to eight to nine and
you know, make it back at some point in the playoffs.
I don't think it's impossible. I'm told pretty strongly that
both the Rockets and Fred are shooting for that scenario.
I mean, ideally before the playoffs, but you know, they're
(28:51):
not for closing the possibility. One thing that makes me
at least open minded to the possibility is that because
Fred has a player option for the ensuing season. There's
not a ton of risk to him, and that even
if he doesn't play that well, it doesn't go that
great for whatever reason, he can just pick up that
player option. So it's not like he'd be potentially, you know,
risking tons of money if things don't go well. So
(29:15):
he does have some security. However, when you look at
the history of guys coming off of ACL injuries, I
would be stunned if he came back to anything close
to a starter's level role, Like it might be possible
that he could build up to like, you know, fifteen
to twenty minutes, and that's better than nothing. Like you know,
he's a you know, if you could have him as
(29:36):
a quality backup point guard, and obviously he's a good shooter,
he makes good decisions. We talked about the defensive communication.
Would that be a value, Absolutely, But I think it
would be a real stretch to expect the thread of
last year's playoffs to be back by May or June.
I think, if everything goes right, and I still think
it's less than fifty to fifty, but if everything goes right,
(29:58):
you could see Fred return by the playoffs. But I
don't think it would be like a huge needle mover.
It would be like maybe getting you know, an eighth
or ninth man for your bench, which could be useful.
Don't get me wrong. We saw, you know, the twenty
eighteen Rockets sort of broke down because the injuries in
the playoffs, and you know, by game seven they're playing
the corpses of Joe Johnson and Ryan Anderson. So maybe,
(30:19):
you know, having Fred off the bench by the time
you get deep in the playoffs could be really valuable.
I wouldn't write off that scenario. I would just say
it's less than fifty to fifty and be tap the
brakes on anything expecting more than say, fifteen minutes per
game off the bench if he does come back. Do
not expect thirty to thirty five minutes starting point guard
level Fred than Fleet if he returns this season. Tap
(30:41):
the brakes done that.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
And the other scenario, which we do we touched on
briefly too, is just the possibility that that contract gets traded.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
As sad as it is.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
As much as the Rockets want to win with Fred,
and I'm sure they do, Katie is here now and
they need to win. I mean, you could see something
like a Jiu holiday or somebody a player out there.
The Rockets to side, Look, we got to go for it,
and you know, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
How and that's going to be conditional on how they
play during the season. So it's current less go too
far that down that road now, but yeah, things get
off to a slow start, then yeah, you you have
that option. It's been reported this week and I've confirmed
it at Clutch Fans that the Rockets will be playing
filing for a disabled player exception for Fred's contract, which
will give them basically a twelve point five million dollar
(31:25):
TPE that can be used on players on one year deals,
basically half the value of Fred's contract. Now, they can't
use it at the moment because of the hard cap
at the first apron, but if they make trades during
the year that lower the team payroll, potentially they could.
Basically there's no downside. Getting the disabled player exception does
not rule Fred out. It just says that an independent
physician appointed by the NBA deems it more likely than
(31:48):
not that he's not going to be available by June fifteenth.
June fifteenth is a deesgnating day because that's around the
end of the NBA Finals, and that circles back to
Luke's question, which is you know is Fred gonna be
back by the middle of June. I suspect the Rockets
will get the disabled player exception because all NBA injury
history tells us that it's less likely than likely. And
maybe the Rockets get lucky, and he devised the odds,
(32:10):
but again unlikely, and if they do, it's going to
be for a smaller role in my opinion, nothing major.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Appreciate it, Ben, It's always fun talking Rockets with you. Guys.
We will do this again after the next game.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
I don't believe they play until Tuesday against the Pelicans.
We'll get to see Zions the slim down sixty percent
of what we usually see from Zion and he looks good,
so that'll be kind of a fun game to watch.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
And guys, I'm new.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
To YouTube, but I believe you if you subscribe, you'll
be notified when we go live after the games. I
believe that's how it works the drill, So feel free
to subscribe to the Clutch Fans channel and you'll.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Know when we go live.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
So Ben appreciate you doing this. Rockets too, and Zero
in the preseason looking good. Obviously, the competition will pick
up here soon after these first couple of preseason games,
but Rockets looking for looking towards a very exciting season.
I think all of us are really pumped up about
it too.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Down one hundred to go because you have what two
in the free season, eighty two in the regular season,
and then sixteen in the playoff. So yeah, one hundred more,
hundred more day if we got this.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Thanks everybody, have a great one.
Joe.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm here with Ben Dubos after the Rockets one to
one twenty seven win against the Utah Jazz in Houston.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Rockets Go moved it to and zero in the preseason.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
More importantly, we saw Kevin Durant's Houston Rockets debut. Ben,
I know this is something we've been waiting for for
a while. It was against a Utah Jazz team that
is by many predicting that might be the worst in
the league and was missing several players. At the same time,
(00:32):
Utah played quite well, so it made for an interesting challenge.
But let's talk a little bit about Kevin Durant's debut
and which you saw it so far.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, I mean Utah shot twenty of forty five from three,
nearly forty five percent at volume, and you still won
by thirteen points. So I know there were some concerns defensively,
and we'll get into that, especially the communication. But it's
a very good day at the office on offense when
you're able to put up one hundred and forty points
against anybody and over come that level of shooting from
(01:01):
the other team. And yeah, above all else, this was
just his celebratory environment at Tutor Center. As you can tell,
I'm decked out because I went to this one as
a fan, not as media. I've got a ticket package
this year. I'll sell some of them, but the preseason
obviously you're not gonna be able to sell them for
big value. So I kept tonight's ticket. Took my mom, who,
as you know, Dave is retired this year, so I was,
(01:22):
you know, I'm gonna take her to a few games
this year, and somehow it ended up being the debut
of Kevin Duranta. Was fitting because my mom helped me
get into the Rockets when I was a kid during
the Hakeem days, and now it's probably the second greatest
player in franchise history, at least in terms of the
NBA pyramid. Now you can make arguments, you know, for
Moses Malone and other guys throughout NBA history, but I
(01:43):
think pretty clearly, if you're going to rank NBA players
that have played for the Rockets, it would be Hakeem
and KD at one two all time. And so yeah,
I enjoyed being able to see it with my mom because, yeah,
it was a fun night at Twooter Center, and after
he missed his first three shots, Dave. He made his
last seven and so in twenty three minutes he shot
seven to ten from the field, so seventy percent, shooting
fifty percent on threes, one hundred percent on free throws.
(02:05):
It felt like he got off to a slightly slow start,
a little bit of nerves. He hasn't played with these
guys before, and he finished with twenty points in twenty
three minutes on insane efficiency. That's just how damn good
he is, even at thirty seven years old. And I
guess for me that's the biggest takeaway. I mean, you
can't do a victory lap on one preseason game against
the Utah Jazz. But if there are any concerns about
(02:27):
this being the year that KD finally shows some signs
of aging, I don't see that after tonight. Not saying
it can't happen, but so far, so good, and I
know some Rockets fans are looking for it. There was
the report from Schams at ESPN today that the Rockets
and Kevin Durant are both optimistic that a contract extension
is going to get done before the season that will
(02:48):
probably take him through his age thirty nine years. So
I'm sure some fans are sort of watching with the
raised eyebrow. Was ave. I didn't see any signs of
aging tonight. This looks This looked like vintage Kevin Durant,
and really it fixed a lot of things for the
Rockets offense as a whole. You know, we talked on
Monday's postgame show about you know, a men and read,
especially in the half court, looking a little unsteady. Tonight,
(03:10):
I thought everything ran more cristally. Obviously, the one hundred and
forty points speaks for itself, and I just think, you know,
Kevin's efficiency is a lead and the gravity that he
still commands that made life easier for his teammates. As
far as Kevin specifically, I think it was a pretty
clearly an A plus debut.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, I would agree actually with that. You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I think the main thing that you worry about a
little bit with his age is just injuries. If he's healthy.
I think we saw it last year. I remember watching
the game when he was here in Houston. He had
quite a few turnovers, but it was just unbelievable offensively.
You know, you can't help but be impacted in a
great way by what he does. He is so efficient.
(03:49):
As you pointed out, there were a couple of plays.
I think shan Gun threw it one time to the
top of the key. He just immediate, quick fire free
drained it. It's something that's been missing on this team
noice respect to Jayalen Green, just not anywhere near as
consistent or excuse me, as efficient as Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And so the impact is, you know, it's felt right away.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
We're going to talk more about overall, you know, how
the big picture is. But offensively what the Rockets did tonight,
We'll talk about Shanhu and we'll talk about Jabari, We'll
talk about the men, but those four, along with KD
were just incredibly efficient. KD as well, excuse me, read
Shepherd as well. But I really include the main four,
(04:31):
uh you know, the big three if you want to
call it, along with Jabari, really were effective offensively tonight.
But from what I saw from KD in this game,
just you know, I would give it an A plus.
I thought he did really, really well.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, and I thought the chemistry with his teammates was
really impressed. Sate for only having had a couple of
weeks of practice with these guys. You see the movement
off the ball. I thought he did a good job, Kevin,
of making the defense respect to all three levels, and
when they closed out on him, he had a couple
of nice passes to his teammates. It just felt like
not only was Kevin drawing a lot of attention as
(05:06):
she would expect, but he already had a plan for
how to attack and how to best put his teammates
in the right spots to succeed. And he didn't have
a lot of assists because when it ended up happening
on several occasions, I can think of one to Shongoon,
another to Jubari, Kevin drew the attention and what ended
up happening it was the you know, basically a hockey
assist where it led to a foul and so it
(05:28):
should be considered free throws. Well, I guess it's not
a hockeyssist because that would be the assist before the assists.
But the point is it led to made free throws
for the Rockets, and so even though it didn't go
as an assist in the box score, he was making
plays for his teammates and so I think he just
helps this offense on so many levels. It was night
and day compared to last year, where the big weakness
for Jalen Green, it felt like, especially in big games
(05:50):
in the playoffs, defenses did not have to respect him
in those middle areas. He was either going to rise
and fire from three or he was going to attack
the rim, and too often when attack the he didn't
have the physicality or the size to finish. When not
only does Kevin have more size when he goes to
the basket, but more importantly, defenses have to account for
him pulling up from anywhere from ten feet, from fifteen feet,
(06:11):
from twenty feet. That's the beauty of Kevin Durant and
it really changed this offense and it felt like it
unlocked a lot more for his teammates as well. And
that's what really impressed me. This is a guy, you know,
I sort of object to the characterization. You know, I
was reading the I think it was Kevin Pelton of
the ESPN had the article today projecting wins sotos based
on their analytics model, and he pointed out that Kevin
(06:31):
since getting the Phoenix, hasn't impacted winning to the same
extent according to the models that he had earlier in
his career. I'm actually not sure that's true, because I
think the Phoenix situation was sort of set up for
him to fail, and that they mortgaged so much to
get him to the Suns that really the only teammate
(06:54):
he had that wasn't a specialist was Devin Booker. Pretty
Much everyone else on those Phoenix Suns teams was very
one dimensional. They had one skill. There weren't a lot
of well balanced players. There weren't a lot of young
players with upside as opposed to here in Houston. You know,
obviously all for in Shanmuon is already an All Star,
but Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith, Reed Shepherd, Charie Easton. There's
(07:15):
a lot of diverse skill sets on this team, young
players that can get better. And I think, you know,
again one preseason game against the Utah Jazz. Let's not
get carried away, But I I think there are things
that Kevin can do for his teammates in Houston that
he couldn't in Phoenix, simply because the roster composition wasn't there.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, you know, it was an interesting game right out
of the gate. As you pointed out, Katie missus his
first three shots. I actually didn't make that connection I
knew he was one for four, but as you pointed
out first three, then made his next seven. You know
that Rockets fell behind eleven to three, and I was,
and they had some early turnovers, and so I have
to admit I was, you know, in the playback room,
we were talking about it, and I'm thinking this has
(07:56):
been a concern in the back of my mind without
Fred quite a bit, like thinking Reid is just inexperienced.
It's not a knock on anybody. Shangun, relatively speaking, as
the full time schn Hubb is a little bit inexperienced,
and of course a ment is you.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Know, quite an experience as the point guard.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
At this point, Shangun had an early turnover and the
other guys had one or two as well, and I thought, well,
here we go. And then from that point on they really,
uh you know, kind of excelt that.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I think they had five.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Quick turnovers in the first quarter, only a couple I
believe in the second quarter, and you know, Shangun really
led the charge there. If this game is any indication,
as you point out, it is a very weak in
jazz team as well as they played tonight. I mean,
there were some guys on the Utah squad that I
honestly were impressed with. Hendrix Ace Bailey is a rookie,
(08:45):
quite impressive sense of ball as well. But you know,
if tonight is any indication Shangoon's your point guard, Like
that's just what's gonna happen, because the other guys are
just yeah, I mean, Reed Shepherd and the Mentoms are
gonna have the ball in their hands. They're gonna create
as points at times. But you know, Shangun is obviously
the most reliable. Thirteen assists tonight, and I believe one
(09:08):
turnover unless he picked up another one later, I believe
he only had the one.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Turn Yeah, a man had one, Red had too, and
the two from Reid were just miscommunication things. Yeah, they
were much better at taking care of the ball, at
least in the back court tonight.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, and he just looked very this was you know,
he had I think six assists in the first game,
probably was well on his way to double digit assists
in that game he only played the first half.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
You know, he just looks comfortable.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Obviously, Katie being more efficient, Jabari being improved this year,
those things are gonna help. But he made some really
good Reads tonight. Also, I thought we saw a lot
of Shangun like Sabonis tonight, a lot of it, like
the dribble handoffs. There was a play I know, I know,
I've got that clip in here somewhere, but basically he
(09:56):
just handed it off to Katie coming around the screen.
He took out Katie's defender and Katie bolted while Nurkic
couldn't adjust. And we saw that at least three maybe
four times tonight where that dribble handoff was quite effective.
So yeah, I was impressed, you know, with what Shanghun
did tonight.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Is the point and the rockets are just so big
that when you get athletes that are that long going downhill,
it's really really tough to stop. When you're able to
flank Shingoon with Kevin Durant, with Amen Thompson, with Jabari
Smith Junior, and with Tarry Easton, at times it's very
difficult or especially a bad NBA defense, which the Utah
(10:36):
Jazz without Walker Kessler probably are well even with him,
but yeah, it's not it's not going to be easy
to defend this offense. That's what stood out to me
about this game tonight and you know, Amen is lethal
in transition, like he's already in like the ninety ninth
percentile I would say of NBA players and transition efficiency.
(11:00):
But what was really different between game one and game two?
And you know, you have to adjust for competition a
little bit, But I think in the half court, at
this stage of his career, you can contend for a
championship with the men as I think your third best
half court offensive creator. I don't think a min is
(11:20):
yet to the point where he can be your best
or second best in the half court. And that's not
a shot at him. Again, he's still working at his
jump shot and he's just twenty two years old. But
I thought the floor opened up so much more for
him because you had both Shingoon and Kevin in the
half court tonight. I thought that was night and day
different to Monday, and so it helped a man have
(11:44):
a little bit more of a simplified role. And then
by extension, you know, it pushed Read a little bit
further down in the pecking order and that got him
some better opportunities as well. And so I think, you know,
in transition, a men is elite defensively, he's elite in
terms of half court execution and offense, he's good. I
don't think he's yet to the level to where he
(12:04):
can be the best or second best player in half
court on a championship team. That needs to be the
way this team is built. Kevin and all perin Shingoon.
And again you got to adjust for the sample size,
all the caveats. One bad opponent in preseason, but so far,
so good. And I think if you had any concerns
about a men and Reid in a half court on Monday,
(12:27):
I think those should be alleviated based on what you
saw tonight.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, a men nineteen points tonight, nine to fifteen shooting
in the first half, he was nine of thirteen.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
He had a really nice corner three by the way,
just dead on.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yes, absolutely, I know. I've got that clip in here
as well. Yeah, he was really good. Obviously, you put
a men Thompson out in the open court and the
Rockets out scored him sixteen to two in transition tonight
or not overall in the first half, I believe, or
by mid third quarter, and you know, Rockets just dominated
in that stretch. There were plenty of where a men
(13:01):
looked you know, terrific defensively, getting out quickly, out in transition,
and you know, to me, a men is You know,
he had a first game where I think we were
criticizing a little bit, not us particular, but some fans
were a little bit disappointed with his performance. I thought
tonight put some of that to rest. As you point out,
it is the jazz. You have to keep that in mind.
(13:21):
But you know, this was the three point shot. I
believe he hit that. I'll play this here real quick,
that he hit off of a nice pass from Reid actually,
and yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
He's looked comfortable so far.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It's two preseason games, but he's not having a problem
with the catch and release corner three.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
And last year I think he was what mid to
upper thirties from three in the corners, like if you
isolated specifically to the cornerers, he was actually pretty decent
at that last year. So to see it look that
crisp again. You know, I'm not saying he's prime PJ.
Tucker just yet, but these are promising signs. And I
agree with you on reed, that was a nice read.
I think again, and having both Kevin and all Print
(14:03):
out there is sort of like training wheels for men
and read when it comes to, especially in the half court,
being the floor general. And you know, I don't agree
with really calling either of them the point guard, because,
as you said earlier day, I'm in full agreement with you,
like Shoungoon is the lead playmaker. Now, he's who they
are running their offense through primarily, So you might have
(14:24):
a man who read dribbling the ball up the floor.
But I don't think any of or either of them
is a point guard in the in the traditional sense.
But yeah, I thought they both looked a lot more
comfortable in the roles they were in tonight. Some of
that is due the competition, but I also think a
lot of it's just due to, you know, the Rockets
having a much better overall team with Kevin Durant and
not allowing them to sort of focus on the skills
(14:46):
that they're already good at, as opposed to having to
overextend the way they did at times in the first half.
And you know, really the biggest difference between tonight in Atlanta,
you know, the one stretch and we talked about this
on Monday's post game, the one stretch where they had
really sustained offensive success against the Hawks other than the JD.
Davison minutes, and by the way, they were limited tonight.
But Jady Davison, you know, as president of the j. D.
(15:07):
Davison Fan Club, they were plus seventeen in his minutes tonight,
I think fourth most minutes off the bench, So another
strong night for him. JD. Davison Fan Club is still
accepting memberships, so get in while you still can. But
other than the JD factor and the double Big on
Monday night, it was very sticky tonight. They almost ran
no double big. You know, Steven didn't play as expected,
(15:31):
second game in three nights. They're still building him back up.
He's in his thirties. Shada YadA. And then the double
big lineup in the first half they did it very briefly,
but those were actually some of their worst minutes, at
least in terms of plus minus. You know, Clint had
a big night from a rebounded perspective. Offensively in the
half court. When they tried to play capella and shouldn'tun together,
it was a little bit of a slog in part
(15:51):
because Clint wasn't really finishing at the rim. He seemed
to have butterfingers at times, probably just an off night.
I wouldn't read too much into it exhibition, but the
larger point, I think the Rockets had success tonight without
the Double Big, And that's really important because so much
last year we talked about it Monday, the formula was
(16:12):
using the double Big, all the offensive rebounding, all the
screen setting to get these second chance opportunities because they
just didn't have enough creation. They didn't have enough wiggled,
they didn't have enough that they could turn to. Tonight,
they were able to generate a lead offense without Steven
Adams and basically without going to the double Big at all,
and so I think that's noteworthy as well that they
were able to execute much much more traditionally. Reed Shepperd
(16:34):
got a second straight start in the starting lineup, which
I think tells you what imo Udoka is thinking as
far as you know, longer term, what he wants to
do the sustainability, not saying it's a given that Read
is going to start, but I think in a perfect
world they want him to be ready for that type
of role. And I just think that not just the
numbers and the efficiency, but the way they got those
dumbers without having to go for the double big stimulus
(16:57):
was noteworthy. I mean, they still want the double big
as an option be really good in certain matchups, but
last year, I don't know if they're geting one hundred
and forty point against anybody on good efficiency without the
double date.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, you're right, and that's actually leading me kind of
into what I want to talk about here. And this
is not criticism, and maybe it's a mild concern, but
I do you know right now they have added what
they didn't have last year, you know, and that's Katie,
and they have an assassin. They can hand the ball
to it down the stretch.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
They also come on David.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, I mean, clearly the second best player on the team,
there's no question, but you know they have that. But
really like the five starters they have right now, I
don't know if Reid's going to stay in there or not,
but they're all kind of offensive weapons. Jabari is an
improving offensive weapons, certainly, but all of those guys, they're
not really any offensive liabilities. I do want to talk
(17:50):
a little bit about whether this team's kind of identity
is going to change right now. They don't have Dorian
Finney Smith and I have been concerned I guess is
the right word a little bit about just losing Fred,
losing Dylan, and to a lesser extent, losing Jalen. You've
lost three starters that were at least kind of you know,
(18:10):
together for a couple of years, and that was a
big part of your identity. Defensively, Dry and Phinney Smith's
going to be a key player.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
The Rockets are clearly improved offensively. I think we've seen
that in the first two games, even if it is
just preseason. Have they taken a step back defensively a
little bit? And I say this because the Hawks torched
them from three point rangs in the first half. That
was the Rockets starters or key guys and the Jazz tonight.
Some of those were contested, but they were on fire
(18:40):
from three point range. Hendricks draining them, sensible, draining them,
Ace Bailey hitting tons of shots. Again, Maybe the identity
is gonna change and the Rockets are gonna win more
games with offense than their defense. Maybe they step back
to it just you know, tenth eleventh in defense. Again,
I don't know if that's gonna be the case, but
I'm just wondering, if you see some of that until
(19:00):
Phinny Smith gets.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Back, especially early in the year without doriy on Pinny
Smith and integrating these new pieces, we saw at least
two classic Ima Ujok of rage timeouts. Even in the preseason,
those still exist where there's a breakdown in communication and
he immediately, just in discust, brings them to the bench
to yell at them. Even in the preseason, he May
is still going to e May and I think it
speaks to the larger tread. Look, if the Jazz don't
(19:24):
shoot the lights out twenty to forty five forty four
and a half percent from three, that's really good. With
a little bit better lock the Rockets win this game
by twenty plus, But the forty five to three point attempts,
that's too many. You talk to anybody in the NBA
and they'll tell you, Look, three point shooting accuracy, that's
generally luck based for the most part, but three point
shooting volume is not. That's what good defenses can control.
(19:46):
And so giving up forty five three point shots and
so many of them were just you know, lapses in communication.
You know, two guys looked at each other and you know,
one thought that the other was going to pick up
the assignment and then it just didn't happen. And I
think it's just the perfect storm. It's not that they
can't do it. And I do think it's something that
you know, the glass half full of you. As they
(20:07):
get more experienced playing with each other and you get
Dorian Phinney Smith back, I think they should improve as
the year progresses. But right now you lost to communicators
and Fred and Dylan. You're supposed to get one really
elite defensive coordinator and communicator excuse me in DFS. He's
not ready. And then you have all these new pieces
(20:27):
playing with guys they haven't played before, most notably Kevin Durant.
And yeah, it's it's a little spotty at times, and
some of the live ball turnovers play into it as well.
It wasn't quite as bad as the other night, but
when you have these live ball turnovers, that's where you
end up getting these clean three point looks in transition.
And so, yeah, the three point accuracy from the Jazz
(20:48):
was sort of fluky, and that you know, they shouldn't
shoot that well against air, but the volume getting up
forty five three is I'm sure that's something that's going
to drive ema Joka and his staff up the wall
and it's going to be a talking point and they
can get a little bit better. But I do think
it's a little concerning in that, you know, when you
run a lot of double big and someone in the
comments is saying they're trying to zone in the preseason
that they won't in the regular season. Yeah, I've seen
(21:10):
some of that, but I do think also that tonight
was a little worrisome and that typically they give up
volume when they run a lot of double big, and
especially that zone. To give up the volume they did
tonight without doing much double big. Again, it is the preseason.
It's an outlier, but it's something that I do think
you should have a little bit of a raised eyebrow for,
(21:31):
especially when we know they lost a couple of really
valued communicators from last year's team and you don't yet
have DFS who is supposed to excel at that specific thing.
So the glass half full view that I would offer
is that you know, as the year progresses, as they
get more used to playing with one another, that should
resolve itself pretty organically, I would think, but at least
(21:53):
to start the year, I think it's a fair concern
and also read just being in year two. Let's be honest,
you know, read individually, he wasn't foul prone as he
was in his debut on Monday. That's a step in
the right direction, but true, if you're starting a guy
at what twenty one years old year two, he's probably
not going to be an ELEAD NBA communicator. So that's
(22:14):
another drawback if you go that route. So, you know,
it's one of those things. I don't think it's end
of the world, especially if you're able to be as
a lead offensively as they were tonight, and there are
reasons to think they'll get better as the year moves along.
Philly is to start the year, Yeah, they might not
be the top five defense that were used to simply
based on the changes and not having Dorian just yet.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, because so much of it is just cohesion chemistry.
I'm not saying these guys aren't capable of building that again,
And maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Maybe it is right.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Out of the gate that good, but I feel like
it's just going to take a little bit of time
with so many kind of new pieces, even if some
of them were here last year coming off the bench,
you know, last year.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
They won with defense, they won with.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Very low turnovers, great three point defense, and they won
by just killing you the possessions battle of rebounding. Tonight,
Rockets won the rebounding battle in the first half. I'm
really studying the first half, primarily when the starters played.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
They did go into the mid.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Third quarter, but looking at the first half, Rockets won
the rebounding battle twenty two to sixteen. In that half,
out shot them fifty one field goal attempts to thirty eight,
eleven to seven in turnovers, So that right there was
a recipe for success, even if it was close. The
reason the Jazz were close to the Rockets at halftime
is because they just shot so darn effectively.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I would also pay attention to the first half of
the third quarter. Someone noted in the comment section that
the Rockets switched to more man in the second half,
which I would agree with, and that's when the turnovers
started to pick up. So yeah, maybe some of its
tactical They went a little zone heavy in the first
half and the Jazz exploited that. I also think the
Rockets had more I don't have the splits between first
and second half, but by the eyeball test. They had
(23:52):
a lot more of their turnovers in the first half.
I think that contributed as well. But yeah, I think
you might can pay attention to the third quarter as well.
And so there was again, if you squent hard enough,
a little bit of progress. But yeah, it's not something
that you should overlook entirely either.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Good.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, let's let's hope that's the case. I wanted to
bring up a comment here. I know Snail Champion made
just right here what we can we can close on
this topic, but he just says Jabari looks like a
completely different player. He was seven of eleven tonight for
eighteen points. Had a good, a great start to the
first game. Matter of fact, both of these games, first
game and second game pre season opened with the Jabari three.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Very first possession. Tonight was just a little bit better.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Obviously had some nice you know from from Shngoon passes,
dunks and things of that nature. But excuse me, Jabari
was good tonight. And what are you seeing first two games?
Is you know, all the hype about his offseason real
to you.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yeah, there was a possession in the first half, at
least one where he caught off ball to the bucket
and finished. I thought those were really encouraging. I also
thought there was one possession where he ended up sticking
a three where he wanted to give the ball to
Shangoon to sort of create out of the high post,
and his defender sagged towards Shangoon to make that a
(25:08):
little more difficult. So he just dribbled into a three,
and it looked much more fluid that it has in
his first three NBA seasons in terms of there was
very limited. There wasn't much in the way of wasted
movement from getting his handle to a shot, and so
I thought he looks again. A lot of this I
(25:30):
think is the simplified role, and that now that you
have at least two top shelf playmakers, and you hope
a man can grow into that. But right now I
think KD and Shangoon are the clear top two and
a half court and the rockets aren't searching for you know,
maybe you had won the last two years with Shangoon
and I don't want to sell him short, but I
(25:52):
think Shaangoon is better now than even the last two years,
probably because of euro baskets. I think he's in incredible
form right now. This is probably, at least for my recollection,
i've ever seen him play. I think, you know, Jabari
has clearly done a lot of work in the off
season on his handle, on his body. He doesn't get
bumped off his spots. You know, in the preseason, I'm
(26:13):
less focused on the stat lines because you don't have
the minutes. The shot attempts for things to normalize, so
it might be really good or really bad. It can
be wonky in a given game. I'm more looking at
the process, and so Jabari is not getting bumped off
his spots the way he was very frequently in previous seasons.
He looks more comfortable in his body. There isn't as
much wasted movement. If he needs to rise and fire
(26:34):
relatively quickly, like that three he had when the defender
sort of went towards Shangoon a little bit. He's more
comfortable doing that. He just looks like, again, someone who's
much more calm and within himself. And I think a
lot of this, you know, some of it is skilled development,
but some of it also is simplicity of role. You know,
the last couple of years, the Rockets have sort of
(26:56):
been searching for who the stars are going to be.
Obviously in the rebuilding years, even the last two years,
they haven't had that clear outfit. So it's sort of been,
you know, all the younger guys, certainly Jalen, but also
Jabari as well at times Tari and you can go
up and down the lineup with the young guys, the
Core Sex, the Core seven at times, and they've all
been sort of searching and taking turns. Now, I think
(27:17):
it's much more clear where Jabari fits in the big picture.
I think there's a much more clear hierarchy, and I
think one of the big benefits is that the more
ancillary pieces like Jabari, like Reid can sort of be
a star in their role as opposed to having to
you know, search for what that role is.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yeah, we'll do this before we close. Last question, Luke
sent this in. We talked about this a little bit
on the last show, But if we happen to make
it to the finals this year, is there a chance
Fred will be back by the month of June. I mean,
I'll let you chime in on that, but I don't
I just personally don't see it. I mean, I'm looking
at just I'm a big fantasy football guy and just
(27:53):
looking at so many players coming back from ACL injuries.
I know football is different than basketball, but it just
takes time. And I can't imagine the Rockets rehabbing this
really furiously and then thrusting him into a mid playoff situation.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I could be.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Wrong, but so the study that I've seen, the average
ACL recovery timetable in the NBA is nine point eight months,
which would take until around the start of July next year,
which is after the NBA Finals. Now, if you squint
hard enough, you can argue that, you know, technology is
improving by the year, and some of those nine point
eight months include the off season, so they maybe take
(28:28):
a little bit longer because you can So maybe if
you squint hard enough and you know he rehabs hard,
you can get it closer to eight to nine and
you know, make it back at some point in the playoffs.
I don't think it's impossible. I'm told pretty strongly that
both the Rockets and Fred are shooting for that scenario.
I mean, ideally before the playoffs, but you know, they're
(28:51):
not for closing the possibility. One thing that makes me
at least open minded to the possibility is that because
Fred has a player option for the ensuing season. There's
not a ton of risk to him, and that even
if he doesn't play that well, it doesn't go that
great for whatever reason, he can just pick up that
player option. So it's not like he'd be potentially, you know,
risking tons of money if things don't go well. So
(29:15):
he does have some security. However, when you look at
the history of guys coming off of ACL injuries, I
would be stunned if he came back to anything close
to a starter's level role, Like it might be possible
that he could build up to like, you know, fifteen
to twenty minutes, and that's better than nothing. Like you know,
he's a you know, if you could have him as
(29:36):
a quality backup point guard, and obviously he's a good shooter,
he makes good decisions. We talked about the defensive communication.
Would that be a value, Absolutely, But I think it
would be a real stretch to expect the thread of
last year's playoffs to be back by May or June.
I think, if everything goes right, and I still think
it's less than fifty to fifty, but if everything goes right,
(29:58):
you could see Fred return by the playoffs. But I
don't think it would be like a huge needle mover.
It would be like maybe getting you know, an eighth
or ninth man for your bench, which could be useful.
Don't get me wrong. We saw, you know, the twenty
eighteen Rockets sort of broke down because the injuries in
the playoffs, and you know, by game seven they're playing
the corpses of Joe Johnson and Ryan Anderson. So maybe,
(30:19):
you know, having Fred off the bench by the time
you get deep in the playoffs could be really valuable.
I wouldn't write off that scenario. I would just say
it's less than fifty to fifty and be tap the
brakes on anything expecting more than say, fifteen minutes per
game off the bench if he does come back. Do
not expect thirty to thirty five minutes starting point guard
level Fred than Fleet if he returns this season. Tap
(30:41):
the brakes done that.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
And the other scenario, which we do we touched on
briefly too, is just the possibility that that contract gets traded.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
As sad as it is.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
As much as the Rockets want to win with Fred,
and I'm sure they do, Katie is here now and
they need to win. I mean, you could see something
like a Jiu holiday or somebody a player out there.
The Rockets to side, Look, we got to go for it,
and you know, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
How and that's going to be conditional on how they
play during the season. So it's current less go too
far that down that road now, but yeah, things get
off to a slow start, then yeah, you you have
that option. It's been reported this week and I've confirmed
it at Clutch Fans that the Rockets will be playing
filing for a disabled player exception for Fred's contract, which
will give them basically a twelve point five million dollar
(31:25):
TPE that can be used on players on one year deals,
basically half the value of Fred's contract. Now, they can't
use it at the moment because of the hard cap
at the first apron, but if they make trades during
the year that lower the team payroll, potentially they could.
Basically there's no downside. Getting the disabled player exception does
not rule Fred out. It just says that an independent
physician appointed by the NBA deems it more likely than
(31:48):
not that he's not going to be available by June fifteenth.
June fifteenth is a deesgnating day because that's around the
end of the NBA Finals, and that circles back to
Luke's question, which is you know is Fred gonna be
back by the middle of June. I suspect the Rockets
will get the disabled player exception because all NBA injury
history tells us that it's less likely than likely. And
maybe the Rockets get lucky, and he devised the odds,
(32:10):
but again unlikely, and if they do, it's going to
be for a smaller role in my opinion, nothing major.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Appreciate it, Ben, It's always fun talking Rockets with you. Guys.
We will do this again after the next game.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
I don't believe they play until Tuesday against the Pelicans.
We'll get to see Zions the slim down sixty percent
of what we usually see from Zion and he looks good,
so that'll be kind of a fun game to watch.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
And guys, I'm new.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
To YouTube, but I believe you if you subscribe, you'll
be notified when we go live after the games. I
believe that's how it works the drill, So feel free
to subscribe to the Clutch Fans channel and you'll.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Know when we go live.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
So Ben appreciate you doing this. Rockets too, and Zero
in the preseason looking good. Obviously, the competition will pick
up here soon after these first couple of preseason games,
but Rockets looking for looking towards a very exciting season.
I think all of us are really pumped up about
it too.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Down one hundred to go because you have what two
in the free season, eighty two in the regular season,
and then sixteen in the playoff. So yeah, one hundred more,
hundred more day if we got this.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Thanks everybody, have a great one.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!