Consistent inconsistency: Is it time to reset expectations in Houston?

After a brilliant 13-4 start to the 2025-26 season, the Rockets (22-12) went just 9-8 in their second 17-game sample. With Houston now at No. 6 in the Western Conference standings, is it time for fans to recalibrate their expectations?

In Friday’s full show, Ben DuBose and Paulo Alves explore that question and numerous other January 2026 storylines surrounding the Rockets. Discussion topics include the role of Alperen Sengun’s absence (right ankle sprain) in Houston’s suddenly mediocre offense; how much criticism is warranted for Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr.; and whether the recent inconsistency could make a trade more likely by the in-season deadline of February 5.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Rockets Fans, Welcome to the Rockets Launch Pod, an exclusive
podcast from the home of the Rockets, Sports Talk seven
Red Nation. Get Ready, Ready, Get Ready. The Rockets Launch
Pod starts now.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome aboard, Welcome to the Rockets Launch Pod, as always,

(00:53):
presented by Clutch Fans and with support from Sports Talk
seven ninety, the official flagship prodotation of your Houston Rockets.
As always, we are your host. I'm Ben Dubo's He's
Palo Alves. You can follow me on social media at
Ben Dubo's and Polo at Palo Alves NBA, and you
can also read by work at USA Today's Rockets Wire
and over on the Clutch Fans blog. So today is Friday,

(01:15):
the ninth of January. Happy New Year to everyone listening.
This is our first full show since the calendar flipped
to twenty twenty six, so I think we're allowed to
say that, at least I hope we are. Unfortunately, it
has not been a great start to the new year
for the Rockets, though they've been a moderate to heavy
favorite in each of the four games they played. We
had mentioned in the previous pod that this is a

(01:38):
very favorable part of the schedule, but the Rockets are
just two and two in the four games they played
to date, and they're also going to be without star
big man allper In should go for at least a
few more days because he's framed his right ankle. This week,
the Rockets have had two games go right down to
the wire. In one case, they had the basketball gods
smiling upon them, in the second case, they did not.

(01:59):
Monday against the Sun, Kevin Durant hit the dagger three
with a second left, but then Wednesday in Portland, what
would have been a game winning tip shot by Terry
Eason was determined on replay review to have been a
split second after the buzzer, So the Rockets took a
one point loss, and with that loss, they fall to
twenty two to twelve and all the way to the
number six spot in the Western Conference standings. Though we

(02:21):
should note that it's very tight between two and six,
so there's a lot of room to climb the standings
rapidly if you can just stack some wins together, and
theoretically you can start that tonight with the rematch against
the Trailblazers in that same building. With that said, I'm
struggling to buy in on this idea of a winning
streak because they just haven't stacked wins in a while.

(02:42):
And to me, the biggest takeaway from these last few games,
and particularly the two against the Suns and the Trailblazers,
is that the Rockets just shouldn't have let each game
go down to the wire in the first place. Yet
they just did. And it's not really a one off.
You know, if you look at any one game out
of eighty two in isolation, you can always find some

(03:02):
fluky things that should correct as you get a larger sample.
You know, the Trailblazers game, the Rocket shot eight of
thirty six from three. They were literally the best team
in the NBA at three point shooting accuracy through a
big chunk of December, and now they're dead last in January,
so that should correct. That's fluky. But even if we

(03:26):
account for that, there just hasn't been any consistency for
a while. I would actually argue that the most consistent
thing about them is that they're inconsistent. They're just notoriously
playing up or down to the competition. You know, back
in December, they had that stretch where they were awful defensively.
Now for January, they're back in the top six in

(03:47):
defensive rating. They figured that out, but suddenly it's the offense.
After being in the top two for most of the season, Well,
now it's completely mediocre. In January they're fifteenth among the
league's thirtyeen. Live ball turnovers are still an issue in
most games, and of course there's some roster circumstances you
can point to. We knew the turnovers without Fred and

(04:09):
Fleet were going to be a problem. The offense overall
is worse without Shingoon. He's maybe your best playmaker. For
most of December, you didn't have Tarry Easton or Dorian
Finney Smith, and so that hurt you defensively. But every
team in the NBA has injuries. It's a contact sport.
And what I just keep coming back to is that
the Rockets overcame them just buying in October and November.

(04:33):
That was a team that we talked about entering December POWLO.
You had that stat that they had the fifth best
net rating in NBA history when they were thirteen and
four and just bludgeoning teams through Thanksgiving. They didn't have
Fred for any of those games. They didn't have Tari
for at least half of November. They had a couple

(04:54):
of games without Katie. It certainly didn't have perfect health,
but they were dominant nonetheless. And so what's deflating is
that after Wednesday's loss in Portland, that's the seventeenth game
since BET thirteen and four start and they're nine and eighth.
Last seventeen games as mediocre as it gets, and several

(05:14):
of those have been to teams like the Pelicans, the Kings,
the Jazz, now the Blazers, and it's literally an identical
sample to the seventeen games that started the year. So
as good as that was, we've now had pure mediocrity
for an equal sample. That offsets that. And what struck
me the most watching that game in Portland, I wasn't

(05:34):
even that mad Pallo like when they lost those games
in December to lesser teams. I was pissed. I was
blowing up our WhatsApp chat. I was just so convinced
they were better than that and it was just an
inexplicably bad showing or just really unlucky something like that.
And these days I just sort of shrugged my shoulders,
like I did have a very brief hashtag Houston sports

(05:56):
moment when Tari's buzzer beater was a tenth of a
second late. But logically, know the bigger issue there is
that the game shouldn't have been close to begin with.
So what that's led me to I think, at least
for me, I need to reset my expectations a little bit,
and perhaps we all do. It's certainly not to say
the season is over, that they can't win a championship,

(06:16):
not saying anything like that. There's still forty eight games
left in the regular season. We're talking about two seventeen
game samples here. Those are basically each a fifth of
the regular season, and so you've still got three more
of those segments to go. So it is entirely possible
this last seventeen game stretch that's been just pure mediocrity.
Maybe it's the exception to the rule. Shongoon should be

(06:37):
back in the next few days. Maybe Fred comes back
by the playoffs and defies the odds DFS is going
to play more minutes. He should get better. Kadi looks
absolutely brilliant, and so that always gives you a chance.
And then by the time you get to the playoffs,
maybe this tendency of playing up or down to the competition.
It pays off because there's no back to backs. We
know that's been a problem for this team, and then

(06:58):
every game is more meaningful, so you're playing up. You
can also point out that the Rockets right now are
eleven into at home, eleven and ten on the road.
That tells you they've had way more road games, and
so maybe things course correct when they play in Houston
a ton more so for all of those reasons, I'm
not pressing the panic button. What I mean by resetting expectations.
We just shouldn't look at this team as the juggernaut

(07:20):
that I think a lot of us wanted to believe
when they were heading into December. When I saw the
way they played in their metrics in October and November,
I was thinking back to that sixty five win Chakra
Knut in twenty eighteen, the one that went forty two
and three when Chris Paul, James Harden, and Clint Papella
all played. Because for the first six weeks of this season,

(07:42):
these guys weren't that far off in terms of the metrics,
in terms of the dominance, But I think it's it's
just been long enough now that I'm calling it this
is not that type of team. It's not to say
that they can't recapture it later on, at least in spurts.
I hope they can. It's not implausible, and in fairness,
you can argue that maybe we never should have had

(08:02):
those expectations as soon as Fred went down with the ACL,
But even so, I think it's a little bit of
a let down because they did tease us, even without Fred,
with that level of dominance for the first six weeks
or so, and now that's pretty much gone. You see
it in flashes here or there, a game once or
so a week, but nothing sustained at all. So before

(08:26):
we go into any of the micro trends, I wanted
to start with the macro. Are you still.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
Hoping that maybe this team can get to fifty five
or sixty wins and get a top two, top three seed,
or are we basically getting to a point where it's
just get to the playoffs healthy, try to get the
best matchups you can, even if it's a sixth seed.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
All that matters is April, May and June. Is there
still a path for this team to become dominant in
the regular season or are we at a point where
we just sort of accept that, you know, this is
who they are, and maybe put our eggs in the
basket of hoping they put it to gather when it
matters most sort of like you know derk Niviitski did
for a fifty seven win Dallas team back in twenty

(09:06):
eleven when he was starting to age. Maybe a thirty
seven year old KD can follow that template and twenty
six The bottom line and my question for you, Paolo,
have these past few weeks changed your expectations at all,
at least in terms of the regular season, because at
least for me, it feels like the floor is a
decent bit lower, even if the ceiling it's still what
it was.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
Well, I can't say they haven't, because if you ask
me a couple of weeks back, I might have said
something crazy like, oh, I think this seems gonna win
sixty games, and I don't think that anymore. However, my
kind of Delda in opinion is not I think as
large as yours and as well as a lot of
people's on Twitter, and you know, some of this might

(09:49):
be and then I'll be I'll be honest, up front.
If the game's at three am, which I think is
is a nine pm starts three, I'm out watching like
I'm a word a full time. I can't do it anymore.
I did it for a few years. It just ruins
the entire week. So and it seems like we are
and this is you know, just the weird lazy find patterns.

(10:09):
It seems like we seem to be worse at those
games than we are at the normal games. I mean,
I'll watch a three am game if it's like a
Friday or Saturday, right, but but the other days I won't,
And it just seems like I wake up the first
thing I do go check the result, and it seems
like we've lost more times than not when when I

(10:30):
have to do that. This is not you know, a
stat because I haven't checked it, but it certainely feels
that way. So just to say that my spirits might
be a little bit inflated compared to someone who has
watched those games as well, So moving on, moving on
from from what is barely analysis to it might might

(10:51):
actually qualify as as it. I do think that this
team is still a fifty five win team. I think
there are a few things that have worked into or
a few or a combination of a few factors that
have led to you know, this shaky kind of five
hundred stretch of basketball the Truckers have been on, and

(11:11):
it's been it's been a group of things. Right, we
haven't had fled from very early on, and then we
didn't have Tari and we didn't have Laurian Finnis Smith,
and that's three kerotation players on a team. And well,
if you go to any team and you take away
three he rotation players, they won't be as good or
they won't be on a sixty in price even from
the look Morble nowadays. And then now that we've got

(11:33):
on Tari and Darren Winnie Smith back durnt Win Smith,
and that hasn't been you know that good. He's been
good on defense, he's held there, but he hasn't been
able to shoot the ball yet. But we lost Shengo
in that stretch, which is you known, even bigger blow
than losing those two guys. So it seems like this
team earlier on even was able to fight off a

(11:56):
few injuries well because of as well, because they were
shooting just raw lights outs from three. You know, it
was never really. It was never really sustainable for shan
Hund shooting forty something percent from three was never really
sustainable for Rich Shepherd to be forty seven percent three
point shooter when and I know we'll talk about to

(12:18):
read a little bit later on, but that has died
down and our offense is no longer as absolutely supersonic
as it was before to cover up our defensive mistakes
and the our lack of defensive intensity. But to be fair,
our defensive intensity has picked up, and our rebounding or
at least those lapses that we used to have in rebounding,

(12:38):
especially defensively, do seem to with dardin finished panentory being back,
have gone away for a little bit. Some of it
might be because Steven Adams is starting in place of
Shane Nun, which is obviously going to make a defense
better than your offense a little worse. But we look
at the lot at the past few games. It's one
o three to the to the Blazers, ninety seven to
the Suns, you know, one ten to the MAVs and

(13:02):
ninety six to the Nets, right and before that that
there's the Pacers game that was that was a blowout,
So this to say, you know, the defense seems to
have picked up, but and I think this is my
I guess, my, my, my takeaway, it seems like even
though the defense has picked up, the Rockets still do

(13:23):
miss having a bit of an enforcer. And the Rockets
had two last season with with Freven Vleeten and Dylan Brooks,
and now they have none on defense. And we do
have good defensive players that care, that work hard, but
there's a gap between that and having someone on the
court that's constantly demanding you to play great defense to

(13:45):
other guys on the team, right, not saying they don't care,
not saying Singmone doesn't care, not saying Kad doesn't care,
or at times I mean I think, I mean, for
what I expect, he's been better defensively than what I
expected for each apart the same thing. Right, even Aaron Holiday,
who's a decent defender, was a better defender last season
if you ask me. You know, even Jabari, who's who's

(14:07):
an okay defenders, I think he gets elevated if there's
if there's someone in his ear, you know, constantly bringing
that intensity. And I do think that Rockets has lost
some of their floor with the Katie trade right, and
that floor came from Dylan Brooks. And it's even more
noticeable because Fride isn't there, not necessarily for what everybody

(14:28):
talks about, which is they don't have a point guard. No,
it's more on the defensive end that that makes more
of a difference. And I think that's what's that edge
defensively in terms of influencing others, not necessarily as governing ruckets,
governing their own player, governing their own effort. I don't
think that that's a problem. I don't think a man's

(14:48):
bad had effort problems or Sorry or Jabari for that matter,
Like I don't think our main defensive guys have had
effort issues. But there's no one bringing the standard up
for everybody else. And it is a pretty big step
for a young players to go from Okay, I'm gonna
be a really good funder by myself to okay, I'm
going to do my job and be there exert energy,

(15:08):
you know, demanding that from other blairs. Also, it's not
in or kind of vetting. KD is not that type either,
and Donian Finish Smith doesn't seem to be the most
you know, outspoken guy in the sense not of communication,
but in the sense of being a leader. Does it
seem to be his you know, his profile.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
He's also always playing like fifteen minutes a game, so yeah.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
But yeah, I'm just saying it doesn't seem to be
his vibe, right, but at least right watching him, does
it seem to be his personality?

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Right?

Speaker 4 (15:40):
So just to say that, it's just been like a
combination of a lot of factors, some of them forble,
some of them might make me change my mind a
little bit on what I think about the trade deadline.
Perhaps you know, don't have something material on that yet
because I would have to see if there's someone who
fits that profile. But this is to say that between

(16:03):
the unfortunate timing of injuries where we've never truly been
at full capacity or at with our four roster on,
even without even discarding fat and with as as a given,
combine that with just the timing of our hot shooting
versus not so hot shooting, combined to the timing of
thing on being up and being back in and then

(16:24):
Kad had to be film missed a couple or three
games for well, I don't know if that's probably not
I'm not gonna say it, but you know, it just
seems like there's been a lot of things moving that
kept us from, you know, find just really finding our groove.
And it doesn't seem like we are just the team

(16:44):
good enough to just steamroll games regardless of like we
don't have an edge offensively to be able to just
steamroll games, regardless of those little things that kind of
eat away at your your margins when when you're facing
another team. So because of that, I do think that
they I am trying to I don't know, I'm really
long here, but I do think that they can recover

(17:05):
and I do think that they can still get to
a fifty five lime base, you know, having some look
with injuries, and I do think that, as I said
in previous spots, the most important thing is getting a
top three seed, and they're currently have the same. And
you know, the measure for a good team is how
many losses you have, not necessarily have many wins because
you expect to win most games. So having that in mind,

(17:28):
they have the same amount of losses as what I
think the two seed as well. Yeah, they have the
same amount of losses as the as the Nuggets at
twelve that are the three seed. They have one more
loss than the two seed, the Spurs, and so they
have they're going to have one less loss than the
Wolves what are in front of them, who are currently
in front of them based on win percent, of course,
because they have more games played, three more games played,

(17:51):
so they are very much like this is like one
one game, two games from completely flipping in as being
the three seed, and nobody is worried at that point,
or at least I wouldn't be so to me as
long as they are within striking distance of that of
that two three seed, I'm just not gonna panic because
the measure of this team is often with the regular season,
no maasure if the teams we've been in the playoffs eventually,

(18:14):
and so I just struggle to be as as doom
and gloom as a lot of people had been on remediably,
And this is the regular season for a team that's
you know, then everybody basically already knows is a contender anyway.
I don't think they're out there looking to prove themselves.
So this is not last year. You can judge it
by the same metrics as you cutched the team last year,

(18:36):
and even knowing that, I do think that they'll reach
the same the very least the same amount of wins
as the last season. They just come a different way.
And when you lose a really close nail bier where
you put on one, where you put in a lot
of defensive effort, it doesn't stink as bad as when

(18:57):
you get blown out by just a team a few
don't really respect, or that it's not supposed to be
that great, like Targets, for example, against the Clippers. Like
last season, every win felt like the conquest, and this season,
every wind doesn't feel like the conquest because we are
already there, right, we are already a contender, and so everybody,

(19:18):
and so you don't get as big of a high
from wins, and it's get a much bigger kind of
I guess the opposite of a high or a much
bigger will I guess from all the losses. And I
think that's what And you know, we often come on
the part and we kind of play, you know, the
psychologists of rockets, Twitter and trying to understand what's going

(19:38):
on in people's brains, and so I think that's mostly
what's going on. I don't think there's anything to panic about.
I'll panic when when they are you know, and when
they start to be you know, three four games behind
the two the three see at that point, I'll start
to worry and stuff like they are in any danger
of a knock on wood obviously, but they aren't in

(19:59):
any danger folly out of into the play and race
does SEMs obviously have three more losses. That's that's a
pretty big delta for the seven one of wins. I'm mostly,
as I said before, in pots still within striking distance
stuff of the two seed. Cruise through the season, try
to not pick up any season, any any injuries. These

(20:20):
guys seem to already kind of know how to play
with each other. There's no there's no you know, nothing
jumps out of the screen as far as as far
as rust goes, especially offensively, they kind of already know
which spots is each player like, So it's not like
they haven't, you know, played enough games together and they're
still trying to find that out. And then they know
what their go to is in the clutch and then
all that stuff, and everybody kind of know what their

(20:43):
spaces within the team. So going forward, listen, the thirty
or season me is about enjoying the games. To listen.
If you win, I'll be happy, I'll you know, it
look good to keep bailing wins on understandings. But if
they lose, as long as you know they don't, well,
was too much for what as the contender is supposed
to do. I'm not going to be panicking over a

(21:05):
stretch over the worst search of the season being a
like what the fifteen game streats or seventeen game streats
where they're playing barely over five hundred ball, Because it
also depends on how you look at it. You can
look at that seventeen game stretch, or you can look
at the last seven games and see that they are
five and two and at that point, okay, now we're

(21:26):
in a contender. In the contender pace, you are one
tip and away from being six and one, and they
not having these discussions at all. So yeah, I know
it was a long runt. I'm done to go into
more specific stuff if you open.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, I think the reason I fixate on the seventeen
is I go back to the first seventeen and the
expectations that I had coming out of October and November,
and I think you're right this team can still win
fifty five plus games. Everything is on the table. I
just think it's coming clearer that that juggernaut scenario isn't

(22:03):
really on the table anymore, at least not in the
regular season, and perhaps we never should have expected it
after Fred's injury. It just feels like they sort of
teased us with it a little bit and then it
went away. Although I guess you can't argue that this
version that we've seen playing up or down to the competition,
maybe there is more upside because early in the year
there was that narrative of o CA and they beat
really good teams. Well, lately it's been sort of the reverse.

(22:25):
They get up for the big games against the Nuggets,
the Lakers, the Spotlight, it's these sleepy games on the
West Coast against lesser teams like the Kings, like the Trailblazers,
like the Jazz that they're struggling with. And so maybe
this model, while more frustrating, it provides more upside in
the grand scheme. I'm open to that. Anyway. I want

(22:51):
to move on and talk about individual players that are
contributing to this, and you know, Kevin Durant has been
brilliant and this without all perinching Goon. Beyond just scoring
at an extremely efficient level, which he's done since coming
back at the end of November, he's also rebounding more,
he's assisting more, he's been a better defender. He's just

(23:12):
fantastic across the board. What he's doing at thirty seven
years old is just absolutely phenomenal. But everyone's favorite whipping
boy early in the season and men Thompson, that is
no longer the case. Since the start of December, in
seventeen games, he's averaging right at twenty points, eight rebounds,
five assists per game, shooting almost fifty six percent overall.

(23:32):
So a man is getting better. It's pretty clear that
slow start to the year from an efficiency perspective was
an outlier. He's back to that guy he was all
of last season, and perhaps the slow start is just
you know, I've talked about it in the past. He's
a very unique layer in terms of his model, and
it just takes him, I think a little bit of
time to get used to the NBA speed and physicality

(23:53):
and finishing through the contact that he absorbs on a
lot of his drives. Because he is limited as a
shooter line a Men has been very very good, even
if he's not a traditional point guard. I think the
bottom line, he's a very good player, and so no
one is talking or at least they shouldn't be badly
about him and Thompson anymore. Since the start of December,

(24:13):
he's been really good. Tarry Eason. Since getting promoted to
the starting lineup around Christmas, he's looked good defensively. I
was really encouraged by the work he did on Devin
Booker late in that game against the Suns. He seems
to be happily accepting the glue guy role alongside the
high usage guys like kadi Amin Shingoon when he's able
to play. And you know, some of the the dep

(24:34):
offensively is certainly due to not having all for in Shangoon,
who's probably your best playmaker. So we do have to
keep stating that. But I think in terms of the
criticism we mentioned, a lot of the guys are playing well.
The veterans that are sort of low ceiling, you're Josha
Koge Dory and Finney Smith. Steven Adams, well, Steven Adams
is a higher ceiling, but offensively he is what he

(24:56):
is He's not someone you're gonna run offense through Aaron Hollow.
Those vets I sort of put them in the same
bucket Clinkepel as well. As they do what they do,
you're not gonna have too many highs or too many lows.
Other than the games that Steven set out with his
zone ankle injury, your defense did fall off a little bit,
but that's to be expected, just as all for in
Hramoon is your floor raiser on offense, Steven Adams is

(25:18):
your floor raiser on defense, and the ideal, of course
is to have them both so that you have a
high floor on both sides of the ball. The last
few weeks, it's been one or the other, and that
explains some of the volatility. But in terms of the individuals,
the two guys are getting the most criticism are Jabari
Switz Junior and Reed Shepherd. And I'm surprised that it's
as close as it is between those two guys, because

(25:40):
when you look at the macro rather than the micro,
I think it's pretty clear that Read is the bigger issue,
and that shouldn't come as a huge shock. He's just
twenty one years old. He's your two so there's gonna
be a learning curve, and he was due to regress
some after starting as hot as he did through that
opening seventeen game stretch. But the outrage I'm seeing, at

(26:02):
least on my social media feed directed at Jabari. Look,
you can say Jabari Smith's slump the last three games
cost them wins in Dallas and Portland. That's fear. Both
of those games he had matching stat lines of two
of thirteen overall, one of seven from three. Yeah, it's
really disappointing. We're talking about a three game stretch, and

(26:23):
in the middle of that, by the way, the buzzer
beating win you had over the Suns, Jabari was your
second leading scorer, had seventeen points, seven rebounds, shot fifty
five percent overall and thirty eight percent from three. So
we're literally talking about two bad games for Jabari. Yes,
bad games. Yes, you can say if Jabari shoots anywhere
near his averages, they certainly win in Portland and they
probably win in Dallas. It is absolutely fair to say that. However,

(26:46):
the season as a whole, what people are frustrated by
is not just one game in a vacuum, because it's
an eighty two game season. No, it's about the down
turn overall since December and what we've seen the last
three games. It's simply not representative. This is a guy
in Jabari, just twenty two years old. Even though he's
her four, he's still developing. He's still very young, and

(27:07):
as recently as a week ago he was at career
highs across the board in terms of his scoring his
shooting efficiency. Now that's fallen off a little bit in
the past week. But the point is there's no reason
that one week should dramatically change your opinion of a
player that much. Look at the previous twelve games before

(27:27):
these three that we're talking about, the three game stretch
the MAVs, the Suns, and the Blazers. Really only two
of them bad, the MAVs and the Blazers, but we'll
look at the three in aggregate. The twelve games before that,
Jabari averaged over seventeen points and seven rebounds per game,
shot nearly forty nine percent overall above forty percent from three,

(27:50):
scored at least fifteen points in ten of the twelve games.
There's this stat going out multiple seasons when the Rockets
have Jabari score at least fifteen points. They have a
phenomenal record in part because if you get Chabari as
a scorer, on top of what he brings you defensively,
as a connector all the other aspects of his game,
then that's when this team, especially the offensive limited one

(28:11):
that they've been at times these past few seasons, is
very difficult to beat. That's literally the twelve games before
these past three. So these past three for Jafari disappointing. Absolutely,
He'll be the first to admit it, and it's definitely
taken his season long numbers down a little bit. They're
not dreadful. He's just not having the clear step forward

(28:32):
that he was a week ago. But there's no reason
your analysis should change that dramatically from a week ago.
It's been a bad week. I think he'll bounce back.
You can attribute some of it to not having Shonghoun,
but quite frankly, a lot of looks for open he
just missed them. It happens. I think he'll bounce back.
What I'm more worried about is Reed Shepherd because the
last nine games, going back to before Christmas, he's shooting

(28:54):
just above forty percent overall and thirty percent from three
and the defense is getting increasingly targeted. To me, it
comes down to for Reed's model to work with the
defensive limitations that he has, he needs to hit threes
at volume. He needs to be a guy in the
forties rather than the thirties. Otherwise, you know he's still

(29:15):
worth playing because there's gonna be game where he can
carry you. I'm certainly not saying you're gonna kick him
out of the rotation, but in stretches where he's shooting
poorly and he's young and still developing his body and undersized,
he's costing you defensively, and he's just overall not a
net positive player when he plays like this. And that's

(29:37):
not a two or three game stretch. That's almost ten
that goes back to before Christmas. And that's not meant
to be an indictment on Reed. He's much younger than
even Jabbari, and so these ups and downs were ineverably
gonna happen. It's not to say there's any reason to
panic over him, or that his long term outlook has
dramatically changed. No, But when we talk about the down

(30:00):
since the start of December, when we talk about them
going from a thirteen and four Juggernaut with insane metrics
to just nine and eight mediocrity. Reid has been much
more of an issue than Jabari. Like on my social
media feed, I saw some people today talking about potentially
starting Reid over Jabari, and Ron' reaction was, what the
hell I mean? Reid has been a much bigger issue

(30:22):
and for a longer period of time. I just I
don't understand it, and I think part of what's going
on pallow. So the last few games, Steven Adams either
didn't play because of his ankle injury, or then when
he played, he started because al Finchangoon was hurt. And
so when Reid comes off the bench but Steven either
sits out or starts, he doesn't have the Steven stimulus package,

(30:45):
That's what I'll call it, where Steven comes in and
can set the right screens and free him up. When
Reid is playing without Steven, that makes it much more
difficult for him to operate relative to you know, the
first twenty five games of the year, when it felt
like almost all the time it was Read and Stephen
coming in at about the six minute mark of the
first and third quarters and largely playing together. So if

(31:06):
we're talking about making a change to the starting lineup,
which I don't think emy Udoka is considering it all,
by the way, but you want to play Read with
Steven Moore not less. I think that's what the data
clearly shows you. And knock On Wood Shouldngho should be
back within the next few games. So hopefully, you know,
getting everyone healthy and back in their normal roles will
will help. Some of this is just natural, you know,

(31:28):
abs and flows of an NBA season gets Stephen back
to his sixth seventh man role, and you compare him
with Reed, and you know, maybe that helps Read get
back in the rhythm that he was at prior to
the holidays. But in terms of what's happened the last
few weeks, look, Shavari has cost them the last couple
of games, the subpar shooting, and he's frustrated, and I
get why. In year four, it's easy to say, you know,

(31:50):
it's easy sort of to make Jabari's fifth junior this
year what Jalen Green was last year. But that's not
what the Rockets are asking from Jabari as a player.
It's simply not. It's Read Shepherd, especially when this is
not Read's fault, but his archetype as a player became
even more important to this year's team when Fred and
Fleet went out, And so the fact that that archetype
suddenly isn't working as well anymore. You already lost Fred

(32:14):
gone on for almost ten games, that is much more worrisome.
I don't think it means anything in the grand scheme,
But in terms of why this team has lost games
at a little bit of a greater rate lately, I
would say it has a lot more to do with
Reed Shepherd than Jabari Smith Junior, even though it feels like,
at least on my timeline, the majority of the outrage,

(32:35):
so to speak, is being directed at Jabari Powell. What
do you think as far as those individual storylines? And
you know, if you had to blame someone for why
the Rockets have shown its downtown inform, who would you pick.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
Yeah, I'm this is gonna be a bit boring because
I agree with you. I'm just gonna add a couple
of bunks on top of what you already said. I
don't think Jobody is part of the problem at all.
Like he's had a couple of bad games, he's also
had so many good games. He's one of our one
of our best quot time shot makers as far as

(33:10):
as far as you know, not being afraid of the
moment when the ball gets kicked out to him in
the clutch. He's someone who is unique as far as
get in our teams, as far as get as far
as being able to get those in between shots reliably.
You know, kV is obviously the best added maybe of
all time, but Jepardy does it in a different way

(33:32):
because kV is always getting, you know, grabbing off that
attention and he's probably on our team the guy that
gets the most attention from the defense and Jabbari it's
really unexpected to defensive teams because typically when you're seeing
a role player like that is saying, oh okay, you know,
I just don't want him to shoot a three or
get away up. And for JABARTI getting that getting that

(33:52):
in between shots. A lot of the times what connects
possessions offensively when we're when we're struggling to get baskets
or when we don't want to go through all of
the energy and effort that it takes to generate an
open three, are you know, forceable or force to drive
to the to the rim and Oki brings something to
our offense that keeps it in a rhythm in a

(34:13):
way that most rope players or most guys that play
his positioned and have the skill set don't. So I
don't think it's a tire problem at all. I've I've
I've talked about it before. I've been pretty impressed with
as a player. Think he has evolved in basically every
aspect of this game this season. And I don't think
that three bad games, but it's not even really is

(34:35):
it three bad games. It's not even three bad games
like he was good against the sets, So I don't
see it. It seems like perhaps people are first looking
for someone to for someone to blame.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Obviously they don't the your two guy yeah yeah, and
and you can't blame moment anymore and things not they're playing,
So if you know, we want to blame someone, fine.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
I do think that when we talk about read that
is something worth talking about, because he hasn't been great
for a few games now, and I guess it was
never you know, he's someone whose impact comes a lot
from the fact that he can shoot the ball from
anywhere right and in the last you know, few games
all at ten games. It hasn't been able to do
it at the clip that he was doing it earlier

(35:23):
on in the season, and that's to be expected. He
was shooting nearly fifty percent from three, you know, it
was never expected for him to keep that up. And
if he went from that to just you know, what
is true average is, let's let's say it's true averages.
It's forty three percent, which is really really good. If
it's true average were forty three percent for the season
and he started the way he started, he would have

(35:44):
had an insane shooting season anyway, So you got to
average it out. I know he was going to have
a slot so that his true average would be what
his average is, right, And so it's expected for a guy,
especially clear to have as well as some partrap. But
even if it isn't the young player, that just just
not the MathWorks, right. So it was never to sustainable
to have read Shoo the high of a percentage from

(36:06):
percentage from three. So the fact that it's happening now,
it's sort of to be expected. It's not a big
indictment on Reeve, but it still does feel when you
watch the games, it still does feel like when reed
comes into the game, you get that you know, offensive
wildcard feeling where Okay, we've seen him take over games

(36:26):
and we've seen and we we see him come into
the game, uh, and we typically think, oh, okay, okay,
here comes Read. Let's see what Reads got. We're excited
to see what Read is going to give us tonight.
You know, it's a it's a different feeling in order
is to Javai, where we're kind of you know, the
ceiling isn't isn't as high, that four isn't as well,
you're gonna know what we're going to get. And then
the off chance that he doesn't have a a great game,

(36:48):
you know, he's not gonna be too it's not going
to be too applauded for it. In the rare time
that he has a bad game, it stands out right
and but it shouldn't because we also don't do it
when he has a great We also don't given credits
or too much credits. We don't go out of our
way to give him credit when he has a really
good game. So it really feels like, okay, we know,
we kind of know what Jabari is. He might feel

(37:08):
he might become a little bit better with throughout his career.
But it's the same feeling we had when when we
drafted the Employed. During the reveal, it's like, oh, Okay,
this guy is an unknown, he's exciting. Let's see what
he's going to give us tonight. And for that reason,
people are I guess, quicker to jump on let's start
read over Jabari. Not necessarily because of how well they've

(37:29):
been playing, Because if that's the case, I don't think
I don't think that that's a discussion. It's more so
that it's more exciting to watch perhaps, And so in
a situation where Jabari is playing below his standard before,
we're going to jump at a chance to have read
starters like this camp, a chance to have read started.
And a man wasn't wasn't playing to his standard, right

(37:52):
when readers are always going to be the first guy
that people think, Okay, let's start reading, see if he
fixes it, because they already one of what replay more anyway,
and that's the next step. I don't think it's necessarily.
I don't think it necessarily comes from a genuine place
of Oh, I think this is going to lead to
better basketball for the team at this moment in time.

(38:13):
It might have been true, not with Javari, but it
might have been true a couple of weeks back, when
people wanted to start to start him for a cogein
stuff like that. You know at that point, you know
there was an argument to be made. At this point,
I don't think there's an argument to be made because
even offensively, Read's playing worse than Jabari, and so why
would you give up what you give up defensively? It

(38:34):
just doesn't make sense at all. It doesn't seem like
a smart discussion as far as your question of what's
the reason the Rockets are losing games? I mean teams
lose games. I don't think there's a single reason. You know,
Kidi is playing out of his nine, the men is
playing really well.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Social media, there's always someone to blame Polo.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
Come on, yeah, Blair, I don't know. Listen, when you're
in the building. What's the name of the Rockets training staff,
like the higher the highest rank? Jason, Yeah, blame but
he's he a recovery guy or is he a prevent guy?

Speaker 2 (39:10):
He's the head trainer. So it starts with the Jason Biles.
Let's blame him, Okay, I'm.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
Jas bent Jason Biles for one of his assistants. Can
we get anxtack Ben Jason Biles on Twitter going.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Billy Cruz, director of Athletic Performance, So yeah, bench Biles
for both early Cruise.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
Yeah, sec remotely sex start Billy Cruz.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
There you go. Here's sun name as well. It is
so one implication of the Red struggles and we're not
there yet. We're talking nine ten games. It's still relatively
small in the grand scheme. But I do think it's

(39:54):
interesting that this is happening in the weeks leading up
to the trade deadline because we did an episode a
few weeks ago right when trade season unofficially began on
the fifteenth, when everyone around the league became trade eligible,
and we both made the case from why this was
likely to be a relatively quiet window, and under my head,
I still think it will be. However, I have started

(40:15):
to open my mind a little bit. I still don't
think you're doing anything major, but you know, if Reid
continues to struggle for the ten or fifteen games leading
into the trade deadline in early February, like that's the
one spot where you potentially could get a lot of
bang for a little buck, Like just get a high

(40:35):
floor role player at the point guard spot that can
help you limit turnovers and not get abused defensively to
the extent you do with Reed. Now, this is all
under the hypothetical that what we've seen from Reid the
last few weeks continues. Hopefully it doesn't. Hopefully we get
back to the dynamic read that we saw the first

(40:57):
six weeks or so of the season. And this is
all just you know, the bumps, the ebbs and flows
that come from being a developing young player in the NBA.
It's certainly possible, but there's also another role where hey,
if he sort of hit his sophomore wall, so to speak,
because he barely played as a rookie, you could potentially
get a more dynamic perhaps a little bigger version of

(41:17):
Aaron Holliday for not that much cost. And then maybe
it's not a trade, maybe it's the buyout market, but
you could bring in I think a fairly high floor
vet without giving up a ton. You could give up,
you know, Clint Capella as matching salary, some combination of
Jay Shon Tate, Jeff Green if you need it, second
round draft capital, nothing major. My point is that you

(41:40):
have the ability both financially and with assets to bring
in a high floor player that could be an upgrade
to reach Shepherd, especially if you don't feel like Fredenfleiet's
going to come back. And I've been told that the
Rockets are hopeful that by February, ideally by the trade deadline,
but certainly by the All Star break, they think they'll
have more clarity I know for sure. But by the

(42:01):
time you get to February, you're within a couple of
months of the playoffs, and so I think by that
point they'll have a better idea as to whether it's realistic,
you know, all indication to this point, like Reid's doing
or Fred's doing, excuse me, more and more on court work,
and so everybody's saying the right things that they're still
hopeful of a return, but is that possible the playoffs
would start seven months since the injury, since his ACL surgery.

(42:24):
The Rockets will have a better idea come February by
the time you get inside that two month window, And
so if it doesn't look good on Fred, and if
Reid is still at the level we've seeing the last
ten games, then that's the one spot where you might
not have to invest that much, but you could get
a lot of bang for your buck, at least in
terms of, you know, the playoff formula. Like I don't

(42:44):
think you're certainly not going to stop playing Read in
the regular season. He needs to get better, he needs
to continue developing. But it could potentially provide an insurance
policy for the playoffs that you know, a month or
so ago, we didn't think we'd be necessary at all.
Like my my response at the time was, who are
you going to take away minutes from? If you bring
in someone, how are they going to play well? I

(43:06):
think now there's a pretty clear path where someone could
play and upgrade this rotation relative to what we've seen
from Read the last nine or ten games. And I
don't know if you want to do it in the
regular season, but especially if you're pessimistic on Fred's abilities
to return by the playoffs, then I could see it
making a little more sense to pursue a veteran guard,

(43:28):
if not by trade, certainly by the buyout market. Not
saying a huge acquisition, nothing's super transformative, but I guess
read struggles the last ten days or so have me
a little more open minded to exploring that guard market, Powlla,
where are you at in terms of I guess how
reed struggles impact the trade deadline? Have you moved off
your position at all relative to a few weeks ago.

(43:50):
Not to say that my position has entirely changed, but
my mind is opening a little bit. That's where I'm at, Powella.
Where are you at on the trade front?

Speaker 4 (43:59):
You've been consumed by the national media goons who want
us to trade for a porn god just because we
don't have one on paper. That's my accusation.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Fine, but I was with I was withithstanding it for
the first six weeks. When Reid looked that good, I
was like, hell no, just keep developing a young guy
who already is at that archetype. But now as the
losses mount, reach struggles, the turnovers are still an issue.
I'm sort of like, eh, Like, I'm still not gung
hover it. I wouldn't go crazy, but I'm more open

(44:29):
to it than I was a month ago. That's the
way I put it.

Speaker 4 (44:32):
Okay, so good both things. The first one is in
a trade for or in any trade. If they give
up Quint, they they would struggle to like like they
basically they can only send out, Like you shouldn't count
the minimum guys as salary matching because the rockets are

(44:54):
already at fourteen and any any any you.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
Can shave up a little that with the you know,
with like ten days. But yeah, I get your point.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
Yeah, but they're gonna, like they're gonna struggle just to
complete the thought. If you send those guys out, they're
gonna you're obliged to sign guys for that same minimum
from the freeative part, So you don't you're not getting
more space, like if you want to, you know, as
matter not not explaining this to you because I know
you understands explaining it to the audience. If you pack

(45:23):
up Capella, Jeff Green and j Chantate, right, if you
go look at at them at a trade machine, that's
gonna get you to like eleven twelve million, right. The
problem is you can't take eleven twelve million back. It's
kind of useless to send them out because before the
trades complete, the NBA places like basically a pap hole
a rosters charge or a cup hole the couple a

(45:45):
couple that's a roster charge as a placeholder for those
places that you're setting out because you can't people know
the threshold of players right, and so you're not actually
gaining being you're not actually being able to bring more
salary back by including those players, you might as well
keep two. So basically the outgoing salary is just blind Cappella.
If you want it to be more than Glin Coppell,

(46:05):
you have to package Quinn Cappell with a guy making
more than the minimum. And this to say that for
just Clint Capella money is going to be testified, attengable
upgrade considering how Lorian Phinis Smith is playing. The most
kind of short sighted move that I'm willing to tolerate

(46:27):
is if you want to include Coppell and Rian finished
Smith to go get a piece, it's going to be
a cute obtation piece, because at that point you're getting
to I eighteen nineteen million a player making eighteen nineteen million,
and then at that point you're getting I think you're
getting enough of a return, and I think Olrin Phinnis Smith,
you'd be selling low on Orian Phinish Smith. And I
think he has the potential to be a really good

(46:48):
contract moving forward, just because he's better than when he's shown.
I'm not sure he's going to be better than what
he is shown this season. That's the risk.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
So I will say, to go back to the trade
deadline part, you could get my key on Ellis suggestion
that would work for Capella. Now, I don't know if
you necessarily have the assets, but there's a few guys
in that six seven million dollars tier that would be
upgrades at least relative to what we've seen from read
the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
Yes, Keanos would be an upbid. I'm not denying that
at all. I'm just not sure what the incentive is
for the Kings to treat them for a couple of
second onders that that are likely not gonna turn out
to be plays better than the kell on Ellis is
right now, I think they're the smart true that they
are the Kings, but I think that's smarter. I can't
you know, if we're gonna if and I know I

(47:36):
know you're joking, but if we we're gonna treat just
say all the Kings of the Kings are gonna do
something dumb by anyway, you know, why don't we just
treat all the maps are the maps? We're gonna do
something dumb by you? Because it's really a little good
to us. Let's go and trade for I don't know,
someone good from them, like they're lively or something like that,
even though we have to mane intended. So getting back

(47:58):
on getting back on track, what I could be convinced
to do is back at in Quinn and or in
Phinis Smith. And I'm not necessarily sure that's a good idea,
Like I don't think I would advocate for it, but
if they did it, I wouldn't be too mad, Like
I would accept, Okay, you want to you know, you
want to put a little bit more stock on this season.
You wanta you think you think you can win the

(48:19):
same this season. You don't, you don't want to go
all in, but you're willing to put a little bit
more chips on the table. And I think getting rid
of Phinish Smith right now at you know what I
would think would be selling low impacating him when with
Quinn Cappello is short sighted. But it's a buy in
low enough that I would be, you know, understanding if

(48:39):
they did it. If it were up to me, that
would have to be a trade for an enforcement type
like a Dyler and Brooks type front end fleet type
one of those guys I don't know who would be
available at this point, but it would have to be
one of those types of guys for me to you know,
be able to buy into a move like that. As
far as all you said for targeting a point guard,

(48:59):
I think we will bounce back and I'd rather see that.
And if he doesn't, I do think you're Ellis is better,
considerably better than Aaron holliway, but still I think Aaron
Holliday is serviceable enough for me to be able to
for me to be comfortable living with the risk that
Read doesn't snap out of this fund that is it?

(49:21):
So you know, betting on Read, I think is a
low enough risk that I'm willing to just have the
second option in case it goes wrong, be just play
Aaron holidaymore and or just you know edge that you know,
Fred and Flick might come back as well. So unless
you can, I don't know, as you can get I

(49:43):
like I orders don't move or something like that for
a couple of second round of straight up for Queen
Copella like that I could get behind obviously, but not
sure that that's available. But yeah, going to the trade
that line, I'm mostly looking for if you want to,
you know, if you want to go splash it without
going for a superstar. I think trading for the enforcer
would be a good trade, would be a good move.
Kind of wish dwe Brooks Warm playing as well as

(50:05):
he is, because he'd be Yeah, he beats Bourbot guy.
And I'm not even sure if we could do it,
because I don't think you can free back for a
player through to the way and at the same season.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
By the way, if you know that you know is
Dylan For several minutes after that game went final, talking
to Tilman and Patrick Partita on the court like Dylan. Yeah,
I can't help but think that one day Dylan's going
to come back. He's still loves within this organization and
quite frankly, I think he still loves the Rockets. It's
just circumstances that led to him having to go out

(50:37):
a salary filler for KD And so, yeah, it won't
be this year for a number of reasons. But if
I had that, I think at some point in the
future he'll be back.

Speaker 4 (50:43):
There's just I think, yeah, I think that'd be nice,
and I think and I think that, you know, there's
something to be said for the fact that the Rockets
paye repaid Dylan, I would say pretty handsomely for what
his market was back then at its time. I'm that
a lot of people didn't believe in read and it's

(51:04):
in Dylan sorry. And you know, he definitely, you know,
he definitely played with his every penny of his salary.
You know, he held up his in the bargain. But
still it felt that there was a lot of loyalty there.
And when you're getting treated four k D, it's like, well,
you know, I know Dylan is like a really kind
of you know, self belief kind of guy, but when

(51:26):
you get traded with four KDU and it's clearly not
you know, it's not about treating you away.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (51:34):
And I think Dylan understands also like part of the
real I think part of the move. I think the
one kind of understands that part of the movie was
was replacing Jaillen with someone better than Jillen, and he
was just you know, a casualty of having to have
someone else out there feeling salary. And I just think
he understood, like we didn't want to get to the

(51:54):
view at all. We just didn't have any of the choice,
and then when you're treating four k D, it's like, okay,
I got treated four KB.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
You know who do?

Speaker 4 (52:02):
I think?

Speaker 2 (52:03):
I am right? All right, last topic, and we'll be
quick because we're already almost an hour in. I'm curious
your thoughts on the last few games and whether it
changes your evaluation of all per eension Goon in any way,

(52:23):
because it's always interesting when you talk about a high
usage player like that to see what the team looks
like if they have to go away for a few games.
And certainly the offense overall has taken a dip, and
I guess what's changed for me? And certainly you know
I was already high on all per eension Goon, but
you feel his absence. I think the shooting dip I

(52:46):
don't so much attribute to Shingoon's absence. Maybe a little bit,
but I think that's, you know, trying a little too
hard to have a one size fits all explanation for
what amounts to randomness. The Rockets have had a lot
of really good looks from three the past few games
that just aren't going in. There was that one possession
at the end of the Blazers game. You can find
it on the Clutch Fans Twitter page where they had

(53:08):
like five or six good looks on a single possession
and missed them all. Sometimes that's gonna happen over eighty two.
They're getting good looks, they're in rhythm, they're just not
going in. I think they will go in as the
sample increases. You can look at Jabari Smith, you know,
he shot one of seven from three in the two
games they played terribly in Dallas and Portland. Yet in
Houston he had some really big threes and that second

(53:30):
half comeback against the Suns when, by the way, Kalo,
they broke the curse of thirteen. You had pointed out
a few days ago that the Rockets had never come
back from thirteen plus down this season, and then they did,
so hat tip to you. You reverse jinks that come
back against the Suns into reality. But so let me
just hrupt you there.

Speaker 4 (53:49):
I believe that that might have been fraud and that
I might have missed rippy. So basically, listen, I don't
have any fancy stats subscriptions at the subscriptions. I'm old school.
When I see a trend, I go game by game
and I see if the Twins through. You know, I
felt like we couldn't come back from from double digit deficits,

(54:11):
and so I went game by game on my I
didn't even got reference. Then must of is they have,
you know, marginal victoria. I didn't have. I don't know
if or bigger than any And so what I did
is I went to my Life's score app, which happens
to be SOFA Score or wherever it might be or
wherever it might be pronounced, and they do have like

(54:34):
the graphic with the highest lead for either seen and
I went game by game and I checked it. It
is apparently possible that I might have missed one game
or two where the lead was or where the lead
was I think fourteen, and they came back and I
just must have you know, mis click or clicked the
game wast track evident escaped the game. But apparently or

(54:56):
someone pointed out to me that that stat was not true.
But still even if instead of what two and nine
or whatever it was, it's you know, three and nine,
the point still stands.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Yeah. Absolutely, they have not been great at coming back
from larger deposits this season. They finally got one, Unfortunately
they couldn't get two. Nearly came back after trailing most
of the way in Portland, but I couldn't finish that
one off anyway.

Speaker 4 (55:24):
That is the symptom of a really good team. Not well,
that the opposite. You know, when you're watching really good
teams when you're walking okay, see when you're watching the
Nuggets or when you were watching the Warriors back then,
or like when you're working a good team and their
downbeate to a bad team. You like, if they're within
fifteen in today's NBA, right and it's still somewhat early,

(55:45):
you know, second part or beginning of the third, you
still kind of expect the contender to beat the bad team, right,
do you expect them to come back to start playing
series at a certain point and come back. So the
fact that the Rockets are mostly unable to do that
is something that does work because that's typically what happens.
Like good scenes, you're like when you're rooting for another
team to lose and they're really good. Oh, you never

(56:07):
feel safe with a with a thirteenth point lead, which
is what the stat is about.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
Yeah, and it.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
Feels like with the Rockets, when they're down that much,
it starts to feel a liddle out of reach. It
starts to feel like Creig Ackerman has has a phrase
that it typically uses. I think it's I think the
phrase is you start to feel like it's getting late early.
I think the Craig used to say says that a
lot of I love that expression. So that's what that's
what it feels like.

Speaker 2 (56:32):
Yeah, to this point, they haven't had that dog in them.
It feels like, you know when they fall behind that
they sort of shrug their shoulders. Not everybody, but there's
a little bit of a here we go again vibe.
This isn't our night, and so you'd like to see
them play with a little bit more of a chip
on their shoulder, which you know they've done a little
bit more of late. They did come back against the Suns.
They were literally a tenth of a second from doing

(56:55):
the same thing in Portland. So ideally you don't want
to fall behind to begin with, but it's going to
happen sometimes in the NBA. You do need the ability
to battle back, and if you squint hard enough, they
are making a little bit of strides there anyway to
get back to the Shingoon point. I don't think it's
radically change my view of Shinggoon. I certainly don't think

(57:16):
that he's the main reason the three point shooting has
dipped from you know, best in the NBA to the worst.
I think that's a small, simple sized theater. But I
do think you've seen some more just absolutely bizarre turnovers.
I don't think the overall turnovers have increased, but there's
been more just absolutely baffling ones where guys are just

(57:38):
indecisive because they've all been pushed up a couple of
notches in the hierarchy in terms of, you know, trying
to create and where the SHOT's gonna come from, and
so there's more indecision. There's guys that are doing a
little too much. The roles are not as simplified as
they normally are, and I think, you know, perhaps it
can get ironed out over time. Hopefully, knock on wood,

(58:01):
we don't have to find out and Shangoon comes back
relatively quickly. But I just don't think I fully appreciated
until Shinangoon went out just how many possessions that he
always gives them a chance. It's not to say that
that the turnovers have just gotten out of control since then, no,
but I think you've seen more just absolutely baffling ones

(58:22):
that make zero sense, and you've seen more possessions that
it feels like are going nowhere, where they just passed
the ball back and forth and then you know, it's
like a hot potato and Katie's got it and there's
five on the shot clock and he's just got to
put something up. There's just a lot less structure than
what we're used to. There's a lot less planning, and

(58:42):
so that leads to just more freelancing. It leads to
more uncertainty, and I think maybe over time they could
overcome it. It it hurts that that Red is going
through his slump at the same time Shangoon is out,
because you know, if you're going to lose one of
the best offensive player in the NBA, then reads one
of the guys with high upside that even though he's

(59:03):
a different position, you like say, okay, let's give him
more touches. Well, that doesn't make sense right now with
how he's playing, as we were just describing. So I
don't know that it's radically changed my view of all
for in Shangoon, but you certainly feel his absence, and
I guess what I keep coming back to there's a
lot of possessions on offense where it just feels like

(59:25):
I just look at it and I say, what the
hell are they doing? Where are they going? And oftentimes
it leads to turnovers that make zero sense because there's
just no plan. And perhaps that improves as the games
without Shingoon rise. I mean, hopefully there's only two or
three more of those, but yeah, it has given me

(59:46):
a greater appreciation for just how much the Rockets depend
on Shangoon in volume. The analogy I did on one
of my podcasts recently, I think it was the postgame
show that Yeah, Dave Hardesty and I had with Michael Shapiro,
I compared Shangoon to a fromber Valdez type innings eater
that over a long season like the NBA, there's just

(01:00:08):
so many innings or in this case, possessions to get
through that when someone is durable and able to soak
up a lot of those and at least give you
a chance at a positive outcome, that has a lot
of value. And when you lose a guy like that
and you have to fill out all these possessions over
eighty two games or in the Astros case, losing fromber
fill out your rotation over one hundred and sixty two.

(01:00:30):
You don't feel it until the player is gone. And
that's how I felt on a much smaller scale about
Shinhoo in the last couple of weeks. So, Paullo, what
are your thoughts as we close out the pod on
the absence of Shangoon and has it sort of changed
your view of him in any way?

Speaker 4 (01:00:47):
Before I answer that the NBA come for your innings
eater kind of cross sports metaphor is as much as
it brings me to say it is russells Brook, it is.
It's someone who's going to give you volume production in
the regular season. He's going to be, you know, moderately

(01:01:08):
efficient and ven Tho shang Gun has been.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Someone puts this and accuses you on Twitter of comparing
Shangoun to Ross.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
Listen, you know who I mean. I don't want to
go down this rabbit hole, but it's not that bad
of a comparison.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
Ross was actually when you couldn't said that for a
long time. Yeah, that's right because Rest.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
Was very good and but he was never over overly
efficient and in Shingun for the center at this moment,
and then the last season as well. For his position,
Shangun is not overly efficient. He's he has a lot
of turnover, He's been very turnover prone, but he does
get a lot of assists, and he is someone who
fills in the gaps between your ceiling racers and that.

(01:01:47):
But that's what he that's what he's showing now, And
I don't mean to make it that sound like a
bad thing. Well, I would have loved Gyllen Green to
be an innings theater. Sorry, I managed to make both
proofs angry. Now, Well, can I make someone? Is there
any other fendom? Is there any other stand them that
I can make angry? Right now?

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
I don't know because we lent analogy. Now that's going
back with.

Speaker 4 (01:02:15):
To to respond to jack your question, which is what
is this thought of me about Janun? Well, I talked about,
you know, earlier on in another bot that I felt
Tengun's defensive effort was not up to the center that
it was last season, and I just still believe that,
and that took a little bit of the shine of

(01:02:35):
his season away from me for me, and I guess
now noticing what we're missing when he's gone offensively, especially
because the defense has been better. I guess that shine
that the season had lost on or that he had
lost on me. For this season, I guess that shines back.
I come by. Okay, I'm back to saying tinguins was

(01:02:58):
the level of play it I thought he would four
weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Yeah, I think that's fair. I think some of the
reactions are over the top in terms of attributing everything
to his absence, But yeah, it is fair to say
that the problems they have and have had, it's it's
pretty clear that some of the more dire outlooks for Shinggoon,
specifically in terms of his archetype and how it plays.

(01:03:22):
I think it's being proven that that that's not really
the issue because very much some of those some of
those things are still happening. I think in the macro,
you know, Shingoon is your floor razor offensively, Steven is
your floor razor defensively. Is still true, but they're both
just well rounded player to provide value on both ends
in most games, and I think that's something that has

(01:03:42):
stood out when not just Shingoon but Steven as well
have missed time the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, knock
on wood, we don't have much more of that moving forward. Anyway,
with that, we'll bring this episode to a close. One
final shout out, go Texans. We went over an hour
today so I didn't get in any Texan stalk. But yes,
we will be watching, and hopefully we'll have a playoff

(01:04:04):
game to celebrate when we return with an episode next week,
or a playoff win to celebrate. I should say, we'll
certainly have a playoff game on Monday Dight against the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Thankfully, Texans playoff game comes on an off
day for the Rockets, so Rockets have Portland tonight, Sacramento
on Monday, or Sacramento on Sunday, excuse me, then the
Texans Monday, and then starting Tuesday, the Rockets had a

(01:04:27):
five game homestand at Toyota Center. Finally, the schedule will
even out. They have five games in the next eight
days inside their home arena, so it's going to come
very very quickly. Anyway, with that, I'll bring this episode
to a close, And if you want more from us
before the next show, the best place to hear from
us is on social media. I'm on there at Bndubo's

(01:04:47):
at Palo Alves NBA. But as far as plogs, just
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(01:05:10):
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