Failure to launch: Losses to Spurs, Warriors show ominous signs

After two ugly losses in three games, the Rockets (39-24) have fallen back to No. 4 in the Western Conference and are close to falling out of the top four altogether — which would mean starting the 2026 playoffs on the road.

So, what should Houston fans take away after a pair of concerning defeats to San Antonio and Golden State? Ben DuBose and Paulo Alves break down the key takeaways, including signs of regression from Alperen Sengun and Tari Eason; potential team-building implications for the 2026 offseason; and why Wednesday’s opponent (the Denver Nuggets) could be a friendlier matchup for the Rockets, relative to the Spurs.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Rockets Fans, Welcome to The Rockets Launch Pod, an exclusive
podcast from the home of the Rockets, Sports Talk seven
ninety Red Nation. Get Ready, Get Ready the Rockets Launch Pod.
It starts now.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome aboard, Welcome back to another episode of the Rockets

(00:51):
Launch Pod, presented by Clutch Fans. I'm Benju Bo's He's
Pawlo Alves. We're your host. I write for USA Today's
Rockets Wire. It's Tuesday, March tenth. The Rockets are back
in action tonight against the Toronto Raptors. Houston now thirty
nine and twenty four on the season, number four in
the Western Conference, but they've lost two of their last

(01:12):
three games. And today we're gonna look back before we
look forward, because unfortunately, the most recent loss on Sunday
night in San Antonio to a forty seven and seventeen
Spurs team that's number two in the West was one
of the most painful in a while. Not necessarily in
a heartbreaking sense because the Rockets got just drilled in

(01:32):
that game, lost by twenty five points, but seeing that
gap relative to one of the big boys of the
Western Conference, an end state rival, a division rival that
going into the year, you thought you were still ahead
of in terms of the timeline, but ledbye Wemby and
all the young guys the Spurs have, they have accelerated
their timeline in a big way and now they're seven

(01:55):
games up on the Rockets in the standings. They're almost
certainly going to finish ahead of Houston in this this year.
And they won three of the four regular season matchups
and the final six quarters. The second half of that
second January game in Houston and then this March rematch
in San Antonio were absolutely dominated by the Spurs. And

(02:15):
what was most frustrating and concerning, you know, the big
question coming out of the January game was how the
Rockets would counter the adjustment the Spurs made to have
Wemby guard a men and sag Off and roam and
prevent the other four guys from getting going take advantage
of a men being a non shooter. Well, that wasn't

(02:35):
the issue in this one. A Men was actually very good,
probably Houston's best player, and yet the Rockets were still
nowhere close because the Spurs were just better across the board.
They shot twenty one and forty from three. I guess
the one silver lining is that if they don't shoot
an insane percentage like that. Maybe the Rockets lose by
ten or fifteen. There was some Shotluk involved, but regardless,

(02:56):
the Spurs were the better team. They look far more athletic,
and even though the Rockets had some answers to the
Wemby Amen conundrum, at the same time, it was nowhere
close to get a win. And that's your biggest rival historically,
or at least the Spurs are up there. So it's
a tough loss. Especially going into the year. We wanted

(03:17):
to think that adding Kevin Durant to the two seed
could perhaps push the Rockets into the title contention tier.
Now I know it's not the same thing. You don't
have Fredman Fleet, you don't have Steven Adams, Doriy Anthony
Smith still looks like a shell of himself coming off
ankle surgery, So it's not the team you thought you
had last July. Nonetheless, it is sobering to see a

(03:38):
result like that against the Spurs, and I'll bring you
in here. I don't want to overreact to one regular
season game, because look, if the Rockets somehow salvage this,
there's still nineteen games left in the regular season and
then the playoffs. At the end of the day, every
team is going to have bad days, and this is
potentially just a bad day. With that said, combining this

(04:02):
game with what we saw in January, if this turns
out to be the ominous sign for the playoffs that
a lot of us fear, and the Rockets either go
out to a team like I don't know, the Lakers,
the Timberwolves in the first round, or maybe they make
it to the second round and then get destroyed by
the Spurs, the Thunder, the Nuggets, one of the true

(04:22):
big boys. By the way, the Rockets and the Nuggets
play their fourth and final game on Wednesday night in Denver,
that'll be a big one in terms of potential playoff
implications and certainly seeding implications down the home stretch of
the year. But sticking with the Spurs, if this does
turn out to be an ominous sign and this team

(04:42):
does have a gap of that significance between itself and
the top tier, what does that mean for the Rockets
heading into the twenty twenty six offseason. Because for a
lot of this year we've talked about how you know
next year sets up better than this year. We said
that after the trade in early February, when you'll get
Fred back, you'll get Stephen back. DFS should be healthy,

(05:05):
he'll still be under contract, and if not, well, he'll
be an expiring salary you can use in trades this offseason.
You won't be hard capped at the first apron, So
on paper, there are reasons to believe that next year's
team will be better. But if the gap is anywhere
close to what we saw on Sunday night, I do
get concerns from some in the fan base. I've seen

(05:25):
it on social media that perhaps the Rockets are more
than just a Fred and Steven away. I guess, Pallo,
how are you feeling coming off that beatdown? Does it
change in any way your feelings about this team? And
you know how aggressive they should be this offseason? Like
I've seen some say that this is the kind of
result that if it happens again in the playoffs, maybe

(05:46):
it forces you to reevaluate the honest trade talks and
whether you trade Shungoon in future picks. That's just one example.
There's a lot of others, but I'm just curious at
a high level, how much in the macro did Sunday
Night's result change how you're feeling about this team entering
the offseason.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well, it's not necessarily just about the Spurs game, right,
It's kind of been an entire season. And even when
we were on a base doing sixty games, right, you
heard us here on the pot talk about how this
team like this doesn't seem too sustainable and this team
doesn't seem to be able to just lock in on

(06:23):
defense and shut down a team when they need to.
That's a big part of what's your identity has to
be when when you're playing guys like for example, Man Coumpson,
who contributes a lot more on the defensive end and
then on the offensive end. Throughout the season, you know,
you had some highs, you had some lows, you had
some injuries, but at the end of the day, we've
had plenty of evidence. And like, what's the saying Like,

(06:46):
if it looks like a duck, and it swims like
a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. Right.
If the Rockets the fan like a mid team and
they and their offense is mid, and everybody else besides
Kad and the men, I guess who are elite one
offensively and one defensively, are all playing myth and you

(07:09):
lose too bad teams and you rarely win against good teams,
then well your pole is just not that great, right,
And it's we can like we're not bad enough that
you can just say, oh, the seasons hopeless and like
you might as well to watch anymore. It's not really

(07:29):
the case. We're okay, We're a good team that really
has very little shot of making any noise I think
in the playoffs against the truly elite teams in the league.
Even though the league just in general, how are the
Celtics the two seed and will likely end as the
as the one seed in the East, And how are

(07:50):
how are the Spurs somehow close to okay? See, I
guess injuries kind of kind of explained I want. But
the league in general is just just one of those
years where nobody truly feels like they're very good, and
Rockets are perhaps the epitome of that. It's just not
very good, you know. Some of it attributed to not
having threatenly, some of it attributed to the Steven Adams injury,

(08:11):
some of it attributed to and we'll get into it,
severe regression from Tarry Eastan's defense, some regression from Ament
Thompson's defense, severe regression on Shane Gun's defense, and not
really any step up when it comes to the offense
for Shane Gun as well. It's just you know, whatever

(08:32):
you want to wherever you want to blame for it,
or I guess some people will also say e Meyodoku's
questionable Rotationian decisions as well. It's just you can tell,
and you've kind of been able to tell since very
early on that this team just doesn't have it, and
it is the ability to raise the level when the
level needs to be raised, when when games you know,

(08:54):
are on the brink, on when you're playing especially good teams,
or when you have to take the game seriously because
you're losing two really bad team It just seems like
Rockets win games and lose games largely a chance, and
there's really no tangible difference in the level of play
when it's time to walk in or when they're down
ten versus when versus when the game's even versus when

(09:16):
they're up ten. It's just largely a game of chance.
They don't seem to have any gear up or any
gear down. They'll easily fall down ten to any team
in the league, and they'll easily come back from those
tens also against any team in the league. But it
doesn't necessarily seem intentional because when they have when they're

(09:37):
they are there are high average moments. It doesn't seem
like a flirt switch flips and they start playing better
and they come back. It just seems like shots begin
to fall sometimes or the other team seems to miss
the open shots at times. There's no there's no discernable
difference in the level that this team plays at. They're
just you know, I guess I'll call them playoff NPC

(09:58):
in the sense that that just okay, they're gonna be fathered,
probably perhaps maybe be there first wrong opponent depending on
who on who they get mettled up against, and very
likely gonna lose soundingly to run two opponents when they
get it, because the ceiling is not very high, and

(10:18):
it doesn't seem like they you know, they get intentionally
change the way they play. So it's and it sounds
kind of hopeless, but you know, all of the factors,
including the injuries, have led us up to this point,
and it just I don't think it's something that you
could have fixed at the deadline, and I don't think

(10:38):
it's something that you can necessarily change with any buyout
opims or any cooking philosophy differences. When any rotation changes,
nothing's gonna change dramatically what this team is, which is
what is necessary if they want to make any noise
in the playoffs. So I'm guessing going into the off season,
I thing. I hope they win a round. I hope

(11:01):
it's just leitched somewhat of a progress from what it
was last season. I wouldn't be too surprised if they don't.
But you know, the Spurs are a very flaw team
as well, uh, and they throughout the season. I think
they won one game against them, and they just don't
seem to be very competitive whenever Wemby's on the floor.

(11:22):
And perhaps Wemby is just that good that early and
he's very good, but the pieces around him are not
very good, and somehow that team is still as good
as good as it is. You know, I could take
a chance to I guess shit a little bit on
fan Castle, who I think is tremendously overrated. But truth is,
Womy is shooting with two starting guards who are shooting

(11:43):
below thirty percent from three and the other one, Iaron
Fox shooting thirty four percent from three, and we know
that's not gonna hole. So it's not like he like
they have this, you know, very well built roster. It's
just a bunch of young players thrown together in the
couple of three and D guys are more three D
and their Henrison Bards and Champagne and Champagne. So it's

(12:04):
not like there's some roster building masterclass, you know, across
the court on the other side, and they just just
doesn't seem like this team has any you know, I
guess it don't really gasfafs in the time because it
doesn't seem like they're playing tired. It just seems like,
from a mentality standpoint, that just no ability to step

(12:25):
up and be any different than what they are at
any given point. And when you don't have that, you're
bound to you know, you might get upset, but you're
abound to never not never, but at least for this season,
not a bunch above above your weight in a way
that last year's team probably could because they were at
least elite at one thing, and if they could Levet
said enough and with some shots fallowing, they might have

(12:47):
been able to make a noisier and there for this team,
it's just it's kind of, you know, it's kind of
rolling away the dice, right what you're gonna get are
that's gonna fall or that's not not gonna fall. But
I just really not really much adjustment to be made
to how the team placed. So I'm sorry I made
it very focused on what on the here and now.

(13:09):
I don't know if you want to it on some
of the points that I made before we move on
to what this means for potentially an offseason, so.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
We can get to the off season in a few minutes.
I want to follow up on something you said about
the Spurs young guys, because one of the talking points
that I don't like that I've seen at least on
my feeds, is that the difference between the two squads
is more than wemby. I don't think that's true. I
think unfortunately at this point, and it's not that you
can't overcome at it, it's just going to take a

(13:38):
lot of stars aligning the difference between these teams. Is
that night in May of twenty three, I remember us
doing the the Live Pod Paalow for the lottery night,
and of course the Rockets didn't get Wemby and the
Spurs did, so not only did you not get this
generational procespect certainly not a disaster of a night, because
I think it's pretty clear of men Tomson the second

(13:58):
best player in that draft class. But when you don't
get the truly generational guy and your main competitor in
state same division, does it leaves a mark? And for
Wemby to do what he's doing now at twenty two
years old is absolutely ridiculous. We know the length, the
versatility defensively, and when you combine it with the shooting

(14:19):
on offense, I mean I pretty much knew it. Once
he made a couple of first half threies, I felt
like the Rockets were cooked because as soon as they
had to come out on him, the driving lanes were
going to be there because they're more athletic across the
board other than a men and to an extent Jabari
depending on the matchups, the Rockets were just in a
different weight class than the Spurs in terms of athleticism,

(14:41):
and those two teams again, the one hundred and forty
five points might be a little skewed based on shot luck,
but the Spurs were getting really good looks, and when
Wemby connects from outside, I knew it was going to
be a long night, or I had a strong suspicion
that it would be. But as far as those other

(15:03):
young guys, I think so much of the difference between
the Rockets young guys and the Spurs is situational. Like
this isn't to make an excuse for Houston's young guys,
because at some point you've got to make the best
of what you've got. But when we talk about how
players have developed or not developed, and I know a
lot of people look over at the Spurs and see,

(15:24):
you know, impressive stat lines if you squat hard enough
for guys like you know Castle in year two, Devin Bissell,
Keldon Johnson, there's several young guys that people are envious of,
and with the Rockets superficially, I understand the frustration. Like
relative to my expectations before the year, I would say,
amongst the five recent first round draft picks, the only

(15:44):
one who is cleared my expectation is Reed Shepherd. And
there's still some pretty clear deficiencies on defense. A men
in Jabari roughly in line with expectations, maybe a little
bit ahead, and I would say shouldn't go ton Atari
at least for me, are below Ecks expectations. But I
really think a lot of the reason for that difference,
you know, I get that it feels like the Spurs

(16:06):
are doing a better job with development, but when you
have that north star like Wemby, it simplifies the roles
so much for those players around him. Like I feel
pretty confident if you put Amen Thompson into the Steph
Castle role with the Spurs, he would be an All star.
His numbers would be ridiculous. He doesn't have that luxury
here in Houston to be able to simplify his role.

(16:30):
I mean, especially after losing Frederick Leet. Now you're asking
him to do all of the ball handling and be
the primary playmaker. Now, I know you can get into
Welsh with the Rockets us reach Shepherd, that there's concerns
defensively and also you need to use him off ball.
I guess I get the frustration because superficially, there are
a lot of young guys on the Spurs who are

(16:50):
having big seasons, and so I get some of the
jealousy that's out there. But I really think a lot
of this comes down to Wemby, and actually, just as
a thought exercise, pollow, I think Shoon in San Antonio
would be really good. Like if you had a front
line of Shangoon and Wemby and you had Wemby to
cover for some of Alpi's issues defensively, I think that

(17:13):
would be an amazing fit and it would allow him
to sort of hone in on the areas that he's
actually good at. I just think it's a total apples
to oranges comparison, and so that's not meant to give
a pass to the Rockets players, because at some point
you've got to, you know, make the best of what
you have, and the same cannon should be said the
coaching staff with Ema Judoka. But in terms of the comparisons,

(17:34):
I just think the difference is Wemby, Right, That's what
I keep coming down to. It's not like, you know,
this is the same first front office that drafted Josh
Primo and Jeremy Sohan, neither of which is with the
team anymore, and the two years before Wemby. It's not
like this has been some sort of masterclass of GMing
and coaching and development. I just think the gap is
that they have Wemby and the Rockets don't.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Right, Yeah, I think Wemby is no We've known that
he was a generational talent ever since we have first
heard of him. I think it's at a point where
this early like he's this good, so like I think
he's the most impactful player in the entirely more so
than the ocage because he completely warps all you prow
you have to play offense and then on defense. It's

(18:19):
not like he's as well, like he's he's a start,
Like he's a star on offense and probably the best
player of all time on defense in terms of impact, right,
because you came to anything around him. And this is
with them having the team that they're like that they have,
Like let's not pretend like Harrison Barness well past his
thirties and Gilliams Champagnie and and you know Dylan Harper,

(18:43):
who you know is not necessarily a bad defender, but
you know, rookie players typically are not very good defenders.
Castle is a good defender. I won't take it away
from him. Let's not person like this is an elite
defensive team talent, wwise, it's Wemby. Wemmy has that level
of impact, and I would and I do think that
if you ask me, I think he's gonna be the
goal to when it's when it's all set, and then

(19:03):
as as long as he plays long enough, because it's
just it's just a level of impact that I've never
seen from an NBA player ever. Like we've seen, like
we've seen Yokid do literally everything for them, where we've
seen hard And do everything for the Rockets. We've been
we've seen we've seen Luca do everything for the Mavericks
and go to the finals. None of them are even
close to the impact that Wenby has. Like Wemby impacts

(19:25):
every possession at the level of multiple positions, like he
alone can gate to the offensive impact and like of
like three players in the same possession. It's just unheard
of because of the size, because of his instincts, because
of his mobility. It's like, if he stays healthy, he's
going to be the greatest player of all time. And

(19:46):
I don't think it's gonna be close when it's all said.
And that that being said, extrauggelating that to the other
young guys. Well, yeah, the Spurts haven't done some tremendous
child by drafting, Like we're like we're not show what's
the farm Castle is if he is placed in a
position when he's on a bad team, like if he's

(20:06):
the position killing Green was when he came into Houston
for example, because well, even in this position stuff, Fumcastle
is not an efficient player. Yeah, I know, he started
the year really hot, and even still he's the low
thirty percent from three, right, and he's not necessarily that
efficient of a playmaking of a playmaker either, Like you're
playing with victory in Baniyama and two guys that are

(20:28):
that are shooting really like two Cordner guys shouldn't really
hot from three and you have like barely over two
to one assist to turnover ratio, right, I think like
most of it is Wemby, and but Gwenby is reaching
a point where as long as he's playing and then
this was the case with the sports last year, but
he missed it in the game, Like as long as

(20:49):
he's playing, it's hard to lose games because he's that good.
Like if you should replace Wemby with Shanghun, I think
the Rockets are Tier one title contenders, because well, how
are you gonna score on a man and Wenby and
Kavari and Tari and then how are you gonna defend KD. Wemby,
Like it's just unreasonable, Like even he even as he's

(21:12):
even as a vertical, like even if he when he
doesn't have the ball, he can spot out because if
you have a vertical spacer, he can like he can
make easy passes and he has you know, he sees
above everybody else on the court. Like it's just insane
how good he is, Which doesn't mean that you should
excuse you know, we're talking about specifically, and I guess
I'll move this into you know, off season a little bit,

(21:34):
not off season tall, but mid term future talk. Doesn't
doesn't mean that our guys get a pass because we're
comparing our team to the Spurs, right, And yes, the
Spurs young core gets a lot of us a lot
easier because Wemby is there. Doesn't change the fact that
our young guys should be better. Doesn't change the fact

(21:57):
that you know, I'll start off with ours and defense
has regressed massively and it's been largely masked by his
insanely hot shooting from three, which has come to a stop.
Right he's down to forty percent. I think he likely
ends the year around thirty seven percent, which is not
that far off his career average consist with a hot
start that he had, And even while he's at forty

(22:18):
percent three, his efficiency through shooting wise is way down
from last season. He seems to be a little bit
more skilled finishing at the room and stuff like that,
a decision making its own off a cliff. Offensively as well,
doesn't seem to crash the boards nearly as well as
he used to, does seem to be playing defense nearly
as good as he used to, and then you know,

(22:38):
you go across the board. King's someone who, when I
said this on The ball S Game Show a couple
couple of episodes ago, someone who we were expecting to
take a leap offensively, which is supposed to be the
easy part, right for a player like him. But not
only did he not take a leap offensively earlier in
the season when he was shooting through well, he's on

(22:59):
shooting threes anymore. That person has as created crater back
down to Earth. But offensively he's normally not being efficient.
It seems like his game has changed to a point
where it's not as diverse. He's a lot more one
dimensional in the way that he's trying to post up
guys like he used like he got the Wizard nicknamed

(23:22):
for a reason, and it seems like the way he's
trying to score is a lot of the same stuff,
a lot of the same you know, get the ball
in a perimeter to try to back a guy down
into a baby hook or face up into a Flamingo
pull up, which is a terrible shot for anybody in
the league, including Knyoun. And then he's not even getting
those opportunistic possessions that he used to have earlier in

(23:46):
his career where he will get offensive rebounds. He's not
having the highlight plays that he used to have as well,
and he has increased his volume playmaking wise, but his
turnovers have gone through the roof as well. He's close
to doing a Sisto turnover ratio, which is, you know,
I guess it's okay, but it's like, offensively just doesn't

(24:10):
even seem like the same player anymore. And she has
completely lost the effectiveness as or at doing traditional big things,
at being a roll man at setting screens like he's
giving you. Christian would level slip screens every single time,
which likes it out for everybody else around them. It

(24:30):
will always seem insane to me that screams for all
of our guys on defense are a massive problem. They've
got a switch because they're not going to keep up
like they die on screens. And then on offense, we
just seem like it just seems like like defenders stick
to our guards. And I know some of it's the
angles that they take and I saw, and a lot
of it is also the way the screens are being set,

(24:52):
but it seems like there's a huge imbalance there where
we should have the edge defensively when we don't getting
around screens. And I know part of the and I'm rambling,
but part of the reason why our defense is somewhat
worse is because we don't have Dylan and we don't
have FREDDVLT anymore at the point of attack. And then that,
you know, cascades throughout the rest of the team and

(25:13):
everybody looks worse, but looks a lot worse. It's like, well,
how are you gonna have a good season when your
best player the guy who's supposed to be our best player,
looks worse across the board, like he's, like I guess,
not necessarily across the What I guess on offense is
about the same night as it was last season, but
last season he have much worse placing than he does

(25:33):
this year. Last year he was getting doublin stootball team
a lot more than he is this year. And then
on on defense series what it is, he's you know,
a lot worse than it was last season. Be its skiing,
be it whatever you want, say for whatever you want
is worse. And so you have your your best player
playing all worse. And then you have one of your
defensive specialist wings the reason playing a lot worse as well.

(25:56):
A man has taken a bit of a league ball
handling wise, shooting still the same, it's awful. He's a
better free throw shooter now, which is a good nice
Separatement's made some progress. Defentially, he's not as good. Perhaps
the scheme also doesn't help with that. Uh, And then
I mean, I think the party is actually better than

(26:17):
what he was last season this season, but not necessarily
anything to transcendent read that's the king to make just
step up offensively. I think defensively he's gotten stronger, but
not never gonna be his strong suit. And then you
don't have two starters, and you don't have and Darian
Phineise Smith was just a complete miss. So this yeah, yeah,

(26:41):
so going into the off season, I mean, it's it's
a tough it's a tough conversation to have, not sure
necessarily treading for Yanni's right move. I mean, I guess
Yannis and kat if KT is healthy, makes you a
contender or wife said this before and I'll say it again.
Feels a bit cheap tank for four seasons. And then

(27:02):
even if you do win a championship, wining off of
two guys who've been here for one or two years
who are absolutely not gonna go down as Houston Rockets
at the end of their careers, and they're all carrying
all of the weight. And the guys that you thank
for are like most of the main guys are, you
know in Shingun and Jaileen are gone, and I guess

(27:23):
you could have a mantling a big role, but like,
at that point, is this really the same team or
did you accumulated assets and trade for stars the way
the Brooklyn Nets did, and I mean it didn't work
for them, but I guess as a fan it wouldn't
feel that great. I mean, like he switing a championships
always great, right, but you win a championship because the
kind of bought it, it just doesn't feel as good

(27:44):
like this one was rewarding.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
I guess, well, let me follow up on Shan Yun
because I think there's an interesting conversation there that I
do think dobtails with the inherent off season strategy that
I know we both want to cover. So one thing
we need to lead with. According to every bit of

(28:09):
information I have, emay Udoka is going nowhere. Now. I'm
not telling anybody listening how to feel if you don't
like emy Udoka, to each their own, you can feel
how you want to feel. But from everything I've heard,
the Rockets are nowhere close internally to being out on
emy Udoka. In fact, they just gave him a contract
extension prior to this season. They still believe in the guy,

(28:33):
and so, knowing what we know about his playing style,
and this is a defensive coach that's been well established,
you do have to optimize the roster for him specifically
because you don't have a player like Wemby or Ky
Cunningham or even Cooper Flag to lift you to where

(28:54):
you can be more than the sum of the parts,
Like you don't have that individual transcendent guy to just
lift you in big spots and steal wins. If the
Rockets are gonna win a championship in this era, it's
gonna have to be unfit on chemistry. Things are gonna
have to be in alignment. And with ima Udoka, we

(29:16):
know he's a deep, insive oriented coach. Well, it's difficult
to play shinggun and read Shepherd together. Tarry Easan's defense,
as you mentioned, has slipped this season, and I think
a lot of it. He just doesn't look healthy to me, Polo,
like I think you know when he tried to ramp
back up from the oblique in December head issue with

(29:37):
the lower left leg. If you watch him on the
bench during games, he's still icing it all the time.
I think the ankle sprain he suffered to the other leg.
It's the lower left leg he's had issues with the
last two years, and then he's sprained the ankle on
his right leg that he's had on again, off again
issues with for the last couple of months. Now that
he doesn't have a good leg to stand on, we

(29:58):
didn't necessarily notice that it because he was making an
absurd amount of breeze. Well, now that the inevitable regression
to the mean has hit, then the defensive lapses stand
out a lot more. And considering it's a multi year injury,
at least with the lower left leg, you do have
to wonder what it means long term because just by
the eye test, he doesn't look as athletic or springy

(30:19):
as he did a couple of years ago, certainly not
as a rookie before he had any of these issues.
So if you want to maximize your parts with emy Udoka,
you need to give him the pieces to be a
very good defensive team. Like we heard his postgame comments
after that Spurs game, talking about needing to find an identity,
needing to find that dog. And I know there was

(30:42):
some shot lock. You know you mentioned Dylan Harper and
step Castle, both sub thirty percent shooters, each with three
or four against the Rockets's first twenty one to forty overall.
I mean, even if we take it down by say
twelve points to eliminate four of those threes, that's still
one hundred and thirty three points. I mean, they just
thrust you in that game. So even if we account
a little bit for the shot walk, and I do

(31:03):
think the Spurs got really good looks, the Rockets were
still shredded defensively. They just looked in a different league
athletically and unable to stop guys in the perimeter. With Shongoun,
there's not really a rim protector. And so you know,
I get the reservations about Giannis. I wouldn't you know.
I'm not closed off to the idea, But beyond just
the fan experience, there's also something we said for shortening

(31:25):
the timeline. And look like if you go all in
for Yannis and it doesn't work out, and you see
the Spurs and the thunder, it's reminder of how high
the bar is. Well, you gip up all those assets
and you could be in an even worse spot three
years from now, but without you know, future draft capital
to do other things. So I get the hesitation there,
but I also think that it's not the only move

(31:49):
you could make. Like, sure, you could consider a big
time deal if the right guy comes available. Maybe it's Shiannis,
maybe it's someone else this offseason to try, I get
you to that next level by the fall. But I
also think, and this would not be popular, but I
do wonder if there's a world where you know it
certainly wouldn't be rebuilding again, but if the Rockets would

(32:13):
consider moving a Shangoon or maybe Tari who'll being restricted
free agency for future draft capital, or younger guys that
have more upside and are a little bit cheaper, Especially
with Shangoon because we know the Rockets have another starting
quality center right behind him and Steven Adams, who's on
a great contract. From a minute's perspective, he's always been
a little bit undervalued. I mean, you could easily start

(32:35):
Steven Adams and still feel very good about what you
have at the center position, and you do have to
be careful. Like when we talk about the young guys,
it's easy to say, well, you know, Shangoon's just twenty three,
Read's just twenty one. I mean, you could trade Red,
but I just think there's much more value to keeping
Red internally at this stage of his career. And I
also think they view him as having more upside than

(32:57):
even Shingoon, So I think it's the older guys who
are going to be a little more expensive. That would
be the theoretical trade candidates, both to fill salary as
well as maybe to make the team a little bit cheaper.
As you know, other guys and men's going to get
a very rich deal within the next couple of years.
So trading for a big name is one thing you
could do. But I'm also curious your thoughts, pollow on
if you're open to, you know, trading for say young

(33:20):
guys and George draft capital, maybe even taking a step back,
with the idea being that in the long run it
could help you take a step forward because the one
thing you don't want to do. Just keep in mind,
the value of these young players can change, It can evolve.
Like it's easy to say Shingoon's twenty three reads twenty one,
but if the mix isn't right and this team sort

(33:43):
of stalls out the comparison I pointed to in the
Clutch Fan's post game with Dave Hardesty after that San
Antonio game, look at the Kings and Demontes Sabonis. I'm
not comparing Shinggoun to Sibonis as players. What I'm comparing
is Sibonis as an asset relative to other young assets
around the league, including in Houston. And to me, he's
a cautionary tale. You know, the Pacers sold pretty high

(34:06):
on him and brought in Tyrese Haliburton. The Kings had
opportunities to move him, didn't, and now even though his
points rebounds, all the top line stats are still about
the same. Leading into this deadline, it was widely reported
that he did not have a lot of value. And
so if you just stay the course and say, well,
you know, we're gonna kick the can down the road,

(34:27):
hope it works out, and then if it doesn't, we
can always make a move later. Well, there's risk in
that you're young guys at the fit isn't right and
the team isn't winning at a high level. Maybe people
around the league, you know, have a lesser view of
their value and say, hey, these guys aren't really contributing
to winning. Like, there's risks no matter what you do.
And so I do wonder again, this is all This

(34:48):
is not based solely on the Spurs game. This is
based on the hypothetical that this ends up being you know,
their downfall in the playoffs as well, And it looks
like there's a pretty decent gap between the Rockets and
the true top tier of contenders. Then, I don't know,
do you consider moving a Shingoon or Atari someone like
that for players that are perhaps a better fit contractually,

(35:09):
that have more upside, that are better that are better
fits stylistically with what ema Udoka wants to do. I'm
not saying for sure that's the case. I mean, the
perfect scenario for fans would be to make that big
superstar trade and have a contender this fall, But I
don't know. I think you sort of have to be
at least open minded to to other ideas as well,

(35:30):
because I just think to maximize this team's championship potential,
it has to be about chemistry, it has to be
about fit, and I do think there's some concerning signs
about how these young guys specifically fit together in the
grand scheme. What's your perspective on that, Palel as far
as the long term fit with ema Udoka. And that's
not to again, that's not to sort of toss aside

(35:50):
the concerns that people and the fan base have about em.
I'm just trying to be realistic. I don't think that's
a lever the Rockets are even going to consider pulling
this offseason, I think they would try different personnel first.
And when I look at guys like those you mentioned,
I mean, certainly there's potential star trades you can look to,
but I don't know, maybe maybe you consider other deals

(36:12):
as well to try and get a better mix with
Emyrjoka Powell. What's your perspective on that.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
Well as a fan and maybe and maybe you know,
putting the the analysis cap on as well that you know,
I'm still darn whether the feel fluord to rank ways
of moving forward. My number one might still be at
this moment running back with fre Friendly and Steven Adams

(36:41):
and see how you can be because I do think
that a lot of the issues which in Gon come
from although real.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Quick something interject it is worth noting that Shinun actually
had a lower true shooting percentage last year with Fred,
so I get where you're coming from. It just wanted
to point out that this regression from Scholan Goun on offense,
it actually predates the ride injury.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yep, No, And when I talk about Fred, it's mostly
about the defense, not the offense. Okay, I think you
know a lot of the problem has to be one
of attack defense and the fact that we was here,
we were so good at denying penetration and then recovering
after guys when we did need to show help, and
this year we're not able to. So I think my

(37:23):
number one scenario and I think it's close. It's neck
and neck is right now is still you know, run
it back with the same team, and well, not exactly
the same team. It will change or in finish Smith perhaps,
or make it move here or there. Maybe maybe an enforcer.
We've talked about bringing back down Brooks before. Someone of
that sort, right, might make sense. But after that I

(37:47):
rank taking me a step back and trading for young
or trading for or training for young pieces and picks
higher than trading for Jans And because I do think
that you brings into this team and I'm not sure
that's your one contenders, and if they're not well, you
got to start all over again in a few years.

(38:08):
Might not even be a few years, might be a
couple of years when Kat is gone, because once you
bring in Yannis, this is Kat's timeline, and when Kat
retires is going to take a step back that you're
not going to be able to compensate for That's what
happened with, you know, playing a premium for a game
like Jannis. Is that well, now you are on Katie's timeline,
and Kati is not a bridge between between being good

(38:31):
and being very good. Now you are on Katie's timeline.
So that's that not only is that risk here, we
will not be sure that that works. And taking a
step back allows guys like Amn Thompson and Reached Shepherd,
who seemed to be the highest ceiling guys on this
team at this moment, to get a little bit more

(38:51):
time to get to that, you know, Brian on their
career levels. Now there's arguments against that as well well.
And if you take a step back, what's to tell
you that you're not just stuck in a conference with
you know, the Wemby Spurs who can't get passed, just
like you couldn't get past the Warriors. Who's telling you

(39:13):
that you the right time to strike isn't before Wemby
is full prime and just it's so impossible to win
against them, which I think is a very real possibility
when you talk about you can say that about Wemby,
you can say that about the Thunder as well, they're
still incredibly well built to be a dynasty. For you know,
they haven't been as scary this year because of injuries,

(39:35):
but for the few years to come, they're like they're not.
I get the very clearly the best team in the league,
and they still have an insane amount of picks and
an incent amount of guys that are still young that
can still develop, like Chet's still very young, David and
Williams is still very young. They will get better. They
just treated for Jarred McCain. West do thing has some
upside as well. So there's that I think the most

(39:57):
important part of that scenario, the most important, the most
important counter argument on that scenario, the taking a step
back is I just don't think if you like, I
think it's when when the Rockets first decided to tank,
that was clearly the best path forward. A move like
that now is something that's not clearly the best pathforward,
even though it might be. But it's in my mind

(40:20):
it's a forty forty twenty split only three scenarios that
I laid out, So it's a forty percent chance that
you're right. It's not a home run. It's not a
home run like this is clearly the best path to
go forward. And I just don't think you can sell
tilmen on that if you're not one hundred percent sure
that's it's the correct way. Like it's still already like

(40:41):
already you know, green flag, four year, thank yeah, four
year tank for he would.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Still have Kevin Durant to sell tickets. By the way,
keep that in mind.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
I mean, I know it he's gonna have an end
of trade. If you take a step back out say, but.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
I'm just saying, like it wouldn't be like going to
the depths of the early twenties. I understand your point,
but it is it is a little different. I'm honestly
not sure if Katie would demand the trade. That's a
good question, but we can cross that bridge when we
come to it. I tend to think he really does
just want to play out his career in a place
where he's comfortable. It wasn't like he was a true

(41:17):
ring chaser last summer. He's already got the two titles.
But I don't know. Let's not worry about that now.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
What you could do is you could do a middle
of the you know, middle of the way scenario in
which my thing is.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
And I know some will point out, you know, there's
risks Stephen coming off the ankle surgery, but I don't think.
I mean, I actually think on a permanent basis, you'd
be better with Stephen starting overall. For in Shango now
you wouldn't have Stephen off the bench. And you know,
do you bring back Clint as your primary backup or
do you bring in another center? But I don't if
it's Shindo, I don't necessarily think, assuming they have anything

(41:54):
close to a healthy Stephen Adams, that it would be
a big step back. You see where I'm coming from.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
I do which which witch too to what was to
what it was was about to say, which is there's
the middle of the way road in which I'm gonna
say the name and people are going to be instantly
pissed off. But this is not necessarily the name I
would target, just the type of move a guy like
I'm not gonna say that, I'm gonna I'm gonna say

(42:22):
someone else like going and getting a premium role player
and a couple of picks. But you're still good, right, Uh?
If if it's a big that that works well, would
reach n k D. I think impact wise and in
a little good defensive, big impact wise, you might be

(42:42):
about some level as you are now and you reload
a couple of picks so you can go after someone
who's more sustainable than in the future, like like maybe
I don't know if a Devin Booker or Anthony Edwards
or someone like like one of these guys is eventually
going to be unhappy and Amanda trade.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
While being Shames Harden ages out for example, and.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
That could be a path forward. You could do something
crazy and see, well, how high can you get in
the drafts with England and this is a generational class.
Perhaps you're confident, you know you're you're probably not getting
top three, You're probably not getting Darren Peterson, Cam Boozer
or I'm forgetting the devansa. But what if you're really
high on I don't know Houston guy Kingston Flemings. What

(43:32):
if you're really high on on someone in that line
would think wudn't get you there? What if the trade
was with the Pelicans for a guy like I don't
know Trey Murphy, do you dream probably Tray Murphy in
a pick or two.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
But yeah, I was gonna ask you. An example of
a premium role player in pick package Murphy might be.
Yet if that kind of the theory we're going.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
Yeah, I was looking for that, you know, the player
I was gonna mention his mouth, but he's kind of
fallen off and know what, he's not in a position
whether that would make sense for them unless they want
to remain relevant after Yannis, which I don't know. I mean,
I've seen teams do weirder stuff, but something in that
range that keeps you competitive and allows you to still

(44:16):
be to have you know, more firing power. And in
that case, it's more about selling high changing if you
predict that his value is going to get lower if
he has another season like if you have one season
like last season, I think bottom of water leeway. He
was really good defensively last season. After the season like this,

(44:38):
I don't think like people are going to be insanely
down on him. If he has another season like this
last next year, then then the SUBONUS conference going to
come flying in and they're never going to get you know,
two time all star value, twenty three year old, two
time All star value for him. But I do think
it's you know, and it's always been a valued question
to raise because because of what the talk has always been,

(44:59):
which is, as you like to say to quote band
you bow, is the cues worth the squeeze in the
sense that you're not good offensively right now, and you're
terrible defensively. How I the archtype is supposed to be
you're so good offensively that you make up for your
defense right now. They're not good at either, right And
so that's when you get into those Sabonis comps where

(45:23):
you go from the Jokic types to the Sabonus types.
And once you get associated with the Sabonus types, you're
not going to get a good value for him. And
then you add in that not necessarily a great fit
with a man thumbs and not definitely not a great
fit with where the email you don'ga?

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Where do you go?

Speaker 3 (45:42):
Where do you go from?

Speaker 2 (45:44):
Like?

Speaker 3 (45:44):
Where do you go from there? From a team building perspective,
it just seemed like darkst have good players, they just
don't fit together all that well. And once you factor
in that, read might be stepping in as you know,
next man app as far as superstar potential goes, I
know he's not close to superstar right now, but you
know there's there's a lot that offensively to like, how
the fair in this situation where he's got a better

(46:07):
screening Big, and we see with Cappello, who's a very
diminished version of a very good screening Big that he's
you know what a plus eleven plus eleven or something
close to that sounds good about it recently, So it
does really well with Capella. How did do you got him?
You know, a really good version of Cappella or something

(46:28):
of the sort. So it's worth discussing. I'm not sure
it's the best path to go, and I'm even less
sure that Tilman would okay, move like that. And then,
to be fair, if I were in his position, I'm
not sure I would read it, because how are you
gonna sell a guy on, hey, you sacrifice four years,
now he got two. He's going to get out of

(46:48):
the first round, and I'm gonna take a step back,
and you know, not necessarily be as bad as we were,
but don't necessarily be for throttle trying to be good
or or we or at least admitting that we don't
believe at the current path the linear development would take
a step I think that's that's a very rough conversation
to happen, and I'm not sure. I'm not sure they
could get him to buy into that. To be fair,

(47:16):
if you sold them on Shngoon for Kingston Fleming and
because he's a U of H guy and whatever and
whatever picks come on top, they might buy into.

Speaker 4 (47:31):
Yeah, I'm joking, kind of talking, kind of being a
serious note. Well, I will say I don't think it
would be a hard sell to convince Tilman that Stephen
is worthy of a larger role now and as some
will have concerns about his ankle and whatnot. But you know,
there were pathways for sure for the Rockets to duck
the luxury tax at the deadline, and as rafel Stone

(47:54):
admitted to they pretty much knew by that point that
this was a team that, while not impossible, would need
a lot of luck to win a championship this year.
And one of those paths was to trade Steven Adams,
or were teams like the Pacers who are in a
gap yere with no Halliburton that ultimately they traded for
Ivika Zubax. They could have made a move for Steven Adams,

(48:15):
and I'm told that there was interest for Steven around
the league and the Rockets chose to keep him for
future years. They could have looked to move Drian Finney Smith, but.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
They kept him. You know, there's still some hope that
he'll bounce back, but if not, he's useful matching salaries
and expiring this offseason, and so Tilman is he's paying
the tax this year for future assets for guys like
you know, ideally the best bounces back, but worst case,
he's a trade asset for Steven Adams because they think

(48:45):
that when he's right, he's one of the best value
contracts in the game. So if part of the plan
is dialing up the usage of those guys, which, as
Tilman sees it, our clear wins very important. That he's
already sort of backed, then I don't think it's a
huge ask for him to sort of double down. The
last point I'll make before we transition to the final segment.

(49:07):
You know, some of the discussions, if it's fine, I
don't want to get too far in the weeds about
these hypothetical scenarios are going to depend on whatever new
rules the NBA decides on to combat the so called
tanking crisis. In other words, how if any do the
lottery odds change because you know, you could certainly argue
like these teams through jealous of the Spurs got Wemby

(49:28):
and the lottery, the Piston's got Kate Cunningham, the MAVs
got Cooper Flagg. And I know the MAVs still good,
but you can see a pathway within a couple of
years for them to be a very good team. And
so maybe the Rockets just want more bites at the apple.
They already have some. They've got the Brooklyn swap in
twenty seven, the Phoenix picks in twenty seven and twenty nine,
the Dallas pick in twenty nine, and so maybe there's

(49:50):
a case be made. You know, it's not a pleasant conversation,
but you're good enough that center with Steven that you
just get more bites at the apple. But is it
or quantity some of that's going to be to be
determined based on the rules changes. It may be a
situation where it makes more sense, you know, to get
just the highest quantity of picks that you can possibly

(50:11):
get if the odds get more and more flattened, as
opposed to you know, it used to be try and
pick out the team that's most likely to be bad
and so project your ability to get higher in you know,
a draft in twenty seven, twenty nine, whatever it may be.
Those aren't pleasant conversations to be had, But I'm just
trying to talk about it within the confines of this

(50:33):
ridiculous thunder team, this Spurs team that's way ahead of schedule,
the Nuggets down there getting near on Gordon back, We'll
see what they look like. These aren't fun conversations because
we wanted to believe going into this year the Rocket
had a chance to contend for a championship. But just
in terms of the realistic roadmaps for how do they
get there or ema Udoka, these are things that you
may have to at least consider. We can talk more

(50:53):
specifically when we get to the offseason. We can incorporate
how they play in the playoffs, and we could also
incorporate what any rules changes are as far as the
NBA Draft lottery and its implications for future picks. All right,
last segment, and I'll try to make this quick because
we're already almost an hour in. We spent most of
the pod talking Macro. I'm going to finish talking micro

(51:15):
because if you believe that the Rockets can figure something out,
over these final nineteen games, it would be very convenient
to start the next couple of nights. Schedule is not
easy home against the Toronto team that I believe is
eight games over five hundred, and then a tough game
night too of a road back to back in Denver
against the Nuggets. If you win, you split the season series.

(51:35):
If not, I think the Nuggets would pass you for
a top four spot in the West and thus move
you to a spot where you'd be out of home
court advantage in the first round and facing either of
the Nuggets or the Timberwolves, which in my opinion are
far more difficult opponents than the Lakers would be to
get back to number three. So there's a lot to
play for in that game on Wednesday night won't be

(51:56):
easy on the road night too of a back to back.
And you know, internal I've heard all season long that
from a Rockets perspective, you know, the teams they sort
of fear the most in the playoffs are the thunder
for the obvious reason, and the Nuggets and Denver does
have championship pedigree. I understand that, and I think there's
some hesitation to buy in on the Spurs just because
they're so inexperienced. But at the same time, and maybe

(52:19):
I'm overreacting this Sunday, but just by the eye test,
it feels like the Nuggets are a much friendlier matchup
for the Rockets than the Spurs are. Like Houston has
shown an ability in those matchups against the Nuggets to
get to the rim, to get kickout threes in a
way that was much more difficult against the Spurs and Wemby.

(52:40):
If you look back to those three Rockets Nuggets games,
one in November, two in December, so the Rockets were
one and two, but all three of them were closed.
One of the two losses you pretty much have to
put an asterisk on it was the Amen Tim Hardaway
Junior ridiculous game where there was just the awful officiating
that was confirmed in the last two minute reports the
next day, late in the quarter and in overtime. Then

(53:02):
they came back the next game in Denver and dominated
the game. Before that was the NBA Cup one in
Houston that the Rockets had a bad first quarter, nearly
rallied to win but ultimately came up a little bit short.
I just think and maybe it changes with Aaron Gordon
back to the Nuggets because he hasn't played much against
the Rockets this season, but it doesn't feel like there's

(53:23):
nearly the same athleticism gap. You know, Denver's been a
bottom ten defense for most of this season, and so
I know Nicol jokicch is great, so is Jamal Murray.
But I just I feel like the matchup is a
little friendlier now. You know, the Rockets aren't head and
shoulders better, so they're gonna have to execute the fourth quarter.
That's been an issue all year, and it was and

(53:44):
that lost to the Warriors as well. But I'll happily
take you know, getting back to a point where we're
at least talking about, you know, what adjustments can they
make to you know, get going in the fourth quarter,
because that's typically manageable. And I do think like there's
some little things that are can do, Like between the
loss to the Warriors and then the comeback when they
had over the Blazers. I love the increased role of

(54:07):
a Men Thompson on Friday Night. I think a lot
of what's gone wrong for the Rockets this year they've
been way too dependent on Katie and Shingoon in high
leverage spots. To where the other young guys are hesitant.
They aren't as aggressive if they have a mismatch, they're
not seeking it out. They are too deferential. I would
love to see Emay empower those young guys, most notably

(54:27):
a Men Thompson and Reach Shepherd. It's not so much
just restart how many minutes does he play, it's how
does he play in those minutes? And I do think
there's a window where late in close games in the
fourth quarter, your young guards and Reach Shepherd and a
Men Thompson can do more than they've done over the
first sixty three games the first three quarters of the season.
I guess this is our three quarter review pod as

(54:48):
the season winds down. But my point is that, you know,
I feel like Denver's close enough to where we can
have those conversations and at least there's a path we
can have fun and talk. Like if he maybe Joka
makes this change, maybe things are completely different. It doesn't
feel to me like the San Antonio matchup is that close.

(55:10):
Like I saw some people saying, you know, we're the
Rockets holding back some things for the playoffs against the Spurs.
Maybe you can just easily easily argue that the Spurs
were holding things back for a playoff matchup against the Rockets.
It just looks to me like those two teams are
in are in different weight classes, primarily because of Wemby.
Jokic is the best player in the world, but I
don't know that he's necessarily the same mismatch for the

(55:32):
Rockets that Wemby is, and so because of that, I
don't know. Maybe it's changes, they're important, but my impression
is that the Rockets maybe there's some back to back
factors that make this one especially shriky, But just on paper,
I think the Nuggets are a little bit firmly over matchup. Powello,
what do you think as far as micro and what
the Rockets need to do to turn this around the
next couple of nights and specifically the Denver matchup? How

(55:54):
do you feel about that relative to San Antonio.

Speaker 3 (55:58):
It's definitely an easier matchup because although Yokich is great,
he's not necessarily as much of the game breaker as
I think Wemby is Right now and when is yog
is probably gonna be the MVP, but it's not, as
I said, it's not like the Rockets defense right now
is really going to affect what either team is going

(56:20):
to do in the sense of like the resistance that
they're going to put up. The fact that your catch
is better offensively than Wemby the resistance of the Rockets
are going to put up is not going to make
that much of like that much of a difference, beacause
we're basically going to allow them to run whatever game
plan they want because we can't stop. So it's not

(56:42):
like that's going to be much of a difference there.
But I do think offensively we can punish in for
a lot more easily than we can punish the Spurs,
because well, Wemby is not there. And so what I do.
I do expect this to be equals match a goal
or quarter and then it's going to be a hard
execution and it's gonna be about lockdown shots and who
doesn't And and as I did, and as I said

(57:04):
in my very long type driver about it, I don't
think the Rockets have the ability to raise their level
or decrease their level that much. And I think the
Nuggets because of them, because of being a better well,
I just think the sport just really a better regulus
to the regular season dem woll see how that goes
in the playoffs. But it's just a more evil matchup

(57:25):
with with Denver, and so it's going to be like
many other matchups have been throughout entire season. It's probably
going to be into the fourth quarter and then it'll
just like see how it goes and see if we
can make shots or down if they were missus shots around.
I know this this sounds like very amateurish analysis, but
it's really there's not really much sense to be made

(57:45):
of when the Rockets win and when the Rockets wuld
it's largely the same things, uh, And it's largely a
bunch of sports cliche of did you make shots the
other team massots because the Rockets don't really put up
that much resistance and when they change things tactically, it
doesn't really change much in the game at all. So

(58:06):
I guess with the negative, it's just because there's so
much worse defensively than the Spurs, the game is going
to be more even because it's easier to stop the
Rockets offense than it is to punish the Rockets even
smare than it's already being punished. If that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
So I do I do expect it to be a.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
Close game because the Negets are going to be in
a position where the Rockets can do better offensively and
be more consistent offensively and perhaps keep up with what
the Nuggets with what the Nuggets are trying to do,
because a lot of our defense is just hoping they
miss a lot of the time. Then we give a
lot of a lot of wide open shots. So there's
more of a chance of the varying sterning our way

(58:47):
than in a game like it is with the Spurs,
where well, we're not getting open shots and we're giving
up a lot of open shots. On the other end,
it's it's much better when you're giving up, you know,
perhaps ten fifteen percent better looks on defense, so we're
getting sixty percent better works on offense. So I guess
that's that's what I'm trying to get at. I don't
expect them to be competitive, but if they do win,

(59:09):
it's not gonna change how I feel about this team.
On next week's spot, still likeily the same thing until
I see this team being able to lock in on
defense and shut down another team for five minutes, and
it's not just relying on guys missing shots. They should
be making. Until I see that level of intensity this team,
I'm not gonna be sold on this team because I

(59:30):
think when once it comes to the playoffs, so that
team will be able to do that and we just will.
So Yeah, it's definitely a better match all in all,
definitely a better matchup than the Spurs. But even if
we win, not gonna change much for what the season
is and will be.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
I would say it would be a big culture win
for anyone doubting Email Ujoka and whether he's lost the
locker room or whatever. I think if they could win
on Night Tube back to back in that environment, it
would say a lot about their fight, But does it
change anything in the grand scheme. You're probably right. People
will probably call you Debbie Downer, but I understand where
you're coming from. I do think there's some axes and

(01:00:09):
those reasons. You know, the Spurs. You talk about the
talent overall, but I actually think there's some similarities with
that Warriors game the other night with Al Horford and
Raymond Green on the front line. I think the Rockets
really struggle with teams that can protect the rim with athleticism,
because I think the Rockets we know They're not a
high volume team from three point range, and so they

(01:00:29):
can get into math problems at times. And so the
way the Rockets need to overcome it they need to
be able to pressure the rim, either to get layups,
to get free throws, to get kickout threes. And I
gets too big like Jokic, you can attack at angles,
you can get him in foul trouble. There are ways
that your guys like Amn Thompson and even to an extent,

(01:00:51):
Harry Eastings Marismith Junior can attack off the dribble Kevin
Durant as well. Whereas against teams like certainly the Spurs
with Wemby, but the Warriors, I know, Spusher and losca
is no step Curry, no to Mean Butler, no Chris
steps frothingis. But you do have when it matters, Raymond
Green and Al Horford in the front court. It's very
difficult to to have your downhill guys exert the rim

(01:01:14):
pressure that you need to generate satisfactory offense. And we
saw in the fourth quarter the Rockets went over six
minutes with just two points, and those were the high
leverage minutes. When the Warriors went out with their two
veteran bigs who can still even at advanced ages, move
very well. The Jokic matchup, as great as he is overall,
is a little friendlier because the Rockets can get the

(01:01:34):
downhill pressure that they need to not entirely, but to
minimize their issues when it comes to a lack of
three point volume. Anyway, with that, we'll bring this episode
to a close. Agree that it probably won't change no
matter what happens how we feel about this team in
a week, but at least for the sake of vibes
and the fan base. My god, could this team use
a win. Hopefully that will happen over the next couple

(01:01:56):
of nights, ideally two of them. Anyway, until our next
this is where we'll break. And if you want to
hear more from myself and Powlow and the Intrum, the
best place to do that is on social media. My
handle on Twitter and Blue Sky is at Bendo's powlos
on X at Palo Alves, NBA, and this show the
Rockets Launchpod. If you go to Launch Pods seven ninety
on X and you hit up the link tree in

(01:02:18):
the bio, that's got all the links that you could
need to support us, friends, sponsors, partners of the program,
whatever you might want to access to help support us
and keep us going to one of the most active
podcast covering use in Rockets basketball, just hit up the
link tree in the bio at launch Pod seven ninety
and you can find it there Right for tonight, we're
done for pollow Alves. I'm Benjubo's. As always, we appreciate

(01:02:40):
you so much for listening, and please come back soon
for more new episodes of the Rockets launch Pod. Go
Rockets