Preseason takeaways: An identity shift for the Rockets?

Hosted by Ben DuBose and Paulo Alves, Friday’s episode features reaction to Houston’s 2-0 start to preseason play. Topics include strong showings from the likes of Alperen Sengun, Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson, and Jabari Smith Jr., as well as early indications that the Rockets’ identity this season might be more driven by their offense.

With a focus on player evaluations, the show concludes with a look at Ime Udoka’s end-of-the-rotation options and how much players such as Clint Capela and JD Davison might play off the bench.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome aboard, Welcome into the Rockets Launch Pod presented by
Clutch Fans. I'm your host, Ben Dubo's based here in Houston,
and I'm again joined by Powlo Alves, my good friend,
co host and producer out of Portugal. You can follow

(00:22):
me on social media at Bendubo's polo at Powlo Albs NBA,
and you can read my work covering the Rockets at USA.
Today's Rockets were and over on the Clutch Fans blog
at ClutchFans dot net. The training camp in the books,
and the preseason officially underway. We do have a lot
to talk about today, but I want to start by
addressing some housekeeping items because you've come to know us

(00:42):
as the Logger line over the past few years, but
that's no longer the case since, as mentioned, we've got
a new name. Carback is phasing out Clutch City Logger.
That's obviously their business decision. It's way beyond my paygrade,
and so because of that, it no longer makes sense
for them to be the main sponsor. And if they're
not going to sponsor to the podcast, then there's no
reason for our podcast to be named after a beer

(01:03):
since we're talking about Houston Rockets basketball, so we've got
a new Rockets themed name, but it's one that also
has a few personal connections for us as well.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Plow used to host.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
The launch Pad podcast back in the day, and then
four Stock seven ninety of course, the flagship radio station
of the team and our primary distribution partner.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
For the show.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
They've got a pregame show known as the Rockets launch Pad,
so since we're seven to ninety podcast, it only makes
sense for this to be the Rockets launch Pod. And
then as far as partnering with Clutch fans, obviously, Dave
Hardesty has been a massive figure in the Rockets content
community for decades. He's been a frequent guest on this show,
a friend of the program for some time, and so
as I see it as only fitting that we work

(01:43):
a bit more closely with him.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
So not much is going to change as far as
the program itself.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
The main show is still going to be me and
Powlow basically yapping about the latest games, the latest rumors,
and pretty much everything else that comes with the territory
of being a diehard fan of an NBA team. If anything,
we'll probably have a bit more content. As some of
you may have noticed if you're a subscriber to the
RSS speed In recent days, Dave and I have been
doing these Clutch Fans live YouTube sessions right actor each game.

(02:10):
The idea is to have something a bit more quick
hitting thirty minutes or less just recapping what we saw
on the floor that night. There's also a bit more
of an interactive component and that we can respond to
some of the live questions and comments from you all
that are streaming.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
It live with us.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Those episodes are getting live streamed over at the Clutch
Bands YouTube channel, which you can subscribe to, but I'm
also posting them to this channel once each episode wraps up.
I don't know exactly how frequently we'll do those. I
don't think it will literally be every game, but I
do think it's something new that we want to try
out from time to time, because, to say the least,
when your team acquires Covin Durant and becomes a championship contender,

(02:46):
it then becomes a.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Lot more fun to talk about them.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
And as far as that show and the concept, it
won't just be me and Dave Powow. I think you'll
be on from time to time as well as other friends.
The program that our regular listeners are probably familiar with already.
So long story short, the long form podcast that you're
used to from me and Polow, that's basically staying the same,
No major changes here. We've just got some cosmetic and
business things that we're changing up as far as the name,

(03:11):
the sponsor, the logos, stuff like that, and then we're
going to be sprinkling in so many episodes from the
new live show on the RSS speed. All right, with
those disclaimers out of the way, let's get right to it.
Our listeners have probably heard my thoughts already from those
aforementioned live shows. So Polo, I'm gonna let you take
the reins today. Rockets are two too in the preseason
home wins this week over Atlanta and Utah. Still got

(03:34):
two more games next week exhibitions, that is, against the
New Orleans Pelicans and Atlanta Hawks. Pallo, what has stood
out to you most in these two games the first
full week of October and what questions do you still
have as we look forward to the back half of
preseason play.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's been definitely a very interesting couple of games for
a lot of good reasons, and then a couple of
not so good reasons is well, obviously it's pre season, right,
and it's not even the phase of pre season that
they call dress rehearsal or whatever it may be. You know,
it's not even like within preseason. It's not even the

(04:13):
serious part of the preseason yet, right, So you know,
I'm going to talk a little bit about you know,
effort level on hea friends and stuff like that, but
I think the biggest takeaway from you know, I think
I think we can go player by player, but I'm
going to give the biggest takeaway from a team perspective. Already,
both in the game without Kevin Durrant and the one

(04:34):
with Kevin Drant, I think it was even more noticeable.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Then.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
The biggest theme I have is just how much smarter
or how much how much higher the basketball, like you,
seems to be from everybody across the port right last
season from every player on the court, like we saw
a lot of you know, boneheaded mistakes, hesitation, not really

(04:58):
you know, I feeling knowing how to press advantages at times.
And my biggest takeaway from the first couple of games
that it seems like guys are a lot crisper in
the passes, they make the decisions that they may. I
can give you a couple a couple of examples. There's
obviously the fast break between Torreston and Albron Shingun. I

(05:19):
think it would be very easy. And I think if
any Rockets fans from last year looked at that play
and from the beginning, it was like, Okay, Tari's bringing
the ball up, thrilling him. There's like four Jazz defenders.
There's a fairly likely scenario that this doesn't end up
in points. And I think if you look up last season,
that's not like we were a good fast break team

(05:41):
because we got a lot of fast paces, but we
weren't necessarily the best decision makers. And that was you know,
that fast break was run to perfection. Tari, you know,
drew all the intention and then last second while providing
a safe pass, Bastall Chinghun got the easy tonk at
that point. There's obviously the fast break with the four
men fast break that basically everybody touches the ball and

(06:03):
then that ends up with a man consomp two ors
near Junior Aliub. Like the spacing right or the positioning
of the players on the fast break to try and
maximize the space and guarantee that whoever has the ball
has multiple options, so it's easier for it's harder for
the defense to defend like that situations like I think

(06:24):
it was very very noticeable the gravity that Kevin durd
had in the game that he played like Abron Shingun
had I think thirteen assists in a game where he
played under thirty minutes. I think you can very easily
tell that, yes, Simon has mature than We'll talk about
chngerin specific, but before we I get into, you know,

(06:44):
explain individually, I think a lot of those thirteen assists
was the Rocks are running actions and Kevin learns on
the four and it's very clear that in every action
the defense is key in on Kevin durdd and it's
opening windows that we've all that we've always known that
ALP can punish, but now those windows are wider and

(07:07):
it's giving Shangun the opportunity to actually use that passing
and when do it was something that we talked about
last last season, how it seemed like shang UN's passing
had kind of regressed some not the flashy types of
fasses that we used to see a lot of floor stuff,
and I think from a team perspective, everybody being crisper
with guts, everybody noticing that Kevin runs swarping the floor

(07:32):
attention wise and moving it and then taking advantage of it,
even if it's a pre season game. To me, was
one of the biggest takeaways.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Let me tell you real quick.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
There's a comment related to that from robb do Dover
over on Blue Sky that I think speaks to exactly
what you're getting at. He had a threat of observations
and regarding Heaven specifically, he says it took Katie a
little bit to get comfortable, but once he got in,
he looked great. Loved his decision making. He did a
great job keeping the advantage offense. Sometimes that was rising

(08:02):
up to shoot, sometimes that was a quick pass. He
had a glorious touch pass to Read Shepherd at one point.
The obvious answer to how Durant helps is as a
tough shot maker at the end of the clock. But
I think how he might help more is by just
finding a decisive advantage before they get there. It was
noticeable how much more rare those late shot clock situations
were in this game, though it might have been the

(08:23):
Utah defense to some extent. Now, I thought that was
a really astute observation because I sort of thought the
same thing. We all in our minds thought back to
last season and the difficult looks that Fred and Jalen
weren't frequently able to convert. But what it looked like
in this game, and maybe it becomes more difficult against

(08:43):
better defenses. But I was just struck by how, as
you mentioned Powell, how much more crisp it was. And
then it didn't get to those late shot clock situations
because they were generating advantages much earlier. As opposed to
last year you talked about it, there weren't really especially
outside of all for Echan Doon, and when you only
have one advantage generator, it's very easy for defenses to
key in on him. They just weren't able to generate

(09:06):
many advantages, and that's why there were so many late
shot clock situations in the first place, where Frider Jalen
just sort of had to heave something up, whereas last night,
because you had multiple top tier advantage generators, everything went
much more smoothly.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Does that sort of get at what you were describing
in your first.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Comments, Yeah, I think it's basically that the fact that
Kevin Durant's on the floor, whether with the ball or
without the ball, it's wearing so much attention that windows
that last year were small, small or non existent now
are a lot easier for us to take advantage off,
and we are taking of them. And I think that's
just massive for the offense as a whole, because a

(09:44):
lot of people thought about this team and obviously still
talking about from a SILVERCE level, and a lot of
people thought about this team. Okay, Kevin Dran's getting surrounded
by like three four great defenders on any even possession,
and they're going to be the best defense in the league.
And then they're going to hope that Kevin Durant can
provide them a better offense by himself than what they
have last season. And what I saw last night and

(10:07):
against the Hawks as well, or more so last night
with KD is that he is such a huge present
and presence and he is so respected that this team
might not be a middle of the back or or
like a tenth in the league level offense with the
top three or four defense. No, this team might be

(10:28):
a dynamic offensive team that is able to steamroll opponents,
and I mean against the Jazz. Obviously it's the Jazz,
but they were really hot, and the Rockets were more
than able to just keep up with them offensively while
they were shooting sixty percent from the four. And at
the same time, once the Jazz got close enough, the
Rockets will walk in on defense, build an air pocket,

(10:50):
I guess, or a significant lead, and then go back
to the fun offensive style that they were that they
were playing like it feels like and I think that's
a level of greatness, not that kind of a really
good team, which is like you're like the Rockets last
season to win had to be locked in one hundred
percent of the dime. What they show, particularly in the
Jazz game, was that, Okay, this might be a dynamic

(11:12):
offensive team that has the ability to lock in defensively
whenever the lead is threatened. Because it never really felt
like the Jazz were going to win the game. It
felt like they would come closer, but the Rockets had
just overwhelming an overwhelming amount of talent, even offensively, and
so when they locked in defensively, it was just there's
no chance of Jazz that we're going to win, and

(11:33):
I'm not even I'm not even saying that that's going
to be their identity going into the season, because I
don't believe that's email you Bilka at all. But it
goes to show like last season, it felt like the
Rockets milk every single not every single but more like
eighty or sixty or seventy percent of the wind that
they could get. This season, it feels like, Okay, the
dowent levels what high. I think they'll struggle less to win,

(11:56):
And at the same time, the ceiling is also really
high because when they do walk in and they do
show the type of defensive attitude that they had last season,
it is obviously off of two preseason games, but just
protecting how this thing could look like like this might
not be the same underdog, really hard working team that
needs to solve every single defensive possession to be able

(12:16):
to sustain being in front of the other team. No,
this might be a team that is actually really good
offensively as well and can decide when to you know,
dig their heel into into the opposing team's neck or
whatever it may be. To me, it felt like and
it also felt like even without Fredendly and even without
Torrian Phinnie Smith. It felt that the depth was just

(12:39):
inside the third stringers. The Rockets were playing out there
were handedly beating the Jazz and there you know, some
players from their first world, from their first five and
players from their second five as well. Like Prockets went
away from their starters very early on and just kept
building a leade. So I think it's it's just too games,

(13:01):
but we might have been a little bit wrong about
what the identity of this team is and kind of
underestimated depending on how obviously guys are shooting well and
who knows if that's going to stranslate. And we'll talk
about players individually, of course, but it really felt like, Okay,
the identity of this team might not just be scrappy
underdog with a superstar that's going to carry them offensively.

(13:23):
There might be more to them offensively than that. And
you know, I'll leave it open to you if you
want touch on any specific player yourself, but we can
go into that.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Well.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
I think this is an interesting day to have that
conversation because after Wednesday night's game, when I recorded the
postgame show with Gave, Artisty Dave mentioned that same line
of thinking regarding the identity. Is it gonna shift from
last year when they were a top five defense throughout
at times the top two or top three defense, and
just the middle of the pack offense.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Even than that in half court situations.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
We expected it to improve some with Kevin Durant, But
there's people talking today Kevin or Kendrick Perkins excuse me
on ESPN and said that with Kevin Durant, the Rockets
could be the best hopens in the NBA. Now, we're
just two games into the preseason, so it's probably premature
to say that. But with what we saw against the

(14:23):
Utah Jazz, you can't say that it's entirely crazy either.
And so that's why I'm sort of curious to see
what happens these two preseason games against the Pelicans and
the Hawks next week. The Hawks, because I think they're
a team that's you know, gave the Rockets some problems
defensively because that they're length obviously Dice and Daniels. So
do a men Thompson and Reed Shepherd look better? That's

(14:44):
one of my big questions. You know, I thought between
Game one and Game two there was so much growth
from both the men and Reed and the easy thing
you can attribute it to, and I hope it's this
is the presence of Kevin Durant, because I you don't
think a man in a half court situation is ready
to be a top two creator for a contending level team.

(15:07):
But if you slide him down to third behind two
guys who can be the engine in half court situations,
which Kevin and Alprin certainly can be, then the floor opens.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Up for him.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
And similarly with Reed at twenty one years old, I
don't know if you want him to be maybe your
third best creator amongst your starting lineup, but if you
slide him down to fourth or fifth and he's getting
much more advantage scenarios, then it starts to make a
lot more sense. And so that's what I want to see,
especially in this rematch with the Hawks, in which both

(15:40):
teams might take it as the dress rehearsal of sorts,
because while it's the last preseason game, it is five, six,
seven games or seven days excuse me before each team
opens the regular season six days in the Rockets case,
because they have been opening that game at Oklahoma City.
So there's enough of a gap to where I don't
think coaches will be two hesitant based on the injury

(16:01):
risk factor. I think they'll want to get their guys
some real opportunities, and so against a team that's pretty
good and has a lot of defenders that gave the
Rockets at times in that first game problems, especially reading
the men with the turnovers, I'm curious to see how
much of that resolves just with Kevin Durant being out there,

(16:22):
or was it a combination of having Kevin Durant and
facing an opponent yesterday in the Utah Jazz that was
extremely young and thus didn't have the high level of
defense the ball pressure to really take them out of
their comfort zone. I lean to it being more Kevin Durant.
But to me that's the big question because besides what
Kevin brought individually, I just thought between Game one and

(16:44):
Game two, there was so much progression from a men
and Reid, And if you get the version of especially
a men, but Reid played pretty well as well in
that second game against the Jazz, then it's hard not
to imagine this offense being, you know, really really good,
like top five in the league good, even if I
still think Work might be overcooking it a little bit
with number one in the league. But yeah, if you

(17:06):
get last night's version of a men in reed, I
could see this offense being elite to be. The big
question is whether that's truly sustainable. How much of it
is specifically because of the Jazz And obviously they didn't
have some of their best defenders, most credibly Walker Qustler,
and that's a bad team to begin with.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
So those are my thoughts. It all comes down to
a man and Red.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
We knew that when Friend went out those were the
two variables that were going to become even more important,
especially in the half court. I like what we saw
against the Jazz. I do want to see how sustainable
it is against topper competition.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
I guess that's my view of how elite this offense
can be. I think it's largely going to hinge on
those two guys.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, and while I do agree with you, obviously the
Jazz are not, you know, the measuring state for teamline
the Rockets. I just gotta say it. At the same time,
like they shot, like they made seventeen threes through the
first three quarters, which is the time that Orcus played
the hit there, Mike Main guys, Like that's an instant
like they were really hot shooting the ball. And it's
still never really felt like that the dive became was

(18:06):
in danger. It really felt like the Rocks were kind
of playing around with them. Since you started going on
the individual guys, I guess the term the same guy
that the two touchdown reed. Jeppard definitely works a lot
more confident and obviously shots are going in, which is
the biggest deal with him, and you know, he and
really confidence touching shots as well, like off of movement

(18:27):
and stuff like that. It didn't it doesn't seem as
scared as as he looked before. So the conference that
everybody's talking about is definitely there. There were, you know,
a few turnovers there from just you know, throwing the
ball away. They were and I think they were even
on top of each other, and you know that's going
to happen. It's a preseason game.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
You know.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
They they were clearly a little bit more relaxed out there,
and so I can understand why that happened. But talking
about those two specific I think really has improved on defense,
I think that's that's a that's an no brainer. On offense,
he seems we're very boised in the same ways that
he was already before I saw something some encouraging stuff

(19:08):
of him getting to the rim, and no, obviously that's
good as well, obviously the conference shooting the free. I'm
more confident. Obviously small sample size. I'm more confident than
I was before the season about him potentially actually being
a key role player for the team, potentially even starting.
I mean we had a full lineup except to forward
Steven Adams last game and he was the starter, so

(19:29):
we'll see how that progresses.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
But then started in both games. By the way, I
was going to ask you about that. You know, they
talked about it. Maybe we'll see something change next week.
But we are now fifty percent through the preseason sample
and Reid has started both games. They have not started
the double big and either, so I won't say anything's
a lock. They did start Tarry when Kevin was out,
but A I think it was just because Kevin was

(19:51):
sitting out, and B I don't think Tari has looked
it haven't looked bad, but it's a particularly looked great either.
So as of now, it looks to me like Read
Shepherd the favorite for that best starting spot.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
I struggle with taking maybe the starters you can take
more from. But as far as rotation patterns go, it's
just like, I don't think it's projectable at all from
what they did in the in these two per season
games and what's eventually going to happen. You know, the
starting lineup might be correct. I think that's something that's
more easily easy to take away or easier to take away.

(20:24):
But as far as rotation patterns, the way they use
the three bigs and how like how that's gonna work,
it's hard to see on a you know, or a
three quarter game because in pretedon you're not worried about
who's getting the minutes, and youre likely I cann't, I'm not.
I don't think they're going to play a guy just
to play them five minutes. I mean they might maybe

(20:46):
that's something that's new, but I strolled to see them
do that. But moving on to you next guy, Aman Thompson.
I think there's there's massive improvement here, and I think
for a lot of people aren't giving it the gredity deserves.
Like I think the handle a lot better, and yes
he had some turnovers, Yes he had some situations when
he mays handled the ball, but he's attempting to do

(21:07):
stuff that he was not attempting to do last season
with the ball in his hands. He's not picking up
this RIBBWL nearly as much as his own part confidence.
And at the same time, there were a lot of
situations where last year's a man would even potentially get
through the first layer of the defense, but then get
to the rim and have to settle for a float
or have to turn back that In these two preseason games,

(21:31):
he has gotten all the way to the rim. He's
had some nice finishes as well, not just in transition,
in the half court as well. And I think that
he has mixed that in with his offense from last year,
which was a lot of cutting, a lot of driving,
offensive rebounds, a lot of being in the dunker spot.
I think it's good that we're going to see him
used in the way he was last season, as well

(21:51):
as mixing in somebody's been doing this season with the handle,
because that gives him kind of a floor from a
confidence perspective, like he's not going to start a game
like one for ten. He's likely going he's if he's
having a bad game, he might miss the first five
shots that he made that he takes, but at the
same time, mixed in with those will be four cuts
that end up being done, or maybe an offensive rebound

(22:13):
or maybe a a like a situation why he's in
the dunker spot and the ball gets dumped off to him. Like,
I think that mix is something that makes me really happy,
because a lot of the time, when you thrust players
into a bigger offensive role, they forget or they stopped
doing what they were doing what they did before they
had the town to be through to be thrust into
that main bow handler offensive role. So I'm really happy

(22:36):
that that's something that we're seeing with him. And you know,
obviously a really small sample, but those threes look good.
They looked confident. Some of them were contested than one
of the most contested at least, and he shot the manual.
So as far as the man Thompson those like, we
saw it in smaller volume in game one, in game
two one a higher volume. Like, not only do I

(22:57):
think there's a massive step with the handle, I think
he's going to absolutely feast on the gravity that Kad has,
especially because of how good he is as a decision
maker and how good he is he's showing to be
at punishing, and they're taking advantage of that space, that
connector type role that we see you know with guys

(23:18):
like Aaron Gordon and stuff like that, like with KD
on the floor and what that does sort of spacing,
a lot of more opportunities are a rising for Amn
Thompson to do exactly that. We already saw some of
it last season. A lot of it had to be
through offensive rebounding me because they offense didn't have any space,
But now like we're seeing a lot of easier stuff

(23:39):
come to him because of that space. So as far
as those two guys, those are my man takeaways, Like,
I think it's a massive improvement, and especially as far
as eventually becoming an armball start for a man, I
think that that has really improved. And as far as
Reach Shepherd, I think a lot of the grades in
his game have been upgraded to see and potentially you know,

(24:01):
maybe even the minus greats within his game. So we'll
see how this translates into really and real NBA games.
But I think a lot of people were too extender
about those two but I definitely took them as both
as you know, pretty clear positive through preseason.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
And let me follow up on amend because I think,
you know, there's this discussion today about the turnovers, and
I understand why, because there were a few of the
live ball variety, especially against the Hawks. There were too many,
and we saw that a little bit in the first half,
first quarter, particularly against the Jazz, and some of the
threes they gave up were because the Jazz had four

(24:44):
and two transition situations, and a lot of the reactions
just because, as you mentioned, the Jazz were white hot
and just made pretty much everything. If they shoot thirty
five percent, the Rockets win by twenty five and we're
having an entirely different conversation today. But some of the turnovers,
in my opinion, occurred because the Rockets are trying to
play at a higher pace, and that benefits a men

(25:06):
and it benefits the offense overall. We've talked the last
two years about e May and the coaching staff. They've
said they want to play faster, and then for various reasons,
it just didn't happen. And in my opinion, some of
these turnovers are just a byproduct of picking up the pace,
trying to make decisions much more quickly. And so I'm
not saying there's nothing to the idea that maybe they're

(25:29):
two turnover prone. I think it will definitely be something
that they talk about in the film room, and without
Fred and Fleet, I do think that you have to
sort of keep a watchful eye on it. But I
think some of it's just they're inherently going to have
a few more turnovers because, especially if a men is
running the show and they're moving much more quickly than
we're used to the last couple of years under Fred,

(25:49):
that inherently leads to a few more turnovers and it
doesn't look great at times, But if the overall pace
is faster and you're getting much more offensive productivity as
a result of it, then you'll take the trade off, right.
I mean, I'm not saying it one hundred percent is
worth it. Obviously we have to see just how sustainable
this offense is. But taking the Jazz game as an example,

(26:10):
I don't know how much you can really complain about
the turnovers if you put up one hundred and forty
points on e leite efficiency for the game.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
You see where I'm going with that.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
Yeah, and again I think I'm with you, and I
think this is what you're saying is well. But I
think the turnover thing is overblown, Like they have thirteen
turnovers against the cast. That's not a lot, especially for
the amount of possessions that were played. And then bamst
the Hoff that did have nineteen turnovers but and men
had three, Like it's not like I know it's it

(26:39):
wasn't a lot of minutes played, but three turnovers is
nothing like that crazy for what's considered the bad game. Like,
I don't think it's so arming at all, and I
think it's I mean, it's very easily fixable if it's
not working, like if you're turning the ball over in
the game, like you have Kevin durd Un your team,
you have Alpertinga who's been you know, a lot safer
with the ball this preceded, Like I don't think it

(27:00):
like if you feel like it's getting out of control,
you have measures and you have players in place that
can you know, immediately put a stop to that. And
in the meantime, like what then, Like it's also a
preseason again, they're trying stuff out, Like it's not very
it's not a structure that as it's going to be
in season. So yeah, I'm definitely really I think that
the turnovers thing is was a bit overplown and there

(27:22):
were just some turnovers that were just being careless with
the ball and a lot of them were like, let's
be real, the team was not absolutely locked into both
games and they easily won both of them. Like, it's
not it's not like complaining about turnovers in the preseason
to Messeium's kind of pointless because the preseason is exactly
made to try stuff out, and it's guys playing, you know, rotation,

(27:44):
like rotations that are not exactly what they're going to
play with in the season. And especially so because the
Rockets were winning and it's not like it was a
very low pressure environment and it was a very like
experimental type of game and they were trying a lot
of the stuff. And there's also the very normal arm
want of guys are building chemistry with the jetter guys

(28:06):
that are learning how the others like to get the ball.
Like it's not I don't think it's like we're seeing
different and even within the guys that we're already in
the team, like their games do not look the same.
And we haven't talked about Tepari Smith Tuner, but him,
for example, like he don't play. He's playing basically nothing
like he played last year.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, I agree, And I think that's actually somewhat correlated
with the men's success because I think one of the
problems the last couple of years has been the lack
of off ball movement and when we talk about running
shin hobb as we did in our most recent or
maybe second most recent pod, and I don't want to
get bogged down in semantics, not necessarily referring to exactly

(28:47):
the Nicola Jokic template, but just the idea that you
can unlock more out of operations from doing as a facilitator,
which clearly to this point they have against the Jazzy
at thirteen points thirteen assists excuse me to just one
turnover in twenty eight minutes, which is just insane efficiency
as a playmaker. And one of the reasons I think
they've struggled at times to do that the last two

(29:08):
years is a men is the only guy that consistently
moved off the ball, and so it put Shangoon in
a fairly difficult spot because defense has really only had
to account for one off ball mover and a men
didn't even consistently start until midway through last season. Well,
now you've got two off ball movers and a men
in Jabari. I suspect that's part of what you were

(29:30):
getting at, because for me, it's been night and day
watching how decisively Jabari moves off the ball compared to
a year ago. And I think some of it is
just feeling much more comfortable in his role. I think
one of the issues the last couple of years. I
suppose Shangoon is the one exception, and it probably took
midway through ime Udoka's first season to reach this point.

(29:53):
Shinangoon's the one exception where there was a clear star
or at least star in the making, and then be
on Shingoon. There's been a lot of hoping and praying
and that the other members of your core six, even
core seven, you give them a lot of runway. You
see who can develop, and everybody has a few moments
over eighty two games. The question is how sustainable they are,

(30:15):
And I think with Jabari there's been sort of this
back and forth as far as exactly what his role is,
exactly what.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
They're looking for and need out of him. And when
you're drafted number three.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Overall, it's easy to look at his profile and say, hey,
if he develops in certain areas, this could potentially be
a star. Whereas this year you've got two clear alphas
and Kevin Durant and all prin Shangoon in a half court.
That is, you've got three clear alphas counting Amen when
you factor in transition and defense. And so it's much

(30:48):
more easy for Jabari to sort of focus on his
specific role as opposed to going back and forth between
how much do I want to create? How much am
I looking for certain spots on the floor. I think
he's much more confident in what he needs to do
for this team to win, and so because of that,

(31:09):
then only is it beneficial to him because he's getting
some easy shots and getting into advantage spots based on
this off ball movement, But I also think it's helpful
to a men because now Amn's not the only guy cutting,
and of course Shangoon now he's got multiple cutters. So
the fact that both the men and Shabari are much
more well, I shouldn't say both are much more comfortable,
because the men already was, but the fact that you

(31:30):
now have two guys rather than one that are comfortable
doing this off ball movement in a scheme where you
have two top shelf half court guys and Kevin and Shangoon,
that makes you much more dynamic as an overall team.
And so I'm guessing that's part of what you've seen
from Jabari. I don't think that's the only change, but
I think it's one that is correlated with the men's
success and it's one that's potentially helping unlock the best

(31:53):
version of all perin Shangoon as well.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
No, it's one hundred, it's eighty percent of that. Like,
he definitely seems more decisive, and I think it's it's
both off the ball and on the ball as well,
Like he is going for pull up threes with the
confidence like he is putting the ball on the floor,
and there's obviously that done that he had that was
pretty impressive against the Hawks. But with him, like it's

(32:15):
just being decisive getting into even even both position at times,
I think, and sometimes I'm guilty of this as well,
not really with the players on my team, but mostly
players on other teams in the league. Is Hey, if
you are a really good role guy, like don't write to
be more than that, it's not going to pay off
over time because you're gonna be wasting shot. Well, we're
developing guys, right and weekly boarding specific When he came

(32:39):
into the league, there was a baseline of you know,
competency on the ball, both putting the ball on the
floor and getting to his own shot that just wasn't there.
And I think we're seeing the payoff of And he
said that that during the off season he was he
was working on his offense and working on on you know,
generating his own shot, and we see the payoff of. Right.

(33:01):
It doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to give him
the ball in the perimeter and let him go to
work like he's Kate every single time, but we working
on that makes the simpler stuff a lot easier. Like
you're you're way past the point where you know, he's
just a guy that you can trust to, you know,
sit in the perimeter and shoot catch and shoot shots
and then sometimes you know, maybe maybe take a couple

(33:23):
of dribbles and then pull up again, or maybe try
to attack the close off, but then get to the
rim and don't really know what to do. Like I
think there's definitely been a lot of progress during the
season with that for Javari, we already saw some of
it last season. I think it has been a step
up this season. And at the same time, to me,
he just seems a bit more athletic. Like Javari was

(33:45):
really tall, could easily dunk him, it was never a problem.
But he's getting up there like that donk he had,
Like I don't think I've ever seen him in game
jump that high for them, Like I think it's he's
always been six foot ten, six fort eleven, but he's
been he was pretty fast forwarded even coming out of college,
and I think there's been a step up in athleticism.
And then as far as in game, you talked about

(34:06):
the off the ball stuff, and this is kind of off
the ball as well, but I mean coming off of
screens and and and shooting shots like pulling up or
shooting not really movement because you know he doesn't he
gets set most of the time before shooting. But we
saw like more of that, Like we saw more of
him looking for his own shot. So alab we saw
him be confident. We saw him like not second guests
like oh should the ball go to Fred Shan Gun

(34:28):
and and Jail and Green before before I actually my shot, Like,
I feel like there's there was a lot more confidence
from him that he can do this as well, like
he can generate offense as well. I think it's very
diffidend and I think it's going to do wonders for
him to play with KD for in an extended period
of time, working with him every day. And I think

(34:49):
a lot of people have put a ceiling on Jabari saying, hey,
like he's going to be a three and D rope
lay that's really suitable and that's really useful, And I
think he will definitely be that, but I'm not quite
ready to quit on him being maybe a little bit
more than that, maybe a little bit more Michael Parker
junior esque with obviously better defense. I think there's still
a world out there where where he can be that.

(35:11):
And I think he just started off his career at
a lot lower of a point than people gave it
credit for because his college stats looked so good and
his efficiency looked so good. I think he was just
in a perfect perfect position to succeed with the games
two best physical players, and I think rookie Jafari Smith
Junior was a lot worse than people give it credit

(35:32):
for and so they think he's kind of stagnated or
or improved very little over the past at this point
three years going into fourth now, and I don't think
that's true. I think he improved a lot on a
lot of things, but it's just that the baseline was
so low before that him improving on those made him
a much better player. But it doesn't necessarily show up
in the statute. It shows up when he looked at

(35:53):
them play. So as far as Javari, I think he's
definitely gotten a lot better. And I'll move on to So.
I guess he touched on him. So and were still
gotta talk about Katie Alpron, Shane gun, Torry Eason. I mean,
we could talk about a lot of guys, but I
guess so I'll leave your guy to you because I

(36:13):
think on this spot he can we can see that
the R guy, So I'm not I'm gonna, you know,
leave that to you. Let you talk about him later.
And I'm pretty sure you know if I'm.

Speaker 4 (36:21):
Talking about Yes, T D. Davison Fan Club, Yeah, exactly.
So I guess I'll go quickly through the other guys.
I think Jasha Colby looked completely lost on defense, in
game one, he drew a couple of three points shooting files.
He showed some flashiest of one on one defense at
certain points. You know, obviously it's a minimum guy, like
there's not a lot of risk there, but wasn't too impressed.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Capella. Man, it just feels so good to have him
and a rocket scarty again, Like he was one of
my favorite players when I started working the rockets, Like
we saw him grow and he's just of a vet
now and his chemistry with saying gun is going to
be crazy. I think people were talking about, you know,
the meme of the low threat for Jail and Green, like,
oh Til needs a low threat, needs vertical spacing, listen,

(37:05):
Alfred and shining Gun can do some pretty nice things
as we saw with a vertical space as well, or
even and we saw it with the Men Thompson last year,
like Shun is perfectly capable of feeding the dunker spot
as a center or feeding the dunker spot as a
center and finding you know, Quinn Cappella as a rim
runner like rim running doesn't necessarily mean setting a big

(37:28):
and rolling and stuff like that, or rim runner like
cutting his rim running as well. And I think when
Cappella brings a dimension to this offense that we don't
quite have. Was not so impressed with him on defensive.
I know he had a couple of blocks there, or
a stretch of like two or three minutes where he had,
you know, a couple of a highlight plays. But I
also felt at times that asd as he is should

(37:50):
be a bit more of a deterrement. But then again,
it's pre season, so can't really you know, complain too
much about that. But yeah, you know, happy to have Clint.
I think he'll play more than people expect, and I
think he's one of those guys that's just just a
completely different skill set that will be important as we
go into the into the into the season. Jeff Green
is not worth talking about. I mean, the biggest news

(38:12):
for him is that we know that he wants to
fill him more year. Aaron Holliday to me strikes me
as I think he knows he's not going to play
much to begin to see them and when when he
when he was asked about you know, the other guys,
I think he very much accepted that and it was
you know, trying to put the spotlight on them. But
he is still very useful too. And then I guess
I'll talk about the two main guys I think with KD.

(38:35):
I mean kat is kat right or even well, I
already talked about his gravity. I think that that was
a huge thing, and I mean I was not really impressed,
but kind of surprised about how comfortable he was just
not having the ball in a sense. And and you know,
we went like stretches US two, three, four minutes where
Katie doesn't touch the ball or doesn't you know, get

(38:57):
a nicer possession on offense. And I was surprised by that.
I thought they would go to him a little bit more.
I think he got a lot of his buckets just
in the floor of the offense, in the floor of
the actions that we already ran last year with the
dribble handoffs. And I know he talked about it post
game or didn't not if it was post came on
an interview today. I just saw the quotes about how
you know, those actions helped him get to spots that

(39:20):
he is comfortable and on the floor. And yeah, I
was positively surprised by you know, kay, you know it
is was never going to be James Harden in the
sense that he's just you know, tuned off unless he
has the ball in his sense to ISO like when
Jane was in Houston, but he was actively using his
gravity to open space up for others and he was

(39:41):
ready to go immediately when he got the ball, and
he got a lot of buckets in the same ways
that a Speley got his boockets at the time, which
was just you know, within the floor of the offense.
And this doesn't mean that kid is not perfectly capable
of isoing. He did so a few times in the game,
but he's also capable of doing everything else, which is
why it's from the acquiring Kevin Brant versus acquiring other

(40:03):
high users superstars, because Katy can fit into anything and
beyond that. And I was just really happy to see
the guy run on the fast break, run back defensively,
like this is a preseason game, and Kevin Brant's like
setting the example, like he's not slacking off, letting the
other four dudes before the other four younger dudes on
the court to the defense for him, No, not at all,
quite the opposite, like he was sometimes not sting more

(40:25):
than some of the young guys. And I did notice
that because I mean, for time watching kV with the
rocket steers, you're kind of looking at him all the time,
and you notice these little things that he that he
still does even at the h that he has. Now,
I don't know if you're to touch on Kad before
we move on to Shangun or if you saw something
else from ment.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
No, we can move to Shangun all right.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
And then as far as Shane gun goes, I saw
a couple of mental lapses defensively, like defensive mistakes, but
I think that's just comes from it's a preseason game.
I think the touch is definitely that he made a
couple of contested shots like straight net doesn't even touch
the room. And I was really impressed with how with
his flow and how he and how fully He's always

(41:05):
been a fluid but the past season felt like contact
was bothering him a lot more. But perhaps because he
was trying to finish through so much contact last season.
Now it kind of feels like the chicagos are off,
and you know, even when there's a little hit of
contact doesn't really bother him because of what he had
to play through last season. Like it, but it definitely
feels like Shingum's gear for that Superstar leap, and I
do think it will be a question at the end

(41:28):
of the season who the best player on the Rockets
is and Dorokins have Kevin took in the Red Ropels,
Tum says, but Chengun just looked insanely impressive both setting
at the offense, you know, running the opens as a
point guard, not necessarily Shan Hubb, but even from the
top of the key, like not necessarily what you think
of when when you think about chan Hull, which is
him having the ball in the bows and guys cutting
around him. No, he was doing it like tru point

(41:49):
guard pig at the top of the key, doing all
of doing all of that stuff. So definitely impressed with that.
He shot some threes, he made some trees. If that's
a part of his game as well, watch out. But yeah,
it just felt like the freedom operation can't play with
played with back when we were thanking. It felt like
he was making the same like that magic came back,

(42:12):
Like he's doing that same type of stuff just or
even has much higher expectations and much higher reson of stability.
And if Shingun's able to play that free in season
and be as competent as he was, you know, these
last two games, and watch out like he might be,
Like he might be in the corversition for the best
player on the Rockets when that time comes, or when

(42:35):
inevitably the media wants to talk about it, because I
think he's really that good. And it feels like, even
though the Kevin rents on the team, like Schengun's the
main guy, and we intentionally give him the ball more
than we intentionally gave the ball to Kevin Durant. And
I think Kat is going to get obviously a lot
of touches in England the clutch of course, and we're
going to force feed them the ball a bit as well.

(42:56):
But it feels like every posision has to go through Changun,
and I think that's correct way to approach building our offense.
And it really feels like what he was doing in
EuroBasket has definitely carried over.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
All. Right, I'll finish up.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
The pod talking about three guys that I don't think
we've talked a lot about, because I think there's some
interconnected nature.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
To the decisions with regards to obviously JD.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Davidson, you were saving that for me versus Aaron Holliday,
and also the roles of Steven Adams and Tari Eason,
because I think what you need off the bench is
potentially shifting, you know. I thought it was very noteworthy
that in Game two Davison played ahead of Joshua Koge,
who I agree, especially his off ball defense in that

(43:45):
game against the Hawks was not very good. We didn't
see a Kogie until the second half against the Jazz,
so Davidson got an earlier look in the game. By
the way, he was plus seventeen in his seventeen minutes,
I believe best of any player on the floor, He's
looked very good and is he going to play? I
think a lot of it comes down to exactly what
you need out of that ten to fifteen minutes per

(44:08):
game guard spot off the bench.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
A lot of people have.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
An earmarked for Aaron Holliday, and one reason that I
think a lot of people were going in that direction
is that for an offensively challenged team the last couple
of years, if there has been any injury or any
issue at all, then having a guy you could trust
to shoot forty percent, even if he's a little bit
on the small side, if he shoots forty percent on threes.

(44:31):
It's probably worth playing him because it's a team that
was so limited elsewhere.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
However, if you.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
Are able to score at an elite level and in
the half court, as this year's team is, the calculus
might change.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
And that's where I could see JD.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Davison coming into play, because Davidson is much more dynamic now.
I don't think his three point shooting is as bad
as a lot of people do. I've seen people citing
his G League numbers. Actually, last year he shot when
you factor in the G League regular season, the tip
off tournament, and the playoffs, about a fifty game sample,
he was thirty four thirty four and a half percent,

(45:07):
and that was as the star player for the main Celtics.
In other words, at volume, he would probably shoot a
little bit higher if he was playing in a complimentary role,
which you are if you're the ninth man in an
NBA rotation and getting cleaner looks off of players like
all Parishion Goon and Kevin Durant. So I think there's
a world where he could be passable from a three

(45:29):
point perspective, but he's still not going to be Aaron
Holliday at forty percent, So I want to acknowledge that
off the top, I don't think his shooting is as
bad as some fear it was a liability if you
look back to his college days and AAU, I do
think there are clear signs that he's made real improvements,
not to the Aaron Holiday standard. But I also don't
think he's going to be like a sub thirty percent.
I think you can count on him to at least be,

(45:51):
you know, low to mid thirties from three, and maybe
a smidge higher than that if you get lucky in
some of these changes he has made proved to be sustainable, escially,
if he's getting a much higher percentage of clean looks
as opposed to when he's the guy on the main Celtics.
And so if the three point gap isn't massive, I
think it's something, but I don't think it's massive between

(46:13):
Holiday and Davison.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Then Davison just gives you so much more in other areas.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
He's more athletic, he's bigger, he's thicker, he can.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Do more things when he's handling the ball and the
pick and rolls.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
It just comes down to what you need and the
last two years they have been so devoid of shooting
that a lot of times you had no choice but
to put in the guy who not only shoots forty
percent on threes but also helps space the floor.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Because you are so devoid.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Of talent elsewhere that you need every advantage that you
can get. Well, if you are getting those advantages elsewhere,
then you might can think a little more aggressively. And
I do think JD has more to his game than
Aaron Holliday does, and he also on some nights might
have more than Reed Shepherd. I think Read in year
two is going to be a little matchup dependent, and JD,
with the athleticism and how thick he is, has the

(47:00):
potential to perhaps excel in some matchups where Read is
a little too small, and so I think he could
be a useful hedge there. And so yeah, there is
a world where JD Davison can play. I'm not saying
for sure it will happen. I do think he may
likes and trust Aaron Holliday. But if you start to
think bigger picture, maybe the model this year is different
than it is the last two years. Well, it certainly is,

(47:22):
but maybe that changes how you evaluate those end of
the bench and ended the rotation spots. And I also
think some of that applies to Steven Adams and Tarie
Easton as well.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Look, Steven Adams.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Is not a guy that you're gonna tell a lot
from in the preseason, but I do think that Steven
was so important to this team late last season in
the playoffs because of how offensively deficient they were in
the half court.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
So you needed every margin advantage when it.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Comes to the screen setting, the offensive class, everything that
Steven provides. Well, if you were able to generate offense
on a much more consistent basis, do you need the
double bit as much as you did last year. I
think that's part of why the Rockets want to start
read Shepherd. I don't think they want the double big

(48:08):
to be. They certainly still want to do it, and
I think they view matchups where it will help them,
But I don't know if it's going to be every
single game, and so sometimes it's going to come to
a situation on whether it's Steven or whether it's Tari
And I'm sort of torn. Tary hasn't shot the ball
well from three, but other than that, I've he seems

(48:29):
to be moving much better than he did a year ago.
He said, he feels much healthier. We've seen him when
he's in the game, taking much more of the point
of attack responsibility defensively like he did before re injuring
the leg last year. And so maybe there's gonna be
some matchups where instead of Stephen or Capella getting leaned
down with Shingoon, instead you want to go more versatile,

(48:51):
let Tari do some of the heavy lifting defensively, and
in turn, you can save a little bit of juice
for a men on the offensive end of the floor.
So with Parry, it's been a mixed bag, and I
do think we need to see him shoot better. From
three to twenty percent through two games is not ideal
obviously a small sample, but defensively, I do think he's
looked a little spring year. He's looked closer than I

(49:14):
remember in a while to what he was prior to
the leg issues. And so I'm not forming a conclusion
just yet because obviously it's really early, but I do
think there's gonna be an interesting decision for Emay and
a lot of these matchups. Do you want to go
with the double big or do you want to give
Tari the opportunity to play twenty five to thirty minutes

(49:34):
and be the guy that you know he clearly thinks
he can be. If you listen to Tari at training camp,
he's gone out of his way multiple times to say
he wants more minutes, he wants more opportunities, he wants
a bigger role. In other words, the twenty to twenty
five minutes per game that he's played the last couple
of years, he thinks he deserves more than that. He
can get a contract extension up until October twenty eeth
So in the preseason and training camp and in these
practices in between, he's obviously playing for that. I'm not

(49:57):
saying there's a clear answer, because Steven Adams and particular
is a really good player in his own right.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
But I don't know.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Just the fact that offense is going to come much
more freely and easily for this group allows you to
think a little more strategically than you could have a
few months ago.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
And so I guess where I'm going with all of this.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
If it's a few months ago, you play Aaron Holliday
and Steven Adams no matter what, because those are two
really high floor players, and you needed high floor players
in a situation like last year where you were elite
defensively but just trying to be passable enough offensively to
get by. Now all of a sudden, you can think
a little bit more strategically and that might lead to
some more opportunities, certainly for tarr Eason, but maybe to

(50:37):
a lesser extent for JD. Davison as well. That's my
thoughts on the end of rotation decisions. Powell, what are
your thoughts about those dynamics as you evaluate you know,
how to use those types of players.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
Yeah, I think I don't want to damp on your
like on your excitement, but I do think the ceiling
for JD. Davison is probably taking over whatever role Aaron
Hall that they was going to have, and even then,
like there's a swine arous But.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
I'm saying like you can potentially do that now, whereas
last year I don't think you could have.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
Yes, you can't take that risk now in it's more
significant way, and we still need to see if the
shooting that we've had that these past uple of games
is actually real. Because a man's shop really well Jamwori
smith shop really well but and Schengun also shouted you
very well. But I do think there's there might be more.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
To j D.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
Davison than we thought, and and we've talked about. We've
talked about is over other two way guys, especially in
moments where we see them play a lot and they
there's not much to talk about. But he might be
the classic you know take that I always have, which is,
you know, the guy you signed on a two way
deal as a contender that eventually turns into a valuable

(51:49):
role player on the minrum contract. I mean, I'll shout
out my guy Namias Keta from Portugal on the Celtics,
like he was a two way guy for a really
long time until they sign up to a very cheap
four year minimum deal. You know, Jenny Davison might be
a guy like that, and he and this year he
might not like he might show enough to want that

(52:09):
a deal like that, but at the same time not
get that much playing time and sign that deal right
that four ye year non guarantee with team options and
all that stuff, and still be really really valuable in
a couple of years when I'm in Thompson's getting paid
and you don't have the depth that you have right now.
Like I think that was another takeaway from the pre

(52:30):
season is that is insane and we have to injured guts.
But I did see, like dudees a bowler, and it's
really as simple as that. He tries hard on defense
and he made his three punch outs and at that point,
like what else can you ask from him? Really, his
only deficiency really is not being you know, six or five.
So we'll see how he plays going to the season.
The more interesting question is the Thorry Eastern question, and

(52:53):
very I saw. I saw some encouraging stuff as far
as decision making those I saw some encouraging stuff as
far as how grafty he was finishing at the rim,
like he was legit finishing better than what we saw
the din Green finished last season around the rim. And
as far as as Craft goes. At the same time,
I don't know how I feel about him saying that
he wants a bigger role, because I don't know what

(53:13):
he means that bigger role. I know we're assuming he
means more minutes. I'm hoping it doesn't mean he wants
more shots or he wants to self create more, because well,
he does have some of that website. I think we
saw even in pre season that you know, he struggles
with that a little bit and capitalizing on an adventagies
that someone else creates for you, whether through you know,

(53:34):
a one close out or something like that, is one thing.
Getting the ball on the floor, going through screens and
stuff like that is a completely different thing. But we
won't know until the season plays out, and we won't
know until a next stession either gets done or doesn't
get done. But it's definitely not a green flag, is
what I would say. As far as how he's used,
I think the fact that Doddin Finish Smith is not

(53:56):
currently available is going to do a lot or sing
to solve or a problem that the Rockets are going
to have when he eventually is available. As hard as
how dar Reason's role looks, how they manage the double
big lineups, because I do think even though the double
big lineups don't really know, the guy's play clearly different positions.
If you run more the uble big lineup, there's more
there's less space for the wo wings like dar Reason,

(54:17):
the Worry Smith and rin Finie Smith to play. So
going into the season, we're obviously going to see more reason,
and I think how he plays is wark you're going
to dictate what we see moving forward, because especially if
the Rockets don't sign that extension, or if Rockantentery don't
reach that extension, you might reach a situation that's kind

(54:38):
of complicated in which, well, he didn't sign the extensions,
So unless he's playing well, there's no real instantive for
the Rockets priority size, especially because he's going to hit
the free tency market next season, and you know, the
business is the business. But if he does sign that deal,
that it might make some sense to give him a
little bit of a bigger leash. And if he does
get that deal, then I think you'll be more settled

(55:01):
as far as what he wants his role to be. Like,
I think my read on the situation is kind of
that he playing his unhappiness kind of or tried to.
On the NBA Top one hundred list, it seemed a
bit forced to me. I don't think that's why he
was kind of upset. I think it might contribute to it,

(55:22):
but I don't think that's why he was upset about
his role, And I don't think that's what's part it, especially
because that list has been around for her a pretty
long time, so all in all, what we can like,
I think the easiest way to solve it is he
signed the extension or is probably fine for this with
this role, whatever it may be, because his money is
locked up. If that doesn't happen, you're gonna hope he

(55:44):
plays really well so he holds onto that spot and
you don't get in a situation or you have an
unhappy target. It's not playing as there is, not playing
as many minutes as he wants to play, and at
the same time not playing as well as the team
wants him to play, and that's kind of a destruction.
But yeah, I think that's the I can make going
into the season. Once we get to a situation where
they're both available, then we can discuss whether you should

(56:07):
you and imagine both available in both playing well. Then
you can get into the discussion of well do you
do it matchup dependent? Do you look at other positions
on the floor and if read's not playing well, perhaps
you play bigger. Do you see how well the big
double DA line ups are going When you have so
many players, there's a lot of there's a lot of
ways you can manage the rotation and many to wait

(56:28):
things to make space for a certain guy. But to
get to that point, we need Target to either have
his extension signed or play while going into the season
until or didn't in the Smith becomes becomes healthy again.
But it's definitely a one of the things that could
go wrong within the season. It's definitely one of the
you know, more touch and go things that we have

(56:49):
and the more that has potential to generate trauma on
the team. And I wasn't encouraged about both his reactions
to media Day and him sometimes trying to force stuff
in the pre season games. But that's the reason, Like
he's been doing that for a really long time, so
I don't want to read too much into it as well.
But once again, thirty is one of my favorite players
on the team. My hope is that he sends an

(57:10):
extension and that plays well and that's the best of
all throats.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
All right, that's everything on my list, Powelo, Is there
anything else you want to cover before we wrap up?

Speaker 3 (57:21):
I mean, I was debating making a Texans joke, but
they don't really play this week. This is typically when
I do my other Spots joke, So yeah, I guess
I got nothing. We'll say yanke, but probably happens.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
No, we'll save it for next week when the Texans
come out of there by at Seattle. How sweet would
it be if the Mariners get booted from the playoffs
and then the Texan went at Seattle? That would be
really fun, because God, those are the most annoying fans on.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
The planet Jesus. Anyway, we've gone on for long enough,
so we will wrap it here.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
And as mentioned off the top, we are changing as
far as the name, the logo, all of that is still.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
A work in progress.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
We are now the Rockets Launch Pod, so you'll see
some of the branding changing. If you follow us already
at your platform of choice, that won't be an issue.
But if you need updated Intel, just go to the
link tree. Now it's what is it? It's link tree
with a dot between R and the E slash Rockets

(58:20):
Launch Pod. And then if you hit up that link
TRAE you can get links to the various platforms Rockets,
Wire Sports, Talk seven ninety Clutch Fans, and the aforementioned
YouTube live shows. So yeah, in this period of transition,
the best way to heap up with us is at
that link tree for the show, and you can find
everything that you might need to get more episodes from us,

(58:40):
to support our friends, sponsors, all that good stuff. Rockets
launch Pod link Tree is the easiest way to do
that now until we have everything fully migrated over which
I suspect will occur by the October twenty first regular
season opener. All right, with that, I will adjourn for
today for follow alps, I'm benju Bos. As always, thanks
to you guys for listening, and please macksom for more

(59:00):
new episodes of the Rocket's launchpot