Quarter pole review: Key takeaways, questions for 15-6 Rockets

Episode Transcript
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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 Rocket Red Nation. Get Ready, Ready, Get Ready. The
Rockets Launch Pod starts now.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome aboard, Welcome in to another new episode of The

(00:51):
Rockets Launch Pod, presented by Clutch Fans. I'm Ben Dubo's
he's Powlo Alves and today we're doing some big picture
evaluations of the twenty twenty five to twenty six Rocket season,
which just reached the quarter pole this weekend. Of course,
the show is presented with support from Sports Talk SEMN
ninety official flagship radiotation of your Houston Rockets. So a
quick reset. As of today's recording on Tuesday the ninth,

(01:14):
fIF December, the Rockets are fifteen and six and they're
tied in the lost column for the number two spot
in the Western Conference standings. They went three and two
last week with a pair of very shorthanded losses on
nine two of road back to backs in Dallas and Utah,
which we might touch on today, but all in all,
they're still in a very strong position and their current

(01:35):
win pace would have them finishing at fifty nine and
twenty three, which would actually be the second best record
in franchise history, trilling only that great twenty eighteen team,
and it would also be seven games better than a
year ago. But for this particular week, we're at sort
of a weird point in the schedule where between the
seventh and seventeenth the Rockets actually only have two games.

(01:56):
The NBA does this by design so that the teams
who advanced in the NBA Cup will get the spotlight,
and sadly, this year that group does not include the Rockets.
So since the Rockets are only playing one time in
the next week, the next game isn't until next Thursday actually,
or this Thursday, i should say, against the Clippers. That
makes it a pretty good time to do some big
picture reviews and analysis. The other factor is that being

(02:20):
fifteen and six, that means you're twenty one games into
the regular season, which is eighty two games in length,
and so that means you've just passed the quarter pole.
In other words, more than twenty five percent of the
year is now complete, and that's a big enough sample
to where, at least in my opinion, you can start
making some pretty credible observations as far as the strengths
and weaknesses of each team. So in the spirit of

(02:42):
dividing things by four, we're going to offer four takeaways today,
two from each of us as far as what we've
learned about the Rockets to this point, as well as
four questions for what we're most curious to see over
the next quarter of the season. You and I can
trade off. One of us will offer a takeaway or
a question, and then the other person will chime in
on that topic if they want. You can also offer

(03:05):
a rebuttal of sorts before then moving on and picking
the next takeaway or question to discuss and setting the
agenda for the next conversation. In some ways, it'll be
similar to the player grades episode we did a few
weeks ago when the Rockets were ten percent of the
way through the year, but it'd be boring if we
did that same gimmick again, and really, I'm not sure

(03:25):
any if the grades have changed radically since that point,
So we're going to try and go about this a
little bit differently today. And just to be clear, when
we talk about key takeaways and questions, they can be
team related, they can be player related, or both. I'm
intentionally trying to keep this broad and really the idea
is just to hit on the most important topics and

(03:45):
variables for this particular Houston Rockets team. So with that,
I'll toss out my first takeaway, and then from their
palo you can offer any commentary or rebuttal you like,
and then you can pick the next takeaway. The idea
is that each of these will basically be a bullet
point summary and then we can riff a little bit
about why we think they're important. Anyway, the first takeaway

(04:08):
for me, and at least for me, I think it's
the most important storyline of the entire season. The foundation
is strong because as I look at NBA contenders, with
every team that has realistic goals of contending for a title,
there's always a few key variables, and there's always some constants.

(04:28):
And we can talk about young players that can improve
or stay stagnant. We can talk about injuries, but those
are true with any NBA team, and so it's more
the constant. If you're worried about a season falling short
of expectations, typically a year can go off the rails
if one of the constants doesn't materialize, like that forty

(04:51):
one and forty one Rocket season in twenty fifteen twenty sixteen,
midway through the James Hardin tenure, when the chemistry just
wasn't right and so the some was less than the
individual parts from what was a Western Conference Finals team
the year before. So things like the mix not being right,
the chemistry not being there, a player declining when you're

(05:12):
not necessarily expecting it, these are the things that that
I'm looking for, especially after an offseason where there were
some roster changes, and at this point we're not seeing
any evidence of that from the Rockets. And as I
view this particular Rockets team at a high level, the
formula for them to potentially win a title, it all

(05:34):
comes down to this. They had a top five defense
a year ago, but with a very inconsistent Jalen Green
as your leading scorer, your tip of the spear guy
on the perimeter, and so the formula going into this
year was that, hopefully you keep the top five defense,
but then you upgrade Jalen Green to Kevin Durant. And

(05:54):
it sounded good on paper, but there were a couple
of things, you know, not to be super worried about,
but at least be mindful of defensively, you lost three starters.
Dylan Brooks Jalen Green went out in the KD trade.
You also lost fred Binflee to the ACL tier. Right
before training camp. You signed Jory and Phinny Smith to
replace Dylan Brooks, but he hasn't played yet, and so

(06:15):
the Rockets got off to a little bit of a
slow start defensively, and it would have been very easy
for this team to not be at least at this
point in the year while those short handed what they
were a year ago defensively. Yet as of this week,
they're ranked second in the entire league. Since that mediocre
start over the first five or six games, they've been tremendous.

(06:38):
Their last five victories dating back to the week of Thanksgiving,
they've held opponents to an average of below one hundred
points per game, which in today's high octane MBA is
pretty incredible. So they've made some changes. Obviously, rafel Stone
deserves some praise for signing Joshua Koge, who's, as it
turned out, been the guy to fill that Dylan Brooks
role since DFS isn't yet playing. But I think the

(07:00):
bigger picture, ima Udoka is just that good of a coach,
especially on the defensive end. Give him some time and
he'll find a way to have this team playing with
the grit, the tenacity, the culture that we saw a
year ago, and really ever since the first couple of
weeks of the year, it hasn't been an issue. So
the defense, even with some new faces, it's still performing

(07:21):
at the top five level that it was a year ago.
In fact, it's actually performing a little bit better, going
from five to two. And then offensively, Kevin Durant, even
at thirty seven years old, is still Kevin Durant. When
we did our player grades, we talked at that time
about the shooting numbers being slightly down, the assists slightly down. Well,
that's picked back up since and right now he's at
twenty five points, five rebounds, four assists per game. Last

(07:43):
week he had two eight assist games in a row,
one of them eight assistants who are turnovers, the first
time he's done that in almost seven years. So the
playmaking is coming around. The shooting he's now at almost
fifty forty ninety above fifty percent overall, just below forty
percent from three and ninety percent from the free throw line,
sixty two percent true shooting on the nose. So the

(08:03):
bottom line, his overall profile looks very similar to the
guy we've seen the last few years in Brooklyn and
in Phoenix. There's some minor changes. The mid range game
to this point isn't quite as lethal as it normally is. Conversely,
the free throw shooting is actually off. He's gotten a
little more savvy and crafty when it comes to getting
to the line. But the aggregate, the overall it's right
in line with the guy he's been the last few years.

(08:26):
And there is a little bit of relief with that
because he turned thirty seven years old a few months ago,
and this is an age where we all know I
Father time stops for no one, and there aren't too
many guys in the NBA who have produced at this
level this late in their careers. Now, Kevin Durant isn't
the average NBA player. He's an outlier on many fronts.

(08:46):
He's now the eighth leading scorer in NBA history. But
until he does it, it's fair to have some skepticism. Well,
right now he's doing it. And so basically what you
have is last year's formula, a top five defense that
can grind it out and when get on that end.
But you have a much more consistent leading scorer and
Kevin Durant who also does it at all three levels.

(09:07):
We know Jalen had the holes in his game in
terms of not really doing anything with the mid range,
the floater, the in between. Kevin Durant has that in
space and so he's better across the board, He's more efficient.
He's one of the best scorers in NBA history for
a reason, and even at thirty seven years old, that's
still translating. So perhaps some of you listening took that

(09:30):
for granted, but I didn't. I was optimistic that the
defense would hold and I was optimistic that KDI would
still be KD. But the hashtag Houston sports guy in
me couldn't help but wonder, what if this is the
year that there is some unexplained slippage defensively like that
hardened year I just referenced about ten years ago, Or

(09:51):
what if this was the year that Kadie finally showed
a little bit of slippage. Well, we're now twenty five
percent into the season, and I think gets fair to
conclude that neither of those things is happening. So that's
not the only storyline surrounding the Rockets. There's some really
exciting ones and this one might seem a little obvious,
but for me, the reason I'm starting there, Polo, this

(10:12):
needs to be the foundation. Like the other stuff might
be something that puts you over the top, and if
you know your young guys keep developing, maybe that's the
ticket to get you actually to a tier where you
can beat Okac four times out of seven. That's still
a lot to ask, because my god, they look like
maybe the greatest team in NBA history on paper, at
least based on their metrics to this point. But I
think to have a chance to be relevant, to take

(10:34):
that fifty two to thirty foundation from a year ago
and get to, you know, upper fifties, low sixties, truly
a top tier NBA team that on paper has a
chance going into the playoffs. The bottom line, it had
to start with maintaining the defense and then upgrading Jalen
Green to Kevin Durant, your primary scorer, You're leading playmaker
on offense, and to this point those things are happening,

(10:55):
so big picture, I couldn't be more pleased, Pallo. How
do you sort of contextualize what we've seen on the
defense and KD fronts, and then from there you can pick,
I guess your leading storyline as we continue are for
big takeaways, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
So as far as I guess, putting it in the
bowl like in the lead a neat little caffery. I
think my my first my first story line is nothing
feels unsustainable. I think earlier on, earlier in the season,
we were worried that the shooting wouldn't hold up. We
were worried that the defense didn't look as good as

(11:30):
it was the previous year, and it isn't. But I'll
get to I'll get to rusianalizing that a little bit.
It's been enough games that we that every everything, everything
is basically stabilized, and I think the symbol size is
big enough that we can be confident that this is
this is what we are going forward. Uh and likely
And as for injury, there won't be a regression knock

(11:51):
on wood obviously, but I think now we can see
how the team plays, how the pieces fit together, and
it doesn't feel unsustainable. I think both on but well,
first of all, when it comes to met rating prior
to their most recent loss and intertect the stats since,
but the Rockets had a top five met rating in

(12:13):
NBA history like above, I think it was eleven points.
They are beating teams by an average of eleven points
basically or their offensive rating and their defensive rating if
you if you calculate those together, the net rating is
of eleven, which means they are eleven points better than.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Other teams now but still very close.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
Still top five in NBA history. I think the only
teams that are better is well this year's Oklahoma City Thunder,
last year's Oklahoma City Thunder, and two of the Jordan
Bulls teams. So we're in pretty ratified air. And it
goes to show that even though we have six losses
on our on our schedule or on our record, I mean,

(12:55):
it does not feel like we are I don't think
we are on the same tier as the Lake. I
think we're clearly better, and I'm cautious about bringing us
in a tier above them for because of their experience
and having cook, but at the very least that that
is the second tier below okay see, and I don't
think any of the East teams can you know, get
into those tiers. I think the three best teams in

(13:15):
the league are in the West this year, regardless of writer.
Beyond that, the other thing that doesn't feel the other
reasons why it doesn't feel unsustainable is because they have
dealt with injuries already. They don't have their Dnian Pinnie Smith,
they don't have Taris and they don't have He's not
likely to come back, but they don't have them. Shan
has missed games, Kat has missed games, Steven Adams has

(13:39):
missed games, and still this team just seems to find
a way to win. As far as you know, what
about the offense, Well, we thought the offense wouldn't be sustainable,
but it turns out that actually it seems that offense
is on an uptick across the entire league this season.
If you go on Twitter, Matt Moore, who we've have

(14:00):
on the plot, was having a discussion with Fred van Vleet,
of all people, that's one of the things that they
were talking about, Like this year, it seems like either
by design because the league, because of refereeing, or because
they don't know, they don't want to the game to
be more physical so people so players don't get worn
out and injured. Whatever it may be, it seemed that
they didn't not take an offense. And it also justifies
the fact that when we look at our when we

(14:22):
watch our team play, it doesn't seem like the same
level of stifling defense that they usually play. Well, partly
part of that's what it is, because well, nobody is
playing that type of defense anymore, at least this season.
So once what we would a better metric is to
compare our defense compared to other teams in the league
and what our difference was last season compared to other
teams in the league as well. So this season we

(14:44):
are the second best defense in the league, and last
season we were the fifth best defense in the league.
And even though it looked better, and perhaps it looked
better because we were so much worse offense something that
you know, it seemed like the game was slower. Still
we are that our defense is better in comparison to
the rest of the league, which is what matters. As

(15:05):
far as other things that are that are that seems
to be sustainable, I think you touched on one of them.
You know, KD is back to KD numbers, and I,
you know, we talked about it in an earlier pop.
I was never worried. I thought he would bounce back eventually,
and even if he didn't, just still an all time great.
You know, Teple the pure scorer. But my highlights before

(15:25):
I passed it back on back off to you, and
I guess I'll ask you this question as well. I
think at this point, and you know, we'll have a
different show to talk about trade deadline. I think at
this point I'm ready to consider it our branchingun good
enough of a player to be the best player on
a championship team. I don't say that lightly. And I

(15:47):
think if you followed my journey with al bronching Gun,
I was a daughter early on. We're at a point
where he's brought a silk coll percentage back to fifty
one percent, back to over fifty percent. It hasn't been
It wasn't last season, it wasn't to start this season,
and it's no longer inflated. Because of his three point

(16:07):
percentage that he's sitting at thirty nine percent on three attempts.
I think that's probably sustainable, if not close to it.
And he has you know, jumped up in scoring. He
has had a massive increase in assists that the turnovers
haven't gone up to match that increasing assist, which means
he's being more efficient as a playmaker. He's over he's
over still over a block a game, and it's it

(16:29):
seems like that's been a just to me, a pretty
big step up. And you could say that that's just
because there's more spacing, and it might be, but that's
part of it. Even if it's that's or deflated last season,
he doesn't. It's not like we can take away the
improvement that he's made this season. And we've seen we've
had signature moments from al branching and where Okay, this

(16:50):
is a start. This guy's taking over late in games,
and I think that's the last step towards superstar them.
And so I think at this point you've got to
treat the Rockets as a pig two with two superstars
k D and Shang Gun. And I think there's a
really a real argument that Changun is the better is
the better player right now because of how much he
impacts the floor or how much he impacts the game
in every single capacity, k is still the better score

(17:12):
don't taking the not not taking that away, and perhaps
maybe the guy would give the ball to at the
end of games that's because he's a massive outlier and
one of the you know, as you said, best if
not one of the best, if not the best scorer
of all time. That doesn't take anything away from what
Chang Gun has been doing and the massive lead that
he has taken. And so that's the other reason why

(17:32):
I see this as my main first star line is
nothing feels unsustainable. It's been enough games already, and they've
played at this level for that amount of games, and
it doesn't seem to be slowing down. It's not propped
up by one or two massive games. It's been pretty
consistent so far. So Yeah, that's my my second storyline.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, and you led me into my second storyline in
our third overall, which is that all for in Shangoon
is now an All NBA level player, not an all Star.
Now there is a related question, then I'll say for later,
because I don't think I agree with you just yet
on Shangoon being the best player on this particular team.
There's a number I want to get back to later on,
but I want to stay positive for the time being

(18:20):
because I do think that seeing the assists come back up,
the true shooting bounce back from the off year last
year fifty four and a half percent. He's now at
fifty eight point two, roughly in line with your two
and your three, despite having a lot more responsibility. Yeah,
he looks like a star, well not just a star,
he looks like an all NBA level guy. And assuming
he says relatively healthy, I think he'll get that this

(18:41):
year and combine that with the contract he's on for
the next five years at below forty million. Just phenomenal
work by rafel Stone. Yeah, that's a tremendous development for
the Rockets that has implications not just now but into
the years ahead. And I don't want to get too
far into the weeds on the Yannis possibility because is
we'll have a trade season preview show later in the week.

(19:04):
Next Monday the fifteenth is when trades can really take
place around the NBA because the wave of players really
thirty five to forty percent of the league that signed
contracts in the offseason and are thus untradeable until midway
through the following season. Well, December fifteenth is that date
for most of them. So from then until the early
February trade deadline, that's generally viewed as the trade window.

(19:25):
So later in the week, we'll take look at where
the Rockets are, what some of their movable pieces are.
If they want to do something. They are hard capped
at the first apron, but you could conceivably, you know,
send some players out and bring others back in once
you get past that December fifteenth date and guys who
signed in the off season become trade eligible. But the

(19:45):
reason I think, at least nationally, some of the big
picture conversations, you know, there's this ongoing storyline between Giannis
and the Bucks and is he going to ask out?
And now it seems like he's closer than ever to
actually doing that, and maybe, you know, moving his chips
to the table as soon as this window and not
waiting until next off season. And if that's the case,

(20:07):
I understand why people are going to speculate about the
Rockets as a potential destination if been reported in the
past that the Rockets at least had some exploratory interest.
He's one of the three of our best players, three
or four best players in the world, so you've got
to at least have the conversations, do the due diligence.
But in contrast to last May, when I think there
would have been more of a willingness to look at

(20:29):
a Shingoon Yannis type deal. From a Rockets perspective, I'm
skeptical that they would today based on what we've seen
in the first twenty games and this leap from All
Star to All NBA that we've been talking about, because
all for in Shangoon is twenty three. Yannis is thirty one,
as good as Shinggoon's fin It's not a slight to
him to say that Yannis is better this season and

(20:51):
in the very short term he would increase your odds now.
I am a little skeptical that a Yanis trade would
increase your tidle odds this season because NBA history tells
us the trades of that magnitude. You typically don't win
a title if you do something like that in January
or February, because it takes some time to really integrate

(21:13):
that player into your system. There's an entire ecosystem that
you typically need to have, especially with someone like Jiannis.
There's a very distinct playing style and it often takes
until you get an off season and can better configure
the roster around them to really optimize them. But even
if you buy that Yannis is likely to be better
next season as well, and I think that's fair until
he falls off. I think at least saying the next

(21:35):
two or three years he's better, that's not disrespectful to Shangoon.
Yanis is one of the three or four best players
in the world, and so I understand superficially why around
the league people look at the Rockets as in that
top ture of contenders. As you said, it looks like
there's a clear top three between the Thunder, the Rockets,
and the Nuggets, and if financially there's a path and

(21:55):
the Rockets very easily could combine the salaries of all
for Inching and Fred been Fleet are all friend Shangoon,
Jory Infanty, spent in Kluck Capella and reached Onisis. Figure
there's a case you could make, at least in the
short term. Look, the Rockets are in that top tier.
This would on paper make them a better team. So
why would you not consider it? Well, the reason I
think you wouldn't consider it if you believe that Shangoon

(22:18):
isn't just the All Star that he was a year ago,
but that he's an All NBA, a top ten, top
fifteen type of player, and he's just twenty three years old,
no known injury risk. That has implications in terms of
what what your expectations are for really the next ten years,
because what I think of with all NBA players, you know,
the closest comparable I can think of is James Harden

(22:40):
over his great eight plus season run with the Rockets,
where it felt like unless the chemistry was just off
the rails bad like it was in that forty one
and forty one year I referenced earlier, almost every year
Harden gave you a floor of at least forty five
wins by himself. And I'm not saying Shangoon is quite
to that level just but he's also not that far off,

(23:02):
and he's just twenty three years old. And so if
you have a player like that, you are always in
the conversation worst case you need your maybe one move
away or one of your young players taking a leap,
And obviously there's plenty of young players on this roster
and then Thompson, Jabari Smith Junior, Reed Shepherd that can
potentially take leaps not just this year but into the

(23:23):
seasons ahead. And so if your floor is that high,
where with a healthy Shingoon and a friendly contract at
that so you have the tools to build a good
roster around him. You've got to think long and hard
about something that would shorten your window, which trading a
twenty three year old for a thirty one year old
would do, especially one that does have a fairly lengthy

(23:47):
injury history in the case of be honest, and a
much higher salary. So Shingoon without the injury risk, a
friendly contract at his age, assuming there's no major injury,
he should have the wrong gets in the conversation for
the foreseeable future. And that's so valuable. And Paolo I
actually thought about this last night watching the Texans Chiefs

(24:08):
game that Sunday night thriller when the Rockets finally slayed
the Dragon beat Pat Mahomes and Travis Kelcey in Kansas City.
If you're a team in the NFL and it feels
like the Texans have gotten it right where it matters most.
They've got the right coach, they've got the right QB,
they've got an elite defense, you always have a chance,
even in a year like this where they had and

(24:30):
have a lot of other things that are far from perfect.
The offensive line is terrible. They started oh and threes,
some bounces, some close losses went against them. Next thing
you know, they're eight and five and it feels like
they have a chance. And when you have a super
long window, what are the benefits of that? Some years
the competition isn't going to be as steep as it
is right now. With the thunder looking historically dominant. You

(24:53):
look at and I'm going full cross sport analogy here,
but we do this sometimes the top of the AFC
is very forgettable. The Denver Broncos, the New England Patriots
are eleven and two. Is anyone really that afraid of
bo Nicks or Freak May in the playoffs? Those are
good teams, but it's not like the last few years
where the top seeds were the Chiefs of pat Mahomes,

(25:16):
the Bills with Josh Allen, the Ravens with Lamar Jackson.
And even if the Texans win the AFC South and
get to that second round, then it feels like there's
a pretty clear tier gap, especially with the experience at
QB and those guys having just a singular, transcendent talent that,
especially if they're playing at home, that it's going to
be tough to beat. Well, when you have a pretty

(25:37):
long window some of those years, the surrounding context of
the league is going to be more to your benefit.
And I think right now one reason it's so easy
to be excited about what the Texans are doing, the
landscape of the AFC around them has really changed. I'm
not that afraid of the I want to say the
nuggets with the Broncos, the Patriots, the Jaguars, the Steelers,

(25:59):
I think the Texans capable, not saying they will, but
I think they're capable of beating any of these teams
in January. And we've seen that in recent weeks with
them beating the Bills, the Colts, and the Chiefs in
consecutive weeks, two of those three on the road. So
the NBA is a very different league. But I do
think that the same concept applies in that if you

(26:20):
have a very long window of time, there's a ton
of value in that. If you can keep the window
open that long, because the odds are one or two
of those years, the surrounding landscape is going to be
a lot friendlier to you. Look at the Eastern Conference
the last few years, when teams got to the finals,
I mean no disrespect to the Indiana Pacers, but I

(26:41):
don't think they were necessarily in the same tier as
the Thunder or the Nuggets last year. But it was
a bad East. They got to the NBA Finals, and
they might have been a Tyrese Haliburton Achilles injury away
from actually winning at all, because in large parts the
Eastern Conference just didn't have that many good teams, and
they had the right team at the right time. And
so if Shangoon is an all NBA level player, and

(27:04):
obviously he's under contract for a long time, that has
so many team building implications moving forward, because if your
window is open, like I'm just NBA front offices look
at this stuff through the lens of probability, and so
I think a lot of people around the league might say, Oh,
if the Rockets ad Yannis, then that might bump them

(27:26):
to say, like a fifteen percent chance of winning a
title this year. I don't know that number. I'm just
completely spitballing for the sake of making a point. Well,
if you have a fifteen percent chance of winning a
title for three years, but you have say a ten
or twelve percent shot at winning a title for you know,
ten or twelve. The latter is probably more valuable. And
it's not that cut and dried, because obviously, you know,

(27:47):
it's not like the franchise would cease to exist whenever
Giannis eventually falls off or gets injured, or whatever the
case may be. But the point is, the amount of
time in your window is absolutely part of the formula
teams considered when it comes to you know, the Rockets.
They built this young nucleus and ultimately the goal is
to win at least one title in this window of

(28:09):
I guess the now core five that they've developed to
start the twenty twenties out of this recent rebuilt And
if Shangoon is that level of player and his window
can extend that long into the future, you never say never.
And if a top three, top four player is on
the market, you always owe it to yourself to at
least have the conversations. But we don't have to dive

(28:30):
that deep into it today because we will later in
the week we do our trade season preview. But I
guess the reason I'm hammering that point home right now
is that if Alfred Shangoon is a level of player
that I think we both think he appears to be
after the first twenty games, then that has implications not
just for this year, but the years ahead in which
he's almost untradable. It feels like, if you have a

(28:51):
young player that's that good, it's that high of a floor,
then that has you relevant for a very very long time,
and that's that's a really good place to be as
an organization.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Right Listen about that debate. I know we'll get into
it a little bit later. You know, the quality of
the players, or the quality of both players, is obviously
up for debate. How far away Singun is from Yanis,
but people say, I would say a lot less than
any god of people would. But to me, the biggest

(29:22):
people still underestimate how much of a percentage of the
gap a super max contract is, and Yannis is clearly
worth the super max. However, it depends on the team
you're building around that is a max the number, I
guess I won't get too deep in the weeds with this.

(29:43):
I'll just say opron Chingun is making thirty three million
dollars a year, Yanis for the entirety of the rest
of his contract is shorter than Shingun's will be making
at the very least twenty million more fifty compared to
thirty three is an increase of what like seventy five
percent or eighty percent or something like that. He's almost
he's making close to double the money. Thing on is,

(30:06):
it's pretty insane. So you're not trading off apron ching
Gun for just Tiannis. You're reading off oppronching Goon and
twenty million worth of salary, which, like I don't know,
Japari Smith Junior or or Frevan Vliet or you're ignoring
one extra piece out of the puzzle. And we've seen
how much depth matters. But I'll leave that discussion for

(30:29):
obviously we're gonna have a show about about the potential
yan astrade and potential moves at a tadline. I'll move
on to my other takeaway, which is not you know,
we've kind of traded here, kind of more not nerurally philosophical,
but more you know, in depth, you know, thought out,
you know, trends and stuff like that. My next one

(30:49):
is pretty cut and dry. How the hell do we
get so much better at tuting free throws?

Speaker 2 (30:56):
It is?

Speaker 3 (30:56):
It's true, Shane Gun is four percent better, Amman Thompson
is like thirteen percent better. TV is still it doesn't
really matter j Bardi, I guess is two percent worse.
But I mean, that's that's very Steven Adams is what
twenty percent better?

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Now?

Speaker 3 (31:11):
You're not gonna tell me they're hot on the free
throw line. And we know there was that story about
the free throw contract or whatever it was.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
I don't know if prior to this year they just
didn't practice free throws at all or they didn't take
it seriously. But it's a massive, massive, massive improvement. And
just so I don't believe it that just you know,
just the one sentence trends. How can I get into
how much that effects that affects this team in a
certain scenario in specific, which is Steven Adams. Steven Adams

(31:43):
is by far the best player on this team when
you look at you know, the impact Patricks. Do you
know how huge it is if teams can't hack at
Adams in the in the playoffs, like that's a complete
game changer. If he's shooting nearly eighty per sent from
from the free throw line like he is this season, Listen,

(32:05):
it's a complete game changer. You you can't you know
filesive file Steven appens out of games and that's you know,
I know, against the Oldom State Warriors, we were fine
with it because well, if he split the pair, it's
one point per possession, and that was you know, pretty
good for what our offenses last year. That doesn't fly
this year. If teams play hocking Adams and he gets

(32:27):
one three throw and he works to get one free
throw every ever ti down to the free throw line,
that's actually worse than what our offense is and our
defense might not be better to keep up with that.
So the fact that he has improved so much, I mean,
he had a nine out of ten, nine three throws
out of ten in a game, just a couple of
games ago, Like that shows you that, you know, seems sustainable.
Usually you know, sometimes centers who shoot very little free

(32:49):
throws have you know, just while small sample outliers in
certain years. No, if you if you're going nine out
of ten on a single game, it's not you know, oh,
he shoots like you know, I don't know, one and
a half three throws a game, and it just happens
to make a couple of them and then go a
few games without shooting three throws and then he goes
makes a couple of them. Again, No, because no, what's happening.

(33:11):
It's decent in a volume, and it's across, you know,
across the entire team. You know, I talked about how
that impacts Steven Adams with the men Thompson, that's huge,
I mean across the board. Men Thompson has been a
much less efficient player this season, partly because of the
type of shot that he has to take entirely the
types of hooks that he's not getting anymore. It's not
as much with those feeds of a jingle and I

(33:32):
know those still happen, not just not to the same extent.
The fact that he's shooting free throws as well as
he is makes it so you are absolutely comfortable having
him out there in you know, in clutch situations where
teams might foul, you know, right after you get a
stop or something like that. And you know, I've always
defended that three throw and I think this is not

(33:54):
necessarily that's right of a take, but three throws are
something that you can control. You can just hammer it,
you know, in practice time and time and time again.
And it's not like it's not a situational shot like
it's not it's the most. It's the most I guess,
a repeatable shot that you can take, there's not there's

(34:14):
nothing that can affect how you're shooting. I guess outside
of that perception, that's the only thing that might change
from arena to arena. But you know, there's no contests,
there's no off balance, there's no speeding up or slowing down,
there's no there's nothing other than you're sitting at the
line and you will beat the same motion every single time.
So that's in your control. The fact that these guys

(34:35):
are making these leaps, to me is really important, especially
form Tumpton and seven Adams, because there were situations where
there might have been cases where that could come back
to bite the rockets in a playoff series. And if
they if they stay this good or close to as
good as they've been, I think that's that makes them

(34:55):
that much more of a weapon in a playoff series
compared to if they if they hadn't. And I know
I talked about the two guys who have made the
biggest leaps, but you can't forget for all printingun a
four percent throw three throw percent percentage difference is actually
a pretty big deal when you're talking about a guy
that should seven three throws again, So that's what that does,

(35:17):
what like nearly an extra an extra football full point
per game. So yeah, that's my that's my next one.
I think it's not necessarily a really smart or really
you know, under the radar one, but it's the one
that has really impact on the prospects of this winning title.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
So that's our four takeaways. And technically this is the
moment we're supposed to transition to the four questions. But
I've got to follow up, Paolo, because you didn't take
the bait that I expected you to to riff about
the Texans like this is one of the most weeks
and I do think there's a parallel there, like Shinggoon

(36:03):
has had such a wonderful season. It reminded me when
you mentioned Steven Adams, the fact that Shangoon and Steven Adams,
that it's not a flash in the plant, flash in
the pan that you are still able to play them together.
That's so important when it comes to the bigger plan
and what Rafelstone and the im Udoka are trying to
do with this team. And so it's another cautionary tale

(36:26):
when you look at young players like a Men Thompson,
Reed Shepherd, Jamari Smith Jr. Why you shouldn't pisionhole guys
too early. I mean a year or two ago, a
lot of people would have doubted if a player with
Shingoon's archetype would be able to function alongside another big
and make it work on both ends. Well, the Rockets
are not only making it work, they are thriving. So

(36:46):
you brought up Steven Adams and so that made me think, Hey,
that's another plus to Shangoon. And only is he putting
up these numbers, he's doing it in different contracts. He
can play traditionally, he can also play in a double big,
and he's doing really well in both configurations. But to
the Texas and Aljee and I'm doing this lighthearted because
I think we've said what needs to be said in
terms of Shingoon, But like when you get the big

(37:08):
picture things right, and I think the Texans are a
frustrating team, but the coach, the quarterback, the defense, which
is the formula for the modern NFL, the age alignment
is great. All of these guys can be there for
a long time. Contractually. So far, Nick Casario has done
a good job, like it feels like the Texans. I
don't know if they're necessarily in the very top tier,

(37:30):
but they are in the window of relevance for a
long time and I don't see anything changing that. And
that's a really good place to be as a franchise.
And you know, the game this week, it is a
big win. Psychologically, I understand that, and Polo is a
relatively new NFL fan, It might mean even more to
you because I know you've been so traumatized the last
couple of years by teams like the Chiefs and probably

(37:52):
to a lesser extent, the Ravens. For me, I look
at it more, you know, big picture, it's just a
reminder of why having a long window is important. Some years,
you're not gonna have a super team in your conference,
and you're gonna be able to fatten up against the
likes of you know, the Chiefs and the Colts and

(38:12):
the Bills and the way that maybe you couldn't in
previous years. I mean, you can go back ten plus
years to win the Colts shoose torment the Texans, and
now that's that's long gone, so hollow. This is your
I'll give you a few minutes to wax poetically about
the Texans because I just feel like, you know, similar
to Shingoon and this young core with the Rockets and
one of the fun things being hey, like, the window

(38:33):
is consumably open for a while, even after Kevin Durant
inevitably has some age regression and eventually retires. And I
feel like with the Texans, the window is open for
a pretty long time too, right, as long as you
have this QB, this coach and a defense that I
think you know, quite frankly, that's another parallel. Just like
you know, I feel like with the Rockets, as long
as Emi Udoka is the coach, the defense has a
very high floor and that's a great place to start from.

(38:55):
Even if the personnel ships a little bit, as we've
seen this year, well, as long as you have to
Beiko Ryan, it feels like the floor is gonna be
pretty hypher. The Taxons defensively as well, and all in all,
it's a team that feels like, you know, even if
the opensive line is baddening, even if you know, we
can't decide how we feel about Nick Kayley and the
offensive play calling stuff like that. Like big picture, the
windows should be open for a pretty long time, right, Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Guess I'll go a little bit a little bit full
fan here, right, because you know, I'd say this pretty
often on Twitter. I'm I am someone who likes to
analyze basketball. I'm someone who is a fan of football,
like I start to naturally start to understand things at
a deeper level, you know. And I've gotten into the
draft and that's because mostly because I really like the

(39:37):
draft in every single American sport, but with the NFL,
I'm more so of a fan, right. And you know,
something I've picked up actually from from my mom is
which he was also a really huge sports fan, is
nothing feels better. And then this is the tradiction that
we used to have, Like we're a fan here in Portugal,
we are we are fans of a team that went

(39:59):
for full twenty something or nineteen or twenty something else
without winning while being you know, one of the you know,
the big teams.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Of the country, right.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
And what we used to do is in the rare
situations that we won, in the next day, we would
buy every single newspaper so we could read and we
could you know, we could read it and we could
you know, be happy seeing people recognize, you know, thin
did well, and all of that stuff with the Texans
to me is at it's a lot of the same thing.
One of my favorite feelings is the next day listening

(40:29):
to all the reactions. Now I obviously don't have American TV,
but I on YouTube and I look at ESPN, and
I look up my favorite show, First Things First and
all those things, and you know, the next day always
feels like in the moment, it feels great, but it
did feels maybe even better the next day hearing everybody
talk about it, which is also part of why I

(40:49):
like doing what we do, which is, you know, hopefully
at some point we give that sensation to other people
as well. So just to say that nothing felt better,
I guess a little bit more context. I know a
lot of people hate him, but I really look up
to Nick Wright as far as sports commentary goals. I
know he has his biases, but I really like his
articulate way of making arguments and you know, posing hypotheses.

(41:13):
And you know, even though even though I woke up
to him, I really love when he goes on the
show and he's like just absolutely destroyed because the Chiefs
are not the Chiefs anymore and seeing him because of
the team that I be, because of the team that
I support, after two seasons where you know, we've lost
important games to them, it just it just felt in

(41:35):
saying I was bussing, I was joining the call it,
but then I was bussing this to say, comparison between
the Rockets and the Texans getting a little bit more
analytic and more analysis into it. It's as you said,
the coach gives you a certain floor having you know,
the quarterback of this team is operating good, and I
guessed him being a center and being a point makes
it makes him even more like a quarterback than any

(41:56):
other position could have ever made someone like the quarter
like in football, but in basketball and what you talk
about with you know, having the right pieces in place
and having a really extended window and having a lot
of shouts at the apple. It also only works if
the coach is not grading on the players. And it

(42:18):
seems like the Miko Ryans animade are really demanding, but
they have a certain kind of bond with the players,
a little bit of a like like a little bit
of a brotherhood. I guess where kind of like the
coach feels like he's a part of the team and
the guys like really really respect him and at the
same time like really vie with the coach, because otherwise
you have other situations like that, like like the Thau

(42:40):
in New York. You can be a really like I guess,
can be a hard less of a coach, but eventually
that's gonna burn out on the players and you're not
gonna you're not gonna get that effect of you know,
having a certain floor. And we see other cases of
this in basketball. For example, the Miami Heat have a
certain floor because they have a really good coach, but
he doesn't wear out on the players. You know, we

(43:00):
have if we have examples of the opposite, the most
obvious one being obviously Dumpty though because also because of
the playing staff. So I think there's those parallels. I
think the Rockets do, like detections, have you know, the
core pieces in place. In football, there's you know, certain
positions and there's like seven, seven, eight, ten guys are
you know really key In basketball, you need two stars,

(43:22):
you need some some role players on on on cost
controlled contact, and you need a good coach and you
need the right culture. And I think the Rockets have
added and at a certain point. So it's like you said,
we are used as Rockets fans to have having had
an era where it was kind of all burnout, season
after season after season, exhausting every single resource that they

(43:44):
could possibly have, tried to be the best team of
all time, right, and eventually they fell apart. Before that
team fell apart, right, if they perhaps if they built
a little bit more sustainably that season where Steph Curry
gets injured and James Wiseman and they get to draft
James Wiseman, perhaps at that point you would have had
a better chance when once you've reached that season, you

(44:06):
would have had a better chance to win a side.
If I don't have my if I don't have my years,
X up, I believe that's the bubble season, right, Yeah,
you know that Lakers team that won the championship was
so beatable, so beautiful, and so yeah, it's all you said.
You perhaps sometimes it's better to have more shouts of
at the Apple and what we've been what's been proven

(44:27):
to us for the past few seasons in the NBA,
is that building sustainably is the way to go. Uh.
Teams that have you know, gone all in have faded away,
The Buds have faded away with the Anath and Damian Lillard.
The Brooklyn Nets obviously faded away. The Phoenix Suns faded
away without getting you know, all the way there. You know,
we've seen time and time again that it doesn't just
doesn't work anymore.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
I guess you can go.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
It's gonna go to the Sixers as well, though they're
more like likely due to injury. But the Paul George
was the Paul George move as a fiasco. Even the
James Harder moved to some extent was a fiasco as
well because they didn't really get it, even though I
don't think it was because the Games's fault. But yeah,
I'm with you in the sense that both the Texts
and the Rockets are in that position, and not only

(45:10):
do they have the right pieces in place, they have
the assets to be able to sustainably continue to build
towards the future. You know, the letter me duncil trade.
A lot of people laughed at it at the time,
and in five games into the season it looked like
a really dumb move because the old line was just terrible. Well,
the old line now is at the very least better
than what it was last season with lettermittencil. And at

(45:30):
the same time, they've got I don't know the specific pas,
but I know they've got a few picks from Washington.
One of them is the second round pick this year.
And Washington has like two wins at this point or
three wins. That's gonna basically be a first shrump pick.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
You know.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Obviously, the Rockets the same situation with the Phoenix Suns,
right they they made the correct moves to have the
assets to continue to read too and to make this sustainable.
So I don't think that they should tear away from
that path and all of a sudden go all in
for someone who, as you said, the man, not the man,
but he's placed out. The Man's a little bit of

(46:04):
a team reconstruction. That's just really expensive to do on
the fly when when everybody knows it, you've got to
do it like you never want to be in a
negotiating position where other teams know you've got to make
a move, because that's when you get kind of extorted
for more value than it should be giving up. So yeah,
I guess as far as Texans goes, that's basically where
I'm at I'm hoping they get I guess. I guess

(46:28):
I'll go to a couple more Texas pointers. I'm really
hoping that they go heavy on the offensive lie in
the South season, just because you know, it's fun what
you really do defensive team. But man, did I love
that CJ. Strallerty season and every single week going and
watching those shows and seeing, oh this guy might be
the next big thing at quarterback. And now I'm watching
everybody do the same thing with Drake Mayn. I'm like

(46:48):
that was supposed to be us so, So yeah, that's
the thing I want the most. And also my favor
I think my favorite position on offense in football is
actually tightened and we don't have a good I eventally,
I really want to get a good siduce.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
And to your point on windows, it's not just the
twenty twenty bubble Lakers, but I would say looking at
it through the lens of the Western Conference, the next
two years were pretty soft as well. Like in twenty one,
it was the sixty something when Phoenix Suns they had
won like twenty two years before. Like, Chris Paul's a
great leader and Devin Booker is a very good player.
But let's not act like the Suns were a juggernaut. No,

(47:24):
they just climbed the ranks much more quickly than you
would think because there wasn't a great team at that time.
And then in twenty two, you know, that was a
great title run by the Warriors, but that was absolutely
not a great Warriors team. It's just the West wasn't
that strong at the time. They got to the finals,
and you know, they had a little bit more experience
in that spot than the Celtics did, and they made

(47:45):
a couple more plays and you know, step Curry and
Raymond Green got them to the finish line. And you know,
now it feels like, unfortunately that it's split back. You know,
in the mid to late twenty tens, you had these
great Warriors teams. Then you had these few years where
the West was very gettable. Now you have this historically
dominant OKC team. But history tells us it's unlikely that
a team stays at that level for that long, be

(48:08):
it for injury reasons, because you're playing far more games,
and as we just saw with Tyrese Haliburton and Jason
Tatum and the previous playoffs, mileage often takes a toll.
It can be for financial reasons. There's any number of
things that can happen, But I would be surprised, even
though they're young, even though they have a ton of
draft picks, if the thunder just roll through the next

(48:28):
decade and it's just sixty five plus wins every year
and just a juggernaut like we've never seen before. So yeah,
I think there's a ton of value in having your
window open for a prolonged period. The Rockets just weren't
able to take advantage of it because they were so

(48:48):
all in in the late twenties early thirties years of
James Harden that it got to a point where they
were just completely devoid of assets and had to do
a total reset, including trading James. Well, they traded James
because he asked stout, but honestly, it was sort of
the obvious move even if he didn't, because at some
point the organization just just needed to reset and they're
reaping the rewards of that now. One more Texans comment.

(49:10):
I should note this team is about to go in
a Super Bowl run because they just signed Miszoo legendary
running back Cody Schrader, So you wouldn't think a guy
signed away from the Jaguars practice, Why is that big
of a deal. I'm telling you, guys, Cody Schrader can play.
I hope he gets a chance. Both Woody Marks and
Nick Chubb get a little bit nipped up against the Chiefs,
so we'll see if Strader, well, he should play Sunday,

(49:31):
because if you make a waiver claim, you have to
put them on your active roster. So I'm excited Cody
Schrader can play. Two years ago to the Zoo, he
should have been a Heisman finalist. He was incredible. Never
a great measurable sky he had to walk on to
get an sec opportunity was before that at D two,
Truman state, we're going way too in the weeds now,
so I'll spin it back to the Rockets.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
But just real quick, sorry, just real quick as we
record this thought. The news is just him out that
the Colts are intending to make forty four year old
grandfather Philip Ridburss.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
That are quay, Yeah, I mean they're they're cooked. Look
at their schedule. I mean even in I know he
might be better than you know, whatever rookie they have
the kid from Notre Dame. Now that both Daniel Jones
and well Anthony Richardson was already out. But the remaining
schedule they're at Seattle in San Francisco, Jacksonville, and Houston

(50:28):
Houston on the road. Yeah, I'm sorry the Colts are done.
I don't care who they bring in, even if Philip
Rivers somehow has something left in the tank and he's
sort of a well, he's definitely a unique story. I
don't know if he'd say a fun story. Definitely a
unique and memorable one, both as a player and a person.
But yeah, Colts, with their schedule and everything else, it
was a great run for a while. Apologies to our
friend Vanessa Richardson, who is a diehard, but I think

(50:50):
the Colts had to be sacrificed so that the Indiana
Hoosiers could get to number one in the College Football Playoff. Anyway,
that will put a bow on our football discussion today.
Promise and let's hop back into the rockets and transition
from I guess leading storylines to leading questions. And there
is going to be a little bit of overlap, but

(51:11):
the questions inherently are going to be things that that
might not be as positive or perhaps they are positive
but just have not as clear of an ending, like
when we talk major storylines, major takeaways. There's a reason
we lad with the sustainability of the numbers and KD
and the defense being where we hope they would be
entering this season. These are things that are that are

(51:33):
very projectable, and so even after twenty games, we can
say pretty confidently, barring something crazy happening like an unfortunate injury,
these should be good to go. And so the Rockets
have a very high floor, and I think it's fair
to say that when you're twenty five percent into the
season and you're unpaced to win almost sixty games. However,
while the floor is high, the ceiling is well, it's

(51:55):
certainly high. But is it championship Hi, that's the question.
And so the two guys I'm looking at the most
a Reed Shepherd and a Men Thompson for different reasons.
With Reed Shepherd, at least through the month of November,
I don't think anyone, not even the Rockets, not even
Reid's own family, would have expected him to contribute to
winning to the extent that he was thrue November, coming

(52:19):
off that win at Golden State, which in some ways
had some parallels to you know, the Texans winning at
the Chiefs with all the trauma that the Rockets had
had to deal with at the hands of the Warriors
in recent years, to go in there with a shorthanded team,
no KD, no Fred, no Tari, no DFS, and I
think they didn't have Steven Adams either, and to win
on the back of Reed Shepherd in his second year,

(52:41):
it was an incredible win. It led you into Thanksgiving
feeling great and reach Shepherd came out of that. This
is just and box plus minus is just one metric.
There are others, but box fluss finus is not a
bad one. And I'm just speaking to I'm using this
to speak to just how insane the month of November
was for Reed. Coming out of Thanksgiving, Reid had the

(53:03):
fifth best box plus minus in the entire NBA, trailing
only Jokic, Sga, Giannis and Luca. That's insane. Now, not
saying it's a perfect bettrick, and no, I don't think
that even at the time he was the fifthest player
in the league. Let's not get crazy. But I do
think it reflects that the numbers he put up were
not just empty calories it wasn't just that, oh, he

(53:24):
had a hot stretch and a bunch of threes went in. No,
he was legitimately contributing to winning. He was finding guys
with passes, he was getting big time turnovers defensively, and
even if he's not any more close to the fifth
best player in the league, the fact that he was
at that level, even temporarily speaks to the fact that
they're not empty calorie numbers. They're coming in a team

(53:47):
construct And even now I just pulled up box plus
minus he's at thirteen in the league. So he's fallen
off a little bit. He's had a rough start to December,
including a game against the MAVs, that loss on that
twoter back to back where he had some really ugly
turnovers and some poor defensive place in the second half
when things got away from the Rockets. But on the whole,
on the aggregate, it's been a phenomenal year for Reed Shepherd,

(54:07):
and so the big question moving forward how sustainable is it?
Where is he going to find I guess a level
of consistency. Where is he going to come in at
when you sort of balance out a really hot month
of November with the inevitable down stretchers, Like we know
he had a terrible opening week against the Thunder and
the Pistons. He had somewhat of a bad first week

(54:28):
of December, and so he's a guy there's inherently some
volatility with his game, just the shot profile, the lack
of size, the defensive boom or bust potential. You know,
there's going to be a lot of variability to begin with.
He's also just twenty one years old, year or two,
and so he might be the type of guy that
it takes a lot longer than twenty games to get
a good feel for exactly where he's going to come

(54:49):
in at. Like, I don't think he's necessarily going to
be a negative player. I think it's fair to say
he's showed enough already that there are going to be
games where he carries you. And so in that sense,
I would say he's already ahead of the Rockets expectations.
Like I don't think even internally they expected him to
contribute to winning to the extent that he has in
the first couple of months of this season. But where

(55:11):
is the floor, where is the aggregate going to come
in at? With Reed Shepherd, by the time we get
to March in April, because I think there's massive implications.
It could influence, you know, how aggressive you are at
the trade deadline if you think you need another guard.
It can influence what you do with Fred ben Fleet
moving forward if it looks like Reid is ready to
be a starting point guard in the NBA. And it

(55:31):
can also influence the other guy that I mentioned as
part of the same question, which is you know, what's
the where's the level ground going to come in at
for a Men Thompson who's had some brilliant games like
the thirty plus he had against the Suns, and some
terrible games where he can't finish. I think for the
season he's like fifty four percent true shooting after being
higher than sixty percent a year ago. And if Reed

(55:53):
Shepherd is a competent point guard, then you may be
able to use a Men Thompson off ball a little
bit more and perhaps that allows to get back to
the finishing efficiency that we had a year ago. So
in many ways, these two guys are enters fined. But
I think where they're similar is that they both have
very high ceilings, and so while the team is a

(56:14):
very high floor, overall, in terms of achieving the championship
level ceiling, it may depend on Reid and the Men
as variables and being able to tap into the best
versions of those two guys. With a Man, I think
it largely comes down to how he shooes with Reid.
It just comes down to what is he capable of
at twenty one. But yeah, to me, that's the big
question with this team, and you know, to spin it

(56:34):
forward to a Men, I think a lot of people
on social media are framing it around is he a
point guard? I think that's a little misguided. I think
regardless of the point guard this year, which is always
going to play a little bit more off ball because
you're going to run more two man game through Kevin
Durant and all for in Shanoon. I think that's going
to happen even more as you get closer to the playoffs.
Fred fenn Zleet would have operated off ball more. He

(56:55):
would have done less pick and rolls. Fred Denfleet just
provides his off ball value as a shooter, where with
the Men, he does it a little bit more with
motion and cuts and the things we've seen to start
this year, albeit a little less consistently than what we
saw when he was exclusively off ball a year ago
and wasn't always bringing the ball off the floor and
initiating possessions. So with the men, you know, you talk

(57:17):
to people inside the building at Toyota Citter and they'll
tell you that if he just gets his finishing back
to the level it was at the last couple of years,
if he makes the shots we know he's capable of making,
and they believe he eventually will, then they tell you
that nobody's worried at all, and he's in the All
Star conversation. They believe that the shot diet, everything he's
done to this point, we'd be talking about a man

(57:39):
as an All Star simply if he finished at the
level he as the last couple of years, and so
all the stuff we're talking about. They view it as
largely being about just simply not finishing shots that he
can and should make, And I think at face value
that's completely fair. Where I do worry a little bit
about it potentially tying into his role. Is it possible

(58:01):
that the way he's used this year and some of
the additional responsibilities with the ball handling, initiating sets, So
when he then gets it back in an off ball capacity,
it's later in the shot clock, just thinking more overall,
playing more minutes. We know earlier in the year cramping
was an issue. There's a lot of things you can
potentially attribute it to, but the bottom line is he
is being asked to do more, and he's being asked

(58:24):
to do different things than he did a year ago.
And so the question becomes, are those things the reason why,
at least to some degree, he's not finishing as well
as he did a year ago. I can't say conclusively
that they are. I also can't say conclusively that they're not.
And so that's where going into the next twenty games
leading up to the trade deadline, I want to see, like,

(58:46):
does he get back to does he eventually figure this
out and he gets back to the sixty percent true
shooting guy that he was last year. If he does,
then yeah, that's I believe them. That's at that point
when you combine it with his defense, a border all
star level player and he's just twenty two years old,
year three, still getting better. If it doesn't, if it

(59:06):
stays somewhat similar to what it is now, it's still
a very good player. Don't get me wrong, it's not
like you want to bench him. He's still helping the
team win. But at that point there are some other implications,
you know, I think for the Rockets to actually have
a chance to beat the Thunder or the Nuggets four
times out of seven, you need to get the best
version of a men. Thompson like, I just don't think
you're gonna have enough talent to beat teams that good

(59:29):
without that, And so at some point if it doesn't
pick up, you would have to have hard conversations internally about, hey,
do we need to use Reed Shepherd more? If if
we think that, you know, giving a man more ball
handling help will allow him to simplify his role and
get back to what he thrived last year offensively largely
operating off ball. Maybe it's if Fred and Fleet isn't

(59:51):
able to come back. Maybe it's pursuing a veteran acquisition
on the trade market, which we'll talk about later this week.
There's lots of different ways that you can go about it,
but at some point point we're not there yet, but
at some point I think the next quarter to sort
of bring it full circle. The reason why I think
it's especially important to talk about this now, like leading
into the trade deadline, the window late January or early

(01:00:11):
February where these talks are really going to pick up,
you need to know what you have and so hopefully
by that point the rockets will have a better understanding
of what a Men is when he's used in this way.
And if it's not the peak version of a Men
Thompson that we all know and think he's capable of
playing at, then okay, that influences what you do leading

(01:00:32):
up to the trade to light. It could also influence
how exactly you deploy read Shepherd to try and get
the best version of him by the time you get
to the playoffs in April. So I would say to
bring it full circle. We talked in the takeaways part
about the floor being high. I think your ceiling is
largely dependent on a Men Thompson and Reed Shepherd. You're

(01:00:53):
two super young guys with clear upside, and so I
think the big questions moving forward With Reid it's about
you know where the aggregate comes in at when the
sample normalizes, And with the Men, it's about you know,
can you get the best version out of him when
he's used in this way? To me, that's the biggest
question for the Rockets heading into these next twenty games. Uh, Paula,

(01:01:16):
what say you on that? And I guess your leading question.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
Yeah, my question is going to be related to that.
But as far as she just said, I think we
and almosly am not saying you in particular. I think
we as a fan base and especially on Twitter, we
think Amn Thompson is either a god or garbage based
on the last couple of games that he has played. Yes,
we're coming off of probably his worst game of the season,

(01:01:45):
and there's times where it looks pretty awful. There's also
time gonna looks pretty awesome and and for the season
he's had five assists, two and a half turnovers. You know,
I think the I thinkhues are overstated. I think I
think he has the ability right now to be a
better finish at the rim and I and even a

(01:02:08):
better midring shooter. And I know some some stats surface
someone brought them up today about him being one of
the one of the best mithering shot creators, one of
the worst mithering shot makers. But it really seems to
be on a game to game basis, whether he's really
on or really on which makes me think to the same,
which makes me and I'm not comparing the two players,

(01:02:30):
but it brings me back if you remember if I
don't know, if you surely remember to the KPJ days
in the sense that it seems like it's clearly a
player trying to merge together two play styles at the
same time and not really knowing or altfully having the
experience to know when to talk a Leach play style

(01:02:51):
at a certain point, because it feels like when he
turns his brain to okay, I'm going to be a scorer,
he's pretty unstoppable, and it feels like sometimes he's halfway
between letting me the first Kad and scheng gun and
halfway to oh, okay, I tried to the first Katy
and schangun it wasn't played. Let me try to make
something happen in a rush. And so I think because
of that, that's why you get really boom or bust situations.

(01:03:16):
And I think that only goes away either with mentorship,
and I think for event with being their helps and
with reps. I don't think it's something that you're going
to have a conclusive conclusion. I guess on at any
point this season, and I think it might be the
other way around, instead of making a decision on what

(01:03:38):
you want them and to be making it light around it.
I think you got to keep doing it and keep
having him out there, and once the games really starts
to matter and and you're into the playoffs, you can
pretty easily tell on a game by game basis if
he's guarded or not. And then when you see that
he has, you go to it. When you see that
he doesn't, you play him as the role player. That

(01:04:00):
a mental obtam that we've seen at the time. I
think that's until the playoffs. You sharpened that tool. In
the playoffs use you use that tool in the in
the in the in the context that that that you
find he's better at, depending situationally, depending on the opponent
an opponent, and depending on how he's playing. I know

(01:04:20):
a mentump does not have the best of seasons. The
stats are not as bad as it looks, I guess
efficiency is. But the playmaking stats another not as bad
as it looks. And you see the highs and you
really low lows, and it feels like it's both with
the mid range, both with three throw percentage, both with
the finishing at the rim and and and the turnovers.
Like it feels like it's very on and off, as

(01:04:40):
I said, and I think that will go away kind
of like it was with KPK.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
It felt like.

Speaker 3 (01:04:45):
KPK sometimes it was a scorer and sometimes he was
a passer. You'd have games with twelve points forteen assists,
and he'd have games with thirty points to assists, seven turnovers,
and you couldn't get much of a like the correct.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
Blend of that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:01):
You're at a point where you've got players around him
that if he doesn't have it on a certain night,
you can play him as the role player that it
was last season. And you have me saying you have
single NKV you know, bring the ball up and all
that and all those types of stuff. Moving on to
my question kind of ties a little bit into some
of what you said, but I want to pose it
as a question so we have it on the record

(01:05:22):
of how you feel about it at this point, and
we can keep track of it as we move forward
in the season, because I guess our recording schedule kind
of it's kind of I guess two games too late.
I think this question was would have been a little
bit better two games ago, because I feel like maybe
has already made the decision. We're not going to ask
the question anyway, so we kind of can be on

(01:05:42):
the record on how we feel it would better. It
would be the better way to go about it. The
question is Reachephard starting it off the bench, and I'll
start off saying that I think off the bench is
better for two main reasons. It's not about him playing
better or worse. It's about occasional resources, and it's about
what he brings to the table being less I guess

(01:06:05):
present in our second unit, but it's sad. Plus, he
plays really well around Stephen Adams, and he's probably the
best player on our team playing around Steven Adams, so.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
I think that's also a little bit.

Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
I don't know if he gets nervous or I don't
know what it is, but it feels like when he's
playing with Kad he's played, he plays a lot worse.
I don't know if it's the flurrying and if it's
because they occupy a little bit of the same space
as like you know, read someone who needs to be
confident just pulling up from three from really deep, and
it's kind of tough to pull up from three from
really deep when you have guy Kevin Brandt next to you,

(01:06:38):
and you know, when it's shaying goo and it's like, okay,
maybe you know the Binks crowded, he's on no, no,
thinking's not in the right situation to score here. So
let me know, take atitye of this shot when next
to you is like, okay, we could get the exact
same shot with it would be Katie shooting it. And
I think that maybe that's what's going on. And he
said that it doesn't seem to be as good and

(01:06:59):
he's playing next to Ta, So yeah, I think that's
the question. And my answer is I think he should
come off the bench. It's not about how good he is,
it's about allocating resources.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
Yeah, that's a good question. I mean we talked about this,
and I think our last full show before Thanksgiving, when
Reid was really going off and at the time I
wanted to explore with him starting and they did a
little bit. I agree with you that for whatever reason,
it didn't seem like he was quite as comfortable with
Katie on the court. And that's strictly basketball related. You know,

(01:07:29):
when we talk about Katie's brilliance one thing, and you
touched on it in our player grade spot. He's been
phenomenal as a leader, and you can see with Reid specifically,
Katie is trying really hard to encourage him, to empower him.
They're working on it. I just think stylistically it's not easy.
It takes some time, and I've noticed the same things.
I think for me, the question largely comes down to,

(01:07:52):
you know where Reid's average level comes in at when
the sample increases, like when we had this conversation at
the end of November. That was when Reid was on
his heater. If that's the version of Reed Shepherd, the
guy who was fifth in box plus minus in the
entire NBA, then I would lean to starting him because
you know it can potentially all beate some of the

(01:08:12):
pressure on him men. But more important than that, it's
just if he's that level of player, you want to
play him as many minutes as possible. I think long
term we view him as a starter anyway. It's just
a matter of when rather than if. And so if
that version of Reed is real this season, then yeah,
I think you start him and you worry about everything
else later. However, if it's somewhere in between, and I

(01:08:35):
think the answer is probably yes, it's probably somewhere between.
I hate to use this analogy, but you know, maybe
November of this year for Reed was sort of similar
to March of twenty four for Jalen Green. And people
will hate hearing that because we all know Jalen does
not have a lot of fans in this fan base
the way the playoffs went. But no, after that, Jalen

(01:08:55):
didn't suddenly become a bad player again. He was still solid.
He just you know, the hot were a little less
consistent as they were in that month of March. And
I'm not saying that's who Reid will be for the
remainder of his career. He's just twenty one years old.
Year two, but it wouldn't surprise me if in this
particular season you see that type of regression to where

(01:09:15):
you still have some individual games where he pops off,
but he doesn't do it for close to a month
straight why he did in November, or like Jalen did
in March of twenty twenty four, And in that case,
then yeah, I think it makes more sense if that
version of Reed is what we can expect moving forward.
Then yeah, yeah, I think you bring him off the bench,
he can offensively anchor those second units. You can play

(01:09:38):
them more with Steven Adams, you can hide him a
little bit more defensively because he's going up against largely backups.
You can scale up the minutes a little bit if
his play warrants it, but it's easier to scale down
if it doesn't. But then the bigger thing, it goes
back to what I said leading off the pod. One
of the real advantages for this team is the insanely
high floor. If you return the defense from last year

(01:09:59):
and now you have kd in that Jalen Green role, well,
to have the defense from last year requires someone like
Joshua Kogi or Jory and Finny Smith or Tarry Easton
when they come back to fill one of those complimentary
spots around guys like Kevin Durant and Alpher and Shangoon
that are doing the heavy lifting offensively. So yeah, when

(01:10:20):
we talk about that that fifth spot, then if Reid
is good enough offensively to continue doing fairly consistently what
he did in November that I'm a big believer you
just start him and worry about everything else later. But
if it's somewhere in between and he's you know, the
last week where it hasn't been terrible, but he's come
back to earth a little bit. And if it's somewhere
between the highs of November and you know the I

(01:10:43):
don't want to say lows, but less so what we
saw the last week of October in the first week
of December, then yeah, I would agree with you. In
that instance, it probably makes sense to just bring him
off the bench and have that fifth spot alongside Katie
Shangoon Shabari eight the men, someone that's more defensive oriented
so you can main the formula maintained the great defense,
which seems to be an identity of this team under

(01:11:04):
Ima Udoka. I think that's probably the smart bet. I
think we're probably in alignment there. For me, it just
sort of I would just stay somewhat open minded depending
on exactly how replays, because I do think there's a
point where if he's that damn good, then yeah, you
start him. He definitely raises your ceiling and you worry
about everything else later. But if he's somewhere in between
November and what we've seen in the other months, then yeah,

(01:11:24):
six man is probably safer. All right, my final question,
we each have one more, and I'll try to go
quick because we're already more than an hour into the pod.
I mentioned that when we'd had our Shingoon discussion earlier,
and you said you thought he's actually the most valuable player.

(01:11:45):
The reason I hesitate to go there just yet. So
Kelly eco Now with Yahoo Sports had a great article
a few days ago talking about the biggest questions for
challengers to the Thunder, and he was looking at specifically
the Rockets, the Lakers, and the Nugget. The three teams
tightly bunched in that two through four range, and I
agree with you clearly. I think the Rockets and Nuggets

(01:12:05):
are ahead of the Lakers. Lakers have had a lot
of good fortune to this point in the year. The
point differential doesn't lie when it comes to the tier
gap between those three teams. But for the Rockets, what
Kelly pointed to was that in the clutch, KD has
been lights out in terms of scoring efficiency, almost sixty
eight percent true shooting, but he's actually fourth in usage freight,

(01:12:27):
with Shingoon and a Men the clear top two, and
I think Jabari's at third, although a distant third, and
I think it matches, you know, the eye test, the
close games they've lost to other contenders, the Nuggets, the Thunder,
the Spurs. The offense hasn't been as crisp, even though
it's still very good overall, top five for the season overall,

(01:12:48):
and has been consistently first or second most of the way.
When it's been half court late, it has gotten a
little bit sticky, and you can see teams really respect KD.
And perhaps I'm a little too biased my assessment to
the final four minutes when we know Katie strikes fear
in the heart of everybody because of what he's done
over his career. So maybe I'm over adjusting to what
we've seen laden games. But the extent that opposing defenses

(01:13:11):
laser in on him when it's close and late, I
struggle to say he's not the best player simply because
of that factor. And so a lot of the Rocket's
success comes down to, you know, shingoon and a men
leading four on threes on the back side and being
able to convert efficiently. And so how can you get
more opportunities for Kevin Durant, Because ultimately for the Rockets

(01:13:34):
to get where they need to go this season, Katie's
going to have to to make some really big shots
laden games, and it's unpossible. Obviously we saw him do
it against Orlando. But it can't be just Shangoon and
A Men the way it largely has been with other
teams able to to sort of take Katie out of
the gate. So some of it's going to depend on

(01:13:54):
you know, if a man is finishing better at the rim,
then that'll make defenses less likely to you know, defay
kd as exaggerated in these close and late situations as
they have to start this season. That would go a
long way. So hopefully we see that and not that
ties back into the earlier question. But I also think,
you know, tactically, what screens are the Rockets setting, how

(01:14:16):
early do they initiate their offense. There's all sorts of
little tweaks that Emai Ujoka and his staff can do
to better get Katie the ball late in games. I
don't think there's a one size fits all fix. It
would help that, you know, Shitgoon and A Men are
more clinical and their opportunities in the four and three.
It would help if the Rockets make some tweaks in
terms of just tactically how they attack offensively in those situations.

(01:14:40):
I don't think it's an easy fix, but it's a
necessary one for them to actually get to where they
want to go. And you know, maybe some of it's
Kad as well, Like I don't want to act like
that he's immune from criticism. You know, especially early in
the year, it felt like, you know, he sort of
shied away from the physicality a little bit. I think
back to the opener against lou Jort and the Thunder
and some of these teams that have you know, bigger

(01:15:01):
wings that defend him, and you know, officials sometimes let
him get handsy if it's close and late in a
high profile matchup. Maybe KD can be more physical. Maybe
we'll see that more as the games get more meaningful
and so he's more willing to throw his body into
harm's way. Again, there's no easy solution to this, but
I just think the question that needs to get resolved

(01:15:22):
by April. KD is lethal in the clutch. We've known
this for years to this point. When he has shot
in the clutch this year, he's been lethal. He just
hasn't shot enough. So for the Rockets overall, they need
to find ways to get Katie the ball more late
in games. How can they best do that? To me,
that's that's sort of the overarching question. It's more, you know,

(01:15:42):
a season long than the next twenty games. But I
think it's one that they need to start working on
now so that they're on the you know, the best
foot forward by the time you get to the second
half of the season. And so that's my final question, Paolo,
bring us home. What's your you know, fourth and final
of our key questions to watch?

Speaker 3 (01:15:59):
Yeah, we don't want to do I only don't want
to do trade that. I don't really want to save it.
But since it's quick questions, I'm going to do it anyway.
My I guess I'll formulate the question one way, but
I'll touch on a little bit of a different thing
as well. The way I'll formulate the question is because
I want to make it as close to a fifty
to fifty as possible. My question is will the Rockets

(01:16:23):
make a trade using any salary other than the minimum?

Speaker 2 (01:16:27):
Guys?

Speaker 3 (01:16:28):
This trade that life. What I mean by this is, yeah,
they could trade you know Tades or Keeff Green or
Aaron Holliday. That's really unlikely or I can't remember there
a cohe eats and lightly as well, but they could
make one of those moves to try and get a
point guard. I'm taking the minimum guys after the equation.
Will the trade happen using someone other than a minimum guy?

(01:16:52):
I'll give some examples. I think Quinn Cappella has been underwhelming.
I think his hands are really really bad and a
lot of people noticed it, especially the last game, but
it's been going on for a while. His touch has
never been that good, and it's not funny enough to
dunk it as much as he used to, and you
see a lot of them, you know. One of the
biggest differences between him and Adams as well is that

(01:17:13):
Adams has a little bit of touch around the rim.
He's gotten a little bit of a layup package, if
you want to call it that, and Quinn just doesn't.
And there's a lot of water points left on the
table with that, and I think that's not I don't
think the return with Quin has been what they expected
it to be. And I think you noticed really a
lot of wind might not be a suitable backup to

(01:17:34):
Steven Adams. Steven Adams as the SID games out and
if he can't, how much, how much of a point
is they're really keeping him on the roster. And I
love Puint Cappella. It's just the state you're at. I
think he's a candidate to possibly being moved. That was
the question that I was going to ask you, is
if you would move them. But I don't think that's
closed fifty to fifty, So I'm not gonna not gonna
go with that.

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
And then beyond that.

Speaker 3 (01:17:56):
You know, I've been toying in my head. They call
it nostalgia. I've been telling in my head the idea
of Laurian Phinis Smith and Clint Cafello for for Dylan Brooks.
But you know, it's unlikely. They'd probably have to give
up a first front pick, probably one of the sens
for Droun picks back, and it's probably not worth it.
Uh well, yeah, just miss Dylan Brooks. That was the

(01:18:17):
only thing I wanted to touch on. But the other
can lead to being moved, and I don't like it
has to be tarrese. And I think going into the
trade deadline, Dorian Phinnis Smith will be likely ready to play.
That's the least, at least at least that's the timeline.
If Torium Smith Phinnish Smith comes in and he's playing

(01:18:39):
really great, he's selling the impact he had with the Lakers,
does that make a non cost control at this point
is and more expendable considering how cost control Torrian Phinnie
Smith is for the next four seasons. You know, I
think that's a question. That's the Warren's being asked, and
I think we'll go in more the in depth into
it on on a later pots as we approach up

(01:18:59):
Trey Debb. But yeah, those are my two cents regarding
and there is no question, which you know, to pose
it to you, is any non minimum guys get moved
at the trade dead Black, Yes or no?

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
It's possible. I'll say no, you know what, I'll say yes.
I was gonna say no because I want to be optimistic.
But I think, especially if you're including Capella, who's at
seven million, I really think that Clint, beyond just how
he's playing, he's a guy who the vast majority of
his value will be realized by the time you get
to early February, because you will have already played two

(01:19:32):
thirds of the season. Like, I don't think the Rockets
unless there's well, even if there is a catastrophic injury
to Shangoon or Adams would be relying on Clint Coppella
in the playoffs. If they are, you probably can't win
a championship anyway. So the vast majority of what you're
getting from Clint Cappella is filling out your rotation over
eighty two games. And so we've already seen they don't

(01:19:52):
want to expose Steven Adams to back to backs, at
least not this early. Shoingoon's been sick the last couple
of days. Like the cent position, especially in the NBA,
there's a lot of mileage that comes with playing and
banging in the post against NBA level big men, and
so having that third center is really valuable over eighty
two games. But if the deadline, you're already two thirds

(01:20:14):
of the way through the schedule, and you also have
a week coming up the All Star break, where you
have a week off entirely so you can let these
guys rest, and then you really only have six weeks
from then until the playoffs, and hopefully you'll be pretty
set as a top six seed at that point. And
I've said before, as long as you know you're in
the top six and ideally home court to manage and
at least one round. I really don't think the exact

(01:20:35):
seed you get is all that important, as we saw
when the second seed Rockets lost to the seven seeded
Warriors in the playoffs a year ago. You just got to,
you know, get in and take your chances and put
your best foot forward by the time you get to
the playoffs. So yeah, especially if we're counting Klent, who's
still a small salary but bigger than the minimum, I'll
say yes, simply because there's too many things that can
go wrong or maybe one of your intur guys doesn't

(01:20:57):
make it all the way back. But I will say
in general, I think there's more of a possibility for
major movement than people around the fan base seem to think.
I've said before, and we don't have to go into
this today. I know we're already over an hour in,
but I think Fred VanVleet is more movable than people think.
If Reed Shepherd is as good as he's looked at
times this season, obviously that's your long term point guard.

(01:21:20):
And in terms of the no trade cause I said before,
I'll say it again, it's not a nothing burger, But
it's not the impediment that a lot of people think.
Either he's not playing this year, so it really doesn't
matter where he is. If he's just largely rehappy and
not on the court, what owner is sending him checks
while he sits on the bench and doesn't play. I
don't see why that would matter to Fred at all.

(01:21:41):
And then beyond this year, he can become a free
agent in the offseason if he wants, and even even
if it's a situation where he's not so sure on
the destination, if it's a great fit for him, he
can easily get a buy out going into the last
year of his contract at thirty two years old and
not a max contract. And he also might prefer a

(01:22:02):
team that doesn't have a ton around him because it
could give him an opportunity to play major minutes next
year and re establish his value. And then if the
team isn't winning, he could get a buy out midway
through the year anyway, and latched onto the contender of
his choice. So bottom line on the terms of his
contract as short as it is, with the player option
all the flexibility, and with him not playing this year anyway,

(01:22:24):
I struggle to see, especially the Rockets are saying, hey,
we want to trade you. So yeah, the formula has
inherently changed. If a Felstone goes to friend and says, hey,
we want to move you, we think this is in
our team's best interest. I don't see Fred being just
hell bent on say I want Houston no matter what,
even if you don't want me, even if I'm not
playing even if I'm not tied to you beyond a season. Like,

(01:22:48):
I don't think it's a given that he waives his
no trade, But I also don't think it's as big
of an ask as people think. So I don't think
the Rockets want to move Fred Fensleet. I think the
ideal world is that you welcome him back, as you know,
even if he's not necessarily the full blown starter he
was before, even if Freed Shepherd is ready for a
bigger role. But we've talked before, one of the great

(01:23:10):
things about Fred is that he's very scalable, and so
if you need to use him in different ways, you
easily can. And so the ideal scenario, the Rockets love Fred,
and maybe he comes back by the playoffs, more realistically
by next season, and they just slide him in and
he's still a part of this team going into you know,
his mid thirties. I think that's the ideal, But if
things aren't going well for one reason or another, I

(01:23:31):
do think he's a little more movable than the conventional
narrative thinks. And so you combine that with Clint Capella,
the contractual uncertainty of Charry Easton beyond this season, the
injury with Doriy and Finny Smith, and when he comes back,
and what version of himself that he's in when he does,
there are enough questions to wear gun to my head.

(01:23:53):
I'll say, yes, I don't know who the target will be,
what position, what role, but there's enough areas of uncertainty,
and the floor of this team is high enough I
either close enough to winning a title that unless the
answers across the board are just clearly positive, and I
hope they are, but I'm not going to assume that,
then yeah, it's tough for me to see like a

(01:24:15):
move around the margins just swapping out Jase scharn Tat
or Jeff Green for another minimum type player, which is
all you really can do if you're trating contract that's
small and you're hardcaf at the first apron. I can't
see that being the only move if there are big
questions otherwise, and if your floor is at high is
as high as it is when you have Katie at
all for Echi doing healthy and playing at this level,

(01:24:37):
and Emo Rudoka as your coach, all the things that
that we've been describing, all right, that will do it
for today's show. By the way, I am very glad
that neither of us mentioned in the question segment when
will Tarry Easton and Dorian Anthony Smith come back and
what version of themselves will they be, because I think
that goes without saying like that's not even a good discussion.

(01:24:59):
It's just too obvious. So if you're listening and saying, well,
why didn't you talk about, you know, the elephants in
the room, the two guys expecting rotation players that aren't
playing right now, I mean, come on, we all want
to know exactly when they get back and exactly how
good they're going to be when they're back. The latest
updates looks like Tari towards the end of this month
DFS in January, but come on, we want to see

(01:25:19):
those guys back as soon as possible and as close
to two hundred percent as possible. There's nothing really to
say beyond that, and there's not a whole lot to
talk about until we see them on the court and
can start evaluating where they're at in terms of their
return to play and you know, how they fit into
the overall formula of this team as they try and
build a contender. So it's not that me and Power
are overlooking that. It's just just sort of goes without saying, Yeah,
those guys need to get back. Hopefully they're good. We'll

(01:25:41):
see and it sounds like, knock on wood, we could
have at least Tari back on the court within a
few weeks with DFS. Probably have to wait until the
calendar turns to twenty six. Anyway, that'll do it for
today's show. It will not be as Power Tease too
a few times. Our only show of this week. We'll
be back in a few days. Looking add to that
December fifteenth opening of trade season. We touched on a

(01:26:03):
few of those topics today. We'll dive into that more
later in the week as we get closer to December fifteenth.
Then there might be some other rumors around the league
that we can react to as well, because with trade
season kicking off, not just here but around the league,
there may be some more intel as far as what
the possibilities are around the league, who the Rockets might
can target, what deals might look like. We may have

(01:26:23):
more on that later in the week. We'll definitely have
a show on that later in the week and which
we'll expand a little bit more on the possibilities. And then,
certainly as we get closer to the early February trade deadline,
more intel we'll shake free around the league. We'll have
more data points to consider with the Rockets, and we'll
see if it ultimately makes sense for Rofellstone to make
a deal of significance. For today, though, this is where
we will break and if you want more from us

(01:26:45):
until our next show, the best place to hear from
Powlo and me is on social media. I'm on all
the platforms at Benjubo's, Powlow is on there, at Polo
Alf's NBA, you can read by work at USA Today's
Rockets Where Rockets Where dot USA today dot com. And
then if you go to launch Pods seven ninety on Twitter,
slash x and hit up the links tree in the bio.

(01:27:05):
That's where if you want more from this show or
friends partner sponsors, that link tree is the one stop
shop wherever it is that you want to listen to
this podcast, Apple, Google, Spotify, all the major distributors YouTube
you can find links to that from the aforementioned link tree.
Clutch Fans Sports Talk seven ninety you can consume their
content the Clutch Fans YouTube page where I'm doing a

(01:27:27):
lot of postgame shows with Dave Parsy, editor of Clutch Fans.
We've got the link there as well. So yeah, beyond
just following me and Polo on social media and reading
if I work in USA, Today's Rockets where go to
Launch Pods seven ninety on Twitter, where the follower base
has been growing since we announced the new name of
the show a few weeks ago. The partnership with Clutch
Fans in seven ninety, so thank you to our new

(01:27:48):
followers for that. But if you hit up that link
in the bio, that's got everything you need to further
check out what Polo and myself are doing, as well
as other people affiliated with this program. Okay, those plus complete.
We will finally return for today for Follo Alves I'm
Ben Jubos. Thanks as always for listening, and please come
back soon for more new episodes of the Rocket's Launch

(01:28:08):
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