March 3, 2026 • 29 mins
With another strong showing in Monday’s victory at Washington, second-year guard Reed Sheppard is clearly making a push to start and finish more games. Houston (38-22) is now 5-2 since the All-Star break while continuing to hold the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference standings.
Featuring Ben DuBose, ClutchFans’ Dave Hardisty, and Michael Shapiro of Chron.com, our Rockets-Wizards postgame show reacts to all the key storylines. Topics include injury management for the likes of Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr.; what more starts for Sheppard could look like; and why a relatively quiet buyout market might point to a contract conversion for JD Davison or Isaiah Crawford.
This episode can also be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXc48A8PXpI
Featuring Ben DuBose, ClutchFans’ Dave Hardisty, and Michael Shapiro of Chron.com, our Rockets-Wizards postgame show reacts to all the key storylines. Topics include injury management for the likes of Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr.; what more starts for Sheppard could look like; and why a relatively quiet buyout market might point to a contract conversion for JD Davison or Isaiah Crawford.
This episode can also be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXc48A8PXpI
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome into the show. Everybody. Rockets get a one twenty
three to one eighteen win on the road, finish out
their road trip two and one by knocking off the Wizards. Yes,
this was very much a tanking team, and this was
an LA fitness Baller type of event, let's say. But
all of the Rockets for the most part played well.
(00:24):
Shanngouon Kdi each scored over thirty points a men Thompson
before exiting with an injury. We'll talk about that had
I believe twenty two points, ten boards or excuse me,
twelve boards, and really the guy who stole the show
was Ree Shepperd getting probably his final start for a while.
What we shall find out post nineteen points, ten assists,
(00:45):
seven boards, He racked those up kind of early and
six steals and I believe led the team. Well, no
he did not. Tarry ended up having the highest plus
minus a plus thirteen. But Tarry or excuse me, but
Reed was plus ten and wasn't the plus twenties for
a while. In this game. It's do not fall in
a game. But they you know, needed to win for
sure and knock off the Wizards. It's you'll take it,
(01:08):
right Ben.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, absolutely, And to me, Read is the big story
because I don't think that you should really take anything
out of this game overall against the tanking Wizards team.
You mentioned the LA fitness analogy, it felt like that
with the lack of officiating as well, if you hoop
in a Hiccup court, you're gonna have officials, and for
a lot of tonight, you know, Tarry Easton might object,
but other than that, it felt like the officials didn't
(01:31):
want to be there either, and so the game was
very choppy and against this type of opponent, you know,
guys like Kevin Durant and Alprin Shongoon should be able
to put up points. But I do think that in
the big picture, Read is the story because it continues
a trend that we've seen for really ten games now.
His last ten Read is shooting forty eight percent overall,
(01:51):
forty six percent on threes, and his true shooting is
sixty four percent, So this is not a one off.
He's been playing well for a while, and I think,
you know, it feels like, especially on social media, we've
always got to find something to debate in terms of
does he start, does he close, exactly how many minutes
does he play and the grand scheme to get this
level of production year to twenty one years old, that's
(02:13):
the most important thing, because you know, he started this
season playing that type of basketball in October and November,
and then it fell off in January. He shot just
thirty eight percent overall and thirty three percent from three.
And I don't know if Reid will admit to it. Michael,
you know how guarded he is and his interviews with
the media. He's very well media coached, let's say. But
(02:35):
I do wonder if maybe he hits something of a
rookie wall, because even though he did have a season
last year, he didn't play a lot. So this was
his first season to actually get real NBA minutes. And
I think he started off so hot, and then when
the schedule got compressed late December after the NBA Cup
leading into the All Star Ray, I wonder if the
(02:55):
legs just weren't there and that's why the shooting fell off.
And like a lot of young players, when the shots
aren't dropping, they have more lapses defensively, they turned the
ball over more. Well, now the shots are falling again,
and Dave you mentioned it, he did so many things
defensively tonight as well, with the steals, the rebounds. It
just feels like his entire game is coming around. And yeah,
we can quibble over exactly know how many minutes does
(03:16):
he start as you come off the bench, But in
the big picture, the fact that a twenty one year
old Reed Shepherd is playing this, well, that's the most
important thing. I think it's a game that, even if
the result against a bad Wizards team, shouldn't make you
feel that proud. I only did the fi pump because
somebody got mad at me the other night for not
doing it. I do think you should be pretty proud
in Read Shepherd. I think that's the big takeaway.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I think we're seeing a lot more comfort from Read as,
much more than just a long range shooter or a
guy just making kind of the most simple play. We
saw him a lot in recent nights, rejecting the first screen,
taking the second one. He's sneaking in and out better.
He's become kind of not an expert, but pretty proficient
in that skip pass all the way across with two hands.
So he started to make the reads that you saw
(03:57):
of like, oh, this is a real NBA point guard
that we didn't really see as much in December or January, right,
So it's not just the shots that are falling, although
I think that's a big part of it for his
energy and rhythmen like bounce, so to speak. But the
reads we've seen in the past few nights from Reed
no pun intended there, that's been some of the better
stuff we've seen.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I think, Yeah, I would agree with that. It's so
hard to tell with Ree, right because obviously against the Kings,
for example, at home, another team that has a lot
of injuries, let's say, just you know, he went lights out,
shot six to twelve in the first half, and you're like, wow,
this is you know, Steph and all of this stuff.
Obviously the competition does matter. But but I would agree
(04:37):
with what Michael's saying. I thought in this particular game,
he didn't look like any kind of defensive liability today.
He was very aggressive. Obviously his his you know, sort
of mo on defenses to gamble and a lot of
times it pays off, sometimes not so much. But that's
he did a great job I think of that today,
and he ran the show you know, quite a bit,
which in a lot of these other games where people
(04:58):
are you know, he's thriving. He's throw a lot of
you know, catch and shoot playing off of somebody else.
But tonight I thought he facilitated well and looked the
part of a point guard.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Tonight great. And I think they've also got to use
Reid in this way, especially over the next couple of
weeks with the injuries starting to pile up elsewhere. Aman
Thompson left early. It looked like, you know, he went
in with a tight quad that we know he missed
a game with last week, and it looked like that
on the bench. We're still waiting to hear from Imadoka postgame,
(05:27):
but he was grabbing at his right ankle. Didn't look
too serious, was walking without assistance, but was a little
bit of a limp. Went to the locker room early.
And so you've had two lower leg issues for men.
Javari Smith Junior is supposed to be back Thursday, but
he's missed the last two games with the ankle sprain.
And you've got a really tough schedule next week with
(05:48):
three games and four nights all against teams that are
ten or more games above five hundred. The Spurs, the Raptors,
the Nuggets, the Spurs and Nuggets. Those games are on
the road, and that's the two teams right around you
in the Western Conference standings. It too well, Nuggets are five,
but they're hot on your heels just a game or
so back, and so these are games that you know,
the Rockets are thirty eight and twenty two now number
(06:08):
three in the West, but their margin of error is
is still pretty small if they want to have home
court advantage in the first round and avoid being on
the same side of the bracket as the Thunder and
so they've sort of got a balance like, yeah, you
want to have a big picture and let these guys
heal up. Yet these are important games in the interim,
and so how do you potentially do that, you know,
maybe play a men in Jabari as much as you can,
(06:30):
but not go all out with their usage. Well, I
think it's dialing up the usage for Reed Shepherd. I
think that's how over the next week you can sort
of you know, try and wall. It's a very fine
line for ema Joka, but to give yourself the best
chance to win in the short term and games that
are pretty big while still you know, keeping the big
picture in mind.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I'm really going to Circle especially, I think that's San
Antonio game on Sunday, especially especially how the standings are
looking right now. It's kind of hard to project totally ahead,
but as it sits, that kind of is shaping up
to be a two versus three series, right. And I
think moreover, that's been a real battle between Houston and
San Antonio this year, and the last game they had
(07:07):
San Antonio seemed to figure a lot out against the
Rockets at Toyota Center. Victor web Bergnona kind of owned
Outprin Shenguon. They had a lot of Stefan Castle, small
on big action that gave the Rockets trouble. So I
think Sunday in San Antonio, let's try to see the
Rockets problem solve against a very good team and the
team that kind of had their number last time. We
(07:27):
can only take so much from Washington, right, it's Washington,
But get excited for that San Antonio Toronto Denver stretch,
those two Western Conference teams especially like that's going to
be an April and May preview. I think, so that's
pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And not to look ahead. Let me ask you this
day because I've been thinking this today with the success
the Knicks had against the Spurs on Sunday. It's not
identical personnel, but there are some similarities between Josh Hart
and a Men Thomas, And of course we think a
men is a lot better. But you can potentially use
a men as a screener in much the same way
the Knicks did, and they had they found a lot
(08:00):
of success with that. And so if you use a
men more as a screener, assuming the Spurs turned back
to Wemby as the primary defender the way they did
in the second half of that game the second game
in Houston that they came from behind to win, you're
gonna need someone else to handle the ball, and that's
someone could be Reed Shepherd. So not looking ahead the Sunday,
like the Warriors, are a couple of games above five hundred,
(08:21):
although they won't have Steph Curry. The Trailblazers are slightly
below five hundred, but they're competitive. They're fifty. Like these
games on Thursday and Friday are not a given, but
Sunday is definitely the big one that I suspect the
Rockets internally have circled as well. Maybe you need to
dial down and men's usage anyway, and with Red playing, well,
maybe this is the game to sort of turn him loose, right.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, that's a very good point. Actually, I could see
that being the case. And we'll see if a man
ends up playing, and I know we're gonna move on
to that game. I just want to highlight the players
real quick from this, right, I know Shangun had I
used twelve to twenty today hit thirty two points, twelve boards,
came on with a lot of scoring late. Really interesting
pro by the Wizards to play justin Champenny on Shangun
(09:05):
for much of the game basically a six to six
guard and really didn't bring much help. And Shanghun the
only problem today was he had a bunch of turnovers.
Eight Katie just quietly drops another thirty a game he
also had six turnovers. Turnovers were issued today. Rockets dominated
the glass. Yeah, they dominated the glass, but the turnovers
were a problem. And then amend before leaving with injury
(09:25):
an efficient twenty two and twelve ten to fifteen shooting.
But as we go into this next schedule, and Ben,
I want to include what you're talking about there. Jabari
is expected back Thursday, starting with Olden State, and I
may did talk about this and to your point about
read and releasing, you know, unleashing him and that nature.
He says he's going back, probably going back to the
(09:47):
original starting lineup. It obviously goes back to your question
Michael about if ever you know whether Reid will start there.
But I think that's what I would would have expected,
and that's what he says he's going to do. I
know the fans are very upset. Reed will probably come
out of the lineup and Jabario will go back in,
and that will probably be a sticking point or a controversial,
(10:08):
a conversational point, let's say for a while.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah. I mean, I kind of struggle with how much
does it totally ultimately matter if if re Shepherd is
a starter versus if he comes off the bench. I
think he's a guy that really, especially in that end
of first quarter situation, adds a lot of energy and
pace to those units that kind of need it. So
that's not the biggest deal to me. It's those situations
where like the New York game I think it was
I'm pretty sure he sits the last five forty seven
(10:34):
of the contest right as the offense is kind of
going full clog toilet mode and he's not in the
game like that's the important thing. That's a thing where
ima Udok will be scrutinized. And I know, as we've
said ad nauseum, there are gonna be headaches, there are
gonna be frustrations, But we have to pick and choose
moments late in the season, in March and April, you know,
to give him real, meaningful, meaningful clutch moments, I guess
(10:57):
is the best way to put it. To put him
in situations where he could survive and thrive in April
and May. If you don't give him those reps now,
he's not going to do it. So I kind of
thought that Knicks game was a big miss for me
Meo Doka. Let's see in the next kind of few
weeks if he will give read more Ron ultimately.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
And hopefully Shangoon can build on what he did tonight.
I know it was a bad opponent, but he's been
in a stretch lately where he just needs to see
the ball go through the bucket and hopefully he can
at least offensively get some continuity there. Because I do
think it's a it's a delicate balancing act for Email
because I think one of the reasons they like bringing
Reid off the bench is as a stimulus in those
(11:33):
minutes without KD, because we saw in Miami when it
was minutes when Shangoon was out there and no KD,
that's when the Rockets absolutely got crushed. And so being
able to bring Read off the bench as something of
an offensive anchor for those units late first especially early
in the second and early in the fourth quarters, there's
a lot of value there. And yes, you can stagger
(11:54):
your lineups a little bit, but you know, if you
start someone but then change your lineup very quickly, it's
almost like, well, why don't you just start who you
want to play for the first six nine minutes of
the first and third quarter. So sure that brings its
own issues, and so I think, you know, if Shingoon
gets going offensively to where he's comfortable as a hob
as a scorer, then that will also give them more
(12:15):
freedom for how they can use Read without feeling they
need Read as something of a stimulus for those minutes
without Katie early in the second and early in the
fourth quarters, And so I think that plays into it
as well. Yeah, I'm looking at the post game updates
a men. It looks like rolled his ankle. It's not
a reaggravation of the quad, which is why initially they
(12:35):
suspected on the broadcast until we saw him grab at
the ankle on the bench. So I guess it's good
and that it's not the same issue. However, it is
the other leg as I understand it. So now he's
got issues with both legs and it's a very delicate
balancing act moving forward. And you know, I was thinking
of using him as a screener more because a that's
the adjustment the Knicks made with Josh Hard or not
(12:58):
the adjustment, but just how they chose to attack the
Spurs defense with Wemby. And then secondly, if a Men's
used as a screener, it's in theory a little bit
less juice than if you're asking him to be the
on ball guy and go downhill. So if he's managing
an injury, then that might make it a little bit
easier on him. But these X two games, it's interesting
because I had been told come down the All Star break.
(13:18):
The Rockets internally felt like that in these first nine
games they needed to be at least six and three
well they're now five and two, so if they win
the two against the Warriors and Blazers, they'll be seven
and two. So they're, you know, over the bar that
they need to be at. If they go one in one,
they at least meet the bar. And if they go
zero to two, which God forbid that'd be a bad
(13:39):
outcoming home, then they fall short. But it's just for me,
it's just how balls to the wall? Pardon the expression.
Do they go for these two games at home on
a back to back with guys managing these injuries, knowing
how difficult the schedule is going to be next week,
I don't end the email, Udoka. This is going to be,
(14:00):
you know, a tricky couple of games. I mean, they're
more talented on paper than who they're going up against,
but I don't know. To me, like these next two
these are games where you really need Kevin Durant and
all Perinshon Goon to to stand out and be stars,
because they're the two guys who to my knowledge, don't
have any nagging injuries and on paper they should be
better than anyone playing for the Warriors or the Trailblazers,
(14:23):
especially with stuff unavailable.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And Denny's out right now too correct.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, it might be back, Okay, So I don't know,
Like to me, these next two games, it just screams
to me, I'm not saying you have to shut down
Jabari or shut down to men, but at least be
cognizant of the minutes they play, the usage, and I
just feel like, ask Katie and Alpi to bring you home,
get you these two wins, and if you're seven and
two and these first nine out of the Ulstar break,
I think you're happy and then worry about next week
(14:49):
when it comes and hopefully the Men and Jabari are
feeling a little bit better. That's sort of my outlook.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Five games and seven nights go ahead, Michael.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah, yeah, Just my guess is actually we know that
Dorian Finny Smith will be off for one of those
two Thursday Friday as he sits through back to backs.
Wouldn't be surprised if Jabari Smith, after playing on the
game on the fifth, sat on the sixth, and we'll
kind of see with him on Thompson. So it is
kind of the patchwork together crew in the next couple nights.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Yeah, And it wouldn't shock me if a men sits
a game as well, even if they just reminded that
this is a very minor ankle roll. Just as a
men sat out half of a back to back last
week coming off the quad, the same could batch true.
And it wouldn't shock me if they circle that Golden
State game a little bit more simply because this will
be the first time the Warriors have come back to
Toyota Center since that game seven least May So I
(15:33):
know there's no Steph Curry, but I bet you for
the Rockets, this is one that they sort of have
circled and that they've remembered for a while. So in
terms of prioritizing those two games, even if you think
they should beat the Warriors no matter what, I bet
you internally they have something extra for that game on Thursday, and.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
That could be a good point. You might see Reid
start these next two simply because if let's say a
men sits out the next game, I don't know if
he will, but if he does, there you go. And
if Jabari rests like Michael's saying after the first after
coming back against the Warriors for the second of a
back to back, read might stay in there too. So
I will see maybe this, you know, read starting thing.
We'll continue. I know the chat has pointed out he's
(16:08):
seven to two this year when he starts, we don't
need to continue that conversation. But my point is I
kind of agree with you guys. I feel like that
he's important to that bench. He is going to start eventually,
that's the plan to start, read Chepper, or that's the hope.
You want to keep building towards that, So we're not
trying to keep him down. I just think that right now,
when you look at that bench, you need that sort
of stimulus, and it's a it's a contrast to what
(16:29):
you already have, which is a fairly successful lineup. So
we'll see. You know, things change the game by game,
but I could see that being a thing down the line,
not right now.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
And Michael, I'm curious your thoughts. Dave and I have
talked about, you know, if Reid starts, who would he
start in place of I know you asked the question
about a mend that that got us the inf of
his line. My personal opinion, I think it's pretty clearly
going to be Tarry Easton if we get to that
point this season, because you know, Chari didn't start until
Christmas for a reason, and I think you know his
(17:01):
value is primarily on offense as a three point shooter,
but the three point shooting has fallen off of late. Defensively,
he's very good, but you do have a men that
can help you as the primary in the starting unit.
So I just feel like if they determine that Reid
is ready to start this year, and we've seen the
last couple of games like Jabari is very valuable as
just connective tissue on both ends of the floor, they
(17:22):
have certainly missed him these two games. Part of the
reason this game was so ragged tonight was not having
Jabari out there as a stabilizer. I think he also
helps Shingoon defensively by providing another physical presence on the
funt line that can rebound. So to me, it's pretty
clear if Reid starts, it's for Charie Eason. Is that
sort of your sense as well?
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yes, I would definitely agree with that, And something you
brought up earlier, which I thought is a good point,
is one of the main reasons why I think it
will be perhaps more functional if you were to pair
a men and read for these last twenty ish games.
Is that interplay between the two where received more and
more of a men as a screener for Reed Shepherd
instead of the premium on ball rep guy. It just
kind of opens the playbook a lot more so. I
(18:03):
think it's actually more of a sensible and an easier
fit than some friction some people might think. So all
due respect to Tar Reesan know he's voice that he
does want to start, but I still think he is
more ultimately a six man for at least this Rockets team.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
You know, Tari, Just to just to add to this
for maybe those who didn't get to see the game,
Tari was ejected tonight. Ben had made a point earlier
tonight about the officials taking the night off for a stretch,
and I absolutely think this was true because there was
a point where, yeah, Katie got an offensive rebound, put
up a three, well after the shot clock buser, they
didn't call anything like they were sleeping on their hands.
(18:38):
And then on the way up, on the way back
a few possessions later, Tary sort of two hand shoves.
Why is it last name Watkins Watford? I can't remember
Watkins Real Wizards And they got into it again Tari
shoved him again. They didn't call the first two hand shove.
Then when they actually went to the replay review, they
ejected Tari or elst Yeah, almost like looking at both
(19:00):
like okay, here's a tech for this shove, and then
later on you know that we didn't call and then
you shove later that.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah, I've got a question for you. Because I've watched
basketball thirty years, that's the first time I've seen the
retroactive technical. So, in advance of this Warriors game on Thursday,
if Raymond Green gets a technical, does this quote unquote
rule mean that we can then use video evidence to
find what should have been at Raymond technical earlier in
the game and then eject him because I bet you
(19:26):
the Rockets can find one or two examples of that.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, no, you're right, it is. It was really really strange.
I mean Tari made it as blatant as possible. Yeah,
the guy might have sold it for sure, but I
mean it should have been whistled a foul right then,
So by not whistling it, you created this sort of scenario.
I wish TARRII was a little bit smarter. Yeah, I
just wish he was a little bit smarter because he
kept going and then that's when they finally had to
whistle something. But anyway, just wanted to throw that in
(19:49):
there about Tari tonight. I kind of agree with you
guys that if anybody's gonna kind of lose that starting spot,
and Tari is a huge, play important player for this
team too, I think it would be Tarri if Reid
was to to the starting lineup. Yep.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, Well, speaking of Reed Shepherd, if he eventually goes
into the starting lineup, and I don't think the Rockets
are there yet, but we're talking about the possibility. I'm
wondering how that plays into the the buyout versus Shady
Davison debate, or you know, as Polo Alves made the
case in our last postgame show, maybe Isaiah Crawford figures
(20:23):
into that equation as well. Because we're now in March
the buy out deadline, well it's not the deadline to
sign buyouts, but the deadline is March first for guys
to be released from other teams and be eligible for
the playoffs if and when they signed with a new team.
So we know who is and isn't out there, and
some of those bigger name possibilities that we've speculated about
(20:45):
in recent shows, like Kevon Looney with the Pelicans, like
DeMar DeRozan with the Kings. They're not available. And it's
hard to blame those teams because they have at least
some money guaranteed for next season, and similar to the
Rockets and DFS, like, there's value in having it and
expiring on your books for the off season. It gives
you more options. So yeah, it's easy to sit here
and say, why don't the Pelicans Dokavon Looney a solid Well,
(21:06):
you know, they've got to look out for themselves and
they might want that expiring contract on their books this
offseason to give them more options. So we know who
is and isn't available, And you know, I won't say
that a buyout is impossible, Like it's possible that maybe
the Rockets are interested in someone like a Chris Bouchet
and they wanted to see if maybe someone like a
Gavon Looney became available as well, and then they could
(21:28):
compare the two. Now they know who's out there, and
perhaps they pivot back to one of the original names.
But it could also be that they were waiting for
someone like a Looney like a Derouzian to come available
that just never did, And so now maybe they think
the best option is to, you know, convert one of
their existing guys on the two way and keep them
around for maybe three four years. You can get them
(21:49):
on a cheap deal and make it multiple years, which
could help as this team gets more expensive. So I'm
curious your thoughts if you eventually convert Read to a
starting lineup spot and you use a man a little
bit more off ball. Although there's certainly value in having
both of them out there and they able to have
two ball handlers, does it maybe make it a little
more important to raise that limit for JD. Davison. That's
(22:11):
just a thought that I've had running through my head
the last couple of days.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yeah, I'll be brief, and I guess a little boring.
I would be pretty surprised if the Rockets ended up
adding a guy through the buyout market. I kind of
think their internal guys with Davis and Isaiah Crawford will
be their end of bench guys by the end of
the year. I kind of think it's just the dearth
of actual options. You know, we didn't see Chris Middleton
go anywhere. You know. Tias Jones is a guy who
(22:35):
I think a lot of people in the NBA have
liked for a long time. He went to Denver. Maybe
he'll make a difference so he won't be in Houston.
Doesn't seem like Wanso Ball is healthy enough. The Bouchet
one makes sense because I would like the Rockets to
have a more true vertical spacer than Clinck Capella. But
here's something maybe click Cappella has been reinvigorated by DeAndre
(22:55):
eight and maybe that whole kind of swirl will add
some youth to Clint. Sorry, but I just kind of
think that the Rockets could use a true rim runner.
But I don't know if Chris Bouchet is healthy enough
and packful enough able to learn a scheme where emy
Uduka want it bench him immediately. So JD. Davison and
Isaiah Crawford have been pretty solid in their roles. I
mean Davison especially has kind of given Reed Shepherd run
(23:17):
for his money in Limits and Spurts this season. So
I just kind of think ultimately the buyout market is
much ado about nothing. But if you guys have an
ideas throw my way.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know, I would agree with with kinnor what Ben
was saying. I was stunned that we didn't see more
names out there, like yes, yeah, Like I know, Golden
State was really hoping at least a fan. Their fans
were for Looney for example. And you make a great point, Ben,
if you know there is a little bit of guaranteed
money next year, I didn't explore Looney's contract enough to
know if there is, then they probably did want to
(23:48):
still have that as an option because he's not playing
at all for them, and they gave him eight million
a year, and it's it's kind of surprising that he's
not out there. I mean, that was the shot I
called Mike my guests. It didn't pan out at all,
But that's who I think they that kind of players
who I think they would want. Like I said, we
said this last after the last round, but I don't
feel they're going to bring anybody in who's taking any
minutes away from Reid. We're talking about Reid probably going
(24:09):
back to the bench. He's still going to play at
least twenty five minutes a night, if not more. If
you had brought in somebody else who runs more of
a point unless he's okay being in the stay ready
crew position. I don't think that's what they're looking for.
I think they're looking for somebody who can compliment the guys.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
They have and also for future years and planning out
what the payroll looks like moving forward. To me, there's
potentially a lot of value if you believe in Davison
or Crawford and locking them up for three four years
at the minimum or close to it. I think the
Rockets do have a portion of their non talkspayer EMLE
still available, so they could give like a four year
(24:48):
deal if they wanted to. That's my understanding. I'm sure
someone in the comments will correct me if I'm wrong,
But as this team gets more expensive, that could be valuable.
And you know the reason you would explore that now
is that if you give one of those guys a
raise this season when otherwise they wouldn't get one, then
that gives them more incentive financially to play ball on
(25:08):
maybe giving you a cheaper deal in those out years.
So I think that's sort of the tiebreaker to me, Dave,
does that make sense to you that if if there's
no one that super stands out for this year, then
if you like JD. Davison or Isaiah Crawford long term,
then potentially getting them on the what if people call
it the Hinky Special, that three four year deal you
(25:29):
know in your system long term, maybe you use the
roster spot for that reason more than anything. It helps
you this year.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, David Wiener's ears just perked up when you said that.
He heard that somewhere, no matter how far away he is.
But yes, I mean, that's that makes sense to me.
Like I said, I was thinking that that's what they
would look towards the buyout market. But I'm just amazed
at the sort of lack of options. So I agree.
I think that's probably.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
With it all where they had, although and we don't
need to get into this tonight. We'll have plenty of
bigger picture shows in the future. But I do think
that the relative lack of activity in these teams holding
on to expiring contracts, there's a lot of evidence that
suggest that there could be a decent amount of player
movement this offseason. So I think one of the little
things you can see is that you know, teams don't
want to give up these assets, these expiring contracts before
(26:17):
they know what the possibilities are this summer, so we'll
see how the playoffs go for the Rockets and a
lot of teams. But I do think that, you know,
the lack of names on the buyout market, to me,
it suggests that there's a lot of teams that, you know,
they don't want to give up any of their chips prematurely.
They want to see what happens this summer because it
could be pretty active.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yep, absolutely, you know. I don't think I'll say just
last thing about this game tonight. I just wish they
hadn't had to play such heavy minutes. I mean KD
thirty seven, Shangun thirty eight, I mean Reid. You want
to see Reid playing and get as much run as possible.
He did play forty two minutes to night, which is
kind of crazy. But still they get the win, and
now it's it's ramping up. Let's say, like you pointed out, Ben,
after these next two is really your test A three
(26:57):
game stretch in four nights, some tough opponents, including at
Denver on the second game of go back to back,
So this will be interesting. I think that the injury
situation with Golden State and Portland will make these games easier.
I'm not saying they're gimmes, but they can't take these
teams lightly. And yeah, any thoughts you have, Michael as
far as what's you know, what's to coming up next
(27:18):
with Golden State in Portland.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
I think Ben said it best. This is a couple
scenarios where Kevin Durant can take the mantle. Continuous thirty
point street, continuous push for all NBA, which I think
he will get, by the way, I know that's a
different conversation, and then buckle up for Sunday in San Antonio.
I think that's one that every kind of hoops fan
should circle on their calendar. That's becoming a real rival rate.
The ITEN rivalry is back, So I'm fired up for that.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, that one's going to be a jem. Go ahead, man.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
And one last comment for me, the logic that you
laid out, Dave, that's all the more reason if you're
going to convert Jade Davison to it now, because if
you notice, he wasn't in uniform tonight. They've been because
they're so close to that fifty game limit on his
two ways, they've been very conservative with his availability. The
last couple of weeks. Like, if you want to dial
down the minutes, it's pretty clear that outside of the
(28:03):
main guys, Shady Davison is next up in em May
Judoka's circle of trust. Yet because of the fifty game
limit on his two way, he literally has not been available.
It's not like emy Udoka is making a choice, No,
It's that they just don't want to run out of games.
So I think we're getting to a point where, especially
as the games get more important, you know, you should
be able to scrape by against the Wizards no matter what.
(28:24):
But in these tougher games, every margin advantage is going
to matter. You may be at a point now where
you just have to bite the bullet and say, you
know what, let's let's convert Shady, Let's get another body
that he may can trust, and let's worry about the
rest lator and one final thing. I I highly doubt
this holds, but go Jazz. Somehow the Jazz tanking Utah
Jazz are up by one at the half against Denver.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I would not count on that.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Mila Notthole.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Now, yeah, I'm not think any later on a damn
hair all the Angels are going to come running down
of the court around the third to third quarter and
make sure that's shut down. But no, here's to hoping
right for sure. Appreciate you guys know. Go read Michael
Stuff at cron dot com for sure, great reporter, great stuff.
You can also follow him on Twitter at mshep two.
(29:11):
You guys know Ben very well. You can follow him
on Twitter and Blue Skys well at bendubos and read
all of this stuff on Rockets Wire and Clutch Fans.
Anything you guys want to say before we wrap up.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Nope, easy one tonight. Appreciate it, fellas.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
I'm good. We'll have more impactful shows moving forward as
we get more impactful games.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yes, that's right, absolutely, Thanks everybody. We'll see you guys
for the next game. Take it easy.
Welcome into the show. Everybody. Rockets get a one twenty
three to one eighteen win on the road, finish out
their road trip two and one by knocking off the Wizards. Yes,
this was very much a tanking team, and this was
an LA fitness Baller type of event, let's say. But
all of the Rockets for the most part played well.
(00:24):
Shanngouon Kdi each scored over thirty points a men Thompson
before exiting with an injury. We'll talk about that had
I believe twenty two points, ten boards or excuse me,
twelve boards, and really the guy who stole the show
was Ree Shepperd getting probably his final start for a while.
What we shall find out post nineteen points, ten assists,
(00:45):
seven boards, He racked those up kind of early and
six steals and I believe led the team. Well, no
he did not. Tarry ended up having the highest plus
minus a plus thirteen. But Tarry or excuse me, but
Reed was plus ten and wasn't the plus twenties for
a while. In this game. It's do not fall in
a game. But they you know, needed to win for
sure and knock off the Wizards. It's you'll take it,
(01:08):
right Ben.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, absolutely, And to me, Read is the big story
because I don't think that you should really take anything
out of this game overall against the tanking Wizards team.
You mentioned the LA fitness analogy, it felt like that
with the lack of officiating as well, if you hoop
in a Hiccup court, you're gonna have officials, and for
a lot of tonight, you know, Tarry Easton might object,
but other than that, it felt like the officials didn't
(01:31):
want to be there either, and so the game was
very choppy and against this type of opponent, you know,
guys like Kevin Durant and Alprin Shongoon should be able
to put up points. But I do think that in
the big picture, Read is the story because it continues
a trend that we've seen for really ten games now.
His last ten Read is shooting forty eight percent overall,
(01:51):
forty six percent on threes, and his true shooting is
sixty four percent, So this is not a one off.
He's been playing well for a while, and I think,
you know, it feels like, especially on social media, we've
always got to find something to debate in terms of
does he start, does he close, exactly how many minutes
does he play and the grand scheme to get this
level of production year to twenty one years old, that's
(02:13):
the most important thing, because you know, he started this
season playing that type of basketball in October and November,
and then it fell off in January. He shot just
thirty eight percent overall and thirty three percent from three.
And I don't know if Reid will admit to it. Michael,
you know how guarded he is and his interviews with
the media. He's very well media coached, let's say. But
(02:35):
I do wonder if maybe he hits something of a
rookie wall, because even though he did have a season
last year, he didn't play a lot. So this was
his first season to actually get real NBA minutes. And
I think he started off so hot, and then when
the schedule got compressed late December after the NBA Cup
leading into the All Star Ray, I wonder if the
(02:55):
legs just weren't there and that's why the shooting fell off.
And like a lot of young players, when the shots
aren't dropping, they have more lapses defensively, they turned the
ball over more. Well, now the shots are falling again,
and Dave you mentioned it, he did so many things
defensively tonight as well, with the steals, the rebounds. It
just feels like his entire game is coming around. And yeah,
we can quibble over exactly know how many minutes does
(03:16):
he start as you come off the bench, But in
the big picture, the fact that a twenty one year
old Reed Shepherd is playing this, well, that's the most
important thing. I think it's a game that, even if
the result against a bad Wizards team, shouldn't make you
feel that proud. I only did the fi pump because
somebody got mad at me the other night for not
doing it. I do think you should be pretty proud
in Read Shepherd. I think that's the big takeaway.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I think we're seeing a lot more comfort from Read as,
much more than just a long range shooter or a
guy just making kind of the most simple play. We
saw him a lot in recent nights, rejecting the first screen,
taking the second one. He's sneaking in and out better.
He's become kind of not an expert, but pretty proficient
in that skip pass all the way across with two hands.
So he started to make the reads that you saw
(03:57):
of like, oh, this is a real NBA point guard
that we didn't really see as much in December or January, right,
So it's not just the shots that are falling, although
I think that's a big part of it for his
energy and rhythmen like bounce, so to speak. But the
reads we've seen in the past few nights from Reed
no pun intended there, that's been some of the better
stuff we've seen.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I think, Yeah, I would agree with that. It's so
hard to tell with Ree, right because obviously against the Kings,
for example, at home, another team that has a lot
of injuries, let's say, just you know, he went lights out,
shot six to twelve in the first half, and you're like, wow,
this is you know, Steph and all of this stuff.
Obviously the competition does matter. But but I would agree
(04:37):
with what Michael's saying. I thought in this particular game,
he didn't look like any kind of defensive liability today.
He was very aggressive. Obviously his his you know, sort
of mo on defenses to gamble and a lot of
times it pays off, sometimes not so much. But that's
he did a great job I think of that today,
and he ran the show you know, quite a bit,
which in a lot of these other games where people
(04:58):
are you know, he's thriving. He's throw a lot of
you know, catch and shoot playing off of somebody else.
But tonight I thought he facilitated well and looked the
part of a point guard.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Tonight great. And I think they've also got to use
Reid in this way, especially over the next couple of
weeks with the injuries starting to pile up elsewhere. Aman
Thompson left early. It looked like, you know, he went
in with a tight quad that we know he missed
a game with last week, and it looked like that
on the bench. We're still waiting to hear from Imadoka postgame,
(05:27):
but he was grabbing at his right ankle. Didn't look
too serious, was walking without assistance, but was a little
bit of a limp. Went to the locker room early.
And so you've had two lower leg issues for men.
Javari Smith Junior is supposed to be back Thursday, but
he's missed the last two games with the ankle sprain.
And you've got a really tough schedule next week with
(05:48):
three games and four nights all against teams that are
ten or more games above five hundred. The Spurs, the Raptors,
the Nuggets, the Spurs and Nuggets. Those games are on
the road, and that's the two teams right around you
in the Western Conference standings. It too well, Nuggets are five,
but they're hot on your heels just a game or
so back, and so these are games that you know,
the Rockets are thirty eight and twenty two now number
(06:08):
three in the West, but their margin of error is
is still pretty small if they want to have home
court advantage in the first round and avoid being on
the same side of the bracket as the Thunder and
so they've sort of got a balance like, yeah, you
want to have a big picture and let these guys
heal up. Yet these are important games in the interim,
and so how do you potentially do that, you know,
maybe play a men in Jabari as much as you can,
(06:30):
but not go all out with their usage. Well, I
think it's dialing up the usage for Reed Shepherd. I
think that's how over the next week you can sort
of you know, try and wall. It's a very fine
line for ema Joka, but to give yourself the best
chance to win in the short term and games that
are pretty big while still you know, keeping the big
picture in mind.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I'm really going to Circle especially, I think that's San
Antonio game on Sunday, especially especially how the standings are
looking right now. It's kind of hard to project totally ahead,
but as it sits, that kind of is shaping up
to be a two versus three series, right. And I
think moreover, that's been a real battle between Houston and
San Antonio this year, and the last game they had
(07:07):
San Antonio seemed to figure a lot out against the
Rockets at Toyota Center. Victor web Bergnona kind of owned
Outprin Shenguon. They had a lot of Stefan Castle, small
on big action that gave the Rockets trouble. So I
think Sunday in San Antonio, let's try to see the
Rockets problem solve against a very good team and the
team that kind of had their number last time. We
(07:27):
can only take so much from Washington, right, it's Washington,
But get excited for that San Antonio Toronto Denver stretch,
those two Western Conference teams especially like that's going to
be an April and May preview. I think, so that's
pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And not to look ahead. Let me ask you this
day because I've been thinking this today with the success
the Knicks had against the Spurs on Sunday. It's not
identical personnel, but there are some similarities between Josh Hart
and a Men Thomas, And of course we think a
men is a lot better. But you can potentially use
a men as a screener in much the same way
the Knicks did, and they had they found a lot
(08:00):
of success with that. And so if you use a
men more as a screener, assuming the Spurs turned back
to Wemby as the primary defender the way they did
in the second half of that game the second game
in Houston that they came from behind to win, you're
gonna need someone else to handle the ball, and that's
someone could be Reed Shepherd. So not looking ahead the Sunday,
like the Warriors, are a couple of games above five hundred,
(08:21):
although they won't have Steph Curry. The Trailblazers are slightly
below five hundred, but they're competitive. They're fifty. Like these
games on Thursday and Friday are not a given, but
Sunday is definitely the big one that I suspect the
Rockets internally have circled as well. Maybe you need to
dial down and men's usage anyway, and with Red playing, well,
maybe this is the game to sort of turn him loose, right.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, that's a very good point. Actually, I could see
that being the case. And we'll see if a man
ends up playing, and I know we're gonna move on
to that game. I just want to highlight the players
real quick from this, right, I know Shangun had I
used twelve to twenty today hit thirty two points, twelve boards,
came on with a lot of scoring late. Really interesting
pro by the Wizards to play justin Champenny on Shangun
(09:05):
for much of the game basically a six to six
guard and really didn't bring much help. And Shanghun the
only problem today was he had a bunch of turnovers.
Eight Katie just quietly drops another thirty a game he
also had six turnovers. Turnovers were issued today. Rockets dominated
the glass. Yeah, they dominated the glass, but the turnovers
were a problem. And then amend before leaving with injury
(09:25):
an efficient twenty two and twelve ten to fifteen shooting.
But as we go into this next schedule, and Ben,
I want to include what you're talking about there. Jabari
is expected back Thursday, starting with Olden State, and I
may did talk about this and to your point about
read and releasing, you know, unleashing him and that nature.
He says he's going back, probably going back to the
(09:47):
original starting lineup. It obviously goes back to your question
Michael about if ever you know whether Reid will start there.
But I think that's what I would would have expected,
and that's what he says he's going to do. I
know the fans are very upset. Reed will probably come
out of the lineup and Jabario will go back in,
and that will probably be a sticking point or a controversial,
(10:08):
a conversational point, let's say for a while.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah. I mean, I kind of struggle with how much
does it totally ultimately matter if if re Shepherd is
a starter versus if he comes off the bench. I
think he's a guy that really, especially in that end
of first quarter situation, adds a lot of energy and
pace to those units that kind of need it. So
that's not the biggest deal to me. It's those situations
where like the New York game I think it was
I'm pretty sure he sits the last five forty seven
(10:34):
of the contest right as the offense is kind of
going full clog toilet mode and he's not in the
game like that's the important thing. That's a thing where
ima Udok will be scrutinized. And I know, as we've
said ad nauseum, there are gonna be headaches, there are
gonna be frustrations, But we have to pick and choose
moments late in the season, in March and April, you know,
to give him real, meaningful, meaningful clutch moments, I guess
(10:57):
is the best way to put it. To put him
in situations where he could survive and thrive in April
and May. If you don't give him those reps now,
he's not going to do it. So I kind of
thought that Knicks game was a big miss for me
Meo Doka. Let's see in the next kind of few
weeks if he will give read more Ron ultimately.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
And hopefully Shangoon can build on what he did tonight.
I know it was a bad opponent, but he's been
in a stretch lately where he just needs to see
the ball go through the bucket and hopefully he can
at least offensively get some continuity there. Because I do
think it's a it's a delicate balancing act for Email
because I think one of the reasons they like bringing
Reid off the bench is as a stimulus in those
(11:33):
minutes without KD, because we saw in Miami when it
was minutes when Shangoon was out there and no KD,
that's when the Rockets absolutely got crushed. And so being
able to bring Read off the bench as something of
an offensive anchor for those units late first especially early
in the second and early in the fourth quarters, there's
a lot of value there. And yes, you can stagger
(11:54):
your lineups a little bit, but you know, if you
start someone but then change your lineup very quickly, it's
almost like, well, why don't you just start who you
want to play for the first six nine minutes of
the first and third quarter. So sure that brings its
own issues, and so I think, you know, if Shingoon
gets going offensively to where he's comfortable as a hob
as a scorer, then that will also give them more
(12:15):
freedom for how they can use Read without feeling they
need Read as something of a stimulus for those minutes
without Katie early in the second and early in the
fourth quarters, And so I think that plays into it
as well. Yeah, I'm looking at the post game updates
a men. It looks like rolled his ankle. It's not
a reaggravation of the quad, which is why initially they
(12:35):
suspected on the broadcast until we saw him grab at
the ankle on the bench. So I guess it's good
and that it's not the same issue. However, it is
the other leg as I understand it. So now he's
got issues with both legs and it's a very delicate
balancing act moving forward. And you know, I was thinking
of using him as a screener more because a that's
the adjustment the Knicks made with Josh Hard or not
(12:58):
the adjustment, but just how they chose to attack the
Spurs defense with Wemby. And then secondly, if a Men's
used as a screener, it's in theory a little bit
less juice than if you're asking him to be the
on ball guy and go downhill. So if he's managing
an injury, then that might make it a little bit
easier on him. But these X two games, it's interesting
because I had been told come down the All Star break.
(13:18):
The Rockets internally felt like that in these first nine
games they needed to be at least six and three
well they're now five and two, so if they win
the two against the Warriors and Blazers, they'll be seven
and two. So they're, you know, over the bar that
they need to be at. If they go one in one,
they at least meet the bar. And if they go
zero to two, which God forbid that'd be a bad
(13:39):
outcoming home, then they fall short. But it's just for me,
it's just how balls to the wall? Pardon the expression.
Do they go for these two games at home on
a back to back with guys managing these injuries, knowing
how difficult the schedule is going to be next week,
I don't end the email, Udoka. This is going to be,
(14:00):
you know, a tricky couple of games. I mean, they're
more talented on paper than who they're going up against,
but I don't know. To me, like these next two
these are games where you really need Kevin Durant and
all Perinshon Goon to to stand out and be stars,
because they're the two guys who to my knowledge, don't
have any nagging injuries and on paper they should be
better than anyone playing for the Warriors or the Trailblazers,
(14:23):
especially with stuff unavailable.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And Denny's out right now too correct.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, it might be back, Okay, So I don't know,
Like to me, these next two games, it just screams
to me, I'm not saying you have to shut down
Jabari or shut down to men, but at least be
cognizant of the minutes they play, the usage, and I
just feel like, ask Katie and Alpi to bring you home,
get you these two wins, and if you're seven and
two and these first nine out of the Ulstar break,
I think you're happy and then worry about next week
(14:49):
when it comes and hopefully the Men and Jabari are
feeling a little bit better. That's sort of my outlook.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Five games and seven nights go ahead, Michael.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah, yeah, Just my guess is actually we know that
Dorian Finny Smith will be off for one of those
two Thursday Friday as he sits through back to backs.
Wouldn't be surprised if Jabari Smith, after playing on the
game on the fifth, sat on the sixth, and we'll
kind of see with him on Thompson. So it is
kind of the patchwork together crew in the next couple nights.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Yeah, And it wouldn't shock me if a men sits
a game as well, even if they just reminded that
this is a very minor ankle roll. Just as a
men sat out half of a back to back last
week coming off the quad, the same could batch true.
And it wouldn't shock me if they circle that Golden
State game a little bit more simply because this will
be the first time the Warriors have come back to
Toyota Center since that game seven least May So I
(15:33):
know there's no Steph Curry, but I bet you for
the Rockets, this is one that they sort of have
circled and that they've remembered for a while. So in
terms of prioritizing those two games, even if you think
they should beat the Warriors no matter what, I bet
you internally they have something extra for that game on Thursday, and.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
That could be a good point. You might see Reid
start these next two simply because if let's say a
men sits out the next game, I don't know if
he will, but if he does, there you go. And
if Jabari rests like Michael's saying after the first after
coming back against the Warriors for the second of a
back to back, read might stay in there too. So
I will see maybe this, you know, read starting thing.
We'll continue. I know the chat has pointed out he's
(16:08):
seven to two this year when he starts, we don't
need to continue that conversation. But my point is I
kind of agree with you guys. I feel like that
he's important to that bench. He is going to start eventually,
that's the plan to start, read Chepper, or that's the hope.
You want to keep building towards that, So we're not
trying to keep him down. I just think that right now,
when you look at that bench, you need that sort
of stimulus, and it's a it's a contrast to what
(16:29):
you already have, which is a fairly successful lineup. So
we'll see. You know, things change the game by game,
but I could see that being a thing down the line,
not right now.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
And Michael, I'm curious your thoughts. Dave and I have
talked about, you know, if Reid starts, who would he
start in place of I know you asked the question
about a mend that that got us the inf of
his line. My personal opinion, I think it's pretty clearly
going to be Tarry Easton if we get to that
point this season, because you know, Chari didn't start until
Christmas for a reason, and I think you know his
(17:01):
value is primarily on offense as a three point shooter,
but the three point shooting has fallen off of late. Defensively,
he's very good, but you do have a men that
can help you as the primary in the starting unit.
So I just feel like if they determine that Reid
is ready to start this year, and we've seen the
last couple of games like Jabari is very valuable as
just connective tissue on both ends of the floor, they
(17:22):
have certainly missed him these two games. Part of the
reason this game was so ragged tonight was not having
Jabari out there as a stabilizer. I think he also
helps Shingoon defensively by providing another physical presence on the
funt line that can rebound. So to me, it's pretty
clear if Reid starts, it's for Charie Eason. Is that
sort of your sense as well?
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yes, I would definitely agree with that, And something you
brought up earlier, which I thought is a good point,
is one of the main reasons why I think it
will be perhaps more functional if you were to pair
a men and read for these last twenty ish games.
Is that interplay between the two where received more and
more of a men as a screener for Reed Shepherd
instead of the premium on ball rep guy. It just
kind of opens the playbook a lot more so. I
(18:03):
think it's actually more of a sensible and an easier
fit than some friction some people might think. So all
due respect to Tar Reesan know he's voice that he
does want to start, but I still think he is
more ultimately a six man for at least this Rockets team.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
You know, Tari, Just to just to add to this
for maybe those who didn't get to see the game,
Tari was ejected tonight. Ben had made a point earlier
tonight about the officials taking the night off for a stretch,
and I absolutely think this was true because there was
a point where, yeah, Katie got an offensive rebound, put
up a three, well after the shot clock buser, they
didn't call anything like they were sleeping on their hands.
(18:38):
And then on the way up, on the way back
a few possessions later, Tary sort of two hand shoves.
Why is it last name Watkins Watford? I can't remember
Watkins Real Wizards And they got into it again Tari
shoved him again. They didn't call the first two hand shove.
Then when they actually went to the replay review, they
ejected Tari or elst Yeah, almost like looking at both
(19:00):
like okay, here's a tech for this shove, and then
later on you know that we didn't call and then
you shove later that.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah, I've got a question for you. Because I've watched
basketball thirty years, that's the first time I've seen the
retroactive technical. So, in advance of this Warriors game on Thursday,
if Raymond Green gets a technical, does this quote unquote
rule mean that we can then use video evidence to
find what should have been at Raymond technical earlier in
the game and then eject him because I bet you
(19:26):
the Rockets can find one or two examples of that.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, no, you're right, it is. It was really really strange.
I mean Tari made it as blatant as possible. Yeah,
the guy might have sold it for sure, but I
mean it should have been whistled a foul right then,
So by not whistling it, you created this sort of scenario.
I wish TARRII was a little bit smarter. Yeah, I
just wish he was a little bit smarter because he
kept going and then that's when they finally had to
whistle something. But anyway, just wanted to throw that in
(19:49):
there about Tari tonight. I kind of agree with you
guys that if anybody's gonna kind of lose that starting spot,
and Tari is a huge, play important player for this
team too, I think it would be Tarri if Reid
was to to the starting lineup. Yep.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, Well, speaking of Reed Shepherd, if he eventually goes
into the starting lineup, and I don't think the Rockets
are there yet, but we're talking about the possibility. I'm
wondering how that plays into the the buyout versus Shady
Davison debate, or you know, as Polo Alves made the
case in our last postgame show, maybe Isaiah Crawford figures
(20:23):
into that equation as well. Because we're now in March
the buy out deadline, well it's not the deadline to
sign buyouts, but the deadline is March first for guys
to be released from other teams and be eligible for
the playoffs if and when they signed with a new team.
So we know who is and isn't out there, and
some of those bigger name possibilities that we've speculated about
(20:45):
in recent shows, like Kevon Looney with the Pelicans, like
DeMar DeRozan with the Kings. They're not available. And it's
hard to blame those teams because they have at least
some money guaranteed for next season, and similar to the
Rockets and DFS, like, there's value in having it and
expiring on your books for the off season. It gives
you more options. So yeah, it's easy to sit here
and say, why don't the Pelicans Dokavon Looney a solid Well,
(21:06):
you know, they've got to look out for themselves and
they might want that expiring contract on their books this
offseason to give them more options. So we know who
is and isn't available, And you know, I won't say
that a buyout is impossible, Like it's possible that maybe
the Rockets are interested in someone like a Chris Bouchet
and they wanted to see if maybe someone like a
Gavon Looney became available as well, and then they could
(21:28):
compare the two. Now they know who's out there, and
perhaps they pivot back to one of the original names.
But it could also be that they were waiting for
someone like a Looney like a Derouzian to come available
that just never did, And so now maybe they think
the best option is to, you know, convert one of
their existing guys on the two way and keep them
around for maybe three four years. You can get them
(21:49):
on a cheap deal and make it multiple years, which
could help as this team gets more expensive. So I'm
curious your thoughts if you eventually convert Read to a
starting lineup spot and you use a man a little
bit more off ball. Although there's certainly value in having
both of them out there and they able to have
two ball handlers, does it maybe make it a little
more important to raise that limit for JD. Davison. That's
(22:11):
just a thought that I've had running through my head
the last couple of days.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yeah, I'll be brief, and I guess a little boring.
I would be pretty surprised if the Rockets ended up
adding a guy through the buyout market. I kind of
think their internal guys with Davis and Isaiah Crawford will
be their end of bench guys by the end of
the year. I kind of think it's just the dearth
of actual options. You know, we didn't see Chris Middleton
go anywhere. You know. Tias Jones is a guy who
(22:35):
I think a lot of people in the NBA have
liked for a long time. He went to Denver. Maybe
he'll make a difference so he won't be in Houston.
Doesn't seem like Wanso Ball is healthy enough. The Bouchet
one makes sense because I would like the Rockets to
have a more true vertical spacer than Clinck Capella. But
here's something maybe click Cappella has been reinvigorated by DeAndre
(22:55):
eight and maybe that whole kind of swirl will add
some youth to Clint. Sorry, but I just kind of
think that the Rockets could use a true rim runner.
But I don't know if Chris Bouchet is healthy enough
and packful enough able to learn a scheme where emy
Uduka want it bench him immediately. So JD. Davison and
Isaiah Crawford have been pretty solid in their roles. I
mean Davison especially has kind of given Reed Shepherd run
(23:17):
for his money in Limits and Spurts this season. So
I just kind of think ultimately the buyout market is
much ado about nothing. But if you guys have an
ideas throw my way.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know, I would agree with with kinnor what Ben
was saying. I was stunned that we didn't see more
names out there, like yes, yeah, Like I know, Golden
State was really hoping at least a fan. Their fans
were for Looney for example. And you make a great point, Ben,
if you know there is a little bit of guaranteed
money next year, I didn't explore Looney's contract enough to
know if there is, then they probably did want to
(23:48):
still have that as an option because he's not playing
at all for them, and they gave him eight million
a year, and it's it's kind of surprising that he's
not out there. I mean, that was the shot I
called Mike my guests. It didn't pan out at all,
But that's who I think they that kind of players
who I think they would want. Like I said, we
said this last after the last round, but I don't
feel they're going to bring anybody in who's taking any
minutes away from Reid. We're talking about Reid probably going
(24:09):
back to the bench. He's still going to play at
least twenty five minutes a night, if not more. If
you had brought in somebody else who runs more of
a point unless he's okay being in the stay ready
crew position. I don't think that's what they're looking for.
I think they're looking for somebody who can compliment the guys.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
They have and also for future years and planning out
what the payroll looks like moving forward. To me, there's
potentially a lot of value if you believe in Davison
or Crawford and locking them up for three four years
at the minimum or close to it. I think the
Rockets do have a portion of their non talkspayer EMLE
still available, so they could give like a four year
(24:48):
deal if they wanted to. That's my understanding. I'm sure
someone in the comments will correct me if I'm wrong,
But as this team gets more expensive, that could be valuable.
And you know the reason you would explore that now
is that if you give one of those guys a
raise this season when otherwise they wouldn't get one, then
that gives them more incentive financially to play ball on
(25:08):
maybe giving you a cheaper deal in those out years.
So I think that's sort of the tiebreaker to me, Dave,
does that make sense to you that if if there's
no one that super stands out for this year, then
if you like JD. Davison or Isaiah Crawford long term,
then potentially getting them on the what if people call
it the Hinky Special, that three four year deal you
(25:29):
know in your system long term, maybe you use the
roster spot for that reason more than anything. It helps
you this year.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, David Wiener's ears just perked up when you said that.
He heard that somewhere, no matter how far away he is.
But yes, I mean, that's that makes sense to me.
Like I said, I was thinking that that's what they
would look towards the buyout market. But I'm just amazed
at the sort of lack of options. So I agree.
I think that's probably.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
With it all where they had, although and we don't
need to get into this tonight. We'll have plenty of
bigger picture shows in the future. But I do think
that the relative lack of activity in these teams holding
on to expiring contracts, there's a lot of evidence that
suggest that there could be a decent amount of player
movement this offseason. So I think one of the little
things you can see is that you know, teams don't
want to give up these assets, these expiring contracts before
(26:17):
they know what the possibilities are this summer, so we'll
see how the playoffs go for the Rockets and a
lot of teams. But I do think that, you know,
the lack of names on the buyout market, to me,
it suggests that there's a lot of teams that, you know,
they don't want to give up any of their chips prematurely.
They want to see what happens this summer because it
could be pretty active.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yep, absolutely, you know. I don't think I'll say just
last thing about this game tonight. I just wish they
hadn't had to play such heavy minutes. I mean KD
thirty seven, Shangun thirty eight, I mean Reid. You want
to see Reid playing and get as much run as possible.
He did play forty two minutes to night, which is
kind of crazy. But still they get the win, and
now it's it's ramping up. Let's say, like you pointed out, Ben,
after these next two is really your test A three
(26:57):
game stretch in four nights, some tough opponents, including at
Denver on the second game of go back to back,
So this will be interesting. I think that the injury
situation with Golden State and Portland will make these games easier.
I'm not saying they're gimmes, but they can't take these
teams lightly. And yeah, any thoughts you have, Michael as
far as what's you know, what's to coming up next
(27:18):
with Golden State in Portland.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
I think Ben said it best. This is a couple
scenarios where Kevin Durant can take the mantle. Continuous thirty
point street, continuous push for all NBA, which I think
he will get, by the way, I know that's a
different conversation, and then buckle up for Sunday in San Antonio.
I think that's one that every kind of hoops fan
should circle on their calendar. That's becoming a real rival rate.
The ITEN rivalry is back, So I'm fired up for that.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, that one's going to be a jem. Go ahead, man.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
And one last comment for me, the logic that you
laid out, Dave, that's all the more reason if you're
going to convert Jade Davison to it now, because if
you notice, he wasn't in uniform tonight. They've been because
they're so close to that fifty game limit on his
two ways, they've been very conservative with his availability. The
last couple of weeks. Like, if you want to dial
down the minutes, it's pretty clear that outside of the
(28:03):
main guys, Shady Davison is next up in em May
Judoka's circle of trust. Yet because of the fifty game
limit on his two way, he literally has not been available.
It's not like emy Udoka is making a choice, No,
It's that they just don't want to run out of games.
So I think we're getting to a point where, especially
as the games get more important, you know, you should
be able to scrape by against the Wizards no matter what.
(28:24):
But in these tougher games, every margin advantage is going
to matter. You may be at a point now where
you just have to bite the bullet and say, you
know what, let's let's convert Shady, Let's get another body
that he may can trust, and let's worry about the
rest lator and one final thing. I I highly doubt
this holds, but go Jazz. Somehow the Jazz tanking Utah
Jazz are up by one at the half against Denver.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I would not count on that.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Mila Notthole.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Now, yeah, I'm not think any later on a damn
hair all the Angels are going to come running down
of the court around the third to third quarter and
make sure that's shut down. But no, here's to hoping
right for sure. Appreciate you guys know. Go read Michael
Stuff at cron dot com for sure, great reporter, great stuff.
You can also follow him on Twitter at mshep two.
(29:11):
You guys know Ben very well. You can follow him
on Twitter and Blue Skys well at bendubos and read
all of this stuff on Rockets Wire and Clutch Fans.
Anything you guys want to say before we wrap up.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Nope, easy one tonight. Appreciate it, fellas.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
I'm good. We'll have more impactful shows moving forward as
we get more impactful games.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yes, that's right, absolutely, Thanks everybody. We'll see you guys
for the next game. Take it easy.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Kingdom of Fraud
It’s the unlikeliest of criminal partnerships: a devout polygamist from an insular Utah sect joining forces with a shadowy Armenian tycoon from LA. The result - a billion dollar fraud conspiracy. In Kingdom of Fraud, investigative reporter Michele McPhee traces the origins of the extraordinary alliance between Jacob Kingston and Levon Termendzhyan. Together, the two men trigger the largest tax investigation in American history and weave around themselves a web of dirty cops, influential political relationships and transnational money laundering. All this is set against the backdrop of Jacob Kingston’s clan – The Order. A powerful and secretive polygamist organization in Salt Lake City. To whom Jacob is desperate to prove his worth. Kingdom of Fraud is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. You can listen to new episodes of Kingdom of Fraud completely ad-free and 1 week early with an iHeart True Crime+ subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “iHeart True Crime+, and subscribe today!