Rockets, Kevin Durant burn through All-Star break

The Rockets entered the NBA’s 2026 All-Star break at 33-20 and No. 4 in the Western Conference standings, and they exit with something of a scandal on their hands.

Featuring Ben DuBose and Paulo Alves, Wednesday’s episode breaks down the alleged Kevin Durant “burner” controversy, along with reasons for on-court optimism heading into the final 29 games of the regular season.

The show also looks ahead to Houston’s probable run in the 2026 playoffs, and specifically what needs to happen in order for this season to be viewed as a success.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome aboard, then do Bo's here, Pallo Alves there.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Welcome back to another episode of the Rockets Launch Pod,
presented by Clutch Fans and with support from Sports Talk
seven ninety, official flagship radio station of your Houston Rockets.
It's Wednesday, the eighteenth of February. The Rockets are thirty
three and twenty the number four seed in the Western Conference.
They have not played in a week due to the
All Star break. That will soon change. They're back in

(01:14):
action Thursday night in Charlotte. We'll talk about that a
little bit, although today's show will be more bigger picture trends.
Since we haven't had a game in over a week,
there's certainly some things to talk about, including recent developments.
We'll get to that shortly, but in terms of I
guess the scope of our discussions, I want this to

(01:35):
be more macro than micro, to sort of preview the
back half of the regular season, the upcoming playoff run,
and ultimately what makes this a successful season for the Rockets.
So we'll get back into more micro game by game
analysis next week when we have a few games to
react to. Now we've had this break, the Rockets have

(01:57):
gotten to recharge, We've gotten to recharge. I'm wanna look
more holistically at what needs to happen over the final
twenty nine games of the regular season, the playoffs beyond that,
and what ultimately is gonna lead us to feel optimistic
about the years ahead versus perhaps needing to make significant
changes this summer. We'll get into all of that shortly,

(02:18):
but Paolo, I'll start you with this going into this
game against the Hornets. What is your greater concern Kevin
Durant's recent propensity for turnovers or all for eching Goon's
ability to shoot and defend?

Speaker 4 (02:33):
Can I go with both? But now I'm gonna be honest,
it's probably saying Goun's ability to defend, because that's something
that's gonna manifest itself every single position that is on
the floor and kavs there's an over proneness. It's gonna
show up to what tops eight possessions a game, which
is a lot. Eight turnovers is a lot. But I

(02:56):
don't know how many possessions are stuff that plays per game.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
But I will guess, did you understand the reference?

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Oh? Okay, I see Elis County on addressing. That's worst,
but I took it at space value. That's my lab.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Okay, Well, I'm glad you have gotten one over on you. Yeah,
let's start with the alleged Katie Berner storyline. I'm saying
alleged because to this point Katie has not addressed it publicly,
and those were among the screenshots that were leaked. Of course,
we are in a world where screenshots can be faked,

(03:34):
and since you know, certainly in my case as someone
credentialed inside the building, I want to be responsible. I
want to give Kevin Durant a shot to tell his
side of the story. It's possible it's not true. It's
possible that some of it is true but not all
of it. Or's possible that all of it's true. Well,
I don't know all of it. There were certainly some
screenshots that were that were fake and people piling on.

(03:57):
But it's certainly an interesting storyline. And in a week
that we thought was going to be relatively quiet, Katie
and Shoanoon played in the All Star Game is relatively uneventful,
reached Shepherd in Rising Stars. But yeah, there has been
a lot of talk this week about the alleged Katie
comments and if true, what they would mean. And I

(04:20):
want to start off the top by saying one narrative
that's been out there in the last twenty four forty
eight hours that I don't like. There's been this talk
of why aren't bigger accounts talking about it, i e.
People in the media, big influencers on social media and
so on and so forth. I mean, some of it
is giving some deference to Kevin Durant and waiting to

(04:42):
see his side of the story. We're not going to
have to wait much longer. The Rockets are back in
action tomorrow night, so they are going to have media
availabilities they simply haven't in the past week because they
haven't had any team activities. So I'm pretty confident in
saying that this will get addressed. And just on a
professional human level, you always want to hear both sides
of the story before you rush to a conclusion. But

(05:04):
more than that, Pallo like my take on this, it's
not about if true, what it says about Kevin Durant.
What we're concerned about is what it means for the
Houston Rockets as a basketball team, and that comes down
to not how we feel about it, but about how
the guys who allegedly were talked down about in these

(05:28):
group chat screenshots, which by the way, it wasn't as
if Katie was putting his teammates on blast. It was
meant to be a private conversation. You can certainly question
if if he should be more discreet in who he trust,
but it wasn't like he was using his bully pulpit
to try and throw these younger guys under the bus.
But according to the screenshots with the Rockets, it was

(05:48):
all parin Shon Goon with his shooting and defense and
Jabari Smith, let's say, his overall IQ among other things
that were allegedly called into question. And in terms of
what it means for the six or failure of the Rockets,
it's gonna come down to how they feel about it.
And so there's so many variables that we don't know yet.

(06:09):
First off, is it true, is it entirely true, is
it partially true? Is it total fake news? And then
if it is true, even if we assume the worst.
Then what's Kevin doing behind the scenes. Is he addressing
it head on? Is he denying, is he deflecting, is
he apologizing? What's Imo Udoka's role. There's so many variables

(06:31):
that we don't know yet, and I'm not saying we're
gonna learn everything, but we're gonna learn a lot more
over the days ahead, and then most importantly, we'll see
how these players interact with one another on the court
starting tomorrow night in Charlotte. Maybe they move past it,
maybe it's a non story, maybe it's fake news, or
maybe you can see and sense that the chemistry is

(06:53):
off and this becomes a lingering storyline. It's something that's
hard for the young players to get over being sort
of called out, even in private, by one of the
greatest players of all time and someone that they looked
up to for years. I don't know how this is
going to play out, but what I do know is
that how I feel about it is not the story.
This is not you know, how do we feel about

(07:14):
Kevin Durant. It's he going to win Times Man of
the Year or I guess, hypothetically Teammate of the Year
in twenty twenty six. This is about how it affects
the Houston Rockets as a basketball team, at least from
our perspective. Maybe there's others around the NBA that are
into the clickbait, but for us, it's how does it
affect the Rockets and whether they win or lose games?

(07:34):
And the ultimate story there is still to be told,
and it's not going to be decided by how we feel.
It's going to be decided by how the players feel
the leadership of Ima Udoka and Kevin Durant and what
happens moving forward. And that's if at least parts of
this are true, which we still don't know yet. So
that's why I haven't weighed into heavily on podcasts or

(07:57):
my social media pages. It's not that I'm trying to
avoid it, it's just in terms of what actually matters,
taking predictive value moving forward, what it means in the
locker room to these guys and on the court in
the weeks ahead. I mean, it's about how they process it.
And we haven't even talked to the guys yet, let

(08:17):
alone seen them on the practice court in real games,
behind the scenes. It's so speculative at this point that
I just you know, some of the memes are funny,
and it's certainly something I'm watching with a raised eyebrow,
but I don't I don't see the point in rushing
a take or jumping to any conclusions. And that's why,

(08:39):
you know, it's not that I'm a verse to talking
about it. I've seen that storyline that, oh, why are
people just trying to sweep this under the rug. I
don't think it's that. It's just in terms of what
it means for the Rockets, that's still to be determined.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
Right, Yeah, I think I think there's there's there's two
sides to it, right. The first one is what matters
truly is how Japari if you're gonna rest the team
will right, if that's like like if they take it
too hard or if they if they are offended by it,
if it's real, that may break team chemistry, and that

(09:10):
may force decisions in the off season about how we
move forward with this team. And this will be and
these will be discussions that we'll have as we go
further along in the season and see, Okay, what's the
impact of this?

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Right?

Speaker 4 (09:23):
Because Katy can deny it, and then his teammates can
believe him, they cannot believe him, or Katy can say
it's true or it's partially true, and his teammates can
forgive him, or his teamates cannot forgive him. So there's
various paths there as far as what you said or
about people saying, oh, people are trying to sweep this
under the rug and know a lot of the bigger
accounts on twit it are not talking about it, at

(09:44):
least the rockets sided ones. Is this, you know, the
organization silencing everybody and telling everybody that to talk about it.
It's farst important than that. I'll speak for myself because
I'm the only person who who I can speak for.
To me, it's two things I don't want, like I
try not to say myself too seriously, but I do
think that there's a little bit of responsibility that comes

(10:08):
with having a platform. Uh and this applies to sports,
it to everything else, which is something that's disregarded nowadays
a lot. And I'm not going to get into into
that into the wider version whether world version of this,
but you do have the responsibility too before you judge
something to have a little bit more than just spinshots.
Posted by Kevin Booker or whatever a VII is on

(10:30):
Twitter before you make, you know, a comment on whatever
it is. So there's a little bit of a responsibility
that comes with having a platform, and I have, you know,
just an account. There's guys out there like Ben There's
guys out there like Jackson, like you know, like Kelly
Eco that have no whole media out what's behind them,
and they have even more sensibility than I do. So

(10:53):
that's the first part. The second part and being you know,
fully transparent. It is so weak if you react to
this within the first hour, it is so easy to
make a full of yourself, like I like, I've had
my fair share of being reactionary to stuff and then
making a fool of myself later. You know what. We
obviously have the the Eric Gordon what's what's so fucking funny?

(11:19):
To each reply? We have more recently a K B
rusue like it's something that could very easily be something
and you're dunking on it and you're right because it
turns out to be true. It can also be that
it's not true and you make a fool of yourself.
Being one of the main drivers behind you know, dunking
on someone that at the end of the day actually

(11:39):
didn't do it. And so that's mostly why I didn't
jump to a conclusion there, uh, and mostly why my
take on it. You know, I've talked about why I
didn't kind of have a take on it, but why
am I take on it on even now? It's only
be you know, taking both both scenarios into consideration, which is, well,
if it's true, well if it's not true, well if

(12:00):
it's not true, it is. I would say that there's
a good amount of evidence that makes it a little
bit hard to be fully not true or fully e cooincidence,
just because of the people who follow the account, the
people that they can't as blocked, you know, some close
friends from KD answering to stuff I don't know KD
would know, you know who not. There's also how much

(12:25):
of those screenshots are true obviously, how many of them
are made up? What parts are you know, real, what
parts aren't if they are real. I do think that
it does not reflect well on KAD talking about as
teammates like that. I'm not an athlete, so I've played
sports in my life, but I don't know how common

(12:47):
it is for these guys too, even if they don't
voice it, feel some of the same thoughts that Katie
expressed in that group cat towards their teammates if they
are heeded coming off a lots, right, If you ask
anybody on the Steam coming off a loss, hey, how
do you feel about whoever played and they were being
one hundred percent honest and filtered and not a media response,

(13:08):
how many of them wouldn't you know the third bit
of blame or distribute a bit of blame and then
criticize their teammates. Who knows? So I like to think
people are not like that. But we're not perfect and
they're not being perfect doesn't mean the worst person in
the world immediately, So regarding the sports part of it
or the teammates part of it, I mean I would
be pretty upset, especially if I were to a Barti

(13:29):
because fortually Noon, right, it's it's criticism of display and
I am sure and we've seen clips of KD, you know,
kind of complaining on the court about Lincoln's defense, right,
perhaps more respectfully than than the comment that that that
the message that is a ledge that is sent that
jabari on you know, the word used, it's a bit

(13:53):
disrespectful beyond basketball, and I want to especially considering Jabari
idolizes KD. I do wonder how that one will shake out.
And I think that if that one is true, it
turns it became a little bit tougher to swallow Antibari.
But at the same time, even if it is true,
and even if guys are upset, guys are still professionals
at the end of the day, and so I'm sure

(14:13):
that they won't be full, you know, all out just
you know, making a fuss on the court or fusing
to pass them on the ball. I think it will
be a little bit masked, but you'll definitely be able
to tell if that's the case as well. And regarding
how these boats for the future, right, well, first thing,
I think the first KD. Burner scandal was actually between

(14:35):
Golden State Warriors championships, so he did go on to
win the championship. Anyway, we're obviously not the not the
Dynasty Warriors, so obviously we have less of a margin
for stuff like this to happen. But it's not impossible,
it's not unheard of. It might try to fire and
another teams as if it turns out to be a
lie and they could use that as as few although

(14:56):
I do think that's maybe unlikely. And if it turns
out that it is something that they can't move off
or move on from, two things. If so, the KD
trade looking back is going to be a disaster. I mean,
they didn't give up that much, but they did give
up some stuff for KD, so that's going to be
looked back in a negative way. And the other thing is, well,

(15:22):
kind of glad it happened this season and not next season,
because it already feels like this season is a little
bit down to drive. You already have so many injuries
out for the season now. If it were to happen,
I guess the silver lining is that it happened in
this season and not in a twenty eighteen Rockets type
season where you feel like you have everything and then

(15:43):
something just crashes and burns you and you're kind of
ruining a really promising season. So I know that's not
all people want to hear, but you know, guy tried
to find silver linings in these kinds of things, and
it does reflect negatively if if it is true, right,
and I think the fact that Katie took so long
to address. It makes me more worthy that it might

(16:03):
be through it does reflect negatively on Katie himself. But
I'll be honest, I'm a Rockets fan. All I really
care about is how like when a problem like this happens.
I'm sorry to say it, I don't really give them
about Katie's like I see or whatever it might be.
What I care about is, Okay, what does this mean
for the Rockets? How can we move forward from it?

(16:26):
We have to trade KD or what are the possibilities
if we do want to trade KD? You know, what
kind of leverage do we have if not? If we
want to move forward with this, how much do you
invest in the next season while you know that you
have KD and then there might be some chemistry issues there,
you know? That's what I really and even looking at

(16:47):
a shorter term, how is the team going to play
out the rest of the season knowing this or through
this episode? Right, That's what I really care about. The
rest of the stuff, you know, we can talk about it.
It's fun. It is Houston Rockets related, but it's not
what's truly important for the team. So it's a fun
topic to debate, and I'm sure it will come up
a few times in the next few pots. Yeah, that's

(17:09):
that's mostly how I feel.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
And if anyone's been living under a rock the last
few days, just google Kevin Durant burner account. Maybe you've
checked out over the All Star break. Just google Kevin
Durant Burner account and you can see exactly what we're
talking about. I agree with you that the fact that
it wasn't initially refuted or quickly, you know, some sort
of marketing promo. You know, remember when Lebron faked us

(17:41):
out with the whole retirement thing, when it was a
stunt for something related to Amazon, some sort of marketing promo.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
I think nobody fell for that.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Man.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Well, I know, But my point is that if you're
trying something like that, you don't let it linger for days.
So I'm inclined to believe that you know, we're now
multiple days into this and haven't gotten a direct denial
that there might be something to it. However, I don't
think it's necessarily as simple as saying, well, this proves
the worst case is true. I think it could be

(18:12):
that he wants to directly address it with his teammates
and coaches in person as opposed to initially taking to
social media and dealing with more trolls. I could see
that being a factor, and I didn't report back to
Houston the entire team until actually today. That's my understanding
when they're going to fly to Charlotte, and so that
could be part of it. It could also be a
situation where it's nuanced, it's layered to where you know

(18:36):
parts of it are true. Like I do think that
there's some smoke tied to that particular account, and perhaps
some of the screenshots are true, but then some are
completely fake back people trying to pile on and with
these scandals on social media, it's spread Zack wilifier, and
it's so tough to trace things back to the actual source.
So it could be partially true, and that makes it

(18:56):
more difficult to explain, you know, for all of us,
and I think it includes Kevin Durant himself. Twitter is
not an ideal platform to discuss something like this, especially
if it's nuanced and you know it's not cut and dried,
black and white, true or false, well two under any
characters is it's difficult. And that's why I like that
we're doing this on the podcast because there is potentially

(19:19):
some nuance here. Well, there's certainly some nuance here, but
there could be nuanced. So simply is it true or
is it fault? And so perhaps that is why it
hasn't been addressed on social media, and maybe he's waiting
to talk to you know, teammates and coaches in person,
or when he can address it on camera to members
of the Houston media. Maybe that's as soon as I
think there'll be a practice today. If not, there will

(19:40):
be a shoot around in Charlotte tomorrow. I'm sure there'll
be a postgame availability in which there will be reporters
on site. So maybe he wants to do it on camera, Like,
there's a lot of different ways that this can play out,
and Twitter and it's you know, unless you pay for
extra two hundred eighty character limit, might not be the
ideal format. I also enjoy the you brought up the

(20:01):
twenty seventeen parallel because for Kevin himself, I mean, yeah,
that is a pretty apples to apples comparison. People were
clowning him like crazy when that story broke in I
think September or October of twenty seventeen, and he went
out and not only won the championship the next year,
but he was the NBA Finals MVP for that Warriors

(20:21):
team again, so it didn't affect him. He was able
to tune it out. Now folks will say, well, it's
different this time because there's there's active teammates that allegedly
were were thrown under the bus. Yeah, that's fair, But
again it goes back to we need to not speak
for them. We need to let all Parin Shrangoon and
Jabari Smith Junior process it on their own terms. I

(20:44):
can't speak for them. They have way more knowledge than
I do, and they also are gonna have info this
week that we don't in terms of how Kadi approaches
it with them what Ima Udoka says, there's so many
different variables that we don't know. But in terms of
what's different with the Katie Berner scandal this time relative
to twenty seventeen, if there is a Kadie Burner scandal,

(21:05):
it's the teammate angle, the active teammate angle, and it's
not our place to say how they should respond or
how they will feel. I don't know. There's a lot
of things that go into that, but I'm not Jamory Smith.
I'm not all for in Shan Goon, and so I'm
going to defer to them on this situation and we'll
see how it plays out. I'm sure we'll come back
to this conversation, as you said, over the next few

(21:26):
you know pods, the weeks and months ahead. I mean,
this might be a big deal or it might be
a nothing burger. We'll have to see the last element
that I want to address before we turn the page
exclusively to basketball. I do not think it's fair to
take this information if it's true, and then backfill, because,
as you said, Paolo, I don't think these sinnaments are

(21:48):
all that uncommon. Hell, I have some of these sentiments
with my job, and it's nowhere near as competitive or
stressful as competing at the highest level in the NBA.
There are times that I've bent to people in my
inner circle, most notably you know my wife at the
dinner table about people that I work closely with. And
I suspect that at times my co workers bent about

(22:09):
me to people in their inner circle, and we all
move on and we work together productively. What's different in
this case for starters? It got out and secondly, you
can question, you know, whether Katie should be that open
with people on the internet that he doesn't know that well.
I mean, yeah, that's fair. That goes back to the

(22:31):
original Burner scandal and just you know, caring a bit
too much about perception on the Internet and some of
these battles. If you will, I mean, yeah, you can.
You can certainly make those arguments, But in terms of
what it means for the team, I don't think the
fact that Kevin Durant has had these thoughts means, oh,

(22:53):
you can say that before this happened, the Rockets had
terrible chemistry and this just proves that something was wrong
in a lot locker room. No, it doesn't work that way.
I bet other teammates on the Rockets have had thoughts
about Kevin Durant or other players on the team. This
is normal. This is a part of high stress jobs,
and the NBA is as high stress as it gets
with the stakes that are involved and the competitive juices

(23:15):
that get flowing when you're playing at the highest possible level.
So I do not think you can take this and
backfill and say, oh, this proves the Rockets have a
fractured locker room and that something is wrong. No, this
stuff happens with I think most professionals. It doesn't mean
that that the relationships are dysfunctional now going forward. It

(23:36):
could be because most people vent to you know, people
in their inner circle, and they you know, it's tight
enough that it's not going to get out. And so
the fact that that now, if it's true, it's out,
you know, could that be different than just, you know,
vaguely assuming that, oh, you know, Jamari, for example, had
that terrible shooting slump in early January. I'm sure he

(23:56):
already knew that some of his teammates behind closed doors,
were you know, with mean things to their family members
or friends, you know, out of frustration, you know, just venting,
and then they all move on the next day. Like,
I'm sure he already knew that, But could it be
different this time that it's so public, maybe, especially if
Katie doesn't handle it the right way behind the scenes. Again,

(24:17):
assuming that this is all or partially true, Yeah, like
this could be different. All I'm saying is that I
don't think it's fair to backfill and say, well, this
proves blah blah blah over the first fifty some odd games,
and you know, this explains X, Y and z from
the first half of the season. No, I don't think
it does. I do think moving forward now that this

(24:38):
is out there, if it's not entirely refuted, yeah, it's
something that might explain future issues, and so we'll all
watch with raised eyebrows. But I just don't think that
that you can or should use it retroactively. I've seen
some folks doing that, and I just think that's that's unfair.
That's expecting way too much of these guys. As you said, Paulo,
they're human, like, this is a part of venting, and

(25:00):
you know, in this case, I think Katie just got
you know, a little too loose. If it's true with
the people he's sharing those private thoughts with again, not
like he was trying to put these guys on blasts.
If it turns out that this is all or mostly accurate.
But yeah, I don't think the underlying sentiment is just,
you know, terribly off base or unforgivable. I think it's

(25:22):
just a natural part of of venting, especially when you
lose games at a rate more than you expect, and
I think that's certainly been the case with the Rockets,
who are just twenty and sixteen in their last thirty
six games heading into this post All Star breakstent starting
tomorrow night in Charlotte. And that's what I want to

(25:45):
talk about now because I can, you know, I can
put on some rose colored glasses and feel pretty good
about this team moving forward. Polo and the biggest reason why.
The first two years of Imo Udoka in Houston honestly
weren't that dissimilar. In both of them. They limped into
the All Star break. Year one, they were six games
under after a pretty good start to the year. Year two,

(26:08):
they had that six game losing streak right before the
trade deadline, right before the All Star Break, and then
in the second half of both of those years post
All Star break. Two years ago, emy Udoka's debut season
in Houston, Rockets were seventeen and eleven, including the eleven
game winning streak in March when Jalen Green just went off.
Last year, they were eighteen and nine after the All

(26:28):
Star Break, and that included three games at the end
of the year that meant nothing, so they were basically
eighteen and six. They clinched the number two seed with
three games left to play, and they had a nine
game winning streak in March, so they've played their best
ball after the All Star break, and I think it
honestly makes a lot of sense. I think emi Udoka
is a guy who expects a lot from his team's
effort wise, especially on defense, and so I think the

(26:50):
stretch between the end of the NBA Cup in December
and the All Star Break in early February, those six
or seven weeks, there's a lot of games jam packed
into a a tight window, and even more so for
the Rockets, as spaced out as the schedule was early
in the year, so the Rockets had to catch it
up and that tight schedule to make room for those

(27:10):
weeks in which there's minimal to no activity. I mean,
it's tough for a team that, in this case has
two of the top three guys and minutes per game
and KD and a men. It's led by a thirty
seven year old star in KD who might be more
prone to fatigue, and he was turning the ball over
a lot in the last few games before the All
Star break, also had an issue with his ankle, And
I think em Udoka has always been a coach who

(27:32):
doesn't go as deep with his rotation as a lot
of fans would like. So it's a tighter rotation than usual,
at least relative to some teams around the NBA. It's
a coaching staff that expects a lot effort wise, some
of the key players are veterans who play extended minutes.
I do think there's a case to be made that
this team has been on fumes the last few years

(27:54):
going into the All Star Break, and it might be
your reflection of stylistically how imo Udoka chooses to coach
and this year especially some of the things we've seen,
the three point slump in January. I mean, if you
don't have your legs, you're going to miss more threes.
And in February, you know, the increased turnovers across the board,
most notably from KD. Yeah, you get sloppy and you're
not as willing to dive on the floor to secure

(28:15):
those fifty to fifty balls if your legs aren't there.
And the good news is that we have seen many
of these issues the past two years. There was no KD,
but there were pieces of this team and they got
fixed on the other side of the All Star break
when they had a week to recharge, and you know,
they got their second wins. If you will reach Shepherd
as a guy who even though it's your two, it's

(28:36):
basically like you're one. In terms of adjusting to the
NBA calendar because he played so infrequently as a rookie.
I mean, you can you can be optimistic that historically,
I may Ridoka coach teams play well after the All
Star break. And you also look at the schedule amongst
Western Conference contenders, I think the Rockets have the easiest,
the sixth easiest in the entire NBA. The team right

(28:56):
in front of them in the standings and the race
for number three and to be on the opposite se
the bracket from the Thunder. The Nuggets had the most
difficult left in the entire NBA. So the Rockets have
a relatively easy remaining schedule. The Nuggets, the team right
in front of them, has the hardest. Historically under Emi Udoka,
the Rockets have been much better after the All Star breaks.
So there are reasons to be optimistic. And on paper,

(29:18):
you know, the fix isn't that difficult. When I look
at this yours Rockets team, there's basically three versions. There's
that thirteen and four start in October and November when
they had, as you mentioned Paolo at the time, one
of the best net ratings in NBA history, and they
were just dominant, and I think, you know, it's no
coincidence that's when Reed Shepherd was at his best as well.
So it's becoming more and more clear that Reed Shepherd

(29:41):
is the variable for this team. So you had that
seventeen game stretch and they were at their best. Then
you had that weird December where the defensive intensity just
fell off a cliff and they had all these ridiculous
losses to teams like you know, the Kings and Pelicans
when they had big leads. They also lost on the
road to the MAVs, the Jazz teams they had no

(30:01):
business losing to. The effort was sloppy, The defensive rating
was bottom half of the league, and then from January
first onward, they've largely cleaned up the defense, but the
offense has been bottom ten and some of that's been
you know, I mentioned the fatigue issues, but also you know,
rotation choices for Nima Ridoka. After Reed Shepherd played about
twenty six and a half minutes per game in calendar

(30:22):
year twenty five, this season's portion of it he played
just twenty two minutes per game in January, and he
may leaned on those defensive role player types, you know,
josh U Kogi even at times Jay Shaun Tate, Aaron Holliday,
even though he's been you know, relegated to the shadow
realm at the moment. So some of it could be fatigue,
some of it's also choices. But the bottom line is

(30:44):
that since January, the defense has been a lot better,
but the offense has has fallen off a cliff. We
mentioned the three point shooting slump, the turnovers, and so
in theory, like we've had six weeks a pretty good
defensive play. You know, there was a stat after that
win over the Clipper which, if you're looking for silver lining,
Doriyanfinny Smith I thought looked very good the last game
he played, the last win on the front end of

(31:06):
that Clippers back to back. And if he gets healthier,
if he uses this time off to get a little recharge,
and he can build on what he did against the Clippers.
I mean, the Rockets are nine to oh this season
when they hold opponents below one hundred points, and five
of those games have come since January first, So there's

(31:26):
a lot of evidence that they are getting better defensively.
Dorianfhinney Smith getting any more close to healthy would only
help with that, be like a mid season roster edition,
given what little we've had from him so far. And
so in theory, like the fix is pretty simple, like
the defense is looking better. It's just can you get
the offense, maybe not all the way back to when

(31:48):
they were just like a juggernaut early in the year.
Just get them back to like last year, to where
they're you know, middle of the pack and some of this.
You know, no Stephen Adams, so you don't have the
offensive rebounding superpower, so you do have to execute more.
On the other hand, Yeah, Kevin Durant, but I think
think on paper, like there's there's president for Emo Ridoka
teams getting better after the All Star break and the fix. Look,

(32:08):
the defense is better, the offense shouldn't be bottom ten
the way it's been since January first, and now they
should have their legs back. I mean, on paper, you
get the offense even to just the you know, a
pretty good level, let alone rate just be like ten
to fifteen. And this team, especially since this schedule, I
guess to me, it's a fascinaing juxtaposition. Powow, And I'll
hand it off to you here because I know my

(32:30):
rant has been extended. But for all the negativity, the
frustration of that last Clippers lost when they blew the lead,
now the All Star break, with all the KD comments,
the inactive trade deadline, for all the negativity on paper, like,
there are reasons to think that. You know, maybe the
Rockets don't get to like a title contending level, but
they can be a lot better than the twenty and
sixteen that they've been in the last thirty six games.

(32:51):
I guess that's my outlet going into the final twenty nine.
What's your perspective as far as just overall pawlow your
mindset heading into this final stretch.

Speaker 4 (33:00):
First of all, I'm laughing here on you. I can't
believe you said the words my rent has been extended.
I haven't started that just I couldn't. I couldn't let
that one go. It's just such a funny way to
put it, like, I'm not really if actually read it
like like I'm I'm Serannia reporting a contract extension. I
don't know if I'm supposed to read it like kind

(33:22):
of Yoda like where you're talking about yourself in the
third person. It's sorry, I'll get to the anaunceis. So
regarding the rest of the season, I do think that
you've made some good points, but I some stuff that
I do disagree with it. Do you think while in
past seasons you could have made the argument that they
would have had problems with energy by all was reaching

(33:42):
the All Star break. If that's the case, I think
that's only kind of shown itself with a three point shooting.
It might be that they're shooting worse because they don't
have the legs under them. As we like to say defensively,
Both the effort as picked up and the effort wasn't
good to start the season, and so with all the
energy it didn't it didn't seem like different. It was

(34:03):
that good. So not I don't expect that to be,
you know, a significant upgrade. But there's a few things
that I do that we can look out for that
might be real upgrades. The first of all is I
do think that the legs on shooting three that will
affect especially Read for two factors. First, it's his first

(34:23):
real any gay season with playing in It's basically every game,
and he is someone who gets a lot of lifts
on his jump shop, like he jumps really high to shoot,
and so that increases variability, and that makes it's always
streepoint huts moraliant on on on how tired and how
fresh his legs are. Beyond that, there's no longer I

(34:45):
don't think reasonably the excuse of oh, Shanehun is still
coming back from injury or he's not one hundred percent
and that's why he's mostly for his tutrono room necesarily
his defense. I think that that's been a constant. Rocardo
Sofelder not the season, but offensively seemed that his season
has thrilled off after starting off really hot. Both I
think that might be a little bit because of with fatigue,

(35:10):
might also be because it seemed like his shot diet
has changed the cat he's not taking as many trees
as he was earlier in the season. You know, it
seemed like there was a rework on his shot diet
going into the season and that seems to have regressed
back to to where it was last season, and that
will not help his efficiency efficiency as well. So I
do expect things becoming fully healthy to be something that

(35:32):
cats makes us better. Dorian Phinney Smith, you know, we're
getting to a point where, okay, we got to show
us that you're still anywhere close to the play that
you were before. Like a long a long time has passed,
it's about time. And then I think the biggest impact
was that is actually well we talked about earlier in
the season that everybody was pointing out small things that

(35:53):
they would tweak with the lineups right, And one other
thing that I brought up on the pod was well, yes,
it seems like there is a some well hanging through
that they could use to become better. But I also said,
but we have arrived. We are a playoff team. The
goal from the beginning of the season it wasn't to
squeak out every win that they could possibly get by,

(36:14):
you know, fully maximizing the team to be as good
as it can be right now. And I do think
that was true. We try different things, you know, wen't
didn't necessarily optimize it to the full suctent since the
beginning of the season. I do think from this point forward,
you know, typically teams post all start break one to
get on a run, to go hot into the post season.
So I do think that we'll see a maximized version

(36:35):
or what thinks is a maximized version of this team,
because now you do want to get to that level
and sustain that level all the way through a playoff series.
So I wonder if we'll see any changes, you know,
from a rotation standpoint, from a scheme standpoint, more changing
schemes meet game, more writing the hot hand, when when

(36:56):
the hot hand is has it going painting players for
holiday as we saw last season, you know, there's not
as many I guess, although there's not as many opportunities
to do so that was mostly a cleon green thing
and stuff like Capella taking some hook shots that don't
get even close. Like that strikes me as a little

(37:18):
bit of you know, limit testing that we saw at
certain times that I don't think we'll stee moving forward.
So I do expect the team to get better now
and and last but not least, post All Star break
is also when teams slowly but surely, and I guess
any faster place start to pack it up and going
to tank more. And the Rockets seem to have struggles

(37:39):
mostly with the teams that are pretty terrible and we've
given up wins to the Bosses, to the Kings, for example,
in the Pacers or not we beat the Pacers with
a close game. I do expect that we'll we'll get
more kind of easy games in the sense that those
teams aren't even trying to win. Uh and and those
are some of them. Like, I think a lot of

(38:01):
our losses have come from situations like that, and those
situations won't present themselves nearly as much now. So it's
not just that the schedule is easier, it's that those
terrible teams are even are even less of a threat
now than they were before because they'll slowly move into
tank mode, even some of them I have already been
rolling that. I think it will be, you know, fully

(38:23):
implemented going into going into the second half of the season.
And so yeah, I think that's that's mostly that I
still don't think we have. I mean, I guess we'll
see on our next on our next segment, what are
expectations forward successful season is and what we expect to
see moving forward or what we want to see. So
I guess I'll close it out on that for what

(38:45):
I expect the next season. Then the second half of
the season's being and with reasons that are to be
to be optimistic, because I do think that are made.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
You don't want to extend your rent anymore?

Speaker 4 (38:56):
Listen, nah and I rent, then I have got no
more rent in me, no rent hashtag rent retired.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah. Sorry. One of the toughest things to do when
you're trying to weave together several thoughts is to to
put a bow on it and pass the baton. So yeah,
in terms of the exact phrasing, I did not go
to school to be a broadcast journalist. For anyone who
saw my All Star Break activities, I had a good vacation,
went back up to Missoo or I went to journalism school,

(39:29):
and well, other than the game, unfortunately Miszoo lost to
UT when I was there. But other than that, I
had a nice vacation. But no, I went to school
to be a print journalist. So I'm a writer by trade.
Broadcasting podcasting. That's something that I've sort of picked up
along the way and I try to improve. But yeah,
passing back the baton and putting a bow and summing

(39:50):
it up, especially you know in a live recording, sometimes
it gets a little choppy. My apologies for not having
the ideal wording, but yeah, I will not let this
rant get a extended actually powlllo before we get to
the final segment. The next four games the next week,
I think, to me, You've got the Hornets Thursday, nixt
Saturday at an ABC primetime game from Madison Square Garden,

(40:12):
then two home games against the Jazz and the Kings.
None of these are back to backs to me, if
you're a serious team, if you're going to make a
legitimate run for the three seed, which I mentioned on paper,
you know the Nuggets. I know it feels like you
missed your chance to catch the Nuggets with you know,
not making Hay when they were without Jokic for a month,
but you know they have a far more difficult schedule
coming up. You're only a game back, you're tied in

(40:34):
the lost column. To me, if you're a serious team,
you've got to be at least three and one over
these next four games. You're going to be heavy favorites
by double digits at home against the tanking Jazz the
tanking Kings, and then find a way to take one
of those two in Charlotte or New York. Ideally both
I mean four and zho is not implausible. But the
Knicks especially are a good team. The Hornets have been
playing very well of late, although now they've got a

(40:55):
couple of suspensions since they last beat the Rockets in
Houston a couple of weeks ago. But my outlook going
in these four games next week, none are back to backs.
If you're a serious team, you should be at least
three in one. That's my outlook. Anything that I'm missing there.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
Yes, well, I was gonna say you should be six
and one over the last over the next seven at
the very least, just because like this is, this is
a bunch of terrible teams, Like Wizards are terrible. The
Heats are not good. The Magic are not good this season,
and they've always been a great matchup for the Rockets.
The Kings are not good. That Yazz are blatant to

(41:30):
be thanking. The Knicks are good. But I'm expecting the
Knicks and the and the Hornets him to be both
coin flips, especially since, to quote the great Kevin Durant,
that Heartlets have such a better young card than us,
so you know, gotta take them seriously as well. So
I'm expecting a coin flip game with both of them
and hopefully we'll win one of the coin flips.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
All right, final segment, and I'm shureamlessly stealing this from
the Lockdown Rockets roundtable that I was on earlier this week,
and so I'll try and be more concise with mine,
because for folks who want to know my mindset in
greater depth, you can just hit up the Lockdown Rockets
YouTube page and listen or watch as I explained it there.
But the segment Jackson put together was basically what makes

(42:21):
this a successful season for the Rockets, And I think
it's a good time to discuss it, certainly coming off
the All Star break, but also, you know, to go
full circle to the Kevin Durant alleged Furner controversy. I mean,
if there's any potential of making bigger moves in the
offseason or feeling that you need to, this is a
good time to discuss, you know, what the checkpoints are for,

(42:44):
you know, feeling good enough about this team to you know, well, certainly,
if you win the title, I think that's an unlikely
outcome and it's not implausible. But if you don't win
the title, what makes you comfortable enough over the remaining
twenty nine games of the regular season and the ensuing
playoff run to it's not a lock that the Rockets
will make the playoffs, but it's it's pretty damn closed.
I mean, they have a decent buffer over the play

(43:06):
in tournament, and even if they get there, you know,
they have a huge buffer over teams the nine to
ten spots, so you probably need to win just one
home game, but I think that's very unlikely they get
passed by all three of the Sun, the Lakers, and
the Timberwolves, all with the easiest schedule. I mean, maybe
things go off the rails to where that becomes realistic,
but if it does, that will be pretty obvious that

(43:28):
the Rockets need major changes in the off season. It
won't need much analysis as to what needs to happen.
So in these non title scenarios where I think, you know,
you fall to the play and range or you win
the title, like, it's pretty obvious what will or won't
happen in the offseason. But these middle ground scenarios where
you sort of stay where you've been the last few weeks,

(43:48):
somewhere between three and five in the West, but ultimately
you fall short you're not quite on the level of
the thunder in what scenarios are you? Okay? You know,
running it back and saying, hey, like Frevn Fleet, Steph
Adams are really good players that you'll be adding at
full strength. Thefs should be closer to full strength as
well by the fall, and maybe you add one more
role player this summer, you won't have the first apron

(44:09):
hard gap And largely saying the course or scenarios where
more aggressive needs this summer are needed to feel good
about next season's team and beyond and actually having a
chance to win a title. And so what I settled
on with Jackson and the guys, and I won't go
into his greater depth tonight. If you want to hear
my perspective, you can just check out lor. I think

(44:30):
you need to win at least one round in the playoffs,
because I don't think you're going to be slotted against
one of the truly elite teams unless something crazy happens
like you follow to the play in And if that's
the case, well then you've already got your answer. And
I just think the Rockets already a year ago before
trading for Kevin Durant prove capable of getting to game
seven of a first round series against a good but

(44:52):
not great team. So if you're stagnant or you regress,
if this team with Kevin Durant and this is all
assuming reletive help, like there's a kind of shot. The injury,
obviously that changes things. But we'll cross that bridge when
we come to it. I think you've got to get
further than you did a year ago. You know, I
don't have a magic seed number in mind, but I
would like to at least get to fifty two and thirty,
the wind mark you had a year ago. You don't

(45:14):
want to take a step back. You want to do
more in the playoffs. You want to look at least
competitive against the truly elites. When I say that, I
say Oklahoma City, probably Denver, maybe San Antonio. You know,
if you lose competitive series in six or seven games,
that's okay. At least you know it would sting. But
I can understand it. If you go out in a sweep,
a gentleman's sweep, then there's several blowouts. You know, it's

(45:34):
a different matter altogether. So do something you didn't do
a year ago. Get yourself a matchup against a really
good team and if you lose that elite team, at
least hold your own and then you know, Jackson made
this point, but I really agree with him. Make sure
that none of your young guys are exposed the way.
You know, we all felt worse about Jalen Green after

(45:56):
that playoff run a year ago because of how easily
the war you were able to take him out of
the offense. If we get through the playoff run, and
like the adjustment the Spurs made to take him in,
Thompson out of that game is something that we see
time and time again in the playoffs or Reach Shepherd
is just completely unplayable defensively. I won't say that makes

(46:18):
the overall season of failure, but it would make it
would make in my opinion, all of us more reluctant
to buy in on the young core moving forward. So
I guess those are my check points that I came
to after the Lor roundtable. Do something you didn't do
a year ago. I win at least one playoff series
unless you're you know, unless you're against an elite opponent,

(46:40):
nuine one. And if you are, then something went wrong
and the records would speak for itself in that situation,
hold your own against whatever big boy team you do
eventually draw, and make sure none of your young players
are so exposed that you have significant doubt about their
playoff viability moving forward. I guess those are my three
keys for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs. Psychologically,

(47:03):
I would like to see them go, you know, at
least nineteen to ten over the final twenty games, twenty
nine games, that is, so that they have at least
the same amount of wins that they had a year ago.
That could also give them a decent chance given Denver
schedule moving up to three and perhaps avoiding the thunder
in the second round. But that's my general outlook. As
far as what would make a successful season, it's no

(47:24):
longer championship or bust. We've talked about that in some
of our recent pods, especially with the Steven Adams injury
added to the fredden Fleet injury. Powello, What do you
think as far as what makes this season a success
or failure over the remaining twenty nine games and any
postseason play from there.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
I think I think you're asking them to different questions.
I do think that the season being a success or
not is a different question from am I comfortable just
running it back next season? I think the season cannot
be a success, and me still think that come the
end of the season, it back is still the best
the best course of action or running it back with

(48:03):
slight changes, you know, maybe maybe consolidate a couple of
role players or whatever it might be. So as far
as the season being a success, to me, the season
for the season to be a success, you need to
outperform what I would expect would be a linear progression
from last season with the guys we had last season,
because will we have last season, we would have higher

(48:25):
upside long term than with what we have this. I
think that's while I do not think that we have
shortened or window with the KD trade, we did market
a little bit of upside via a top ten pick
or the tenth pick, and you know, giving up on
Jillen Green, as much as he hasn't necessarily proven thus

(48:46):
far to be anything better than what we saw, he
still had upside at It's more upside than in KD
long term, which is not hard. So I do think
that linear progression will tell you, or or reasonable progression
will tell you that next season you could get around two,
because I did think that we could get to around
two last season, a couple of things went our way
that did. So what successful season would be to me

(49:10):
either going seven with Denver or okay, see in round two,
or making or making the West Conference Finals. If you're
around to a bond is the Spurs. If it's the Spurs,
I don't see. I just don't see. The reason I
would be okay losing to seven to the Nuggets is Okay,
They've been there, they've done that, They're experienced. You know,

(49:33):
there's no shame in losing to top ten player of
all time in his prime Nicola Jokicic where the pretty
good running gast round. So if it's to the Nuggets,
I'm okay losing in seven in round two. If it's
to the Spurs, a successful season is making the Western
Conference finals. Hoding to the Spurs in round two. To me,
it's not a successful season, especially so because when you

(49:54):
look back, you know, when you think about, oh, the
tenth pick, if you call it the tenth pick, people
might argue, oh, why we won't have the we won't
have the space for not the young guy. Well, I
would counter you with this, with the tenth pick, you
could likely have made the trade the Pacers, may I

(50:16):
think it was the Yeah, the Pacers, pretty said the
Pacers made with New Orleans where they got it and
protected first next year. So with the tenth pick, that
trade proves that you could have made that that you
could have made a move to the way that pick
further into the future and kept the accid right, it's
not a situation why the Josh Christopher slashes one Garuba

(50:36):
situation where they wanted to trade back but couldn't, or
trade to the future but couldn't, or the tie tie
Washington situation where they wanted to trade back normally able
to trade into the future, brow we're only able to
trade back to some one of those situations. So you
could have, you know, put that pick along and perhaps
got another prime asset there. So things really didn't then,
since we made that investment into KD, you's got to

(50:57):
be better than what I would expec fact that what
I would have considered a successful season to be for
the team we have previously. Now, successful season is different
from me being comfortable running it back for the most
part next season, because I do. Because the reason why
that changes is is because of the injuries. Right, A
successful season is in spite of injuries. To me, what

(51:20):
you do moving forward, You're gonna address the injuries and
qualify those as upgrades moving forward. So if you do
get to that second round and it los to the Spurs,
you could convince me that the team that lost to
the Spurts in the second round, which turned which are
in that case turning out to be a better team
that people expected because they're going to make the Western
Conference finals. If you're gonna lose to that team, you

(51:40):
could convince me that with Thresdent Fleet and Steven Adams
and perhaps you know, Adardian Finished Smith and Clin Capella
trade for a rotation piece, you could make the argument
that that that's enough of a jump for it to
be a championship contented the year after, Right, And so
if you do make that, I'm like, Okay, you can
convince me that those enough upgrades, and I don't consider

(52:03):
trading Dorian Phinnis Smith and Quinn Cappella for no may
mid sized level a role player to be massive overhaul
of the roster. So I do think that that's you know,
basically running it back. If they fall short of that
if they was in the first round or if they're
completely uncompetitive in the second round with with the Spurs,

(52:24):
I do think that you've got to readdress the deep
and I don't think at that point you're you're Fred
and Vleet and the Steven Adams away. I do think
that you got to, you know, make further changes to
the team, and those may include frediend Vleet or Steven Adams,
depending on the types of moves that you tried to me.
Because at that point, even Fred the Velitt doesn't have
a no trade cost, so you could trade them there.

(52:45):
So yeah, that's regarding what happens in the playoffs, right.
Regarding seeding, I do think that I can't consider the
successful a season where you're not a top three seat
after being a top two seed regardless of circumstances last season.
I can't think being a four seed in this division
right now to be a successful season after you trade
for Gap and right, I think, do you think you

(53:05):
have to be better than that, especially because if you
aren't a top three seed, you're gonna face okay see
in round two. And if you're gonna face okay scene
round two, unless you make it close, Like the delta
of outcomes is a little bit different there, right, because
if you do, if you make it close with Okay
see Go seven for example, that's a successful season if
you get swept by Okay seeing in round two, like, well,

(53:29):
is that really that condemnible? Like they seem to be
a generational dynasty team in the making, right, So in
that case, it's a little bit harder to judge. So
you do need to for it to be a successful season,
you need to be a top three seed. As far
as I don't think the seed the seating really implicates,
how like if you're if you're both, I guess, I guess,
I guess it does coinciding if you are a not

(53:50):
atop three seed. If you aren't a top three seed,
I do think you need to make pretty major changes
unless you make it up by beating Okay scene around two,
which I don't think is feasible at all.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
And to be clear, like there's more gray area than
how I presented it. I was trying to sum it
up in broad strokes. I mean, if there's one thing
we know about the Rafelstone era of the Rockets, they're
not going to force a deal. So if they you know,
narrowly miss out on one of these checkpoints, I mean, yeah,

(54:21):
it's possible that we look in the off season, especially
relative to the opportunities that are or aren't available, you know,
talk ourselves back into you know, with the addition of
Fred and Steven and you know, a DFS plus capella
for a solid role player type trade to feeling that
you know, next year could be different. It's not quite
as cut and dry as I made it, just talking

(54:41):
in you know, broad strokes to sort of set the
table for the off season, because I do think that,
you know, the way last season ended did make the
ultimate trade involving Jalen Green and Kevin Durant a bit
more likely. You know, it didn't lock it in by
any means, but it did move the needle in that direction.
And so I I think the checkpoints they're not meant
to be like super literal, but I do think that

(55:05):
it's a useful guide as we look ahead to the
offseason for what scenarios they're more likely to be okay
staying the course and which ones they might be a
bit more active. And it's not all going to depend
on that. So that's also going to depend on exactly
what players come available, but I just think that's a
general guide that we can use heading towards this summer.

(55:25):
Hopefully we won't have to talk about that for a
while because hopefully the Rockets start winning a lot more games,
move their way up the standings that have a nice
extended playoff run, the likes of which we're very optimistic
about just a few months ago when this team was
put together. Anyway, with that, I will bring this episode
to a close. And by the way, some breaking news.
The Rockets will be practicing mid day today, so if

(55:46):
you want to hear from Kevin Durant, it might happen.
Then if you're worried about, you know, the interactions of
the team and how it looks, you'll definitely have some
some video from reporters on the scene at the Rockets
practice facility before they fly to Charlotte. So any of
those concerns, we'll have a lot more info later today.
So to bring it full circle to those people wanting
more discussions, I think you're going to get them unless

(56:07):
it's just somehow entirely fake news, and I agree with
your Powell that's unlikely. There's at least a little bit
of truth to it. That's my suspicion as well in
terms of what it means moving forward. The reason people
aren't talking about is because we just we don't have
the information we need to make a super strong opinion
just yet. We'll start getting that information within a few
hours and certainly when the team Versums play tomorrow night

(56:28):
in Charlotte, So we'll talk more about it in future pods.
Just stay tuned. I just think, at least for diehard
fans for the Rockets, we're not going to rush to
any conclusions. We want to be optimistic. We want this
team to work out. There may be some national NBA
fans or NBA media that jump to the worst case
conclusion because either they want to see the Rockets fail,
or you know, they hate Kevin Durant, or maybe some
Rockets fans just want a punching bag after this season

(56:50):
is underwhelmed a little bit. But for those of us
that want the best for this team, yeah, like, there's
still a way that this can be Okay, Well, there's
several ways, and so until we see evidence that it's not,
you know, let's at least wait for more information and
let's you know, we'll see what happens anyway. That'll do
it for this episode. If you want more from me
and Powlo before the next show, best place to get
it is on social media. I'm at Benjubo's, He's at

(57:13):
Paolo Alves NBA, and if you want to support this show,
the best way to do that is at Rockets or
at launch Pods seven Ninety's still not used to the
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to launch Pods seven ninety and hit up the link
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(57:36):
Fans USA. Today's Rockets are Sports Talk seven ninety. If
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(57:56):
make the business model work for this to continue being
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podcasts covering your Houston Rockets All right. With the plug's complete,
we're done for Paolo Alves. I'm Ben Dubo's. As always,
thanks for listening and please come back soon for more
new episodes of The Rockets Launch Pod Go Rockets