Houston Chronicle's Danielle Lerner Joins The Show!

Wex and AC are joined (for the final time) by Houston Chronicle's Danielle Lerner to dicuss the the future of the Rockets, an update on KD, and more!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rockets conversation is Danielle Lerner joins us for a little
bit longer on the Rockets beat. Danielle, I think a
lot of people by now know that you are going
to be moving on, so we're gonna have you a
little bit longer like the rest of the week covering
the Rockets, and we were able to catch up with
you over at the practice facility earlier today. But I
guess first and foremost, congrats on the new gig.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Thank you so much. I appreciate it, and I appreciate
everyone who said something on social media or a person's
me this week. And yeah, Sunday after this home sand
basically I'm done.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well it's been It's been a crazy start to the
year for a number of reasons, not the least of
which was that double overtime loss by one point on
opening night. But this Rockets team, even with that, and
then you know, the loss of the Spurs was particularly stinging.
I think for locals here, they've really kind of made

(00:57):
a name for themselves in a very short time to
start this campaign.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think when you have offensive rebounding
the way that they do, you know, on pace to
be a historic rate, and you know than some of
the size that they're able to roll out in different lineups,
and you know, I think just the offense in general
is night and day from last season, when obviously it
was just dreadful. And that's been the biggest difference that

(01:26):
I think. Obviously, you know, adding a player like Kevin Durant, you're,
iut'matually going to make more shots. But I just think
conceptually they have a lot of off ball movement where
they didn't before. They're not just running pick and rolls.
Of course, the pick and roll with Alp and Katie
has been great, but you know, they have so many
more actions that they can get to now, and it's
just more interesting to watch.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
A couple of things that you say there I would
totally agree with about. This was obviously going to happen.
That was obviously these changes that we're going to be
made would lead to this. What's something through the first
nine games that was less obvious that is unfolded for
this Rockets team that you think is obviously something good
for the future.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
I think that the the defense honestly has not been
as good as it was last season. You know, they
obviously lost one of I think the most underrated defenders
in Fred and then during Finta. Smith has yet to
see the floor for them, and that's a big part
of it. But you know, their their ball security on
offense hasn't been good, which means that their transition defense

(02:27):
needs to be better than it has. It hasn't been great.
The zone defense that they're running a lot more has
generally been good at preventing scoring, but it can get
ugly very fast if they don't rotate, and they're still
kind of working through how to do that, and because
they're using it so much, opposing teams I think are
adjusting now a lot quicker. You know, you saw the

(02:49):
Bucks get into it for a little bit even the
other night with finding open shooters. That was also what
killed them in the Spurs game, in addition to the turnovers.
So you know it, we're nine of then it's not
time to overreact to anything. They still have a lot
of time to fix it, but I think the drop
off on defense has been a little surprising to me.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
One of the topics we discussed today with the men
is a topic we've talked here on the show about
a lot. Once Fred went down news ball handling responsibilities
would go up. Knew the makeup of how this team
would operate offensively would change dramatically. I'll be read a
men and even Kevin obviously handling some of the setup
and running this through them, etc. But finding a men
Thompson back in a spot where he dominates the NBA

(03:32):
is the dunker spot, and it seems to me over
the past three or four games maybe there's been a
concerted effort to have him play off the ball, maybe
even a little bit more so he finds his way
down there where the league still hasn't figured out how
to keep him from crushing. Do you think that's been
by design or just that's what ultimately was gonna happen anyway.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
I mean, I think that's something he actually did really
really well over the last couple of seasons too, So
I don't necessarily think that they are doing anything differently.
It's just that the way that they're having him space
because of their bigger lineup is they often start possessions
with him standing in the corner. The first few games
of the season, when he got the ball there, he

(04:12):
was very late in possessions and so he would end
up shooting a three, he didn't have time to cut
or run into the basket. What they're doing a better
job of now is just getting into their offense earlier
in the possession. And Amanda has a really really good
timing on knowing when to cut and so his teammates
all know that that's where he wants to be, that's
where he wants to receive the ball. It's just a

(04:34):
matter of they're now executing a little bit faster and better.
And I was talking to Kevin Durant actually on the
road about you know that sense of timing. Is that
something that is innate or is that you know developed?
Can that be developed over time? And he kind of
was like, it's an instinct that you have to have.
And for men to have that or this early in

(04:55):
his career and be so good at doing it over
and over, like that's.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Really su Yeah, so many things are not necessarily coachable
or things you can teach about why this Rockets team
does so many things so well. I don't think you
can really coach what alber and Shingun did full court
against Giannis on Sunday afternoon. And you've watched every single game.
We've watched every single game and for him to make

(05:20):
our collective jaws drop the way he did with that play,
even after some of the things he's been able to do.
Saw a lot of the national types talking about the
big step he has taken, and I think that kind
of bore itself out and that was a microcosm of
it right there here.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
This season. Yeah, I think that's something that you saw
him get a lot more comfortable with playing euro Basket
with the Turkish national team, just because he was bringing
the ball up, you know, after live rebounds out of dezos,
like every single time, he's going, you know, baseline to baseline,
and so that has made him a lot more comfortable

(05:56):
driven up the court even against that type of pressure.
And then you know, he's always had those handles really,
even if you look at his favorite baseline spin move
that he likes to do to get to the basket,
this was basically the same thing. He was just doing
it at mid court instead. So it's definitely I think
something that he's comfortable with and I don't think is
something that he would say is new to him necessarily,

(06:19):
but he's just getting more of an opportunity to do
it in different situations with the Rockets this season.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
What kind of expectations, as we talked to Daniell Lerner
of the Houston Chronicle Rockets beat writer, what kind of
expectations did you have for covering Kevin Durant both personally
and professionally, and then the basketball that you thought he
would bring to this team that we've now seen over
nine games.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, I mean, Katie's reputation around the league for a
long time has just been one of the most accessible
superstars that there is. He understands the media's job, he
understands his job in relation to us, and he's extremely
willing to talk if it is out basketball specifically or
about his own game. Like he is someone who is

(07:06):
not gonna try and get out of his media responsibilities.
You know, if you're interested in the game and you're
asking good questions, he wants to talk back to you.
So and that was evidence even from the few times
I interacted with him as a member of a visiting team.
And so, you know, he's matched my expectations in that
sense as far as being really good to deal with

(07:26):
basketball wise, too. The thing that has surprised me is
probably you know, how willing he has been to seed
the ball and clutch time situations to some of his
younger teammates. Obviously, there are times when the Rockets need
him to take over, and he's shown that he can
do that late in games and bed closer. But it's
really it's not a one man effort.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
You know.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
He's he's really confident giving the ball to alp two
men even to Read Shepherd and hyping them up as well,
and I think that's helping the Rockets become more of
a dynamic threat.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
We didn't talk to Kevin or Jabari today. I wonder
if you had or anybody else noted it the enormous
smile on Jabari Smith Junior's face when he hit the
go ahead three against the Bucks. It was so noticeable
about what's being built here in Houston, confidence, trust, fun that,
like I said, it couldn't help but be noticed.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah. I think Jabari is another player who obviously is
just taking a big leap on both sides of the ball.
But they needed him to be that three point threat
this season, and we know that he can't shoot, but
he just presented wise last year, didn't get the volume
of reps and didn't knock down a high clip from
behind the ark and so the fact that he's doing

(08:41):
that now obviously he's not even the second or third
option on this team, and so he's going to get
a lot more open looks. Him and josh Okogie in
this current starting lineup are going to be the beneficiary
of the attention that other teams have to pay to
Katie Alpi and the men, and so him being able
to make the shot is going to be super, super.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
Important, real quick. In that same subject before we let
you go, and this was talk about a little bit
today at practice, but what do you see in these
last two games that has made it such a success
for Reed Shepherd and how how easy will it be
for him in this environment to kind of build on
that as maybe a springboard forward.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah. I think in terms of the shot making, he's
just getting the ball in a lot in his favorite position,
which is just catch and shoot top of the brakes, right.
He's that's where he's going to be most automatic and
most confident. We saw that even in last season at
some point. But he's also showing more aggression and seeing
a little bit smarter. There's that one dribble pull up

(09:43):
he had in Milwaukee where it looks like he's gonna
take a three, you know, made the defender Bye took
a dribble four where men pulled up for a long too.
And I think making reads like that kind of show
his maturation as a shooter. And it's also going to
hissel when teams plowed out hard to him as a
third point shooter, it's gonna automatically create other looks that

(10:05):
the Rockets can exploit. And then defensively, we've known that
he has the hands. You know, he's made those plays
last season, he made those played all in the Summer League.
But I think that he's able to pick his spots
more carefully now where he's not getting completely out of
position when he's scambling for those deals.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Well, Danielle, we really appreciate you coming on the show
recently and all your coverage there on the Chronicle over
the years with the Rockets beat. I'll look forward to
whatever is next for you and appreciate your time today.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Thank you both, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
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