June 23, 2025 • 16 mins
Houston Rockets broadcaster Matt Thomas joins The Craig Way Show to break down the Kevin Durant trade. Craig, Cameron, and Matt discuss the shape of the Rockets roster, KD's role, and if it is enough to contend the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We talked about the Thunder winning the first ever NBA title,
and if you look at and and I'm always amused
by I'm not necessarily a big fan of, but I'm
always amused by the way too early projections and rankings
and the way too early whatever for the next year.
Right after our title is done. I realized that's that's
(00:20):
a rite of passage. It's part of the deal. But
if you if you look at some of those there
are those that say, yeah, maybe maybe the Thunder is
still the team to beat, but right on their tail,
perhaps is the uh reshaped, revamped Houston Rockets, especially with
one of my favorite people on the planet, Kevin Durant.
(00:43):
And I know he's polarizing to some people, He's always
been wonderful to me. So I have no I have
no Kara KD. But joining us on the hotline to
talk about it from our sister station, our iHeart sister station,
Sports Talk seven ninety Houston. Then the play by play
voice of the Houston Rockets is Matt Thomas.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
With you, Matt, I appreciate the time. How you doing today? Good?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I thought I was one of your favorite people on
the planet. I was like, man, this is certainly a
nice way to introduce the segment.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It was nice.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
You're one of my favorite people when it comes to broadcasting.
He just happens to be one of my favorite people
when it comes to actually playing the game. Well, it's
funny because you're my I am my daughter's second favorite
broadcaster because she went to king She goes to Kingwood
High School and you called the six A Championship and
she was there and I said, and my friend Craig
is calling the game. And she says, Oh, how cool.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I said, he also does the University of Texas, Oh
how cool? And I said, you never, you never said
about me. I mean, I'm I'm the radio announcer of
the Rockets. I do some U of H games. And
she's like, yeah, but I.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Know you already. I don't know Craig.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I'm like, okay, that's how that always works with our kids.
They're always like they like, yeah, there's there's no doubt
about it. I'm curious to get you first of all,
before we get into some of the nuts and bolts
of the deal itself. What's been the buzz about the
city this morning? You know, because it's weird. I don't
know that it that the deal with KDE actually quote
(02:02):
unquote upstage the NBA funds.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
There are those who've.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Made that that assertion that maybe the trade stood on
equal footing with the Thunder winning the first title. My
good question, maybe in Houston it did. So I'm kind
of curious as to your thoughts on what the vibe
has been and on your show today and what it's
been like around h ten.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The reality is, Craig, in Houston, we love our Houston
sports teams. We don't particularly care about anybody else. I
might have gotten two phone calls in Indiana versus Oklahoma
City in two weeks, but the Rocket calls came in
immense and part of this is uncalling the games and
my affiliation with them. But ultimately all of our shows
(02:42):
on seven ninety have been about this today. A lot
of excitement, a lot of innu window and talk and
rumors and who do you trust, who do you don't trust?
And I said, look, when the dust settles, Shams will
tell us what's going to happen on this and maybe
Brian Wenthorst and everybody else can just guess. So, needless
to say, it was a huge topic and I'll tell
(03:03):
you this, and I brought this up on my show
many a time, Craig, the NBA, while it might have
his faults, has perhaps the most interesting off season of
any sport out there. We gravitate towards NBA rumors and
trades more so than then than we ever do in
the NFL. The trade deadline in Major League Baseball gets
a little run in the last week of July, but
(03:25):
we don't talk about that kind of off season for
agency and trades like we do in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So it was a perfect situation for me because.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
As much as I love Indiana Oklahoma City, because I'm
just a sports fan, I love the NBA. It wasn't
necessarily moving my needle. On my radio show today, Kevin
Durant did.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure of that, all right. So you
brought up Brian Windhorst, and he made a comment last
night on Sports Centre. I'm really interesting getting your thoughts
on this, all right for folks who don't know. So
the deal is, and correct me if I'm wrong. The
Rockets give up Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, the number ten
pick in this year's draft, and five second round pick,
and they get Kadi well, I think I can't remember.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
It might have been.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Michael Leaves who asked who asked? On Sports Center late
late last night, he asked Winden Worths. He goes, how
can the Rockets justify giving up all of that capital
and Winmor's basically shot the whole thing down and said,
because I don't think they gave up an immense amount
(04:26):
to get him.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
And he went into explaining what all the Rockets still
have in.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Certainly having the stable and then adding and then adding
Kevin to it, and then he said something, and this
is what I'm really curious about. He pretty much kind
of characterized second round draft picks almost like a bag
of donuts you'd throw in there. Now, obviously we know
a second round draft pick in the NBA draft doesn't
carry the weight that maybe a second round draft pick
(04:55):
in the NFL or even in the major league draft
as it goes, and that's where when folks or five
second round picks, it's like, yeah, but maybe it's like
five gallons of gas.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
You got a bonus on. What's your take on that
part of the deal?
Speaker 1 (05:08):
As well as the exchange of Jalen Green and Dylan
Brooks and the number ten.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Pick Well Craig.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
There are second round players in the NBA that are successful,
perhaps the greatest one of them recent years is Nicola
Jokich the Denver Nuggets. But by and large, the NBA
draft is a super heavy top ten draft. Doesn't mean
picks at twenty five can't do something, or picks twenty
nine Tony Parker, Kawhi, Leonard, Nikola jokicch I mean we
can go on and on and find and find diamonds
(05:36):
in a rough last year's NBA draft, the Rockets of
the third overall pick and had reed Shepherd out of
Kentucky and he hardly played.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So it depends on how deep a particular draft is.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
For me, I've never worried about second round picks, so
when I saw the number go out, there was no
alarm clock, the buzzer going off.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
There was no concern.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
The Rockets still have plenty of first round capital from
the deals with Brooklyn, the deals with Phoenix they have.
They'll have their own picks, and the only thing I
would say is that the Rockets have been able to
get better because of the draft of Jalen Green, of
a Jabari Smith, of a Men Thompson, because they kept
their first round selections.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Darryl Moore, the previous general manager before rafel.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Stone, moved those track picks around to go grab the superstars,
to go grab the stars, you know, the Chris Pauls
and the Russell Westbrooks and the other things to you know,
the Dwight Howards and whatnot. So it's been a nice
mix of keeping it young and realizing there was a
time to go get somebody, and this was the time
to go get somebody, somebody that Emay a Doka had
(06:39):
tremendous respect for. And that's why I think Kevin Durant
has been on the Rockets radar probably since the day
that Emay took Pa Java a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Visiting with Thatt Thomas radio play by play voice of
the Houston Rockets here on thirteen hundred the Zone and
Cameron Parker, a resident NBA Hank and by the way,
he's a Thunder fan.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
But that's a different story anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Oh, Okay, I'm gonna hang up now, Yeah I can, Matt,
Please don't hold that up against me.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Come on.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
It felt for a little bit there, Matt that the
trade rumors for Katie were kind of gravitating more so
to Miami and Phoenix and then Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Obviously, Houston was always in.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
The mix, but it felt like maybe Houston was kind
of on the cold side of that path, and all
of a sudden, this trade came together last week. What
do you think changed from the Houston side of this
to go ahead and decide to move away from the
number ten pick Jalen Green and go all in on
Kevin Durant.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I don't think anything changed on the Rocket side. Pure conjecture.
On my point, I think that Kevin Durant made it
perfectly clear that.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Minnesota was not a place he wanted to go.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I think Minnesota probably the best package, probably just sending
Rudy Gobert in a variety of first round picks to
Phoenix for him. Miami didn't as four or five core
players a Haimi Hotkez, a Khalil Ware that were unavailable
as well, and Jalen Green, as much as I liked
him and appreciated him and did bring value to his team,
(08:00):
was a one guy that just you could never get
away from the trade rumors of a guy that would
be up for grabs. Add on top of that, Kevin
Durant's willingness to go to only three teams san Antonio, Houston,
or Miami limited what Phoenix did. And ultimately the last thing,
guys is the draft is on Wednesday, and they want
to pick their own guy. San Antonio sounds like they
(08:21):
were not going to give up the number two pick.
The Rockets give up the number ten, and they had
to kind of take the best of what was available
to them because, frankly, Kevin Durant dictated how few teams
would be actually be involved in a situation where you
could not only bring him to your town, but with
signs two year extension, I believe the Rockets will eventually
get that done. May not be this week, may not
be until the calendar year starts until the July sixth,
(08:44):
but I fully expect Kevin Durant to sign a probably
at least a two year extension beyond this year.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So add all that.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Together and it just felt like the right fit was
Houston more so than maybe Minnesota, who would have offered
a much better package.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
And this treet obviously opens up some more minutes with
Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks to party. I think a
big winner of this matt Is Jabbari Smith Junior. I
think he his game reminds me a little bit like
Kevin Durant, and now Kevin Durant can be a fantastic
mentor to Jabari Smith. What are your thoughts on how
this trade will maybe benefit and effect Jabari Smith Junior
as well as some of the other young guys on
(09:18):
this rocket, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, we Cameron, we spent half the time today talking
about who would be the starter, whether it be Tari
Easton or Jabari Smith. And you can kind of pick
your poison because if one doesn't start, because the one
comes off the bench. I kind of like Jabbari as
a starter, but you know, I'll acquiesk to what he
may want to do. I like the kind of the
instant offense, and maybe a Tari Easing can do is
(09:40):
he's a little bit better offensive rebounder and to put.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
That guy, but either one it would be great.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I'm looking forward to seeing what Cam Wentmore can do
and Durant, you know, say.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
What you will.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I don't think he's a big of a mentor guy,
but he's certainly not going to be a guy that's
going to get in the way of other guys, this
is still going to be largely a man Thompson's team.
This is largely going to be a upera in Shingoon's team.
So he doesn't have to go to a locker room
where it's you know, he's having a fight with Draymond
Green and Steph Curry and other folks there at Golden State.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I mean he's turned him down twice.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
He doesn't have to go and what Jimmy Butler there either,
So you know, it's one of those situations that it's
a kind of a nice mix. He'll go to play
for a coach he knew when Emy was an assistant
in Brooklyn on Team USA. He knows he's gonna have
free reign to shoot where he wants to because the
Rockets were bottom three and three point shooting, and he.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Doesn't necessarily have to play every single night.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
This is a team that I think, at the end
of the day, can go nine players deep, and if
there's a back to back, he may Dooku's accustomed to
that and has worked it out very well for guys
like tarr Ethan would take days off, Steven Adams would
take days off, and I firmly believe that the Rockets
have built this team not for Kevin Durant to play
seventy five games, but to be healthy come playoff time.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, that's kind of where you were going next.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I was just going to ask you right now if
a fan were to ask you, what do you see
the Rockets starting five being you started to name them
off there, Yeah, my lean.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Would be Jabbari, but it would either be Jabbari or
a Tari East And I think it's going to be
Fred van Bleet in the backcourt with Amen Thompson. And
a man can do a little bit of everything. He
can guard four positions, he can play four positions. You've
got Durant, You've got Opera and Shinghun, and then you've
got the three that you'd figure out at this point
could either be a Jabari Smith or Tari easthan with
(11:24):
one of those guys coming off the bench, Cam Whitmore
comes off the bench, Ree Shepherd comes off the bench,
Steven Adams and guys.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
That's a nine man rotation I can live with for
eighty two games, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And that's where I was going next, is is this
a team with the rotation you just laid out that
you see as a legitimate threat to topple Oklahoma City
in the Western Conference next year.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
God, I hope.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So the reality, Craig is this, This was an NBA
Finals team or.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Bust type of move.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
You you got fifty two wins last year, but you
couldn't get past Golden State, who has been a thorn
in the Rocket side for over a decade now. And
so you did this to get with Oklahoma City because
the West is so loaded. What order the Lakers going
to be like now that you've got Lebron and Luca
working with each other for a full year. Minnesota's not
going away Denver. I wouldn't bury them.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oklahoma City is just thriving and young and have a
plug through of first round picks to get to.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's a doggy dog world out there, and this Western
Conference is going to be a hot mess. And plus
what will San Antonio do if Wemby can play a
full slate of games and not miss a lot of
time and come back from his injuries. So this was
built to get into that upper echelont You brought up
the early season favorites next year. The Rockets I think
are now considered fourth best favorite to win the NBA
Championship next year, I'll take it, but beating Oklahoma City
(12:46):
will be a prime task. The Rockets did beat them
twice during the regular season. We played them five times,
but I don't really count on that.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I think about what you want to do for the postseason,
and I think that's the reason why you made the
strategic move to finally go get a veteran after you
built the last couple of years on young players, and
that's why Kevin Durant fit the puzzle so well.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Final thing here, MT, when it comes down to with
the draft coming up on Wednesday, how does it reshape
what the Rocket's going to do with the draft on Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It's so Goofy Craig. They will not make this trade
official till July to sixth. So on Wednesday night, there'll
be a tenth pick that will put a Rocket cap
on and maybe attached to a Rocket jersey who will
never see a Houston Rocket uniform unless he's traded there.
So we're having a draft party downtown or at the
Tota Center. I don't know what the hell we're going
to do now. Because the Rockets don't have a first
(13:36):
round pick and as I said before, we are largely
a town of what's going on with the Houston teams,
and I don't think there'll be a lot of people
bumping around town going, oh, who's stands turning gonna pick
with number two. This city is right now about Kevin Durant,
it's about a young Aman Thompson, it's about what I'm
what Alpria and Shangoon is doing. So if you're a
basketball fan and you're in downtown Houston, come hang out
with us for a couple of hours. But largely, I
(13:57):
think the NBA Draft is a non sequit effect for
us at all.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, I think what they should do is right when
the Rockets pick the quote unquote Rockets pick at ten
comes up, have Katie in there and just have him
walk to the podium there at Toyota Center for you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I think that would complete it right. Oh my gosh,
you know, I haven't heard.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
He's not overly media friendly and doesn't do a lot
of that kind of stuff. That's why the whole fanatics
thing was kind of crazy yesterday watching that.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
But who knows?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
This to me feels like this is going to be
Katie's last stop he'll be thirty seven from the season begins,
I guess or thereabouts.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
You know, he's back in Texas.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Obviously, he loved his time in the University of Texas
and has a tremendous respect for Emana.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Donca, do not sit on this, Craig.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
This may be the start of something as long as
Ema A Dooka continues to have this really good reputation
among players, and he's got so many connections because he
fought his way just to make it to the NBA.
He fought his way just to be an assistant coach.
He worked with Pop all those years in San Antonio.
Then he said, you know what, I need to go
do something else. I need to be around other coaches.
That's why he went to Philadelphia and to Brooklyn before
(15:03):
getting his job in Boston.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So that is a factor. And I kind of like that.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I kind of like that my guy, my coach, is
so well respected and so beloved that this might not
be the last time a player will say, hey, I
want to come to Houston, and Ema Doak is going
to say, we'll try to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah. And oh, by the way, there's Royal Ivy in town.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
There and d Ge Augustine's coming back too. I mean,
I mean we're just nothing but Texas.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Players all over the place.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Well, then I imagine a pickup game, because he may
does pickup games. He and I do a weekly radio
segment together on my show, and he's like, you know,
I said, can you do one thirty or one o'clock?
He goes, yeah, I gotta put the pickup game first,
and apparently he's unbelievably salty. So really imagine the pickup
games now with DJ back after just being your act
up as Rocket career a couple of years ago, where
it's a nice gun, I nice enough guy, but yeah,
(15:51):
this is going to be an intense post shoot around
game match between all these guys that are recently retired
from playing professional basketball.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And those are two more of my favorites as well.
Royale and DJ a great time at Texas and people
loved him here as well.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Matt, thank you so much. I appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I know we'll check in some more as we get
ready for the start of football season as well, and
we'll do all that. So I appreciate you hopping on
the day and talk a little KD with us.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Calling time.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You know, I'll be bugging you during the course of
the year, and I'm happy to oblige. Thanks Matt, take care. No,
all right, that's Matt Thomas, voice of the Houston Rockets
there and from her sister station, our art station in Houston,
Sports Talk seven ninety. All right, there's some buzz about
the head coach at Coastal Carolina and what he said.
(16:40):
They got him kicked out of the game yesterday in
the National Championship in the first inning. What he said
in the press conference afterwards. We'll bring you some of
that coming up next here on thirteen under the Zone.
We talked about the Thunder winning the first ever NBA title,
and if you look at and and I'm always amused
by I'm not necessarily a big fan of, but I'm
always amused by the way too early projections and rankings
and the way too early whatever for the next year.
Right after our title is done. I realized that's that's
(00:20):
a rite of passage. It's part of the deal. But
if you if you look at some of those there
are those that say, yeah, maybe maybe the Thunder is
still the team to beat, but right on their tail,
perhaps is the uh reshaped, revamped Houston Rockets, especially with
one of my favorite people on the planet, Kevin Durant.
(00:43):
And I know he's polarizing to some people, He's always
been wonderful to me. So I have no I have
no Kara KD. But joining us on the hotline to
talk about it from our sister station, our iHeart sister station,
Sports Talk seven ninety Houston. Then the play by play
voice of the Houston Rockets is Matt Thomas.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
With you, Matt, I appreciate the time. How you doing today? Good?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I thought I was one of your favorite people on
the planet. I was like, man, this is certainly a
nice way to introduce the segment.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It was nice.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
You're one of my favorite people when it comes to broadcasting.
He just happens to be one of my favorite people
when it comes to actually playing the game. Well, it's
funny because you're my I am my daughter's second favorite
broadcaster because she went to king She goes to Kingwood
High School and you called the six A Championship and
she was there and I said, and my friend Craig
is calling the game. And she says, Oh, how cool.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I said, he also does the University of Texas, Oh
how cool? And I said, you never, you never said
about me. I mean, I'm I'm the radio announcer of
the Rockets. I do some U of H games. And
she's like, yeah, but I.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Know you already. I don't know Craig.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I'm like, okay, that's how that always works with our kids.
They're always like they like, yeah, there's there's no doubt
about it. I'm curious to get you first of all,
before we get into some of the nuts and bolts
of the deal itself. What's been the buzz about the
city this morning? You know, because it's weird. I don't
know that it that the deal with KDE actually quote
(02:02):
unquote upstage the NBA funds.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
There are those who've.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Made that that assertion that maybe the trade stood on
equal footing with the Thunder winning the first title. My
good question, maybe in Houston it did. So I'm kind
of curious as to your thoughts on what the vibe
has been and on your show today and what it's
been like around h ten.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The reality is, Craig, in Houston, we love our Houston
sports teams. We don't particularly care about anybody else. I
might have gotten two phone calls in Indiana versus Oklahoma
City in two weeks, but the Rocket calls came in
immense and part of this is uncalling the games and
my affiliation with them. But ultimately all of our shows
(02:42):
on seven ninety have been about this today. A lot
of excitement, a lot of innu window and talk and
rumors and who do you trust, who do you don't trust?
And I said, look, when the dust settles, Shams will
tell us what's going to happen on this and maybe
Brian Wenthorst and everybody else can just guess. So, needless
to say, it was a huge topic and I'll tell
(03:03):
you this, and I brought this up on my show
many a time, Craig, the NBA, while it might have
his faults, has perhaps the most interesting off season of
any sport out there. We gravitate towards NBA rumors and
trades more so than then than we ever do in
the NFL. The trade deadline in Major League Baseball gets
a little run in the last week of July, but
(03:25):
we don't talk about that kind of off season for
agency and trades like we do in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So it was a perfect situation for me because.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
As much as I love Indiana Oklahoma City, because I'm
just a sports fan, I love the NBA. It wasn't
necessarily moving my needle. On my radio show today, Kevin
Durant did.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure of that, all right. So you
brought up Brian Windhorst, and he made a comment last
night on Sports Centre. I'm really interesting getting your thoughts
on this, all right for folks who don't know. So
the deal is, and correct me if I'm wrong. The
Rockets give up Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, the number ten
pick in this year's draft, and five second round pick,
and they get Kadi well, I think I can't remember.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
It might have been.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Michael Leaves who asked who asked? On Sports Center late
late last night, he asked Winden Worths. He goes, how
can the Rockets justify giving up all of that capital
and Winmor's basically shot the whole thing down and said,
because I don't think they gave up an immense amount
(04:26):
to get him.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
And he went into explaining what all the Rockets still
have in.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Certainly having the stable and then adding and then adding
Kevin to it, and then he said something, and this
is what I'm really curious about. He pretty much kind
of characterized second round draft picks almost like a bag
of donuts you'd throw in there. Now, obviously we know
a second round draft pick in the NBA draft doesn't
carry the weight that maybe a second round draft pick
(04:55):
in the NFL or even in the major league draft
as it goes, and that's where when folks or five
second round picks, it's like, yeah, but maybe it's like
five gallons of gas.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
You got a bonus on. What's your take on that
part of the deal?
Speaker 1 (05:08):
As well as the exchange of Jalen Green and Dylan
Brooks and the number ten.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Pick Well Craig.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
There are second round players in the NBA that are successful,
perhaps the greatest one of them recent years is Nicola
Jokich the Denver Nuggets. But by and large, the NBA
draft is a super heavy top ten draft. Doesn't mean
picks at twenty five can't do something, or picks twenty
nine Tony Parker, Kawhi, Leonard, Nikola jokicch I mean we
can go on and on and find and find diamonds
(05:36):
in a rough last year's NBA draft, the Rockets of
the third overall pick and had reed Shepherd out of
Kentucky and he hardly played.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So it depends on how deep a particular draft is.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
For me, I've never worried about second round picks, so
when I saw the number go out, there was no
alarm clock, the buzzer going off.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
There was no concern.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
The Rockets still have plenty of first round capital from
the deals with Brooklyn, the deals with Phoenix they have.
They'll have their own picks, and the only thing I
would say is that the Rockets have been able to
get better because of the draft of Jalen Green, of
a Jabari Smith, of a Men Thompson, because they kept
their first round selections.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Darryl Moore, the previous general manager before rafel.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Stone, moved those track picks around to go grab the superstars,
to go grab the stars, you know, the Chris Pauls
and the Russell Westbrooks and the other things to you know,
the Dwight Howards and whatnot. So it's been a nice
mix of keeping it young and realizing there was a
time to go get somebody, and this was the time
to go get somebody, somebody that Emay a Doka had
(06:39):
tremendous respect for. And that's why I think Kevin Durant
has been on the Rockets radar probably since the day
that Emay took Pa Java a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Visiting with Thatt Thomas radio play by play voice of
the Houston Rockets here on thirteen hundred the Zone and
Cameron Parker, a resident NBA Hank and by the way,
he's a Thunder fan.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
But that's a different story anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Oh, Okay, I'm gonna hang up now, Yeah I can, Matt,
Please don't hold that up against me.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Come on.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
It felt for a little bit there, Matt that the
trade rumors for Katie were kind of gravitating more so
to Miami and Phoenix and then Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Obviously, Houston was always in.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
The mix, but it felt like maybe Houston was kind
of on the cold side of that path, and all
of a sudden, this trade came together last week. What
do you think changed from the Houston side of this
to go ahead and decide to move away from the
number ten pick Jalen Green and go all in on
Kevin Durant.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I don't think anything changed on the Rocket side. Pure conjecture.
On my point, I think that Kevin Durant made it
perfectly clear that.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Minnesota was not a place he wanted to go.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I think Minnesota probably the best package, probably just sending
Rudy Gobert in a variety of first round picks to
Phoenix for him. Miami didn't as four or five core
players a Haimi Hotkez, a Khalil Ware that were unavailable
as well, and Jalen Green, as much as I liked
him and appreciated him and did bring value to his team,
(08:00):
was a one guy that just you could never get
away from the trade rumors of a guy that would
be up for grabs. Add on top of that, Kevin
Durant's willingness to go to only three teams san Antonio, Houston,
or Miami limited what Phoenix did. And ultimately the last thing,
guys is the draft is on Wednesday, and they want
to pick their own guy. San Antonio sounds like they
(08:21):
were not going to give up the number two pick.
The Rockets give up the number ten, and they had
to kind of take the best of what was available
to them because, frankly, Kevin Durant dictated how few teams
would be actually be involved in a situation where you
could not only bring him to your town, but with
signs two year extension, I believe the Rockets will eventually
get that done. May not be this week, may not
be until the calendar year starts until the July sixth,
(08:44):
but I fully expect Kevin Durant to sign a probably
at least a two year extension beyond this year.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So add all that.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Together and it just felt like the right fit was
Houston more so than maybe Minnesota, who would have offered
a much better package.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
And this treet obviously opens up some more minutes with
Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks to party. I think a
big winner of this matt Is Jabbari Smith Junior. I
think he his game reminds me a little bit like
Kevin Durant, and now Kevin Durant can be a fantastic
mentor to Jabari Smith. What are your thoughts on how
this trade will maybe benefit and effect Jabari Smith Junior
as well as some of the other young guys on
(09:18):
this rocket, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, we Cameron, we spent half the time today talking
about who would be the starter, whether it be Tari
Easton or Jabari Smith. And you can kind of pick
your poison because if one doesn't start, because the one
comes off the bench. I kind of like Jabbari as
a starter, but you know, I'll acquiesk to what he
may want to do. I like the kind of the
instant offense, and maybe a Tari Easing can do is
(09:40):
he's a little bit better offensive rebounder and to put.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
That guy, but either one it would be great.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I'm looking forward to seeing what Cam Wentmore can do
and Durant, you know, say.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
What you will.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I don't think he's a big of a mentor guy,
but he's certainly not going to be a guy that's
going to get in the way of other guys, this
is still going to be largely a man Thompson's team.
This is largely going to be a upera in Shingoon's team.
So he doesn't have to go to a locker room
where it's you know, he's having a fight with Draymond
Green and Steph Curry and other folks there at Golden State.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I mean he's turned him down twice.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
He doesn't have to go and what Jimmy Butler there either,
So you know, it's one of those situations that it's
a kind of a nice mix. He'll go to play
for a coach he knew when Emy was an assistant
in Brooklyn on Team USA. He knows he's gonna have
free reign to shoot where he wants to because the
Rockets were bottom three and three point shooting, and he.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Doesn't necessarily have to play every single night.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
This is a team that I think, at the end
of the day, can go nine players deep, and if
there's a back to back, he may Dooku's accustomed to
that and has worked it out very well for guys
like tarr Ethan would take days off, Steven Adams would
take days off, and I firmly believe that the Rockets
have built this team not for Kevin Durant to play
seventy five games, but to be healthy come playoff time.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, that's kind of where you were going next.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I was just going to ask you right now if
a fan were to ask you, what do you see
the Rockets starting five being you started to name them
off there, Yeah, my lean.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Would be Jabbari, but it would either be Jabbari or
a Tari East And I think it's going to be
Fred van Bleet in the backcourt with Amen Thompson. And
a man can do a little bit of everything. He
can guard four positions, he can play four positions. You've
got Durant, You've got Opera and Shinghun, and then you've
got the three that you'd figure out at this point
could either be a Jabari Smith or Tari easthan with
(11:24):
one of those guys coming off the bench, Cam Whitmore
comes off the bench, Ree Shepherd comes off the bench,
Steven Adams and guys.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
That's a nine man rotation I can live with for
eighty two games, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And that's where I was going next, is is this
a team with the rotation you just laid out that
you see as a legitimate threat to topple Oklahoma City
in the Western Conference next year.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
God, I hope.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So the reality, Craig is this, This was an NBA
Finals team or.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Bust type of move.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
You you got fifty two wins last year, but you
couldn't get past Golden State, who has been a thorn
in the Rocket side for over a decade now. And
so you did this to get with Oklahoma City because
the West is so loaded. What order the Lakers going
to be like now that you've got Lebron and Luca
working with each other for a full year. Minnesota's not
going away Denver. I wouldn't bury them.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oklahoma City is just thriving and young and have a
plug through of first round picks to get to.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's a doggy dog world out there, and this Western
Conference is going to be a hot mess. And plus
what will San Antonio do if Wemby can play a
full slate of games and not miss a lot of
time and come back from his injuries. So this was
built to get into that upper echelont You brought up
the early season favorites next year. The Rockets I think
are now considered fourth best favorite to win the NBA
Championship next year, I'll take it, but beating Oklahoma City
(12:46):
will be a prime task. The Rockets did beat them
twice during the regular season. We played them five times,
but I don't really count on that.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I think about what you want to do for the postseason,
and I think that's the reason why you made the
strategic move to finally go get a veteran after you
built the last couple of years on young players, and
that's why Kevin Durant fit the puzzle so well.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Final thing here, MT, when it comes down to with
the draft coming up on Wednesday, how does it reshape
what the Rocket's going to do with the draft on Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It's so Goofy Craig. They will not make this trade
official till July to sixth. So on Wednesday night, there'll
be a tenth pick that will put a Rocket cap
on and maybe attached to a Rocket jersey who will
never see a Houston Rocket uniform unless he's traded there.
So we're having a draft party downtown or at the
Tota Center. I don't know what the hell we're going
to do now. Because the Rockets don't have a first
(13:36):
round pick and as I said before, we are largely
a town of what's going on with the Houston teams,
and I don't think there'll be a lot of people
bumping around town going, oh, who's stands turning gonna pick
with number two. This city is right now about Kevin Durant,
it's about a young Aman Thompson, it's about what I'm
what Alpria and Shangoon is doing. So if you're a
basketball fan and you're in downtown Houston, come hang out
with us for a couple of hours. But largely, I
(13:57):
think the NBA Draft is a non sequit effect for
us at all.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, I think what they should do is right when
the Rockets pick the quote unquote Rockets pick at ten
comes up, have Katie in there and just have him
walk to the podium there at Toyota Center for you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I think that would complete it right. Oh my gosh,
you know, I haven't heard.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
He's not overly media friendly and doesn't do a lot
of that kind of stuff. That's why the whole fanatics
thing was kind of crazy yesterday watching that.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
But who knows?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
This to me feels like this is going to be
Katie's last stop he'll be thirty seven from the season begins,
I guess or thereabouts.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
You know, he's back in Texas.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Obviously, he loved his time in the University of Texas
and has a tremendous respect for Emana.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Donca, do not sit on this, Craig.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
This may be the start of something as long as
Ema A Dooka continues to have this really good reputation
among players, and he's got so many connections because he
fought his way just to make it to the NBA.
He fought his way just to be an assistant coach.
He worked with Pop all those years in San Antonio.
Then he said, you know what, I need to go
do something else. I need to be around other coaches.
That's why he went to Philadelphia and to Brooklyn before
(15:03):
getting his job in Boston.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So that is a factor. And I kind of like that.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I kind of like that my guy, my coach, is
so well respected and so beloved that this might not
be the last time a player will say, hey, I
want to come to Houston, and Ema Doak is going
to say, we'll try to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah. And oh, by the way, there's Royal Ivy in town.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
There and d Ge Augustine's coming back too. I mean,
I mean we're just nothing but Texas.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Players all over the place.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Well, then I imagine a pickup game, because he may
does pickup games. He and I do a weekly radio
segment together on my show, and he's like, you know,
I said, can you do one thirty or one o'clock?
He goes, yeah, I gotta put the pickup game first,
and apparently he's unbelievably salty. So really imagine the pickup
games now with DJ back after just being your act
up as Rocket career a couple of years ago, where
it's a nice gun, I nice enough guy, but yeah,
(15:51):
this is going to be an intense post shoot around
game match between all these guys that are recently retired
from playing professional basketball.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And those are two more of my favorites as well.
Royale and DJ a great time at Texas and people
loved him here as well.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Matt, thank you so much. I appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I know we'll check in some more as we get
ready for the start of football season as well, and
we'll do all that. So I appreciate you hopping on
the day and talk a little KD with us.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Calling time.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You know, I'll be bugging you during the course of
the year, and I'm happy to oblige. Thanks Matt, take care. No,
all right, that's Matt Thomas, voice of the Houston Rockets
there and from her sister station, our art station in Houston,
Sports Talk seven ninety. All right, there's some buzz about
the head coach at Coastal Carolina and what he said.
(16:40):
They got him kicked out of the game yesterday in
the National Championship in the first inning. What he said
in the press conference afterwards. We'll bring you some of
that coming up next here on thirteen under the Zone.
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