Are Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard ready for point-guard duty?

With the NBA’s 2025 summer league in the books and the Rockets giving what will likely be their final standard contract to defensive wing Josh Okogie, Houston appears set to enter the 2025-26 season with Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson, and Reed Sheppard as its primary ball-handlers and play initiators among rotation players.

After a brief but underwhelming stint in Las Vegas, Tuesday’s show explores whether Sheppard is up for the point-guard task, as well as whether Thompson is ready to take on the type of on-ball responsibility that Jalen Green often did last season. The episode also breaks down how recent signings such as Okogie, JD Davison, and Isaiah Crawford could potentially fit into the equation as training camp nears.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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Welcome aboard, Welcome in to another fresh episode of the
Logger Line, as always served to you courtesy of Houston's
Carback Brewing. I'm Ben Dubo's your host, editor of USA
Today's Rockets Far and contributor to Sports Talk seven ninety,

(00:50):
official flagspored radio station of your Houston Rockets. Today, I'm
joined by Powell Alms, my co hosted producer out of Portugal.
You can follow him on social media at power Aalves
NBA and me at Ben Dubo's so As we chat.
This Tuesday, July twenty ninth, we're officially in the dead
period of the NBA calendar. Summer league is over, free

(01:11):
agency and trade season is mostly over, and now people
around the league are going about their vacations, spending time
with family and friends before the grind truly begins with
the opening of training camps around October. First, we will
have the NBA's schedule release to look forward to in
early August, and with the Rockets now having Kevin Durant
on their roster and having legit SHIPI and Ship aspirations,

(01:31):
we're definitely gonna have a lot to talk about once
we get that schedule. But other than that, as far
as breaking news, the pace will definitely be slower here
on the pod. We'll try and compensate by having some
interviews with some of your favorite Rockets media personalities, so
stay tuned for some of that in the weeks ahead. Today, though,
we're going to try to do a quick runthrough of
what's happened since we last recorded an episode in mid July.

(01:53):
Summer League is coming gone, and the Rockets also made
some moves around the margins with the signings of Joshua
Kogi to a fully gear and teed minimum contract and JD.
Davison and Isaiah Crawford to two way deals. The Kogie
is a veteran defensive wing type player clearly fits into
the Imaudoka culture in Houston, while Davison is a young
point guard and Crawford a young small forward. Davison and

(02:15):
Crawford mostly spent their time last season with the GE
League affiliates of the Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings, and
Davison was actually the G League MVP. We'll eventually discuss
those roster moves and more, but I want to start
our conversation today with actual basketball, because honestly, it's the
last we'll see for at least a couple of months.
The Rockets went just one and four out in Summer League,

(02:36):
which really isn't that surprising when you look at the roster.
It's just sort of the cycle of contention in the NBA.
As your team gets closer to winning at all, eventually
you bring in more veterans and you don't have as
many high draft picks, and then you're not going to
have the type of deep summer league roster that the
Rockets did and we had gotten accustomed to when they
were rebuilding just a few years ago. But the one

(02:56):
exception of that rule is Reed Shepherd, the second year
guard out of Kentucky who the Rockets drafted at number
three overall back in twenty twenty four. He's the one
guy who was out on the floor in Las Vegas
who very realistically could be playing real games for you
next season. In fact, the current expectation is that he's
going to be your backup point guard behind Fred Van Fleet.
And the numbers for Reid in Vegas, let's just be blunt,

(03:19):
it wasn't ideal. He did average about twenty three points
and four steals per game, but it didn't come very efficiently,
shooting about thirty six percent overall and thirty two percent
from three point range. He also averaged four point five
overs to only two and a half assists, not exactly
the ratio that you're looking for out of the point guard.
In terms of each game and the individual numbers, he

(03:40):
was great in that first game against the Clippers, which
they almost won, and then pretty bad in that second
game when Detroit basically blew them out. Now, with that said,
there are some huge caveats to that data. For starters.
It's a ridiculously small sample. He played in just two games,
and honestly just one in three quarters because he came
out of the Secon one midway through the second half.

(04:02):
He was dealing with the minor calf injury which might
have limited his mobility some and then ultimately that led
to them shutting read down entirely after just those first
two games, and then the talent around him on that roster,
let's be blunt and call a spaces fade. It wasn't good.
So teams were definitely able to load up against Reid
in terms of how they defended because the Rockets just

(04:22):
didn't have too many other guys who could create advantages
or command much respect on the floor. So fine and large,
I think most of this is small sample sized theater.
It's nothing to get too high or too low about.
But I do understand some of the fan anxiety that's
out there because this is a season which, for the
first time in a while, you're entering with a realistic

(04:42):
goal of winning the championship, and based on the projected
rotation today, Reed Shepherd is the one and only guy
who hasn't yet proven that he can be a consistently
good rotation player in the NBA. So until he actually
does it on a regular basis, it's fair to have
at least some skepticism, even with a guy who was
drafted top three a year ago and as far as

(05:04):
Summer League. Even after stating all of those caveats, the
bottom line that I keep coming back to is this.
For the most part, he didn't look like one of
those guys who was clearly above of the level of competition.
If you remember back in twenty three when Jabari Smith
Junior went down to Summer League before his second season,
he was comically good. The Rockets shut him down after

(05:25):
two games because there's basically nothing locked to prove. He
just clearly belonged at a higher level of competition, and
then he immediately went out in a couple of months
and was a good starter for Ineudoka that next season
on a pretty competent Rockets team that finished forty one
to forty one with Red. Other than a few moments
he were there, it just wasn't the same vibe. And
that's not to say that it's an apples to apples

(05:46):
comp Obviously, Jabari is a much larger player at a
different position. Also, Jabari in twenty three he clearly had
better teammates around him relative to Read in twenty five.
But we can throw out those types of caveats all day,
and yet the line is it just wasn't a great
performance and nothing's going to change that at this point.
So Paul, I'll pass the baton to you. How do

(06:08):
you contextualize what we saw in Summer League from Reid,
both in terms of the good and bad of his
play and also if there's any predictive value from it.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, you obviously can't. You know, it's two games, right,
but it's not. It's kind of like the same thing
that it was. Well, it's a tough barrel to make, right,
but it's a little bit of the same thing that
we saw earlier on with Jillen's career, right. And I
don't mean to compare the two players at all. I
mean in the sense that, yes, it's two games, but
it's also two games that kind of reflect a little

(06:40):
bit of what we've been seeing in the other games
that he's played thus far. And to me, the things
that are particularly particularly worrying are he still can't really
move the vaterally on the on the perimeter, right, he
still gambles way too much. He'll get crazy steel and
block stats. But it's cert typical that this like he
just kept moveatally, so he has to campbell when defending.

(07:03):
And I kind of wish he would have learned a
little bit from Frevan Vleet, who also Campbell's a little
bit but can defense, point of attack, can be smart
in his decisions, even though he's probably he's obviously not
the best athlete. And then other than that, that's defensively right,
but then offensively, it just feels like he can't create separation.
It's not really about knocking down shots. It's that the

(07:25):
good game that he had was because during a stretch
he was just unconscious making like really touch shots, right,
and that that can work for you if you can't
tear its place, but you can knock down the shots.
That works. But that's a really hard strategy to make work,
I guess, And so it's a combination of things. And
then he had some stilly turnovers and then what felt

(07:48):
like a little bit of an attitude that I didn't
really like, feel like he was, you know, above this,
which doesn't really strike me as his type of personality
because in everything, you know, other contacts we've seen him,
he's always been really humble and really keey oriented. So
it was really weird to see him even then in

(08:08):
that whole interaction with the referees where he was like,
you know, I'm clearly above this. Why you're not respecting me? Right?
That was a little bit weird. As well, and so
not to say that reads a bust or anything. He's
gonna have, you know, an important role, but still a
backup role for this season, and he's still really young.
It's just some things that are stuff to project out.

(08:28):
And he's really reliant on being an elite three point
shooter and an elite middling shooter because he's going to
struggle to get a little him anyways, So it really
has to have that Chris Paul type of game for
it to work out. And it just didn't look like
he didn't look like he was, you know, a tier
above the other guys in Summer League. And yes, to
be fair, Summer League is really like Muddy the basketball,

(08:52):
which doesn't seem to be you know, his bread and butter.
He's more of a structured type of player. And you know,
obviously Summer League and is everything. But that so you
can't really take too many you can't really take too
many long term conclusions based on on these two games.
But then at the same time, since the only basketball

(09:12):
that we have watched the last two months and the
only basketball that we're gonna watch in the next what's
three months, so any season's really way too long. Yeah.
But then other than that, I think Summer League was
really am I will be honest with you, I could
not bring myself to watch them to watch the rest
of the games. Although, and I don't know if you

(09:35):
want to use this siseway into into our next our
next segment, but I think I would have worked a
few more summer gig games if we had JD. Davidson
and what's his slave, Isaiah Crafford. Yeah, I think I
would have walked if we have those guys because and
I'll get into it, but I'm pretty confident that at
least one of those guys is I have pretty big

(09:55):
points for one of those guys long term for what
a two way contract? Will you know? Usually warned?

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, And we'll get to that as we make our
way through today's pod. To your points on Reid's vibe.
I think one thing that was pretty unique for Reid
this year was that he was the only NBA caliber
guy on that roster, Whereas in the past, Rockets Summer
League teams that were accustomed to like I mentioned twenty
twenty three Jabbari who had Jabbari, Tari, Amen Cam Whitmore,

(10:25):
that team was loaded and most of the Rockets teams
this decade have been with at least one or two
NBA level prospects. Even last year when it was starting
to turn to a win now emphasis, it was Reid
and cam and Reid was the rookie, so there was
a lot more of a spotlight on him. For Reid
as a year or two guy, that'd be basically the
only viable NBA prospect on that team. I guess Cavan

(10:48):
Harris could be a defensive wing and a pen She
does have some NBA experience, but by and large, the
Rockets did not have a roster featuring NBA players, and
so I do think that puts Reid with all the
expectations that were on him coming out of Kentucky, it
makes it a little bit of a weird spot for him.
So I just wanted to clarify that. On reading sort
of his status and the whole pecking order in twenty five,

(11:09):
I think it was a little bit of a weird vibe.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
I can go, you know, kind of both ways on
this right, I can say it's a two game sample size,
and in these two games, he looked like the average
fourty year olds, you know, accountant that I see playing
in my local park. But at the same time, I
can go the other way and say, well, if we're
going we're talking about two game samples, let's look at

(11:33):
you know, across last season, well his only season, Reid
had three games where he played over thirty minutes, right,
three games in which you know he was tasked to
have a volume role where he could really set the
table for other guys for himself, right. And out of
those three games, you have gave me to one against
the Lakers, who I'm going which I'm going to just

(11:54):
throw out. Then you have two other games. You have
LEC game number eighty, which I guess you could throw
out as well, but for gender purposes, I'm not going to.
And you have the other over thirty minutes game is
the okay see game that everybody remembers. And in these
two games, he's shooting like seven or fourteen and ten
of seven teams, cutting over twenty points a game, getting
over for assists a game, and he looked like Key belong,

(12:16):
and he looked like he belong against Okce, the current
NBA champions who were playing I believe would Art, I
can double check, but they were playing wood Art and
Alex Caruso at the time, so you can't really Yeah,
Woodard was playing, she was playing, kat was playing, j
Will was playing, Kison Wallace was playing, Kruso was playing.
So you can't really look at that game and say, oh,

(12:39):
he was playing, okay, see seconds third stringers. No, he
was playing, you know, the starting lineup of the current
NBA champions and he went off right. So if we're
going to talk about small sample sizes, I can I
can just oppose, like, what was the two games sample
size in summer LYA can scrubs with what is a
two games simple size when he played starters minutes, which

(13:01):
is thirty plus against the best team in the league
and a pretty decent, you know, first rump playoff team
in the Clippers, where he looked like he belongs and
he looked like one of the brightest prospects sart of
his draft class, which is something that I'll throw as
as an aside. Even if you know, knock On wood
Reed doesn't pan out, it's not looking like there were

(13:23):
much better chance, much better choices that his speak anyways,
because that draft class is just just awful and I'm
not gonna I'm not gonna get into my thoughts on
on Stefan Castle because I don't want to anger sports sides,
but just to say, for Kerry picking two games, simple sizes,
Kerry pick the simple size where he played really well

(13:44):
against real NBA teams. So it's there's not really much
predictive value going forward from either of these two days,
of these two games, simple sizes, because that's what you
know truly matters to us. Will he be a playable
playoff guy come the postseason?

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah? For me, both of the summer league games. It's
a small sample, but I do think it's a fair
representation of Reid as a player. At least it's a
good microcosm because I think the constant in Reid's game
to this point is that there's a lot of volatility,
and in both of those games, Reid started off really

(14:28):
slow and then he picked it up as the game
moved along. That first game against the Clippers, you tease
to it, he had that ridiculous stretch where he had
like nine points on three deep threes and I want
to say ninety seconds at the end of the third quarter.
And he also had some big time steals and blocks
in that second half. Defensively, that started fast breaks and
they almost came back and won that game. And then

(14:50):
against Detroit it was kind of similar. There was an
awful stretch to start the game. Then he had a
good stretch in the second quarter, and I believe at
the half his numbers were pretty decent. Then he had
a ad run in the third quarter, and with the
Pistons up big and I think his calf was cramping
up again, they just said screw it, and he mostly
didn't play in the fourth quarter, and then the overall
numbers are pretty bad because unlike the Clippers game, he

(15:12):
didn't have that turbo nuclear stretch that gave them a bump.
And the larger point that I'm trying to make here
is that right now, the nature of his game, both
the strengths and the weaknesses, the size you mentioned it,
the lack of lateral quickness. He tends to be very
boom or bust in that he can definitely boom if
the threes are going in at high volume and he's

(15:34):
forcing a lot of turnovers. But the bus scenarios are
when he's just too small, he's not moving well enough,
and so it takes a larger sample oftentimes for those
things to even out, and then if you have one
of those turbo nuclear stretches like he did against the Clippers.
He's one of those guys where you look at the
box score and it doesn't feel like he's dominated a game,

(15:55):
but if all of a sudden, you know, he gets
on one of those, and he's shooting forty percent on
threes at high volume, and he's also got like eight stocks.
I he steals and blocks. I mean, he's probably gonna
be a net positive player overall. Like, let's choose that
Clippers game as a blueprint. He took fifteen threes and
made forty for some of them. Six that's eighteen points

(16:16):
right there, before we even consider two pointers and free
throws and assists and other things he does offensively, and
then defensively, he's starting with at least like seven or
eight stocks. If he's going to have twenty something even
thirty something points and eight stocks, by and large, he's
going to be a net positive player, especially when you
combine it with his IQ, his court vision. I know

(16:38):
the assistant over ratio is bad, but I do think
that's one thing we can attribute largely to his teammates
in Summer League and just the way he was defended
in the lack of respect that any other player on
the floor wearing a Rockets jersey commanded just based on
the shooting and the stocks. If he plays enough minutes
and he has one of those heaters, the box score

(16:58):
is going to be fine. And so conceptually, I do
think that that can translate to being a good player,
and it sort of meshes with his draft profile, like
when he was coming out of Kentucky, we knew there
were some elite trains and also some deficiencies or at
least question marks, and the hope was always that if
you lean to the elite, if you lean into the
elite strains enough, then those can end up winning out.

(17:18):
And so I think that's why you hear the Rockets
all the time telling me to be more aggressive, talking
about how they wanted to feel more empowered. All of
that makes sense on paper, but then where it gets
tricky for me is fitting it into a smaller role, like,
as you mentioned, being the backup point guard this season,
because obviously, on a team trying to contend, you're not
gonna throw him into starters minutes without having proven a

(17:39):
damn thing. We are well beyond that point. In Houston.
But I do think that the nature of his game,
specifically those strengths and weaknesses, makes it tougher to fit
into a smaller role. The analogy that I would make here,
and I think this is fitting because we're in baseball
season now. To me, he feels like a baseball hitter
that's got potentially elite power, but there's also some whole

(18:00):
in his swing, and everybody knows the power is good
enough even with those holes in the swing and lots
of strikeouts. Everybody knows that the power is good enough.
If he taps into it, he can be an All
Star or even an MVP candidate with that type of profile.
Bryce S.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
Matthews basically could be.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
But I've got a better one for you. The Houston
example that I was thinking of for this was actually
the first few years of Jeremy Panya, not Jeremy Peignya. Now,
because Jeremy just earned his first All Star honors this month,
but if you recall his first three seasons, so he
came out of the box super strong as a rookie.
Out in twenty two, he was MVP of both the

(18:40):
LCS and the World Series. Astros won their second title
he was everybody's hero. The ball just exploded off his bat.
People were blown away at how jacked he was in
terms of his muscles, his raw power. I know he
hasn't hit thirty home run yet before a shortstop. His
power is pretty elite. But the problem was he did
have this deficiency that he just could not handle low
and away breaking balls, especially the slider, and so other

(19:03):
teams pitchers they noticed that they leaned into it more,
especially going into his second season, and then Jeremy sort
of changed his approach. He adjusted back, but then the
problem became. Even though he got better at not flailing
in the dirt at every slider, even though he did
make contact more, the way he changed his approach made
him way less of a power guy. So even if

(19:23):
he didn't have the low lights that he did early
in his career, he also didn't have the same highlights. Now, thankfully,
in twenty five he's been able to put it all
together at the same time. And now we should acknowledge
he's been out for the past month with a broken rib,
but he's going to start in a triple A this week,
so it sounds like he's on the way back. And
thankfully my god, the Astros need him because they are

(19:46):
walking wounded at the moment, having just gotten swept at
home by the A's the al wes Lei as our
recording time is just four games. But to get back
to read, I think in time, the hope is that
maybe he can keep the highs and also in the
deficiencies like pain you did, basically keep the same high
ceiling but raise the floor. But I doubt that's gonna happen.
And you're two twenty one years old, just two months

(20:08):
removed from whatever we saw at Summer League. I think
right now the odds unlikely scenario is he's still going
to be fairly boom or bust, and you just need
to lean into those strengths as much as you can.
But it's difficult with the smaller role, because like if
Reid's playing thirty plus minutes per game as a starter,
like that Thunder game, like that Clippers game that you
sided powow, then on a lot of nights it'll even

(20:31):
out and it's just like the Summer League game against
the Clippers, he'll have one or two of those crazy
good stretches where before you know it, the overall box
score line looks positive, and everyone can argue that the
good outweighs the bad. The problem becomes when you're trying
to extrapolate that in a team environment to a fifteen
minutes per game role. Statistically, you can certainly argue that

(20:53):
even if he shoots one of eight and fifteen minutes
one night, well he should be due to maybe shoot
six of eight the next night, and then by the
end of the year the numbers all even out, just
as they would if you're starting and playing major minutes.
But that approach isn't really realistic in a team construct,
especially trying to win on a contender, because if you
go one to eight with four turnovers in fifteen minutes

(21:15):
and you're also getting blown by on defense because you're
trying to gamble too much, and you end up losing
by four points, it's gonna feel like you cost your
team the game. And veteran players, coaches I Kevin Durantimo Joka,
they're gonna get grumpy. Sometimes they're not just gonna say
keep firing away, you'll get him next time. They'll stay
or at least hint at some variation of Hey, it's

(21:36):
not your night, why don't you give somebody else to try.
That's human nature. And next thing you know, a young
player ends up getting tentative and passive. And we've seen
this time after time in the NBA, and I think
at times it's what we saw from Reid as a
rookie in the games where he had a lot of runway.
I when he had the opportunity to play thirty plus
minutes per game, he wasn't looking over his shoulder. He
played his game. He trusted that the sample would normalize.

(21:59):
He wasn't a praise of making mistakes, and if he
made his first few shots, he'd play free and loose.
But if it was a game where he was on
a tight leash and the first few shots didn't go in,
or he had a couple of mistakes defensively, it feels like,
at least to me, that he becomes less aggressive. He
doesn't want to be the reason his team loses, and

(22:21):
that's just human nature. To go back to the baseball
analogy with high strikeout hitters, which you often see is
that in these high pressure situations, they'll change their approach
like they choke up on the bat more. They try
and avoid these embarrassing strikeouts where they fail in the dirt.
Nobody wants to see that. If the game is on
the line, they want to at least put the ball
in play. The problem is that when you do that,

(22:42):
many times they're taken away from what should be their
biggest strength. And so to maximize their skill set, you
want them to feel empowered and lean into what actually
makes them elite in the first place. And so that's
where I think the Rockets are at with Reed in
a basketball construct. To me, the best thing they can do,
and we'll take the baseball analogy full circle here. Let

(23:03):
him hit some singles, find some plays, some sets that
he likes, and lean into them, especially early in games
early in the season. First has when it's lower leverage.
Maybe it's having Steven Adams set screens. We know how
a lead he is at that. Maybe it's the two
man game with Kevin Durant, who brings an insane amount
of gravity. I know technically, Read and Stephen played on

(23:24):
the same second unit last season, but it was very
early on when Reid was in the rotation and Steven
was just a shell of himself physically coming off the
knee surgery. He should be much healthier this year, but
to me, the bottom line, and this long winded analogy
is that if you can make sure that Reid is
at least getting some singles, I think he's going to
have a much better shot at being in the right

(23:45):
headspace to still swing for the fences and make those
home run plays, because right now he needs those home
run plays for his formula to work. In time, I
think you can hope for the deficiencies to be improved.
I don't think that's going to happen in the next
two to three months. So I think what the Rockets
need is for him to be the best version of

(24:06):
himself that he can be, to try and maximize those
clear skills and still hit a few home runs in
a way that last year it felt like unless he
played thirty minutes per game, he just wasn't playing nearly
freely enough for that to happen. In my opinion, what
Summer League showed you is that those deficiencies, while not
necessarily crippling, they are still there at least for the

(24:26):
time being, and so he needs those home runs, He
needs those turbo nuclear stretches to offset that, and so
I think a big key is going to be making
sure he's getting at least some positive feedback, some positive
reinforcement so that he doesn't just drift back into the
mindset of don't make a big mistake. And I'll close
the loop by making one more analogy. We'll go all

(24:48):
three major US sports here, because I've got a football
one for you. Texan's recently open training camp this week.
Reed's not going to be this good this season if
he's strictly in game manager mode and he's not challenging
defenses at every level. He needs some completions, he needs
some first downs, He needs to see some things go

(25:08):
right and to build competence so that he's still in
the right headspace to keep pushing for those home run
plays that he needs right now to actually be a
positive player. So that's my long winded view of where
things go from here, Paolo, what do you think about
that analogy and my general take of Reach Shepherd as
the Jeremy Pinia of the Rockets. If you want to

(25:29):
send this analogy reach Shepherd as twenty twenty six NBA
Finals MVP.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
I mean, I think there's an easier analogy. And we
had that guy for the last few seasons, and that
guy was dealing Green, you know, guy that was really
boom or bust. He had a really great playoff game
and then five games where he stuck. I mean, I
don't want to keep bringing the guy up, but I
think I think that's it. And I think that kind

(25:56):
of guy is okay if he's coming off the bench
in a position where you can see if he's got
it going, and he's got it going, to keep keep
playing him if he doesn't invent him. It's harder to
have a guy like that in the study lineup, but
that's not the position Reads in and so that's an
easy problem to solve if it ever becomes a problem.
I think Rockets didn't really make do that great of

(26:18):
a job putting these to a position where Reed can fail.
But I guess if you count a man is the
second point guard, that's sail in role obviously, and you
count Aaron Holiday as you know, the third point guard
the fourth one. If Freedom not playing well, then I
guess I guess that's all right. When you also consider

(26:38):
that Deevin Drand is the lead ball hand what it
needs be, I think they'll be fine. I think there's
also a world in which they bring in a buyout
guy at the in the buyout market, you know where
into the season because to feel that sifting spot that
they came to right now. So I think all in all,
they'll be fine. I think the discussion will eventually be
if it doesn't pan out, at which point should the

(27:01):
shoot The Rockets have moved on from it, right if
if this doesn't pan out, obviously, if he becomes a
great player, then thank god they didn't. But I think
it's an interesting it will be an interesting conversation, you know,
as the season progresses, because obviously with draft picks, you
know or say that they're peak value before being drafted,
and then they're the Obviously, depending on their performance, theyve

(27:24):
to go down in value or up in value. And
I wonder where we are currently in the spectrum for Reid.
If is if this is the highest is illill be
within the next three years, or if this is you know,
lower than what it will eventually be. But all in all,
you know, when you look at this team going forward,
if you want to do the contending thing while also

(27:46):
retaining upside, I think retaining Read is part of what
gives you that upside, right, because I think when you
look at Read and what the and what the best
version of him could be. Maybe you're looking at a
guy like Steve Nash, or maybe you're looking at a
guy like I don't know, Briton. Richard is what people
were talking about, obviously as a middle term somewhere in there.

(28:07):
But obviously, as I said, I phone to retain that upside,
you've got to run somewhere of playing ice for mistakes.
And when you do that in the team with high expectations,
those guys are going to either think or swim, and
let's hope Read swims. But as you said, some of
it was not that a that grade of a showing.
But thankfully, you know, by design the Rockets have put

(28:31):
themselves in a position where they have to give Read
the chance, whether they like it or not. And so
there won't be cam with multype arguments because we will
get a champs whether your local acts or not. He's not.
He doesn't have really anybody else that he can play there.
So yeah, we'll see, We'll see how it goes well.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
And one distinction I would make between Read and Jail
on it, but at least on paper, Reid has more
potential to provide off ball value as an elite shooter.
Now he's got to do it. But there's a lot
of data to suggest going into his NBA career that
Reid was a generational shooting prospect. That was the one
skill that everybody thought would translate. Now it was the

(29:18):
entirety of his game. Would he be able to put
shooting and playmaking and everything together even in a relatively
undersized package the way Steph Curry did fifteen years ago,
that's maybe pie in the sky, but that's obviously a
super high end outcome. And then worst case, he should
at least shoot threes at a very high level. And
that's something where relative to Jalen, Jalen almost had to

(29:41):
have the ball in his hands a lot for his
model to hit at the highest level, and that was
in many ways the problem with Reed. There is a
world where even if some of the high end outcomes
don't hit, he does still provide value as a guy
who can basically be a bench shooter, and especially if
he makes a few plays defensively, can get you the

(30:04):
stocks without being burned as much, can be a net
positive player even if he doesn't come around as a
star offensively. By putting the entire package together, time will
tell on that, but I do think that's one small
distinction with or between Jalen and Reed that I think
is important, especially going into a season where Red's gonna
come off the bench and have something of a complimentary role,

(30:26):
And I think it's important to emphasize that because one
thing that I do believe has gotten lost and it's
gonna be a little bit different relative to last season.
The reps for Reid might not be quite as high
leverage as some have hyped them up to be, and
maybe that's going to simplify the game for him as well,
especially compared to Summer League, where he was clearly Option

(30:48):
one A on the scouting report for everybody that was
trying to defend the Rockets. I'm going to quote Danielle
Lerner of The Chronicle who wrote this a few days
ago in her story about the Rockets signing Joshua Kogi.
Keep in MINDKGI was the last minimum contract for the
Rockets to give out before being right up against the
first A from Hardcap, which is where they're at now.
So I do think there's clearly some strategy that that's signing.

(31:09):
Here's what Danielle wrote about it. The Rocket's decision to
sign another wing, a position at which they already possessed
considerable depth, rather than a guard, appears to signal competence
in the main ball handling trio of Fred VanVleet, A
Men Thompson, and Reed Shepperd, supplemented by a veteran combo
guard Aaron Holliday. Those are Danielle's comments. She listed a
men's second Paolo, you mentioned men in this capacity earlier,

(31:33):
and as for me, I've honestly heard a lot of
the same things. After the a Kogi deal leaked, I
texted someone in the front office and asked what they
thought about the anxiety from fans who were surprised they
didn't go after a ball handler. His response to me was, Hey,
we already have four point guards. How many do we need?
And yeah, the fourth is in reference to a Men Thompson.

(31:53):
I think, at least on social media, everybody thinks it's
Fred Reid and Aaron because that's what shows up on
the depth charts. But we all know a man has
point guard skills. That was a huge part of his
draft profile two years ago. And even though the Rockets
aren't as big as some teams are, when it comes
to putting precise positional labels on their players. I do
think they believe in the general principles of certain skill

(32:14):
sets and what you need in order to have a
complete team and a championship contender. And in this case,
I don't think them putting a men in that tier
is lip service. I don't think it's just them pr
spinning it after the fact and trying to rationalize it
as being the best path simply because it happens to
be the one that was available to them. No, I
think they genuinely believe that he can and will function

(32:35):
in this way, and that might simplify Reed's role as well.
Another thing that I learned this summer, and I think
I mentioned this in one of our recent pods. Can't remember,
but I heard during and right after the Katie trade
talks one reason the Rockets were open to including Jalen
Green in that deal, besides the obvious of salary and
the fact that it's Kevin Epan Durant, was that they

(32:56):
needed to open up more on ball reps for a
men time. And I think going back to last year,
what people forget the second point guard after Fred and Fleet,
when everybody was healthy, it wasn't Reed Shepherd, and it
also wasn't Aaron Holliday, it was Jalen Green when everybody
was healthy. Imi Udoka's clear preference was basically to stagger
Fred and Jalen to where at least one of them

(33:17):
was out there for all forty eight minutes you had
one of them at the lead guard, and the data
actually showed the Rockets were at their best when it
was one of them, either Fred or Jalen, and then
four front court players. There were games in the playoff
where Aaron Holliday, who technically was the backup point guard
on paper, barely played it all. And so what the
data showed was that not only did Jalen operate as

(33:39):
the point guard when Fred wasn't on the floor, but
the Rockets functioned well as a team with Jalen in
that role. So conceptually the role seems to be fine.
It's not like they need a super traditional point guard.
And for all the criticism that Jalen took last season,
they did need him to generate advantages off the dribble
and to collapse defenses at times. He's one of the
only players the Rockets had that could do that. On

(34:00):
the perimeter, off the dribble. It's just that moving forward,
the Rockets think of men has an even higher ceiling
when it comes to doing those types of things. And
maybe he wasn't quite ready to take on that level
of on ball responsibility in year two, but I think
clearly they think he will be in year three and
especially the years beyond that as he refines his handle,

(34:21):
gets better, making reads all those types of developmental things.
And sure Katie will have his share of on ball
touches as well, but I think Katy is much more
comfortable off the ball and better it's a floor spacer
than Jalen ever was or likely will be. And so
that's not to say there won't be a role for
Reed or even Aaron Holliday. Again, shooting is always important.
There's also going to be games where you need smaller

(34:43):
guys who are a little bit shiftier, and ideally you
can also function with more than one ball handler at
a given time. The Rockets couldn't make it work that
well last year when it was Fred Jalen and three
front court players, but hey, if it's a better shooter
that can function better off Allen Jalin, maybe you can
have two ball handlers, and you can have you know,

(35:03):
A men and Read or Fred and Read. Time will tell,
But I think for now, the way the Rockets are
looking at this is that when healthy Fred and a
men are going to be your two primary engines, they're
going to be somewhat staggered. And then basically every minute,
meaningful minute that is with your team healthy is going
to have at least one of them on the floor

(35:23):
as the so called lead guard. And so when you
look at it that way, while there are certainly minutes
for somebody like for Reid, the overall importance might go
down a tick. And then from there, I think the
idea is that if the game is simplified, it might
make it easier to read or read to not be
overextended and thus to do what I was just describing
and play to his strengths. More So, my question for you, Paolo,

(35:45):
are you more comfortable with read if you frame it
in that way? Basically the idea that it's Fred and
the men who primarily have the keys to the car,
and then what you're looking for from Read, at least
in year two is something that's a little more supplemental.
He's not really happened to be the engine in his minutes.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
The person istic site of me after looking at it
that way, tells me but that by the end of
the first third of the season we will just be
playing more minutes of dard Innismith and Trees and we
play Read and will just play a man and and
and and Fred as the full time point cards, which,

(36:27):
now that I think about it, you know, obviously those
who follow me on Twitter know that I have a
little obsession over trying to make their rotations work with
all pieces that we have. So if you don't play
you Read, then it all makes a lot more sense
because you you just play A Man and Fred the
full time point cards, and then you you start at

(36:48):
the minutes, and then you you move either Tar or
Smith to the too or even KD in some situations,
and obviously you it's that same formula of one lead
ball handler guard and about wings. So it really doesn't
mean much if you're playing the two other than got
a guard toos, which a lot of our wings can do.
But obviously it's less responsibility on Read. But now it

(37:11):
makes me question my previous statement just a few minutes ago,
where I said, you know, sink or swim, he's going
to play anyway. Well, maybe not in that situation. Obviously,
injuries will still happen, you know, knock on wood. But
it's just a certainty of an NBA season, and so
there will be points of the season where we have
to play him, which is good because we want to

(37:32):
see what he can what he can do. As far
as responsibility, I'm not sure it applies that way, simply
because he seems to play better when every when he's
got everything in his place right. He doesn't seem to
be a guy that works better in a smaller role.
And think that that was part of the problem for
his rookie season was that perhaps he didn't have enough

(37:54):
volume to be fully comfortable. And so I'm not sure
if Haven and Fred kind of playing Jill and Fred
rolls ball handling wise, will be that much better for
his development. Well, I guess the trend that we had
last season continues.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Well, I guess the question becomes does he simply need
shot attempts or does he need touches? Because when I
was saying simplified role, I meant in terms of him
being the full blown floor general who's orchestrating your offense.
I wasn't talking about him necessarily shooting less, but functioning
a little bit more in an off ball capacity, And
Garrett Jackson talked about that leading up to Summer League,

(38:38):
that the Rockets wanted to work him in both on
ball and off because of how he could be used
next season. So I guess that's the question. I do
think that he could get the same shot attempts, but
we're talking, but then the question becomes, can he shoot
at an elite level if he's functioning more off ball
or does he need to dribble into his shots. If
he needs to dribble into his shots, then yeah, you

(38:59):
might need use him as a point guard board that
becomes an issue.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
Yeah, I'm afraid that was what I was referred to.
I think he needs more touches. I think in an
off ball role. We saw happen a little bit last season.
Him as the lead, you know, ball handler. I think
the biggest difference, because when you look at the games
when he played well, he really that lead ball handler. Yeah,
So I think I think it's more about maybe he
needs to fill the ball a little bit more than

(39:24):
than those because there's obviously the types of guys who
really need to touch it the cat shots off. I
agree with you, but I think we fits more in
the other category there.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I do think he would benefit from watching a lot
of Lou Williams tape. I think seeing how Lou used
a somewhat similar package to do things off the ball,
I think potentially would play well with Reed's skill set.
But yeah, he could be one of those guys we'll
see who just needs a lot of touches to get

(39:54):
comfortable and get in the flow and doesn't work as
well as you know, a microwave tie that is super
flug and play. I think it's hard to tell with
the sample that we've had so far, and it's a
little bit of sort of chicken or the egg, because
maybe it's not the fact that he's touching the ball
so much. Maybe it's that he's not flanked by as
many guys where his place in the pecking order is

(40:17):
in question. Maybe there's more role clarity in those settings.
Last year we have played thirty plus games, and maybe
if he has role or thirty plus minutes, and maybe
if he has role clarity, even if it's more of
an off ball capacity, that that can translate this year.
But we'll see it's certainly possible that he turns into
a guy who needs to play a point guard to

(40:37):
simply get the most out of his skill sets, because
he shoots better the more he touches the ball. Even
if it's a small sample to this point, that has
certainly been the case. Anyway, before we wind down the pod,
let's run through the other transactions. You made a good
point about, well, if Reed isn't operating on the ball,

(41:00):
then is it a lock that he's gonna play? And
that's where I think the Joshua Koge signing is sort
of interesting, because look, he's a six foot five guy
with a super long wingspan, great offensive rebounder. It's ridiculous
how many offensive rebounders the Rockets have. Now there's a
clear Imai Udoka type of player, and I guess we
should have looked into Joshua Kogi morcause in some ways

(41:22):
he's sort of like a backcourt version of jay Sean Tate.
And so if Reed is operating off the ball, especially
if he's maybe a good but not elite shooter from three,
a Kogi actually shot a career best thirty five percent
from three last year, So yeah, there could be matchups
where if Reed's not really used as a point guard,
where they say, you know what, screw it. We want
the additional height and defensive versatility of a guy like

(41:46):
a Kogi versus Reed Shepherd, who clearly is mostly limited
defensively at this point. He is going to put up stocks,
but he's fairly limited on a possession of possession basis
as someone that's generally speaking, defenders the other four defenders
will need to help up against. So I think a
Kogi is an interesting signing in that construct. I think

(42:07):
you can debate whether it's good or bad because even
if it's good for winning a given game, long term,
there's the developmental component, and so I don't think you
want to end this season with Reid being where he
is now. You want to feel like he's taken a
step forward. So there's a lot to balance here. But
in terms of winning games, and especially as you get
to maybe high leverage playoff games, it's a good tool
for Emodoka to have in his bag. So I should

(42:29):
have looked at it more because when I dig into
the background and I see the career shooting year last year,
and by the way, there's also a connection between Hogi
and Kevin Durant, who played together with the Suns. Yeah,
it actually makes a lot of sense for a kogi
being an Emeyodoka culture guy, a Kevin Durant culture guy,
and someone that fits exactly as a plug and play

(42:50):
option and much the same way that Jay Sean Tate
did last year. Someone that's certainly not going to play
every game, we'll get a few dmpcds, but also someone
with a very high floor that you can call on
in a pinch and will definitely know what they're doing.
So I think that's an interesting signing. And then you
mentioned earlier the two G League guys JD. Davidson from
the Celtics and Isaiah Crawford from the Kings. I'm really

(43:12):
intrigued by Davison just because I think his skill set
is a good contrast relative to read. So the Rockets
are listing Davison at six foot three, two hundred and
fifteen pounds, so he's a bit bigger and thicker, and
if you watch his highlights his athleticism, it pops. Now
clearly he's proven he can play for G League level.

(43:33):
He just won MVP. He hasn't done much in the NBA,
but he also hasn't had an opportunity, so I don't
think that's a knock against him. The Celtics last three
years have been stacked, and the only reason that they
had to let him go this offseason was to get
underneath the second apron. So he hasn't gotten a real
NBA look yet. But for a guy that's put up
numbers twenty five plus points, seven plus assists per game

(43:53):
on reasonable efficiency at the G league level, he's an
interesting bet. And now he's on a two way with
the rock The other day, I did a story at
Rockets Wire recapping what Davison's teammates with the Celtics had
said about him last season, and Powells some of these
were really intriguing. I'm going to read you a few
of those. Jalen Brown, perennial All Star, said of Davidson,

(44:15):
you could tell he took it to another level in
training camp. I think he's been able to learn from
our guys, going against Peyton Pritchard, Drew Holliday, Derrick White,
he's gotten so much better and that's credit to him.
He's developed at a high rate. Then Al Horford, this
is really good Jad is a really good passer and
he has a good feel for the game, especially when
he's playing kick and roll. He's a real guard. He's

(44:36):
able to kind of manipulate the defense, and then his
ability to get to the basket. He's really explosive. Horford
went on to tell Celtics Blog, that's the Espionation affiliate
that did this story on what Jady Davidson's teammates think
of him. Horford said he views Davidson's most NBA ready
skills right now as his playmaking and ability to get
to the rim. Then you have Derrick White. Jad is

(44:56):
probably our best lob thrower. Just the way he manipulates
the defense. That this is the second guy who compliments
Jad's ability to manipulate the defense. To read the full quote,
the way he manipulates the defense in the pick and roll,
it's really high level. Playing against him a lot in
training camp, he was a hard guard. Then Drew Holliday,
he's so comfortable, he fits right in. He's definitely going
to be a really good NBA player. And so to me,

(45:18):
that's a good change up to have relative to Read Shepherd,
because look, I know they're still Aaron Holliday, and he's
got merits as a three and D piece, But ideally,
I think you'd prefer a younger player in that role
with a bit more upside. And so if it turns
out forever reason that read just isn't big or physical enough,
or if he needs more seasoning, whatever the case may be, okay,

(45:41):
then here's another young guy at the exact same position
entering his fourth season reading year two, Davison in year four,
who just happens to have a different skill set that
might be more conducive to certain matchups. For me, the
more I dig into it, it feels like a really
nice hedge to have as the Rockets get closer training camp.
And we should also note that he's got experience playing

(46:03):
with Jabori. I believe Davison and Jabori were AU teammates
before Jabori went to Auburn and then Davison went to Alabama,
same part of the country. Now, with all that said,
I still think the very likely and odds on favored
scenario is that Red is ready for the rotation job
and he wins it. There's a reason they draft through
number three overall. They have a lot invested in him.

(46:25):
They do believe in him. The hype is real, but
it is nice to have backup plans. It's nice to
have an alternative, and as I see it, to take
the pod full circle, JD. Davison feels like a pretty
good one at a spot where the Rockets do at
least have some questions, like, we hope Reid works out.
He can work out, but let's not act like it's

(46:45):
a certainty. And so to have someone like Davison as
a hedge that's played well at the G League level
and has gotten rave reviews from teammates who have proven
it and won at the highest level, it's not nothing.
There's something there, and he's a young guy with upside.
So to have those two guys going up against each
other and practice in training camp on a regular basis

(47:06):
with contrasting skill sets, each potentially buying for some of
the same minutes. I think Reid is definitely the odds
on favorite to win those minutes, but Davison can push him,
and I think the combination the two can be really
interesting and it gives e May yet another club in
the bag. To go back to that analogy, how I
think that's it for me as far as the rest

(47:26):
of the transactions. Has anything stood out to you as
far as these French guys that Rafelstone and Imo Udoka
are bringing in as they fill out the training camp.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
Roster, Yeah, I did say, so, I'll talk all about
all three. I just think that jeffic Coge is different
than all of the other little wings that we currently have,
as in he's much more of a guard defender than
any of the other guys we have. Obviously, Tatari can
do a job right the men's obviously the best on
ball defend to me in the NBA, and then no,

(47:56):
Dardian Phinis Smith can do a job, but it's not ideal.
Anyonoey as he gets older, Garay can do a job,
but he's a little bit too tall, so he would
be probably our second best on ball defender on guards
besides him and Thompson. So he does something that we
you know, although it's it's a different shade of the
same thing. It is, you know, a different skill set.

(48:18):
If the shots still there suns fans on social media
on a Reddit, we're talking about him being really streaky.
We'll see maybe he catches fire at the right time,
but for the minimum, he's a good quest to have.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Let me jump in real quick as a shout out.
I don't know if you remember this game, but early
twenty nineteen, when James Harden was on the Unguardable Tour,
what Josha Kogi did in Minnesota against Harden was, and
I think a Kogi was a rookie at that point,
was maybe the best most brilliant individual defensive game that
I've ever seen played against James Harten. Just want to
give a shout out there.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
Yeah, yeah, that when when I hear Josha Kogi, that's
still the first thing that comes up. It is me
looking on on Basketball Reference and thinking Misted is a really,
really good defender, but then looking at it and you
know he can't shoot. That's why he's on the Wolves
at the time. The Wolves are terrible, So so a
Kogi does feel a neat And if you're talking about

(49:11):
the Rockets having four point guards, then I guess no,
that makes sense to bring up about about a Kogy. Sorry.
Beside the offensive reboundy, which is awesome, mad he is
also a four point eight steals per one hundred possessions
SKY last season, which is insane. Like he I think
he led the league, in like the efficiency, like the

(49:34):
relation between his steals and the minutes that he played,
like to talk about real in game minutes. He averaged
as one point two steals a game, playing fifteen minutes
a night. If you ever seed up to thirty minutes
to night, he'd be arging two point four stills a game,
which would be insane and probably league leading in most
seasons besides the one where Dyson Daniels waves insane. So

(50:01):
beyond that, talking about the other two guys, JD. David,
there is a uh, I think we've we've been through
these this enough times to see that small guards really
struggle in the league. Rugers have him at six to three.
You no Basketball Reference has them at six to one,

(50:21):
and then when you combine yeah, small guard but also
can't shoot, get gets even tougher. But I do, I
do like him and I and as like an overarching point,
I will say I have no idea how the Rockets
manage to get to what is the J League MVP
from last season, and as a wall get into who
I think should probably have gotten a real NBA contract.

(50:44):
I have no idea how the Rockets managed to grab
those two guys on two ways on a team that's
already as deep as Rockets are where they are so
kind of not really probably a lot less likely to
see real minutes than they would probably be in other teams.
So I have no clue ot these guys. Maybe they were,
you know, the first ones to come to them and

(51:05):
so they would rather lock in a two radial then
than wait for something better. But amazing job at getting
guys on these guys on two radios. I have no
idea how they did, and I do wonder if they'll
wave one Harris for you. Probably don't they, but that's
another story. So I think they've some It's as I said,

(51:25):
you can have the most glowing reviews from teammates, and
if you have that rare talent of manipulating defenses and
all of those, you know, really kind of small advantages
that you've can create with just with the way you
angle your body and in your little in your in
the movements of your eyes. He has that side of
being a point guard nailed down. That's rare and maybe

(51:46):
that becomes something, but it's just tough when you're six
to one and you're another very three points shoter. But
then beyond that The guy I really want to talk
about is I say Crawford, who I have no idea
first of all, how he's with all the wings that
we have, and how he's not getting minimum contracts from
any of these rebuildings.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
He is.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
And I'll bring it up just so I'm not I
don't say something wrong. But he is a six foot six,
seven foot one wing span twenty three year old small
forward who won Defensive Player of the Year in college.
He's an incredible defender, incredibly lengthy. He shot forty one

(52:29):
percent from three both in college and then in the
Taly And there's like, how is this guy not getting like?
And then you watch him play and there's a lot
more to his game than just being a three and dealing.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
Right.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
He's not a Robert Covington's side in the sense that
you know, he can play the defense, he can shoot
three kinda and he can't do anything else. No, he's
got a little legal to the game. He's he's credit
a nice handle, can you know, generate his own shot,
you know, limited, but still when you're shooting fifty forty
or host of fifty forty ninety splits, you can be
taking too many bad shots. And so he strikes me

(53:05):
as the exact type of player that we've seen the
thunder used to fuel them going into contemption, which is
you get him on a two way. He's eligible for
a two way this season, he's eligible for two way
next season. And when you're a two way contract, you're restricted,
right so by the faulty restricted. So if Rocks have

(53:25):
him more two way this year, they can have more
two way next year, and after that he'll still be
restricted and they can probably offer him a typical you know,
the Inky special four year or three year, depending on
how the MLS work nowadays, minimum contract, kind of like
the Boston Celtics have with my guy and Miss Kata,
who has been a contributors to them and will be

(53:45):
probably their starting center or backup or first halft events
this season, in which you're going to get a guy
that can contribute for a really cheap deal when you
have to start playing your guys real money, and two
eighty this year, two way next year, he'll be a
minimum contract by the time Amn Thompson is mitting maximithy,
which is the time where you're probably not going to

(54:07):
be in a situation where you can have the luxury
of having the Dorian finished Smiths of the world. The
Stephen Adams is of the world. Okay, comes off the
books as well. When you start playing, you know, forty
million for saying Eune, forty million for a man, twenty
five million for the Bari, twenty million for thirty reason
and at that point where you you really can gain
a huge event adventage from having a contributor on a

(54:29):
minimum deal's. I know this is a lot of projecting
for what is just a two way guy right now,
but I will go where go on YouTube watch him
play check is stats check, is meserables. WA's the way
he moves, What's the way he's even a short walker?
He's got everything? And I have no idea how this
guy too, I have no idea how I didn't know

(54:50):
about this guy before he was protected by Santasini as
the sixty second best prospect in his draft, and I
just I don't know how. Maybe it's because of the
perceived lack of upside, but he strikes me as the
exact type of player that makes the consenting team stick

(55:12):
as they start playing a certain amount of money to
their stars. Maybe an overreaction, but from what I've been
able to do to digg up on him. He seemed
like the perfect type of guy. When I say this,
I talk about it. I said, Miss Kata, one of
the Thunder. You have Eron Wigains, you have Kenrith Williams,
you have Isaiah Joe. You have all of these guys

(55:32):
that you know, nobody really heard of, or there were
second round picks or wait for st north picks or
undrafted the guys that you know, the Thunders brought along
and eventually they became cheap key pieces on one of
the deepest teams in the NBA. And I do think
that Isaiah prof is going to eventually be one of
those guys. And I just hope that in a couple
of years I'm clipping back the spot to show everybody

(55:53):
that I believed on him. Call the state. Yeah, I
do think that he's he's got real potential to be that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
And to offer a quick rebuttal on Davison, the reason
that even while certainly the deck is stacked against him
as a smallish guard, the reason I'm sort of intrigued
by it is that the Rockets are already going to
be having a lot of infrastructure in place to accommodate
a small guard based on making plans for Reach Shepherd
to be in their rotation. So it's the combination of

(56:20):
those two guys and having another guy with I don't
want to say similar upside because certainly Read should have more,
but another young guy with upside, let's put it that way.
When you're already planning to play a smallish point guard,
I do think that some of the difficulties in a
small card making it in the NBA might be a
little bit less so here when obviously you're starting priven

(56:42):
Fleet and you're bringing or planning to bring Reach Shepherd
off the bench. So I think just having the ready
made infrastructure already having a plan for, you know how
you defend it a high level with a player like
that on the floor, the fact that the Rockets are
already making plans for some of that could give him
a little bit better chance. Not saying they're going to
give him a serious law in training camp for a
rotation spot. There'd have to be injuries or a lot

(57:03):
of things going wrong for Read not to at least
get a look to open the season. But I do
think it's nice to have in reserve in case things,
for one reason or another, don't work out as you
hope they will as far as the two ways and
I'll wind down the pod here, but one thing I
want to underscore. The Rockets may have benefited from Summer

(57:24):
League going as poorly as it did because it made
clear that they have a lot to offer in terms
of reps at the G League. And so whenever a
two league guy, a two way guy, excuse me, is signing,
they have to think about the G League first, because
in almost any situation they could walk into, the most
likely outcome, at least to start the year is in

(57:46):
the G League. There might be a path to NBA
minutes at some point, but it's hard to project, and
injuries have a lot to do with it. I think
the one thing that's within their control is, hey, I
can go in here, I have a strong training camp,
play well in the G League, and either turnheads with
this organization or turnheads elsewhere around the league so that

(58:07):
I'm viewed at as a guy who could be next
up for a rotation spot, if not here, then somewhere else.
It comes down to actually putting and stacking good tape,
good games together. And so the fact that the Rockets
have sort of graduated most of their G League guys
in recent years in terms of bringing them to the

(58:27):
NBA level. Some have aged out, some have gotten traded,
but just this cycle from going from rebuild to contender,
the fact that in the Summer League roster and performance
largely reflected it that the G League version of the
Rockets the Vipers, doesn't have nearly the established guys that
they did a few years ago when they were getting

(58:48):
to the finals regularly. I think that could be tempting
to someone who has a few options, but the Rockets
are one where it's a good organization overall. The Rockets
are very well regarded around the league in terms of
player development and how ahead of the curve they are
in terms of their principles, analytics. They invest well all
those factors. But beyond that, I just think there's opportunity.

(59:10):
As bad as Summer League was to watch at times,
and I agree with you Powell, it was tough to
watch those games without Reid, at the same time, that's
also an opportunity, and so that could have been, you know,
the tipping point, because I think for someone like certainly Crawford,
maybe Davis, and although you can argue that Davison, going
into your four and already being MVP, he might be
a little bit closer to, you know, making a strong
push for NBA playing time in the right circumstance. But

(59:32):
someone that's as young as Crawford is, just one year
removed from going undrafted, he needs to put together a
good tape. He needs to stack good games, and so
the Vipers as currently constructed, could be a pretty good
opportunity for him last point on the end of the
roster before we actually do close up shop. So the
two way guys get hyped up in the media, and

(59:55):
a lot of that's because players and agents like the
status because obviously it can translate to the regular season.
But at this point, and this is something that I've
heard in my conversations with the Rockets, it's important to
remember that Exhibit tens and two Ways in the offseason
are basically the same thing because there's no financial commitment yet,

(01:00:16):
so it's basically your two ways and your guys on
Exhibit tens they have one at the moment. And Cameron Matthews,
undrafted forward out Mississippi State who needs to develop as
a shooter. He played a little bit at Summer League,
they have a couple more exhibit tens they can hand out,
so you can bring up to like twenty one players
training camp. I think they're at eighteen or nineteen. Now,
if one of those exhibit tens turns out to be

(01:00:38):
better than one of your two ways, you can let
a current two way go. Your three two ways at
present are Kaman Harris, JD. Davidson, and Isaiah Crawford and
convert one of your exhibit tens by the time the
regular season starts, or you can make some of these
signings with an eye on having them on the Vipers
and obtaining their G League rights, as you can do

(01:00:59):
for three or four guys every year. There's multiple motivations,
but the one thing the Rockets are hitting home in
these conversations is that two ways exhibit tends. They're all
basically on the same footing heading into training camp, heading
into the preseason. I think they'll have an unofficial mini
camp in September. These are all young guys that they're
going to give a look to, and whoever ends up

(01:01:22):
being the most impressive is going to be in position
to earn those two ways when it actually matters, which
is the regular season, and I agree with you. On paper,
especially Davison and Crawford seem to have the most upside. Harris,
to me, feels a little more unnecessary since she signed
Josha Kogi, so I could see Harris's spot being freed up.
Maybe there's somebody that you want to give a two

(01:01:43):
way two elsewhere in the league that you want to
make a waiver claim for. There's all sorts possibilities. Maybe
you bring back in Fally Dante, who they issued a
two way qualifying offer to is not currently on a
two way, I think in part because he got injured
summer league, so he needs to rehab his ankle's frame
and we'll see what happens later in the offseasonte looked
pretty good as a big man in his appearances with
the Vipers last year. But the general point is that

(01:02:06):
the two ways the exhibit tens, they're all on level footing.
Those can easily be swapped out by the end of
the preseason, which is when the two ways actually start
to matter. I a guys that can be shuttled back
and forth between the NBA and G League, so it's
good to add to the mix. As the Rockets did
with with Crawford and with Davison, and it may have
helped because I think, you know, players and agents do

(01:02:27):
view the two ways being something of a status symbol.
A two way sounds a lot better than Exhibit ten
because eventually there is a financial component to that, but
right now it's not that significant. So I think that's
why the Rockets gave out their two ways to guys
like Davidson and Crawford that had some pedigree that you know,
needed that reassurance. That's basically what the two way is,

(01:02:50):
and so that's why the Rockets sort of use those
two way spots or the leverage of them to bring
in two guys with upside and the G League roster
is somewhat barren, so they'll have oppert counities if they
stick around. But I would also say, watch what they
do with the Exhibit ten spots. They're not done. They're
going to bring a couple more people into camp, and
I think those guys will be given the same opportunity
and we'll see what happens in the first couple of

(01:03:10):
weeks of October. Anyway, that's where we will wrap things
for today, and if you want more content before next show.
The best place to get that is online, which you
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(01:03:52):
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Thanks to always for listening, and please come back soon
for another new episode of the Longer Line.