Cam Whitmore trade reaction and Houston’s remaining summer storylines

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
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Speaker 2 (00:30):
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 benju Bos, your host, editor of USA
Today's Rockets Are and contributor to Sports Talk seven ninety,

(00:50):
official flagship radio station of your Houston Rockets, McGain, joined
by Powlo Alves, my co hosting producer out of Portugal.
You can follow him on social media at Powell ALVESBA
and me at Ben Dubo's so On This Friday, July eleventh,
the NBA's twenty twenty five Summer League is officially underway
out in Las Vegas. The Rocket's first game is late

(01:11):
tonight against the LA Clippers. The summer roster for Houston
is basically the Reach Shepherd Showcase. Because the Rockets are
suddenly in contending mode. The summer league squad isn't nearly
as loaded in terms of good prospects relative to the
revealding years of a few years ago. That's just the
nature of team building in the NBA and how the
cycle goes. So on today's show, we will talk a

(01:32):
bit before we close up shop about Reach Shepherd in
the summer league squad. Rafelstone, GM of the Rockets, said
the other day that the Rockets have Red penciled in
for a big role during the upcoming season. Clearly they're
counting on him, so certainly, how he performs. It's not
that we're going to extrapolate anything great or terrible for
Summer League, but it's something to watch for. And in

(01:54):
that same press conference, Rafell also talks about some of
the transactions from this offseason that are finally official. The
NBA's moratorium was lifted earlier this week, so there's been
a wave of announcements and press releases all over the league,
which allows teams and players to officially comment on these
deals for the first time. Like Kevin Durant here in Houston.
Rafel had some interesting things to say about that, and

(02:16):
really a number of topics from the busy twenty twenty
five offseason, including what not to expect over the remainder
of the offseason. Spoiler, they're probably done, and we'll explain
why on today's show, and generally we'll react to his
quotes from that press conference on Monday afternoon. But I'm
going to start our discussion today by looking at the
one transaction that was not known when we last recorded

(02:38):
an episode back on July second, and that's the Cam
Whitmore trade that went down last weekend. The Rockets are
sending him to Washington for two unprotected second round draft picks,
one from Chicago in twenty twenty six and the other
from Sacramento in twenty twenty nine. And we can get
into what Rafel said in a few minutes as far
as the rationalization for the Orfell mentioned that they're not

(03:01):
a developmental team anymore. But I want to start by
looking at this from an asset perspective, and then we
can talk about the basketball side of things later from
an asset perspective and looking at what they sent out
and what they got. Hell, I think this is a
pretty reasonable deal. I think Kim Whitmore, while you shouldn't

(03:22):
think that he's a bust, he's had flashes his first
couple of years. At the same time, he also hasn't
clearly taken a step forward to where you would conclude
that he's clearly going to be a good starter or
even rotation player on a winning team in the NBA.
He certainly can be, he just hasn't proven that yet,

(03:42):
and some of that's due to circumstances beyond his control,
with how deep and how good the current Rockets are,
But regardless, he has not proven it yet. And he's
a guy who was at number twenty two years ago.
And perhaps that's not for basketball reasons, perhaps that's or
off court concerns. Whatever the case, he was number twenty
pick two years ago, and while I don't think his

(04:03):
value has declined since then, at least from a basketball standpoint,
there's no reason you should be lower on him, there's
also not a clear reason that you should be higher.
And what's changed between now and then is that in
twenty twenty three, like any first round prospect, you have
up to four years of cheap rookie scale labor, and

(04:25):
that gives you a lot of buffer, a lot of
wiggle room to decide what the future is going to
look like, to evaluate how he fits in now. There's
only two years of that four year deal left and
he's extension eligible after this coming season. So basically the
same risk profile for Washington is there in twenty twenty

(04:45):
five with Cam Whitmore that was there for Houston in
twenty twenty three, But unlike the Rockets who got four
years of rookie scale labor out of Cam Whitmore, or
theoretically four years, the Wizards are only getting a maximum
of two. So because of that, even if the prospect
is still the same and Cam is just twenty one
years old, when the youngest guys in this shrapt class

(05:06):
at the same time, because the contract is different, he's
probably not going to be worth the same value now
on the open market that he was two years ago.
And that's why a guy who went number twenty in
the twenty twenty three first round is suddenly worth a
couple of second round picks this year. I think a
slight decline is reasonable, and I think Rafelstone did relatively

(05:28):
well the two picks they got from the Bulls and
the Kings. These are non playoff teams, no stars. In
the case of the Kings, they play in a deep
Western conference and in one of the smallest markets in
the NBA. And in case the Bulls, they aren't managed
particularly well and have not been for some time. So
these are not end of the second round picks that
are basically the same as undrafted free agents, like one

(05:49):
of the ones they sent to Phoenix in the Kevin
Durant deal, that mister irrelevant pick from Oklahoma City this
year that was literally the last pick in the draft.
So these are quality second round picks and another value
point I think is worth noting when we assess the
job Rafelstone did and getting this deal. It's been reported

(06:09):
that Kim Whitmore nearly went to the Suns in the
KD trade. Michael Scatto of hoofs Hype reported that I've
heard it myself. The Suns actually opted for the five
second round picks. Now, you might say, well, why are
they getting five and the Rockets then only got two.
If the Suns were comparing the options, well, it's because

(06:30):
the five they got, many of them were like that
OKAC pick at number fifty nine this year, not good
ones or future picks from the Rockets and the Celtics,
who are set up really well, and what ended up
happening is the Suns basically consolidated those second round assets
and traded up for two picks I think in the
top ten of the second round this year. And I
think basically the Suns viewed those future seconds from the

(06:52):
Rockets as having more liquidity and so they could go
out and bring in rookies that they could basically mold
in house, and they viewed that as being preferable to
Cam Whitmore, especially for a team that already has so
many shooting guards Devin Booker, Jalen Green, and I guess
for the moment, they still have Bradley Beal as well.
So when you look at the reports of the Rockets

(07:13):
Suns negotiations, it was pretty clear that Cam Whitmore's value
was roughly in line with a few second round picks.
I think the deal the Rocket's got they got two
second round picks, but these are quality second round picks,
and so all in all, I think Raffelstone did a
pretty good job if you want to look at it
through the prism of hashtag asset management. Now, in terms

(07:34):
of basketball, yeah, it's absolutely possible that Cam Whitmore could
still turn into a very good NBA player. And so
we'll talk about that side of the fence in a
few minutes. But just looking at the job they did negotiating,
it's not a sexy deal. But look, you lost some
second run picks in the deal for Katie, you brought
into pretty good ones. You have all sorts of optionality
when it comes to contracts and the future iterations of

(07:57):
your roster, how those can fit in, including that pick
next year from the Bulls, the one year in twenty
twenty six that you currently do not have a first
round pick. So all in all, I think the Rockets
did a pretty good job. Powell, what did you think
of it? Strictly from the assets side of the fence
and the job Rafelstone did and negotiating this deal and
ultimately sending Cam went more to a place where, you know,

(08:18):
if nothing else, that should buy him goodwill with Cam
and his agent, Cam's and marilynd Native. He goes to
d C, so he's close to home. It's a bad team,
so he'll get to play. He should have opportunities. I
think the Rockets did relatively well in terms of, you know,
dealing with a difficult hand that they were dealt in.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
And I think I think you laid out pretty well
why from the value perspective it was what it was,
But I actually think it was mostly because of the
other side of the things. So first of all, I
actually think convert to when he was drafted, which was
let's say at the time he was drafted, his value
was fig twenty in a dry I do agree, I'll

(08:55):
this be Yule's value because you have less of the
rookie scale. Whatever team is gets him as much of
a rookie scale. He is obviously extension eligible next season,
and if you don't extend them during the off season,
you can't do so during the season. The rookie scale
contracts just work that way. And just like if we

(09:15):
don't extend our reason up until I think is the
beginning of the season, we can't textend him during the season.
All of that does work both as a blessing and
as a curse, because if he plays well or if
you're still optimistic outers upside, they could probably get him
on a keeper extension and then I hopefully breaks out
during that extension into so if you'll save your money,
but still you don't get much time to actually get

(09:36):
to see him play before you have to make a
decision on that. Only a year obviously, until you have
to make that decision. I do agree with the point
about he was probably going to get traded to the Sums,
but the Sons would rather have second und picks than
they would come with more. And I think let's say,
let's say having came with more makes it two second
round picks unless instead of five. Right, I would not

(09:58):
trade the two second pigs Rockets Golf for kem with
Park for the fives the Rockets gave up because we
gave up some really terrible second round picks. First of all,
any second round pick that's Houston's is probably between the
fifties because I would guess I mean knock on wood obviously,
but I would guess we are a top ten team
in the league throughout the next seven years unless something

(10:19):
traffic happens. That's probably the way it's going.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Right.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Then, we gave up a worst of a bunch of teams,
so two of them contender. I'm mistaken. We give a
big fifty nine, which is a quarified and drafted free
agency league value with has It's that the contract is
cheaper because of the way the minimums were well to me,
I don't think it's really fair to make the comparison

(10:43):
of well, he was worth big twenty and now he's
worthless because of the rookie scale. I think that's that's
a valued argument. But I think that gets counter value
wise by the fact that when when Kam was drafted,
a rookie guy coming into the league, you never know
how it's going to go. Right even with look at
the Rockets Kimboardy Smith, Quiver was supposed to be this

(11:03):
sharp shooter. He came in and one of the most
certain shooters. I mean, everybody was sure he was bona
fide thirty percent the police from day one. Obviously he
wasn't his obviously building towards that, but just to say
that until you actually play in the league, a lot
of that value obviously before you make the pick that
went the the pick is that it's speak value and

(11:23):
then it drops dramatically when you make the pick, and
then it builds back up the guy plays well in
the league, and I think Cam's played well in the league,
and I think he has shown an ability to make shots.
Obviously there's swalls in his game where there's walls with
this defensive in demsity. There's swalls with him gambling on steals.
There's there's swalls on him not being a good passer,
which was which is what everybody points to. But if

(11:46):
you go look at his stats for a guy that
played as little as he did, he was a productive player.
And he is the type of guy that is primed,
or let's talk in Rockets terms, that he is the
type of guy that I would have loved the Rockets
straight for in the first year of the where you
have all the shots in the world and this guy
show that he can make shots on high volume forty
his minutes. But see how what he can actually do.

(12:07):
And I do think that that makes up for the
loss in value of the lead, the lead the two
less years in in in the contract, which leads me
to my main point, which is I think Drogs got
two second round picks, not truly because well, obviously it's
a balance of I think those two factors that we mentioned,

(12:27):
the lead, the two less years in the contract, and
the fact that he has shown some NBA productivity, I
think those balanced each other out, which means society to
deepic twenty, Why did the Rockets not get pick twenty well,
there's a lot of things in the NBA that are
not up to well that GMS can press the issue
and take concentage of it, But I'm not really up
to you.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Right.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Cam was a good prospect, right, and here's a good prospect.
But if you could go back, it's hard to judge
where they went wrong in his development because the Rockets
went they drafted him, was were moving in a different director, right,
even even aman Thompson didn't get that many minutes here
to one, and then in year two a man fit

(13:10):
the culture a lot better. He got those minutes, and
there was never really a lot of space for Camp
to play. And unless you're higher on went more than
Killen Green right now, as a win now prospect, it's
hard to make the case for you as a two
C to play Cam more and Killan less when Dylan
is the better play right now, even though you might

(13:30):
you might think that Cam is more upside, maybe that
was never a logical decision to make Earth up. And
so at that point you find yourself in this situation
and then to kind of put a loop on the
whole why Camp was not worth Pickweeny at this moment, Well,
now you're Crdit cornered into a situation where you didn't
give him that much plain time in the first two years.

(13:51):
Going into year three, I think nobody argues that the
KB trade was a great value deal for the Rockets,
so we would have made that deal again and then
after my deal, I mean even beforehand, but mainly afterwards.
Let's say, even if kV doesn't make if we don't
make the kV trade and we signed someone with r MLI,
the minutes script is even worse because Rockets straight up

(14:11):
jail and Green and Dylan Brooks too in a two
for one deal, right and if they hadn't, they would
have still used their MLI, so it's essentially a three
for one deal. Anyways, this to say that there was
never a real path minutes from camp unless he, like
a man, was just a dog defensively and then and
email one wanted to get him out there for that
and he was you know, more of a a high

(14:32):
fuel player than than he actually is and would have
contributed to winning more right now, and so sorry for
the really convoluted way to get to this point, but
let's bring it back. I argued that those two things,
the last, the two less years and this productionity NBA
level equally a draft. So his l is right count
pick twenty when you're there into consideration that just like

(14:55):
the KD trade, the Suns didn't get good Vali for
Kid because they were cornered into a posit where they had
no leverage. Right, the Rockets with kem with More, we're
also cornered into a position where they didn't really have
much leverage. It's like, well, this guy's clearly not gonna play,
he's clearly disgruntled. The Rockets clearly don't want to have
a guy that's sour in the locker room. It's easy
to say, oh, just sit on the bench, but then

(15:15):
you gotta actually look at the guy in the eye
every day and tell him that he can play. And
you know, the Rockets don't want that to be one
of the reasons that something potentially goes wrong in the
season where they're trying to win and they don't want
to sour relationship with a player and an agent. We've
shown over time how important that is. So Rockers are
in a position where they're not gonna get you know,
four cents on the dollar for or four quarters on

(15:38):
the dollar per ca you're gonna get less because they're
in the position where, to quote someone, I've never thought
I would quote the Rockets don't hold the cards, so
I'd be sorry. And so at this point you're gonna
get less value than what he's worth in my mind,
but that's just logical because well, you don't have to

(15:59):
move them, but you do well to move him, you're
not going to be able to play him. So his
value is not going to go up anymore unless there's
an injury, or probably a few injuries. And so you
got you know, probably like what eighty percent of what
of what Cam's worthy, got two second round picks. He
could probably trade them for pick thirty one this draft
if you had them at the time.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
Just like Sun's dead for pick thirty one.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yea, the sun is dead. And well you draw let's
say you dropped eleven spots in value. Well, that's the
situation you find yourself in when you draft a lot
of guys and you can't play them all. And now
it's I'm not going to say it's a good thing,
but it's a sign that things went right because if rockets,
we're still in a position where they could play eight
guys seven guys really largely on core. That means that

(16:41):
they probably aren't that good yet. And if you take
Cam and you go to other contenders and you see
where wood Camp play, well, kem wouldn't play in Okay, see,
Kevi would probably play in Denver, but Denver is so
far along where their stars are already extended that he
wouldn't play there. Back when when some of them were
on their rookie deals, the camp moredn't play in most

(17:03):
of these contenders, And so you were just stuck in
a position where from a value standpoint, you took what
you could get, which I think was you know, three
quarterers on the dollar, but you just weren't in a
position to be able to demand for more because you
weren't in a position where you were okay waiting it out. Further,
because going into year three, if you can't play Cam,

(17:25):
he's not gonna gain more value, and you have a
ticking time bomb both in the locker room because he's
not going to be happy and in his contract situation,
because well, if you sell, if it's bad selling him
with two years left on his deal, it's even worth
selling him with one, especially if you didn't have the
playing time to make him more of a well perceived prospect.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
I guess, so.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
All of this really long eye drop. I'm sorry for
going on so for so long. I do think it
made sense, but I wasn't quite concise enough just to
say that it's a fine deal. Doesn't feel good. I'll
tell you it doesn't feel good. I'm high on Cam,
but that's the price of of jumping from. That's part
of the price of jumping from. I think that was
the worst than the Laitue for three seasons into a
team that's now probably well according to the odds, top

(18:09):
three in chances to actually win the championship, and then
now kind of close the loop by saying I do
think that Ken Witmore is going to have an incredible
season in Washington, and I do think and with Wore
has the potential to be a really good player. But
at the very least, I'm fairly certain he'll have statistically
like a volume season, scoring on volume, on good efficiency.

(18:29):
And I do think that there will be points in
this season where the Rockets are are in honor two
or three game losing streak and Kem Witmore has a
thirty point game and everybody was saying, oh, we could
use that guy, and yeah, obviously that's flawed, but I
do think that that's gonna happen. But it's the rockets
regarding Camp, which is in a in a lose lose situation,
and so I think they may. I think they made

(18:50):
the most part of the position that they were in,
that they put themselves in right, but not really at
their own fault, because I think all the decisions that
led to this point were article or defensible at least,
So I don't think this is some major wonder. I
just think it's not the best, but it's not. It
doesn't put any source of stain on what has been

(19:11):
an intred the law season by by rofile in the
front office.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Right, it's fine. That's the best way I would characterize it.
And to your point on his floor being higher after
two years, because you're right, sometimes skills, for whatever reason,
don't translate, even if they're supposed to be close to
a lot. And so yeah, there's a little more value

(19:37):
now in knowing that at least some of Kim's skills
have translated. The all out bus scenario was not there.
He's at least going to be viable in some configurations.
What I meant in terms of the risk profile is
what is the upside? What are the scenarios where he
really hits at a high end level. I don't think

(19:58):
that the odds of that are any higher than they
were two years ago. Now. I don't think they're necessarily
any lower as well, but they're also not higher. And
with first round picks, teams tend to think more in
terms of upside, and if the upside is the same,
then that's why I think the contract being a little
bit shorter will decrease his value, not a lot, just
a little bit. Your point is valid about, you know,

(20:19):
the four scenarios being mitigated simply based on having two
years of data, well something of two years of data,
because obviously he wasn't in the rotation last year. But
this is getting in the weeds. Bottom line, the deal
is fine. It doesn't feel great because yeah, he could
shut out to be a very good player, but the
Rockets just didn't have the runway that they thought they would.

(20:40):
And I think that's the bottom line on this is.
You know, the one argument you could make is that, well,
if you didn't have the opportunity to develop him, why
did you make this pick in twenty twenty three, because undoubtedly,
you know, it's been reported that other teams were trying
to move up for Cam when he slid in the draft.
The Rockets easily could have traded that pick for a
future first rounder in twenty four or twenty five or

(21:00):
further out. The bottom line, I don't think anyone in
the Rockets run office thought in June of twenty twenty
three that they'd be anywhere near as good as they
actually are by June twenty twenty five. I think this
caught them by surprise. I think if you had told
them that year two of the mayb Udoka they'd be
fifty two and thirty number two in the West, they'd
have looked at you like you were crazy. And that's

(21:21):
if they got all three of their free agency targets
the next week with fredvan Fleet, Broklopez and Dylan Brooks.
They only ended up getting two of the three. So
I think this escalated so quickly that the Rockets just
didn't have the developmental one way that they expected. You know,
a lot of the social media reaction has been built
around this idea that while Cam didn't get the opportunities

(21:42):
that Jalen and Shabari and other prospects in recent years
did to play through their struggles. No, he didn't because
the situation changed. He wasn't trafted during the Silas years,
the all out rebuilding. He came into a situation when
it was already on the upswing, and it turned out
that it was the ascent much more rapid than anyone,

(22:03):
including the Rockets themselves anticipated. So yeah, that's unfortunate. He
could absolutely be a good player, but I just think
it was very hard to project in twenty twenty three.
Had the Rockets known this that it was escalate as
quickly as it did, my guess is they would have
traded that pit knowing that it would be difficult to
give him the minutes that he needed to develop. They

(22:24):
just did not know that. Then hindsight is twenty twenty
so from an assets standpoint, that should close the loop.
It's pretty understandable. In terms of the basketball, I think
a lot of this is making a mountain out of
a mole hill. This offseason has been so good, as
you mentioned, Polo, that it feels like we've almost got
a nitpick something. Just to not be positive all the time,

(22:46):
the reality this pales in comparison to the guys they've
brought in, and most notably a perennial All Star and
Kevin Durant. Think of it this way, if Cam Whitmore
was actually in the KD trade instead of those five
second round picks, if Phoenix had opted for Path, nobody
would have batted an eye. We would have said, it's KD.
Nobody cares. It's because the deal came separately, that there's

(23:07):
all this second guessing in this Monday morning quarterbacking. If
Cam was in the KD trade and the Suns had
that option, they just went a different direction, we wouldn't
have thought anything of it. We'd say, well, it's tough,
but that's what you gotta do to bring in Kevin Durant.
So I would start the basketball analysis there by saying
he basically was part of the KD trade, and even

(23:27):
if technically he wasn't. I think it's pretty clear now
that bringing in KD meant that the Rockets were making
a shift to winning now. And that's why as soon
as Fred Nvleiet restructured his contract, I think that was
three days after the KD trade agreement, I said on
this very podcast, you can listen to our logger line
archives that I thought Cam Whitmore's days were numbered because

(23:51):
if they were going to make a non taxpayer EMLI signing,
and they did with jory An Finney Smith to bring
in someone that's more capable of being a winning player.
Now backfilling that Dylan Brooks role with three and D,
it was just going to be hard to get Cam
the minutes that he needed in year three and your
three is a point where for business reasons, for basketball reasons,

(24:11):
he needs to play, he wants to play, and it
just didn't make sense, especially once Fred restructured his deal
to where the Rockets would have a lot of financial
wiggle room. So the bottom line for me, the Rockets
had a superior path. They went down that path, and
it's a bummer to lose Cam because he does still

(24:33):
have talent. But I don't have any regrets. I think,
you know, some people raised the question of should they
have given him developmental one way the last two years
in place at Jalen Green. I personally find that to
be ridiculous. I think Jalen's playoffs were underwhelming. That this
is the guy the last sixty games who put up
nearly twenty three points five rebound sports is per game

(24:54):
on above fifty six percent true shooting. The idea that
Cam Whitmore at nineteen twenty years old is going to
be bet than Jalen Green it's just silly, especially because,
as you pointed out during the year Pollo, Cam is
a play finisher at this stage of his career. He's
not a creator, which Jalen, for all of his flaws,
can do. So it's not an apples to Apple's comparison
to begin with, even if you want to consider them

(25:16):
both shooting guards. But aside from that, the idea that
Imayudoka and rafel Stone are as brilliant as people around
the NBA think, and they have sky high approval ratings
right now, but yet somehow they had this huge blind
spot to where even watching Kim Went Moore every day
in practices and the off seasons in G League stints.

(25:37):
I think a lot of fans it feels like they're
not learning about Cam because they're not seeing him on
the court. That's not the case when we're talking about
the Rockets. They are learning. They had data points that
we don't. So this idea that Emyudoka and rafel Stone
are great at their jobs and getting all this praise
as coach of the executive the Year candidates. I think
both were top five last season, and yet they had

(25:58):
this enormous blind spot and couldn't see what was right
in front of them. I find that very unlikely. You know,
I've seen in an Emay's case, a few people have
pointed out Peyton Prichard in Boston as an example that, well,
maybe he trust his veterans a little too much. And
it's not like Jalen Green's a veteran, but he's a
couple of years more advanced than Cam in terms of
his NBA years. The thing about Peyton Frichard, he actually

(26:20):
played fewer minutes and fewer games the following season under
Joe Missoula that he did under emy Udoka. So this
idea that emo Udoka was holding back and he couldn't
see what was right underneath his face at practice, that
doesn't really hold up. Peyton Frichard is a sixth Man
the Year type guy now after he gradually developed over
a course of two three years. But no, I do

(26:41):
not think that in twenty one twenty two, when imy
Udoka was taking the team in the NBA Finals, that
he had this thing, this brilliant sixth man type right
on his bench, and he just didn't give him an opportunity. No,
he wasn't the same guy then, and I think that's
a pretty good analogy for the Whitmore situation the last
couple of years. The potential is there two three years

(27:04):
down the line for Cam to be someone who the
Rockets could really use. But he's not that guy now.
I don't think he's that close. I think he would
put up numbers this year in Washington. He probably will,
to your point, Paolo, he's probably going to put up
if he gets a real opportunity. Wouldn't shock me eighteen

(27:24):
points a game something like that, and do so on
reasonable efficiency. But I don't think he's going to be
a winning player. I don't think he's all that close
to it. And that's not a shot at Cam. It
takes time. The Rockets just did not have the luxury
of that time. And maybe to be different if he
got to start earlier in his career the way Jalen
and Jabari did, but that's just timing. I mean, Jalen

(27:48):
and Jabari got drafted during the rebuild, him got drafted.
We didn't know the rebuild was as shut as it was,
but when the switch had flipped under ima Udoka and
so he didn't get the runway. Sometimes that happens. So
if you trust hemy Udoka and you trust or fell Stone,
I don't get this notion that they have this huge
blind spot and after watching this guy for years, couldn't

(28:10):
see what was right in front of them, and all
of a sudden he's gonna get the Cybertty in Washington
and be a handout player. No. I think it's just
he might be ready, but the Rockets just simply don't
have the time, especially because they are also trying to
develop Reed Shepherd. That's the other part of this that
I want to underscore. If Cam Whitwore was the only

(28:32):
young player that you were trying to develop, then I
think they might have been more patient. They might have
given him a smaller role, played this out longer, at
least into year four, the final year of his rookie
Scille contract, just to see what happens, and maybe he
breaks out. But it's very difficult on a team that's
this good to play two completely unproven young guys. Look

(28:54):
at the Warriors with the two timelines approach that largely
failed when they brought in three lottery picks. Sure, I
think aminga Moses Moody James Wiseman, it's tough to develop
that many young and unproven guys at once if they
all need minutes now. If a guy is actually good
day one the way say Amn Thompson was, that's different.

(29:16):
But if the young guys are all developing and you
are trying to compete at the highest level, it's tough
to play two three of those guys at once. And
I think that's the situation the Rockets found themselves in where, Yeah,
after the KD trade, you could have given opportunities to
both Read and Cam and gone with them as your
eighth and ninth men. But that's a lot of youth

(29:38):
for a team that's trying to win a championship. I
think they had to choose, and I think they just
believe and Read a little bit more and they have
more invested in him. There's a reason why they dracted
him at number three and Cam at number twenty, So
it shouldn't surprise you. It doesn't mean I've seen some
of their action on social media to Raffel's quote about
not being a developmental team anymore, and there's this pushback of, oh,

(30:01):
what about Reed, What does this mean for the future.
Are we going to be like the late twenty tens
where your top summer league prospect is Chris Clemmens and
you routinely trade your draft picks every single year. No,
it doesn't mean that you can still have a blend
between a contending roster and a developmental pipeline. I mean,
some of your young guys, as mentioned like a men,
may be ready day one, and then it doesn't even

(30:23):
matter that they're young. They pretty much don't count as
young because they're already contributing to winning. And then guys
in their first year, maybe their first two years, there's
usually not an expectation to play the major minutes. They're
okay with the G league. If they're drafted late in
the first round and the second those guys, because the
expectations are lower, they might be okay stretching it into

(30:43):
year three, year four. Some guys need development, so their
expectations and their initial NBA years for playing time or lower.
So this is not saying that you can't have prospects
moving forward. You can't. The reason this situation was delic
It is very difficult to have two young guys who

(31:04):
are both lottery level talents, who both desperately need and
want to play, and yet neither of them to this
point has shown you that they're a winning player. This
is a unique situation, and that's why I think the
Rockets weren't willing to continue playing this out with Cam Whitmore.
It's because you also needed to develop Reed Shepherd, and

(31:26):
having two of those guys and basically the same spot
of their careers getting the same runway, that's asking a
lot on a team that's that's this good. So moving forward, No,
it does not mean that they're not going to develop
prospects because some guys have lower expectations. There's some that
may be comfortable being stashed overseas or in the G League.

(31:48):
There's some because you're one year two that may be
content not playing Cam going into year three, and the
Rockets having another guy in Reed Shepherd who was I'm
lily young and unproven yet clearly needing playing time as well.
If he's going to develop all of this squeeze Cam out.
It's unfortunate. It would not surprise me if Cam ends

(32:11):
up having a strong year in Washington, but I understand
why the Rockets came to the conclusion that they did.
That's the bottom line for me. Reed Shepherd is someone
they believe in, and if you're gonna give Reed runway,
it's tough on a team that's this good to give
Kim Whitfoor anywhere close to that level of runway. And

(32:32):
if you aren't, it just makes sense to move on
and know you shouldn't then assume that, well, development doesn't matter,
that they're going to throw away all these draft picks
in future years and make reckless trades. No, I think
you can have a blend between contending and still having
some young guys in the pipeline as well. It doesn't
have to be one or the other. It's not black
or white. There are some shades of gray here. There

(32:53):
is some nuance. It's just in this particular case, reading
Cam both was a difficult mix. They chose Reid. He's
going to be the developmental priority this year among guys
getting minutes and moving forward. You know, there are some limitations.
It's not going to be all out development like the
rebuilding years, but it's also not going to be like
the late twenty tens where Chris Clements is your young

(33:14):
player headliner. When you go to Las Vegas for summer league,
you can do both. It was just difficult on this
particular team to do reading camp both and for a
multitude of reasons. I think the Rockets you read is
having a little bit more offside. That's sort of how
I rationalize it. Power is or anything else you want
to add on the camp front before we turn our
attention to read and the guys who actually are going

(33:35):
to be here.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
That's just speck to add that you can't want both things.
You may look is obviously a coach that picked up
this team as the worst thing in the leading and
turned into the and turned into the two seed into seasons.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
He turned this.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
Team from a laughing stock in the league to a
team where Kevin Durant, one of the league's best players,
wanted to come to and when specifically made a point
to make it so the Rockets had to play very
little price to get them here. You can't want to
be one of the best defensive teams in the league,
have one of the best cultures, and then have your

(34:10):
coach have resents type when it comes to the rotation,
Playing him with more for development over the past two years,
more than he he has played or had played, would
have been not holding the same standard to everybody because
Cam did not play with the same defensive intensity for
most of the games as the other guys that played them,
that played over them did, and none of the other

(34:32):
guys have ever made a fuss about not playing much
less so a public fuss by Cam did in that
infamous interview that he had during this season. Right, if
you want to build a culture and you won't have
one of these coaches that are synonymous with the franchise,
synonymous with the culture, you can't at the same time
not let them make their decisions. And we complained that

(34:55):
Raphelstone had too much of a hand in the rotation
or either a couple of what ought of people did
during this solast years. You want to coach with a
strong minds, you want you want the coach that is
going to impose a culture, that's when to set the standard.
You can't put the same time wants him to play
a guy just because he's talented and not because he's
you know, giving what you need to succeed and playing
winning Blackapple, which I don't think you can argue can was,

(35:18):
and so there's really not much more to say about it.
It's just I don't think anybody would argue that that
in hiring was a home run in basically every SAMs
that comes at a price, right, you can't get just
the good things from every you know type of coaching

(35:38):
philosophy out right, you can't get a team that's trying
to win to at the same time hamstring itself by
playing someone who is not fever than the guys that
are playing in front of them, Because it's not really
about was Joan Britain also not a winning player?

Speaker 2 (35:54):
A winning player?

Speaker 3 (35:55):
Well, Joan probably wasn't a winning player when you will
get all the stats at the same time, wait more,
wasn't better I'm sorry on a small sample sizee that
shoot thirty six percent from three. At the same time,
he just didn't play the basketball that was conditionive to winning.
And obviously you can make the argument that certain points
in the season and that at certain points in the

(36:17):
playoffs you should have been given a chance. But if
you don't play a guy consistently throughout the entire season,
it's hard to trust them. When the playoffs come around.
It's probably in the mind of a coach, it's probably
a lot easier to believe that a guy like Jalen
might have an outburst, might snap out of it because
he's done it before. It's at least debatable what you

(36:37):
should do. But at the same time, you can't want everything.
You can't want to have one of the most drastic
terms better team as has ever had across two years
while playing all while playing most of your young guys,
and at the same time want to prioritize playing guys
that or not just not conditions to winning at this point.
And then that from the basketball perspective, and anybody that

(37:01):
picks up a drawing board or a piece of paper
and tries to nine powder rotation knows it would have
taken three or four injuries before kem Widmore would be
able to play more well. It would take probably three
injuries before he's able to play ten to fifteen minutes.
It would have taken probably four injuries maybe more of
him to play twenty consistent minutes a night, which is
probably what he wants at this point. So he doesn't

(37:24):
want to be a spot minutes.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
Guy right now.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
He's not even he would not have been even a
spot minutes sky on this team. He would have been
a no minutes sky on the steam. So yeah, it's
just the reality. I do think more is talented, and
I do think that he's going to maybe be a
starn in this sleep, but at the very least be
a productive scorery, whether that translates twinning or not. But

(37:48):
it just wasn't meant to be here, and we just
didn't have the pathway for him to achieve that.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
Right and this past year's team, especially which is a classic,
the psalm is greater than the individual parts that sometimes
you sometimes we always ask the tunnel vision, the lack
of defensive awareness, those would have been real, real issues
for this particular team.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
Yeah, and I just want to add one thing that
I forgot, which is there's another thing from a go
thro your standpoint, it's just not it's not just about
what you did on the board. That entire interview and
that entire being paudy and then having like your face
show like all of that negative emotion look across this team.
Aman Thompson will starter or or was the bench player,

(38:32):
became a starter and then went off the bench again
and then became a starter full time.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Shavari acted his control.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
Yep, that was going to be my closing one, but
even more so, just more and more similar situation. Reach
Eeppard didn't play for a long time. Although he's a
year he's obviously a year younger, but he didn't and
he probably did a need more than what Kem did. Obviously,
you talked about Kebarty Smith Junior was a bona fide
starter and then went off the bench and in the
playoffs played less man and what are what a lot

(39:01):
of people believe he should have played. Even Tarisan was
once upon a time on this team considered better than
Jabarti and Gabari started over in for a really long Comman,
he never saw anybody can play. And if you're gonna
hold that standard for everybody else, cam can can't be
doing stuff like that, and neither can any guy that
they bring in. And I guarantee you, even if it's Ave,

(39:23):
let's say Dardan Finish, Smith is not getting the minutes
that he probably deserves if he throws of us. I
don't think that out that he'll be one for this team. Obviously,
you have no reason to believe he wouldn't just just
tring out an example, but that one night where Camp
came out with all that stuff I think was pretty damning.
And from that point on it's it's hard to even
make the argument.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yeah, and saying all that, I do still think he
can be a very good player in this league. The athleticism,
the power, the scoring potential. He's got a unique package,
and he has the potential to put it all together.
But I don't think it's gonna happen by this ball.
If somehow it does, then yeah, it's fair to second guess.
I don't think that's going to be the case. I

(40:04):
think even if people it's up numbers in terms of
it contributing to winning and being an all around player,
that's going to take two to three years, and the
Rockets simply did not have that type of time, especially
if you are also prioritizing Reed Shepherd in that same window. Now,
if Reed turns out to be a Boston doesn't play well,
then maybe years down the line we can second guess this,
But for right now, I think it's completely understandable, and

(40:26):
I'm ready to turn the page and look at Reid
in Summer League and the rest of the off season. Now,
our listeners might ask, why did you just spend thirty
plus minutes talking about Cam Whitmore, a guy who's no
longer on the roster, And I think one reason we did,
besides trying to explain the thought process, there's honestly not

(40:49):
a lot to talk about when it comes to the
rest of the off season, and Rafel said it himself
at the press conference. There were a number of good quotes,
but this is the one that shoot out to me
because it makes sense that I think it's honest when
asked about the potential for further moves. I like our
team as is. We're hard capped at the first apron
and we have no space left, so I think it's

(41:10):
very likely we'll enter the season looking very similar to
the way we look now. It's pretty hard not to. Then,
in a follow up interview the next day with Matt
Thomas on Sports Talk seven ninety, he mentioned having the
potential to maybe tweak the fourteenth and fifteenth spots on
the roster. Nate Williams is a minimum deal that isn't
guaranteed until October, but the overarching sentiment is the same

(41:31):
moves of significance are probably done, and I think he's
being honest in that and you should be okay with it.
This is not like the press conference after the Warriors
series ended where he said I would bet on continuity.
Obviously it's not continuity. Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, Jock Landale
going out, and Kevin Durant, Doriy Anthonysveth then let Capella
going in. That's what you say, especially right after a

(41:55):
season ends, because you have no idea what the market
is going to a whole weeks months down the line,
and the last thing you want to do, especially if
you have a team that's good already. It's not like
the Rockets were desperate, that were young and coming off
the fifty two and thirty season number two in the West.
The last thing we do is make the public standard well,
we've got an upgrade, and then if somehow the right

(42:18):
deal doesn't materialized, then it's really awkward when you report
back to trading camp for the fall, because the team
and the players feel like that the GM doesn't believe
in them. No, they're gonna say that they're okay staying
the course right up until the moment that they don't.
That's just how it works in this case, I think, well,
for starters, it makes more sense to stay the course

(42:39):
because KD. Dorion and Capella relative to Jalen Dylan and
Jock Landale, those are clear upgrades in my opinion. And
also Steven Adams, your backup center should be better next
year than he was this past year, now being two
years and moves from his knee surgery. And you're young guys,
especially you're influential ones all Prn Shing Goon and men
Thompson all getting better as their careers progress. There's reasons

(43:04):
when you look at the fifty two to thirty baseline
and then you look at the upgrades they made this
offseason and the young players they kept that are at
a point in their careers where they should still be
getting better. Yeah, there's ample reasons to think they're good
enough as is. They're a reason why, as you pointed out, Paolo,
they're second or third and the odds rankings win the
title next year. This is a really good team as it,

(43:24):
so it makes sense for them to say the course.
But I also think just financially, when you look at
the options or lack thereof. He mentioned that they're right
up against the first Apron, which is true. They spent
their non taxpayer bid level exception, they're above the salary cap.
They don't have any tools. And then as far as
the trade market, I mean, they're pretty boxed in when

(43:44):
you look at what they could conceivably do. I get
the curiosity that comes from whenever you bring a star
in like Kevin Durant, there's always this natural wondering, especially
in the post you know, Lebron and the Heat, Katie
and the Warriors, this post super Team era of does
this mean other stars are going to want to team up?

(44:05):
I think largely that era is on its way out
because of the new collective bargaining agreement. But we're so
close in time to the Super Team era that it's
natural to wonder that. But I don't think that that
really makes sense financially here, because if you were to
hypothetically try to bring in Yannis, and at this point
there's no indication that he's eminently going to ask for

(44:27):
a trade. In fact, the Bucks waving Damian Lillard and
doing what they did to bring in Miles Turner would
suggest that they have some indication that he's at least
willing to give it more time. Otherwise, I don't think
they make moves nearly that drastic and handicap themselves financially.
Even more, if you were to make the type of
move that people speculated about after the Clint Capella siding

(44:48):
of Shingoon plus Tari plus whatever filler to bring in Giannis,
it doesn't work with the first apron and most of
these scenarios because you can't have a ten or eleven
man roster. You have to fill out the roster to
get back up to the minimum threshold, and even if
you stick to minimum guys, well you add those on too,
the bigger salary of a guy like Jannis it's in
the fifties. Same to theoretically apply, if Lebron asked out

(45:10):
of la which some people think that he's quietly trying
to do, you wouldn't be able to stay under the
first apron because by the time you backfill those roster spots,
even at the minimum, and you add that on to
a salary of someone like Giannis or Lebron that's in
the fifties, you're going to be above that first apron
relative to what you send out because the Rockets just

(45:30):
don't have enough tradable salary. And you know, it's important
to remember all the guys they signed this offseason, not
just the newcomers that they traded for or signed, but
also the extensions guys like Fred van Fleet and even
the veteran guys Jay Sharon Tate, Aaron Holliday that signed
for the minimum. I think Jabari Smith as an extension guy. Basically,

(45:51):
everyone who signed new contracts, with the one exception being
Steven Adams is untradable for a period of several months
six months December fifteenth, at vary some based on the circumstance,
but the bottom line is like half your roster is
untradeable now even if you wanted to trade them, so
you don't have any options. You can't make the math

(46:13):
work being that close to the first apron at least
during the off season. Now, maybe it changes during the
season when salaries you know, are pro rated because you've
already paid some of the payments for this coming year's contracts.
And also you know, ten day contracts come into play
and more guys become trade eligible, the guys who signed

(46:34):
during the off season or you traded for. So yeah,
it's possible like during the season December January February. The
Rockets could look around and if someone like Jannis wants out,
there might be a conversation to be had at that time.
But for now, over half your roster is untradeable. You're
right up against the apron. I don't see how a
consolidation trade would work, even if there was a Star

(46:58):
that was going to ask out, and I don't see
who that that would be. And then if you go
to the other end of the spectrum and you look
at death trades, I don't see why the Rockets, with
the nine in rotation as is, and with quality bets
all the way down to ten, eleven, twelve spots on
your bench, guys like Aaron Holliday, Jshon Tate, Jeff Green,
I don't see the Rockets doing a trade where they
send out a dollar for four quarters. I don't see

(47:19):
that making sense. And most of your team is untradeable anyway,
so I don't see a trade. Even if the Rockets
theoretically could make a deal, I don't see one that's
feasible over the next few weeks. So because of that,
I don't think this is Rafel just blowing smoke and saying, well, yeah,
we're comfortable with this right upuntil the moment that he isn't. No,

(47:41):
when you look at how they put this roster together,
I just don't think it makes sense to do anything
over the remainder of this offseason for starters, because you
should like the team as is. There's a reason why
people around the league are raving about what the Rockets did.
But I just don't see does it make sense to
do a consolidation trade and financially it probably won't work. Also,

(48:02):
don't know who the star would be, and it certainly
doesn't make sense to go the other direction and trade
for depth and you already have so much. No. I
think they're comfortable where they're at, and this is largely
going to be what they take the training kit. Maybe
they're a move around the margin. If you think there's
a guard you like a little bit more than Nate Williams,
maybe you can do something tiny like that at the
very end of your bench. I think they're pretty set
and I don't think this is them blowing spoke, and

(48:23):
I think it's probably the smart play. Like I've seen
some talk that, well, should they have hardcapped themselves at
the first apron if it prohibits flexibility to this extent. Again,
I don't think a superstar war is going to come
available anyway. I think the Miles Turner signing and the
Damian Lillard wave and stretch signaled that Yiannis, at least

(48:45):
for the time being, isn't going to be on the market.
And I'm sure the Rockets had some back channel communications
that led to them coming to the same conclusion. But
I also think you have to look at everything as
pieces to a puzzle, and you can't assume that everything
else that happened this offseason stays the same if you

(49:05):
take out one particular signing, like let's say they don't
sign Jory on Finny Smith and so if they don't
spend the non tax for Emily, they're not hard capped
at the Apron and maybe they give maybe they give
that role to Cam Whitmore, or maybe they sign someone
at the taxpayer Emily level, or maybe I don't know,
maybe instead of expanding the Durant trade to include Capella,

(49:26):
maybe they keep Landale and they explain the Durant trade
to bring in like a three and D guy that's
making you know, seven million dollars. Whatever room they had
financially to expand the KD trade. Even if he did
something like that, then I don't think the rest of
your off season goes the same way. Because these moves
are all interconnected, bringing in Kevin Durant and the need

(49:48):
to have access to that non taxpayer mid level exception.
That's why Fred van Fleet took such a large pay cut.
Jabari probably took the deal he did in part because
the Rockets needed to know what they'd have him on
the bookscore. During the Kevin Durant talks. We talked about
that in the last part. Even your minimum guys like

(50:09):
Jayshawan and Aaron I think they could have gotten more
than the minimum on the open market, but they took
minimums because it's the best Houston had. If Houston suddenly
had more than the minimum, because they've weren't up against
that apron I think they're asking for more money. They
probably get more money, especially Fred, I think he gets
more money than twenty five. So I don't think you
can look at any of these variables in isolation. They're

(50:32):
all interconnected, their pieces to a puzzle, and one thing
I think the Rockets have done very well. They leveraged
these other deals, the arrival of Kevin Durant and certainly,
you know, bringing in someone like Kadi. Players want to
be on a contender, but also just the financial math.
So many deals around the NBA break down over respect

(50:54):
or perceived lack thereof from players and especially formations. And
so if the Rockets weren't right up against the first apron,
if they didn't have the concerns that they now have
two years from now in terms of a men being
on the first year of his maxil at the same
time that Katie's on year two of his inevitable extension,

(51:16):
that consideration is probably why you got the two non
guaranteed years on the Jory on Phinney's fifth contract for
year three in year four, because he sees the team
around them, he wants to be in Houston, and so
it's the best way, the only way really that it
can work financially with Fred, he took the deal he took,

(51:37):
and perhaps Steven Adams as well earlier in the month,
because that's the most he could get while the Rockets
had access to the non taxpayer and could stay underneath
the first apron. So all this talk about, well, could
you have had more flexibility if you change just one signing,
like if you don't sign Jory on Phinneysmith and you
go a little bit lower in that three and D bracket,

(51:57):
or you just keep Cam whitmore, which I think is
a pot people are take for some I don't think
it's as simple as looking at that in isolation, because
then the entire chain breaks down. You got so many
good deals in large part because of the restriction, because
the rockets can say, no, we're not disrespecting you. This
is literally all we have. This is the only way
that it can make it work. I've seen so many

(52:21):
deals over my years covering the NBA breakdown because and
it's not so much that players are greedy. We see
that like on Astros Twitter all the time. People turning
get into the players, why do they need this many million? No,
it's not about that. It's about respect. It's about feeling
valued by their team, what percentile they're in amongst their peers.
That stuff matters. And so if you're asking them to

(52:41):
make a sacrifice, they need something tangible for it to
be worthwhile. They need to see Kevin Durant. They need
to see who you're bringing in with that non taxpy
and mid level exception. The idea that these guys are
going to take the same discounts because oh, theoretically we
might have the flexibility to pursue Janni's weeks down the line.
That's not going to fly, especially because I think people
are on league know that Yiannis, if he does get

(53:02):
traded at some point in the next calendar year, it's
probably going to be during the season at this point
based on everything that we're seeing from Milwaukee, and by
that point a lot more of the league is going
to be available anyway, because guys that sign this off
season are going to be trade eligible for the most
part by December fifteenth. Right now, like forty percent of
the league is untradeable because they just signed new contracts
or got traded. So now is not the time. And

(53:25):
with that in mind, the flexibility that you lost by
not being able to do anything the rest of this offseason,
it really isn't that much because I don't think there's
that many moves to be had anyway. I think the
team is good enough. I think the options are minimal
as it is, and so I think the Rockets are
and Rafelstone are genuinely content before they are. I don't
think it's lip service. I think they'll always explore the

(53:49):
market and see if any upgrades are out there. But
I think their view is we want to start this
season as we are, We like our team, and if
it doesn't go well, then by December fifteenth, then leading
into the early February trade deadline. Yeah, maybe there's a
different conversation to be had, but for now I think
they're genuine. This is what they're going to be buying
large when training cap opens in late September early October.

(54:12):
I think they're happy with it. I think they should
be happy with it.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
There's just not basically any way in which they can
make another move until obviously Queen Coppella, Steven Adams and
Dardan Fini Smiths become tradeable, and for then it becomes tradable.
You have twenty five million you can trade in fred
you have thirteen million you can trade in in Adams,
and thirteen million you can trade in in Dardan Phinis

(54:36):
smith and seven million you can trade in Guin Cappella.
Besides that, what you have you have k B who you're.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
Not going to trade.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
You have Shane Gun who you're not going to trade.
You have Rick Chebert who you're not going to trade.
You have starties and who you're not going to trade.
So nothing's gonna happen until December fifteenth, when these players
become tradable again, and even then, I'm not sure something
will happen then because I think they are legitimately pretty
happy with what they have. They've made major improvements on

(55:03):
many categories, and it just makes sense to get a
big example on what you have right now before you
commit more assets to make another move. And then beyond that,
I want to take a point on what you said
about the extensions or in the free the freedom contracts.
I also think that having a team as successful or

(55:25):
as you know, appealing as we currently have for the
EFTAR reason for example, I think there's a factor of Okay,
I kindot want to get my contract extension now, not
just because of the security and the money, but also
because of the security that it makes sure that I
will be here at least for another year. Because it's
it's not prohibitive. I think guys can get traded with

(55:47):
that extension signed, but poison Pill it's really hard to do.
And it's like I think that is that that is
something that weighs on Tari's decision to extend versus not
to extend, which is, if I extend and I'm probably
here honor contender, they value me because we know the
rockets valutary probably even over the body, although the extension
probably will to reflect that they I'm valued here. They

(56:10):
stuck with me through my really bad leg injury. You know,
Tarasan is the typical player that wants to be on
a good team, and so I think that factors in
as well. And yeah, I think as far as that
entire conversation over not using the mL so you're not
hard capt so you can make a move like a
Threde free on us right now. First of all, it's

(56:32):
very unlikely that's really like that happens at this point.
But even but even more than that, listening, you can
slip on a Banan appeal and be hard gat in
the LBA. Right how you should do anything that ince
is your payroll a trade in which you take one
more dollar then you send out. You spend a dollar
over the taxpayer MELA, which is about five or six million.
I believe your heart gatt at the first April. It's

(56:56):
it's basically anything anything you do you use a three
plant exception that's not from this year, your hard gap,
like basically almost anything hard caps you at the first apron.
Interesting point on the first apron working as a negotiating
tool for the teams, because I never really thought about that.

(57:17):
It does make sense that it's a lot different to
brot the negotiation. Like you said, just repeating what you
said at this point, it makes a lot of makes
a lot of sense when I broke in a negotiation
to say, hey, we're gonna bring in Daren phinis Smith
and for example for Uncapel, for example, we're gonna bring
in Daren Phinich Smith who need to fill out his
roster spots. We got KD you might want, I don't know,

(57:40):
taxpayer emili type money or a room emeli type money,
and all we can give you is the money we
have right now, and if you want to come you
can come back. It simplifies negotiations a lot and then
never strikes the opposition as penny pinching, and it never
strikes the opposition as negotiation because it's literally what's a

(58:01):
good offer?

Speaker 2 (58:03):
Yep. And along the same lines, the Capella signing, which
is basically a starting salary around seven million or a
little bit above it or a little bit below it.
Excuse me, there was no negotiating there because that was
exactly how much financial wiggle room they had with expanding
the KD trade. So the same concept applies there and
all of these it's here's what we have. It's the

(58:24):
maximum we can offer to make it work on our books.
Do you want to be here? And in most cases,
especially when you have Kevin Durant, you have a legitimate contender.
Players want to be here. We talked about that in
recent pause. This is a Tier one destination now, so
if players want to be here. The only way these
negotiations are not going to end favorably is if the

(58:45):
sides are so far apart financially, which I don't think
is the case. I don't think any of these contracts
is just you know, unacceptable for the player. They're they're
friendly for the team, but they're not like insane, And
if it's close, then the only other way the deal
wouldn't get to the finish line is if disrespect enters
the equation, and if you are doing all you reasonably
can within understandable parameters. Then I think the players are

(59:09):
going to feel and I think they have felt respected
this offseason. That goes back to one of the founding
principles of the Rafel Snown administration, this idea that you know,
relationships matter, building them with players with agents, and this
is just another element of that. This is the same
underlying principle. And these guys feel respected. And even if

(59:30):
the deal, and in most cases the deals are favorable
to the team, if the player and their agent feel respected,
they'll give me the benefit of the doubt. And I
think that's what's happened this offseason, and anyone wanting to
revisit one deal out of isolation shouldn't view it as well.
You can, you could theoretically have changed this, but then
everything else is the same, and then look what else

(59:51):
we could have done. No, everything is interconnected, their pieces
to a puzzle. I think the Rockets methodically plan this out,
led by ravel Sodie like whites past for Tita in
that front office, and this is the end result. And
I don't think you should have any regrets. This is
a really good team and yeah, I think everybody should
be content going into the season as is. Maybe it
doesn't turn out as well as we think or we hope,

(01:00:13):
and if that's the case, then they'll have optionality December fifteenth,
leading up to the trade deadline. But for now, yeah,
I think they're content with where they are and we
don't have too much to talk about moving forward in
terms of roster construction, because I think where they are
today is where they're going to be by the time
training camp rolls around in late September early October. All right,

(01:00:38):
last segment I want to get to before we close
out the pod. And it'll be quick on this because
I know we're over an hour in already. Summer League
starts tonight. It's not a roster with many names that
you will know. By far. The most notable one is
Reached Shepherd, who will start at point guard. I don't
know if he's going to play all five games. I
think the more likely scenarios that he plays two or three,

(01:01:00):
like Kim Whitmore did when he was in this second
year last year before shutting it down. You have a
couple of two ways. Caban Harris, a wing player they
recently signed, previously played with the Magic Caple defender Fally
Dante big Man out of Oregon, who they had in
a two way last year. They did have Moses Brown
on their roster, which is interesting because conceivably, between Brown

(01:01:22):
and Dante, you could play double big, and so for Reid,
give him some exposure playing with a double big lineup
because obviously he did not have much of that as
a Brookie. And we do to moving forward based on
certainly the presence of Shingooon and Adams, but also adding Capella.
Rafelstone confirmed to his press conference they do want to
explore double big more next season. So perhaps you see that.
Beyond that, you have Cameron Matthews, the defensive forward type

(01:01:46):
for Mississippi State. You have Jermaine Sanguels junior, who's been
a quality player on the summer league team the last
few years. Nate Williams, who, as I mentioned, his minimum
spot could perhaps be at risk if they want, if
the Rockets wanted to do something along the margins, so
it could incentivise him to have a strong Summer League.
But by and large it's not a sexy roster. Read's

(01:02:06):
the only guy of note that I would expect to play,
barring extreme injuries, rotation minutes for the Rockets next season.
In terms of watch to watch for, I'm not going
to focus too much on the shooting or the defense
the shooting because look, that's foundational. If the shooting doesn't
hit at a high level for Reid, it's just it's
not going to work out, Like that's got to be there.

(01:02:28):
And also we saw signs from February onward last year
reach shut over forty percent from three point range. So
I think the shooting is going to be fine. And
Summer league's a tough gauge or that anyway, because when
you're by far the best player on the team, or
at least the one that commands the most respect, who
knows how many open looks he's going to get. So
I'm not going to look too much. And there's the

(01:02:49):
small sample component as well of do the shots go
in or do they not? And defensively, he's got the
quick hands, and he said this week read that is
that he's gotten stronger by Summer League and the NBA
are are different animals in that regard. Like last year
in Summer League, when Reid was All Summer League First Team,
he had a ton of quick hands type plays where

(01:03:12):
he would get in the passing lanes he would rip
guys on their way up, and it was different in
real NBA games, the level of competition, the level of experience.
It's just apples or oranges. We know Reed is a
high IQ player, so I expect him to have a
few defensive highlights, But as for whether it's going to
translate in the fall, even if he looks really good
defensively in Summer League, I'm not sure I'm going to

(01:03:33):
take that much out of it. The area I'm focused
on the most I think the Rockets are as well,
is on redeveloping it as a point guard. That's what
Garrett Jackson, the Summer League head coach normally an assistant
to Emy during the regular season, said he wanted to
see from Reid talking about the drive and kick elements
of his game, the pull ups, the floaters, what can

(01:03:54):
he do to generate offense for his teammates, What can
he do when defenders close out on the three point line?
Because he is viewed on the scouting report as being
an elite shooter. Got off to a slow start, but
again February onward, about forty percent from three. That's where
I think you can see some things even in a
summer league environment, because some of it just comes down

(01:04:14):
to fluidity that drive and kick game. Do you have
the awareness to see guys at the corner of your eye?
Do you have the folidity to get to the pull up,
the float or whatever the situation calls for that Chris
Paul ability to even if you're undersize, to sort of
use your body and contort it in such a way
that you can always get a little bit of space
in those mid range areas. That's what I'm going to

(01:04:35):
be looking for. It's not the shooting, it's not the defense,
it's how well rounded is he. I think the Rockets
view Fred and Fleet as an ideal mentor for him
for that reason and well others as well. But that's
one of the leading reasons is Fred came into the
NBA with a somewhat similar scouting report to Read in
terms of being developed as a shooter as a scorer,

(01:04:57):
and then he developed the floor general qualities over ti time.
I think Read as a shooter is going to be fine.
It's the playmaking elements and the in between elements. That's
where I think even in summer league, we can perhaps
see some things that might encourage us heading into the fall.
So those are sort of what I'm looking for. I

(01:05:17):
think Read Shepherd's the obvious headliner, and as far as
things with then Read's game, it's the non shooting elements,
the point guard, the middies, those types of things. That's
what I want to see the most out of Read
in whatever limited stent he has to share at Summer League.
How anything else that you want to add as far
as storylines you're watching for with Reid or anybody else
on this very unusual twenty twenty five Summer League.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Roster, Yeah, I wouldn't call it unusually. Just happens when
it has when you're a winning team, if you don't
have that many prospects, or we're spoiling in smile, Yeah, yeah,
I do agree with nearly everything you say, though, I'll
be honest with you, I'm at a point where Summer
League is never going to show me anything that translates

(01:06:01):
at all to the NBA. That that's just no correlition whatsoever.
I am tired of that. We saw Jeffardy Smith go
off in summary and I thought, hey, maybe there's a
ball Helling.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
No like it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:12):
I just I refuse to be fooled. What I'm going
into some believe with is I haven't watched Rockets basketball
in a few months.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
I miss it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:22):
We have one player or two players that are rostered
or I guess three players that are rostered, but two
on actual NBA deals and are going to play there,
and I just want to watch the ball, sit back
and watch the ball go in the hoop because at
the end of the day, that's what tasketball is about.
So that's what I want to see we do. I
want to see him put up I don't know, twenty five,
five and seven and just watch the all go in

(01:06:44):
the hoop and watch some watchable locketball because that's what
I want to enjoy to try. And I guess carrying
me over to October, which is way too long still,
like NBA, you need to fix this. And then besides that,
I'll just point out that in the time we've been
recorded this podcast, obviously take this with the green of salt,
because what else would we say. But Kelly Eco reported

(01:07:05):
that Rockets Rockets summarly head coach Carol Jackson says he
hopes to have second round the second year card a
reach chapter available for the duration of the time in
Vegas that's the plan until I get told otherwise, So
take it to the green of salt. Obviously probably wasn't
gonna say come out and say that Reed's not gonna
play the entire thing. But if that's the plan, hopefully

(01:07:28):
there's no injuries, and hopefully from the perspective that I
was talking about, just now give me more games to
what's to go the both go to the whole bit,
and then I'll be a happy camber. So yeah, that's
just where I'm going in doing. I'll just say one thing.
I interesting point on the on the Moses Brown and
and Folly down say double big thing. And it also

(01:07:49):
makes sense from the perspective and all of us. Obviously
this is pretty irrelevant, but it does make sense from
the perspective that, well, you had convinced Moses Brown to
sign here was probably one of the most sought after
because he was a okay NBA big at one point
with the Thunder well okay for Summer League stendants. You know,
he's probably one of the biggest gets besides the two

(01:08:09):
way guys on on the on the summer league roster.
So I think in order to get him to play
for us, you probably had to say, hey, you're playing
probably gonna play a little bit of double big, especially
because there's basically no games in I'm not gonna say
that word. That's basically no chance, uh that he gets
a roster spot with us, because we have so many
bigs and we have in Folly Dunde. So I do

(01:08:31):
think that if if we got him on the roster,
it's probably because we problemised them some playing time and
that probably comes through the little bigs because obviously the
Rockets prioritize the guy they have one a two way in.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
And yeah, this year's schedule shows the lack of excitement
relative to previous years. You look at and I'm pulling
this up on Rockets dot com right now, but the
games are Friday, Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. Three of them
are NBA TV the other into Two of them are
afternoon starts on Sunday and Monday back to back. So

(01:09:05):
this is a far cry from a couple of years
ago when the Rockets and Blazers were the ESPN Future
Game and it was Amn Thompson and Screwt Henderson and
Shavari Smith had that buzzer beater off the pass from
Charie eason. The Rockets are no longer a glamour team
at NBA Summer League, and I think we're just fine
with that. We've had our time in the spotlight the
last few years with those young prospects. Now this team is,

(01:09:29):
as mentioned in the Cam Whitmore discussion, much more advanced
than we thought they would be further along in their
contending cycle. That means Summer League doesn't matter. I'm happy
that Summer League for the most part doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
Yeah, And I'll just before we close, just get in
that based on this Cooper flag they view Dallas versus Lakers,
we can tell that Briant James is actually the second
coming of literal Lebron James because he's three for three,
seven points and Cooper flags four for eleven as a
six foot ten or six leve dude, so he's officially

(01:10:02):
a bus We're fine. We don't have like, thank god
that him, because he's not never going to be any.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
Good, terrible player, terrible prospect. Laker's got the Big three
between Luca, Lebron and Browny.

Speaker 3 (01:10:13):
Yeah, yeah, literally literally just missed the dunk, Like, how
are you six or eleven and you miss the Duck's
really no point, just.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
I'm a pressure watching this at two am in Portugal. Man,
that's awesome, But to your point, it's the only basketball
we will have for a very long time, so I
guess you gotta enjoy it while we can because we
are about to hit hit the dead period of the
NBA calendar. Anyway, that's enough for today, so I will
wrap things right here. If you want more insight from

(01:10:41):
me or Polo before our next show, the best place
to get it is on social media. I'm on there
at Beinjubo's Powlo is on there at Palo ALVE's, NBA Twitter,
Blue Sky, all the usual places, and then on Twitter
slash ax. If you hit up the logger line, that's
where you can find this podcast. And if you go
to the link tree and the bio, that's got all
the information you could possibly need as far as the
plugs we want to throw out. Subscribe to the show

(01:11:02):
if you're not already. Places like Apple, Google and Spotify.
They positive review, hopefully a five star rating. That's how
we can look good to friends. Partner sponsors like USA.
Today's rockets were like Carback Brewing, like Sports Talk seven
to ninety. We want to keep this show going as
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with your subscription and your happy review, that helps us
do that. And at that same link tree you can

(01:11:24):
find links to their content if you just want to
hit up. Certainly USA Today's Rockets, where we're all had
daily coverage throughout summer league. That's probably the best plug
to throw out here, because I'll have daily recaps as
long as the Rockets are playing most likely five games,
but possibility of a six if they somehow advanced to
the championship game like they did two years ago. That's
how the fifth game would turn into six because twenty

(01:11:44):
six teams will have a Constellation game added four. We'll
go to the semifinals, and then the two teams that
win the semifinals will have a six game the championship
on let's see Sunday, July twentieth. So yeah, playing out
over the next ten days from Thursday the tenth through
Sunday the twentieth, and then we are officially in the

(01:12:05):
void where all we have to look forward to is
the reveal of the schedule in August. One thing I
forgot to mention on today's show, we did learn the
Rockets NBA Cup group the Nuggets, Warriors, Blazers, and Spurs
a little bit of a tough draw simply because the
last place team. It's randomizing that you have a team,

(01:12:25):
you know, from the top, middle and bottom of the standings,
and so everybody sort of gets a team that's within
certain parameters, and so the three Western Conference groups, but
the Rockets getting the Spurs as their last place group
team is a little bit of a bad draw simply
because the Spurs would not have been thirty four and
forty eight if Victor women Yama had not had the

(01:12:46):
blood clot. So a little bit of bad luck there.
But you know what, I feel comfortable in saying that
the Rockets are not focused on the NBA Cup this year.
They're focused on the NBA Finals. And so with that,
I'll bring this episode to a close. As always, appreciate
you guys so much for listening, and please do Max
soon for more new episodes.

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