Analyst Ben DuBose Says Rockets 'Already Pretty Set' Heading Into Offseason

Ben DuBose, editor of The Rockets Wire, joins Next Up following the Houston Rockets defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 116-105 on the road Sunday to finish their season with a 41-41 record. This is the first time the Rockets have finished with at least a .500 season record since 2019-2020. The Rockets were unable to make the postseason as this year's Western Conference was the first conference in NBA history to have 11 teams without a losing record. With the team heading into the offseason, DuBose explains that the Rockets are "already pretty set with the young guys" as the NBA draft and free agency period approaches. DuBose also reflects on veteran point guard Fred VanVleet's first season with the Rockets, saying "Fred was a homerun signing," as well as Dillon Brooks, who "set a tone" with his "competitive edge he brings to the table."

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Rockets finished the season forty one andforty one, and for more on the
twenty twenty three twenty twenty four season, we go to the phone lines,
now the guest line our Rockets,inside of friend of the station, Friend
of the show, Ben Dubo's beinggood morning to you, sir, Good
morning to you, sim hey Man, feeling pretty good. I look at
this season and I get it.The last couple games and I was all

(00:21):
pissed off because the Rockets, excuseme, had no business losing to that
who was at the Utah Jazz's Bteam the other night. That was on
Thursday. That pissed me off.But they come back on Friday and win
at Portland. They didn't bass Hudokaon his home turf, and then they
win yesterday even though Chris Gordy itis a disappointment that they didn't make the
postseason at forty one and forty one, I walk away from this year being

(00:45):
pleased. What is your overall valuationon the Rockets this season? It made
dogus first. Yeah, I don'tsee how you can't be pleased. The
over under total going into the yearor thirty one and a half, and
they neurely cleared that by ten.If you're exceeding your over under by ten,
you've had a phenomenally successful season,even if you didn't make your stated
goal of the play in tournament,which we knew was a long shot,

(01:07):
just because of how historically loaded theWestern Conference is this year, it should
not take forty five plus wins toget into the top ten of the conference.
But that's just the way the NBAlandscape was this year. Hopefully that
changes in the next couple of years. It's some of these older teams start
to age out a little bit.But I just think the way they finished
this season, there's not a lotyou can take from any of those final
three games because veterans were sitting outall over the plays. You had guys

(01:30):
who were trying not to get hurt. So it's not like a normal game
over the NBA calendar where you canlearn something from how it plays out.
But to finish with three wins intheir last four games, we said it
on last week's show, it's reallyimportant for them to sort of prove that
that thirteen and two March Down elevengame winning streak was much more reflective of

(01:53):
who they are than the five gamelosing streak that followed it, and so
I think being able to win threeof their last four games, even if
there's not a lot you can takefrom how those games played out, a
lot of young guys very destroyed atthe staytag getting back to winning and being
able to sort of look at itmore along the lines of really the final
quarter of the season. Since theAll Star Break, they've been a consistently

(02:15):
good basketball team. It leaves youfeeling that, at least you're feeling like
that thirteen and two March is muchmore reflective of who they are than that
brief down turn the first week ofApril. Well, von Tilman Fertita and
I see Adam Silver repetition. Heyman, we're kind of in the East,
Like maybe we make sense more geographicallyin the Eastern Conference. Maybe that
might be a little bit easier becausethey'd be a playoff team if they were

(02:38):
in the East. But it isinteresting, Ben, it's hard not to
you know, the playoffs haven't evenstarted yet, but it's hard not to
switch into offseason mode for the Rockets. And I even heard, you know,
I maya dooka addressed pregame yesterday andkind of said, oh, yeah,
we're we're already thinking about the offseason, Like, what, in your
mind is the biggest thing this teamneeds. We know they're going to have
a high draft pick from Brooklyn,but with Dylan Brooks, with Fred Vance,

(03:00):
with this core of young players thattake another step forward, you'll get
shen Goon back. What does thisteam need? What's the in your mind?
Like, is it a position,is it a player? What's the
biggest piece this team needs to add? This off to you, I think
it's more quality over quantity. Sure, they'll look for guys to fill out
the roster the way they did lastoff season with Aaron Holliday, Jeff Green,

(03:23):
veteran types. Maybe you look atbringing back Bobon as an influence after
how well you played in the fourthquarter yesterday. But I just think that
when you look at the way therotation is currently constructed, and you're going
to have Tarry Easton back, andin a way you already major offseason slash
acquisition by trading for Steven Adams atthe trade deadline, I think the way
fans should probably look at that,it's like you did your shopping a little

(03:45):
bit early because they knew he wasgoing to be an acquisition not for this
season but for next season. Soin terms of the obvious hole for most
of this year, which was meetinganother center, well, you've already done
that by bringing in Steven Adams.So when you look at the veterans they
have in place, and you havethe ability to bring back Jack Landel and
Jeff Green on cheap one year deals, which I think they'll definitely highly consider,

(04:06):
it's not so much that they needdepth guys because you've already got this
core six of young guys that you'regoing to want to play a men Thompson
and camp Wit more and more minutes. You're gonna want to certainly get Harry
Eathan when he's healthy twenty five tothirty minutes per game. So you want
to make sure that you're not bringingin sort of mid to your veterans that
are just going to play more thanyour young guys yet not really provide you

(04:29):
a lot of upsides. To me, the big question for the Rockets if
a guy comes along that can actuallyelevate them to that next level, i
e. A true all star leveltalent, which we hear every time there's
a tranduction when the do in theNBA for fells Stone in the Rockets through
their due diligence. And I don'tcare how good you feel about this young
core, you'd be a fool notto listen because there are no guarantees.
We like these guys, but noone has proven that they're an all Star

(04:53):
let alone in all NBA player yet, So I think the Rockets will do
their due diligence. We'll see howthe playoffs play out in terms of whether
any through top shelf guys come available, But if it's not someone that's really
at that tier, I don't reallythink they'll do a lot. I mean,
sure, you need to fill outthe end of your rotation. You
need some veterans. They were importantto their development this year and so on
and so forth. But I thinkin terms of the rotation, you're already

(05:15):
pretty set with the young guys.And then in terms of addressing the big
need, which for most of thecenter was another big body inside a defensive
contrast all for instant goons. Well, keep in mind, you alread pretty
much did that at the deadline withSteven Adams. Just considered that rafel Stone
doing his off season shopping early.That's the way I'm sort of contextualizing this.
That's the voice of Ben Dubo's ourRockets analysts here a Sports Talk seven

(05:35):
ninety. You can also see hiswork USA Today's the Rocket Why. You
also hear him on our Log andLine podcast. I remember and I was
listening to some postgame commentary from Fredand Dylan Brooks, who neither played yesterday.
They win street codes, and Ican understand that we know what Dylan's

(05:58):
Dylan would an adductor and free it'sgot a hip. I think that's just
Coword saying, Vitz, we getit, we appreciate you. Just start
you off season. Speaking of Iremember when those contracts were announced for both
of those guys and going in ina couple of days, and we were
all like, sheesh, they theRockets paid a pretty penny for both.
How would you classify how worthy anddeserving at the conclusion of this first season

(06:26):
for both of those guys being inRocket uniforms, Fred was a home run
fighting Let's just be clear about that. Great, no question. I think
to get his combination of leadership,point guard acumen, shooting ability, play
both on and off the ball,which allows you the flexibility in future years
to give Amn Thompson more on ballreps if he deserves it. Perhaps Jalen

(06:46):
Green as well. I think RussellStone absolutely nailed that. And what gets
lost when people look at that contractif there's a team option for year three,
so basically it was just a twoyear deal. He goes into next
season as something of an expiring contract. Now, I don't think the Rockets
are wanting to lose him by anystretch. He's just thirty years old.
But the point is, you knowyou have options. You can bring him

(07:09):
back on a one year deal forthe following season, or perhaps you can
negotiate an extension off of that,say hey, we'll lower your average annual
value, but we'll give you acouple more guaranteed years and so you can
get a more friendly deal the nexttime. In terms of average annual value.
There's a lot of directions they cango, but Fred has given them
everything they needed. They had tospend that money on somebody, and the

(07:29):
way he helps them both on andoff the court. If you listen to
those young guys, every one ofthem points to Spread. Now, Dylan,
I would say it's a little moremixed, but I think where a
lot of analysis goes wrong with Dylan'scontract. Fans just are not used to
the new economics of the NBA.The Suns gave an extension this morning to
Grayson Allen for year seventy billions,and a lot of people were reacting stun

(07:50):
But that's the new economics of theNBA. The mid level exception, which
is like an average salary stand themid level exception is going to be about
fourteen to fifteen million this offseason.So fans are just not used to,
like they see Dylan Brooks getting paid, you know, eighty million dollars over
four years, about twenty million ayear, and people sort of roll their
eyes and laugh. But that's reallyjust a slightly above average salary. And

(08:13):
he's just twenty seven years old,so it's not like he's particularly prone to
aging out anytime soon. So Iwould just say that, well, Dylan
isn't as good as Fred when youlook at the economics of the NBA.
I don't think it's a bad contractyear. And I just think that above
all else, what they brought inDylan to do was to set a tone.

(08:35):
He's a culture guy. He's someonethat it's not just how he plays
on the court. It's the grind, it's the competitive edge that he brings
to the table every single day onthe practice court, in the workout room.
That was something that they wanted aroundthose young guys. And so I
think when you consider that aspect ofit, you should feel pretty good about
what he's brought as well. Realquick, Ben, yes or no,
Well, Rockets trade one of theseyoung players this offseason. I'll say no.

(09:01):
You can make the cake for it, but I'll say no, I
feel that as well. All right, we'll get you Ben well, thank
you so much. We'll get youout of here now. Bro, thanks
for dropping by hanging out with usfor a segment. I want to continue
as thought on the other side.You just gave me something being and I
do appreciate you all year, notjust for today. Ben Dubos, everybody's
edited up USA today is the rocketWire. He's our analysts here for the

(09:22):
Rockets and sports talks every night,and you can catch his work on the
logger line and occasionally locked on Rocketsfollowing him, won't you If you aren't
already at Ben Dubos d U bO sc friend, Well done. We'll
talk to you around draft time,if not before so good. Thanks for
having me, us Man take care