NBA Veteran Ryan Hollins Joins The Show To Talk About the Rockets Offseason Moves

NBA Veteran Ryan Hollins Joins The Show To Talk About the Rockets Offseason Moves 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One twelve, one twelve. That's a holy mysteriad eleven o two.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
He scrambled the numbers, but you gotta wanted to say, Man,
I just need to room one twelve where the players dwell.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
It's went over my head.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
That's a song?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Is that a song? I should know?

Speaker 3 (00:16):
No?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
I just made it up on the spot. Man, that's
not true at all. Hey, it's about Thomas shold Ross.
Let's say how to our friend Ryan Hollins. Ryan, are
you a Dodger guy?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yes? Or no?

Speaker 1 (00:27):
You can't be an Angel's fan. There's no such thing
as angel fans.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Correct. We we can't disclose that we're an Astro's guy.
Were Astro? You're such a politician?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
I love you?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
You know that.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Oh my gosh, how are your Brotherren? In Los Angeles?
They can't be very happy. The local nine went in
there and beat them three straight times.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh, I mean, it's a long season, Mattie. You know
that who already at the end? But no, La has
his shares ups and down. You know that. I know,
I know. Hey.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Now, as official Rocket broadcasters, we can freely talk about
all the moves that were made, my friend, So let's
go piece by piece on this The Kevin Durant talk
never really ever went away, and it got piping hot
as the offseason began. When you were hearing the name.

(01:23):
You obviously have very encouraged one of the greatest players
of all time. But now put into perspective, how does
he fit as a Houston Rocket In your opinion.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
I think you said beautifully, Matt, because the one thing
that we know is Emails built a culture that will
not waiver for a player or a poor mindset as
a as a whole organization, everybody's on the same page.
And the reason I say that is you're not gonna
You're not looking at Kevin Durant at this stage's career

(01:53):
and saying, Kevin Durant, go go and you know, score
fifty points a night, go in, you know, average of
an assist, Go be a playmaker. You want Kevin Durant
to be Kevin Durant, and that's score the basketball. He
brings a championship experience. He brings the lands to this
double big lineup that we saw so much success with.

(02:15):
He's already had a rapport with Jabbari in the offseason,
and he's a guy that you're excited about what he
can become because his work ethics and his mindset. But
the Houston group, which was top of the league in defense,
top of the league and rebounding, struggled in a half
court to score. If they can't manufacture points of their defense.
You got a guy who can manufacture his own offense.

(02:38):
So that's the excitement there to join this group that
has already built something that was second in the West
last season.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
All right, So who takes over the moxie part of
the Dylan Brooks loss to the Phoenix Suns. And again,
one of the things that the Ross and I have
talked about is say what you're all about Jalen? And
obviously Jalen was added near the top of scoring for
the Rockets all season long, and he also played at
eighty two. It feels like all these acquisitions during Finny Smith,

(03:06):
Clint Compel, the resigning of Steven Adams, obviously Kevin Durant,
no one expects these guys to go full eighty two.
But you're replacing two guys that gave you as many
minutes as anybody on the Rockets team last season.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, well, I think it's key. Obviously, meant it really,
really hurts losing Dylan and Jalen and job. But what
Rafell did is he addressed needs. Okay, so I envision
this is not from the coaching staff or anybody, that
Finney Smith can play that Dylan Brooks role as obviously
he doesn't have the energy, but he brings a size,

(03:40):
he can defend, he can shoot the three. I think
he could be the long term starter in that position
because you're right, Matt, that's a lot of minutes that
the two and three spot that are missing. And you'd assume, hey,
Kevin Durant, you're gonna want him for the playoffs. He
may not play in a huge amount of minutes. You know,
you're not necessarily looking at eighty two games. The importance

(04:00):
for Kevin Durant is in the playoffs. So Finny Smith
was a huge signing, and I think everybody overlooked that
because they didn't see, as you noted, Matt, the importance
of Dylan Brooks and Jalen Green and their availability and
how hard they played and the energy and Alperton. You know,
Finny Smith is he's one of those guys. And that's
why the Lakers were so upset that they couldn't sign

(04:21):
him and he ends up getting away.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Ross with you here as well, Ryan, And a lot
of talk has been had about the starting lineup. How
do you see it configured? Do you think it'll be
you know, we saw it for stretches last year to
where Coachy Doka would make it very matchup dependent and
it wasn't the same five every time. Do you think
it'll be more of the same.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Absolutely, I can see that. Obviously. You can pensive shingon
Durant van Vliet as starters, and I think this is
my opinion. I thought and Men Thompson as a starter obviously,
but I think the goals that we found towards the
end of last season, Ross and Ross. I know Matt

(05:04):
thinks you're crazy, but I think you're gonna gree with
me on this. Okay, you're gonna agree with me. I
think Jabbari come up to the bench with such a
cheat code because he can sub in at center and
you get really fast and really small, or he can
sub in, you know, and you get this jumbo lineup
for one of the guards and go big. Or let's
say Durant sits out, or you know, Finny Smith or

(05:27):
whoever misses a game, he subs right in because for
most of the time here with the Rockets, he's the
starter and he won't miss a beat. So I think
the goal would be, you know, just the versatility of
Jabbar Smith Jr. And that's why Houston went out and
extended him and really put faith into him. And I
think even to the urgency for the Durant. And it
wasn't just for Durant. It's because hey, we got this

(05:48):
young star in Jabari Smith Jr. That we believe in.
I think it showed a lot of faith in him.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, I would agree. I think coach you donkin values
his versatility, like you said, guarding basically one through five
on switches and using him in any number of different ways.
He's so matchup dependent, but he can help you. Is
like a great tool to have in the toolbox for
Emi A Dooka and as will Kevin Durant be and
and kind of how much do you think about this

(06:15):
offense and the way that it's kinna flow to where
uh One of the good things about the offense last
year was while it was Jalen Green sometimes alprin Shangoon,
there was a lot of uh equality with guys getting
looks and stuff like that. And with Kevin Durant, who
you got to be that kind of ISO alpha dog,
but you don't necessarily want to build your offense around that.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah, and but and again, I think the biggest thing is, like,
you know, Kevin Durant, spot up and shoot. You know
we're gonna you're a guy. We can run offense and
some sets through. But shing Gun was double teams all
season loans and the times he didn't get double team
he tried, he absolutely fried. And even in the playoffs

(06:54):
he was he was successful just being pid in and
end soft. Now you're saying you can't help off Durant,
you can't help Off. You know Finney Smith, he's a
good shooter from out there, and that just changes the offense.
And then listen, man, there's the great Jim Herrick U
s LA Champ ninety five coach Dada saying he doesn't

(07:15):
have to saying, you guys have loved this. Bac goes,
he goes, it's not about the x'es and o's, it's
about the Jimny's and Joel's. Okay, So it's about the players, Okay,
So when all else fails, you get the ball to
Kevin Durant and you get out the way. Matt Thomas,
who is.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
Your favorite player on the nineteen ninety five UCLA championship team.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Ed O Bennon ed ed O'Bannon is a is a
legend to this day and he's and we see all
this nil stuff going on, and that is because of
his impact and the things that he went out and
fought for, and he'd be he'd be a multi millionaire.
This is his Nile Era who had.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Some key free throws for UCLA in a tournament game
way back in the day. I can't remember who it was.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Who it was was, you're talking, Oh, you're talking to Maddie.
You're talking till Maddie.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
You know how to Okay, Ryan's with a Space City
home network. We are so happy that we were able
to openly discuss now the moves. Give me some uh. Look,
I've been telling the audience during Finny smith Is three
point percentage has gotten better every year. He was an
assassin against the Rockets the last two times the Rockets
played them. Give me a thought or two about him

(08:25):
and about what Clint Capella is going to bring to
the mix as well.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
I love his game. Uh Finney Smith was a guy
that's been on Houston's radar for the way that he defends.
I thought that one of the biggest moves in getting
him showed a real commitment to what he may would
like to do. He's got thighs, so if you go
with the you know, five big versatile guys on the floor,
he fits. He plays extremely hard and again he fits culture.

(08:52):
I thought that it was a it was a culture
move that was big and saying, hey, we're committed to
the to the way that we played last year, which
is huge. You know, if all of a sudden Houston
shows up with all these three point shooters are offensive specialists,
I think we'd be in trouble. But keeping the bones
of the you know, it's funny. I said this the
other day. I said, you know, Houston hasn't had a

(09:16):
threat like Clint Copella since Clint Cappella, a guy who's
extraordinary yet rolling to the rim, blocking shots and commanding defense.
And that defense was one of the tops in the NBA.
Off of just ball pressure and walling up on the
weak side and not really having a shot blocking presents inside.
Steven Adams brought that towards the end, but you know

(09:37):
he was trying to he was still kind of working
his way back getting my compella. We're going to clean
up a lot of mistakes from the guards and that
ends up getting scary, you know. And then with Clint,
he's had some injury problems in the past, will be honest,
but the gold is and it's Steven Adams. He's got
to play one game on, one game off, and you
get really really good play at the five position. And

(10:00):
then there's a commitment to that double big lineup that
was so big and really featuring Alprin Shangoon.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
All right, last question for you, ry size up the
Western Conference, notably Oklahoma City. I don't even count the
Lakers honestly, unless Luca becomes completely different. Denver, Minnesota, I mean,
tell me how sick this is going to be covering
these Western Conference teams this year.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
It's thick because you get essentially all the teams back,
and then you get a number of acquisitions at Denver.
I mean, Denver scares me in some ways just as
much as Oklahoma City does, because Cam Josh and Johnson
was a huge acquisition. They get healthier than you get younger,
and I think that they definitely improved. They got the

(10:46):
best player on the planet, you know, undisputedly, and they're
Paul the Yelkic over there. But the Western Conference, man,
it is as thick as they come. And I thought
the biggest thing that impressed me about Houston's is like
they went out and at some point during the season
beat everybody in the NBA. They beat the league's best,
and that made you so hopeful moving into next year.
And I'm intrigued to see how Houston plays this season,

(11:08):
going from being the Hunters to being the hunt Heads,
and I think just maintaining that ship on their shoulder,
staying fiery is huge. And you got the experience of
VanVleet and Kevin Durant and the guys like that. So
it's gonna be a fun season. Guys. Hey, guys, can
we start it tomorrow. I don't even know if you
saw this, a clip circulating to Kevin Durant working out

(11:29):
and he looks Matt. He looks unbelievable. I mean, he
looks better than you on a game day with your
suit on calling some U of h basketball. I mean,
he looked unbelievable out there, Matt Thomas.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
It's close though.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Hey, Ryan, should we invite Ross with us to get
about you soon or no.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
Ah, Ross, You're definitely open inviting about it. Let's go,
let's go. You guys want to go this week?

Speaker 2 (11:52):
I'm busy. Wow, I'm going you Ryan, Let's see all right.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
I love you like a brother, you know that.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Thank you very much for coming on the show, and
I will see you very soon. We will