May 5, 2025 • 5 mins
Should Rockets Stay the Course or Go Big Game Hunting? Sean and Dan discuss Jalen Green's lack of presence in their playoff series loss to the Warriors, and would you target a big name like Giannis in a potential offseason trade?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jalen Green, I think at this point in his career
has shown you kind of like in the prime with
the Warriors of Steph and Clay, you could win games
because of Clay. You weren't going to win a lot
of games because of Clay. It had to be stuff.
He had to be the guy. I think that Jalen
fed off Stueph, not the other way around, No exactly,
And that's where I think Jalen Green is. I think
(00:21):
that he is the guy that he can be the good,
solid number two for you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Need an a well, if he's buddy healed, or he
becomes a third guy in a rotation, we you knock
down shots like he gives me one of those or
two of those.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
And we're trying to force feed Jalen Green into being
a star that takes over games. I get it because
we've seen it during the regular season. But some guys
may just not be built for I don't know if
he is or not with the infancy of his career,
but six of seven games he looked at times overwhelmed,
not just one or two, six of them. And that
(00:56):
doesn't make him a bad dude. Doesn't mean he can't
improve on it and get it fixed. But if that's
any indication of poll, we've seen that movie before with
players across the league that man alive from around November
to March April. They're hell to pay and then all
of a sudden that postseason kick says like Aaron Judge, Yeah,
(01:16):
there's a there's a this is different. Well Kyle Tucker, yeah,
we've seen that with him. What's what's he going to do?
Can he elevate those guys there in Chicago to another level?
And he doesn't have the same help he had some
of the bats yet here now I know he's a
great player. You get my point though, Right, we have
those guys, so we've been trying to make we've wanted
Jalen Green, and he's done some things to make us
(01:38):
believe it. And then he's done some things to make
you take a step back and say, well, maybe, as
Dominic said, being a piece doesn't mean that you're a
bad player. Not everybody has closer after closer after close
on the team, And a lot of times the truth
is maybe like quarterbacks, if you have three of them,
you don't have one. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And and two you don't have one. Maybe in this
case you need one to be a sometimes guy. But
stay Steph Curry's usually an all the time guy, right
and maybe Jalen Green's just a sometimes guy. If it's
gonna be here, but he'll this will be you know,
we saw from rookie to second year, second to third year.
This will be the biggest offseason challenge for him because
now he's got to take it to We don't judge
(02:17):
on on Game fifteen MVP awards do the greatness is
judged what you just saw the series and right now
they both this one canceled out the regular season. Now
what's next for him? Grill had got better during the
regular season, did not get better in the postseason, unless,
(02:38):
of course that mentally that he looks as that he
looks at this and steadies taping as hard and critical
of himself as to why he did this happened. Old
man's strength beat him down in this series. It just did.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
It's I mean, you know, I've I've railed against it
before that sometimes you sometimes meet all of that that
needs to stay in this season because it was nice,
it was a nice rallying cry. This year, you can
put it on T shirts. You can put it, you know,
in your in your advertising, you know, slogans and everything else.
But you need you need some guys to take a
step forward if you are going to run this thing back.
(03:13):
Because again, would I like to have Giannis here?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I would.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Would I like to have Devin Booker here? Not as
much as Jiannis, but you get my point. I mean,
that's that's where the next step for this team is
is being able to improve offensively.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And what you have right now is not going.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
To take a marked enough step to be able to
improve offensively enough to be able to win a series
like this.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
There's no doubt you try to force feed it in
right now, you're still looking for Okay, when the game's
on the line, who's the guy here? Who is it?
Do you know yet?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
At times? It was a men Thompson.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And he may very well be that closer you're looking for.
But do you know yet? No? Well, because they're not.
They're not good enough to go four and three in
the series. Not good enough to go three and four
in the series, not good enough to go four and
three in this series.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Unfortunately, I believe in him and Thompson.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Of course you do I believe that Jalen Green is
a good, solid number two, and he's not supposed to
be that, and.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
That Listen doesn't every championship team have a solid number two. Unfortunately,
in this series, he wasn't two, three, or four except
for one game. And while I love his skill set,
there's a consistency that has to go and a mentality that, Okay,
they got me once, they got me twice, they don't
get to do this three times. They got him six
out of seven games. And the truth of the matter is,
(04:31):
and it's not on one guy. If Jalen Green plays
better basketball in a couple of these, maybe it doesn't
go to seven. But we can make all the excuse one.
Jalen Green's got some improvement to make. The Rockets have
some questions to ask, and the Rockets still have some
questions that need answered that are on the court, and
then what you're gonna do and what you're gonna have
to give up to get that one next stud that
(04:53):
you think gets you over the top. Because they are
really close and really good. This was a season where
they this this season is a win. It really is.
You're not in the position like the Lakers or somebody
where you're like the Boston Its championship or bust. Now
it's not a moral victory thing. It's considering where they
were two years ago to now, the quantum leaps they've
made and both seasons. Now, the quantum leap in the
(05:13):
postseason is going to have to rear its head, and
it didn't. Unfortunately it did at times, but not enough
in a Game seven where every ounce of competitiveness you
have can't be breathed a sigh relief after the win
in Game six. You breathe that sigh after Game seven
before you start the next series.
Jalen Green, I think at this point in his career
has shown you kind of like in the prime with
the Warriors of Steph and Clay, you could win games
because of Clay. You weren't going to win a lot
of games because of Clay. It had to be stuff.
He had to be the guy. I think that Jalen
fed off Stueph, not the other way around, No exactly,
And that's where I think Jalen Green is. I think
(00:21):
that he is the guy that he can be the good,
solid number two for you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Need an a well, if he's buddy healed, or he
becomes a third guy in a rotation, we you knock
down shots like he gives me one of those or
two of those.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
And we're trying to force feed Jalen Green into being
a star that takes over games. I get it because
we've seen it during the regular season. But some guys
may just not be built for I don't know if
he is or not with the infancy of his career,
but six of seven games he looked at times overwhelmed,
not just one or two, six of them. And that
(00:56):
doesn't make him a bad dude. Doesn't mean he can't
improve on it and get it fixed. But if that's
any indication of poll, we've seen that movie before with
players across the league that man alive from around November
to March April. They're hell to pay and then all
of a sudden that postseason kick says like Aaron Judge, Yeah,
(01:16):
there's a there's a this is different. Well Kyle Tucker, yeah,
we've seen that with him. What's what's he going to do?
Can he elevate those guys there in Chicago to another level?
And he doesn't have the same help he had some
of the bats yet here now I know he's a
great player. You get my point though, Right, we have
those guys, so we've been trying to make we've wanted
Jalen Green, and he's done some things to make us
(01:38):
believe it. And then he's done some things to make
you take a step back and say, well, maybe, as
Dominic said, being a piece doesn't mean that you're a
bad player. Not everybody has closer after closer after close
on the team, And a lot of times the truth
is maybe like quarterbacks, if you have three of them,
you don't have one. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And and two you don't have one. Maybe in this
case you need one to be a sometimes guy. But
stay Steph Curry's usually an all the time guy, right
and maybe Jalen Green's just a sometimes guy. If it's
gonna be here, but he'll this will be you know,
we saw from rookie to second year, second to third year.
This will be the biggest offseason challenge for him because
now he's got to take it to We don't judge
(02:17):
on on Game fifteen MVP awards do the greatness is
judged what you just saw the series and right now
they both this one canceled out the regular season. Now
what's next for him? Grill had got better during the
regular season, did not get better in the postseason, unless,
(02:38):
of course that mentally that he looks as that he
looks at this and steadies taping as hard and critical
of himself as to why he did this happened. Old
man's strength beat him down in this series. It just did.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
It's I mean, you know, I've I've railed against it
before that sometimes you sometimes meet all of that that
needs to stay in this season because it was nice,
it was a nice rallying cry. This year, you can
put it on T shirts. You can put it, you know,
in your in your advertising, you know, slogans and everything else.
But you need you need some guys to take a
step forward if you are going to run this thing back.
(03:13):
Because again, would I like to have Giannis here?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I would.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Would I like to have Devin Booker here? Not as
much as Jiannis, but you get my point. I mean,
that's that's where the next step for this team is
is being able to improve offensively.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And what you have right now is not going.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
To take a marked enough step to be able to
improve offensively enough to be able to win a series
like this.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
There's no doubt you try to force feed it in
right now, you're still looking for Okay, when the game's
on the line, who's the guy here? Who is it?
Do you know yet?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
At times? It was a men Thompson.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And he may very well be that closer you're looking for.
But do you know yet? No? Well, because they're not.
They're not good enough to go four and three in
the series. Not good enough to go three and four
in the series, not good enough to go four and
three in this series.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Unfortunately, I believe in him and Thompson.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Of course you do I believe that Jalen Green is
a good, solid number two, and he's not supposed to
be that, and.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
That Listen doesn't every championship team have a solid number two. Unfortunately,
in this series, he wasn't two, three, or four except
for one game. And while I love his skill set,
there's a consistency that has to go and a mentality that, Okay,
they got me once, they got me twice, they don't
get to do this three times. They got him six
out of seven games. And the truth of the matter is,
(04:31):
and it's not on one guy. If Jalen Green plays
better basketball in a couple of these, maybe it doesn't
go to seven. But we can make all the excuse one.
Jalen Green's got some improvement to make. The Rockets have
some questions to ask, and the Rockets still have some
questions that need answered that are on the court, and
then what you're gonna do and what you're gonna have
to give up to get that one next stud that
(04:53):
you think gets you over the top. Because they are
really close and really good. This was a season where
they this this season is a win. It really is.
You're not in the position like the Lakers or somebody
where you're like the Boston Its championship or bust. Now
it's not a moral victory thing. It's considering where they
were two years ago to now, the quantum leaps they've
made and both seasons. Now, the quantum leap in the
(05:13):
postseason is going to have to rear its head, and
it didn't. Unfortunately it did at times, but not enough
in a Game seven where every ounce of competitiveness you
have can't be breathed a sigh relief after the win
in Game six. You breathe that sigh after Game seven
before you start the next series.
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