Reaction to Joel Embiid rumors and Houston’s new 2023-24 schedule

Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Cheers. Rockets fans, Welcome tothe lagger Line, an exclusive podcast from
the home of the Rockets, SportsTalk seven ninety. The lagger Line.
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Brewing, their beer developed in collaborationwith the Houston Rockets. As always,
I'm your host, Ben Dubos,editor of USA Today's Rocket Spire and a
contributor to Sports Talk seven ninety,the official flagship radio station of your Houston
Rockets. Joined on this Thursday,August seventeen, the NBA's official schedule release
day for the twenty twenty three totwenty four NBA season, joined by my

(01:07):
good friend co host out of Portugal, Paulo Alves. Polo, you already
talk NBA schedule. I'm gonna talkabout a meat Yeah, let's not bury
the lead. We will get tothe schedule. I know it was released
today, but look, we knowevery year there is some intrigue as to
the ordering. I think it's noteworthythat the Rockets got a slightly softer than

(01:30):
usual start, at least compared tothe last couple of years. It was
very difficult out of the gate thistime. Seven of the first nine are
at home and the two road gamesare against the Magic and Spurs, two
other rebuilding teams, So email Udokadoes have a chance to get his new
look Rockets off to a fast start. Hopefully he's able to do that,
and that could build a lot ofmomentum for the rest of the season in
which the Rockets are hoping to takea leap forward. But for the most

(01:53):
part, the schedule is what itis. You play Eastern Conference teams twice,
You play most of the Western Conferenceteams four times, a few of
them just three. There is thenew end season tournament, although we talked
about that in one of our recentepisodes. Already we knew who the Rockets
were going to go up against inthat as well, we knew what their
group is for that. So atthe end of the day, it's just
about setting the dates. And whilethat's fun to start putting these on your

(02:16):
calendar. Sunday, October twenty nineis the Rockets home opener against the Golden
State Warriors. That should be aton of fun regular season opener as mentioned
against Paalo Benkiro and the Orlando Magicon the twenty fifth of October. That's
a Wednesday. But look, alot of this is just sort of routine.
We know who they're going to play, it's just a matter of when,

(02:36):
and so we'll talk about it.There are a few things of note,
but we're gonna do that on theback half of today's show. I
want to lead talking about as followsaid Joel Embiid because courtesy of Kelly Echo
of the Athletic Longtime Beat right orcovering the Rockets in the NBA. There,
we've got a very interesting nugget.I'm going to read you the quote
that he said on the Athletic NBAshow that's their podcast talking about what if

(02:59):
Joel Embiid ask for a trade fromPhiladelphia, where clearly the situation is very
much crazy. James Harden has beenasking out for weeks. This week,
he put Gerald Mooy on blast andJoel Embid even though he's the MVP of
the league, he's all twenty nineyears old now, he's not getting the
younger the seventy six Ers. Ifanything, they're getting further from a title

(03:20):
with James Harden having one foot outthe door, and apparently the Sixers couldn't
get anything for him on the trademarket. That's why now they're going through
this song and dance and threatening tobring into training camp because they couldn't trade
him for what they wanted to earlierthis offseason. And so with Embiad at
twenty nine, he's at an agewhere he doesn't need to necessarily win a
championship immediately, but he at leastconceivably could have a path over the next

(03:42):
few years, and it's increasingly difficultto see that happening in Philadelphia. So
people are speculating about with James Hardenalready asking out of Philadelphia, is it
going to be much longer until JoelEmbiid does as well. He does have
a four year contract that is justkicking in. But at the same time,
look, that was the same situationwith Kevin Durant Brooklyn a year ago,
and he asked out and ultimately gotout by the deadline. So people

(04:04):
are wondering when the other shoe isgoing to drop With Joel embid and if
and when it does, here's whatKelly said. Another team to watch is
Houston because of the bond between Joeland emay Udoka. Maybe in the next
year or so, because obviously,if Joel stays this season and plays it
out, that's one thing, Butmoving forward, I think New York and

(04:24):
Houston are the two teams to watchif Joel said I want to leave too.
Now, the Knicks have been reportedfor some time. Embiid is an
East Coast guy, or at leasthas been since he joined the MBA a
few years ago and was drafted highin the first round by the Sixers,
obviously the next or one of theflagship franchises. The question there is whether
New York has enough assets in Philadelphiamay not want to deal with them being

(04:46):
a division rival from less than ahundred miles away. Houston, that's new,
but there is a relationship between Joeland emy Udoka. And before we
get into the pros and cons froma Rockets perspective of whether they do this,
because even though Embiad is the MVP, he's also twenty nine years old.
He's going to turn thirty next March. That's not in timeline alignment with

(05:08):
how the Rockets are currently constructed withregards to when we think they're going to
be contending for championships. So,even though he's the MVP, there are
legitimate questions you can ask as toshould you go after him, and if
so, how much should you offer? And so on and so forth.
But before we get into the prosand cons, I want to talk about
the feasibility and why I actually dothink that it's feasible. First off,

(05:29):
when you look at it from Imbiad'sperspective, some people might say, look,
why would he consider a rebuilding teamlike the Rockets that's had the worst
record in the Western Conference for threestraight years. Well, for starters,
these Rockets are not those Rockets.They have added veterans this offseason with Fred
VanVleet, Dylan Brooks, Jeff Green. They should be a better team.
You have Jalen Green, alper InShangoon entering year three. Your young guys

(05:51):
are getting better. So just becauseof the Rockets have been bad the last
few years, it doesn't mean thatthat's reflective of the current state of the
team. More importantly, as Kellysaid, it's the relationship between Joel Embiid
and Emay Udoka. Emay was anassistant with Philadelphia in the twenty nineteen to
twenty twenty season, and by allaccounts, there seems to be a very

(06:11):
close bond there. I saw earlierthis year Joel liking tweets once Emay was
hired by the Rockets a month ago. Emay was actually at Joel's wedding.
There seems to be a very tightbond there. And honestly, Houston is
on the up and up. Whileit wouldn't be a Day one contender if
Embiids somehow arrived, don't think it'sgoing to be eminently more on that.

(06:33):
In a second look, there isa lot to like. You do have
Fred van Fleet, a guy who'sin an almost perfect age and contractual alignment
with Joel. You do have somepromising young players that are being better,
and you have a proven head coachin Emay who's been to the NBA Finals
before. And Houston is a lucrativedestination. Should also note that Joel Embiad
has a relationship with Hikim Elijahwan.He's talked about that as something important in

(06:56):
his developing MBA years, so there'sa lot of ties between Embiid and ema
Ujoka, and just because the Rocketsaren't a contender day one. Again,
while Joel is a bit advanced interms of his age, he's twenty nine,
it's not like he has to wina ring in the next year or
two. There is a bit moretime, so he's not joining a Day
one contender. As long as it'sa team that has a path over the

(07:18):
next i'd say five years or so, then that should be of interest to
him relative to a situation in Philadelphiawhere it's not. It's not just that
they're not at the front of thelist for titled contenders next season, it's
that it looks like on paper,Philadelphia's a situation that's only going to be
a slow decay moving forward, evenif you take away some of the crazy

(07:41):
stuff that's happening now and the drama. Look, it's an older roster,
there's not a lot of cap space, there's not a lot of draft equity
coming in, So it just feelslike a situation where they've peaked and it's
only going to get worse. Asopposed to the Rockets that are on the
upswing. So Joel, he's advanced, but it's not like he's so old
that he has to be next seasonor bust. It's not to that extent.

(08:01):
So because of that, I couldsee the appeal. It's a good
market, it's franchise that's on theupswing. He trusts the head coach,
which has a lot to do withwhere superstars in the NBA choose to go.
That's a crucial dynamic because it's notjust what they walk into day one,
it's what they can build the teamand the partnership they have moving forward.
So I do think it works forEmbead. For Philadelphia, I think

(08:22):
it also potentially works. Look,Houston has a lot of young prospects that
are talented. I think Alpern Shangoonwould definitely be in any deal because I
can't see the Rockets investing in twocenters to that extent, and Shangoon's a
very talented twenty one year old whohas star potential. So if the Sixers
are dealing in bad I don't thinkthey want to deal into a division rival

(08:43):
like the Knicks, especially one that'sless than a hundred miles away. I
think ideally they wouldn't have him inthe Eastern Conference at all. Trading him
to a Western Conference team that isflushed with young players that could potentially have
a lot of upside, and allthe Rockets don't have a ton of future
draft capital, they do have somea lot of unprotected picks from Brooklyn the
next four years in particular, orpick assets, I should say that could

(09:05):
potentially be high in the first rounddepending on what happens with the Nets.
There's a lot of uncertainty there,so I could see that checking the box
for Philadelphia, because I don't thinkthis is a situation like when say the
Nets traded James Harden to Philly actuallyin February of twenty twenty two, and
they took Ben Simmons, who wasviewed as slightly lesser star at that time,

(09:26):
and then a few role players alongwith him, because you could convince
yourself that maybe that works since youalready had Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in
place. No, this isn't likethat. I don't see the Sixers looking
to trade Joel Embiid for say,Pascal Siakam and og on an Obie.
That just doesn't make sense for theirsituation. If you're trading Joel Embiid,
literally the MVP of the league whoaveraged over thirty three points at ten rebounds

(09:48):
per game on peak efficiency last year, along with presumably losing James Harden as
well. At that point, ifnot going totally into a rebuild, you
have to at least think upside.It's sort of like when the Rockets were
losing in late twenty both James Hardenand Russell Westbruck two former MVPs, and
even if it wasn't an immediate rebuild, you had to think upside in terms
of draft equity, young players witha ton of upside moving forward, and

(10:13):
the Rockets did eventually, of course, pivot to a rebuild. But the
key is upside. You need togive yourself that type of optionality, and
the Rockets can make it work forPhiladelphia. Now, they're not the only
team from the West that can dothat. Sure, you can point to
Oklahoma City, Utah teams like thatthat also have comparable young players and perhaps
even more draft equity. But thenyou get into the fact that, look,
I'm not sure MBI would be happyto play there, and I'm not

(10:37):
sure if there's quite the same timelinefit there in Houston because of the Fred
van Fleet factor. And Email Ujoka. There is a bit more short term
emphasis as opposed to Oklahoma City andUtah seems to be more gradual of their
build. So between mb not necessarilywanting to go there and not being super
gung ho on it, I havea really tough time seeing that being a

(10:58):
fit. And so because of that, Houston could slide in as a guy
as the type of team that worksfor both Embid individually and also for the
Sixers in terms of giving them thetypes of assets that you need. So
because of that, I think it'spretty realistic. Now you can point out
that from a timeline perspective of theRockets can't do anything now. But here's

(11:20):
the thing. I don't think anythingis likely to happen in the very short
term anyway, because even if JoelEmbiid was to walk into Jarl Mori's office
tomorrow and say I want out,I really don't expect anything to happen this
offseason for the same reason why theRockets have a tough time putting a deal
together. Thirty to forty percent ofthe NBA right now is untradeable because they

(11:41):
signed contracts this offseason, and becauseof that, it is very difficult to
match salaries on a player like Embidthat's going to be making nearly fifty million
dollars a year starting next year,the first year of eight four year contract
extension. The Rockets would have tosend out about forty million dollars give or
take at a minimum to take inEmbead, and that's very difficult, almost

(12:03):
impossible right now. More realistically,it's something the Rockets can do around December
fifteenth, when the guys the Rocketssigned this offseason, most notably Jock Landale
and Jeff Green, guys that basicallyhave human trade exception type deals can be
dealt, and of course you canaggregate them with Kevin Porter Junior, and
all of a sudden, financially you'rein the game. That wouldn't be the
primary incentive for the trade, ofcourse, but you would be. You

(12:24):
would be sort of combining draft equityperhaps from Brooklyn, two or three of
your young core members, and thenusing those salaries to make the math work.
Right now, the Rockets can't makethe math work, but neither it
can most teams around the league.So from Philly's perspective, it would not
make sense to do a deal.Now I've heard some arguments that, look,
maybe the Rockets slow play at seehow these young players perform under emay

(12:46):
Udoka, who should be an upgradeover Steven Silas. Why would you rush
into a deal like that, Well, you're not if the Rockets can get
in the game for Inbead, It'snot something that's going to happen the next
few weeks. We're talking leading upto the twenty twenty four deadline, or
more realistically tween twenty four off season, because if we get close to the
deadline, Honestly, I could seePhiladelphia sort of saying, look, if

(13:07):
it's close at all, let's giveit one more run in the playoffs and
if not, we'll revisit this nextoff season. But even in the most
aggressive posture possible, which is ifEmbiid knocks on Jural's door or calls him
tomorrow and says I want out absoluteworst case for the Sixers, and Embiade
has not asked out yet. Again, we're just sort of reading the tea
leaves, and a lot of peopleare on the league are expecting that it

(13:28):
could happen sooner rather than later thanworst case. I think it's like the
Nets and Kevin Durant a year agowhen it's the same contractual, dynamic year
one before year deal, and theNets said, look, we don't have
to trade you, and right now, especially when it comes to matching salaries,
there's just not enough options. Solet's go into the season, give
it a chance, and if itdoesn't work out, we'll revisit this closer

(13:50):
to the deadline when everyone around theleague can trade ninety plus percent of their
roster. And that's what happened.Obviously, they gave it a try,
but ultimately Kevin wasn't moved or hewasn't moved off his position, I mean,
and then he was moved traded toPhoenix leading up to this deadline.
So because of that, look,even though the Rockets have a tough time

(14:11):
making the math work now, Ithink they can make the math work at
a cost that's really not prohibitive financiallyto Philadelphia because all these guys are basically
on one year deals. Weng withKPJ, Jacques Landale, Jeff Green,
and then you combine in the actualassets, which is members of your young
core Jalen Green, All, PrinceShangoon, Joy Smith, Junior, Charry

(14:31):
Eeson, Aman Thompson, camp woMore at least a couple of those core
six In terms of your prospects,I think would have to go out.
Shangoon would almost certainly be in thedeal for reasons I mentioned earlier, but
look, because of that, it'snot going to happen now. But in
terms of the timeline, the Rocketscould be a fit because by the time
I think the Sixers are willing tomove, the Rockets can definitely make it
work in terms of assets and finances. It could be attractive to Philadelphia,

(14:52):
and I think the Rockets could beled by email Udoka attractive to Embied as
well. The question is whether it'sworth it to the Rockets, and we'll
get into that in a few minutes. But the first angle I wanted to
explore was just whether it makes sensefor everyone else. And as I see
it, Powell correct me if I'mwrong, but it seems, while not
imminent, you can definitely see apath that this can happen, right,

(15:15):
And I've been I've been talking aboutit, not in the Rocket sphere after,
but for a while now because it'sbeen pretty clear that whether it was
because he was coming to the Rocketsor because he was going not because he's
going to the Men to trade somewhereelse. Harden didn't seem to be,
you know, talking long term withthe Sexers, right, and so I

(15:35):
actually thought what I thought would happenearlier in the off season was that this
problem would solve itself, because Ithought, if this happened pre draft,
right, if James Harden signed withthe Rockets at the beginning of free agency,
before guy before rookies, they've alreadysended, if they've already sent their

(15:56):
skill contracts, I actually expected himto get rid of the Trail Blazers for
I don't know Scoot Henderson, youknow, the shooting guard they have the
shade and sharp and a combination ofpicks because you know, they the student
kind of fixed each other, right, Because that would give the Sixers are
really exciting young backcourt, and itwould give the Blazers that, you know,

(16:18):
the solution to the Tamian a littleward problem. Now they mean little
still isn't hasn't been traded, whichmeans it's still not impossible for this to
happen. It would just have towait until Scoot is tradeable again, which
is see what I mean, It'snot that surprising. The Sixers went all
in when they traded the four gameshard, and there's no more picks and
the only movable asset that out sois a positive of asset right now that

(16:41):
they have is Terris Maxie, andthey're probably not going to get better than
him in that trade if they tradehim, so, especially considering that he's
on his rookie contract, making youknow, a bargain for this production.
So I'm not that surprised that thiswas going to happen. It hasn't happened,
but I think for sure it will. If not this year, next

(17:02):
year, for sure, unless Perylpulls a rabbit out of his hat,
I'll say yeah, and we shouldsee pr friendly. We should point out
by the way that you know,some people will say, he's under contract
for four years, why would yourush? Well, yes, but also
conversely, because he's under contract forfour years and because he's still on the

(17:29):
right side of thirty, that's alsopeak value, as opposed to if you
hold on to a guy to wherehe has less contractual control and then he
gets into his thirties and perhaps hisproduction slips a little bit if he palates
or the situation around him is bad, then all of a sudden you have
less leverage in terms of what youcan get back in a trade. So
while I don't think the Sixers,if he were to ask out tomorrow would

(17:52):
rush into it, if for noother reason, they'll stall until December fifteen,
so that teams around the league,including the Rockets, can off peak
value, which they can't now withthirty to forty percent of the league untradeable
having signed new deals this offseason.But in terms of trading him this season
versus next this season is really notthat unfathomable because from Philly's perspective, if

(18:12):
he has one foot out the door, there is some risk in waiting because
his value is only going to getworse if you hold him into that contract.
Yeah, it becomes the interesting issuebecause how does they're all more to
play into this? Because if isthe solution for Philly, Like what if
in beat just goes to from officeand he says, hey, I stand

(18:33):
with games here. I think hewas done wrong and I don't feel comfortable
playing here anymore. If they're allstill here to mean, that could be
that you know some head is goingto roll in the next year. It
could not be in Beats. Itcould be that the you know, just
how sometimes it just switch out thehead coach. They've already done that,
so in the rumor gets you outthere, the next step is he either

(18:56):
trade a star player or you changeto m if he is involved in what
the issues are right now, whichit seems like he is judging by what
James Harden said this week, Soit could also be that it could also
be both. You know, theycould you know, is their own more
really wanting to be in a Phillyif they are going into a rebel never
struck me as that type as thattype of GM when he left. He

(19:18):
left the Rockets right before they headedinto a rebuild, and he didn't exactly
go to a rebuilding team afterwards.So I don't know how there will feel
about that, but I think allof those factors would play into how a
deal for develop and would happen,because well we saw what there are more
it do with Ben Simmons, hetook a while until he dealt them and
then bid has a longer contract thanso much said at the time, if

(19:40):
I'm not mistaken, So I thinkthat plays into it as well. But
just to get into if it makessense or not for the Rockets, right,
I've been fairly divided as far aswhat my take on this was a
couple of days ago before the KellyEcho quote came out. I was kind
of just no first because I didn'tput them as far into it, right,

(20:02):
because it was, you know,a far out possibility, but trading
for a twenty nine year old whichwould probably be thirty by the time we
trade for him, injury prone superstaris usually a bad idea in a rebuild.
That being said, although I willsay, speaking of injury prone,
he has played in sixty six andsixty eight games the last couple of years,

(20:22):
so while not perfect, it's notquite as bad as a lot of
people think. True. That beingsaid, right, as he said,
he's been fairly you know, notthat injury prone the last couple of years,
and I think it ultimately it's kindof a cop out answer, but
ultimately has to come down to theprice. I think, as you said,
Al Princhington has to be involved becauseunless you're going to go through some

(20:45):
crazy, you know, stress dynamics, he's not able to play with him
be neither of them can play before, So that's basically it there, and
so to me, ultimately a dealwould come down to how much to the
Sixers value Shangoon or is anybody aroundthe league in love enough with Schangun to

(21:06):
give the Sixers something that they trulyvalue in an impatrin because even if the
Rockets don't Valushinggun as much as somewould like, they still value them and
they still know what he is,right and if and if and if the
Sixers value Schangun less than the Rockets, They're going to demand Shangoon probably one
of Javari or Jalen or Amen andone of the other car six I would

(21:32):
expect plus PIX plus salary filler.Like this is an MVP candidate, not
a candidate. He was the idea, is the content MVP. He is
also a guy that's going to fitinto basically any system. I mean,
he keep playing pickn roll with jamshard and he can play as a post
hub. He he is a defensiveplayer of the level player. He's a

(21:52):
you know, an anchor, right, any team can play with with the
defensive actor at the five. Thisis not a he is as far is
that Big goes a superstar. Biggoes as plug and plays he can't get
his I mean, if if wethink about star bigs in the league right
now, there's three offensive ones.There's there's Karlathanny Towns, there's just yoget
and there's a beat yogetle into systemaround them that takes probably years to develop

(22:15):
and trade for the right players.Karlathonny Towns is flawed and hasn't been able
to have postseason success basically ever sinceJimmy Butler, if we can even call
that success, I mean, justmake it to the postseason. So and
b is not like either one ofthose guys. He is you know,
he can, He's versonal enough tobe able to play multiple roles and so
it's not that hard to go theteam around him. So that's a bonus

(22:40):
towards training for him. The otherangle that I can see is kind of
what the Celtics did with Jayson Tatumand Jayvin Brown in it sense that very
early on they were a very goodteam and those players were kind of grew
as NBA players and got to superstarthem, I mean Taylor to superstar room
Brown to just start them in awinning environment. And we saw that once

(23:07):
you know, Kyrie left or KembaWalker left, they were ready to take
the Reims, I would probably guessquicker than that they would have if they
had not been there. So dependingon who stays, it might also be
beneficial to trade for Embeed and you'regoing out in right, you're going to
try to win in the next fouryears. But it's all it's not a
we're going out in the next fouryears and then we've got to rebuild again

(23:30):
because you might still have a coupleof guys that are core pieces because Rockets
have so many of them, theyhave six that stick around and are able
to continue, just like the Celticsthat with carry Irving. Although to be
fair, I think they got Kyriefor Isaiah Thomas, which is not really
that big of a price, right, But yeah, basically it makes sense

(23:52):
from that perspective. At the sametime, as I said, it comes
on to the price. If theydon't fellish England and the package has to
be either around other players or aroundChengun and he is realther to a third
team, that kind of changes thecalculus of it because if you're bringing in
a bead and you don't have Clellananymore, and you have don't have Amen
thumps On anymore, and you don'thave open lingon anymore. Hes so still
have Tarik Kamen Labari, but thoseguys are ceiling wise, are not to

(24:17):
the level of Chengon Amen and Chilobecause there are engines right and they'll I'm
sure they'll be great players, andJavari has some upside to be an offensive
option down the line. But you'rebasically reducing your ceiling a lot, and
you've been rebuilding for three years andthat's not what you're aiming for. And
at that point, I would ratherjust keep going with the inquigency where that

(24:41):
exists. To the point about theasking price, and this is something that
you know, I'm in multiple NBAcircles, whether Twitter, whatever, this
corp, whether it is ready,a lot of people are not shifted their
mindset when it comes to superstar tradesbecause yes, in theory, Joell and
be this worth I don't know,like the best players on the Rockets plus

(25:04):
picks, but ultimately it's not aboutwhat Joel and Beat is worth. And
you can very seem you can veryeasily make the parallel between him at thirty
net here and James Harden being anMTP level player at thirty one when he
was with the Rockets. Ultimately,the star player kind of sets it his
own market, and so it's aboutit's not really about paying the value and

(25:27):
be this worth in a trade.It's about paying more than the other teams
that is willing to go to Y. And right now we only know of
the Rockets and the next and ifwe're talking about the next, they're best
young pieces are j Barrett, whichI'm not a fan of, and I'm
sure if the front office in Phillyis analytics driven at all, they won't

(25:51):
like our labor. The guy thathas stopped out I mean in four or
five seasons in the NBA, hehas stopped out at fifty two percent through
shooting. If I'm not mistaken,he shot forty percent from three and he
was still terrible efficiency wise. Itworks for Phips because he is a fersatile
defender and he doesn't really care aboutefficiency. It's it's more a group of
a brute force type offense. Butit's not going to worry as a centerpiece

(26:11):
for a trade for Okay ALBT,he's also already on his second contract,
which is a pretty pretty massive one. Their center piece is not that great
and so there most of the valueis going to come from Picks and the
other young players they have. QuentinGrahams is a nice and player. He's
not a guy who's going to buildaround Emanuel quickly. The same thing.
He's a nice and players, He'snot someone they're going to build her up.

(26:32):
I would probably say that alperh andShangoon from the perspective of a team
that's about to bottom out, isa much better player than anybody are,
much more value not better, muchmore valuable player than anybody that New York
has that would be in a tradefor him b because there but Javin Brunson
is a great player. Philly isnot going to be interested in kilden orders
and with Maxi there and in nochamps of making a postseason run or being

(26:56):
a contender at all, nobody gamesfor mediography. We know about this unless
or Terrell more in back when Alexanderwas the owner of the Rockets. So
because of that, if the ifand makes the market so short that it's
only Houston and New York, you'llonly have to beat the Knicks. And

(27:17):
if you only have to beat theKnicks and you're willing to play the long
game, you might not need toeven give up Dangoon plus one of a
men or a man or Kevin Red, you might be able to pull it
off. For Shangoon, I don'tknow Keim with more or Taris, and
I would probably say that the fieldwas a report by the way that you're
more really liked Kim whitmore. Sokeep that in the out of your mind.

(27:40):
And so I would guess that ateam rebuilding would likely like Keim with
more more than Terrys. And justbecause Starry is to anyone going to to
any two, he's not really anupside bick. I mean, he has
upside, but he's not tantalizing upside. Build around him type a type of
guy if I do all love Tarry, so you could probably get a deal
if the only team you've gotta beatis the next if you can probably get

(28:02):
a deal done by for a dealdone for Schegoon, I don't know what
Scheangoon, KPJ can with more,and a bunch of picks could probably get
that done. Sphere, you wouldrun a young lineup of MAXI at the
point guard, KPJA at the shootingguard. Whiles this tru position you look
a lot better at it Cam withmore at the three, all Brenchhinggoon at
the five, running dribble handoffs withwith Terry's maximin. That's a fun young

(28:26):
team, right, And you haveand you get and they get to replenish
a lot of the picks that theygave up on the James Harden trade dumping
out horror all of these tracks they'vedone other years that have you know,
left on basically without picks. Youknow, I think that would be enough
to beat an offer of even ifit is r J better. I mean
if even if it is Archaly betterat if it's Archaly better than manual quickly

(28:48):
with and you know, four swapsor four forst and three swaps. I
think the problem is the Rockets probablyhave that beat because as we know,
it's much better to have you know, from solid in value in an asset
like Shane Goon then what a bunchof question marks like it would be with
knicks or strong picks, because that'sbe honest. The Rockets also have something

(29:11):
that New York doesn't have the abilityto give Philly picks that are not their
own, which won't be lessen thanvalue because it beat's there if I bid
goes to New York, the nextfour years of picks for New York are
basically worthless because in it's going tobe there, right, he's gonna be
good. Rockets can offer Brooklyn picksor picks that have swaps with Brooklyn,
so you're trading in bit too theRockets, but you're getting someone else's future.

(29:36):
And so because of that, that'sanother thing that Rockets can offer that
the next cat. So ultimately,to me, I'm in most scenarios right
If if if Ibid says he's okaygoing to the thunder for example, I'm
probably out because it's going to takea lot of them, and the Thunder
two have Ska, even though youknow they're not exactly already to win right

(29:56):
now, Ska is a superstar rightnow in my opinion, so they can,
you know, I go around that. But if if Abiad names New
York in Houston or some other teamthat doesn't really have a many assets,
then I think there are worlds whereit does make sense because you get to
kind of you can you get toeat to have your cake and eat it
too in a sense, if youcan get a trade done without giving you

(30:18):
a kimon or amon Thompson. Ifeven if you have to give up a
bunch of picks and shingon and camewith more, and maybe there are reasons
in there, hopefully not, butnow you're now you have bred and lead
Amon Thompson. Jaylon Green probably stilldon't work because why would Philly wants him?
You're you know that's that's basically aguaranteed playoff team. Tell is an

(30:42):
MVP. He is the MVP rightnow, and it would be invaluable experience
for these young guys too for thenext guaranteed three to four seasons be playing
contender level basketball. I'm just sayingthat it's a valued up, and I'm
not saying I back it. Ithink it's it's a valid option, just

(31:04):
as valid as it is to waitand see how what these guys stand out
to be. Because right now,we're really really positive about how the season's
going to go. Because it's theoff season. We made a bunch of
moves, that's what's expected. Butthere are point of worlds out there where
this season isn't a play in typeseason, and it takes a while,
and there's multiple examples of rebuilding teamsout there that never right the ship and

(31:26):
for defensive culture or whatever it is, never you know, become good enough
by the time they have to payextensions and then end up having to make
these decisions and potentially pay their ownguys, you know that there's a lot
that can go wrong with our rebuildstill even though it looks good right now,
and you can never completely discount whatis your thing, like Joel Embiid

(31:47):
is as long as you're able toget him and retain a lot of your
upside. Because if Joel Embiid wasn'table to win with James Starden, he
likely won't be able to win yearone with Kevin Green and Fred and lead.
But in two years with Ami andThompson who knows, and in two
years with Kevin Reno like an evenbetter player who knows. But not only

(32:09):
will it be good for the now, I think it will also be good
for the field here as it willkeep these guys experience that's basically invaluable,
which is basically the argument we've madefor bringing in James Harden, you know,
six months ago, just scale thetenfold because job it is a literally
d MVP. He is literally aDefensive Player of the Year guy. He

(32:30):
is literally a complete transformation of yourteam by himself, a bit by himself.
If you plug Joel and Bit intothe Brooklyn nets right now, they're
easily a contender. That's how goodhe is. Yeah. Right, So
that's basically what I'm at. I'msitting somewhere in the middle. That are
scenarios why I can see it happening. That are scenarios why I don't really
support it. But we trusted theRockets to make the right decision when it

(32:53):
comes to James Sarden, which wasa really new anged one where it could
easily swing really positively or really negativeleap based on the length of the contract,
and I think they ended up makingthe correct decision. So I trust
that they would, you know,wagh the pros and cons and be nuanced
in this decision as well, andnot just go all in one way or
the other. Yeah, to yourpoint on trade filler, because I think

(33:15):
any package would start with the humantrade exceptions of Jock Landale and Jeff Green
and you're a twenty million dollars rightthere. You need one more. I'm
in full agreement. It's unlikely tobe Dylan Brooks. I think for a
team like Philadelphia selling off the MVPof the league and if not going directly
into a rebuild, at least thinkingupside with whatever they do, not wanting
the Hascal Siakam type packages or when, for example, the Net says I

(33:37):
referenced earlier got Ben Simmons plus roleplayers for James Harden in early twenty twenty
two. Now they're going to bethinking a lot more prospect oriented, even
if it's not all a draft capital. And so I think Kevin Porter Junior,
with both year to year optionality onhis contract and still being only twenty
two twenty three years old, isgoing to have a lot more appeal to

(34:00):
a team like Philadelphia as the pieceto get the salaries closed after the two
human trade exceptions than Dylan Brooks,who at twenty seven, he is what
he is involved that could be agood role player for a contender like a
team acquiring Joel Embiid would potentially be. I don't think he makes a lot
of sense for Philadelphia, so Iagree in this construct it's much more likely

(34:20):
to be KPJ than Dylan Brooks.Look what I'll say about it, I'm
not one hundred percent on board,but I think you at least have to
explore ultimately. Just as you said, it comes down to the value.
There's some scenarios where it makes sense. There's some scenarios where it doesn't.
But I find myself this week muchmore annoyed by the anti embiid faction than

(34:43):
I am by the pro embid crowd, because I think some of the arguments
are just detached from reality. Quitefrankly, when I posted the story on
Rockets Wire, I would say itfelt like twenty five about three quarters of
the reaction against going after Joel andBeat. But most of the arguments just

(35:04):
did not make sense. And I'mnot going to say that people are dumb.
I think some of it is noone really thought that this was possible,
and we're so preconditioned the last fewyears saying it's way too soon to
make a move like that, thata lot of Rockets fans just haven't adjusted
to the new reality. But whenyou look deeper, a lot of the
anti and Beat arguments are just reallyflawed. For starters, I'll try and

(35:27):
go through them quick. The timelineargument, which is it goes back to
why don't you give the young guysa chance? With Ema Ujoka and see
if Emay can do something with theseguys and bring out more of them than
what Steven Silas was able to do. That's a fair argument, but again,
we're not talking about doing the dealthis offseason. We're talking about most

(35:49):
reasonably February twenty twenty four or Junetwenty twenty four, So you're gonna be
able to get at least half aseason's worth of data, if not a
full season before you really make thisdecision. So yeah, I agree,
I would like to see some ofthese young guys with Emay and learn more
about them before you trade a tonof young prospect capital and or future draft
picks for a guy like Joel Embidwho's twenty nine years old. Again,

(36:13):
though, understand the timeline we're nottalking about now. We're talking about months
or even a year from now bythe time this actually happens. So that
argument give the young guys a chancewith Emay that falls apart to me.
Another thing I've seen there's at leasta faction of folks that are out on
Joel Embiid because of the Sixers underachievingin the playoffs, and I've seen people

(36:35):
picking apart this whole idea of ishe a playoff performer, is he mentally
weak? And so on and soforth. Look, he's the reigning MVP.
He is clearly a top five player, maybe top three on the entire
planet. The impact stats show itwithout a doubt. We're talking about thirty
three and ten on elite efficiency fora big man who with a barely power

(36:59):
oriented game, I would think heages fairly gracefully, especially if you have
other guys that can help carry theload into his thirties. You would be
lucky if any of the Course sixthat the Rockets have in terms of their
prospects, Jalen and Chongoon Shabari andtari aminent Cam. You'd be lucky if
any of the Course six ever havea season as good as the one that

(37:20):
Joel Embi just completed when he wonMVP. I'm not trying to be a
hater. That's the reality. There'sthis vicious cycle where once a player gets
to all star range to the pointwhere we can look at them and say
okay. In the NBA is whereone player can mean so much we expect
to carry his team into contention,and then if they don't win a title,

(37:43):
then we knitpick. We saw thiswith James Harden over his years in
Houston, and we look at everyflaw and say, something must be wrong
with that guy. And so it'sa vicious cycle because when they're younger,
somehow every prospect gets a halo putaround them. Every shortcoming gets brought aside
through some combination. Besiis, exceptfor Dylan Green, Well yeah, except

(38:05):
yeah, but you know what Imean. Like even in Houston, like
Jalen shortcomings, we dismiss them.And I understand he's young, but we
say, look, he's only nineteen, he's only twenty. He's gonna grow
out of this stuff. The coachingisn't great, the surrounding infrastructure isn't there.
With regards to his teammates, allthat stuff is fair. But then
from a fan perspective, especially fansof rebuilding teams, people only focus on
the top one percent or sometimes evenlike the top zero point one percent of

(38:30):
outcomes, Like fans talk about Shongoonas a mini Yokich, and I've seen
people compare Jalen Green to Kobe Bryantand Michael Jordan. Of course we can
dream about that, but that isextraordinarily unlikely. And what's unfortunate is that
it leads to an NBA where youcan have a guy who's wildly successful.
You can have like a top oneor top two percent outcome, which would

(38:52):
definitely be the case in terms ofJoel Embiad's career relative to his draft slot,
and I believe it was twenty fourteenbecause he sat out two seasons with
the foot injury before he got going. During the process six ers years,
we've somehow gotten to a point inNBA discourse there's a vicious cycle where we
build these guys up to where allthese young guys, we say they're going
to be the next Mja, thenext Kobe, the next Jokich, the

(39:13):
next Lebron, and then when theyget two really good outcomes in the case
of Embiad, I'd say like toptwo percent outcome at the worst, somehow
it feels underwhelming because we build upin our heads early in their careers.
Are they going to be transcendent?And even though Embiad has some flaws with
regards, that's just how impactful ishe defensively when the other team is truly

(39:37):
going five out. We've seen thatbecome a theme and some of the Boston
matchups over the years in terms ofjust how dominant he is and the playoffs,
does he have that extra gear?Those things are valid questions. At
the end of the day, thenumbers don't lie. He has a top
five players. So again, thepeople nitpicking over playoffs stuff, it's sort
of like, you know, wejust got through with the James Harden experience

(39:58):
from twenty twelve through twenty tw Look, everybody nitpicked the hell out of James,
and yet I don't think Rockets fansregret the October twenty twelve move to
get him at all. It wasworthwhile, is one of the best deals
in franchise history, and even withall of the playoff inconsistencies, and some
people will call it choking that peopleascribe to James. Look, in twenty
eighteen, he was the MVP ofthe league and the Rockets should have won

(40:21):
the title against probably the most talentedopponent in NBA history if not for just
a perfect storm of bad luck inthat Game seven against the Warriors. So
even James, with his issues thatgot nitpicked to death from really about twenty
seventeen onward, still was on theverge of a title because he is that
good. So there's a lot ofpeople that early in the careers of top

(40:43):
prospects give way too much of ahalo, and then by the time they
get to twenty nine or thirty,they're way too critical. It's a vicious
cycle because they get built up somuch and then they compensate wondering, well,
why didn't the guy get to thisoutcome when in reality the outcome,
at least the Yokich, MJ LebronKobe type thing, is just so unlikely

(41:04):
that it just wasn't reasonable to expect. And of course, as I've said
many times before, people underestimate justhow hard it is to be the last
team standing out of thirty. Ifa guy isn't leading his team consistently to
wins and end to contention, thenyeah, it's fair to wonder are some
of the stats. Are some ofthe numbers empty calories? But in the
case of guy that can Beid whoseteam is consistently winning fifty fifty five games
a year and winning playoff series andonly losing against really good teams like the

(41:28):
Celtics. Look, it's not likeit's not translating. It's just very difficult
to be the last team standing outof thirty, and so people sometimes look
at these stars as if there mustbe something fundamentally wrong, when in reality
is they're still really really good.And the idea that one of your prospects
is somehow not just going to bea top two percent guy, but like
a top one percent or top zeropoint one percent again, you're just sort

(41:52):
of moving the goal post. Andso I think we're just in this vicious
cycle and it leads to top fiveguys like James Harden over his years in
Houston and now Joel Embiide with theSixers being nick pit to death, not
saying that there's no valid criticisms,but at the same time, you do
have to take a step back andsay, look, this guy is still
really really good and he's only twentynine. So, while again not saying

(42:15):
you have to blanket endorse him,not saying that he's really the MVP,
we know Yokich is the more impactfulplayer. He's still really really good,
and I think that's somehow gotten lostin this first take world where whatever a
contender fall short, people just nitpickthe hell out of the stars on that
team, and all of a sudden, it just makes the perceptions a lot
worse than they actually should be.The other arguments want to go through.

(42:38):
So I mentioned timeline earlier in thecontext of when the Rockets would execute the
deal. I also want to talkabout timeline from the perspective of the Rockets
contention window, because I think thelast couple of years, whenever there's an
All Star type player on the market. For example, in twenty twenty two,
some people brought up should the Rocketsconsider dealing for Donovan Mitchell? And

(43:00):
generally the answer is no for acouple of reasons because a while an All
Star, it's like a top fifteento twenty player. It's not a true
top five guy, which Embiid is. So because of that, it's not
as if the guy would lift youthat much immediately. And also, the
Rockets at that time were just sofar away in terms of the supporting infrastructure,

(43:21):
the coaching staff, other veterans.It was basically just a bunch of
kiddies, and so between the guyand not being as good as Embid and
they're not being any you know,supporting infrastructure, generally people say, look,
it's not worth trading because by thetime the Rockets actually do build up
that infrastructure around the player. Theguy's either going to be close to free
agency or maybe he's on the downhillside of his career. At that point,
you're just so far away that it'snot worth cashing in a lot of

(43:43):
your assets. This is different ona number of levels. For starters,
embiid is way better than a DonovanMitchell type. We're talking at actual top
five, maybe top three type player. I would also point out, and
this is where I don't think alot of Rockets fans have adjusted their expectations.
They haven't recalibrated because they haven't seenit on the floor yet. The
surrounding infrastructure is different, most notablybecause of Fred VanVleet, who, as

(44:05):
I mentioned earlier, is in perfectage and contractual alignment with Joel Embiat.
Both are twenty nine years old.They turn thirty I think Fred next February
and bad next March. So basicallyperfect age alignment and bid signed for four
years, Fred for as much asthree. That's where the team option could
come in handy. Yes, we'vetalked about in the past. So they're
in perfect age and contractual alignment.And then in terms of their impact,

(44:27):
Look, I know Fred isn't astar. But when you look at the
impact stats, assuming he fits asthe Rockets think, he's been a win
healthy, a top thirty to topforty player in the MBA. So if
you're talking about having a top fiveplayer in EMBID, it may be better
than that the reigning MVP, atop forty player in Fred VanVleet, who

(44:49):
are in perfect age in contractual alignment, at least some capable role players,
guys like Dylan Brooks Tarry Eason thatare ready to help you contribute to winning
now. It does not take aton more to get to contention. Now,
you're not there just between I'm notsaying Joel Fred and role players is

(45:10):
a contender. No, I'm notsaying that. But you're not that far.
You're at a point where if evenone or two of the young core
guys you're able to keep, LikePaolo you were saying, you know,
if you could keep both Jalen Greenand I'm and Thompson. What if you're
able to keep Jalen Green and hetakes a leap forward this season, all

(45:31):
of a sudden, calculus is different. Maybe Jalen Green is a souped up
Tyrese Maxie, and you're looking atyou know, Joel Jalen Green and Fred
van Fleet and something of a similarmodel to Joel Tyree s Maxie and James
Harden. Not that Fred is hardenedin terms of his playmaking or how dynamic
he is, but he's also away better defender, He's way better off

(45:52):
the ball. There's way better utility, and perhaps James can be an even
better version of Tyree's. I'm notsaying that that's for sure we're going to
have, but what if Jaylen hasthat type of leap and you know,
if he does, then you gointo well, if Jaylen takes that type
of leak, could you get thedeal done without having to give him to
Philly. Well that's where it goesback into what you were saying earlier,

(46:14):
Pawlow. You don't say I'm goingto do the deal no matter what you
negotiate, but at least you shouldbe open because and I know you want
to chime in on this too,but if if you have Embieden Fred under
construct for a number of years,not like they're gonna be able to leave
anytime soon, and they're an agein attractional alignment, you've got role players
to contribute to winning at least acouple of them. And Dylan Brooks and
tari Ethan we know they're ready nowand then one or two of your young

(46:36):
guys take the leap. You're reallynot that far away, right, Yeah,
And not only that, the Rocketsare not at the littery tax line,
they're like what twenty thirty million,thirty Like, you still have plenty
of Martin to upgrade the team.You're still going to be relying on guys
on their rookie contracts for the nexttwo years to provide a lot of production.

(47:00):
Which value wise, it's kind oflike the sixer side with Terris Max.
He's worth way more than the twowar three million he's getting paid because
he's under Ricky contract, which givesyou a lot of margin to invest into
other positions, which makes it sofrevently being overpaid for three years or two
years plus one not worth as much. Same with Dylan Brooks, and it

(47:20):
makes it so you still have alot of margin to you know, get
up there. I mean, westill don't know. He still want to
pay the tax. But until thetax threshold, there's still a lot of
Rockets have to work with the otherthings that I could mention very easily.
Well, Vell and Bead has onlybeen coached by two coaches in his career.
Doc Rivers was known for cloaking inthe playoffs. I mean, I

(47:45):
don't really need to make that point. Go look at his teams and he's
been really impressive in the ways hefinds to lose playoffs series. And before
that it was Brett Brown, whocurrently does coach in the league anymore.
So there is an argument to bemade that Emailudoka a guy that took a

(48:05):
team to the finals his first year, a team that since then or the
year after, wasn't able to makeit to the finals, and for the
most part kind of rolled over anddied in in or was about roll over
and then in the still in theseries with Philip before picking it back up
and with I mean with the Heatas well, they were dead to rights.
They managed to bring it back,but you know, the Heat are

(48:29):
not exactly an extremely talented team.The Celtics should have them beat basically at
every position because I would consider Tatumto people are political Timmy, But if
they should have them beat basically atevery person except for center, where Robert
Williams is no slouch and he playsa similar role to what Bam can do
defensively, regardless, it's a differentsituation. And who knows, you know,

(48:53):
we haven't. We have only seenJoel and beat under two coaches.
Who knows what is left to unlockfor him? And he's already an extraordinary
player, right so I just wantedto win that the yard of that he's
fallowen short in the playoffs scene wasall you can do in the NBA unless

(49:15):
you can build a super team withthree superstars, which is really rare,
is put yourself in the upper yearof contenders, and then you have to
hope that work falls your way,Injuries follow your way, shots, you
know, just happen to go in. I mean, just imagine how different
games Starden's legacy would be if theif they if he won with the Thunder

(49:39):
when he was on his rookie deo, when he made it to the finals,
be completely different. He wouldn't havethat that that dark cloud over his
career the entire time. The pressureis probably much lower. What happens if
Chris Paul doesn't get hurt as muchas he did Choke Sometimes there's plenty of
what ifs that I nothing to dowith him that really easily make it.

(50:02):
So he wins a championship in hisprime with twelve and beat, he spent
a lot of his career with aguy that's an awful fit in Ben Simmons,
and then he got one year withone year and a half with James
Harden, which who is well plassedthis prime. He's still a good play
with Weld classed this prime. Andall you can do is get yourself in

(50:27):
the conversation. And Joel and Mediais one of the few players in the
NBA right now that by himself getsyou in the conversation. Right there's guys
that he could argue a better playoffperformers Jimmy Butler, if it's an example
of this, even even Jayson Tatumis probably an example of this. I
don't think either Jimmy Butler or leastand Tatum gets you instantly by themselves in
the conversation. As a contender,I should just plug and play them into

(50:49):
a team because and B provides massivevalue because of the position he plays,
because he gets to be the anchorand provide in men's value. Defensively,
he gets to be he can beboth on and off the ball. Offensively,
he can provide value in basically everypossession in the game, which is

(51:10):
something that you can't really say about, which which is why two way centers
are so damn valuable. You can'tsay this about Layson Tatum because even though
he is a good defender in theperimeter, you can you can get you
know, you can attack from adifferent side, you can you know,
screen a defender away. You arenot involved in every possession. Jobelan Beak

(51:34):
is involved in literally every single possessionor no, I mean you can't spasically,
you can play five out, butfor the most part, in every
single possession, it's I don't thinkpeople will really give credit to how much
better the six sets were than wherethey were supposed to be. I mean,
James Harden defensively he was ever good, but right now he's nothing.

(51:57):
He's terrible. Tobias Harris is anokay defender, He's not that impressive.
Iris Maxie is not a good defender. Besides Joel and b there's what they're
speed light sucker, who's a gooddefender. On the Sexers, There's so
much the base played they played,George's Niang a significant amount of minutes.
Berke and cart Must probably didn't playin the playoffs, but he played throughout

(52:21):
the season. I mean that teamis not supposed to be competitive defensively.
It is only competitive defensively because veldand Bid is there. Imagine how good
a team can be defensively if jelland Bids there is in the other,
but in the other players are alsosomewhat confident defensively. I think because of
his situation, we somewhat undervalue howmuch of an impact that specific type of

(52:45):
player, that that specific position canhave just on the game overall. Because
we often see, you know,we pair even when we pair up superstars,
usually they don't fit perfectly. Wedid each other because only one of
them can have the ball at atime right, or one of them is
one of a defensive guy, andwhile he can be the primary on ball

(53:07):
defender, he can get screamed awayand you lose all that value instantly,
or not all of it, butpart of it instantly. James Harden and
Chris Paul were a good combination,but they weren't a perfect fit. KD.
James Harden and Kyrie were an awesomecombination and the same offensive fire power.
They weren't a perfect fit. It'svery hard to get a perfect fit.

(53:27):
The thing with Joel immediates. He'sbasically two superstars in one. He
is the same thing as if yougot an elite defensive center and an elite
offensive center. But he's just oneplayer. Yeah, so it's you know,
he's just he's incredibly just to getit over with, he's incredibly impressed,

(53:47):
impressed, like impressing as a player, which is why he's one of
the few superstars at twenty or thirtyyears old. I'll call it thirty because
it wouldn't be this year that wouldactually be okay trading for if you've made
this point about Paul George Kawhile OrdJimmy, but we're he'll kid is too
young, so that doesn't count.But if you made that point about I

(54:10):
mean, Lebron is obviously not youknow, someone I would trade for because
of the cost and has said butif you list off, Damion Lillward is
another one of them. Donovan Mitchell, I wouldn't trade for, just trying
to think out, but just asoff the top of my head, I
wouldn't because they wouldn't be astron asinformational, as quick, and so you'd

(54:32):
lose, you'd get the minisition returnsfrom getting from the adaptation period. Job,
it requires no adaptation. He's fuckingplayed. He's insanely good. Hint,
He'll fit with whatever team it is. So Yeah, while I'm not
saying do it under like be inthe race under any circumstances, I mean,

(54:53):
just don't. I'll try, justI'll try to refuse to it either.
Absolutely not. Again, I thinka lot of Rockets fans are just
preconditioned and not taking into account justhow unique this circumstance potentially is. Players
of and beats impact just do nottypically become available, and for them to
come available and have interest in youis even more rare. And I think

(55:16):
again people are sort of used tothe last couple of years, we've gone
through these hypotheticals with you know,Jnovan Mitchell in twenty twenty two, Ben
Simmons in twenty twenty one, backwhen people were still hopeful he could be
a quasi star and the Rockets weredebating the original Harden trade. Then even
to an extent when we're talking aboutbringing Harden back in twenty twenty three,
It's always been how much is itreally worth it? Because this guy?

(55:37):
How much does it really get youcloser to contention? And by the time
you're ready, is that player isstill going to be in his prime?
Is he gonna be a free agent? Is he gonna want to stay?
How does the puzzle fit together?And a lot of it comes back to
the fact that those guys well good, we're talking you know, best case
top fifteen, top twenty, toptwenty five. This is way more than
that. This is because his twoway impact on both ends. You're looking

(55:58):
top five, maybe top three.This is different. The magnitude of it
is different, and the Rockets aren'ta slightly different place organizationally, most notably
with Fred Benfleet and Emai Udoka.The last two points, I want to
try and deconstruct our last two arguments. I want to deconstruct before we turn
our attention to the schedule as wewind down the podcast. Another argument I've
seen against it is that you havepotentially this very long window now with the

(56:21):
young core and as you mentioned,Paolo, and you're right, there's no
guarantees even though there's opopnete from nowafter a good offseason, again, things
are about to get real and ahurry. If the Rockets get off to
one and nine, two and eightstart even with an easy schedule. Again,
more on that. Momentarily, allof a sudden, we're going to
be changing our tune very quickly.There are no guarantees that this rebuild works,
even if you accumulate a lot ofyoung talent the way the Rockets hat.

(56:43):
But I have seen the argument that, look, if you then give
so much money to guys like Embiidand Fred, who are twenty nine,
they're going to be thirty next year, then what does it do for your
timeline? How much longer is yourwindow open? And again it comes back
to the same question, who isleft amongst your young core after you do
this deal? If you have enough, there is a world where it makes

(57:04):
sense because even if Embiide and Fred, let's say the next three years are
the remainder of their true prime,okay, Well, if by thirty three
they're starting to show a little signsof aging, it's okay. If you
have guys like Jalen Green and ImanThompson who are becoming superstars in their own
right and able to carry the loadin many ways, it's similar to how
we've seen Devin Booker allow Chris Pauland now Kevin Durant to age gracefully because

(57:30):
Devin can take the heavy load overeighty two and let guys like CP and
KD pick their spots and conserve forthe playoffs. To an extent, it's
what we've seen with the Lakers withLebron James and Anthony Davis. At least
that was the thought, although Anthony'shad a tough time staying healthy for long
enough for that to work as wellas envision. But the point is there
are examples of this you can get, especially if we're talking true superstars,

(57:52):
which Joel is. With modern medicineand technology, you can get these guys
still playing at a high level intotheir mid to late thirties. It's about
how you load manage them. Andif you have the right sporting pieces and
guys like Jalen and Ahman, ifthey stick around are able to step into
bigger roles, you can make thatwork. And so again I want to

(58:12):
underscore not saying you do it underall circumstances. There absolutely as a point
where you look at your roster aftera hypothetical deal for embeed and you say,
look, this just isn't close enoughto a championship. I don't feel
good enough. And the results ofthe season are going to play into it
as well. Do any of theseguys show signs of stardom and if so,
are you able to keep them inthe negotiations? Again, there's more

(58:34):
data points to be gained, butthere is a world where if you feel
good about you know one or twoyoung guys are able to keep them,
then just as Fred and Joel mightbe starting to decline a little bit,
then those guys being on the upswing, they can take on a greater role
as you get to the late twentytwenties and then let your other guys load
manage. Not saying that that's theideal, I'm just saying it is an

(58:55):
option. And so just because they'rein their thirties doesn't nessarily mean your window
is all that different relative to whatit appears to be now, and even
if it appears to be a longtime now because of the ages. Again,
there's no guarantees anyway, because ifwe know how NBA contracts work,
and even if these guys do panout at at all star or above level,
then the new CBA and the NBAis going to make it very difficult
to keep that team together over thelong haul anyway. So I really don't

(59:17):
think it necessarily impacts you know,your window that much, at least in
this scenario where you can get embedat a fairly reasonable cost without having to
truly give up the farm. Lastpoint I want to get to, and
this is just a very simple one. We've heard a lot of talk the
last few months about Emay Udoka beingthe savior because he steered the Rockets away

(59:38):
from James Harden, who a lotof the fan base didn't want. And
now that Harden's starting all this dramawith Daryld Moorey and the Sixers, people
feel even more emboldened that their originalinstinct not to trust Harden was correct and
that the Rockets went the right direction. Time will tell, but what I
will say is that if you trustEmay on that, why wouldn't you trust

(01:00:01):
him on this? And it's prettyclear for Joel Embiide to potentially consider Houston,
which has been a laughing stock thelast three years. That shows you
the power of the relationship between Joeland Emay, who again was an assistant
with the Sixers. So if thiswere to happen, Emay would be an
enormous part of it. So ifyou're going to say trust and emay Udoka

(01:00:23):
and it's you know, I dothink Emay steered them away from Harden,
but I don't think it's all that. I don't think that the Rockets were
one hundred percent in for Harden before. As I understand it, it was
a lot more. Yeah, we'llpotentially explore this. You'd be silly to
turn it down, but we firstgot to see who our coach is going
to be, decide how we're goingto play, and then make that decision.
Because ultimately, if the Rockets haddecided even prior to the coaching search,

(01:00:45):
that for sure they're going to bringin James Harden, then that makes
them less attractive guys like emay Udoka, because all of a sudden, they
don't have flexibility. They can't remakethe roster the way they want to to
play their style. You're telling them, yeah, there's all this flexibility,
which we talked about being attractive inthe Rockets a destination in the coaching search.
But then if we're saying that theguy the new coach can have no
input on what the Rockets do withit, then that takes away the appeal.

(01:01:07):
So I think in terms of howwe got here, yes, I
think had a role in the Rocketsgoing a different direction than Harden, but
I don't think necessarily they were goingfor Hardened before. It was always more,
yeah, we want to keep thedoor open, but then we're gonna
let the coach have input. Andultimately this was the input that that Emay
wanted to have. And I thinkit's on just really quick. I think

(01:01:30):
it's pretty obvious that the Rockets willnever all in on it, because if
they were, that would mean thatTimbering had a court we tempature. It
did, but that would mean thatRockets made them. If Rockets were as
all Innus people make it out tobe, email Lucas saved them, James
hard of them would not only begoing They're all more real lit, He'd
be going the Rockets sliders as well, because they made them a promise that

(01:01:51):
they'd sign them and then they didn't. So just put it out there,
Yeah, the Rockets were James Hardenedon Houston, not Houston on James Harden.
Yeah, So just to put itout that if Rockets were as all
in as most people say they were, James Harden would not be just firing
shouts at Terrell more because it wouldn'tbeat this terremorey that you didn't give them

(01:02:14):
the money that he expected, becausealso the Rockets that didn't give them the
money that he expected and backed outof some preconceived you know deal. So
yeah, this one point them outanyway to close the book on the whole
Joel embiad hypothetical, which again isprobably months away even if he asked out
at the end of the offseason fora number of reasons as outlined earlier,
I don't think anything's going to happenin terms of an actual trade for Embiid

(01:02:37):
until December fifteenth at the absolute earliest. More realistically February or June if next
year, depending on how things gofor the Sixers in other areas between now
and then. It's more just tostay tuned, keeping in mind as an
option if you're a team like theRockets, that's potentially on his list.
But yeah, even if some ofthe narrative is slightly overcooked with regards to
Emay saving the Rockets from James Harden, look The bottom line is for people

(01:03:00):
have been talking a big game abouthow smart Emay is and how much they
trust him and how thankful they areto have him here. Okay, if
you feel that way, and that'sperfectly fine. I agree. I'm on
board with him. I think hewas a great hire. I think he's
somebody great for the future. Butif you trust him on that, I
don't know how you turn around andsay this is a terrible idea when clearly
Emay is one of, if wellnot one of, he's the biggest reason

(01:03:22):
why it would potentially happen. So, just at a very superficial level,
if you're going to trust Emay Udokaon this hardened decision, I think you've
got to trust him on this aswell and keep an open mind. And
ultimately that's how I'll wrap up,and we'll close with a little bit of
schedule talk, not saying you shouldfor sure do it again. There is

(01:03:43):
a point in which the asking priceis so much that just doesn't make sense
because the team you're left with aftertrading for Embied and peering in with Fred
VanVleet just doesn't have the upside towin a championship. And if that's the
case, then yeah, you shouldwalk away. And it could also be
that if this season goes a lotworse than you think, then maybe none
of these guys are that close thatyou feel that good about taking the type

(01:04:04):
of leap that you need. Andmaybe in that scenario, maybe they become
less attractive as assets to Philadelphia aswell, and so the coculus ships there.
But regardless, at least keep anopen mind to the idea. I
don't see a reason why you wouldforeclose the possibility, especially when you consider
we're talking about months from now whenyou're going to get more data now as

(01:04:26):
far as the schedule. Look,I'll lead into this discussion just by saying
it helps that the Rockets have avery soft open because in a year that's
going to be pivotal on a numberof fronts, can they make a leap
forward and it'd be great for businessif they did. I know, they
want to sell more tickets, theywant to build buzz, they want fans
to get back on board. Andif you want these guys, we talk
about all the you know, therot of losing the last couple of years,

(01:04:49):
if you want to change that,get them in a more competitive environment
and getting them believing in all thosebenefits. Then, for so many reasons,
it would be great to get offto a fast start. If a
guy's believing, get the fans believing, and so as opposed to last year
in thirteen, the first sixteen we'reon the road and felt like season was
over even before it started. Thisyear's seven, the first nine at home,
the two road games of the Magicand Spurs. So you have a

(01:05:10):
chance get off to a good start. And if you get off to a
good start, who knows, maybethat makes you more likely to trade at
the deadline for big names, includingpotentially Joel Embid, because you are a
bit closer than you think right now. This season is about getting data,
and if you want good data,a good start can help on a number
of fronts. So to me,that's the biggest takeaway. We sort of
knew, well not sort of,we did know who they were going to

(01:05:30):
play. With the lone exception ofa few Western Conference teams, you'll play
three times instead of four. Forthe most part, you know the opponents.
It's just the ordering. And asfar as I see it, soft
start is what the Rockets potentially couldbenefit a ton from. As we set
the narrative not just for this season, but the future of this franchise.
Yeah, I'm with you. Thebiggest thing to look forward to is the

(01:05:51):
fact that they start with Orlando andseven Sonio, which I mean, we've
got to think it all with agood and fault because we don't know how
good these teams will this year.Right Who knew that the Speacromo things were
going to be as good as theywere last season? We know the West
is a boot bad and there's basicallyno bad teams besides the Spurs possibly the
Blazers. But it's good to startoff with two teams that should be beatable

(01:06:13):
and if the Rockets want to bein the play and playoff contention, they
have to be able to beat theseteams. And just going back throughout the
years that I've watched the NBA,when teams are trying to make the clump,
the start of the season is reallyimportant. Sometimes it falls apart,
like with the Pelicans last season.The Stuns had you know, a scare
for the trade for Chris Paul Ithink where they had a season that started

(01:06:36):
off well but then it completely fellapart. But these are young players.
They need to have the confidence.We know how different Clone Grene works when
he's conference versus when he's not,And just buying into the system is a
lot easier when you start off winningand when you establish that it is possible
in the beginning, and you don'thave to convince yourself that it is throughout

(01:06:56):
the road. Right, So evenif you start well and then it falls
apart at some point, you canalways look back to that start and see,
this is how it looks when it'sgoing well, and it's possible when
we can do it, we havedone that, we can get back to
it. It's just a lot easierto motivate based off of that. Besides
the obvious start, what I'm lookingfor is the last four weeks of the

(01:07:21):
schedule. Right. Looking at thelast four weeks, we're looking at what
we're looking at Portland, who's widelygoing to be tanking Utah, who's like
we're going to be tanking thanking,or when who has a possibility of thanking
Miami is not going to be tankingGolden State poways and he's going to be
tanking by that time, the Timberwolvescould be tanking. We play Utah three

(01:07:44):
times and in the last four weeksof the season, which is when teams
start to make those decisions, weplay Portland twice and then we as we
also play Washington, who's probably goingto be taking by that time, and
we play the Balls. I wouldnot be surprised if they were taking as
well, because they finally have theirpicks again after owing them to the Thunder

(01:08:08):
because of the us of Its tradefor a while, so they could be
taking at that point as well.So it's good that the Rockets have no
incentive to losing, right They're goingto be trying to win these games,
and it's good that towards the backend of the season a lot of these
games are basically going to be freebecause the other team is not normally not
is actively trying to lose. Andwe've seen this with the Rockets the opposite

(01:08:30):
side of this with the Rockets thelast few season as well. And now
we get to be on the onthe good side of it. And there's
there's plenty of teams here that couldbe intentionally losing. And if when you're
fighting for a playing spot and you'renot exactly you know, I feel like
it's going to be a bit ofa rude awakening for some Rockets fans because
when we were good, we werevery good. We were expecting to win

(01:08:53):
every game we went, We went, we went and played. Now we're
going to be good, but it'sI think we're going to be good,
but it's probably going to be inconsistent, and we're not going to be If
we're favorites for half the games weplay, they'll be, you know,
probably a good season. And solooking at the last four weeks, you

(01:09:14):
can't go into every game expecting towin, right, So having a lot
of these games that are basically goingto be free wins is a big deal
because now the only ones that aretoss ups are the other half, and
if you win half of the guyof the half, it's toss ups.
Now we've won seventy five percent ofyour games in the closing month of the
season, and that would put youin a pretty good place as far as

(01:09:38):
as a play in hand could possiblygo. So that's mostly what I'm walking
forwards to. Other than that,I mean, it's it's a schedule,
right, not really much talk aboutand also potentially for momentum of the franchise
be at Joel Embiid. Maybe it'sSion. Maybe someone else declares a crazy
situation and gets discrimtled that we've talkedabout the you know embed, it's just

(01:10:00):
a template. It could potentially besomeone else. The NBA is crazy,
things pop up that you aren't expecting, and the Rockets are fairly well positioned.
It's a desirable market. They havelots of young talent, and so
as we're heading towards the next offseason, a strong finish to the year and
perhaps beating expectations that could also putyou in a better light around the league

(01:10:21):
with players and agents thinking that you'reon the upswing, and so there's lots
of benefits to potentially being able tofinish strong and leave a good impression.
Whether it gets you in the playin tournament or not. Obviously, that's
still going to be an uphill battle. With regards to you know, I
haven't seen the over under yang lesssuspect the Rockets or somewhere in the you
know thirty or slightly above. Whenit comes to expected wins for the year.

(01:10:44):
I think they have a good shotat clearing it, but just in
terms of the outside perception. Coupleof notes on the schedule before we wind
down. So, as currently constructed, there's six Western Conference teams that they're
going to play three times instead ofusual four. The Nuggets, the Warriors,
the Clippers, the King Septemberwolves,the thunder All of those teams were
playing are better last year. Andin the case of the Nuggets, the

(01:11:04):
Warriors, and the Kings and maybethe Clippers, you're talking actual West contenders
are close to contenders. That's apretty good draw. You're playing four times
against the teams are likely to bereally bad, the Trailblazers, the Jazz,
the Spurs, and so on andso forth. Now that's not a
done deal because with the nd seasontournament, every team has at least two

(01:11:25):
games that's going to be added ata later date, somewhere in that December
fourth through the ninth window. Thereason for that is that the n season
tournament's going to determine who gets tothe final eight, the knockout stage,
and then the twenty two of thethirty teams that are not in the knockout
stage, then they're going to gethaired against one another. And my guess
is that the two games for theRockets, if possible, depending on who's
left in that twenty two assuming theRockets don't make it out of their end

(01:11:46):
season tournament, which shouldn't assume.Maybe they get lucky, but if they
don't, then you're probably going toplay a couple of those teams as part
of that December fourth through the ninthweek that you're adding games for teams that
did not qualify for the end seasontournament. Also, I want to emphasize
something with the n season Tournament.We've talked about it before, but I've
seen a lot of confusion when thatschedule got released earlier this week, with

(01:12:09):
people thinking there's a ton of volatilitydepending on how much each team will care
for those games, because obviously thisis new. In the long run,
the NBA wants to be something analogousto some of the Cups in European football.
But at the end of the day, it's not just the end season
tournament. Not everyone seems to understandthat these are regular season results that are

(01:12:32):
being multi purposed. The only partof the nd season tournament that will not
count towards the regular season is theactual championship game, the final two,
And I think the hope is thatif you literally get to the championship game
and you're one of the last twostanding, that that'll be enough to incentivize
you in and of itself. Theother games, though, even if you
don't care about the end season tournament, okay, then they're one of eighty

(01:12:53):
two games. And I suppose oncein a while you'll overlook someone or maybe
they'll have a if you guys,load manage and upsets do happen, but
for the most part, the betterteams win in the regular season. The
NBA is not that unpredictable, andso because of that, I think a

(01:13:13):
lot of people are overestimating the volatilityof this play in tournament. Are not
play in tournament in season tournament becausethey're not looking at it as another regular
season game, which on some levelit is. So I'll give you an
example. The tenth the Rockets playthe Pelicans. I think that's their first
play in tournament game and they hostor first in season tournament game. Gotta

(01:13:36):
keep mixing those up too many tournaments. That's the first in season tournament game
in Houston. And then the twelfththey host Denver, who is actually also
in their in season tournament group,but it's not technically an end season tournament
game the Rockets Nuggets in season tournamentgames at the end of the month.
I believe that's in Denver. Ido not expect the Rockets to take that

(01:13:57):
game against the Pelicans and that gameagainst the Nuggets in differently because one is
technically in season tournament and one isn't. No, they're just one of eighty
two games. It's no different thananything else, and I think the same
is going to be true for otherteams. So I just want to hit
home that when we talked about thisN Season Tournament, Yeah, there'll be
a champion that there wasn't before,but in terms of the games throughout,

(01:14:19):
they're going to be one of eightytwo. That's the way that most teams
are going to approach it, probablyall teams, And so because of that,
I don't think you should look atthem as any more unpredictable than a
normal game on the schedule. Again, a Rockets Nuggets game in November that
isn't part of the N Season Tournament. I don't think it's going to be
that different than a Rockets Nuggets gamein November that is a part of the

(01:14:41):
N Season Tournament. Because both they'reone of eighty two. That's the way
these teams are going to look atit. The last thing I want to
get off my chest as it pertainsto the schedule. I've seen a little
bit of disappointment that the Rockets onlygot four national TV games and three of
those are NBA TV. So ifyou don't count NBA TV, then you
just have the one ESPN game onJanuary twelve at Detroit, two teams that
are rebuilding along similar timelines, KateCunningham and Jalen Green, that being the

(01:15:05):
headliner matchup, and that's a sixthirty game on ESPN. I think it's
a Friday night. Well, here'sthe thing about the Rockets. We're bullish
on their future for a good reasonbecause we study them on a day in,
day out basis, and the trajectoryof the franchise is pretty good right
now. They're definitely on the upswing, but the Rockets are not box office.

(01:15:27):
When the Rockets pivoted from James Hardento Fred VanVleet, look there are
justifiable reasons for it. Fred isa very good player, and he's more
plug in play. He's more complimentarythan James in a lot of scenarios,
but he's far less box office.No one buys tickets or stops what they're
doing on a weekend night because they'vegot to see Fred VanVleet play. He's
just not that type of player.And when we talk about the young guys,

(01:15:51):
I think San Antonio has eighteen ornineteen national TV games. Wimby is
in a different class than guys likeJalen and Should and Amen and Shabari.
These are good prospects. People areexcited about him, but until they actually
deliver at a high level in theNBA, they're just one of many talented

(01:16:12):
young prospects. The Rockets don't haveany perceived transcendent guys like wemb Is,
so don't take it as a signof disrespect. It's just the Rockets,
the choices they made, and wherethey ended up in the draft lotteries.
While I think you can be optimisticabout the team they built at this point,

(01:16:32):
it's not box office. I hopeit will be box office to borrow
a stephen a term as Jalen Greenand all printing goon and hopefully multiple members
of your core six take the leap, and maybe we're having a different discussion
of Europe from now. Also,should note that games can be added to
the national added and subtracted to thenational TV slate during the regular season,

(01:16:53):
So if the Rockets get off toa hot start, then maybe they get
more national TV games. But rightnow, don't take it as a sign
of respect. Just take it asthe reality that the Rockets just don't have
that type of a national or globaldraw based on the roster as currently constructed.
We hope that changes, but fornow, the Rockets are trying to

(01:17:13):
basically take a team approach. It'snot about any one individual, and they're
still developing, and so because ofthat, it's not a shot. It's
not that anybody in the league officedoesn't like the Rockets, it's just from
a box office perspective, they arenot a draw yet. We hope that
changes. Maybe it does change duringthe season, and then if that's the
case, they'll get a lot moreadded and by this time next year we'll
be having a different discussion. Butfor now it's an insult. It's just

(01:17:35):
a reminder that the Rockets, whiletheir situation is promising, it's not to
a point yet where people nationally andglobally are truly going to take notice.
There's still a ways to go.Maybe a Joel and b trade can figure
into that as well, but fornow, based on where things are currently
constructed, the four national TV gamesand only one ESPN zero TNT, that

(01:17:59):
feels out right. Very last point. I know we've run long spoiler alert.
We always do. That's what wedo here at the logger line when
we talk about the start to theseason being important and why I think that
soft schedule opening up is really bigfor the Rockets. On a player level,
the guy I'm watching the most isJabari Smith Jr. He's a guy

(01:18:19):
and we've we talked about it inour recent episode ranking guys who this season
is most important for, and eventhough you wouldn't necessarily expect a ton from
year one to year two, weboth had him in our top five because
just it comes down to timing.His year one was a bit underwhelming relative
to being number three overall. Alot of people expected number one overall going
into the twenty two draft, buthe did show some encouraging signs near the

(01:18:42):
end, and now he's coming offthis amazing summer League. He has a
lot of momentum. He's going tohave better pieces around him in the starting
lineup, and now Game one,he goes up against Paolo ben Caro,
the guy who was picked over himhigh in the twenty twenty two draft,
the reigning rookie of the year,the type of guy that with Paulow's blend
of power and athleticism and fluidity,He's the type of guy that Jabari,

(01:19:04):
especially as a rookie, couldn't handle. That's why he's been putting on strength.
That's why he's been doing yoga toget more flexible so that he can
handle guys like Paolo that have thatblend of power and athleticism. I can
think of no better spotlight than Pauloben Caro in Game one to put some

(01:19:27):
of Shabarri's offseason improvements to the test. And then Game two against the Spurs
and Wemby, and by the way, it's actually the third time they'll play
the Spurs and eleven days they playhim twice in the preseason, and that's
less than two weeks earlier. Weknow that not only are Wemby and Shabarri,
like I gotta say, identical position, with a close identical position,
they'll definitely guard each other a decentbed I would suspect. And we also

(01:19:50):
know that when Wemby took his shotat the Rockets during the draft lottery,
intentionally or unintentionally, we all knowthe camera shot where he was fist pumping
and smiling when the Rockets went atnumber four, meaning they weren't going to
get him. Jabari was the guythat quotes we did that video with the
taking notes emoji. Clearly it meantsomething to him. So for Jabari to
get to go against Paolo Benko,the guy who had a better rookie season

(01:20:12):
than him, the guy that waspicked over him, the guy the type
of player that he's developing his bodyto hold up better against in Game one,
and then in game two to playWemby, the guy he said he
was taking notes and being ready for. It's an interesting spot for the Rockets
as a team because even on theroad, these are the types of opponents
that they can compete with, andmaybe you can argue should be given the

(01:20:33):
veterans the Rockets brought in and theoffseason. Although I'll try and temper expectations
a little bit again, they aregoing to be still learning how to play
together in terms of blending the youngguys from last year with the veterans they
brought in. But in terms ofthe players themselves, I think it's a
perfect stage for Jabari to showcase thegrowth that we think he's had and to
build on the confidence of them.Sure he gained from a strong summer league.

(01:20:56):
He's been in Houston all year.You know. One of the things
that will tidbit all through out theRockets had a much shorter scheduled release video
this year than last. One ofthe reasons for that is that there haven't
been that many players and coaches actuallyin Houston for the majority of the off
season. Two that are Jabari SmithJunior and Tardy Eason. They're in Toyota
Center almost every single day. They'rebonding with not only the organization of the

(01:21:19):
community. Not to say the guysthat aren't here aren't committed to the same
extent because again, like Jalen Greenand Kevin Porter Jr. They're from California.
We know Aman Thompson has a homefar outside of Houston. These guys
have lives and you know, Amanis getting separated from his twin brother for
the first time, so they're tryingto maximize their time together in the off

(01:21:42):
season and Changoon and Dylan Brooks areplaying for their national teams in World Cup
or pre Olympic qualifying. Jock Landelwas as well, although he appeared to
spring and ankle today, so hopefullyhe'll be ready for camp still six weeks
until it starts in early October.At the point, it's not so much
the other guys aren't committed. It'smore that they just have other things going
on, either in their personal livesor international teams that just don't allow them

(01:22:03):
to be in Houston. But tothat r in Houston almost every single day,
or Jai Schist Junior and chry Easton, they're getting ready for a big
season, and Jamari in particular,it feels like it's set up on a
t for him to have a reallyencouraging start for the year. Hopefully he
comes through. And with that,I think that's everything I wanted to cover.
Polo any other thoughts before we closethis out. Yeah, it's really
unfair that the French Ball Bowl getsmore national TV games than just just want

(01:22:30):
to put it out there. Ilove that pressed well, hopefully Javari takes
that to heart. Yeah. Puton the fact that the Spurs have nineteen
national TV games, put that onthe bulletin board prior to all those Rockets
Spurs games, and let Javari takeit out on Wemby. He already didn't
like him on a personal level afterthe draft lottery. Now you add this
to the fire and hopefully, wellthe whole team can build on that and

(01:22:53):
use it as fuel. But Ithink Javari in particular, because he seems
to be the kind of guy whoagain uses some of these slights. You
can just see it in his interview. You can see it. And now
he interacts on social media, heplays with a chip on his shoulder,
and he's had momentum. It feelslike for months. Again, you can't
make a mountain out of the molehill. It is just two games out
of eighty two. But if Jabaricomes out and succeeds in those first two

(01:23:13):
road games, especially the Rockets arecompetitive as a team as well, and
Jabari's doing it against the likes ofPaulo and Wimby, then that's one of
those variables that can all of asudden have you very optimistic. And I
think that the Rockets are closer thanmaybe many think around the league to making
that leap where they actually are boxoffice. So with that, we will
bring this extended episode to a close. And we went on for a while,

(01:23:34):
but A we always do, andB there's a lot to get to
today between both Joel and Bad Rocketsbeing a potential suitor and most likely the
months I had, but still thefact that they're in the mix at all
is very interesting. We're talking aboutthe MVP of the league and then of
course the new schedule for the upcomingseason that just got released, so that's
when we went a little bit long. Had a lot to discuss going forward.
I expect it to be relatively quietin the six weeks leading up to

(01:23:56):
training camp, but whatever breaks,we will have you covered right here at
the logger line with Insight. Ido expect a new City edition uniform,
by the way, to come outin sounds like September, and then it
will debut I think the Friday,one of the two Friday home games during
the in season tournament, so wewill have that and I'll try to get
an interview lined up on that frontwith the guy responsible for designing that new
city jersey. But we're gonna betrying to get some other interviews as well

(01:24:19):
with people surrounding the Houston Rockets,because even if there's not news going on
in terms of developments directly related tothe teams and its stay to day prospects,
look, there is a lot ofintrigue around what the Rockets did this
offseason where they're trying to go inthe future, and so this is a
time to sort of catch up lookat things from a thirty thousand foot view
as opposed to a day to dayand so hopefully with this being a slow

(01:24:39):
period in the NBA calendar as well, this will make it to where it's
easier to get in touch with afew people that would love to pick their
brains and get some insight on inthe weeks leading up to training camp as
the Rockets gear up for what couldbe what we hope it's a pivotal season
in the trajectory of this franchise movingforward. Anyway, this is enough for
one episode. We will have morein than your future. Again, stay

(01:25:00):
tuned. Before we close out,I do want to throw out our usual
plugs. You can follow myself andPaulo on Twitter or x. I'm on
there at Ben Dubos. Paulo ison there at Paolo ALVE's NBA and the
show is on there at the loggerLine, where if you go to the
link tree you can find links toCarback, Brewing, Sports Talk, seven
ninety, Rockets, Farre, allour partners, friends, sponsors you're can
access their content. You can alsogo to Apple, Google, Spotify all

(01:25:21):
the links for this show where youcan follow, subscribe like as sleave of
positive review if you have not alreadyagain, link tree is the simplest way
to do that because we've got everythingyou need from the distributors to our friends,
partners and sponsors at a one stopshop. Hit up the link tree,
which you can get to at thelogger line on Twitter or X.
I know technically it's X, butgod, that's terrible. I'm still gonna

(01:25:41):
call it Twitter anyway. Enough banterfor one episode. This is where we
will break for today for Paulo.I'm Ben, Thanks always for listening,
Go Rockets and please come back soonform another new episode of the logger Line

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