NBA playoffs storylines to watch for the Rockets

Though their 41-41 record was much improved from last season, Houston didn’t quite qualify for the 2024 NBA playoffs. Yet, among the teams competing, there are quite a few storylines that could become very relevant to the future of the Rockets.

On Friday’s show, our Ben DuBose and Paulo Alves dive into a wide range of Rockets-centric angles from the postseason. Topics include player and team comparisons; the encouraging implications of expensive teams going out early; and plausible trade options with those underachieving teams, such as a deal for Clippers star Paul George. 

The show wraps up with a preliminary look at internal decisions to come involving Houston’s pending free agents and players with 2024 team options. Those include Jock Landale, Aaron Holiday, Jae’Sean Tate, Jeff Green, Reggie Bullock Jr., and more.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Cheers, Rockets fans, Welcome toThe Logger Line, an exclusive podcast from
the home of the Rockets, SportsTalk seven ninety. The Logger Line,
It's proudly served to you by carBox Clutch City lagger It is God,
Oh Red Nation. Get Ready,Ready, Get Ready. The lagger Line

(00:29):
starts now. Welcome aboard, Welcomein to another new episode of The logger
Line, as always served to youcourtesy of Clutch City, logger of Carbuck
Brewing. I'm Ben Dubo's, yourhost, editor of USA Today's Rockets Spire
and contributor to Sports Talk seven ninety, the official flagship radio station of your

(00:53):
Houston Rockets. I'm joined as always. I'm a good friend, co host
and producer out of Portugal Powo Alves, who you can follow on Twitter,
sligh x at Palo Alves NBA me. I'm at Ben Dubo's, so as
we chat this first week of May, We're just over a week away from
the twenty twenty four draft lottery onSunday, May twelfth. The Rockets are
guaranteed to have at least one lotterypick, and it's the one from Brooklyn,

(01:15):
which will most likely be at numbernine. Overall, however, there
is about a twenty percent chance thatit could jump into the top four,
and I believe about a twenty fivepercent chance that it could fall back to
ten or eleven. So there isstill a little bit of intrigue there as
it pertains to the final positioning ofthat pick. The Rockets also have a
small chance about seven percent of keepingtheir own pick. In addition to the

(01:37):
Brooklyn pick, the Rockets traded theirown twenty twenty four first rounder to OKC
as part of that awful Chris PaulRussell Westbrook trade from five years ago,
but it is top four protected,and Houston enters the lottery with the twelfth
worst record in the league. Thatgives them a seven percent chance of jumping
into the top four. So wewill have clarity on that very shortly again,

(01:57):
just a little over a week awayon Sunday the twelfth, And as
for the podcast, we'll do moredraft talk once it becomes clear where the
Rockets are picking and thus the typesof prospects that we should be focused on.
One small silver lining for me isthat, honestly, no matter what
the lottery results are, the Rocketsare getting a pick from Brooklyn that is
guaranteed to be better than any daywould give up to the Thunder. That's

(02:20):
because the only way the Houston pickwould jump the Brooklyn pick in the order
is if Houston gets one of thosefour lottery picks, and that's the incredible
scenario where you then have two lotterypicks. So the bottom line is,
even if you do lose your ownpick to ok See, you've got a
better one coming in from Brooklyn onehundred percent. So as far as today's
show, we're going to focus onthe NBA playoffs, which are in progress
as we speak. I think thereare quite a few storylines relevant to the

(02:43):
Rockets, but I want to startwith the financial one for a couple of
reasons. First Off, we've gotsome hard data, and secondly, I
think it's very very encouraging data whenyou extrapolate its implications to the Rockets.
So top ten payrolls in the NBAfor this season Warriors, Clippers, Suns,

(03:05):
Bucks, Celtics, Nuggets, Heat, Lakers, Pelicans, Cavaliers.
Let's go through those ten teams realquickly. The Warriors lost in the nine
to ten play in game, didn'teven make it to the playoffs. The
Sons and the Pelicans got swept.The Lakers and Heat were gentlemen sweeps.
The Clippers and Bucks, as we'rerecording this Thursday night, May second,

(03:29):
are one game from elimination, andit's possible by the time we upload this
that maybe the Bucks already are eliminated. The Cavs are up three too,
but they still have an advanced outof the first round, and honestly,
short of getting to the conference finalsor beyond, they're probably in a precarious
spot this summer no matter what,because it's a small market and Donovan Mitchell
will be one year from his contractexpiring. Now, the Celtics and Nuggets

(03:50):
are in great shape, but weknew that already. They're the gold standard
of the entire NBA. The pointis, eight of the top ten teams
in the league by payroll are inpotential precarious spots this summer, and five
of them are in the ten teamsthat finish in front of you in the
Western Conference standings. And from therethere's just so many potential benefits. The

(04:10):
theme that ties it all together,as I see it, is that high
payrolls means high expectations, because tostart with, owners usually aren't very happy
to repeatedly pay top dollar payrolls forteams that aren't even good enough to get
to the conference semifinals, and thatcould be the case even more this summer
now that the NBA's new collective Bargainingagreement has some harsher financial penalties as well

(04:33):
as some restrictions for gms that canmake team building much more difficult for teams
that want to go into the luxurytax. I'm going to read you a
quote from pat Riley, who's ledbasketball operations in Miami for quite some time,
said just prior to this season starting, if you build a team around
one or two players, three players, and you don't win the championship,

(04:56):
then you might have to start thinking, Okay, this is not going to
work, this is not going tohappen. That's always, to some extent,
been the story and the super teamera. Obviously, we saw it
the last few years with the BrooklynNets and with the Rockets owning their future
draft capital. That's been the Houston'sbenefit. But I think that's even more
so the case now that we're inthis era where the new CBA puts even

(05:18):
harsher financial and team building penalties onthese high priced veteran teams. Now,
I will acknowledge that some of thoseteams that I referenced earlier, like the
Suns and the Pelicans, have hadowners or gms who have come out this
week and said that they plan oneither staying the course i e. The
Suns, or aggressively looking to upgradethe roster around Zion Williamson. In the

(05:42):
case of the Pelicans. Here's thething. Teams always say that at the
start of an off season. Nobodyever comes out in May and says fire
sale, We're tearing it all down, We're looking to cut cost, because
that just puts you in an awfulleverage spot. For an example, I
think everybody can remember back to theRockets in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty.
In twenty nineteen, in May andJune, we heard for two straight months

(06:04):
that, oh, the Rockets couldrun it back with James Harden and Chris
Paul. And then what happens thefirst week of July. They trade Chris
Paul and four years worth of nearlyunprotected draft assets. Thankfully, Daryl Morey
was able to get the top fourprotection, which kicked in in twenty twenty
one. Who knows, maybe itkicks in again this year. But the
point is they did a terrible dealat the behest of James Harden because it

(06:25):
was the only way they could keepHarden from asking out at that time.
And then in twenty twenty, onceMike Dantoni and Deryl Moriy left and there
were reports that James Harden and RussellWestbrook wanted out. Initially, the Rockets
did the whole song and dance,Oh, we don't have to do anything.
What happened. Russell Westbrook was dealtbefore the off season was over,
and James Harden was dealt not eventen games into the ensuing regular season.

(06:48):
So everybody always says, oh,we don't have to do anything, we're
not under pressure, we can juststay the course. But that's not always
how it actually plays out behind thescenes. And it could be because an
owner or GM has a certain directivethat they don't want to say publicly at
this point. Or it could alsobe and this is the other part of

(07:08):
the equation the players involved, becauseeven if the owner is willing to pay
the high tax bill and the GMis theoretically willing to put up with the
team building restrictions. Those high pricedteams are generally high price because they've got
high profile, veteran players, andthose guys usually have a lot of influence
and they're not patient to be onmediocre teams. So even if ownership and
management are willing to put up withthe high cost, and you take their

(07:30):
word at phase value about running itback, it's entirely possible that their hands
still gets forced at a later datebecause the star player decides to use this
leverage. The bottom line, asI see it, the fact that most
of these super expensive teams are struggling, it's great for the Rockets. Maybe
there ends up being a trade targetthat Houston could potentially acquire from one of

(07:50):
those teams. We'll get to thatin a little bit. But even if
there's not, the reality is thatfive teams ahead of you and the West
standings suddenly have very uncertain now lookswith super high payrolls at a bare minimum
that can make it a lot easierto climb the standings. And that's before
we even get into the Rockets beingyounger than most of those teams and thus
having players that should improve rather thanregress over the upcoming off season. My

(08:15):
last point and then I'll turn itover to Upalo. One of the most
common themes I've heard when I've talkedto people around the league this year is
how unsustainable the current balance of powerfeels. The general sentiment is that way
too many teams are aggressively trying tocontend at the same time, and some
of them were destined to be veryupset when they end up with expensive teams

(08:37):
that crash and burn early in theplayoffs. Combine that with the draft classes
of twenty twenty five and twenty twentysix being fairly loaded, which will reward
bad teams, and it just feelslike something has to give, somebody will
take a step back. The pendulumis due to swing the other way.
I think that's basically the point we'reat now, and whether the benefit is

(08:58):
direct or indirect for the Rockets,it feels like by and large it's a
very positive trend for a franchise likeHouston that is on the way up and
doesn't yet have a super high payroll. How what's your perspective as to the
payroll angle and these expensive teams thatare going outside. Yeah, I was
actually surprised this year that more teamsdidn't you know, cut paid on their

(09:20):
you know, contending or attem totrajectory to thank as we saw many teams
do throughout the last couple of yearswhen the Rockets were tanking. I thought
there were many teams in prime positionto do so. I thought the Clippers
were a potential one, but thentheir season picked backup, so it was
fine. I thought the Balls weredefinitely a candidate. I was surprised that
they didn't just sell at you know, at the deadline. That's just clearly

(09:43):
no hope there. I don't getwhy they keep, you know, trying
to do this. I think thisis where the weakness of the twenty twenty
four draft could be a one offin that because this draft, in the
lottery portion in particular, isn't asstrong with different makers as it usually is.
That might be why more teams didn'tsell off this year, but likely

(10:05):
would in twenty twenty five and twentytwenty six when there are more franchise changing
players in those top ten picks orso. Yeah, for sure, I
think that makes sense. But butthen at the same time, it's not
like they're gaining anything from other thanyou know, the monetary value of this
thing a little bit more relevant thanhaving more fans in the seats. I
don't really see how. I mean, you could probably save some of that

(10:26):
money just by you know, sheddingsour even throughout the season, you always
have an adventage picking higher, evenif there isn't a perceived tier drop off
as or as or if they areif there are, there aren't as the
fine as they were in a lastyear start, for example, or the
year before with the Big three,or there before that with the one and
then Leyland and whatever it was.That being said, I actually think as

(10:50):
far as that impacts the rockets,we've We've made this point in previous spots,
and I think it will be acommon theme, you know, going
forward in this pot as well.We're at a state where we have so
much empdown then so many guys thatneed minutes that I think the way you
improve this roster if not for astructural trade, which I think is not

(11:11):
you know, if it's a structuraltrade for a star that's not necessarily a
team trying to shed salary, Ikind of interpret you know, the continue
we're posing as you know, teamsthat are that had to have really expensive
teams that are not necessarily to lookingto blow it up, but rather trying
to you know, gain the outlookof the team around the core of stars.

(11:33):
And I think it could be acombination of the two though I'll get
to a suggestion in a few minutes, but it could be a situation where
you sell off one big piece fora few medium sized pieces that could still
sort of give you a chance inthe interium, but with a different mix,
a little bit more adept, andthen you save some money by offloading

(11:54):
one of the really really expensive contracts. In that case, in some very
specific you know players that are youknow, at least twenty eight or younger,
then I would see the merits ofus making it or out see the
merits of how that would impact therockets. But I think most teams would
that are not just completely blowing up, would be looking to move off of

(12:15):
guys that you know, are youknow, highly paid, but not necessarily
a part of the core. Namesthat pop to mind, I mean with
the Suns, Theres it's not CharisonMatts, it's it's the other way to
that. Everybody hates that. That'sa shoot, right, call Allen exactly.
He just got extended. So he'sobviously not going to get traded this
offseason. But that's the type ofprofile player that I was I was expecting

(12:37):
to you know that I'm expecting theseteams to kind of shed I think the
Warriors as much as they are,you know, like heres ahead and not
worried about the money and everything,I have to expect that Andrew Wiggins has
to be a tray candidate and he'dbe interesting, yeah, And he'd be
an interesting piece for the Rockets.We already have Dalan Brooks, and it'd

(13:00):
be arguable between the both of them, which one of them is the better
player. But you know, AndrewWilliams is making ten million more a year
for just as many years, Soit wouldn't make much sense to even make
that trait for the upgrade that itis, if it is an upgrade at
all. So I think for it'sgoing to be tough because with the Corsix
plus the one, plus Steven Adamsand plus Frevan Vliet, the rosation is

(13:22):
not necessarily set, but it's closeto it. And so you're either looking
for you know, third third stringtype guys or guys that here, you
know that can work as human tradeexceptions. That we could trade some of
the guys that are expiring on ourteam in order to you know, keep
that salary alive if that's what wewant. An example of that would be
Cachante, obviously, But my pointwas also not just from the perspective of

(13:46):
the Rockets trading for one of theseguys, but even if it doesn't directly
benefit the Rockets, then the indirectbenefit is potentially there as well. If
one of these five Western Conference teamsahead of you and the standings ends up
taking a step back because of theiroffseason moves, even if it doesn't directly
send one of those guys to Houston. You see what I'm saying, Yeah,
for sure, But I think atthe same time, so I think

(14:09):
some of these you know, Ithink, you know, two or three
of those teams might you know,take a dive next year. But at
the same time, I expected Prizesto be back. I expect the cast
to be better, so to getthe Spurs especially, expect them to be
better, and so I think thatwill balance itself out. But just to
conclude the matter, I was thinkingabout the moves that we would eventually make
for some of these players. Ifit's you're widely not gonna I think that

(14:33):
most of the moves Rocks will bemaking around the margins. If so,
if it's not a start straight aroundthe margins, would be that the minimum
deal type guys like Aaron Holliday thisyear, like replacing Bulbar with a guy
that can actually play maybe will beyou know, beneficial. And so I
think even then, you know,some of these guys on these good teams,

(14:54):
there were minimum guys this year,maybe slightly above the minimum next year,
And because of that and those teamsnot being able to play them,
Rockets will still you know, havesome opportunities to get guys that otherwise shouldn't
be available due to those financial concernsobviously mentioned bobol last last episode. I
think with with the Pelicans, theguys that I've that I've liked for a

(15:16):
long time, but you know,he plays the same position a lot of
our guys. A lot of ourguys play. I really like Larry and
Mstinia for a long time. Butat the same time, is he gonna
play overt Probably not? Is heokay not playing at all or just playing
if somebody's interest Probably not? Probablytoo good. So it's why it's why
it's hard to find direct ways forDrugs benefit, but I think they'll obviously

(15:39):
benefit some from some of these veteranteams eventually dying off. And even if
a team like the Spurs or theClass makes a little bit of a jump,
I think they'll make a jump towhere the Rockets are this year,
and the Rockets should by then bea step above and so they'll be running
into the same problems Rockets I've hadthis year as far as struggling to win
close games and all of the immaturitiesthat come with a young team trying to

(16:03):
make that lead. So I thinkoverall Rockets definitely benefit if even if not
directly through those minimum deals that buttrickle through through those teams fallowing off for
sure. Let me ask you aboutone specific scenario that would involve a star
level player that I've thought more aboutsince Jackson Gatlin was the first person I

(16:23):
saw suggest this, and initially myresponse was no way for a few reasons,
and then I started thinking about it, and I'm guessing you know where
I'm going with this. But Jacksonput on his Twitter profile last weekend a
proposal of Dylan Brooks and some combinationof Jack Landale, Jay shun Tate,
and Jeff Green. You're expiring contractsand the twenty twenty four first for Paul

(16:48):
George, and Paul George has aplayer option for next season at forty eight
million dollars to be the last yearof his contract. And we have seen
a precedent of the in the lastfew years in the NBA. Obviously,
James Harden opted in last summer inPhiladelphia to eventually force his way to the
Clippers. We know in twenty seventeenChris Paul opted into the final year of

(17:11):
his contract with then the Clippers toforce his way to the Rockets. The
idea is that if you can becomea free agent, which Paul George can,
all you need is one team willingto give you a sizeable offer and
free agency, and then you cansay, hey, rather than lose me
for no compensation, well I'm willingto opt in for the final year of

(17:33):
my existing deal and you can trademe to a preferred destination. And my
initial thought was, Okay, that'slow. If the only assets through giving
up are Dylan Brooks and a topten pick in the twenty twenty four draft,
it's not supposed to be that good? Is that enough? But then
I started thinking about it. PaulGeorge is thirty four years old and he'd
be making nearly fifty million dollars nextyear. I don't know that his asset

(17:59):
value is that high around the league. And the Clippers going into a new
arena with Kawhi Leonard still in hispride under contract and expensive team. They
probably have a wink wink deal withJames Harden. So it's not like they're
going to want to take a stepback and go the cap room route or
rebuild. If they can get twoor three decent players from the Rockets and

(18:21):
the form of Dylan Brooks and someof the expirings. Not going to say
that it makes them better than withPaul George, but it can at least
keep them competitive, which is whatI think they want to do the next
couple of years. Early they don'thave much of a choice. It's not
like they would just prefer Paul Georgeto leave so that they can then reap
the benefits of cap space or cashsavings. We know Steve Ballmer is willing
to spend, and from the Rocketsperspective, look if all you're giving up

(18:45):
from a true asset perspective, isDylan Brooks and a top ten pick in
the twenty twenty four draft that isn'tsupposed to be that great and doesn't have
a clear path two minutes anyway,I don't know how you wouldn't consider it.
Paul George, even at thirty fouryears old, he's a much better
shooter and scorer than Dylan is.He's not the defender, but you have

(19:06):
multiple guys internally and Tary Easen andthe men Thompson that are ready and willing
to step into bigger wing defense roles. It's not as if Paul George is
especially ball dominant to where he wouldinhibit the development of your young core.
He's someone that plays off ball adecent bit forty shooting on threes at high

(19:27):
volume. That's also the kind ofthing that ages very, very gracefully.
So I don't think Paul George issomeone who would decline in a very rapid
way. And I think we knowhe has a good relationship by the way,
with Jalen Green and all par InShoanoon we've seen the podcast. But
beyond that, I also think hisshooting, his spacing can play well around

(19:52):
those guys. And I really don'tthink the Clippers have a ton of leverage
here because I don't see a thirtyfour year old Paul George on a one
year, forty eight million dollar dealhaving that much leverage. I think,
you know, the people that wereopposed to Jackson's idea on Twitter, it
felt like they broke into one oftwo camps. It was, why don't

(20:14):
we want a guy who's thirty fouryears old? Hell no? And I
just think in a normal sense,if we're talking about trading for like a
star player's mid thirties to where you'redipping into your young core, I agree
you shouldn't that's too much. Butif you're talking about just giving up Dylan
Brooks and maybe one first run pickfrom a bad draft, that's really not
eating into your long term formula atall. So from that perspective, it's

(20:40):
different than the names were used totalking about that are in their mid thirties.
And then stylistically, I think thefit is there. This is not
like when the Rockets flirted with goingafter James Harden last summer but ultimately thought
that his ball dominant style would bedifficult to mesh with some of their young
pieces. No, this is notlike that. Paul George is capable of

(21:02):
playing off ball and then in thevalue. Some of the people that told
Jackson he was crazy. Basically,we're doing it because the reaction was,
look, the Clippers would just callhis bluff. There's no way the Rockets
to get him for that cheap.I'm honestly not sure if that's the case,
because, again, at his ageand salary figure, I'm not sure
that any team would clearly give waymore asset value and have the matching salaries.

(21:27):
You have to send out about fortymillion dollars to make the math work
on such a deal to where itcan all come together. So I'm not
saying for sure it's going to happen. Far from it. I actually haven't
heard it at all from the perspectiveof the Rockets. I'm just saying that
when I step back and I connectthe dots, I can see a case

(21:48):
for it. Now. Obviously,the first domino that would have to fall
do the Clippers go out sad Aswe're recording this, they're one game from
being eliminated, and even if theydo somehow survive Dallas, it's hard to
see them getting past Okac with whyLeonard suddenly in flux with his knee and
it sounds like he's not going toreturn at least in the next round or
two. And that's if they advance, which at this point I highly doubt

(22:10):
they do. And if the Clippersgo out sad, what does Paul George
want to do? Does you wantto stay in la Is he open to
going elsewhere? If he is opento going elsewhere, would Houston be high
on his priority list. There's alot of questions, and that's before we
even get into are the Rockets interested? But I'm just saying I could see
a world where it makes sense,and if the asset cost is low enough,

(22:33):
there's no reason to have sticker shockat the forty eight million dollars,
Because again, is anybody really allthat excited about spending over forty million dollars
on Dalen Brooks, Joqlandale and JeffGreen Because that's what you're currently slated to
do next season. So when youcompare Paul George at forty eight million to
like forty one million between those threeguys, I don't think it's all that

(22:57):
abhorrent. And as far as thequestion of well, do you keep him
long term and do you give himanother contract? You can worry about that
another day, as far as whatthe relevant second contract would be and how
that fits with extensions for your youngcore and so on and so forth,
because in reality, if all you'regiving up is Dylan in twenty twenty four,

(23:18):
first, you wouldn't necessarily be givingup any asset of significance to your
longer term formula. So even ifyou couldn't come to terms, it wouldn't
be a huge loss in the grandscheme. So to wrap up, because
I know you've got a lot ofthoughts on this, Palo, I'm not
saying you should go after Paul Georgeat all costs, absolutely not. All
I'm saying is if the asset costis low enough, then form a basketball

(23:41):
perspective, I think there's something thereto where he could make you better in
the short term. And if thelong term I eat a contract after this
one doesn't work out for one reasonor another, then if the deal Jackson
proposed is anywhere close to what youcould actually get him at that I don't

(24:02):
think we'd look back in a yearor two and say, wow, if
only we kept the twenty twenty four. First, you know, Dalton connect
and Dylan Brooks. I don't thinkthose are franchise crippling losses in the grand
scheme. For the upside of aguy who still, you know, averages
twenty something points per game on fortypercent shooting from three, and it's just

(24:22):
one of the best tough shot makersin the league. So not saying for
sure I would do it, butthat's just a name that over the past
week I've started thinking more and moreabout, not just from a basketball perspective,
but also just from an asset perspectiveand saying, hey, this might
be a distressed asset that a teamlike the Rockets could get on the cheap
if he wants to go to Houston, and if indeed he does want to
leave La Pello. Your thoughts onthat, Yeah, I think it'll be

(24:44):
surprised by what I think about it. So voters, actually one of my
favorite players, not okay, youknow, I know he struggles a lot
in the playoffs, but just asa Game four but I know your point,
Yeah, yeah, just as likean archetype or or the type of
player he is to me is almostthe ideal NBA player. He's six nine.

(25:06):
I was six eight, sixth nine. I think let me just check
real quick, six eight. He'sa six to eight shooting guard that actually
plays like a shooting guard that canguard multiple positions, probably not at this
point like he used to, andfor the merits of him right now,
he actually played seventy four games thisseason, and from my basketball perspective,
he gives you a lot of thingsthat Truckets currently need. He gives you

(25:30):
a closer on a perimeter that canjust get his own shot, which we
don't really have we I mean,Killn tries to, but whenever he's forced
to do it, like in apinch, right, he can do it.
He's still he still has a lotof you know, circumstances that have
to go right for him to beable to regenerate his own shot consistently,
especially compared to with a guy likePaul George. We do have Shangun,

(25:52):
but there's matchups where you're going toneed someone on the perimeter to get it
done, and Paul George can definitelydo that. So, by the way,
one last attempt at framing, Iwant to get in. So if
conceivably it was Jackson's deal, itwould basically be like Fred VanVleet and Paul
George were your signings from last summer, and I don't think anyone would be

(26:14):
upset about that instead of Fred,Dylan, Jock and Jeff. Now,
I know you'd be throwing in,you know, the number nine or number
ten pick this year, But forthe most part, just think back to
last summer. I don't think anyonewould have said, Wow, the Rockets
really whiffed if they ended up withFred and Paul George onto your deals,
which is basically be what the endresult is if you were to do this
deal that Jackson threw out. Yeah, and it really depends on how how

(26:37):
you are on this draft class righton how much are you willing to buy
into some of the guys that maybe available at whatever this peic is.
It's a human extent and if youthink that you can, you know,
reliably put them on a path tosuccess without necessarily giving the many game minutes
in year one, because Rockets don'thave any minutes give up, you're going

(26:59):
to get a guy that's going todo well in the key League that eventually,
you know, in a year ortwo when when the Rockets condemns relization
a little bit, you know,it's able to then break out. How
often do these types of stories reallywork out? It's it's a pretty it's
a pretty tough spot. Uh.That being said, then you've gotta you've
got to wonder about other things.Right, Actually, when you first started

(27:22):
maintaining a deal for a guy onfor the Star on Twitter from Jackson,
I was actually expecting it to gowith Devin Booker. But I think poll
is just an interesting just as interestingas a case. We Booker's a little
pie in the sky. I mean, of course, you know, kick
the tires, but I'll believe he'son the market when I see it.
Yeah, so he studied for right, But then you gotta the next thing
you gotta worry about is how areyou willing to extend them? Are you

(27:45):
paying this specialpic just for Are youwilling to let him go or make him
just a rental if you can't getto an agreement on an extension. We
would even be willing to come hereif you are not in agreement on an
extension, And eventually it would bemore pressured to give him a potentially another
MAX extension for you know, fourmore years, take him into age thirty

(28:06):
eight. It's not unheard of.Chris Paul got it when when he was
I think with the sim still bythe way, I was actually gonna make
them. I was gonna make aChris Paul comp because for all the criticism
of the Suns and some of theaggressive moves they've made, I agree that
Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal they mighthave overcooked those a little bit in terms
of surrendering every young player and draftasset in the organization to get what they

(28:30):
thought was a super team. Obviouslyit's not in reality. But I will
say that the Suns in late twentytwenty, when they were, you know,
just outside the play in field orplayoff field in the West, about
five hundred, close to where theRockets are now, when they made that
trade for Chris Paul, who atthe time was like a top twenty five
to forty player in the league interms of his perception, I think that's

(28:51):
pretty much where Paul George is now. That took the Suns from again about
where the Rockets are now, ayoung team on the rise, about five
hundred, to a team that ayear later was up to oh in the
NBA Finals and at the time hadlike an eighty percent plus probability of winning
a title. Obviously they couldn't closethe deal. That sucks, But the
point is there's value in the opportunity. I don't think anyone would say that

(29:11):
the Chris Paul trade was a badone for the Suns, given the window
that immediately opened up in the factthey were the best team in the West
the next couple of years. Notsaying that's a direct apples to apples.
Obviously, the playing styles of ChrisPaul and Paul George are very different.
Just saying in terms of an archetypefor a team where the Rockets are now
bringing in a veteran star in hisload to mid thirties that can sort of

(29:33):
play off the skill sets of oraccentuate the skill sets of the young guys
in place. I think the originalChris Paul deal for Phoenix might be a
little bit of a template here.Even if Paul George is stylistically a different
type of player, I don't eventhink stylistically they're damn much different of a
player, as they're both guard Butyeah, yeah, I know, I
know, I know what's even Butthey're both not really that ball dom and

(29:56):
then they can both play within asystem, they can prove they are they're
both good defenders, that they're bothwhat I'm I'm gonna say is they're both
plug and point basically, and thesame thing with the Rockets and the Suns.
They both feel the need for theirteams without you know, throttling the
development of young guys. Now thatleads me to say that I think if

(30:18):
the Rockets words make it really likethis, it would more than likely mean
that kill and dream goes to thebank. Just being honest, from from
the from the skill set, froma skill set perspective, on the floor,
I think, do you want tostart a defender, you'd be I
think it probably especially without good theRockets, how good Rockets are on the
wings, I think you'd end upwith Fred Ventfleet both your diaries, and

(30:40):
Javary Smith and Auburn Finger so andthen you'd have And that's not necessarily a
bad thing. As much as Ilove Kiln a Man Jailum Cam wit More
off the bench, it's also prettyenticing. So I don't think that I
don't think that that would be aninecessarily, But just to continue to advocate
towards it or towards end the games. Said to me, the biggest issue
would be are you willing to givehim that extension. I'm not too clear

(31:03):
on what the rules are nowadays aboutyourver thirty six contracts how much of it
can be guaranteed, because if thereeforces the last two years to not be
guaranteed for so deyers that take himover thirty six do not be guaranteed,
then that could be interesting. I'mjust not hear how that rule works,
especially with the new CBA. We'llcomeback to this in the future pod,

(31:25):
but just in an abstract sense today, yeah, I would. You know,
I would actually advocate for a movelike that, just because it fits
so so cleanly on what the Rocketsneed. I think it's because I'm not
because I'm not. I don't thinkanybody is too high on distraft, especially
at ten. But the other theother obstacle that I see is why wouldn't

(31:45):
the Warriors just play more than us? It just seems too obvious for them,
right. Your pair Steph Curry withRaymond with both can run overt of
the movement, curing things that thatClay Thompson does. He can defend better.
He's just a row much better player, and you know, and they'd

(32:06):
probably be more willing to commit longterm to Paul George just because once they're
done with this corn situation of theteam, this would be their last who
rap once. Once they're done withthis situation as the team they're going to
thank anyways, So they don't careabout the financial aspect of it as opposed
to the Rockets. So if thisdoesn't work out, you know, there's
still the expectation that the thing canread too. And this isn't a full

(32:28):
on commitment towards winning a title.This is a step along the way.
So making a big financial decision likeit would be to extend Polt George could
have impact in the future. Andso while I do like it as a
concept, and you know, Isuppose and I like it for Paul Georg
and specific if you mirror it andmake it KD for me, it just

(32:49):
doesn't make sense anymore, I do. I don't know. It's just I
really like to walk and defending me. You'd really like to watch Pouth George
play as a Rocket and hopefully ifhe stayed hell, I think we'd be
you know, I think we'd befighting for the fourth or the fifth seed,
and you know, potentially have youknow the camps at winning a playoff
series as well. Yeah, andwe could come back to the trade mechanisms

(33:13):
as it pertains to the salary capif we get into the next few weeks.
If this is actually a possibility,want to emphasize again that we're just
talking in a very abstract hypothetical sensehere. Based on Jackson's tweet, which
I thought too many Rockets fans wereagainst, I think on a conceptual level,
it actually does check a lot ofboxes. One thing I'm curious about.
I agree with you that the Warriorswould seem to be a fit and

(33:35):
Paul George has shown substantially less signsof a decline than Klay Thompson, so
they could be willing to invest more. Keep in mind, the Warriors and
Clippers have the two biggest payrolls inthe league, so there are some restrictions
coming into play in terms of whattrades they can make, what they can
take in, and what they cangive in some of these deals. So

(33:57):
I need to do more homework onthat, just as you do with the
over thirty six that can be ourassignment for the next pot, and we
can come back and talk about itif it looks like this is at all
a possibility, But for now,I just wanted to approach the subject,
and I guess you know. Stepone if the Rockets are interested in going
down this path, would be forJalen and or all for Inhoonoon, guys
who appear to have a very goodrelationship with Paul George, to perhaps put

(34:21):
out some feelers behind the scenes inmuch the same way that seven years ago.
We know that late in that seasonJames Harden put out some feelers to
Chris Paul and they determined that therewas some mutual interest and eventually feel got
to the finish line. I thinkif you're interested in that, step one
would be, hey, just haveone of your players, because the NBA
does not crack down on player toplayer tampering at all. That's been proven

(34:45):
time and time again. Just havethem feel out the situation, see if
something's there, and if perhaps he'sopen to hearing your pitch and maybe trying
to leverage his way here, thenwe can see where it takes us out
a ladder date. Another point relatedto that that I wanted to get in,
not just to Paul George, butI think anyone conceivably on the market

(35:06):
that the Rockets could conceivably go aftervia trade or free agency. This summer,
I've seen a lot of folks respondwith some variation of well, why
would a thirty four year old wantto go to the Rockets when he could
go to a more win now destination. I actually think what we're seeing in
the playoffs this year could benefit theRockets in a narrative sense, in that

(35:30):
a lot of the top teams inthe West, specifically, you look at
the Thunder and the Timberwolves, whoeach swept their first round series. By
record, they were where the Rocketsare now a year or two ago.
Oklahoma City last year was forty andforty two. Now, I know they
didn't have chet holmgrid, but thento day, I mean, Shedd is

(35:50):
just a rookie. It's not likeyou added a full on max player.
So I think when you look atteams like the Thunder and Timberwolves jumping levels
in the Western Conference hierarchy relatively quickly, to me, it would seem to
offer a little bit of hope thatfor a team like the Rockets that's now
at five hundred, it might cometogether a little more quickly than I think

(36:14):
fans around the league are accustomed toseeing in this era that's been defined by
you know, established superstars, becauseI think a theme of these playoffs,
I mean, we're seeing teams withestablished superstars. No, it doesn't matter
that the Lakers have Lebron and ador that the Suns have Booker and KD.
They're losing to these teams that are, you know, younger, developing

(36:35):
talent and systems from within. Andso that might make the Rockets a little
more appealing because you can point toother teams now at the top of the
West and say, hey, theya year or two ago are where the
Rockets are right now. And Imentioned the Sons and Chris Paul from a
few years ago. That's another example. I looked it up. Sons were
actually below five hundred that year,they finished up with eight straight wins in

(36:58):
the bubble, and then in oneyear after they add Chris and you know
he plays to the development of theiryoung core as well. That's why it
was such a good fit. Thenthe Suns go from below five hundred to
best team in the West and uptoo oho in the NBA Finals. So
there actually is a lot of precedentthis decade for teams taking a pretty quick

(37:19):
jump. So because of that,when you see teams like the Thunder and
Timberwolves making these relatively quick jumps upthe standings and then those regular season jumps
actually translating to the playoffs, bothhave advanced to the second round with relatives.
Then, to me, that benefitsthe Rockets from a narrative perspective because
it makes it all the easier forim Udoka or fell Stone, whoever's making

(37:39):
the pitch to say, hey,you join us, and we can get
this thing to fifty plus wins ina hurry if it all comes together the
way we expect it to. Doyou see that sort of narrative benefit,
I do, I'm not sure helpwith it. And then back to you
know, how players are seeing gainall this, But I think there's I
think there's a lot of examples.I think the Magic of a good example

(38:01):
of this. I think the casa couple of years ago are a good
example of this. I think,you know, obviously the Thunder and the
Wolves this year. I think theGrizzlies a couple of years back. There's
just a lot of examples of seemsjust making that clump, and I think
it comes from, you know,the old core superstars is aching out and
we're and even some of them aren'tfrom the young from the old cores.

(38:23):
We're seeing more and more as player'sage or these older superstars running into injury
issues. I mean, KD isnot this year, but obviously as run
into interury issues in the past.The Brooklyn teams fell apart because of injuries.
Jims Harton's obviously reached the postseason injuredtwo or three times in the last
four years. Joel Embiid hasn't beenhealthy for or fully healthy for a postseason,

(38:45):
and god knows how long. Obviously, Yannis and Liverard are currently interered
for the Bugs. Everywhere you look, I think, isn't Timmy, but
we're also injured right now? Wheream I confusing things and the heater eliminated
but yeah, he he did notplay against the Celtics, Yeah, exactly.
So we're seeing more and more thatnot only normally is the old crop

(39:06):
of superstars falling off, the onesthat do stay around or the ones that
are aging into it are getting intoeda lot sooner, which means it's the
youth or the availability that comes withyouth is actually a lot more valuable.
And you see guys like Shaye beingable to play. You see guys like
Devin Brooks, even though he's notdoing well, being able to play.
You see you know, Luca beingable to play. And then besides that,

(39:30):
I think the league's less top heavynow. I do think that the
personally that the Nuggets and the Celticsare a queer cut top of everybody else.
But it's not Warriors and even theRockets team of the sixty five win
team of we're just better than everybodyelse. And there is no Lebron James
in the East gatekeeping everybody as well. So it's a lot easier for a

(39:50):
team to make that CHILMP. Andwe see teams even after they make that
CHILMP fluctuate up and down a lotmore. And so there's no true dynasties.
And so I do they that earthlySteve, I were a player in
this league looking for a team tojoin out considered that a young, younger
team than what's typically a contending team, because we see every single year at

(40:10):
this point for the last three orfour years, that teams consistently make that
camp and you just got to catchyou know, the right boat, because
I think, more than ever,not the championship is random, but the
team because I think I think theNuggets have obviously deserved it. I think
the Celtics will eventually win win oneand they will deserve it. But I
think getting to the conference finals asbeen as varied as as it it could

(40:36):
as it could have been. Soas far as how it impacts the Rockets,
I definitely see. I don't knowif the Rockets would be the team
or amongst the teams that could makethat camp. I don't know if the
Rockets would be doing with the bestreputation. But at the same time,
you don't need to have the bestreputation. You need that I have the
best combination of reputation and assets andyou know, a nobility or or a

(40:57):
roster construction that fits whatever specific itbecomes available. So I definitely think that
more than ever, joining a youngteam and wanting to contend can be can
be you know the same thing.And I also think that these playoffs are
showing that roster fit and chemistry areeven more important, and that could be
to the benefit of the Rockets,who have been somewhat methodical in developing this

(41:22):
core six, and that appears tobe the plan moving forward in that the
teams that stack Stars, Phoenix,the Clippers, even Dallas, which it
looks like they're going to escape thefirst round. But even if they do,
I know, you're not particularly highabout what they can do with the
Luca and Kyrie foundation as far asmaking a super deep run. It seems
like the real talented teams the topof the West, the true contenders,

(41:45):
like the Nuggets, the Thunder,the Timberwolves, as we keep saying,
are teams that develop from within,prioritize roster fit, cohesion, chemistry,
and so even if the Rockets don'tmake a splash trade this summer, even
if they largely stay the course,or perhaps you know they can make a
trade like Paul George that I don'tthink it's transformative to the model. If

(42:07):
you do something like that, itwould be getting a marquee veteran that you
think would play well off of theguys who have in place, and it
would be the idea to still prioritizedeveloping that course six. So to me,
we've talked about throughout this pod.The idea of making a splash transaction
and how opportunities could arise based onthese expensive teams going out sad. But

(42:30):
I also think an important lesson tobe taken from these playoffs is that even
if that doesn't materialize, even ifthe Rockets do a very similar roster to
the one they have right now goinginto the offseason, then the fact that
these teams have aggressively stacked big namesare underperforming, and the teams that have
prioritized roster fit chemistry and have moregradually built over the years, the fact

(42:52):
that they seem to be having themost success to me beyond any transaction angle,
that could also be to the Rocketsbenefit. It might not be next
season, and it might take,you know, a couple more years,
but in the bigger picture of thisrebuild, in that construct, I think
there's some lessons that are encouraging tothe Rockets too, right, Yeah,
I think so. I think ifyou're going to build a super team nowadays,

(43:15):
because of how volatility is with injuries, I don't think the Sun's version
of it, for example, oreven the Clippers version of it to a
lesser extent, is what works.I think the basis needs to be defense
and availability, and if you haveestablished a really good defense, then you
can rely on those superstars to getyou on offense in the playoffs. So

(43:38):
if the Suns, if the Sumswere you know, less the Stars were
less offensive driven, and if itweren't Bradley Beal, even if it were
just Katie and Devin Booker, butthen instead of paying fifty million for Bradley
Bill, they had two or threerole players that would you know, elevlate
the defensive level, then you couldrely on Devin Booker and Kevin Brent to

(43:59):
you know, push you through theseseries. I think a great example of
it, even though they're not exactlysuperstar driven right now, of this would
be the Timberwolves, even without KarlAnthony Downs. You know, they have
an insane defense and then they canjust rely on Anthony Edwards to carry them
through and not have to score onehundred and thirty points to you know,

(44:22):
to beat teams or to win aseries. And so it's you know,
high volatility used to since you weretrying to since beforehand you were trying to
be the super team yourself and playersjust the current you know, usually superstars
we associate with older players because thoseare the established ones. Since this crop

(44:45):
of superstars is aging and availability ofan issue, you shouldn't necessarily be swinging
for ceiling as much as you usedto before when the Rockets we were trying
to contend back then, I thinknow you need to sing for consists because
this is consistency comes primarily from defense, and then you hope that you get

(45:05):
the one guy or the two guysthat can that can carry a little offensively,
which is, you know, connectingback to the Rockets. Why I
like Emika and Go learn that he'sbuilding so much because now all you need
is one of these guys to emergeand superstar offensively, and Opportunity is obviously
already doing that to put to onceyou get to the playoffs, be able
to have as good of a chanceas the other young teams. I think

(45:30):
the Thunder, for example, they'reexactly this that are good young even even
though they are one of the bestshooting teams in the league, they don't
necessarily have any offensive superstars besides Shay. You know, when it comes down
to winning time, Shay gets theball every single time. Kevin Williams gets
some opportunities. For the most part, chase that chase the guy that can
make every single shot down down thestretch of games. Besides him, you

(45:53):
don't really point to that team andsee any starts. I think the Nugets
are obviously nonomally because that's just themost well quart the native team offensively I
have ever seen. But then youlook at the Celtics, for example,
the Celtics are obviously a really reallygood defensive team, and so far as
these playoffs, it has not beenjacented on the restaurant through that. It
has actually been there a quite thatit's been carrying them scoring wise. But

(46:16):
the same the same thing applies.You have a couple of guys that can,
you know, take that defense andelevate the offense enough that you are
beating these teams while holding opponents tolove scoring. You look at the next
that, you know, what arewhat are the next They're probably going to
beat the Sixers or they're at leastyou know, up a game. What
are they? They are a Tomboloteteam who is going to be built on

(46:39):
defense, and they have you know, they used to have two guys with
Julius Rand, but now they haveone guy, and all of the eggs
are in that basket and if Gilbertsthey they can take them there. You
can take them there. But hisjob is made so much easier by the
fact that they don't need to scoreone hundred and twenty points to win a

(47:00):
win the game because the defense isgoing to hold the other team. And
I think as much as people wantto, you know, crap on the
state of defense in the league,I think these playoffs have actually proven time
and time again that you know what'swinning right now are good defenses with stellar
offensive players to carry them, withthe acceptance obviously being the Nuggets, where

(47:21):
you know they're just going to moweverybody down because that's just that good.
So I think you covered it wellfrom a team perspective in terms of potential
comps or analogs for the Rockets fromthe current playoff feel and what some of
the lessons or implications could be forHouston moving forward. I also want to

(47:42):
look briefly at it from an individualplayer perspective, because you mentioned a team
that I've enjoyed watching a lot,which is the next And when I see
Josh Hart and the impact that hemakes on a game through the relentless motor,
attacking the glass from the wing,putting his body constantly in harms.
I can't help but think about whatit will be like having Tarry Easton on

(48:06):
that stage where every possession is magnifiedand your ability to get a fifty to
fifty ball means even more. Imean, certainly, during the regular season
you can feast on teams that youknow are in a rough patch of their
schedule. But I think in theplayoffs when everybody goes to an extra level,

(48:29):
to see what that translates to Fora guy like Josh Hart, who
you think is one hundred percent duringthe season, but boy, in the
playoffs, you see what his onehundred and ten percent is. That it's
off the charts making an impact,even if he's not a dynamic scorer.
That gives me so much hope fora guy like Tory Easton, and it's
entirely possible. You know, Idon't want to sell Tory short that Tori
develops offensively into a better player thanwhat Josh Hart currently is, But I'm

(48:51):
just saying in terms of the template, even if Tarry doesn't develop as a
top shelf scorer, playmaker, andhe may even compare to him earlier this
year, to a young Kawhi Leonard, and perhaps the Rockets get really lucky,
and that's the trajectory he takes on. But even if he just sort
of stays with the path he's beenon for his first two years, seeing
what a guy like Josh Hart cando in a playoff setting and the impact
that has, you know, notjust the plays that he makes and the

(49:15):
fifty to fifty balls that he getsto, but just on the competitive spirit
and what that does for the surroundingplayers, what that does for the energy
and the arena. There's just somany benefits that you especially see in the
playoffs from a guy like that.And so Josh Hart is a guy that's
made me even more excited about whatCharry Easton can do when the stakes are
magnified and the games are really meaningfulfor the Rockets. Is there anybody like

(49:37):
that for you, Polo, thatwhen you watch them you get excited about
when you think about what one ofthe current young guys on the Rockets might
eventually turn into. Yeah, andthis is not going to be a popular
thing, because I think this isunder selling the guy that I'm going to
be talking about. But that's okaybecause I think, you know, Josh
Hart might be underselling Tarry Easton too, So I think you get where I'm

(49:57):
going, so you can do thesame thing. Was It really comforts me
to see how Aaron Gordon is ableto thrive in Denver and my combs.
Actually it's actually going to be aman, Thompson. I think, you
know, the way he moves andthe way he picks his spots to be
on the course while not being youknow, that great of a shooter,
and you're contributing obviously with offensive rebounds. And Aaron Gordon, you know,

(50:20):
in Orlando, they tried to makehim an offensive option in a passer,
which made a lot of people,you know, swing the other way and
say, oh, this guy wassaid to be, you know, or
have the potential to be this insanepasserd. But I actually think he's he's
a good passador for the role thathe's playing now, just like a man.
It's a really good passive if hewere to be shrunk down to a
role like that, And it justmakes me feel more comfortable with the fact

(50:42):
that a man may never be ableto be, you know, a good
enough hutter to be, you know, a point guard of sorts. But
I think with how smart he iswith doc with the defensively, with how
good he is at reboundy, withhow good he is at picking spots on
the floor, and you know howgood he is at making those connective passes.
Says the Nuggets are the best teamin the league. For me,
I think there better than the Celtics, And it comforts me that even with

(51:06):
a star center as the star,you know, with a star center who
was obviously an inside presence for themost part there, he's still able to
thrive. As far as you know. The potential connection between Hingun and the
man Thumpson might go. I thinka man can do a lot of the
same things that Aaron Gordon is doing. And obviously not saying that all events

(51:27):
going to be, but at thevery least, I think that's he can
be that for sure. All Right, the last item on my agenda for
today. We can go through thisquickly. I wrote an article on Rockets
Wire that went out Thursday morning,May second, looking at the Rockets internal
free agents are potential free agents becausesome of these guys have team options,

(51:47):
and we can go through this quickly. Because spoiler alert, these are not
sexy names. The Rockets have anine man rotation going into next year,
assuming health that are all under contract. Ben Flee, Jalen Green, Dylan
Brooks to Brismith Junior all for inShamoon your starters for most of this season.
Then on the bench you've got AmanThompson, Cam Whitmore, Tarry Easton,

(52:08):
and Steven Adams. That's your nineman rotation, and they're all under
contract already. So we can talkhypotheticals about guys the Rockets might trade for.
Perhaps they use their non taxpayer bidlevel exception to sign somebody in free
agency, although that'd be sort ofa delicate dance because I don't see that
many minutes that you can guarantee.Now, maybe some minutes open up because
of injuries. Those always happen,But the point is a lot of guys

(52:30):
that have options want to be guaranteedminutes as opposed to wait for something speculat
to develop where maybe they get minuteslater on. So the Rockets have some
guys that they could conceivably fill theseroles from internally, and so I'm going
to run through the names Jack Landell, Jay Shaun Tate, Jeff Green all

(52:52):
have team options that the Rockets candecide on. Reggie Bullock Junior, Bobon,
Aaron Holliday unrestricted free agents, andBoban is the only one that the
Rockets have bird rights on. Andthen you have your three two way guys
Nate Hinton, Jermaine Samuel Junior,and Nate Williams. Those are all year

(53:15):
to year, so I'm gonna breakthem down in those tiers. I think
amongst the unrestricted free agents that don'thave team options, I don't expect them
to bring back Bullock or Bobon.I just think while Bulock was a useful
shooter of the defense in his thirties, is clearly on the decline, and
my guess is without a clear paththe minutes, the Rockets might go for

(53:37):
a younger shooter in that spot,and then with Bobon. I know the
vibes are important, but it's alittle less important if you have Steven Adams
on the roster and playing. Wouldthey really commit a fourth roster spot to
a center only player, Because inthis hypothetical, and I'm want to get
to it, the Rockets do endup picking up the option on Jack Landale,

(53:58):
So that would give you all forin Shanoon, Stevenada, and chock
Landale at center amongst the team optionguys. I think chock Landale and or
actually let me go back to unrestrictedreal quick, so Bolock and Boban unlikely.
I think the Rockets move on AaronHolliday I put as fifty to fifty
in my analysis. I think theRockets would love to keep Holiday. I
think he was valuable in that role. He was the perfect vet who was

(54:22):
ready to step into bigger minutes ifthere was an injury, like when a
Men Thompson hurt his ankle in thefourth game of the season and then felt
like as soon as the Men gotback up to speed, well that's when
Tary Easton wasn't out there. Sothere was still a way for Aaron to
get minutes most of the year.But if he didn't, he didn't have
such high expectations that you know hewould cause trouble in the locker room.

(54:43):
He was a good teammate and soI think the Rockets would love to have
him back. He's a good onball defender, he could make threes.
The question is if another team aroundthe league would offer him a more clear
path to playing time or more money. I don't think for that role the
Rockets want to invest very heavily,but I think they'd offer him a minimum
deal or something similar to what theygot him on last year. And if
Aaron can't do better elsewhere, thenI think there's a pass for them to

(55:06):
reunite. But it's sort of speculative. So I would say amongst the unrestricted
guys block in Boban, unlikely Aaronholiday fifty to fifty. I think the
Rockets would love for it to happen. That just depends on the market and
whether Aaron can get a better dealelsewhere. Amongst the team options, I
think Jack Landelle and Jay Shuntate arealmost slam dunks. Now this is all
under the hypothetical that they don't tradethem. I mean, it's possible that

(55:27):
any of these guys could get usedas salary filler in June before the team
option. That way, they'd almostbe like zero money committed to another team,
but they would have the right touse them. The Rockets and the
other team, as you know,seven eight million dollars matching salary in trades,
so it'd be like you know,having the benefit of the matching salary

(55:47):
but zero financial commitment. So itis possible that these guys could be used
in trades, but this exercise isunder the hypothetical that there is no trade
and the Rockets just have to decidewhether they bring them back. I think
land Ill and Tate, even ifthere's no guaranteed minutes at seven to eight
million dollars expiring contracts, guys thatare good vets that can provide solid defense

(56:09):
contribute to the culture. There isa report that this year's trade deadline,
the MAVs offer two second round picks. They might have been low second round
picks, but still it's some valuefor Tait. I think if nothing materializes
this summer, you pick them upand at their ages, they're not going
to decline. If anything, they'dbe neutral value because they're expiring contracts,

(56:29):
may even slightly positive value, andyou'd have them at the end of your
bench to step in if there areany injuries. Jeff Green I put as
likely. However, I don't thinkit's one hundred percent of given simply because
his salary nearly ten million dollars andhis age at thirty seven, there is
a chance he could decline, andthat's a lot of money for a guy

(56:51):
who wouldn't initially project to be inyour rotation. Now with that said,
it's not my money, so Ihope Tilbin Forteea spends it. It's not
as if the Rockets could then turnaround and spend it elsewhere, because they're
going to operate and is above thecap team this summer. And I think
Jeff Green is a well regarded thataround the league, so I hope they
keep him around, but I havehim as likely rather than very likely,

(57:14):
simply because again, it's a lotof money for someone that and it's more
money than Landell and Tate and fora guy who's also about a decade older
as well. So while I thinkthe Rockets would like to keep Jeff and
if I had to guess, Ithink they do, but just the financial
realities of the NBA have me alittle less certain on that. And then

(57:34):
the two way guys, I thinkHinton is the most likely to stay.
I mean, he was an alldefense guy in the G League. He's
the youngest of the three as well, at twenty four years old. We
saw Imo Ujoka trust him a coupleof times this year. He played well
at Memphis that game right for theultra Breakan actually played some minutes in place
of Jalen Green. The other two, I mean, Jermaine Samuels and Nate

(57:55):
Williams are both twenty five years old. Williams had some flashes as or,
but honestly, scorers are sort ofa dime a dozen at his age.
Is not that hard to find someonethat can do those things. I think
they could keep them. Obviously theywere good for the Summer League team last
year. But I also think thatif Rafelstone sees someone that he likes better
in the draft, as an undraftedfree agent, as someone that comes available

(58:19):
from another team, then perhaps heupgrades one of those spots. So I
would say of the two way guys, I think Nate Hinton is likely to
stay, and Jermaine Samuels and NateWilliams maybe, but I think Raffelstone will
look around and see if he cando better with that. So bottom line
for me, I ranked it infour tiers. Very likely, Landale Tait

(58:40):
and Hinton likely, Jeff Green fiftyto fifty, Aaron Holliday, Jermaine Samuels,
and Nate Williams, although fifty fiftyfor different reasons. I think the
two way guys Rockets will look toupgrade if they can. Remains to be
seen if that's possible. And withAaron Holliday, I think the Rockets will
love to have him back. Itdepends on whether the marketplace gives Holiday better
offer, a better role than whatdo you have available here? And then

(59:02):
unlikely the guys I don't expect tobe back would be Reggie Bulock, and
unfortunately Boban is great of a guyas he is, someone else will have
to win free chicken for the Clippersnext year. So when you look at
those tiers, are you in thesame place that I am? Do you
have any different takes as far aswho you put in each tier and the
likelihood of the Rockets keeping those guys? So I would so for the most

(59:27):
part, yes, I agree withthe unlikely ones. I think Boban and
Bogan I think Holidays in the fiftyto fifty, but not because of what
you said. I do agree thathe'll make more than a minimum this year,
but actually think it's the Rockets whoare quick to decide if they want
to keep him more up because theyhave the ability to use part of the
Ameliki or the bi annual exception onhere. Yeah, that's fair too.

(59:50):
Both sides will look around. Imean, the question from the Rocket standpoint
is if someone else would as gracefullyaccept that role. Like a name I've
seen thrown around a bit on Twitterthis week is Eric Gordon of the Suns.
Because Gordon someone who made near theminimum this year, and of course
his play is above that. AndI've seen some people saying, well,
could the Rockets choose the mid levelexception to bring in Eric Gordon put him

(01:00:14):
in the Aaron Holiday role. Yeah, financially you could, but then he'd
be probably upset with that uncertain levelof playing time. And we know what
it's like powo. You specifically knowwhat it's like when Eric Gordon is a
little krabby. So that's just agood example. I do think the Rockets
will see if maybe they can dobetter, But you also have to factor
it not just to the players betterbasketball wise, but if they would as
gracefully accept the Aaron Holiday role asAaron did last year. Yeah, I'm

(01:00:37):
not sure. I'm not sure Ericwould be a good locker room fit.
He said, He said, hesaid some stuff when he was on his
way out. So yeah, butI agree with it the two way guys.
You know, while I agree Himton'sprobably the one with the most protectible
NBA role, i'n less they likethat to keep Nate Williams reminds same.

(01:01:00):
I, you know, I don'treally care. The Rockets do have some
of that sort of mechanics, andI'm just you know, adding a little
bit on on top of what youalready said. With the second round picks
that the Rockets have and with theroster princes. As far as roster spots
go, it's possible that some oftheir second round ticks, if they make
them, they don't get the inkyspecial. Instead they get too ideals because

(01:01:22):
of you know how the roster spotsare currently working with with the Rockets.
But then the number forty four pickthis year from Golden State, by the
way, Yeah, so if it'sif it were up to me, but
then going to the likely and veryand very likely Jeff Grins should be very
likely. I hope Silman isn't youknow, I hope Tillman doesn't. You

(01:01:43):
know, it's tould be weird toworry about. You know, that's small
of a deal. While not worryingabout some of us worrying about some of
the stuff that during the rebuild becausewe were for the first year of the
rebel. We're not the highest thing, you know, rebuilding teams as far
as the playroll. So i'ld say, just because from a salary filler,
it makes sense rockets, could youknow if they do decide to not give

(01:02:07):
not the cap Jeff Freens option fromthey just lose that. Don't have any
other way to do it than themL which will be andreadable for most of
the season, and do likely youknow, that's a bigger commitment unless you
don't use the entire four years.But I do agree with and else should
be. You know, he's tome the biggest slab bunk of these not

(01:02:28):
big, not necessarily because of hislevel of flavor that it got better as
a season or not, but becauseof the contract structure. Yeah, and
you have two more team options afterthis year, so he continues to be
basically a human trade exception for youfor as many as three more years if
you need it. And by theway, real quickly to your point on
salary filler, the Paul George hypotheticalwas revealing to me, and that you

(01:02:50):
could get to Paul George's number,which is one of the highest paid players
in the league, simply between Dylanand two of those three fillers being Jock
Tait and Jeff. So that's whatopened my mind a little bit to hey,
is there a world where they decideJeff at his age is a little
too much? I hope they don't. I don't think they will. But

(01:03:12):
that's just the one scenario where Isort of like, hmm, if they
can still have enough matching salary anyway, then is Jeff worth it? But
honestly, he probably is for thereasons you laid out. And also we
should point out, you know,the double locker thing and the Rockets locker
room. We've talked about that dynamicbefore, the two double lockers, fredvan
Vliet and Jeff Green, So Ithink that speaks to how valued he is
as a leader. So yeah,the more I think about it, we

(01:03:35):
should probably moved up to very likelythey may need to give one of those
level lockers to Steven Adams just becauseof this clear size. Right. Oh
yeah, it's probably uncomfortably put theminto one of those small ones. Two
other players. It's probably gonna betough just just from a from a economic
extent, but right, But yeah, so I think we've we've hit it

(01:03:59):
all. I think if I thinkthat may be an argument to be made
about between choosing between Tate and Jeff, if they do need to choose one,
I'm not sure I take Tate well. And if the other argument that
you could make, I mean,Jeff is a shooter in a way that
Tate isn't. And if you wereoffered two picks for Tate at the deadline,

(01:04:20):
you could potentially trade Tate in Juneanyway, you could pick up the
option and then trade him as opposedto not pick up the option. So
if it's something like that, thenTate, even if you need to or
want to save a little bit ofcash off the payroll, then you could
get you know, something small assetwise for Taite, it seems like he
had positive trade value. It's adeadline, He's still young enough to have

(01:04:42):
value around the league. I dothink that you know, he'd fit a
little bit better if he was ona team where he could compartmentalize a little
more than he can with the currentRockets setup. So yeah, I think
I'm there with you in that ifyou really need it to save up some
money for Jeff, then yeah,you could probably offload Tate for a little
bit. Anyway, that's our overviewas of now. Did must spend too

(01:05:02):
much time on it. And bythe way, to your point on Nate
Williams, I was thinking about it, as you said, if you let
Bullock go, maybe Nate Williams isthe guy who then takes that role as
you're, you know, tenth eleventhman that can fill it up in a
hurry if you need that, becausethat's ultimately what Bullock was last year,
once it became clear that Bullock wasnowhere near the defender, he was at

(01:05:24):
his prime. I mean, hewas basically just that forty percent three point
shooter that you turn to if youwere having an ugly game on offense and
you need someone to shake it upa little bit and just face the floor.
And perhaps that's a role that NateWilliams can keep, can fill if
you choose to keep him. Anyway, we'll get into that more in the
weeks and months ahead. Again,a lot of this most of this episode,
the trade hypotheticals, the ideas wetossed out and now talking about the

(01:05:47):
Rockets going up to You know,the deadlines are near the end of June
for most of these guys with theteam options, because of course, the
NBA flips to its new fiscal yearon July first. That's when free agency
starts technically the evening of June thirtieth, but you get the idea. So
there's still a couple of months togo until the Rockets have to make final
decisions on this. This is justto give a very preliminary look at some

(01:06:11):
of the things that Rafelstone and hisstaff are going to be debating over the
coming weeks, and then we canevaluate more thoroughly as we get closer to
late June and more concrete information startsto emerge as to what the Rockets are
considering, what they're likely to do, and if they have any broader roster
moves that perhaps change the construct andthe thinking behind some of this. Again,

(01:06:32):
this exercise is strictly based on theteam they have right now. We'll
see if that's still the case oncewe get through the draft transaction window in
late June. All Right, we'vetalked enough today, so we will wrap
it right there. For Palo Alves, I'm Ben Dubos. If you want
to get ahold of us before thenext episode, the best way to do
it is on Twitter slash x wherePowo is on there at Palo Alves NBA

(01:06:55):
and I'm on there at Ben Dubo'sand the show is on there at the
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(01:07:16):
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Houston Rockets basketball. All right,with the plug complete, we will break
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please come back soon for another newepisode of the Logger Line.