Reed ready? Highs and lows from Rockets’ 2024 summer league

Thursday’s show features reaction to Houston’s 2-1 start at the NBA’s 2024 summer league. Topics include insight on Reed Sheppard’s sensational debut; inconsistent shooting performances by Cam Whitmore; and whether Orlando Robinson’s strong play could earn a contract with the Rockets for the 2024-25 season.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Cheers, Rockets fans, Welcome toThe Logger Line, an exclusive podcast from
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It's proudly served to you by carBox Clutch City lagger It is god o
Ye Red Nation. Get Ready,Ready, Get Ready. The lagger Line

(00:29):
starts now. Welcome aboard, Welcomeback to another new episode of the logger
Line, as always served to youcourtesy of Clutch City, logger of Carback
Brewing. I'm Ben Dubos, yourhost editor of USA Today's Rockets were a
contributor to Sports Talk seven ninety,the official flightship radiocation of your Houston Rockets,

(00:54):
as always en joined by Powlo Alves, our co hosting producer out of
Portugal. You can follow him onTwitter at Powo Alves and me on there
at Ben Dubo's which adding in theearly morning hours of Thursday, July eighteenth,
With the Rockets just passed the midwaypoint of their twenty twenty four Summer
League schedule, They're currently two toone with in all likelihood, just two
games left to play, the nextcoming late tonight versus Minnesota. So as

(01:17):
far as what we've learned to date, I would say it's something of a
mixed bag, but I do thinkthat just as the record would suggest,
the good is largely outweighed the badof all the one loss teams. When
you look at the standings, theRockets actually have the best point differential at
nearly plus eight per game. Andthen as far as individual standouts, I
would say the biggest is clearly rookieguard Reed Shepherd. He's averaging about twenty

(01:38):
points, five assists, five rebounds, three steals per game, shooting nearly
fifty percent overall forty percent from three, and let's just be honest, for
Summer League as a whole, he'slooked like the best rookie in his entire
draft class. To this point,That's generally been the assessment that I've seen
and heard from media members out therethat cover not just the Rockets but the
NBA as a whole. But that'ssaid though, there have been some peaks

(02:00):
and valleys, and honestly, that'sthe case with the whole team. Reid
was brilliant in the first two games, and then in that loss to Detroit
he shot just six or seventeen.It was the same story. And then
some for Cam Whitmore, who happensto be the most proven player on the
Summer League Rockets. Cam was greatin those first two games. Then against
the Pestons he shot just one tofifteen and scored only five points. After

(02:21):
his credit, he did have fiveassists. I thought he generally made okay
decisions. Again, he just couldn'tbuy a shot. Now. In defense
of the Rockets, some of theissues in that Detroit game may have been
related to logistics. It was thethird game in four nights, it was
day two of a back to back, and in fact, both of those
Sunday Monday games took place in aspan of under twenty four hours. And
we should also note that this isa time with the NBA calendar that guys

(02:44):
are definitely not in regular season shape, which may make some of those back
to back considerations even more of afactor than they normally are. Not sure
why you have to have back tobacks in Summer League, actually have not
seen that before this year, butit is what it is. With that
said, though, let's not attributeeverything to that, because it could also
be that the Distans made some tacticaladjustments after seeing some film with the Rockets

(03:04):
in those first two games when theydestroyed the Lakers and the Wizards, specifically
with Reed, it felt like theywere regarding him a lot more physically and
closely on the perimeter. They weredoing things like traps, intense ball pressure,
things of that nature. So that'swhy I don't want to necessarily attribute
all of it to scheduling factors orrandomness or bad luck, whatever you want
to call it, because it couldalso be adjustments to other teams making to

(03:25):
what they see on film from guyslike Cam and Reid, and now the
onus is on them to adjust back, assuming they continue to play. So
anyway, with that in mind,Polo, how would you contextualize what we've
seen thus far, both in termsof the highs and lows as well as
just trying to make sense of wherethese guys currently are as we're trying to
gauge their potential viability as rotation playersfor next season. Yeah, so,

(03:47):
signing off with Cam, I thinkwe largely saw a lot of the same
we saw. I think we sawless boneheaded like drives to the rim.
Monicula's more of a willing passer,and I also do think that he sat
away from the tail shot perhaps becauseit wasn't going in. I'm talking both
recent mithering shots, uh, andhe was trying to prove roots away to
the rim. Like. It's notthat he was taking the wrong decision or

(04:10):
driving into five people. It wasmore that he had beat his man and
he allowed you know, the defenseto help because he didn't take the mirdrant
shot right away, rather tried tocatch the rim. And you know,
percentists speak to themselves over there,they said, heavily influenced by the last
game. But I mean, youdon't really expect Cam to be like a

(04:31):
scoring option by just giving the balland I have him go to work it.
Although he can do that to someextent, but I think he's you
know, we've thrown out the gump, the Kilen Brown gump a lot,
and you know, as a ceilingtype of guy, and even Kiln Brown,
you don't just give the ball killand Brown. Let him go to
work, or at least he didnot earlier. Earlier in his career.
He's turning better at it, buthe's still not the guy you give the

(04:53):
ball to one let him go towork. He's someone will drive off of
a lay that just created by itselfor by a teammates or you know,
in a pinch she can should havestepped back three, or you know a
little bit of a post up gameas well. But he's more of a
guy who's going to get his withinthe flow of the offense. So although
the efficiency from him hasn't been great, it's been you know, I'm not

(05:16):
exactly turned off by his summarly performancethus far. It's a lot of effort,
which we know, it's the stableof the rockets now with the madokas
so which is why I also agreewith you that I think the third game
being the back end of the backto back also, you know, really
hurts us because you could so fromthe beginning of the game that we just

(05:41):
didn't have the same cues that wehad in the first two games. And
even still with that, we keptthe game close until you know, the
fourth quarter ware where they blew itopen. And so you know, it
is what it is. It's somebis you can't take too many too many
conclusions from the good or the bad. But whereas what everybody wants to really
talk about to the shepherd, soI'll just move out to heal quickly.

(06:04):
I was you know, I thinka lot of people were impressed by the
defense. I was impressed by thehands. I was not impressed by the
defense. As far as staying infront of guys, I think he sometimes
is too quick to let the guyget by him and you know, position
himself to go for the for thesteal or like to poke the ball out

(06:27):
rather than trying to stay in frontof I think that's something that will will
burn him at the NBA level.What was for the first maybe the first
year or so. But it's definitelysomething that they'll work with him and with
him at and it'll get better.It reminds me a little bit of something
that Frednlich started to do once westarted, kind of you know, being
suspicious that he might be playing hurt. I don't know if you remember throughout

(06:47):
the season there was a point wherehe was searched for a little bit and
then his defense, you know,fell off a cliff. I remember that
at the midpoint of the season.Yeah, yeah, And I thought we'd
read maybe it was because you know, he wasn't maybe it was summer league
and he was engaged. Although I'mnot saying he wasn't putting in the effort.
I definitely think he was, butit's not like the time that threventally

(07:08):
was playing at that point of theseason. So I think it will takes
some time for him to get usedto just staying in front of guys.
And I do think that he playsthat he plays a very good team defenses,
with some exceptions of some places.A hop that comes to mind usually
in the right place to you know, to help or to google testa shot
or even if he gets worn by, he's still like in the play even

(07:31):
though he's not, you know,walking his eye up offensively. Who did
I see. I was impressed bythe mid race game, like everyone else
was. I was impressed by thefolder. I'm trying not to get too
biased or not to the last gameaffected too much, because it really felt
like, you know, the firsttwo games he was doing so he was
thinking of that he have the offensefor others, and I was opening up

(07:55):
spots where he was expecting him topass the ball and he could he just
throws for the middle shot in andthere was money from there. Definitely impressed
with it. Definitely see the comparasions that people brought up of Chris Paul.
I think the shooting is real heis only at thirty nine percent,

(08:15):
but he has a one for sevengame, and then in the last game
he didn he I think one threeor something like that. I don't want
this to seem negative, but heis summary was so good that my way
of adding insight right on the onthe matter is just so I don't see
what everybody else will say some things, I'll just but also think that I
didn't notice that weren't so good andnow let you you know, think his

(08:37):
places and not thinking I was I'mloan him at all. It's just that
I find it easier to contribute bypointing out the things that I that weren't
perfect, rather than pointing two thingsthat work, because I think a lot
of people will do that. Ithought something that I think something that was
really you know, obvious in thePistons game was that he was more head

(09:00):
and to shoot or on screen actionson the perimeter the threes. I thought
that there were times where you know, he was given enough space and if
she watched his back back at Kentucky, he was a bit more confident that
he was taking shots that he didn'tin the Business game. Maybe he wasn't
feeling confident on his shot after youknow, having a not so great night
the game prior, maybe he wascast and then and you know, a

(09:22):
lot of a lot of his shotsseemed to be falling short, so maybe
he didn't have the legs to keepshooting. I guess he didn't feel comfortable
us, but I definitely thought Ithought that there are opportunities that he could
have taken, take threes that hedidn't. And after that, you know,
it snowballed into other areas of thisgame. This mostly in the last

(09:43):
game. And then besides that,I think the only other thing that you
can point out that you know hasMartin for an improvement and this is obviously
it speaking as I said before,at a largely you know, amazing performance
in the first three games, ishe sees a lot of the passes,
right, But I don't know ifit's a technique thing. She's not strong

(10:03):
enough, but it feels like heit's all like not love in them.
Yeah, and what you're saying,they need a little more velocity. You
needs a festival that has a littlemore mouse per hour on it. Yeah,
for sure. It feels like someof them at the NBA level would
get intercepted and so I think thatthere's something that's something that he obviously can
can work on. But I guessI'll throw some praise and and I'll head

(10:28):
it off to you. Something thatI was really impressed by, and that
was a glaring difference from this summerweek to previous summer leagues, and I
guess you can. You can.You can praise the cooking stuff as well
as red is that it feels completelydifferent to watch the game in previous years,
where the weakness was clearly at pointguard. And even though even when

(10:50):
we had a Thompson, you know, he is a point guard, but
he's not you know, for generaltype just yet. Right, He's more
of a he get created. Heis the threat and he can use the
to get another the guys open.Reid is not exactly but he is a
threat, right, but he's notexactly the same type of downhill threat.
And so it felt like the teamwas a lot more structured on offense,

(11:11):
and the offense was a lot easierto watch versus previous Summer league itterations of
the Rockets, where it felt likea lot of one or one uh trying
to go get a boy, tryingto proove for stakes to the rim or
root for step back threes or whateverit was, or or post the moves.
Reed has grateful luidity, He hasgreat pace. He has something that's

(11:35):
that or other lead guard Kilen Greendoesn't have. And it's get better at
which is he keeps his ribbel aliveand within control a lot more easily than
Chillen does. If Kilen finds himselfin trouble with your pick, he'll picked
up the ball or he'll fumble it. Reed has you know, he's at
craft with the way that that hekeeps the ball alive, and that really

(11:56):
helped, you know, through thefirst three games, noticed as well,
and he makes a lot of readseven though he wasn't executing the passes perfectly.
I would go as far as sayingthat he already sees some stuff that
a veteran point kind of like FredVanVleet was not seen last season. A
lot of so Redaly. It wasgreat first obviously, but he was largely

(12:18):
making the same place over and overand over again, and we saw I
think a lot more variety in thetype of in the types of books that
we was generating, and you know, reading and puncing the defense with through
the vertue of games. So I'mreally excited to want to, you know,
watch him at the NBA level.I hope they don't shut them down.
And the fact that he didn't playtoo great in the in the last

(12:41):
game makes me think that, youknow, maybe that makes it more likely
that he'll play a fourth. Hopefullyit does. I was really really impressed,
and for a draft where you know, a lot of us expected to
not be that great, I thinkread this, I'm not gonna say I'm
what a lot of Summer League,but he does looks like someone who has

(13:03):
the potential to be like a truebuilding glove for the future and not a
role player that a lot of peoplewere expecting this stuff to be filled with.
Yeah, I think as far asthe weaknesses, so defense is something,
and I think back to the podwe had with Brian Klebrowski towards the
end of May. Look, he'sgoing to have to make up for some

(13:24):
of his shortcomings, specifically with size, with stuff like obviously the IQ,
the try hard factors. He's justnot going to be an athletically imposing defensive
player. And that's okay. Hehas so many other skills, but I
do think that no matter what theIQ is, there is a learning curve
to the NBA, and I thinkwe saw that in the third game.

(13:45):
The deflections he had in the firsttwo games, I mean, those were
great, but at some point,when you don't have the NBA experience going
up against this quality of athlete,then you're gonna get your hand caught in
the cookie jar. But he sawthat happen at the end of war.
We saw him pick up five foulsin the first half, a lot of
the things that went his way thefirst two games. It felt like the
Pistons saw that on tape and adjustedto it. And I think, you

(14:09):
know, that should be a prettysimple fix. It's just he's going to
have to learn that there's only somuch that he can get away with.
And you know, Fred, inthat sense is the perfect guy for him
to learn from. In that weknow that's a huge part of Fred's game,
whether it steals blocks, just beingable to get his hands in there
and mitigate the lack of size,the lack of elite athleticism on the perimeter.

(14:33):
Fred is the perfect guy I think, just sort of mentor read on
how to pick his spots. Asyou know, not a super small guard.
We actually is a little bit biggerthan Fred I think, but not
someone that fits the mold of aquintessential stopper on the perimeter. So I
think it's largely the expected. Weknew it based on his athletic profile.
We knew it based on the filmat Kentucky. In terms of his offense,

(14:54):
I actually think there's a specific typeof three that he needs to work
on, and it's the steph curthe pull up from twenty five feet on
the dribble, because if you look, he gets a lot of separation when
he pushes the ball in transition.Because even though he didn't have a ton
of on ball reps at Kentucky,you can see that teams do respect him

(15:15):
as a floor general as a passer, and so they play off him a
little bit in transition because of hisability to pass, because of also his
willingness to take the ball to thebucket where obviously he has nice touch around
the rim, but he's also gota fluid game. He's got a mid
range game, so there are opportunitiesfor him to pull up and he just
simply hasn't done that. I thinkit's because at Kentucky he functioned more off

(15:37):
ball. We saw at times,especially against Detroit, it felt like when
they used him at an off ballkpass, he could get a good mid
range shot whenever he wanted if headds the pull up three the way we
saw Steph. And that was sortof the transfer development of his game the
first four years as he went fromsomething of a shooting guard at Davidson to
a full blown point guard in themodern NBA. When Steph really took off

(15:58):
was when he got comfort, youknow, doing all the shooting things off
the dribble and incorporating it with hisabilities as a point guard. And so
I think that's something that probably isgoing to take some time. Again,
some of it comes back to hisusage patterns or lack the rob at Kentucky,
which was influenced by recruiting politics readbeing a good but not great recruit
out of high school. But itis something that you know to keep in

(16:21):
mind as you go into the NBAthat even if he's a great shooter,
well can he shoot within certain constructsThat's going to be a little bit of
a challenge. And so as withany player, even a really really good
prospect like Reid, then there arestill things to learn when you're just twenty
years old and you've not played inany real NBA game shed and honestly even
as one season of college came offthe bench. So I just we mentioned

(16:44):
all of those just his cautionary talesto not necessarily expect him to be a
star level player immediately. It's totallyokay if he's not. With that said,
the reason I want to sing theguy's praise is we talk throughout the
pre draft process about how to justifya number three overall pick, and I
think at this point, when he'sbeen the best rookie in his entire class
that summer league, boy did theRockets ever get lucky moving up from number

(17:07):
nine or ten number three. Peopletried to mitigate it at first, I,
Oh, it's a weak draft.How much does that really mean?
Now it looks like a pretty bigdeal now going from whoever you could have
picked at nine or ten to ReadShepherd, And throughout the process when we
went back and forth on is itworth it to take Read at number three,
and it looks like at this pointthe answer is clearly yes. The
main question we kept asking was whatvalue can he add beyond three? Point

(17:30):
shooting, because if you just wantedto add shooting, there's other ways that
you can add that to your team. And it feels like other than the
Lakers game, and really just thesecond half of the Lakers game, when
the Rockets were up by twenty eixhpoints and that public the Lakers just sort
of hit the quick button. Itfeels like teams have largely chased him off
the three point line and the halfcourt. Now there is the astroskype to

(17:53):
put on. It is the transitionscenario I was describing. When he's pushing
the ball with pace, there havebeen a few opportunities he could pull up
from twenty five feet that he's notdoing. And maybe it's not that he's
not Maybe it's not that he's uncomfortablewith that pull up three. Maybe it's
also he's being deferential to more establishedscorers on the wing, like Cam whitmore

(18:14):
like Nate Williams. Perhaps there's someof that in there as well. But
when he's in the half court,it feels like that teams. You know,
one of the Pistons bead riders,I Reach tweeted this during Monday's game,
talked about the Pistons guarding him insummer league the way they guard Steph
Curry during the regular season and inthese half court settings, are playing very
physically, very tight on the perimeter, and fortunately Re is adjusted by getting

(18:37):
to the mid range shots where hecan square his shoulders very quickly. He's
had a nice floater game, he'shad a nice touch around the rim,
but he's sort of done that outof necessity because teams are trying to take
away the threes in the half court, and so for him to have this
impact that Summer League. Again,I know there's been peaks and valleys,
but the overall stats don't lie twentyfive and five three steals, shooting nearly

(18:59):
fifty percent overall, forty percent onthrees, when what was believed to be
the biggest weapon in his arsenal hasn'teven fully been deployed yet, at least
in terms of the volume. Thatis what's really really encouraging to me,
because it shows you there is muchmore to his game he can create for
others. He can obviously create forhimself out of the mid range with the
floaters. The fact that he's notjust hitting a lot of threes, because

(19:23):
when you get to real NBA games, and he's playing along top alongside top
shelf playmakers like all for In ShaanGoon, like Fred van Fleet. We
know Jalen Green and Thompson can dosome creation as well. Of course,
he's going to get some threes inthe half court of real NBA games.
Playing alongside competent players at summer league, it's basically read Cam and not much

(19:45):
else. I mean, no oneis really expecting, you know, maybe
a little bit of Nate Williams,but certainly not Aj Griffin Orlando Robinson.
They've had moments, but certainly notconsistent creators by any stretch of the imagination.
Even in a summer league setting asopposed to playing alongside real NBA players
and a quality team like the Rockets, he's going to get to add those
half court threes to these other aspectsof his game. So the fact that

(20:07):
he's having this level of impact whilenot shooting that many threes at volume,
to be it just confirms that hewas the right pick, that he is
capable of doing these things outside ofjust being a spot up shooter. And
so when you look at how he'sadding value in all these other areas,
to me, it just confirms thatthat he was the best player available at

(20:30):
three. Right. Yeah, absolutely, I think I think you hit and
all the head when you said thatpeople doubts were everything else other than the
three right and and we we rightnow we are nickpicking on a single type
of three that we that were wouldlike to say math, but it's more
of a you know, there wasso much good that to be unique you

(20:52):
have to look at, well,what wasn't so great? Because everything noble
was going good. And then Ithink you're really was a great point about
other than the shooting. I wasnot expecting him to be this kind of
a you know, a traditional pointguard. He was seeing, you know,
he was seeing like he was seeing. He was driving in a lot
of passes to the to the corner, you know, with the strong side

(21:15):
corner. He was seeing the bussesto the weak side corner. He was
seeing it. He made some sometransition not cross court. Was some of
them cross court, some of themgetting guys in stride. We saw him,
you know, get to the rimand did a little raup around passes
to guys that were cutting in.He saw him throwing lob like we thought.
We saw the entire thing we sawthe base. We saw that he

(21:38):
was on turn over brownwell up untilthe last game where you know, kind
of kind of went down here wherehe was trying to force things because the
team wasn't doing with the game wasn'tgoing great. But we saw everything else
and we definitely saw the hand Imean, his blocks and stills numbers of
the art in Sydney has three stillsthe game and over a block a game
as a six foot three guard tothe the hands up definitely there. It's

(22:02):
from the I think it's from thepoint of view of looking at what he
was pre draft. I think he'snot got out of the park, you
know, by by a long mantian. It's just, you know this we've
seemed so little as a rocket.The hext u picition asks quickly adjusted to,
well, this guy's really freaking dowell, what can he get better
at? I think that's the that'sthe butt of that, and you know,

(22:26):
viewing this okay, and then asfar as Cam, I think the
numbers don't do him justice. Sobecause he had the one of fifteen game,
the overall shooting percentage is now belowforty. It's actually below ten percent
from three so he's averaging early seventeenpoints per game, but the efficiency is
not there, which again, isgoing to happen when one game of your

(22:47):
three game sample is one of fifteen. If anything, maybe that buys him
at least one more game before shuttingit down, because I really don't think
Cam wants to go into the offseason in the training camp with that the
one fifteen plunker being his last showing. It's sort of funny because clearly the
plan was for him to exit aftertwo games. Jonathan Fagan and The Chronicle

(23:08):
actually reported that after the Sunday gameagainst the Wizards, But I think Cam
sort of talked his way into playingone more and then it was a total
clunker. So maybe that ends upbuying him a fourth game as well,
just because I don't think he wantsto go into the offseason with that sour
taste in his mouth. Time willtell. We'll see what the Rockets do

(23:29):
when they play the Timberwolves very lateten pm tonight ESPN telecast. But as
far as what we've seen from thethree games, I largely agree with your
comments leading off the pod, whichis that the numbers don't do it justice
because the decision making has been fine, he's just missshots. Now you can
argue that was the elite start thathe had to his career from three point

(23:51):
range. Sustainable. That's a fairquestion because when you look under the hood,
you know he's missed some free throws. At Summer League, he's actually
below seventy percent on free throws atdecent volume. He was full ow seventy
percent last year in the NBA aswell. You combine being an iffy free
throw shooter, and then the lasti want to say, twenty twenty five
games, he was a little belowthirty five percent from three. So there

(24:14):
is something nagging at me, sortof wondering, Hey, like, we
all framed Cam as this very goodshooter, but the data pre NBA was
solid, but it wasn't elite.And then after that really hot start,
it was okay, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't elite. So with
young players, so much of itcomes down to the first impression, and
Cam he took the bull by thehorns when he got to play as a

(24:37):
rookie, especially early on in theyear, and when he forcifully made his
case for rotation minutes in January andFebruary, he was lights out from three
for the most part. It feltlike he was close to forty percent on
decent volume if I recall, butmaybe that was a little exaggerated. Not
gonna draw any firm conclusions based onthree Summer League games or even five if
he plays the rest of the way, sample is way too small. That's

(25:00):
something that again I'm just sort ofkeeping in the back of my mind.
It's not as if all of asudden that dramatically transforms his outlook, because
you look at his body, youlook at his atholticism. He has to
be an elite three point shooter toprovide above average value in the NBA.
It's just something to keep in mindbecause I think a lot of Rockets fans
framed him as an elite shooter,especially in contrast to Jalen Green, because
it felt like in December January oflast year, they played a lot of

(25:23):
the same minutes a similar role,but Kim was shooting much better from three.
Is that necessarily going to be thecase long term? That's still an
open question. Again, not somuch trying to play up that angle based
on three Summer League games, butjust tying it into the free throw shooting
how he saw him finished last year. Just keep it in mind as an
open question. How good of ashooter is Cam Whitmore. That's going to

(25:45):
be a part of his story ashe goes into year two and beyond.
But as far as missing shots,I mean, I'm not that worried about
it because I really don't think thathe's taking bad shots. This is not
like last Summer League at times,when, of course he was so by
and large it was good, butthere were certainly some moments where he was
raw and he looked at nineteen yearsold what he was last year, one

(26:07):
of the youngest guys in this draftclass and a guy who didn't play a
ton of college ball. Yes,there were moments of indecision. There were
moments where he was way too aggressive, and we saw that early on in
the NBA as well. Imo Judokacredited him for developing in those aspects as
the year progressed, and I thinkthat's largely held In Summer League. It
feels like he's playing within himself.It's not like he's just going rogue,

(26:27):
going one on one and throwing upwild twenty two footers over one or two
guys. No, he's taken cleanshots from the flow of the offense.
The shots just have not gone in, at least not in Game three.
And even when he shot one tofifteen, he still had three assists.
He said, five assists, excuseme, And you look at the turnovers.
So he's a very high usage guy, nearly thirty minutes per game,

(26:49):
shooting over fifteen shots per game.He's only turning it over one point three
times per game. So it's notlike he's making bad decisions of being reckless
with the ball. He's passing it, he's not turning it over. The
reeds seem okay, he's competing defensivelads. Comes down to shots aren't going
in and it's not going to bethis bad forever. But can he get
it back to the level he wasat when, especially before the injury,

(27:11):
he'd be mighty missed two or threeweeks when knee injury in March, time
will tell again that's something that it'smore of a macro concern than a micro
in this pot is about, youknow, nitpicking the micro of Summer League.
The one thing I will say,after throwing out all those caveats for
why I'm not too alarmed by thenumber specifically the efficiency, the subpar shooting,

(27:33):
YadA YadA. Someone that was moredown on Cam and I don't really
agree on the reasons this guy wasdown on Cam. Someone on social media
who was playing up some of theiffy decisions. Someone asked me during Monday's
game, is there a scenario whereCam could be in the G League this
year? And I believe he phrasedit. You know, sometimes people will

(27:55):
ask you questions. It's like theyhave an indication of what they think you're
going to respond, but they justwant it confirmed. And in this case,
it felt like he was expecting meto say, no, that's not
going to happen. I told himit's absolutely possible, and it could be
true with Reed as well as goodas he's looked. One thing that I

(28:15):
do think is important to note,and again, this isn't so much because
I'm alarmed by these guys playing poorlyin summer League. That's not the case.
It's just to remind folks of thecontext of the roster and an increasingly
deep Houston team. It took untilafter Tarry Easton was shut down last season
for Cam Whitmore to get into therotation because Tari is playing at the wings.

(28:37):
We know in the modern NBA ittypically comes down to point guards,
wings and bigs, and it wasn'tuntil Tari went out that Cam had a
consistent rotation role. And now youhave Tari coming back, you're adding Steven
Adams to the mix, which meansJabari Smith Junior is going to be playing
when everyone's healthy, almost exclusively asa wing, slash forward, whatever you

(29:00):
want to call it. He's goingto be having his minutes come out of
that bucket as opposed to playing largelyas a five the way he did,
especially after the Shingun injury late lastseason. So you're gonna have Ethan and
Adams eating into the available minutes.You're gonna have Reed Shepherd who looks very
ready to play. Even though Readersare rookie and Cam is year two,
they're about the same age. Readjust turned twenty last month, whereas Cam

(29:26):
is one of the youngest guys inhis entire draft class. So even though
Cam has a year more NBA experience, in terms of actual age, they're
about the same. And the Rocketswere able to re sign Aaron Holiday.
We haven't had a Pod since theRockets brought him back. But fortunately they
were able to get that done.Solid players shot nearly forty percent from three
capable defender. He's the type ofguy that you know ima Udoka can trust.

(29:48):
So it's not gonna be a giventhat Cam Whitmore is a rotation player
next year. And I don't saythat because I'm down on him after Summer
League. I just say that becauseof the surrounding construct of the roster,
and so with that in mind,rather than have a guy like Cam or
Read for that matter, We'll seehow these guys play in training camp in

(30:10):
the preseason. But if you're goingto have a guy that's that young in
the eleven or twelve spot in youryou know, rotation, your depth chart,
however you break it down basically who'sgoing to play, then I think
the Rockets would rather have someone attwenty years old playing for the Vipers than
just sitting at the end of thebench and not playing except for mop up

(30:32):
duty. So again the asterisk Iput on all of this, it's not
that I'm saying, Wow, I'mdown on Cam and saying he could be
a jer league guy this year becausehe's shooting below forty percent in Summer League
and below ten percent from three.No, that's small sample sized theater,
his processing, same spot. Notsuper alarmed in any way. However,
since the question was asked, andI think it's noteworthy that you know,

(30:55):
people are starting these discussions. Yeah, there is a world where either or
both of these guys, depending onhow the rest of the roster shakes out,
depending on if their injuries or ifthere aren't minutes aren't going to be
guaranteed, and it shouldn't be lookedat as a demotion. It should be
looked at as an opportunity. Look, if the minutes aren't there at the
NBA level, it's better for themto play than to just sort of rot

(31:17):
at the end of the bench andnot play except for mop up duty.
So I'm not going to predict ityet. I mean, there's a world
where both Reed and cam Ore rotationplayers out of the shoot and perhaps injuries
play a role as well. Butin terms of the possibilities, I don't
think Rockets fans should look at itas cam being beyond the G League he
was last season, particularly what youconsider the injuries and the surrounding construct of

(31:42):
that roster. But now that youadd Tory eastan you add Steven Adams,
you add Reed Shepper, you broughtback Aaron Holiday. I mean, minutes
aren't going to be a given sothe G League. While I wouldn't say
it's likely, it's at least plausible, right If I had to product,
I think I would. You know, I haven't done my my. You

(32:07):
know, it's such traditional, that'snot the way that that work works in
the US. But my yearly that'snot really yearly. But the you know,
just catch it, the rotation,mock up things that I usually do.
I haven't done it with our rosterthis season, with the minutes,
but my typical, you know,expectation going in is that there's a lot

(32:30):
best minutes that people think there are, right, and there's a lot west
minutes then I think there are evenbefore doing it, and I'm already expecting
that to do lest minutes. IfI had to bet, I would say
neither read nor can are in.They are playing the significant minutes the first
game of the season. That's spicy. I like that. It's it's it's

(32:53):
just a multiple thing that you said. First of all, Steven Adam's gonna
play, and he's to play atleast sixteen to eighteen minutes a game.
So Jabari is going to play thirty, but he's going to have to play
thirty at the power forward. DylanBrooks's going to play thirty, and he's
going to play thirty at the three. Killen Green is I think most definitely

(33:14):
going to play thirty at least tostart off the season, and he's going
to do it at the two.Fred's going to play thirty seven at the
one, and then you're going tohave at Thompson take the rest of the
minutes at the one and some minutesas a wing as a three, and
then there reason last season after thetwenty to twenty one I'm not mistaken.

(33:35):
Yeah, twenty two minutes a game. I expect that, and that was
because he had the bone bruise thatwas lingering and they were mantining to manage
it. And there were games thathe played more than this, and they
are begins played less than this,but he wasn't going all offul Protto.
I think he's going to play thirtyminutes a night either way. We should
also point out that Jack McVay,the guy out of Australia they just signed

(33:58):
to a two way deal. Hesupposed to be a really good shooter.
He's twenty eight years old. That'snot a developmental guy. That's someone who,
like Jay Sharon Tait a few yearsago, you look at playing immediately
if he's going to have a role, So that saying that Jack McVay is
going to walk in and all ofa sudden be a rotation player, but
as a guy who can space thefloor that seems to have a high IQ,
there's a path for him to bein that mix as well. Exactly,

(34:21):
I think he unless reads like insanelygood, which ys been, but
in training camps kind a company seasongames are going to come. I wouldn't
be surprised if Aaron Holiday for thefirst couple of months of the season he's
playing well. Is the first guyyou go super fourth reading the boot Cup?
Yeah yeah, I mean either wentout that Aaron Holliday is not on

(34:43):
a minimum deal. They gave himthe biannual exception. That tells you that
it's not a flyer, that theyactually did want to bring him back.
It wasn't just like, oh,we're going to offer him, you know,
just a minimum contract, maybe takesit whatever. No, they actually
did value eron You can see thatin a two year bi annual exception deal
second to team option. But still, yeah, I can see that.
I also think that, and Iknow you know this as well. I

(35:06):
think it's also a bit of histreatable salary true if yeah, I have
a lot of that already, butyeah, yeah, and you can never
have too much. And if hethen second year is no guarantee. Then
if they want to act as theCaps by steam Net here, they don't
won't have access to the biennalaccession.If I'm almost taken, it is the
worst that way before I think thenew CBA it is as well. I
think that plays a role. Butrebardless, even if they're just trying to

(35:29):
win, it's it wouldn't be surprisingif he turns to the vet first.
You don't even to stretch it asfar as Harold Holidays. You have to
artist Smith playing thirty minutes a night, to a recent point, thirty minutes
a night. They want Brooks playthirty minutes. And then this is you
know, on the low end,because we know if if he's playing well,
he made to lean on him evenmore. That's already nineteen minutes at

(35:52):
the three and the floor and menThompson is going to take minutes at the
three and the four as well.The center routorship is locked up, so
the front cord is really crowded.So I guess the argument WO been minutes
for at the two for camp maybe, and it's you know, it's just
just to see. And this isnot even factoring in that Jeff Green is

(36:15):
there and it made look really likesJeff Green. Defferent has been great as
a vet. Will Jeff Green justplay zero minutes from the get go?
It's not I think, you know, I don't think it's a slim dug
of a bet, but I wouldstill bet that they both of them aren't
in the rotation to begin the season. And this doesn't mean that they're they

(36:35):
are good enough. It just meansthat it's a really deep team. And
I would also bet a lot ofmoney that within the first two months they
will eventually get there for nothing elsebecause injuries are going to happen, and
at the beginning of the season wenever take that at consideration. We always
think that everybody's going to be healthyone hundred percent that time and never gonna

(36:58):
happen. Yeah, major injuries areI won't even call them major, but
guys will miss, you know,fifteen to twenty games, and it's not
that it usually can't be miss fifteento twenty games. And that's why having
depth matters. That bes that Idon't only have anything else on the read
and CAMA. I was going tomove on to, you know, the
lower end guys on the T League, on the G League or the Summer

(37:19):
League, on the Summer League,Okay, there we go, or it
could be G League. Yeah,like the two that when I look at
the rest of the roster, thetwo that stayed out, and I'll leave
it open ended for you in casethere's guys you want to throw in.
But the ones that are more intriguingare AJ Griffin and Orlanda Robinson. I
mean, you have your three twoway guys from last season, Nate Williams,

(37:40):
Nate Henton, and Jermaine Samuels junior, but I think we largely know
who they are. Griffin and Robinsonare new. Robinson's had some moments with
the heat. He's been one ofthe better plus minus guys in Summer League,
averaging about fifteen points ten rebounds agame, shooting better than sixty percent
from the field. I really likehim as a big. He does all
the little things well, like whenhe sets screens offensively, he's never moving.

(38:05):
The fundamentals are so good. Hedoesn't pick up sheep fouls, he
goes vertical defensively, he boxes outmentioned he doesn't have the moving screens problem
that plays so many bigs that arethrust into that role as a young player.
He's been with the Heat, sowe know he's been coached very well.
I like him and the Rockets arebetter with him on the court,
and so I could see him beinga consideration, especially they get him for

(38:29):
the Vipers. You mentioned the GLeague, then I would be very intrigued
by that. I'm not sure ifI would give him one of the two
ways, simply because of the waythe roster is built and the fact that
not only do you have Shinoon andSteven Adams as fives only, you also
have Jock Landale, who played verywell towards the end of last season.
He's looked great for Team Australia.Absolutely cook Joelle Embiid this week. By

(38:51):
the way, and you have Embiidor you have Landale excuse me, under
contract for could be three more yearsand have very team friendly, trade friendly
d so you have not only Shingoonand Steven Adams, but Jack Landell as
well. That's three fives only ofyour most likely fourteen regular season stanior contract.

(39:12):
So that's before we get into thefact that the Rockets do still want
to explore Jamari Smith Junior at thefive and select matchups. So would the
Rockets use one of their two wayson a five only player or would they
use it on guys that have alittle more positional versatility that have more of
a pathway to minutes the way wesaw last year the trio of Nate Williams,
Nate Henton, Jermaine Samuels Junior,who are all still options for those

(39:35):
spots this year. That to meis a debate. I think Orlando Robinson
you can make a case that he'smost qualified as a player. It's just
in theory. It's not that yougive a two way contract to a guy
that you want or expect to playrotation minutes. No, but you at
least want there to be a plausiblepath and there are so many guys that
would have to get hurt or traded, whatever it may be, before a

(39:59):
five only player could play realistic minutesfor the Rockets that I just don't know
if it's worth it. With OrlandoRobinson, you could convince me it would
just be a you know, abest player available approach and worry about the
rest later. I could see itbeing a scenario where the Rockets want to
bring into training camp. They wantto have his rights for the Vipers.
But if somebody else around the leaguesees this run that he's had during Summer

(40:21):
League it has more of a clearpathway to minutes at the five, then
that's the team that gives him thetwo way. Time will tell, but
he's at least made it interesting.I would not have thought going into Summer
League that he was a guy thatcould force his way into the conversation,
but his play strong enough that Ithink he is. Adrian Griffin's been a
little underwhelming, but I think whenyou step back, it's to be expected.

(40:43):
He did play better against the Pistons, we should note, overall,
averaging thirteen points a game, shootingbelow forty percent overall, just above thirty
one percent from three. I thinkwhile we were both excited about the trade
the Rockets made for adri Griffin,moving a mid second run pick and a
mediocre draft for AJ, who wasa near lottery pick a couple of years
ago. Look, there's a reasonhe did not play for Quinn Snider.

(41:07):
The defensive concerns are real, andhe basically just took a year off.
It's like he had a gap year. So there's a lot of russ that
he has to knock off as well. So I'm not too alarmed that he
hasn't had a great summer league.However, I do think that this should
remind you, you know, someof the graphics right after the trade,
trying to clear it to coreate.No, No, No, that's a

(41:29):
little aggrussive. It's a Core seven. I think Reed Shepherd is someone who
can be on the same tier assome of those Core six prospects in terms
of the upside AJ Griffin. Idon't think it's that that's a little bit
more of a proclamation project. Youcan have some excitement over him. I
don't think that all of a suddenhe's in jeopardy of not making the roster.
No. I think the Rockets understandthat there's a lot of rust to

(41:51):
knock off, that there's some badhabits that he's got to shake but I
do think that what we've seen tothis point, it reminds you why Clint
Snider, who's a very good coach, decided that he shouldn't play, even
after a rookie year where he shotthe ball very well from three nearly forty
percent and was a viable rotation player. There are reasons that Quinn Snyder decided
that he was not a fit fora Hawks team that wasn't even really trying

(42:15):
to contend. It's not that hecan't overcome those, but you combine the
elements of his game that need workwith the rust from not playing for basically
a full year, some off courtfactors on a personal level as well.
Think he had a family tragedy.If you want to google that, you
can learn more about what happened withAJ off the court last year. And

(42:36):
there's just some insinuating circumstances. Andagain that's not to say that he can't
move past them, but I dothink that when you consider their toutality of
it, it's enough to where anyonewho was considering him, you know,
on par with the Core seven oranywhere close, that was way overcooked.
That was too much. AJ Griffinis a good bet he's a good flyer.

(43:00):
He's absolutely a worthwhile investment for amid second run pick in a bad
draft. I fully support the trade, but he's not someone that I think
you should pencil in for rotation minutesor count on as in any way a
big part of your future. Ithink he's a guy that anything he gives
you in the big picture is abonus. To me. That's what stood
out about Summer League, and notso much down on him. I don't

(43:22):
think he's in danger of missing theroster by any means. I think the
Rockets will give him a real look. I think they like him, but
I just think we've seen enough towhere we know why the Hawks made the
decisions they did, and so tome, those are the two storylines where
I look at the rest of theroster, Orlando Robinson at AJ Griffin,
and I think AJ's roster spot issecure. With Orlando, I think he's

(43:45):
in the mix. But I thinkbetween Orlando, Jack McVay, and then
the three two way guys from lastyear, the two Nates and Jermaine Samuels,
you're gonna have to pick eventually threeof those five for your two way
spots this year. Guys that youdon't pick for the two way spots,
you'll have to risk losing if anotherteam wants to give them a two way

(44:06):
of their own. I think JackMcVay is probably safe in the sense that
he is twenty eight years old,and if you're giving a deal to a
twenty eight year old who's a professionalplayer, you're probably planning on him having
something of a role. May meannot a rotation role, but at least
a skill that you expect to beof value to you at the NBA level
if you're going through all the troubleto bring him to the NBA, and

(44:28):
I'm sure he had other opportunities aswell, So my guess is that McVeagh
is at the front of the linefor one of those spots. Nate Williams
seems to be playing respectively well inSummer League and was probably the most consistent
of the three last year, soif I had to rank those five,
I would say McVay is probably themost likely, Nate Williams right after that,
and then Orlando Robinson, Nate Hentonand Jermaine Samuel is sun you're fighting

(44:52):
for that third and final two waywith whoever doesn't get the two ways short
of in limbo. Did they geta two way for another team or are
they a consideration for going to theG League with the Rockets with their Philly
club the Vipers. Time will tellon that, but those are sort of
the storylines for the rest of theroster. What stood out to you,
Palo as far as those considerations andanyone else that's lashed to you at so

(45:12):
early, Yeah, I think I'mwith geonically person. It hasn't been great.
Back at Duke. There were definitely, you know, concerns when he
was being projected at the top fivepick, but as far as as subcreation
goes, he was just a reallygood tutor with a good athletic profile with
bad knees. You know, becauseof that, he was exciting, But
she was it for a mid Ithink it was, if not that middle,

(45:37):
close to it second round pick,and did My expectations for him are
the same ones I would have forprojects second round pick, and I'll establish
that that second round pick would havepitched a mouth shit because he was available.
So I'll you know, whoever isthe better career will determine that was
a good trader, not if theydo doesn't have a career. Then it
Sowahi doesn't matter just because you knoweight is twenty, right, he said

(46:00):
he's the thirty going to his thirtyyear. But you know he was one
of the best prospects in his draft, so yeah, there's that. He
several offensively, he didn't shoot theball well. He had a couple of
highlights, but he was another oneof the guys that you know, you
could clearly that was a limited offensivelywhat had to end defensively, but was
trying to make it work within thefall of the game. Brought the ball

(46:21):
couple of taps too much for myI think, but that's just because I
was by towards rich Embert. Thatbeing said, I guess alternate into the
old game of who would you givethe two ways too? And I disagree
with you in the sense of,well, first off, first off,
I would give it Nate Williams justbecause see that Pelot good basketball player,
he's a good defender, he's agood you know, he's a good he's

(46:43):
a good hustle guy. X.He has a little bit of a back
offensively, and there's no reason tonot have a guy that could in your
Q League team or as as abody and practice just because he can give
you I mean, he has greatlength, he can give you trouble,
he can give you different type ofmatchup to other guys in in our roster
for you know, child to bringto guard or or other guys to guard.

(47:05):
So I think he prints out justbecause he's a good bucketball player.
Then I would actually give it toOrlando Robinson, but I doubt that he'd
take it even if it were twoway, just because you did chart it.
But there's just no realistic way forhim to get any minutes ever on
this team, there's just three guysthat are way better than him that he'll
never surpass. Ahead of him,he's played Cretins. In summary, he's

(47:28):
your typical you know, rim running, although he's more mobile, you know,
defensively than Tip your typical rim runner. He has some shooting upside.
He did a couple of threes withMiami. He shot you know, a
couple of threes over three games andor I mean Kisha likeever, there's some
upside there he has, if I'mnot mistaken, one more year of two

(47:52):
league availability, and that's exactly whyif he would take it outside him with
the two ways with one of thetwo ways, if for nothing else,
because if he Yepherd's not gonna playwith the main team, I would love
for him to be the pick androll partner with him down in the till
lely because you can have you know, we we always say that you can.
You can you know, pull ayou know, seven foot three,

(48:13):
running big out of anywhere. Butthe two days, like you said,
the fact running screen, you know, having good hands, catching loves,
being able to occasionally run, pickingpop, you know, all of those.
You know, there's nuances to yourstickman type of you know, rim
running, protecting big and Rowanda Robinsonhas a lot of those nuances. Uh

(48:34):
And so I think he'd be he'dbe, you know, not not to
sound to rude or anything, buthe'd be a great tool for Reed to
pick to train with uh in theTilly if he does go down there.
So I think for that value alone, I would I would do it,
although all doubt I doubt that he'dtake it. And then the thirty two

(48:55):
way spot that is already given andI would highly doubt they'll give it to
a twin eight year old or thatthe twenty eight year old would take it
if not, if there was,if they weren't, basically a guarantee,
right, Yeah, that's why Imean. For him to come over from
Australia and do it out of twoways suggests to me that there's an understanding
that, barring something shordinary, thathe's going to have it. Yeah,

(49:17):
for sure. So that's what Iwould say about the other guys. I'll
throw a couple of you know,honorable mentions. Nathan them was a good
Fascil guy as he has been,you know, further time that he's been
here. Thank God, I didn'thave to watch more than a couple of
minutes of Trevor Gels. I've hadenough trauma with watching him with balla on
grow and in that duke too muchof a ball hawk, not could enough

(49:40):
of played justify it. It wasnice to see a couple of usage guys
in Inphibian White and Nick in then. As I said, and for those
who don't know, back when thedraft, before the rebulot, he was
twenty twenty, there were two guysthat I loved with the pick that we
got from the place so the wayto the Distons. I like Carol Lewis

(50:05):
and I really like Calin Smith,who's with the Basers now went to the
Suns, So it was you know, for me, it was cool to
see Carol Lewis swear a rockets,but you know, nobody else played significant
in this minutes to have for meto have any take on them. I
guess I'll tell him to follow Dantebecause he was well, really really badly.

(50:28):
Yeah, he just looks too rawin terms of being able to move
at the level required of an NBAcenter, Like if you can't play in
space, then the bar is reallyreally high in terms of you're ability to
score inside or rem protection, thethings you have to do when you can't
defend on the perimeter. The baris just so tough to clear, and

(50:52):
he's just not there yet. It'syou know, largely expected because he's a
rookie, but it just feels like, you know, they're starting him.
I guess because the game a twoway deal. Going in he was something
of a prospect. But it justfeels like every time they make the flip
midway through the first quarter to OrlandoRobinson, everything changes. Because Robinson can
moves feel a little bit better,he can shoot from three point range.
There are more elements to his gameon both ends, and you can see

(51:15):
that it just feels like the entirecourt, you know, everybody can breathe
a little bit easier just because there'sway more space. Yeah, and I'll
just I'll just leave it off withI may. I may have nightmares,
and I've had nightmares since since thatnight he took a really really ugly,
long, mithering shot. Do youremember, Yeah, yeah, I do.

(51:37):
It was like it was like,if you ask, I don't let
me try and think the guy thatI at least expect to shoot. I
was gonna go Steven Adams, butI've actually seen some clips from years past,
but he was, you know,draining threes from the corner. If
imagine if Quinn Capella was shooting,you know, just inside the line.
Middring shot. Well, it wasthe worst thing ever. I hope I

(51:59):
never again. Yeah. I mean, he had huge numbers at Oregon,
so I understand why he was consideredsomething of a prospect going into the draft.
But again, just for that archetypeof player, the bar is just
so high. It's like a bigman version of I was thinking about this.
So there was the report that whowas it? Milwaukee worked out Isaiah

(52:22):
Thomas. I was trying to thinkof the team, and you know,
it feels like Isaiah Thomas has beentrying to work out for years, and
there's been this story of, well, how can Isaiah Thomas go from being
an All Star borderline MVP candidate acouple of years to not even being able
to get a job, And it'sthe answer is, for that type of
player, you have to be atclose to the ninety ninth percentile in the

(52:43):
things that you're good at, becauseas soon as there's any slippage at all,
there's just not the diversity. There'stoo much of a liability in other
areas of his game. And itfeels like it's sort of the same thing
for a big man like Dante.When you can't shoot, you can't space
the floor, you can't move yourfeet well enough to defend in the perimeter
or switch, and you're going tobe targeted all the time, then the

(53:04):
bar is just so so high interms of scoring, rebounding in the more
traditional ways for it to offset theliabilities in other areas. And so that's
not to say that he can't overcomethat with time, but I think when
you look at the Rockets, especiallyfor the same reasons that it's not easy
for Orlando Robinson to have a pathto minutes, it's even less likely for

(53:24):
Dante for a team that already hasso many fives only. I sort of
have a tough time seeing the Rocketskeep him on the two way going into
the season, given the limited pathwayand given the work that he still has.
I could see them looking at himas a developmental guy if they can
have his fee league rights and seewhat happens over the next year or two.
But he's someone that's going to needsome work, so I doubt that

(53:45):
he's a two way candidate this season. I tend to think that it's going
to be three of those other fiveguys that we listed, Orlando Robinson,
Jack McVay, and then the threefrom last year, with of course McVay
being at the the line, simplybased on the age considerations that both of
us laid out already in bringing himover from Australia. Last point before we

(54:07):
close out the pod, Paolo,are you ready to take a victory lap
on Coel whare who out in Vegashas averaged basically twenty points and ten boards
a game on Better than fifty percentshooting. Are you victory lapping the ship
man? He has really three blocksper game two. By the way,
I have one tweet about it,and that's all I'm going to say until
I see him do it in theNBA. He might say the role that

(54:30):
or on the Robinson had with thathe And since we're doing closing notes,
and since we haven't talked about thisfor a while, because well that hasn't
been a good reason to I guess, yes, Ros are back or are
you making the playoffs? Yeah,well they're back in the sense of the
al rust is allowed to be back. I mean, it's pretty crazy.
Fifteen forty six, now I havethey did go on a seventeen and four

(54:52):
run to make up for that dreadfulstart. But even with that seventeen and
four run, look, fifteen fortysix, the Austa break is nothing right
home about. But they're in adivision that's given them an opportunity if they
might not otherwise have. I mean, there are opportunities for the Marriners to
bury them, and they didn't Andnow all of a sudden, yeah,
it's made these games. The Astroshave three in Seattle this weekend. It's

(55:14):
something to watch for. I mean, it's the most excited event about the
Astros since since last October. Imean, your damn Riot's been a while.
Yeah, And I guess I guessthere's something I've learned about the baseball
is that you never bade the pitchersbecause they can be good there and then
and all of aus of them they'rejust not good anymore. So that words

(55:34):
GM, I'll never play basis inmy life. Yeah, I mean,
the injury risk is there. Ithink I'm sure we're losing our basketball listeners
as we're wrapping up the pod withthis. I think there's so much of
an emphasis on velocity that's gotten moreimportant in the last ten years. A
lot of the headers are talking aboutit. You know. Jose Al Tuve

(55:54):
a couple of years ago talked aboutwant and get back to the hitter.
He was earlier in his career whenhe sprayed the ball around the ballpark and
wasn't pulling the ball for home runs. Now he's gone to the other extreme,
back to where he was a coupleof years ago trying to pull.
And it's not because he doesn't seethe value in hitting for average. No,
it's just that with guys throwing harderand harder, then you have to

(56:17):
sell out a little bit, becauseit's otherwise it's impossible to catch up well.
The consequence of this emphasis on velocityis that if your mechanics are off
even a little bit, and obviouslyLance mccullor's unfortunately is a negative example of
this, then you're going to gethurt very very quickly. And so I
do wonder what happens with baseball longterm because with guys having to throw this

(56:37):
hard, with there being that muchof an emphasis in the sport on can
you hit not just the mid nattiesbut the upper nineties. If you're in
the upper nineties, can you getit to triple digits? When you're seeing
that much of an emphasis on deilosophy, how sustainable is that your mechanics have
to be really, really perfect.Even if your mechanics are very good,
if they are. With Justin Berlander, we've seen him have some arm issues

(56:58):
in recent years, and I knowthey say the next issue right that he's
having right now, it's not relatedto the arm. But I'm a little
worried of that considering that krish Navierhad, you know, neck tightness whatever
they called it. Next thing,you know, he's having Tommy John surgery,
so knock on wood. Hopefully thesame sack gonna happen with Justin Berlinger.
But yeah, I just think thatit's tough to count on pictures at
the rate they're breaking down, notjust with the Astros but all around Major

(57:20):
League baseball. So perhaps it makesmakes it all the more appealing to invest
heavily on the offensive side. They'dlocked up Jordon and jose A l two
Bay, perhaps they can do thesame with Kyle Tucker, who I know
they say he didn't break his shin, and seems pretty clear that he did.
At this point, it's going tobe two months, so come on,
there's got to be some sort ofhairline fracturer in there. I would
guess. Whatever the case, look, they're playing relevant baseball. The record
isn't where you would want it tobe, but at least it's something to

(57:45):
tie us over. In the twomonths between the Summer League and the opening
of training camp and the start ofTexan season, I was actually dreading what
this next couple of months would looklike. When the Astros had that dreadful
start, Like how in the world, we are you going to get through
this post summer league period in preseasonfootball is awful? At least the Astros
are good, some reason to care, and we'll see if they have enough

(58:07):
to sort of get through. BecauseI feel like that, you know,
they lost the two games to theRangers for the Ulsterer break. I feel
like they're running on fumes a littlebit. They just as much as they
underachieved early in the year, they'veactually overachieved the last three weeks. So
they need to get Kyle Tucker backs. They need to get Justin merlanderback.
Hopefully those guys are not too faraway, but at a bare minimum,
it's given us something to watch board. I think that's something to celebrate as

(58:30):
we head into the NBA list period, the dead period of NBA calendar that
we know is coming in August andSeptember. Anyway, I think that's where
we will wrap things for today.Should note that while we won't go away
fully as a pod over that period, depending on whether there's intel, we
may do every couple of weeks ratherthan every week. We will have a

(58:50):
schedule reaction show in early August,and we'll have one more summer week show
next week, once we see howthe Rockets play over these next two games.
May three still a small possibility theycould get into the playoffs if they
get to three and one and apositive point differential, but a lot to
ask there need some help elsewhere inthe league as well, so I would
not count on that. My guessis that there's only five games to getting

(59:12):
in the playoffs. You get allthe way the championship game, which the
Rockets did last year. You canplay six games, but I think a
likely scenario with the Rockets having aloss is that they play just the five
and then after this fourth game againstMinnesota tonight, you have a Constellation game
basically against someone on Saturday or Sunday, and we'll see if you know,
a highly doubt can wit more asa more established players there, and we'll

(59:34):
see if Reed Shepherd is still playingat that point as well. Time will
tell, but whatever happens, wewill have a show next week reacting to
the last two games. Slight possibilityof three if Summer League, if they
somehow make it to the championship,and then in early August, will react
to the schedule when it comes out. But then as Rocket's content dries up.
We might be a little less frequentbefore, of course, stelling it
back up as we get into tradingcamp in late September than the preseason and

(59:57):
the start of the regular season whichshould be a very fun one here in
Houston come late October. All right, that's where we will wrap it for
today, and if you want morecontent before our next show, which will
be the Summer League rap, thebest place to get it is online where
you can follow me on Twitter slashx, at Bendubo's and at Poalo Alves
NBA, and this show at thelogger Line where if you go to the
logger Lines page on Twitter slash x, you can find our link tree which

(01:00:21):
has all the links to our distributionpartners like Apple, Google and Spotify.
Pu'd be kind en have to subscribeand leave positive review at your location of
choice, of course, we greatlyappreciate that. Also on that same link
tree you can find links to ourfriends, sponsored and partners of the program.
USA Today's Rockets Wire Carbock Brewing isfor South seven ninety. Hit up
those links and you can enjoy theircontent as well. So with those floods
complete, we will adjourn for todayfor Polo. I'm Ben. Thanks as

(01:00:43):
always for listening and please come backsoon for another new episode of the Logger Line.