00:00The Rockets played last night, and they played without one Kevin Durant, who was going to miss that game last night and also the next game with personal issues.
00:09Did you see the people that were, like, trying to push E-May on what the personal issues were?
00:16Oh, yes. Yes, that was silly.
00:17I hadn't even considered that.
00:19Yeah. Well, they're just going to assume. Okay, whatever.
00:21I think that that person, that media member was coming from a perspective that maybe we came a little bit with, like, the Joe Mixon thing with the Texans.
00:32Maybe.
00:32But that feels different, right?
00:33Like, that feels like a longer period where there's no real information, and we go, all right, well, we're just going to have to kind of fill in the gap.
00:40Something that is already described as, hey, he's dealing with the personal matter.
00:44He'll miss these two games, like, very clear, concise, self-contained.
00:48I feel like we can just let that be.
00:50We can let that rock, can't we?
00:50You know, the natural inclination is when you hear personal matter, you think the worst.
00:56It's not necessarily the worst.
00:58It could be something, a great event in his life that he can't miss, you know?
01:02So, you know, yeah, exactly.
01:05Yeah, but either way, the Rockets did a good job handling business against a very physical Phoenix Suns team,
01:11which, of course, you can attribute almost squarely to one Dylan Brooks.
01:15Why is that?
01:16That game was physical as hell, boy.
01:18I'll tell you that, and we could break down more of it.
01:20But within that, like, you know, I thought the Rockets did a good job moving the basketball.
01:25Like, there was a lot of swing-swing happening, a lot more than I think I've seen for them to this point.
01:30But before we even got to this game, you asked a very pertinent question that I think is worth examining a little bit.
01:36And it has to do with your superstar that you acquired this offseason.
01:40Is Kevin Durant slowing down?
01:41Yeah, and I want to make sure you realize where I'm coming from on this is two-pronged.
01:47And, you know, obviously maybe he's slowing down, and I'm going to ask you the question with some numbers that seemed interesting to me.
01:52But also maybe that's why he's such a good fit with this squad because of what he's doing.
01:58And specifically, you mentioned last night Jabari Smith, I mean, he filled the role and did some very good things
02:05and seemed to be, you know, certainly feeling the influence of a Kevin Durant, you know, this year.
02:09But let me throw this out at you and see if we can kind of parse this out a little bit.
02:14Kevin Durant currently is averaging fewer points, which is still a lot.
02:19Let's be very clear about this.
02:21I think it's 24.6.
02:23Is that good?
02:24Yeah.
02:24He's averaging fewer points than he has, though, since his rookie year.
02:28And that's, what, 17 years ago, whatever it is.
02:32Expected field goal percentage is down.
02:34Shooting percentage is down.
02:35Three-point percentage is down.
02:37And all of those, not just down year over year, down over a large stretch of his career.
02:44Like the last three or four years or whatever.
02:46So, the fact that that's the case, you know, again, we're talking about natural inclination.
02:51And the natural inclination is, oh, maybe Kevin Durant is slowing down a little bit.
02:55Finally showing signs of, you know, so many years in the NBA and so many postseasons and all that.
03:01I think it's a possibility.
03:02I mean, clearly, you know, time is undefeated, as we often hear.
03:06But I think it's also a possibility, like, that's why he's a good fit here.
03:11He's very self-aware in terms of what he is as a basketball player.
03:15And he's very much a basketball junkie.
03:18And I think he's like, all right, where I am right now, this is what I need to do.
03:22The only kind of alarming, for lack of a better word, is the field goal percentage and three-point percentage.
03:28You know, that's something you want him to always stay consistent with.
03:31The points average wouldn't bother me, doesn't bother me, because of what he's doing with this squad, you know?
03:36I think that there is a level of, when you talk about his field goal percentage, I can, and I don't know how much of this is wiping away what you're throwing out here.
03:47I think that if you look at it, we talk about him being a mid-range killer.
03:51His shot diet has really shot up in that range of 10 to 16 feet, that kind of free throw line jumper type area.
04:01He's had more of that, like, significantly more of his shots come from that range than in the last six, seven years in his career.
04:08I think that that changes, because that's the most inefficient shot in basketball.
04:12Right.
04:12He's taking it, and he takes it at a higher rate, and he makes it at a higher rate than anybody else, but that is still one of those things that, I guess, statistically, it's going to kind of change the numbers there.
04:22But I actually, I think he is slowing down.
04:24I think that it's something to acknowledge.
04:25I also think that the caveat behind that is, that is not inherently a bad thing.
04:30Right.
04:30I think that he is slowing down.
04:32He is not stopping.
04:32That's kind of where I'm going.
04:33First and foremost, and I think that that lines up kind of nicely with what you saw in the game last night.
04:39His presence was missed.
04:40You talked about Jabari Smith Jr. filling the gap.
04:42I actually don't think that he did that.
04:43I think Jabari Smith continued to play the role that he plays.
04:46Knocked down three-point shooter.
04:48Like, he continued to ease pressure that way.
04:50But, like, hey, get the ball to this guy and let him go knock down a shot.
04:53Like, you did miss some of that as much as Alperen Shangoon was going to do that.
04:57But outside of it, like, you still missed Kevin Durant in that.
04:59And so he has that role.
05:01But I think what you saw was you see these other guys and still have them to grow.
05:05And I think that as Kevin Durant, as his play diminishes, and, of course, that is with the asterisk,
05:11because diminishing two 24 points a game is still – I wish I could diminish the 24 points a game in the National Basketball Association.
05:19That would be incredible.
05:20But I do think that, like, as he does that, it creates room for, as you talk about, Jabari Smith Jr.
05:25to try and grow into whatever he's growing into.
05:27Amend Thompson to continue to grow into what he's growing into.
05:30Even Shangoon to continue to get some more of his growth.
05:33Reed Shepard, you understand all the principles that we're talking about here.
05:36I think that that actually is okay.
05:38I will watch this space, though, because one of the things that scares me in sports in general
05:42is that decline isn't always a given, right, how it goes.
05:48Some people decline very gradually.
05:50Sometimes it falls off a cliff.
05:51I don't think that that is in the offing for Kevin Durant, because especially in basketball,
05:56if you can shoot the basketball, that's the last thing to go.
05:58So I think that he will still have that.
06:00But I will be watching that.
06:02And so it's worth acknowledging.
06:03I think the decline is there.
06:04I don't think it's a bad thing.
06:05I don't think it's a bad thing either.
06:07And that's why I wanted to bring it up, you know, just because of his influence and everything else.
06:10The only, speaking of caveats, you know, do you expect the shooting percentages
06:15and the three-point percentage and the expected EPA and points per game to get better?
06:20Look at you sounding like me.
06:23You hear all them stats and numbers and letters he put in there?
06:25I didn't quote them.
06:26I just said them.
06:28Do you expect that to get better over the course of an 82-game season and beyond?
06:33That's actually a good point.
06:34That's actually a good point, because I think there's a possibility of it.
06:36Some of the statistical tickdown that we could probably, you know, link that to,
06:40because what are they, 15 games into the season right now or something to that effect?
06:45This is a team that was figuring out how they play in the early portions of it.
06:49How much of that decline in statistical prowess for him as an individual was, hey, I am figuring
06:56out how to fit in with all these pieces of young guys that are also trying to figure out
06:59what they're doing here.
07:01We've seen a noted increase in this offense, right?
07:04Yeah.
07:04That almost, I chuckled there because it's almost absurd to say that.
07:08You went from an offense that was all, get rebounds, to an offense that literally is the
07:12best in the league.
07:12You know, like, there was a huge jump, and they were doing some figuring out as they
07:17did that.
07:17So maybe that has something to do with some of those numbers ticking down.
07:21I think it's fair to expect a little decline in there.
07:23I think that also it is not necessarily a bad thing.
07:26A question comes in here on the text line.
07:28Again, 713-572-4610.
07:30Because I was talking about that game that they played last night, and I think we'll have
07:34more opportunity to talk about that, especially when we get to what's popping.
07:37And Dylan Brooks, I think it was evident that some of the physical, and this is still a
07:42pretty physical Houston team, but I think that you could see the difference in, oh, that's
07:47what it used to look like, right?
07:49Do you think the Rockets will miss Dylan Brooks' grit in the playoffs, the 2-8-1-S?
07:54I think it's possible.
07:56I mean, hell, he was putting Steven Adams on the floor last night.
08:01Which is not an easy, Steven Adams looks like he's made out of marble.
08:05And it's not well advised either to do it.
08:08But yeah, maybe a little bit, but I'll certainly take what they have now over that.
08:12Yeah, and I agree.
08:13Because again, I think Sean asked Seth earlier in their program today, and it was football
08:19related, would you rather have an elite defense and an average offense or an elite offense
08:23and average defense?
08:24I think similarly, in the NBA, I think I'd rather have an elite offense and average defense.
08:29And I think that you have above an average defense versus vice versa, which it felt like
08:35was what you were doing last year.
08:36I agree.
08:36So I'm with you there.
08:38But that physicality, I think that that is inherent to what E-May wants.
Be the first to comment