Houston Rockets' Remarkable Rise Despite Injuries in NBA

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00:00Let's start with a team that's playing really great basketball,

00:03and a team that I was expecting to be good, and that's the Houston Rockets.

00:06I was a little bit concerned about Houston before the season started,

00:12obviously with the injuries, obviously to Fred Van Vliet,

00:17and losing them for the season was something of concern that I had for Houston,

00:21but they are playing unbelievable basketball,

00:23winners of eight of the last 10 games, 13-4,

00:26sitting at first place in the Southwest Division,

00:29and I do believe they're tied for the second seed right now

00:33with the Los Angeles Lakers in regards to the loss column.

00:38Lakers have two games at hand.

00:40So what has gone well for the Rockets?

00:44To me, they've shown incredible depth,

00:48including getting that injury to Fred Van Vliet.

00:50They're able to run eight or nine guys at you,

00:53and they seem to not really lose much,

00:56and they can kind of mix match laps,

00:57whether you have Adams and Shingun together as the 5-4,

01:02or you get Shingun to break, move Jabari to the 4,

01:05or you get Adams out of the game,

01:08you go Shingun and Jabari Smith to the 5-4.

01:10They're able to mix and match,

01:12and Emil Adokas continues to show himself

01:13to be one of the five best coaches in the world.

01:16But the real key for me is not the veterans.

01:20It's the young guys.

01:21And I'm not talking just about a fair and Shingun.

01:24How about a man Thompson getting you 16.7 points per game,

01:286.9 rebounds, and 5.3 assists,

01:30and giving tenacious defense at the point of attack?

01:34How about Reed Shepard, who really got no time last year

01:37because obviously having Jalen Green,

01:39right now at 13.9 points per game,

01:422.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists,

01:45and shooting a scintillating 45% from three?

01:49Or is it Jabari Smith,

01:51who is right now at a career-high 15.1 points per game,

01:546.4 rebounds, which is about a half a rebound

01:57off of his career-high,

01:581.9 assists, career-high, 39% from three.

02:03Here's the deal.

02:05If these three guys,

02:07four of you count off, fair and Shingun,

02:09can keep bringing what they're bringing,

02:12and they get Steven Adams to stay healthy,

02:14they are, in my opinion,

02:17the biggest threat to OKC.

02:20Why?

02:21Through their defensive ferocity and versatility.

02:25Their length,

02:26especially with the fact that Amanda at a point,

02:28and the fact that,

02:29I haven't mentioned the fact

02:30that they have KD as a closer.

02:33They are the biggest threat

02:35to Oklahoma City Thunder

02:36if they were to stay healthy.

02:40You know who's now a threat to the Thunder?

02:42Or the Rockets?

02:43Or anybody else at the top of the West?

02:45That's the Sacramento Kings.

02:47Sacramento Kings,

02:48that I did not think was going to be very good this year,

02:50to be honest with you,

02:52are sitting in 14th place

02:54in the Western Conference.

02:57Why is there concern

02:58of what's going on with Sacramento?

02:59They've got main guys missing games.

03:03You know,

03:04Murray's only played,

03:06I think,

03:06in six games,

03:07I do believe.

03:08I think he's missed 15.

03:10Sabonis is out with a knee injury.

03:12I mean,

03:12they have to go on to scrap people

03:14and pick up Precious Achua,

03:15who the Knicks didn't want back,

03:16then Miami released,

03:17and he's starting,

03:18and actually playing well.

03:20Shout out to Precious,

03:20because always a gamer

03:21and always a pro.

03:23But when you look at Sacramento,

03:24they got rid of Mike Brown.

03:27They got rid of De'Aaron Fox.

03:30Folks,

03:30they got to go full rebuild.

03:32Now,

03:33when you look at their guys,

03:34they're going to have veterans

03:36that teams are going to want.

03:38It may not be at the trade deadline,

03:39but it may be at the end of this year,

03:41because most of these guys

03:42have two or three years left on their deal.

03:44Got to talk about the modus to bonus.

03:46At times,

03:47one of the top 20 players in the NBA.

03:49You can look at a guy like Zach Levine,

03:51who,

03:52despite arguing with fans in the stands,

03:54is still a guy that,

03:56when motivated,

03:57can be a legit 18 to 20 point game score,

04:01but I think would be phenomenal

04:02off the bench for a team

04:04trying to win a championship.

04:05Or the same thing with DeMar DeRozan.

04:07Or Malik Monk.

04:09They have guys

04:10that I think,

04:12when you want to turn the roster over,

04:14is going to fetch you something in return.

04:18So Sacramento is going nowhere.

04:22And the beam,

04:23I don't know if they unscrewed the light bulb,

04:26threw the light bulb out,

04:27stopped on it,

04:28light switch don't work,

04:29I don't know,

04:30power's out.

04:31But the beam ain't lighting.

04:32They got to make changes.

04:34And they'll make changes

04:35either at the deadline

04:36or at the end of this year.

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