- 1 day ago
Seth and Sean talk with the Hoops Critic himself: Brian Geltzeiler of Sirius/XM NBA about the emergence of Alperen Şengün, if Fred VanVleet may be able to come back this season like he says he's targeting, and how they'd fare in a 7-game series.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00so let's get into this geltz with the rockets here um you know the language i speak my love
00:04language is gambling um the rocket season win total started at 52 and a half before the season
00:10they now have the second highest win total on the board in vegas obviously behind okc way behind
00:17okc i mean okc's total is 69 and a half but the rockets are second on the board at 58 and a half
00:22does that sound about right to you yeah it does i mean listen i i thought that there would be
00:28somewhat of a little bit of a regular season drop off with the absence of freddie van vliet but i
00:35just i i have to tell you i bow at email you doke his feet because what he's managed to do and how
00:41he's kind of remade this team without freddie and this ultra size thing that they have going on and
00:48really what the rockets are doing right now and it's you know i was texting mike francis about this
00:54the other day because we're both kind of in awe of the fact that the rockets have managed to kind
00:59of change a little bit of the pace and space paradigm in the nba you're looking at a team who
01:04is last in the league in three-point rate and just to put that in some perspective guys 50 percent of
01:11the shots the golden state warriors take their first in the league in three-point rate are threes
01:15the houston rockets are last in the league 34 percent of the shots that they take up are three-point
01:21shots so exactly what you'd expect from a daryl morey protege at gm and no right that's it's going
01:28the other way but they're also first in the league in offensive rebounding percentage so they're
01:34essentially and second in the league in offensive efficiency they're essentially taking the teeth out
01:39of other teams speed games by being relentless on the offensive glass and the difference by the
01:44way the difference between them at one in offensive rebounding rate and the blazers at two
01:48is a they're 20 percent higher than the blazers at that number like that's how much they're killing
01:55teams on the offensive glass and listen when you look at how well they're shooting the ball from three
02:00which is kind of amazing in and of itself you know the second in the league in three-point percentage
02:06so it's not only about we're taking less threes we're taking better threes we have the right people
02:11taking threes reed shepherd shooting 45 percent from three uh aaron holiday shooting 40 percent from
02:16three shangun shooting 39 percent from three so this is just it's it we talk all the time guys about
02:23a coach not necessarily saying this is how we play but taking the the group of players and the talent
02:29that you have and crafting a system that fits them best email you dope has done that probably better
02:34than any coach in the league right now and yes having durant there to bail you out late in shot
02:38clocks always works and is always helpful but the overall approach and how they've managed to cover
02:44for let's face it they have a vital guy to this organization over the last two years how they've
02:50been able to cover for it has been incredibly amazing and frankly makes they're going to be a
02:54major factor with the kind of size they put on the floor night in and night out come playoff time
02:59and so like obviously we're joking about it looking like a daryl maury team it looks exactly the opposite
03:03of a daryl maury team but by the same respects though they are doing something that daryl maury
03:08was good at doing which is you're differently in the rest of the league is operating and you get an
03:14advantage because of it but then the big question becomes as it was in the daryl maury days how does
03:20that look in the playoffs like how does this style of play look in a seven game series versus a really
03:25good team so what do we always say seth in the playoffs the game slows down right they you have
03:32it just it's inevitable now it's over the years okay in the advent of the warriors with the threes
03:39and the pace and space in the last 10 years it's sped up a little bit in the playoffs but all you need
03:44to look at to know how different the game is in the playoffs is realize how dominant oklahoma city was
03:48last year in the regular season how dominant they look this year in the regular season yet two teams
03:53the denver nuggets and indiana pacers took them to seven games last year in the playoffs the playoffs
03:57are a different animal but there's things that the rockets are doing in the regular season that
04:02travel into the playoffs besides the slow play and it starts with the offensive rebounding in the
04:07playoffs the offensive rebounding becomes even more of a weapon because again and that's what teams
04:14are trending towards right now we as opposed to worrying about maximizing each possession it's now
04:20become about maximizing the amount of possessions and the game's gonna be faster because of the 14
04:25second reset rule with the shot clock it doesn't reset to 24 seconds which i i don't like and i'm in
04:31the minority of people around the league that don't like it and it becomes a get off my lawn moment for
04:35me so i'll spare you guys the the tangential rant okay with all that said the things the rockets
04:41are doing on both ends of the floor they travel they you know the rockets are sixth in the league in
04:46overall defense all right they're second in the league in net rating they're only the only team
04:51that's got a higher net rating is the thunder they're the only there's only two teams in the
04:54league with net ratings that are positive double digits the thunder and the rockets like everything
04:59that they do and how they play will travel into the playoffs more than some of these other teams are
05:05going to have some of their styles travel into the playoffs so i i i think that come playoff time
05:10assuming durant is healthy because durant is your late shot clock bailout although shangun showing you
05:16a little bit of that this year too that he can do some of that but he's your main late you know
05:21late shot clock bailout guy he's gonna have to be on the floor and at 37 years old your margin's a
05:26little slim there you need him to stay healthy and be healthy if he's there the rockets are as tough
05:31as anybody how valuable is stephen adams to this whole thing geltz well it's it's interesting
05:37so they had the back-to-back with utah yeah they won by 28 when he played lost by eight when he
05:41didn't right yeah it's because what adams does is and you're watching a lot of this shangun is taking
05:48on a role that quite frankly you see other guys around the league doing you're seeing jaylen johnson
05:54do it for atlanta you're seeing denny avdi you do it for portland this really big guy the 6'9 6'10
06:00dude in shangun it's in in his case at 6'11 that is initiating offense for you
06:07so when you have him initiating offense it's actually probably a little bit easier because
06:11shangun is not a bad defensive player but not a good defensive player it's easier to hide him at
06:16the four when you get stephen adams out there and you're hiding him at the four think about how big
06:20you all of a sudden get from adams to shangun to durant to jabari smith to a man thompson that's
06:29fine like you can hide shangun with those other four guys on the floor the other thing is this that
06:33steven adams you know i'm making a big deal over the offensive rebounding this is the best
06:37offensive rebounder in the nba bar none and at 31 years old with a redone knee he's got new gas in
06:44the tank and he may have the clear understanding of how many minutes to play him right now during
06:48the season when to rest him like they rested him the other night against utah like they're
06:52he may uses him so smart and he's just this perfectly defined role player that fits in around
06:58everything that they have and you look at this ultra big approach that they have it's
07:03it will knit because of the importance of the offensive rebounding because it takes the teeth
07:07out of other teams transition games he is such a vital guy to their to their really big lineup and
07:14those really big lineups that's the one if you live you listen if you ask mark dagnell the head
07:18coach of oklahoma city thunder what he's most worried about regarding getting out of the western
07:22conference he may not say this but if you injected him with truth serum or gave him like
07:27six shots at casamigos okay he will probably tell you it's the really big lineup of the of the
07:33essentially really big lineup of the rockets that we're not going to be able to keep off the
07:36offensive glass and we're not going to be able to get out and run against because we got to worry
07:40about defensive rebounding that to me is the single biggest to the right now in the western
07:44conference brian you're you're really plugged in on the european prospects and everything else like
07:50that um with shangun like obviously a lot of people liked shangun did you and others
07:57see maybe this version of shangun as a potential or is this is this above and beyond that
08:03this is above and beyond that i thought shangun listen you see a big like that who's a really
08:09good passer who's got a high skill level who's really good in dribble handoff situations at the
08:15elbow like you see a guy like that you're like okay you see a spot for him but i always and shawnee
08:19will tell you this set i always default first though will can he guard and if he can't guard at the
08:24five how are you going to structurally set up a team that can function around that well one of
08:29the reasons you or ways you get through that is a guy being just dominant offensively shangun's
08:34dominant offensively like the balls in his hands so many good things happen and now what he's done
08:39in the offseason and we saw him play incredible in europe basket we saw in the offseason where he
08:43worked on his game to the point where now he's a really viable three-point shooter like a really good
08:48three-point shooter and so to me the development of his game has gone far beyond anybody that they're
08:53they're all full of it guys no one saw shangun being this good the other thing is this which
08:58is interesting so i compared shangun earlier the jalen johnson and denny abdia two young players
09:04having awesome years but being big guys that initiate offense the other thing is that jokic
09:09nicole jokic has kind of spawned a new point center in the league that shangun really is kind of a take
09:16off of that now listen i love shangun i i voted him third year all a third team all nba last year i think he's
09:22that good but you look at that center is that type of center that jokic has spawned shangun's kind
09:28of the first knockoff there but you got a couple others coming derrick queen in new orleans looks
09:32like with that you know ball handling stuff and the way he plays out high and all the passing you
09:37know the portland's got this guy that hasn't quite gotten on the floor a lot but everybody loves
09:41young hansen same type of center but shangun has kind of taken that jokic mold to his own level
09:46and the perimeter scoring to me is what has been just a massive massive difference maker because
09:52again it allows you to play him at the four on offense hide him a little defensively and have
09:57stephen adams on the floor so you have a dominant team and a huge team on the offensive glass
10:03brian gill go ahead seth go ahead brian geltseiler series xm brian this is uh something that sean and i
10:09were toying around with the other day fred van vliet said that he's he's trying to make a comeback before
10:14the end of the season and my first thought was okay a there's the medical side of it and who knows
10:19whether he can or he cannot but also just the timing of it like if if fred van vliet can't come
10:25back until the very beginning of the playoffs what do you do well so here's part of this i'll say is
10:32this seth part of freddie kind of floating that out there right now is him being like please don't
10:37trade me please don't trade me because the thing is is he'd like to come back and be with this group
10:43that's 25 million dollar salary like let's say boston's willing to make you deon derrick white
10:48listen boston's playing very well right now and they beat the knicks at home last night and i don't
10:52know that boston is in a hurry to start selling off pieces but if derrick white was available and
10:56that's the salary that's got to go out well that's a salary that's got to go out the question that you
11:01ask because i don't know that derrick white's going to be available the guy that i know is going to be
11:05available that actually could fit the rockets well offensively is cj mccollum i just wonder how fast
11:12they're going to jump to that with the fact that a van vliet's float going to try to pack because
11:17what freddie does spans beyond just him as a player there's a leadership aspect that he has when he's on
11:23the floor that resonates with this group and his playoff experience being an nba champion all of that
11:29that stuff that you want on the floor it's you know if mccollum's available do you forego what van
11:35vliet offers to bring cj mccollum in knowing that he couldn't guard me like that's something that you
11:41really have to that you really have to consider and you're going to do that and van vliet's smart
11:45he's floating that out there to maybe discourage a deal like that because again if you're going to
11:50bring in that kind of guy you need a big salary going out that's part of the reason they brought
11:54a finney smith capella because of one of the finney smith hasn't played yet but that's 13 million that
11:58can go out the door you put that with van vliet's 25 now you're in a position of bringing a 38 million
12:04dollar player and you're pretty good player you're going to bring a 38 million dollar player and there's
12:07going to be guys available off of some of these tanking teams for them so i think for freddie
12:12he's being pretty clever here and i think the understanding is that if you decide not to make
12:16a deal if shepherd's playing well enough if holiday's playing well enough if you're comfortable
12:19enough with the big lineup you get freddie back in and ease him back in and with the understanding that
12:25if you do make it back the role that you're assuming not going to be the same role that you had because
12:30we've had other guys that have stepped up to fill it and you're going to be a piece instead of a main
12:35piece but i think for freddie on this kind of team i think he would embrace that i think for him
12:40this is about being on the floor and being a part of this it's for van vliet he's not the kind of guy
12:45that it's ever about me it's always about we is the you and we're talking to brian geltziler
12:50serious xm nba um before we get you out of here geltz we've we've just touched on the fact that
12:55reed shepherd's been shooting the ball really well what ultimately you know the because they're
13:01you know they at the beginning of the season it felt like they were trying to figure out
13:04is he a point guard they put him out there to run the offense and it didn't look great but
13:08obviously he's shooting the hell out of the ball and he's improved defensively what ultimately is
13:12reed shepherd's role on this team do you think once april rolls around um i think it's going to be
13:18pretty simple it's i guess the best analogy i can make shawnee is it's going to be jamal crawford-esque
13:23okay and the respect that if he's making shots will listen he's getting better defensively
13:29okay but he's clearly pretty much gone from awful to bad like he's not you know what i mean it's
13:34not he's we're not at mediocre yet we're getting there but we're not at mediocre yet here's my
13:38point if he's making odds this kind of clip i forget he's not i don't know this issue 45 for the whole
13:43year but if you see 40 if he's making shots from three at a 40 clip he will play 25 to 30 minutes in
13:50the playoffs because they they will deal with the fact that he doesn't guard that well because he's
13:54making open shots if he is not making open shots he's gonna play 10 to 15 minutes a game he's gonna
14:00be on the bench because they ultimately he is there to shoot the basketball they will live with the
14:06fact that he is not proven to be a real good ball handler under pressure but by the same token you know
14:11who has a man thompson and he is just what he's done his development over the course of the last six
14:17weeks has been amazing to me because he looked like a fish out of water as a primary ball handler
14:22earlier in the year and there's been a belief system within that coaching staff and within
14:26that roster that you can do this a man and he has gotten so much better shangun helps with some of
14:31the ball handling durant helps with it you know holiday being on the floor more is a good ball handler
14:36that helps but thompson doing what he's done and developing the way he's developed allows shepherd
14:41just to stay in the role of a bench shooter a steve kerr john paxton type of guy that again if you're on
14:47the floor and you're going to play off of our dynamic you know three years um you got to get
14:53the open shots and if you sit in the open shots they'll figure it out defensively they will if
14:57he's not he's going to be on the bench but that's kind of the way it's going to be either either if
15:01you're shooting well we'll use you and if you're not you don't do enough else good for us to be able
15:06to live with you in a playoff scenario makes sense uh brian geltziler serious xm nba does a phenomenal
15:11job as you just heard for the previous 15 minutes covering the nba geltz the biggest non-basketball
15:16thing that kind of piqued the interest of me and seth i think was that you text on a regular basis
15:21with mike francesa once in a while it was a holiday text okay but mike and i are in touch it was a
15:28holiday text to be fair but mike you know but this is what's awesome about mike you text mike to wish
15:33him a happy thanksgiving all right and next thing you know i get like four or five texts in a row
15:37mike's big takes on what's going on in the nba this year and that's you know we're debating he's i do i
15:43know people don't like mike i love mike mike's the best he's pioneered this industry that that we
15:49that we all make money from and enjoy and he's generous with his time and he's i know people
15:55don't think he's all that respectful at times he's incredibly respectful and a wonderful guy
16:00and i love his nba takes because he was oh doesn't watch the games nonsense mike watches the games he just
16:06looks at him a little differently than us youngins do okay well there you go see you don't have to sell
16:10me on a guilt you know i grew up listening to mike and the mad dog up i know yeah i know you did
16:14new england kid you get it yeah you get what mike is they were they him and people that didn't grow
16:21up around didn't realize it him and dog were the culture of new york sports like it was during those
16:2794 runs with the knicks and the rangers like you know everybody would come out with them pat riley
16:33mike keenan like and they fried guys they hammered guys in a way let's be frank none of us could get
16:39away with hammering these dudes because they'd never will never come on with us again they had
16:43to come on with mike and chris because they were that relevant in new york and that it was big time
16:48uh brian geltziler sirius xm nba geltz you're the best man appreciate you always my pleasure guys
16:54we'll talk soon take care sounds good brian geltziler joining us here that we gotta talk we gotta hit the
16:59break here that the theory on fred van vliet is interesting and something you and i have not talked
17:03about no him trying to stay on the rockets yeah and not get rated understandably so yeah for sure for sure
Be the first to comment