- 2 days ago
Seth and Luke discuss the Rockets wanting their youngsters to grow together more, and assess if Kevin Durant could be actually hindering this process.
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00:00Rockets get the win last night over the Hawks.
00:02The game is still on the TV here in studio,
00:05and we're at the point midway through the fourth quarter
00:07where Houston really starts to pull away.
00:09It was a one-possession game late in that third quarter.
00:12I said this, too, when we first came on,
00:14but it was pretty much the opposite of the night prior
00:17in their home loss to the Spurs.
00:19They get a road win against the Hawks where, against the Spurs,
00:23offense was great to begin and then disappeared,
00:26and they blew a lead against the Hawks.
00:28This offense was pretty nonexistent early on
00:31and then came alive late, and what was a close game
00:34became a bit of a blowout as the Rockets went on a 12-4 run
00:38to start the fourth quarter to kind of put the game away.
00:41They were up by 20 in the fourth quarter,
00:42end up beating the Hawks pretty good.
00:44So the Rockets have struggled with back-to-backs this year,
00:47but at least they got a win last night and the second night back-to-back.
00:50They kind of – I don't look at that one as a big endorsement of,
00:55oh, they figured out these back-to-backs
00:56because the Hawks were just really, really depleted
00:59and already not a great basketball team.
01:02I guess the thing with the Rockets that's been a consistent theme all year
01:06has been, all right, some of these fourth quarter letdowns are –
01:11like it becomes very apparent versus the good teams.
01:13Like, man, what happened to the Rockets in the fourth quarter?
01:16I don't want to overly simplify it, but there's always that thought of, like,
01:23okay, if you could just string these four quarters together, you know,
01:27if you could just – if you could play four quarters of complete basketball,
01:30it never works out that way.
01:32But if you could be more consistent doing that, specifically in the fourth quarter,
01:36you feel like you could start cooking with gas with this basketball team.
01:39And I do think they've made progress in that regard.
01:42They'll go through stretches where they have a few horrendous fourth quarters in a row,
01:45but then they'll have some really impressive fourth quarters.
01:47And that's when I'm most – I'm okay with saying, all right, they're young,
01:51they're figuring it out.
01:53It's just really hard right now because it looks like Shane Goon's still struggling
01:57and coming back from his injury.
01:59He didn't have a great night last night.
02:00It was – and it started right at the tip-off.
02:03Things didn't look right.
02:05He just – the tip-off was weird.
02:07He just – he jumped too early and then everything kept playing anyway.
02:11He ended up getting ten rebounds, but it was a sloppy night.
02:14I think that that – like, the development of Shane Goon is one thing,
02:18and I have faith that he's going to continue to – he's already a very, very good NBA player,
02:23but I think there's still more growth there, specifically in the fourth quarter.
02:27But can he get healthy while also playing without Steven Adams out there?
02:33You know, Clint Capella's obviously going to have to step up,
02:35and he did some good things last night.
02:37But really, I mean, so much of their fourth quarter is going to have to come from
02:42Shane Goon continue to be more of a veteran NBA player.
02:45Yeah, he was three for 14 last night, which is embarrassing when you're a big guy
02:48because those are all shots around the rim.
02:49I mean, it's Angel Reese type of numbers.
02:51I just saw him miss a layup right now on the replay here this morning
02:54from last night's game.
02:55So he's obviously not 100%, which is a shame because just when he said the other night,
03:00like, oh, I finally feel back to normal,
03:02and then he tweaked his ankle again two days later,
03:05and now clearly, well, based off of last night at least,
03:08even the way he was moving around out there, not 100%.
03:10You throw that into the Fred Van Vliet, Steven Adams injuries,
03:14and a less than 100% Shangoon, and this team is a little beat up right now,
03:18and it can be tough to watch at times, especially on the offensive end.
03:21Yeah.
03:21Well, and then, like, Reed Shepard's got the opposite conundrum,
03:24where he doesn't seem to heat up until the second half in general.
03:27It takes a long time for him to figure out.
03:30Again, that's a young guy that I think that as he plays more and more NBA games,
03:35he'll start to be more of a steady performer, obviously.
03:38What's his ceiling?
03:39We'll find out.
03:41What did Sham Saranya say?
03:43I haven't heard this audio.
03:44Yeah.
03:44So first, before we get to that, let me set it up just a little bit
03:47and actually ask you, Seth, ask you a question,
03:49because this has become a bit of a debate with the position the Rockets are in now,
03:54because you bring in Kevin Durant,
03:56and so it feels like it's this championship win-now attitude.
04:00We've got to do what it takes to go win a title.
04:02But then you have these injuries as well,
04:04and so anyways, there's this debate of, like,
04:05how aggressive should the Rockets get the deadline?
04:07If they brought in Durant,
04:08doesn't that mean they should continue to go all in,
04:11while others are saying, well, because of these injuries and everything,
04:14we just have to chalk it up that this is kind of a bridge season.
04:17Let's just come back next year and hope for better success,
04:20and so let's stand pat at the trade deadline.
04:23So there's these two sides of the debate amongst Rockets fans right now
04:26of how aggressive do we want to be and really go for it this year
04:29but jeopardize the future,
04:30or do we just kind of take this year with a grain of salt?
04:33It is what it is, and let's come back better next year.
04:35Yeah, and I think that if Kevin Durant were 34 years old,
04:39it wouldn't feel like there has to be those two sides to this.
04:42I think then it's a lot easier to say, yeah,
04:44you've got these young guys that you feel good about.
04:47It's going to take a little bit of time.
04:48If it doesn't happen in year one, then so be it.
04:51But once guys get to the age of 37, it's not a guarantee
04:56just because some guys have done it that, oh, yeah,
04:59certainly Kevin Durant will be healthy and be viable
05:02and be just as good when he's 41 years old
05:04or however long the Rockets are able to retain him.
05:07It feels that much more intense.
05:10And I'd lean more on the side of, man,
05:15the all-in move was doing what you had to do to bring Kevin Durant in,
05:19specifically because you had these young guys knowing that just –
05:24there was a temptation for people to, I think, look at that young core
05:27and think, oh, of course, so now Kevin Durant will cut it here.
05:30Then next year, they'll be 20 – the young core will be 25% better
05:34than they were last year.
05:35Simple as that.
05:36I've got a graph here that shows how it works out.
05:39And it just doesn't – it doesn't work that way.
05:41Those guys are going to develop in fits and starts,
05:43but also you are still also trying to figure out and develop the chemistry
05:47between Kevin Durant and those other young players,
05:50so it adds that other dynamic to it.
05:52I'm more – I don't think you have to be –
05:54and being committed to your young core, that doesn't have to mean that,
05:58yep, you're just going to have to wait until next year to develop
06:01and really do anything with it.
06:03I mean, you saw a Rockets team last year that from the beginning of the season
06:07to the end of the season was – they were an improved basketball team.
06:12And I think this one is still one that has a lot of room for improvement
06:16just because that young core is still a young core.
06:19I'm with you in the sense of, yeah, the go-for-it move was Durant,
06:22or that was the cherry on top.
06:24It didn't mean that it was to reverse course of what you're trying to do
06:28or build it here in Houston because the whole idea was we get Durant
06:30and we get to keep our young core.
06:32And so that can still be the strategy.
06:34Six months later, however long it's been now, we don't need to say like,
06:37okay, we've got to blow this whole thing up, get rid of these young guys,
06:39and bring in Giannis or whoever,
06:41because the whole idea was we could get Durant and keep these young guys.
06:45It was a win-win.
06:46It was supposed to be the cherry, not just the start of something.
06:49So here was Shams on ESPN,
06:52and here's what he had to say about how the Rockets appear to be approaching
06:56next week's trade deadline.
06:57They have been just absolutely ravaged.
06:59You have Fred VanVleet, your starting point guard.
07:01He's potentially out for the season.
07:02Steven Adams, he's played as a starter.
07:04He's a reserve.
07:05He's out for the season.
07:06They've had Doreen Finning-Smith out for a significant period of time this year.
07:09They still are, though, a top-four seed.
07:12Despite these significant injuries, they've been winning around Kevin Durant still.
07:16But my understanding is this is a team that is still very confident in their young core.
07:21Alperin Sangoon, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Reed Shepard.
07:25They want to give this group a runway for the next several years.
07:28These are all players in their early to mid-20s.
07:31And so they want to see these guys gradually get better and better.
07:35I expect that Rockets organization, they're always going to be active and engaged,
07:39but they want that young core to continue to grow together.
07:42Yeah, I mean, the Fred VanVleet part is it's just you could beat it to death
07:47talking about how much different it would be right now.
07:49I guess that – and I should have brought that up.
07:52When you're talking about, okay, you went all-in when you went all-in with Kevin Durant,
07:56or at least, like, their version of all-in.
07:58So they traded away what they were comfortable with trading away,
08:00but they already have this young core that they feel good about.
08:02And, like, almost every single issue we talk about with the Rockets offensively
08:08is immediately improved if Fred VanVleet is in there.
08:11And onboarding all of the young guys and Kevin Durant,
08:15or at least the onboarding process of getting everybody to play cohesively,
08:18becomes that much simpler.
08:21And there's still going to be – it doesn't make it easy,
08:24but it's just that much more viable if you have Fred VanVleet.
08:28And I think that you can't just necessarily –
08:30I mean, there's this question for the offseason about bringing back Fred VanVleet
08:35on his deal and everything.
08:37But, like, that's the immediate fix.
08:41It's just – it doesn't come until next year.
08:43And that's the part where Kevin Durant is one year older.
08:46Is it that much of a – is it that much of a sure thing?
08:50I'm cool with the organization standing pat on that
08:52and just having faith in their younger core and potentially Fred VanVleet.
08:56Yeah, and I agree with that.
08:58That's what I would do.
08:58I would try to add here at the deadline but not jeopardize the future of my young core.
09:03Try to get some sort of like a Jose Alvarado at the guard position,
09:07you know, one of those middle of the road.
09:08Not throw it all the way for a Giannis, but add a couple of pieces,
09:11try to supplement here and there, and still continue to keep that young core.
09:14Shams says, you know, the Rockets want this group to continue to develop together.
09:18I think it's the right approach.
09:19But here's my question, and this is what I set up, you know, in the tease.
09:22Durant has been really good this year.
09:24He had 31 points again last night.
09:26I know our guy Ocho on the text line is worried about Durant's minutes,
09:29and I do get that.
09:30I'm watching the game from last night.
09:32They're up 20 with two minutes left,
09:33and Imei still has a banged-up Shen Goon, Durant on the floor.
09:36I don't get that.
09:37But nonetheless, Durant has been really good this year.
09:40Another 30-plus point game.
09:42He's approaching that 90, 50, or 40 streak, or whatever, 50, 40, 90,
09:4950% from the floor, 40% from three, 90% from the free throw line.
09:53He's almost there, having a really good year.
09:56With that said, as good as Durant has been, and we touched on this in passing yesterday,
10:02but I do wonder if it's somewhat like the whole Patrick Ewing theory in the sense of
10:07as great as Durant has been, has it stunted the other pieces,
10:12that young group that we're talking about trying to grow and develop for this Rockets team,
10:16has it actually stunted their development?
10:18Because I don't think Reed Shepard, I think his development has been put on the back burner.
10:23I think Amen Thompson, and maybe more because of the Fred Van Vliet injury
10:26and having to move to point guard, I feel like he has actually regressed this year
10:31compared to last year.
10:32His numbers are mostly down across the board because he's playing a different role.
10:36Shen Goon, I know it's mostly the injury, but he's kind of plateaued
10:39since the start of the season when the offense was running through him.
10:41Since then, his usage has gone down.
10:43Durant's usage has gone up.
10:45Jabari Smith has really taken a step back.
10:48He's been bad.
10:49Who do you look at on the Rockets and say like, wow, they've actually gotten better
10:53since last year or since the start of this year while playing alongside Durant?
10:57I just haven't seen any of that.
10:59So as good as Durant's been, I wonder if their strength is also a little bit of a weakness too.
11:04I guess, yeah, I guess.
11:05And I mean, with the Patrick Ewing, the theory would be that they're actually,
11:08they play better as a team without Patrick Ewing.
11:10I don't know if this team right there right now, without Fred Van Vliet and without Kevin Durant,
11:13they're not going to be nearly as good.
11:16I think it's more that it's frustrating that the guys haven't been able to take advantage
11:24as much of all the attention that Kevin Durant draws.
11:28And part of that is, like you mentioned, Amon Thompson.
11:30Yeah, it doesn't matter if teams double, it doesn't matter if they leave Amon Thompson wide open
11:36because he's not going to hit his shot or he's not going to take his shot.
11:40He's been a little bit more free shooting this year,
11:42but he's shooting worse than he ever has in his young career.
11:45That's the part that I feel like there are opportunities there for these guys to be showing that improvement
11:52if they were running more of an actual offense and if it weren't just as much about,
11:58I mean, it almost feels like a, it almost in some ways ends up being as frustrating
12:02as watching the old James Harden era where it wasn't, you know, it was by James Harden's method of operating
12:10and everything where he would just wait, wait, wait, wait, pass at the last second
12:13and then hope that guy makes a shot.
12:16It's just this, it's, there doesn't feel much structure or as much of something that guys,
12:22younger guys can really latch into and run that offense and take advantage of it.
12:27That's where the scrutiny comes back on Udoka being a defensive minded coach.
12:31Right. Yeah. They need some sort of, uh, I mean, you gotta wait till the off season at this point,
12:36but some sort of help offensively in terms of some sort of offensive coordinator,
12:39some sort of coach on that staff.
12:41We're kind of like we were talking earlier with the Kevin O'Connell thing, or even D'Amico,
12:44EMA handles the defensive side of things and the overarching stuff of the team.
12:48And then you have somebody else that can really boost this offense
12:52because it's been far too inconsistent.
12:53Even in the win last night, the offense looked terrible in the first half.
12:55And I thought, oh, here we go again before Reed Shepard came alive in the second half.
13:00Durant had 12 points in the third quarter.
13:02I'm not saying the Rockets would be better without Durant, like that Patrick Ewing theory,
13:06just more so that I think his presence is not giving the boost people thought it would
13:10to other players to the, to the point where I think some of them are actually taking steps back.
13:14I think, yeah, but again, it always just does come back to, okay, not having a true veteran point guard.
13:20Yeah. Those guys, those guys, those guys would look a whole lot better.
13:23If you had somebody, if you had an actual point guard running the offense and creating opportunities
13:28and distributing the ball, it's like, it's like all those things where, yeah,
13:33it's great that you can run the offense through Shangoon.
13:35It's great that you can run the offense through Durant, but it's still,
13:38that's still different than not having a classic point guard.
13:42It's true. No, that, that does make a huge difference.
13:44I do like this text from a listener on the text line that said, so you mean to tell me that after
13:49the great year we had the previous season, us regressing this year is supposed to be written
13:53off as a bridge season. One thing about Houston sports fans, we love mediocrity and we'll never
13:58put up a big fuss like Boston and those other tough sports fan cities.
14:02I don't think it needs to be a bridge season. I don't know if I'm framing it that way.
14:05I still think there's, there's room for some gelling between now and, and the post season.
14:12Like the, so what I don't want to do though, because again, don't fall too far on the side
14:17of that fan that thinks you can go all in every year and then you're not going to complain about
14:22it when everything falls apart. If you go all in this year, get rid of half your young core.
14:26And then if that doesn't work out and then next year you're, you're a worse team than you are
14:32this year. Are you, are you cool with it? No, you're not. You never are. It's just,
14:37that's not the way it works. So they have to make that, they have to operate in such a way that,
14:42all right, we got to, we want to be competitive for a few years here. So you have an opportunity
14:45every year and yet to abandon it all for not to mention the back. Okay, great. Trade away a bunch
14:52of your young core for Antetokounmpo who's currently injured and exactly like doing that mid season.
14:59Is that a slam dunk without an actual point guard on the floor that you're not going to end up with
15:03a lot of the same issues? You might be a better version of what you have right now, but it's not
15:08a guarantee that, Oh, we've got two great players there. Every team that has two great players wins
15:13a championship, right? No. For the record, I don't think the texture was directed towards you.
15:19But just the general idea that I set up earlier about some Rockets fans do believe like this is
15:23now a bridge season. What kind of pack it in? It's better if I take it personally. No, I like,
15:27I love the, the impassioned response to people on the text line. Like, listen, I know your,
15:32I know your text wasn't actually all that vicious, but it's more fun if I, if, uh, if I get offended
15:36by it. Yeah, no, I'm the same way. Uh, Jason earlier said enough with the TV show references.
15:41And I was, I forgot to, I had it in my mind. I was going to shoehorn another TV show reference
15:45into this conversation. And Jason, you're lucky that I forgot to do it. I just remembered now
15:50and I'm not going to do it now. I'm not going to force it. Did we get any more good, uh, people,
15:53people's ideas that they know are brilliant, but are, uh, are probably stupid. Yeah. I like this
15:58one. Someone said they used word, uh, to make a fake report card worked flawlessly until the
16:04teachers called my parents. Oh, they use Microsoft word to make a fake report card. Yeah. That's a,
16:11that must've been from back in the day. Right. I, those get emailed to you now. Yeah. I remember
16:16harder to fake it anymore. Yeah. I remember when we were growing up, they would mail them home.
16:19And so our big thing was like, we would try to check the mailbox and intercept it, um, before
16:24our parents would, would get it. I tried to make a, I tried to do my own fake ID when I was in high
16:29school. Yeah. I was in college when I was in college and it was just, it was so bad. It was
16:34ridiculous. It was, it was really bad. But the good thing is that most of the bouncers that most of
16:38the bars were other athletes. So it didn't matter anyway. I could, I could have showed him my lunch
16:42card and they'd be like, cool, you're in. Yeah. Uh, and then the one other great idea that came in,
16:47um, dad bods where you could get a lap dance and fatherly advice all under the same, uh, G
16:52string. Oh, you know what? The fatherly advice part might be good. Then you come in and have just
16:59some nice guy. And, uh, I don't know about the lap dance part, but I just, uh, just a woman that
17:05wants to feel like there's a man in her life that is actually looking out for her best interest in
17:10anything, everything. Women whose, whose own dads are just, uh, are just degenerate jerks or something
17:15or, or, or absentee. I have my idea was always, um, uh, a place where women could go to get foot
17:23rubs by good looking men who were also really good listeners. Yeah. They could just go in and it would
17:29be like this really handsome guy that would say, tell me about your day at work. Uh, how all the other
17:35women there are just, uh, are, are idiots. Tell me. Oh yes. Yes. Oh, I get it. No, you're in the
17:41right bank, man. Win, win for everyone. Absolutely. It's a great idea. And lastly, before we run here,
17:47Ocho, I got to correct my guy Ocho. He was actually saying he's in support of Durant playing all those
17:52minutes and you shouldn't be worried. I misread the text in my haste. Yeah. I'm at about the same
17:56level. His, his numbers in terms of usage are about the same as they've been the last couple of years.
18:01Yeah. Yeah. They are just a little bit older and I want to preserve them a little bit. So I'm a
18:05little worried about the minutes, but I do love that he plays back to backs. He plays all the games.
18:09Everyone in the NBA should.
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