00:00The Rockets narrowly get by a New Orleans Pelicans team.
00:03That's what the fellas are talking about on Friday.
00:05With no outburst, Shang-Goon, who was dealing with some lower back pain.
00:09Well, it seems like Shang-Goon, after having Saturday and Sunday night off,
00:13is still in a place where he has lower back pain.
00:16He's still questionable.
00:18And you know my theory on backs is that trick backs don't stop tricking.
00:23Is this going to be a problem for the Rockets?
00:25It has been a problem.
00:25Because they have a couple of games.
00:27They have one of these mini baseball series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
00:30A team that is a half game ahead of you in the standings.
00:33And one of the four teams that are jockeyed for position anywhere between third and sixth in the West.
00:38Which could be the difference between hosting or having home court advantage in a first round series.
00:43Or having to go on the road.
00:44How big of a problem is it this lower back pain that Alper and Shang-Goon is dealing with right
00:48now?
00:48I honestly don't know how big of a problem his back is.
00:52Because the spectrum of possibilities is very wide.
00:55But it could be one of those things where at the end of the year you end up hearing,
00:59yeah, it was bothering him all year long.
01:02He could barely move during some practices, etc.
01:04Or it's just a convenient way to excuse a not very good year for Alper and Shang-Goon.
01:12A not very good year on his standards, obviously.
01:15And somewhat fading here at the end.
01:17Which would lean more into maybe the back is probably hurting him as the season progresses.
01:22Is what I'm thinking.
01:24I mean, is it weird that I would actually prefer the former?
01:27If this was some level of...
01:29That's not weird at all.
01:29Which, again...
01:30No, that's not weird at all.
01:31I don't think it's an any level of excuse.
01:33And it would be kind of weird to try and use that over the course of the season here at
01:36the end.
01:37But it would make me feel better in that, okay, you know,
01:40he's not actually dealing with this pain and what is, you know, his trunk.
01:44But him dealing with that really does scare me for at the very least the remainder of the season.
01:49Because you're in a place where you're still somewhat competitive.
01:53And with Fred VanVleet continuing to give us some level of hope,
01:57no matter how small, that he could possibly return.
01:59If you do get a Fred VanVleet on this team,
02:02and even, you know, if they get better at some marginal things,
02:05they can be dangerous in this West still.
02:08So, even if you don't feel like they're as big of a dominance force in the West
02:12as we had anticipated they could be,
02:14they could still be dangerous in this.
02:16Except they can't without Alper and Shangoon playing his best.
02:19And a hurt back Alper and Shangoon is not going to help that along, I don't think.
02:24No.
02:25I don't know what to believe, as I just mentioned.
02:27But I will say this.
02:29There are things that even with...
02:31I don't have a lot of confidence in Fred VanVleet, but he does.
02:34So, I'll take his word for it.
02:35Very confident.
02:36I'll take his word for it.
02:37But even if he comes back and is some semblance of what he was in the past,
02:42how much better does it make Shangoon, even if he is on the floor?
02:45I think a ton.
02:46I don't know.
02:47I think Shangoon probably is the player that stands to benefit the absolute most
02:51from a return of Fred VanVleet.
02:53Defensively?
02:55Yes, actually.
02:57I think Fred VanVleet is an organizing force on defense, right?
03:00And you know this, right?
03:01On defense, especially as a coach, someone who's coached basketball,
03:05what do you always want?
03:06You want your guys talking.
03:06He's one of those guys that helps put guys in the right position.
03:09And what have we talked about a lot recently?
03:11Sometimes these rotations defensively kind of falling apart.
03:14I feel like having someone like Fred VanVleet absolutely helps that on the floor.
03:18But really, more importantly, I actually think offensively he helps Alpert Shangoon.
03:23One, because Alpert Shangoon having the ball in his hands and having to make those decisions,
03:28passing the basketball, has been rough in some ways.
03:31I like him as a, not necessarily as a hub, but as a connector.
03:35And I think that Fred VanVleet with the ball in his hands as opposed to Alpert Shangoon helps
03:38him do more of that.
03:40But then also, one of the things that I feel like I noticed when they played the Nuggets
03:44last week is you could see the stark difference in a team that can collapse the defense and
03:49then create advantage and then pass into those places where you could take advantage.
03:52The Rockets don't do that well enough.
03:54In fact, you see when they get better, when teams actively double-team because it creates
03:58an advantage naturally because that defense is giving up.
04:01We're playing four versus three on the back end because we're sending two at this ball
04:05handler.
04:05And if they pass quick enough, then you see the offense get juiced because they don't
04:10typically in half court create advantage for themselves.
04:13Fred VanVleet is a dude who can help create advantage.
04:15Now we're getting to a place where you can take the talent of Jabari Smith Jr., of a man
04:20Thompson, of even someone like a Josh Akogi and definitely a Reed Shepard.
04:23And you see that show up in a better way, but especially Alper and Shangoon, where he
04:27does not have to be the focal point.
04:28Now he could be a dude who benefits from somebody else.
04:30I think he will.
04:31And I didn't doubt this.
04:32I think he will absolutely benefit on the offensive side.
04:35I don't think defensively it's going to change as much as you do.
04:38And the simple reason is, first of all, Dylan Brooks, Dylan Brooks on the back end was more
04:43of the guy that could do that.
04:44You know, the organizer, as you talked about, as opposed to the perimeter.
04:47Definitely some of that.
04:48I'm not going to disagree with you.
04:49And so I don't know how much that's going to help Shangoon.
04:51And no matter if Van Vliet is on the floor or not defensively, is that going to help
04:57teams from just attacking Shangoon?
05:00Because whether you're organized or not, they are going to attack Shangoon.
05:03Well, yeah.
05:03In that drop, I do think that Fred, well, I was going to say Fred helps with some of the
05:08screen navigation.
05:09Fred, at his age, was not the absolute best screen navigator.
05:12But I wonder, if you're having Fred play some of the minutes that, let's say, Reed Shepard
05:17was playing.
05:18Reed Shepard is an awful screen navigator.
05:20And I will not be quiet about that.
05:23What is the difference there?
05:24Right?
05:24How does that change in helping protect Alfred Shangoon on some of those drop coverage
05:29situations where he ends up in no man's land with two dudes barreling down at him and having
05:34to make decisions?
05:35Right?
05:35I think that some of that can help.
05:37But I think it's fair, the point that you made.
05:38Yeah.
05:38And did you hear Kendrick Perkins?
05:42I try not to.
05:43With all due respect to the pride of Beaumont, Texas.
05:45Kendrick Perkins has real outside of-
05:48And this is what I'm talking about.
05:49Like, they're going to attack him no matter who's on the floor on the perimeter.
05:51Fair enough.
05:52Outside of injury, outside of any of that, this is Kendrick Perkins with criticism for
05:56Alpern Shangoon.
05:56Shangoon.
05:57Alpern.
05:58What up, Alpern?
05:59He makes my f***ing skin crawl.
06:02He was called a baby yoke.
06:03No, and I switched it.
06:04I switched that.
06:05He's nowhere close to-
06:07What I would, like, expect out of-
06:11Talent-wise, offensively, he has that.
06:13But it's a mindset, bro.
06:16Defensively, against the Spurs, they went at him-
06:19Dylan Harper said they went at him 15 straight plays.
06:23Damn.
06:2415.
06:25You know how f***ing disrespectful that is?
06:27Yeah, I just watched the Washington Wizards play.
06:30I know.
06:30No, but what I'm saying is that they know that you're not going to put your feet in the
06:34ground and be willing to slide your f***ing puppies for two steps and take pride in defending.
06:41No Steven Adams.
06:43You're the starting center.
06:44At some point, you're going to have to say, man, you know what?
06:48I got to anchor this defense.
06:50You can't give me 110% offensively down the floor and give me 40% on the defensive side of
06:58things.
06:58I'm not saying he's the most athletic, but those guys cannot coexist.
07:03That's the thing that is just-
07:05Now, he definitely put a lot of extra jelly on that, but I don't think it hides the fact
07:11that teams are going to hunt him in the post 15 straight, and we heard that as well.
07:17You know, Harper talking about that after the game last week or week before.
07:21That's something that's not going to go away.
07:23No.
07:23I think that's a little more schematic, but definitely Alperin has to carry some of that,
07:27right, is you're back there, you're the last line of defense, and people have felt it capable
07:33and honestly, not just capable, the path to success is being able to go at you.
07:37I think that that's more of a collective defense thing that you need to speak of, but I think
07:42that it's fair that, hey, man, Alper Schengen, you need to show up, and the reason why I still
07:47go, ooh, this injury thing is scaring me is because you see what happens when he's not
07:52there is there's just no more bigs left, right?
07:54You saw against the Pelicans where they started small with Dorian Finney-Smith in, I guess,
07:59as a de facto five or maybe Jabari or maybe KD, depending on how you looked at it, but
08:04that was a team in the Pelicans that is also small, and you went back and forth with them
08:08to the point of, what was the score?
08:10Was it a two-point win at the very end of this?
08:13107-105 versus the Pelicans at home, right?
08:17How does that look now that you have the Lakers in town with LeBron James, admittedly a lesser
08:21version of LeBron James, but somebody that's a physical guy, Luka Doncic, who's very good
08:26at manipulating things, and Austin Reeves, who's very agile, and then they've got some
08:31bigs that maybe not great, but like Jackson Hayes is a rim runner, DeAndre Ayton, who can
08:36get big and physical at times, they're going to have to show up physically, and so if you
08:41have those questions about Alper and Schengen already, what happens if whether Alper and Schengen
08:45plays and is dealing with the lower back, or doesn't play, and now you're small, I think
08:49that that does pose an interesting question for the Rockets in this stretch here.
08:53Huge series here, so to speak, with the Lakers, but at some point with Schengen, I think he's
09:01been a fantastic player, and he's still young and all that.
09:04All I'm saying is this year, there's something going on where he's either injured, or it's
09:07a combination of his back and the effort that he's putting forth, because this has always
09:12been one thing that he's been bailed out by previously Steven Adams multiple times.
09:17At some point, whether you have good communication, whether you have help, or whatever it may be
09:23on the defensive side, the collective as you put it, at some point you have to, and this
09:27is what Perk was talking, you have to make a stand and do the right thing defensively,
09:32and it's just, it hasn't happened enough.
09:34Well, if he plays tonight, this is a great time to start, because you've got the Lakers,
09:37and not only do you have the Lakers, this is 830 on Peacock and NBCSN.
09:42So, you're kind of in front of the holes, right?
09:44Like, this is not on big NBC, but hey man, world's watching, baby.
09:48Right?
09:48The NBA world is watching.
09:49You got one of the premier franchises on your home floor.
09:52What are you going to do?
09:54Right?
09:54Shout out to Michael Lerber, right?
09:55Like, this is a moment where you have an opportunity to answer the call, and hopefully that lower
10:00back injury does not hurt his opportunity.
10:02And by the way, he's questionable.
10:03He's questionable.
10:03If he plays, he needs to show up.
10:05If he doesn't, man, this is going to be a very interesting game.
10:08I think it'll be pretty telling on where this Rockets team is in the last, what, 15, 16 games
10:13of this season.
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