- 3 days ago
Seth and Sean discuss the Astros winning their series vs the Red Sox, the Rockets being eliminated from the playoffs, and what Ime Udoka had to say as far as where they go from here.
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00:00I'm just happy that Christian Walker's brains were there for the flight yesterday.
00:05It was scary, man. You know, it's funny. That's the first time that I've ever seen, and for those who
00:10missed it,
00:11Christian Walker on Saturday got beamed right on the chin flap of his helmet.
00:20Yeah, well, it was tough to figure out because it was like his shoulder knocked the chin flap up,
00:27but then the ball hit him on the side of the head.
00:29Yeah, well, the chin flap went flying. That got knocked off.
00:33So in some respect, that's the first time I've ever seen the old chin flap come into play before.
00:38Well, but I guess because it did hit the chin flap, but it also hit the chin flap higher.
00:44The chin flap wasn't on his chin at the moment.
00:46Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:47He shrugged his shoulder enough as he was defending himself that it kind of knocked the chin flap up,
00:53and that was scary.
00:54Either way.
00:54So anyway, he got whacked in the head area.
00:57Yeah, and then when I saw him doing an interview next to his locker 30 minutes later,
01:02I'm like, I guess he's okay.
01:03I guess he's not concussed.
01:04It looked bad.
01:05Sometimes the concussion symptoms don't show up until later, so I was happy to see him.
01:09I was happy to see him out there yesterday.
01:10Absolutely.
01:11Yeah, yeah.
01:11I was happy they took two out of three from the Red Sox.
01:15First the Red Sox, next Major League Baseball.
01:19Yeah, well, the Dodgers are up next, so we'll see what happens with that.
01:24Yeah.
01:25We'll see where this goes.
01:27A little bit of a warm-up with the Red Sox there.
01:29Thank God, dude.
01:30Never a doubt in my mind is Abreu came on for his second inning yesterday in extra innings.
01:37Abreu, I never had any doubts at all.
01:40Well, I believed in him from now.
01:42Sure, Sean, he set them up for game-cinching double plays.
01:46He did.
01:47He did.
01:47Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:49He didn't load the bases.
01:51He positioned.
01:52He positioned to the outs.
01:54That's right.
01:54That's right.
01:55Yeah, no, he was setting it up for a big, dramatic ending.
01:57That's what Brian Abreu does.
01:59When he came out...
02:00I got to, real quick, I did something dirty to Brandy yesterday because we were eating an early dinner.
02:08No, get your mind out of the gutter.
02:12We were eating dinner and we were watching the game on our computer and then went back to the TV
02:17because it had been running on the TV when we were done eating our early dinner.
02:20Yeah.
02:21And so I was still watching on my computer and the computer was like 45 seconds ahead of the TV.
02:27Okay.
02:27So Brandy's watching on TV and I still had my eye and I saw the double play.
02:32Yeah.
02:32And I told her, I was like, you know what?
02:35I just, I think, look, they're going to get a double here.
02:38I know it.
02:39I know it.
02:39And usually she's the one that's saying stuff like that.
02:42And boom, double play.
02:44You look so smart.
02:45You should have better.
02:46I bet they get a double play right here.
02:49I'm going to start, I'm going to start bilking my wife out of her hard-earned cash by taking advantage
02:56of in-game betting.
02:58Yes.
02:58In-house in-game betting.
03:00Extreme delays.
03:01Yes.
03:01I watch on whatever comes over faster.
03:04That's what you got to do.
03:05You got to take advantage of this technology.
03:07So that was good.
03:08They took two out of three.
03:10Thank God for the Red Sox.
03:11The Astros and Red Sox are done for the season.
03:13I wish they played more.
03:14The Astros are five and one against the Red Sox this year.
03:17Remember when the Astros swept the Red Sox early in the season?
03:19I do.
03:20I do.
03:20I was at the third game of that sweep.
03:24And I remember going, boy, this is, I remember coming in the next day.
03:27That was an afternoon game, if I'm not mistaken.
03:29And I remember coming in the next day and I'm like, you know, this season is going to, this is
03:34a nice start.
03:35We're not used to these nice starts to the season.
03:36Remember how upset we were that the Astros were in the middle of the pack in the power rankings after
03:42sweeping the mighty Red Sox?
03:44Yeah, yeah.
03:44I'm like, this is a little disrespectful.
03:45They're only ninth in the power rankings.
03:49And as it turned out, those, it turned out it was way wrong.
03:52Baseball nerds.
03:52We did.
03:53They got stupid nerds.
03:54What do they know?
03:55They don't know anything.
03:56How'd that go?
03:57So there's that.
03:59Okay.
03:59Are we just avoiding the topic of the Rockets altogether?
04:02Are we just putting this off?
04:03What are we doing?
04:04Are we?
04:04I'm trying like hell.
04:06I watch player after player get up to the podium and basically say, I don't know what's going to happen.
04:16If they trade me, they trade me.
04:18That's cool.
04:19Free agency, whatever.
04:21Yeah.
04:21Oh, no.
04:22Are they going to be able to retain Tari Eason and all of his magnificent production from this season?
04:27Dude, yeah.
04:29Does the team truly overcome the fact that Kevin Durant allegedly was talking smack about all his teammates on social
04:36media?
04:36And yet somehow that's the dumbest thing in the world for you to talk about.
04:39That was funny, too, because when that whole thing went down with Durant and the burner accounts, Durant was dismissing
04:46it.
04:46I'm not going to get into this Twitter nonsense.
04:48My teammates know what it is.
04:50Blah, blah, blah.
04:52I feel like there were people covering the team that were also trying to be like, hey, I'm around every
04:57day.
04:57It's no big deal.
04:58That kind of thing.
04:59And then all of a sudden they're knocked out.
05:01The guys who have duped me into thinking I'm their friend told me it's no big deal.
05:05Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:06And so there's that.
05:08And then the season ends.
05:09And all of a sudden it's like Katie Barth.
05:11Like Sam Amick's like, no, this was an issue.
05:13Kelly Eco's like, yeah, this was, you know, like he never really resolved it with his teammates.
05:18Sam Amick and Guillory, his co-writer there, said that league sources with close ties to Rocket players indicated the
05:25social media situation was a significant distraction, one that was never truly resolved internally.
05:31Yeah, so it was no big deal until they're knocked out of the postseason, and now it's a big deal.
05:35This is just like if I had discovered that you were texting everybody at Sports Radio 610 saying, boy, Seth
05:43is low-key and imbecile.
05:45Right.
05:45That's just cool.
05:48Yeah.
05:51I figure you probably do.
05:53No, no, no.
05:54I've never seen it.
05:56I've never been able to pin anybody down and get them to admit it.
05:58And you never will.
05:59Yeah.
06:02No, I could totally see.
06:04Like, that's when they were saying, no, no, we know what it is.
06:07It's no big deal.
06:08All right.
06:09Okay.
06:09Because they, I mean, all you have to do is watch this team conduct itself post-All-Star break, and
06:15you're like, something's wrong with this team.
06:16I just, yeah.
06:17The whole body language stuff and everything.
06:18I always, I'm always real careful to try not to read into it.
06:22But I don't, the Rockets and the way everything played out, I can't begrudge people who lean heavily into the
06:29body language discussions.
06:30Right, right.
06:31Given the fact that we have this burner, we had that burner account situation especially.
06:36Yeah.
06:36And then on the other side of that series, you've got LeBron, who just, you know, turned the clock back
06:43at age 41.
06:44He wasn't every bit of the old LeBron, but he was enough to win this series.
06:48And I think that's where you get the, that's where you get the stark contrast to me, Seth, the biggest
06:53one.
06:54Because Kevin Durant had a better season than LeBron James in the regular season.
06:58Like, Durant was a better player.
06:59Take that, LeBron.
07:00Durant was a better player this year than LeBron was.
07:03But boom!
07:04When the time came for LeBron to lead, he led.
07:08You know, he led.
07:10And he led his team to probably a buzzsaw in this next round.
07:14But they won this series, and they beat the Rockets, and they were heavy underdogs.
07:18Coming into this thing.
07:19Durant looked somewhat engaged at times on the sidelines.
07:22On the bench?
07:23Yeah.
07:24I thought he looked every now and then like he was thinking about stuff involving the game when he was
07:31there and present.
07:32Yeah.
07:32Yeah.
07:32I remember that time.
07:34Yeah.
07:34That's right.
07:35Yeah.
07:35I remember that.
07:36It is.
07:36It's hard because, I mean, the very real part of it also is that, yeah, Kevin Durant was injured in
07:41the playoffs,
07:42and he wasn't, he couldn't do anything for his team on the court.
07:45No, but they lost by 20 at home in the elimination game.
07:48Right, right, right.
07:50No, I know, I know.
07:51It's just, there's so many things about this that are so uncomfortable, and there's no clear solution moving forward.
07:56Yeah.
07:56Given where they are with just the way their roster construction and all the salaries are right now,
08:03I don't know exactly what the answer is.
08:04I don't either.
08:05And it's up to Raphael Stone and Eme Odoka to figure it out.
08:08Here was, let's, Ben, let's skip to Eme here.
08:10We'll start with him.
08:12Here's Eme Odoka on next season, getting Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams back,
08:17and what this team needs to go get in the offseason.
08:19Yeah, take an overall look at the group, areas of improvement, no doubt.
08:24You know, and, you know, just hoping, honestly, Fred and Steven come back,
08:29and you never know how injuries, guys come back, so it's not like we're just basing everything on them coming
08:34back.
08:34We still, as I've always said, want our young guys to grow and take steps,
08:37and I think they did that this year, and they'll definitely come back better next year.
08:40But, you know, do need to address the needs of shooting, life of shooting at times.
08:45So, you know, whether it's a back-and-point guard or our young guys did enough this year
08:49to kind of run that with Fred back, and so take a look at all those things.
08:54I think we've had some very interesting conversations on, you know,
08:59having a little bit more mix instead of some duplicates out there.
09:02Do you agree that the young guys took steps forward this season?
09:07Well, at times, yes.
09:09It's just that they're also being asked to, you know,
09:13operate outside of what their strengths are.
09:16Definitely, yep.
09:16You know, especially with Amon Thompson and Reed Shepard.
09:18Yep.
09:19So they took steps forward in that they were asked to do something that they had never done before,
09:22and they were going to improve in those regards, but it wasn't enough.
09:26Yep.
09:26So the biggest – where all of that falls back on Udoka is Udoka as a defensive-minded coach,
09:34the guy that was going to be able to take this all of a sudden after the injury of Fred
09:39Van Vliet,
09:40this all of a sudden reshuffled set of strengths and weaknesses on the team
09:45and turn something – turn the offense into something, and he clearly – they weren't able to do that.
09:50So, you know, we talked about the oddity of them being the – you know, like finishing eighth in offensive
09:57rating.
09:57You know, it's always like, wait, that doesn't match the eyeball test.
10:00It's because they were still bad in the half court.
10:02All of those things that you need when you get to the playoffs that they didn't have last year
10:06that you specifically brought in Durant to try to be able to be a better playoff-caliber offense,
10:12somebody that can play in the half court,
10:14and they were 19th in offensive rating in the half court offense this year.
10:18So, I mean, it just – and especially, and we saw it time and time again,
10:22when you face the really good teams, oh, okay, we're not actually as good as the rankings would indicate.
10:28We can feast on the bad teams because we've just got better matchups against those bad teams.
10:33But when you've got to come out and actually strategize or play a more elegant version of basketball,
10:39they're unable to do it with or without Durant.
10:41And that's the part where I think that, yes, some of those young guys did make improvements,
10:46but they were also being asked to be square pegs in a round hole.
10:51Yeah, yeah.
10:51And Udoka was not the guy to figure that out.
10:54No, you're absolutely right.
10:56Yeah, I just don't – I don't feel great about the development this year.
11:00You're 100% right that at times they were asked to do things.
11:03Reed Shepard obviously improved because the baseline for his improvement was getting off the bench.
11:08You know, he wasn't a factor last year.
11:09So he improved, and yet I feel like it's a big question as to what his role is going to
11:15be
11:15once Fred Van Vliet comes back next year.
11:17He's still going to be a guy who gets 25 or 30 minutes a night.
11:20It's going to be a more crowded rotation if all they're doing is just bringing everybody back.
11:25You know, we'll see if they re-sign Tari Eason.
11:27He's going to be a restricted free agent, so they'll have right of first refusal.
11:31They'll have a chance to match whatever offer sheet, if he signs an offer sheet, whatever he signs.
11:37Adam Spolane tweeted this.
11:38I thought about you when he tweeted it because you, as you just said, you're –
11:42you know, you've said multiple times you're hoping they add somebody to this staff
11:45who can get the offense going a little bit.
11:48Spolane said this, and I like Adam.
11:51Adam's really good with his Rockets thoughts.
11:53He said, I have no idea what the Rockets will do after this.
11:56I don't think they'll fire Udoka, nor do I think they should.
11:59But he asked to make changes to his staff.
12:01One source called it a weak staff.
12:04This is Spolane talking.
12:06Go get someone who has been a head coach and go get someone who can juice the offense.
12:10And, yeah, if you look at – I mean, some of these staffs around basketball,
12:13there's a former head coach on the staff who's probably a better consigliere for Eme Udoka
12:18than one of these guys.
12:19You know, I know there's a lot – I know a lot of people think Hylia Royal Ivy,
12:24that he's going to be a head coach someday.
12:26I don't know what the thought process is on the rest of the staff there.
12:29This does feel like one of those situations like we see in football, Seth.
12:33Like, yeah, the team was good, and we're not firing the head coach.
12:35Like, Eme Udoka, he is a good head coach, but he's got his flaws.
12:41So, management, ownership comes to you, kind of like Gary Kubiak back in the day.
12:46I mean, he said, look, we're going to keep you, but you've got to fix this defensive side of the
12:50ball.
12:51Right.
12:51And Frank Bush can't be the defensive coordinator anymore.
12:54I mean, if you go back to D'Antoni, where D'Antoni was the opposite of Udoka.
12:59D'Antoni was all about, hell yeah, he's going to give you a boatload of offense,
13:04especially when you pair him with James Harden.
13:06But defensively, there's going to be questions.
13:08So, the solution in that regard was Jeff Bezdelic became your defensive coordinator.
13:15And, I mean, you go through that whole period, and the Rockets were always –
13:19we in Houston had to explain to people all the time, no, they're actually a lot better defensively
13:24than you're painting them out to be.
13:25Yeah.
13:25And a large part of that was because they had Jeff Bezdelic.
13:28He was – let's see, he coached – he had been a head coach.
13:31He'd been a head coach in Denver, yeah.
13:33Yeah, for a couple years.
13:34Yeah.
13:34And it's like, so Spolane – I don't know if I agree with Adam saying you've got to have a
13:39guy
13:39who has been a head coach at some point, but I understand where he's coming from there.
13:44But I think, yeah, some kind of an offensive coordinator of some sort.
13:49Because we just – we saw this coming, you know, from a mile away.
13:54As soon as we realized that without Van Vliet, they were going to have to –
14:00they were going to have to shift the young guy's roles, that Udoka's not the guy
14:04to be the architect of something like that.
14:06Yeah.
14:07I don't know.
14:08I mean, if you had him in private conversation, I think he would probably admit to that.
14:12Yeah.
14:13His calling card is his defense.
14:14Oh, for sure, for sure.
14:16And this is not a good offensive team.
14:17I mean, I know statistically they were among the better offensive teams,
14:20but they certainly were in a championship-level offense, and they were sloppy.
14:24And they were – and statistically, I mean, in the half court, they weren't.
14:27Yeah, in the half court, they were not.
14:28You're right.
14:28No, they were bottom five.
14:29No, and they couldn't get any kind of a pick-and-roll game going.
14:32They were a stagnant ISO ball team that was just relying on, hey, there's Kevin Durant.
14:38Right.
14:39Surely they'll be better.
14:40Yep.
14:41And that doesn't work in the postseason, especially if you don't have Durant.
14:44It doesn't work in the postseason.
14:46Here was Alper and Shengu, and I would say we'll dig a little deeper
14:50into the offseason at 7 o'clock today.
14:51I put up a poll, actually, of what the three different buckets of what they could do
14:56and just out of curiosity what people want them to do.
14:58A little surprised by the results, but we'll – and I don't know if you've looked at it, Seth.
15:02If you haven't, we'll let you do the guessing game with it at 7 o'clock.
15:05This was Alper and Shengun.
15:06I would say of all the young guys on the team, Shengun is the one whose name gets floated the
15:11most
15:12in trades because they're not trading Ahmed Thompson, and Shengun, of the remaining guys,
15:17Shengun's the one that's got the most – he's got the most decorated career so far, two-time all-star.
15:23This was Shengun after the game on Friday being asked about the possibility of getting traded this offseason.
15:29Well, I cannot do anything about those conversations, you know.
15:33It just – it is what it is.
15:35You stay with it.
15:36And, you know, those front office job to do it, so I cannot do anything about it.
15:42And, you know, wherever I go or wherever I'm staying over here, if I stay here, you know,
15:48I'm just going to stay with it.
15:50I'm going to do what I'm doing.
15:51Okay.
15:52Sounds like a guy who's just emotionally all in on the Rockets.
15:55Yeah, whatever.
15:57Has Altuve spoken up on this yet?
15:59Has Altuve said, no, you can't trade Shengun?
16:02Has anybody –
16:03I don't know.
16:05So, yeah, if there's a big trade, Alpey's probably a part of it, and he's –
16:10I mean, that's the right answer, I guess.
16:12No, the right answer is, gosh, I hope not.
16:15You know, I love it here.
16:16I just – you know, if it happens, it happens, but I would really prefer for it not to happen.
16:22He sounded as blasé as it could be.
16:24Yeah, well, it was – and it was, you know, 20 minutes after the game it ended or whatever, too.
16:29So, I always give guys –
16:30I'm not blaming him for it.
16:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:32I'm saying, I know – I don't care if it's 20 minutes after the game.
16:35I feel like that's – I think somebody that genuinely loves playing here or something says that.
16:40Yeah.
16:40And you understand and recognize the business side of it.
16:43But, I mean, that was as noncommittal, unemotional, just no attachment whatsoever to this situation as you could have heard
16:53out of the guy.
16:55And he was mentioned in the burners.
16:57He got mentioned in the burner accounts.
16:58What was it that was mentioned in the burner account about him?
17:01Just his overall game, offense and defense.
17:04Yeah.
17:04I forget the exact quote, but it was – it was kind of – he was dragging – the person
17:10speaking on the burner was kind of dragging his game in the mud a little bit.
17:14Yeah.
17:15A little more brutal with Jabari on the burner, I would say.
17:19So, there you go.
17:20So, the Rocket season is over.
17:21We'll talk more about that at 7 o'clock today.
17:23What did you guys choose as far as the approach the Rockets should take this offseason?
17:28Because it is going to be a really, really interesting offseason.
17:31The comment on – from the burner account on Shang-Goon was, can't shoot or defend.
17:37Yeah.
17:37That's what it was.
17:38Yeah.
17:38I knew it was both.
17:39I knew it was offense and defense.
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