- 14 hours ago
ITL breaks down what Udoka and Stone had to say about the future.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The Houston Rockets end of season. They did an exit press conference yesterday.
00:05And we, you know, on this program, at the very end of this program, as the press conference started at
00:091.30,
00:09we started to get some of the quotes filtering out.
00:13In fact, not even quotes, the paraphrases of what had happened.
00:17And so it's always, at least I try to be careful in relaying those things
00:21because that is an interpretation of something that is said, and you want to be careful about that.
00:26Now we've had the opportunity to check out the full press conference.
00:29And so one of the big things that we immediately went to was a feeling of run it back.
00:34That kind of narrative that it felt like they were going with.
00:36And I don't think that that is quite accurate.
00:38However, is what you heard encouraging?
00:40Because I think that's still a question worth asking.
00:43713-572-4610 as we dig into some of this audio of them talking.
00:47You are asking me.
00:49I am asking you.
00:50Is what you heard at all encouraging?
00:51Because there was a lot of things that happened.
00:52In fact, if you don't mind, I would like to start with one piece of audio.
00:56Because again, the idea of run it back narrative,
00:58I think some of it comes from the direct questions that were asked of General Manager
01:01Raphael Stone and Emeo Doka.
01:03I'll start with cut two here, Fig.
01:05This was Raphael Stone, the General Manager, asked directly,
01:07do you feel that you can compete with the top of the West with small tweaks to the roster?
01:13Or do you need big moves?
01:15In terms of the roster, you know, we'll look at everything over the offseason
01:20and look at all potential deals.
01:23But we think that the players in our locker room can win a lot of games
01:31and can be very competitive.
01:32And my firm expectation is, I mean, we have players coming back from injury.
01:38They will help us.
01:39Because if we bring back largely the same group, I think continuity will help us.
01:44But the single biggest thing is, my expectation is, is that Tari, Jabari, Reed, Alpi, Amen,
01:55all need to be way better basketball players next year.
01:58And I think they should be.
02:00That's on them.
02:01It's on us.
02:02But I expect that growth from them.
02:05And so I expect to be an improved team next year, regardless of our ability
02:10or willingness to do, to bring in any outside talent.
02:16Look, man, you asked if it was encouraging.
02:21I'll give you the in-depth answer.
02:23No.
02:25It is not encouraging.
02:27That was it.
02:27That was all good.
02:28That was the in-depth answer right there.
02:30The answer is no.
02:31You know me.
02:32And just as we get into this, you know how I like to, you know,
02:37you react in the moment of these press availabilities.
02:41You know, you kind of, you know, whatever, talk about a particular comment or that.
02:45But I like to step back when it's all over and just sort of absorb it all.
02:48Yeah.
02:48What are we really saying here in terms of the totality of everything that they said?
02:53All right?
02:54So that's what I always do.
02:55That's what I did with this one after reacting in real time.
03:00And my overarching sort of takeaway is they're in either one of three places.
03:08And I'm talking about Emei Adoka and Rafael Stone.
03:11They're either deluded, because that's not the case.
03:14You know, to talk about, you know, running it back and they get better and all problems are solved.
03:20Yes, those things could happen.
03:21I don't know if all problems are solved, though.
03:23They're either deluded, they're in denial, which we know what that is, or they've circled the wagons.
03:29In other words, Emei Adoka and Rafael Stone are joined at the hip.
03:33And if they go down, they're going down together.
03:34They're going down with the United Front.
03:36Because they sort of echoed each other throughout the entirety of this press availability.
03:42There are certain things that they said that could happen, including that one.
03:46They can get better.
03:47You expect all of them to get better.
03:48Do you expect a guy like, you know, Steven Adams to return, and he hadn't played a full season in
03:53five years?
03:53Do you expect, you know, Fred Van Vliet to come back and be the answer man?
03:58You know, to that degree, they're either deluded, they're in denial, or they've circled the wagons,
04:03and they're putting forth this United Front.
04:06Yeah, I think that I asked the question in such a way because I'm not encouraged by hearing that,
04:13while also acknowledging, hey, the idea that this is just flatly running back is wrong.
04:18I take you to a year ago when the messaging was kind of similar.
04:23Like, you know, unless something comes to us in essence, we don't anticipate a move.
04:28And then you went and got one of the best scorters in all of NBA history, right?
04:32And that changed the way that we felt about it.
04:34Because I vividly remember our feeling when we were going, hey, I don't think this Jalen Green thing is it.
04:39But with all due respect to him, right, and do you run it back with just a young core?
04:44Well, you don't want to do something that breaks up.
04:45And what do they do?
04:45You don't want to break up that young core.
04:47You want to do something that adds to it, but it still allows you to have some level of growth.
04:52And they managed to thread that needle in part because they played it a little coy on the front end
04:57and they allowed the cost to come to them on Kevin Durant.
05:00That feels like a plausibility in this, right?
05:02Oh, sure. Absolutely.
05:03Because he made it pretty clear in the start of that.
05:05It's like, hey, man, we're going to look at anything and we'll listen and we'll kind of hear him out.
05:10I think that that absolutely does point to the idea of, hey, the possibilities of making moves.
05:15The problem is that is not a given.
05:18That is not a definitive.
05:19And I don't know if it's as easy to see that move in this landscape as it was last time
05:23for like a Kevin Durant.
05:25And then the thing that he brings on the back end of that is, well, I expect to be a
05:31better team even regardless of what that is.
05:34I was about to say, yeah, regardless, I know how much you hate it.
05:36Regardless of whatever the movements do and do not happen because of growth that we expect in Amen and Tari
05:44and Alperin and all this.
05:45And I go, development isn't linear to a point where I just expect those things.
05:50It's not automatic either.
05:51Right, and the point, the idea that, hey, they need to be better, that's on them, that's on us.
05:56That's good to say.
05:57What are the tangible things that we have that we can bank on that coming about?
06:01Because I think that you've seen, you're early on, or I guess you're far enough into these guys' development arcs
06:08to start to get a little bit of an idea of what this could be.
06:12Right, if we're talking about more development, especially in the ways that you would need, we're talking about dudes that
06:18are starting to show up on the most improved player conversations.
06:21Right, if they're able to make some of the jumps that we're hoping for.
06:24And I think that that might not be a reasonable expectation to have for all the way across the board.
06:30You know what I mean?
06:31Yeah.
06:31Especially when you talk about, and this was another answer that we don't have to get into, I'll paraphrase it.
06:36Raphael Stone basically talking about the same thing, about the idea of these players getting better.
06:44And I just, I have a hard time getting to the place where I go, hey, they're all going to
06:49rise.
06:50And, okay, I remember exactly what it was.
06:52He was talking about how, you know, when you define success, good teams, you know, there are good teams that
06:59are not necessarily knocked down because they didn't make the championship.
07:03Sometimes your most difficult series ends up being in the first round.
07:08That's incredibly rare, though, that for a really good team, who will usually be a top four team and facing
07:12off against a team that is in lesser status or stature, that you would have your most difficult challenge in
07:19the first round.
07:19And so, I believe that you could be a better version of yourself if, you know, or with another year
07:25of development, with some of these guys coming back.
07:26The bigger question, that's not the question.
07:28The question is, can you compete with the teams in the West?
07:31And looking at the teams in the West, the amount of jump that would be necessary from all these young
07:34guys would be a lot larger than I think is probably fair to expect.
07:37And I think that comment was a cop-out.
07:39I'm glad you brought it out.
07:40You're right.
07:40It can happen incredibly rarely.
07:43But how often have we heard, you know, in seven-game series, in seven-game series, the best team wins.
07:50That's just the way it is.
07:51More often than not.
07:52Yeah.
07:52I said rarely there's some exceptions.
07:55So, to say that is just a cop-out, it's disingenuous.
07:58I think so.
07:59I think so as well.
08:00But that's the player side.
08:01There's probably, there's still more in it.
08:03Of course, they talked for 30 minutes.
08:04Oh, there's more to dig in on.
08:04There's 30 minutes.
08:05We're not going to get into it.
08:06I do want to play this real quick because this was the one that upset us when we got the
08:09inkling of it.
08:10So, I just want to make sure.
08:11Does it still hit you the same when we hear the exact words?
08:13This is Emeo Doka.
08:15Obviously, we want to make sure we get, hear from both of them.
08:17This is Emeo Doka being asked, seeing as this year feels similar to last year, is there any mindset change?
08:23Actually, no.
08:24Give me eight here.
08:24Let me audible right here because I want to get to this one.
08:27Do you expect changes to the offensive structure and coaching staff?
08:30Does this hit your ear a little bit different when we actually hear the exact words?
08:34Offensive structure, I would say the ability to play different ways with the personnel that was missing.
08:40That should obviously change.
08:42You know, you look at your floor general kind of being out and how we had to kind of adjust
08:48on the fly.
08:49And with our choice to stay with Reed and I'm in and give those guys a really good look at
08:54the point guard position,
08:55it changed some of the things we could do, no doubt.
08:58You know, situational things, end-of-game situations.
09:02But that was a choice we made, and I think it will help us long term.
09:06But having certain guys back, I think Steven is very underrated in what he does for us.
09:11And so losing him halfway through definitely affected us as well.
09:15And so just the versatility and Reed and I'm in growing this year.
09:19And not having to rely on Kevin as much or Alperin as much and having a point guard back should
09:25definitely help the offensive structure flow of things
09:27and, you know, winning at certain points and not losing late-game situations.
09:31And so in the totality of the guys that we have back, I think, in general, we should look better.
09:38We should look different and close out the games and have some of the lumps and ups and downs that
09:44we had at the end of the games.
09:45And so it will be exciting to see that part in general.
09:49Coaching staff-wise, I don't see any changes.
09:52Look, that hits me worse, to be honest.
09:54The coaching staff-wise, I don't foresee any changes.
09:57It was unsolicited.
09:59Just completely, you know, at the very end he said.
10:01I mean, I know that was the first part of the question, but he made it a point to say,
10:04you know, that's not going to happen.
10:06And then the other two parts, the two themes that he had there, so to speak, were, you know, we
10:12couldn't make the adjustments.
10:13We need to change the way we do things and operate without KD.
10:17Who does that point to?
10:19The coach and the coaching staff.
10:20It felt like the argument that he was making between the lines there was, we did not have the players
10:26and the skills in order to play in a versatile manner, so we had a very narrow way of playing.
10:31And who does that point to?
10:31I can agree that you had a very narrow way of playing.
10:34I don't think that the idea is, well, some of these guys have grown a little bit and will bring
10:38guys back, and that will magically give us an opportunity to play different ways.
10:41And that's going to get us better.
10:43I think that's the thing that is frustrating.
10:44Yes, and just real quick, this is the one quote, actually, I'm glad you played it, that really got me
10:49thinking.
10:50They're on a united front.
10:51They keep talking about the future, development, how these guys play.
10:56This isn't the G League, man.
10:58This isn't the G League.
11:00And so they're saying, look, give us time is in essence what they're saying.
11:04That's why I think if they're not deluded and they're not in denial, they are going down on a united
11:09front and they're just trying to buy time.
11:11What do I say, Figgy?
11:12Kick the can down the road.
11:14I think the biggest hope that I have for them is that they are playing coy.
11:19They're trying to be calm in this moment because the biggest jump that's necessary in any sport, but particularly basketball,
11:24is that jump from you're pretty good to you're a contender.
11:28And that's the jump they're trying to make right now, and I would prefer them to not be so damn
11:32passive about it.
11:33And so we'll see what the outcome ultimately looks like of the offseason, but if you're just taking them at
11:38their word, I'm a little disappointed with what they brought forward yesterday.
Comments