Alperen Sengun & Fred VanVleet Lead Houston Rockets To Win After Ugly First Half Vs Brooklyn Nets

Alperen Sengun & Fred VanVleet Lead Houston Rockets To Win After Ugly First Half Vs Brooklyn Nets

On today’s show after an ugly first half against the Brooklyn Nets the Rockets wake up in the third quarter and take care of business what changes did they make how did they clean up their game in the third quarter to be able to pull away with this one Alper shenon with yet

Another 30 piece performance Fred Van vet dropping in another 20 and 10 game Amin Thompson and cam Whitmore continuing to carve out and earn rotation minutes and yet another clunky game for Jaylen green we’re going to unpack it all right here at locked on Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition

Sequence start throw it up to jayen Green shenon here in his short row oh my that’s the no look Jabari for three and the win look at t e Here Comes has 15 seconds guidance is internal the Houston Rocket select amen Thompson and cam Whitmore one thing I

Have never done is not made the playoffs and so we want to take that step here as well six 5 4 3 2 1 what’s up and welcome to another edition of lock on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your host Jackson Gatlin native houstonian

And credential media member I’m also the host of locked on NBA Mondays be sure to follow along on Twitter at JT Gatlin and the show of course at locked on Rocket free and available wherever you listen to your podcast including YouTube just go to YouTube search locked on Rockets

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Single day Houston Rockets get the 112 101 win against the Brooklyn Nets and look wins against the Brooklyn Nets are always sweeter because the Rockets still own all the Brooklyn at draft capital for the next handful of years so there’s some added incentive whenever you face

Brooklyn to want to win these games and Brooklyn is is teetering on the precipice of looking like a team that might be behooved to blow things up and reacquire their draft picks now we can that’s probably a topic for another day but it is a topic that we will revisit

Later on in this show at least very very briefly before we wrap this one up I want you guys to know that I have not had a reason to open tanon all season long until this game just to check on the status of the Brooklyn Nets draft

Pick which is a a I got to tell you it’s a phenomenal feeling after basically having tank kathon be my homepage all of last season and and every season prior um all right so the Rockets got this win uh but it wasn’t an easy win uh it felt like a it was a

Really ugly game in the first half being completely honest here uh this game was not a pretty game in the first half and largely a lot of that was self-inflicted by the Rockets now I will give uh the Nets some credit here for some of the defense that they were playing guys like

Uh Royce O’Neal Spencer Den witty trenen Watford uh they were just they were aggressive defensively uh more than I expected this Nets team to be and more than I think the Rockets expected them to be uh just in that first half so again the the the Nets had a f a

Halftime lead of one point 50 to 49 which again based on how poorly the Nets had been playing and more or less how well the Rockets have been playing especially at home uh this season you wouldn’t have expected this game to looked like this exactly through through

Two quarters but the Nets had tooken h a halftime lead 50 to 49 and a huge part of that was the turnovers for the Rockets the Rockets had in the first half 12 turnovers total on the game the Rockets had 16 turnovers to the tune of

17 Nets points but I cannot tell you the number of times the Rockets had these mind-bogglingly bad turnovers in the first half that led to easy transition up opportunities or just giving up you know second CH well not Second Chance points but you know giving extra possessions to Brooklyn it’s not like

They first off Brooklyn didn’t like shoot the ball better than the Rockets they didn’t you know they weren’t doing really much of anything better than the Rockets were in this game uh you know as far as the percentages go as far as the raw counting stats go uh Rockets were

They matched them at the free throw line four free throws a piece they the rocket shot significantly better from downtown N9 of 18 compared to just six of 22 in the first half against the Nets the difference in this game was literally the turnovers specifically the live ball

Turnovers the turnovers where again the difference between live ball and a dead ball turnover right if you turn the ball over if you throw it out of bounds and referees blow the whistle and then the opposing team has to take the ball from out of you know turnovers in general are

Not good but at least and I shout out to my guy Ryan Holland for saying this like I forget if it was like last season or a couple seasons ago but there was a game where the Rockets kept turning the ball over and he said look you’d be better

Off you’d be better served to just take the ball and kick it into the fifth row because then at least you get to set your defense right then at least you’re playing with a set defense rather than trying to scramble and get back in transition and giving up easy transition

Opportunities that’s why live ball turnovers are an absolute killer because you’re giving the other team a chance to ignite and start a fast break and get out in transition and score easy buckets it’s exactly what was happening in the first half of this game uh the main culprits in the first half uh

Surprisingly Fred Van vet four turnovers in the first half of this game that is incredibly uncharacteristic of Fred Van vet Jaylen green had three of them and then a smattering of other turnovers just kind of up and down the Rockets lineup for a total of 12 turnovers in

The first half that was the first thing that they cleaned up uh and and honestly past that it was the main thing that they cleaned up they went into the third quarter and they had a much stronger third quarter overall offensively Alper and shenon kind of woke up in that

Quarter had a really strong performance 12 points four or five shooting uh got to the free throw line uh five times hit four of them so alpie had a strong uh third quarter 12 of his 30 points in that frame and then Jaylen green his one

His one good quarter of the game he had nine points on three of six shooting uh got to the free throw line hit one of them hit a couple threes and in that quarter the Rockets only had one turnover so they went from 12 first half turnovers to only one turnover in the

Third quarter and that was kind of the game and that allowed them I mean they were they had for all intensive purposes they had an incredible offensive performance in this game just minus the turnovers they were shooting the ball incredibly well for the game the Rockets managed to shoot

48.7% from downtown 19 of 39 on three-pointers I can’t remember the last time the Rockets had this potent of an of an outing offensively uh shooting the three ball free throw line 19 of 27 you’d like to see that number be a little bit better the missed free throws

Didn’t exactly kill them in this game but again that’s something that you want to see gradually improve and again it was like a smattering of Miss free throws up and down the lineup you know one for two for Fred one for two for Jaylen Alp missed a couple and then am

Min Thompson really struggled at the free throw line only three of seven shooting at the charity stripe for him but the Rockets cleaned up their biggest issue in the first half they were turning the ball over too much they took care of the basketball in the third

Quarter and they were able to win the game because everywhere else the game plan worked and that’s what we’re going to revisit uh and discuss here coming up in just one moment is the uh defensive game plan how they were able to slow down the Brooklyn Nets uh the incredible

Defensive job that they did kind of up and down the roster against the Nets uh including uh a really fantastic job I think on male Bridges and a game plan that worked really well against Dorian finny Smith we’ve also got to talk about your locked on Rockets player of the

Game alperin shenon yet another 30 piece he has been on an absolute tear as of late Amin Thompson and cam Whitmore continuing to gradually get more and more rotation minutes there was no tar een in this game so cam Whitmore getting the nod and Oka rewarding him for his

Very very solid play as well as a bit of a clunker from Jaylen green we’re going to get to all of that here in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by better help around New Year’s we get obsessed with how to change ourselves instead of just expanding on

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Streaming Channel your locked on Rockets player of the game from this one how could it be anybody other than Alper and shingu that’s actually not true I really did sit here and think about whether it should go to alpie or Fred just because Fred had a really phenomenal game in

This one but the uh the turnovers in the first half I I think kind of sealed it for me uh and alpie you know he had a 30 piece like he’s anyways Alp is your lockedown Rockets player of the game honorable mention Fred Van vet alpie had

30 points on 11 of 17 shooting he was eight of 10 at the foul line he had eight rebounds four assists three steals one block only two turnovers plus 17 in his 34 minutes of run and look this is what alperin Shing shingun has basically

Become on a nightly basis right he is a walking 20 10 and five and even even more than that now he’s becoming you know such a force offensively and the rockets are continuing to give him the Reps offensively to where he’s you know able to average you know 25 30 like he’s

Creeping up there to where I think you know for a while for a long time myself many others have wondered you know what is the ceiling on alperin shon’s usage right like like how how much can what what is his scalability I think is a

Good way to put it right because you can see like look you can use boban marianovich for like six minutes in a game and he can put up like eight points in a row because nobody can guard him because he just shoots over the top but

Bobon isn’t exactly a guy that you can scale up to like 36 minutes a night and build a team around and be like oh yeah he’s going to average 40 he’s not scalable and I think that was one of the bigger questions re you know revolving around shenon the biggest question was

You know coming to this year was defensively what’s he going to look like under Oka and he think he’s answered that question right the Rockets are able to be a top tier defensive team with Alper and shinon anchoring that team in the middle he’s grown a ton on that end

That question answered good done the other question though is can he scale up to like true Superstar production and I think the the dominance that we saw out of him in that Pistons game that stretch where he was just he touched the ball every single possession down in the

Third quarter on his way to 20 points and four dimes like though that’s the kind of production where you’re like oh damn yeah he can do this and he could do this over the course of a game and he’s getting to a point where he kind of just

He’ll kind of like Coast a little bit in the first half like he’ll kind of just you know he’ll he’ll work on he’ll he’ll set screens for his teammates he’ll he’ll do the Dirty Work he’ll pass the ball he’ll playmake he’ll do a little bit of everything in the first half and

Then he kind of settles into the third quarter he’s like all right let me like let me try and take over let me do my thing let me really hone in and focus on scoring the ball and being able to flip that switch is one of the

Characteristics of a true star player a superstar kind of player right we used to see James Harden do that all the time where he would kind of go through a first half of a game and he would focus on facilitating and getting other guys involved and seeing if he can get the

Team going because if he can get the team going and if he can get his Shooters hot and get other guys going then maybe he doesn’t have to put on his big boy pants and carry the team with the scoring burden but if he can’t get his teammates going if they’re having

You know a rough night whatever cool third quarter rolls around James Harden turns the dial up to 11 and he’s unguardable we’re seeing shingun kind of do the same thing a little bit where he kind of goes through the first couple quarters he’s getting feel for the game

That kind of stuff and then the third quarter rolls around he’s like all right bet I’m taking this game over uh love what we’ve seen out of him right it’s I mean there’s very there’s no team in the NBA that can guard this guy when he’s

Playing at this level the only way the really the only weakness that is still in his game is that outside shooting I did like that in this game even though he was o two from three it did feel like the couple threes that he took he took

With much more confidence uh he has to be able to he has to be willing to pull the trigger on those shots to keep a defense honest so Alper and shinon continuing to play at an All-Star level uh which means Al Zenon is an Allstar I’m just letting everybody here know it

The wizard is an All-Star you already here first shout out to Tar een for one of the best drops on the soundboard this season uh and I will say there was like a a bit of weirdness there in that first quarter um Nick claxon had 10 rebounds

In the first quarter he finished the game with 13 rebounds so it’s not like Nick claxon was just like dominating the glass or something it was just he had a lot of rebounds just kind of Bounce his way there in the first quarter uh it was

Kind of weird that he picked up so many rebounds so quickly in the first quarter I don’t want anybody to look at that stat sheet and be like oh my God he dominated shingon on the glass not the case whatsoever uh I will say though one of the things that the Rockets did

Schematically that they continued to do this season which I actually really think is a smart play uh is they continue to place shingun on a wing player rather than having him guard Nick Claxton uh in this game so in this game shingon was uh the primary defender on Dorian finny Smith

Actually for much of the time that they shared the court together and now they changed it up at points in the game so like there was kind of they opened the game with shingon on Dori infiny Smith there were stretches where shingon would guard Claxton and eay has talked about

Wanting to switch up the coverages over the course of a game to keep another team kind of like on their toes right that way they don’t they can’t exactly figure out what you’re going to do on any given possession but I like the creativity in putting shingon on Dorian

FY Smith who came into this game shooting something like I don’t know like 26 27% from three over the last like three or four games uh and it worked it worked really well because you basically challenged Dorian Vinnie Smith to be the guy to hit down shots from the

Perimeter and beat you and you look at the final box Dorian finny Smith one of 11 from long distance so that game plan absolutely worked if you’re the Houston Rockets you look at that and you’re very content with how poorly Dorian finy Smith shot the ball only four of 16

Overall on the evening and then you also look at their other kind of uh you know bigger weapons I I suppose uh you know in the starting lineup Den witty really quiet game only five attempts uh don’t know what was up with Den witty and why he shot the ball so in

Infrequently in this game just didn’t didn’t get up any shot attempts it felt like really uh male Bridges five of 18 shooting cam Johnson only six of 13 shooting the Rockets collectively did a really good job on the Nets starters they kind of struggled at times with the

The bench unit uh Dron sharp having his way a little bit 11 points 12 rebounds kind of getting some some easy gimmies inside the paint Royce O’Neal five of 13 not an efficient night but he had 13 points off the bench for the Nets overall I think the Rockets did a really

Solid job defending Brooklyn uh forcing them into some really tough shots closing out hard on Shooters uh I really enjoyed their defense it was mainly just their the offensive struggle specifically the turnovers that they had in the first half which is why the Nets were you know able to play such a poor

Game offensively they shot under 40% from the floor they shot under 30% from three they shot under 62% from the charity stripe like it was an awful offensive evening from the Nets they looked like a dumpster fire but because they were getting all these extra opportunities off offensively you look

At the total number of shot attempts um the Nets had 93 attempts to the Rockets 76 attempts the other area that I would highlight here is the offensive rebounding department so uh Nick Claxton did have five offensive rebounds in this game Deon sharp had four trendon Watford TR trenden Watford

Had four as well so that was another component uh aside from just the turnovers that the Rockets had to clean up uh over the remaining portion of this game to give them a chance to win and again you walk away thinking you know overall uh the the Nets still got those

Offensive rebounds in the second half I think it was was double check 10 of their 15 offensive rebounds in the second half but because their offense was abysmal it didn’t lead to a ton of Second Chance points so it wasn’t the end of the world for br for the Rockets

I should say uh but overall an ugly game that the Rockets woke up took care of business in the third quarter quart Jaylen green woke up and had his one good quarter of the game uh but he struggled in the other three quarters uh which seems about par for the course

This season in how we’ve discussed him uh also want to highlight Amin Thompson and cam Whitmore who continue to grow look better and are settling into the rotation cam Whitmore getting the nod from head coach eeme unoka udoka can’t talk sorry I’m all still nasly and gross

E Oka uh in the absence of tar een in this game we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel the NFL regular season is wrapping up but there’s still time to get in on the action with FanDuel America’s number one sports book because

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Now one guy actually that I completely like just blew past the stop sign of in my notes for that second segment uh it’s Fred Van vet who I God I got we got a lot to get to in this finals we might go a little long today we’ll see we’ll see

If I can be quick and concise here in this segment uh Fred V Le who I thought had another phenomenal game 21 points six rebounds 10 assists aside from the four turnovers in the first half which he cleaned up and didn’t have any turnovers in the second half uh really

Great game for him but what I liked the most was his shot profile uh Fred attempted nine shots eight of them were from three-point land I like that for Fred now there’s obviously going to be some games where teams run him off the three-point line and he has to you know

Take what the defense gives him but I would love it if Fred pretty much only attempted threes he’s one of the best three-point Shooters on the roster this Rockets team needs guys to they need to shoot more threes in general they need guys who are good at shooting threes to

Shoot more threes and I’m not a fan of when Fred shoots closer to the basket it’s just you know he’s never been a great finisher in and around the rim sometimes he’s able to drive it in and draw contact get to the free throw line sure but he also has moments drives the

Ball in and throws up some BS at the rim and it’s has no chance of going in so for Fred uh I really like his shot profile in this game and if he can do that on the regular then this rocket like that that’s the perfect offensive

Role for him I think right he did a great job of facilitating finding guys setting guys up and you know it worked right it was a phenomenal game from Fred aside from the the four turnovers so really liked what we got got out of him uh Amin Thompson and cam Whitmore who

Continue to impress continue to grow continue to Showcase their skills uh each of them had moments where they looked really really good in this game and I I think the biggest say so am Min Thompson 10 points three of seven shooting got to the rim a couple times

Hit one of his three threes he air balled one of his threes uh look the shooting’s going to take time for a in Thompson he was only three of seven at the free throw line too the shooting will take time but I love how much confidence am Min plays with and I love

How much confidence cam plays with like these guys are rookies but they play with all the confidence in the world they play like they belong on the basketball court they don’t look tentative they don’t look skittish they don’t look like they’re not trying to step on anybody anybody’s toes cam

Whitmore literally checks into the game and immediately starts letting that thing fly like that’s what cam does uh cam in this game 11 points on four of seven shooting was three of five from downtown two rebounds one assist two steals both of them just looking like solid rookie players and that’s all you

Can ask for out of these rookies and I think the biggest most one of the most important things from this game was that Oka uh trusted the guys who were in there C Cam and am Min who again Cam went were getting the run with no tar

Een in this game uh trusted that lineup in the fourth quarter the bench guys to bring this thing kind of you know carry this thing for a little bit longer than he probably would have you know some extended minutes if you will normally eay brings back in the starters around

The seven eight maybe 9 Minute Mark of the fourth quarter to close the game out uh he held off into like the six minute Mark of the fourth quarter and when he did bring back in the starters that’s like immediately when they went on that flurry where Jan Tate hit his only shot

Of the game three-pointer um and then uh I apologize not his only shot of the game uh but one of his only two shots of the game uh so Jan Tate hits the three-pointer then jabarus M junor hits a three-pointer then Fred vanet hits a three-pointer and they push the lead all

The way out to an 18-point game so it goes from point game to an 18-point game and it was basically over at that point but the trust from Oka to allow those rookies to a play tandem minutes together with the bench unit and B to be

Out there in the fourth quarter as they were keeping this game kind of at you know arms length from the Brooklyn Nets with keeping that lead it was you know hovering around a nine to like 11 12-point lead as they were going back and forth there in the fourth quarter

That speaks volumes right these rookies are proving and showing that they belong on the court and at some point Oka is going to start have to make some hard decisions because once this team is fully healthy and they’ve got Dylan Brooks back in the starting lineup and tar een back playing consistent minutes

Somebody’s going to be the odd man out of this rotation and I really feel like there’s got to be a way to find Cam Whitmore consistent minutes in the rotation maybe Aaron Holliday is the guy who bites a bit of a bullet and and takes a little bit of a backseat but I

Do think there’s a way especially in the regular season especially when you’ve got a guy like Fred who could probably benefit from A reduced you know minutes per game total whatever then you’ve got to find a way to just get you know cam get him like five minutes in the first

Half of a game right and if he’s got it going if he knocks down a couple shots cool let him play in the second half if he doesn’t have it going then you don’t let him play the second half right ride the hot hand and I think you can get

Away with doing that um over the course of the regular season right that’s not you know having a a 10 or maybe an 11 man rotation is is harder to do it is challenging to do but at the same time there’s guys that deserve to play on

This team and I think cam Whitmore has showcased enough Talent enough skill enough ability and enough consistency in in the sporadic minutes that he’s gotten that he deserves a crack at the actual rotation so at least as far as while Dylan Brooks is still out keep giving

Cam with more minutes please for the love of God keep giving him minutes that brings us to Jaylen green and you know it’s unfortunate because I there’s there’s there’s where I I you know I love talking about Jaylen on this podcast when he plays well and then there’s times when he plays poorly

Like in this game and I don’t it’s just that’s just been kind of the the story on this whole season right is Jaylen have a couple good games he looks great he’ll have a couple bad games or he looks bad borderline unplayable and it’s the vacillating

Between the two it’s the back and forth back and forth that’s just incredibly frustrating and I remarked on this at halftime of the Nets game when the Rockets were trailing a very bad Brooklyn Nets team because Jaylen green was awful in the first half of that game

He shot one of six from the floor he had three turnovers he was playing you know eh defense to say the least so like like at what point you know what and and I said he was borderline and I said I said he was unplayable and people immediately

Pushed back on that and and I was like look if you’re not knocking down open shots if you’re turning the ball over if you’re not playing great like what are you bring to the table and it I I think if you’re being objective about it he

Was bad in that first half he was awful in that first half I think that’s the objective truth and then he had a great third quarter he he bounced back in a big way in that third quarter he was awesome in the third quarter uh in the third quarter Jaylen green had nine

Points on three of six shooting two of four from downtown uh one of two at the free throw line and he didn’t turn the ball over he also had two rebounds and two assists best quarter of the game by far it was also his only good quarter of

The game and at what point do we like take the kid gloves off and and stop being okay with Jaylen having won sometimes two good quarters and then the rest of his quarters are just awful or bad or whatever like I just I’ve never seen fans who are so eager to defend a

Subpar five of 15 shooting performance he had 14 points five of 15 shooting he had eight rebounds he had four assists he also had the four turnovers three of them in the first half and like here here’s a thought exercise for you if if Jen green wasn’t

A Houston Rocket if Jaylen green was playing for another team and you were watching his play as up and down as he’s been as bad as he’s been for so much of this season for basically like the last month almost would you want him on this

Rockets team would you be looking at him and saying yeah that’s a guy that I would want starting for my team that’s a guy that I would want or is it the emotional investment and attachment in him being the number two overall pick the first building block of the rebuild

The uh air apparent to the shooting guard Throne that was once James hardens and then you know Rockets fans placed all this pressure on Jaylen green of oh well we had the best two guard of the 2010s now we have the best two guard of the

2020s I I don’t know what to make of it anymore it it’s frustrating it’s disappointing um and I I don’t know if I’m being too harsh on him at this point I really don’t know because at the end of the day I haven’t seen enough Improvement in the areas that truly

Matter for him and I just don’t know what I just don’t know what his future role is going to be like is can he be that off ball presence can he be a guy that that’s going to knock down shots I and I see people saying oh my God Jaylen

Green can’t have a bad game because then people are going to Flame him for it and it’s like I mean kind of yeah like when your job is literally you’re the shooting guard it’s your job to hit shots and then you go five of 15 like

Yeah that’s a bad game and yes he had he had eight rebounds in this game I’ll give him credit for that but I also didn’t think he like the rebounding was sure he got got he got rebounds right he got defensive rebounds that were just relatively uncontested defensive

Rebounds it’s not like he was fighting and clawing and scrapping and boxing guys out and this that and the other thing it was for the most part I I don’t remember a singular rebound that stands out in my mind where I was like oh yeah Jaylen really fought for that rebound I

Think it was just he got rebounds cool um you know and I and I you know I see you know Rockets fans on social media whatever get all upset about this and they go oh you clearly have an agenda against Jaylen green because why aren’t you talking about Jabari Smith Jr well

First off uh yeah Jabari had an awful offensive game too there you go I everybody can everybody can nobody’s immune to the criticism if they have a bad game Jabari had an awful offensive game and you know what’s even funnier about jabari’s offensive game is I’ve been clamoring for them to get Jabari

More touches guess what they did in this game they got Jabari Smith junr multiple touches in the first quarter they tried to get him going early and he just didn’t have it so they went away from him and and he hit that one three-pointer late that’s fine with me

Like they tried to get him going he didn’t have it cool guess what else Jabari Smith junor did in this game he got 12 rebounds he played great defense he has size he was switchable like he plays a completely different position and his role is completely different

From Jaylen green Jaylen Green’s role is as an offensive focal point and as a and at times as a primary ball handler and a guy who’s supposed to create for himself and others and all this there’s a lot more pressure on Jaylen green there’s a lot more that comes with his role than

The expect on Jabari Smith Jr also Jabari is in year two of his NBA career Jaylen green is in year three there’s a different level of expectations across the board so when you try to throw a straw man argument in my face like oh well you’re only talking about Jaylen

Green why aren’t you talking about Jabari Smith Jr Jabari was bad in this game are you happy now like I don’t like if a player plays bad I will talk about it and Jaylen green has been the player who’s played the worst throughout this entire season of any of the other

Rockets players he’s been the weakest link of of the starting lineup so when he plays bad it’s going to be highlighted and at this point I’m just exhausted talking about it because there’s almost no winning we we can’t have genuine basketball discussions as Rockets fans anymore it feels like and

It’s unfortunate because look at the end of the day I I would love to see Jaylen green succeed I want to see him succeed I have a similar level of emotional investment in his success just as you probably do right number two overall pick first building block of the rebuild

All the points that I highlighted earlier I just don’t know what to make of it at this point right you know I’m going to stop I’m going to stop get at this point I’m just going to stop getting myself excited when it looks like he’s turned a

Corner when it looks like he settled in and you know found a new role a niche or if he’s starting knocking down shots because at this point the only consistent thing about Jaylen Green’s game is that he is inconsistent that’s basically it that’s what we’ve learned

This season and if it continues to be more or less the same thing then you know the Rockets are going to have some hard decisions that they’re going to be faced with you know I I said it in that podcast a few few episodes back right how much more time does

Jaylen green get when you’ve got guys like amen Thompson and cam Whitmore you know a little bit further down the bench who were continuing to grow and look good and look ready you know cam Whitmore is a bucket cam Whitmore isn’t afraid to knock down those shots and hit

And hit three-pointers and be that quick scoring punch Off the Bench and he looks a lot more confident and sure of himself in that role at least at times than Jaylen does so maybe just a bigger learning adjustment than I thought it would it would take for Jaylen green to

To grasp and to understand what to do and how to you know be the best version of himself with this Rockets team and and right now at the end of the day like I just I don’t even know am I am I being unfair in this criticism criticism of

Jaylen green you know how much more time should he get should I you know back off a little bit am I being too harsh um is it too much to expect a player a guy who’s supposed to be a a a an automatic bucket who’s who scoring is supposed to

Be the best part of his game is it unfair to expect that player to knock down wide open shots like I just I don’t know where I don’t know where I’m being unfair with Jaylen because at the end of the day it’s year three and he’s improved as a Defender

Wasn’t great this game but he’s improved as a Defender overall he’s improved as a playmaker he’s improved at making decisions and reads for sure there have been improvements to his game but there’s areas that he hasn’t improved right he still doesn’t have a tight handle he still gets poke checked all

The time uh he still hasn’t added much if anything to his bag offensively um he doesn’t have many moves or counters to create to get open it’s just that lightning it’s just that you know I’m going to go one speed and try to get

Past you and then he gets to the rim and he still gets like denied at The Rim constantly he got swatted multiple times by Nick Claxton in this game right there at the rim just because he goes one speed and he doesn’t know how to you

Know absorb kind and then try to finish over the top or you know he’ll sometimes he’ll get to the paint and he’ll do that he’ll pump fake and then turn around do that little like turn around fade away like you know three five feet away from the basket or whatever didn’t see that

In this game didn’t see him try to counter the size of Nick Claxton at the rim with any any kind of move so I don’t know you know it’s it’s frustrating I want to see him succeed but at the same time I’m gonna stop getting my hopes up

At this point because the way that he has played in his career to this point and the way that he continues to play this season resembles that of basically a sixth man right a spark plug guy who he can get hot and when he’s hot cool you

Ride the hot hand he can win you some games but that’s not the guy that you want eating up 30 35 minutes of time as an NBA level starter that’s the guy that you plug in Off the Bench you give him you know anywhere from 8 to 10 minutes

In the first half and if he’s got it if he’s on fire if he knocks down some shots if you got if he’s if he’s on a hot streak cool you ride the hot hand and maybe he’ll win you a couple games but the inconsistency is painful and it

Didn’t hurt it didn’t kill the rockets in this game because the Nets are an awful team and they’re playing awful basketball right now but it could have killed them and it has killed them in other games this season so that’s kind of where the Rockets are at and I’ve got

You know people who say oh well the Rockets won by double digits why are you upset cuz they won by double digits because they played a bad team what happens when they play the good team team right you can’t have these kinds of games when you play the good teams if

You want to be a good team if you want to be a playoff team if you want to continue building good habits and being you know a a good playoff caliber basketball team you have to iron out the weak links in the roster and right now

Jaylen green is the weakest link on the Rockets roster at least of the starting lineup so maybe I’m being too harsh on him I really don’t know at this point you give me your thoughts you you you give me your thoughts on Jaylen green give me your thoughts on this game in

The YouTube comments now I did promise prom that I would open up tanon for a quick uh Brooklyn Nets pick watch and after the Rockets beat them down in the second half the pick that the Brooklyn Nets owe to the Rockets this year uh unprotected uh their 2024 draft first-

Round draft pick is currently sitting at number 10 uh so they’re just ahead of the Utah Jazz just behind the Atlanta Hawks so it’s currently the 10th overall pick which means if we Sim this Lottery let’s see where the Rockets land uh let’s do come on lottery

Sim n stay at number 10 okay not the end of the world but uh that’s that’s not bad and again the Nets are slowly getting to a point where if they continue to look bad this season if they continue to to you know bottom out if that Pick starts to float towards the

Top five of the draft if you’re the Rockets what do you do do you want to hold on to that pick and and draft another young Talent or you know first off SAR would be incredible if you could if you could get your hands on SAR that

Would be an amazing pairing with uh Alper and shenon uh or just an amazing kind of you know flip with Alp whatever uh I will say look it becomes more and more enticing if you’re the Brooklyn Nets the idea of a trade package centered on getting your

Picks back and trading male Bridges um so maybe there’s something there maybe that’s a a discussion that we can revisit in a later episode not that male Bridges had a phenomenal uh you know showing here you know you know a job interview if you will uh showcasing his

Skills in front of the Rockets but M’s been incredible and he’s also being asked to be a number one option when that’s not what his role is he’s not a number one option he’s a really great like third option and he’s still one of the best Premier you know 3 andd Wings

In the entire NBA and he showcased a lot more skills with the Nets but anyways I don’t want to go too far off off the off the rails here that’s our final segment those are final thoughts from this one give me your thoughts in the YouTube comments let me know your

Thoughts from this game tell me how you felt about alp’s 30 piece his continued decimation of the NBA on his uh quest to become an Allstar Jaylen greens continued struggles uh and what the Rockets should do with those Nets picks especially as they keep creeping up the lottery board

But with that that’s going to do it for today’s episode as always thank you so much for checking the show if you haven’t done so yet please consider subscribing whether you’re listen to your podcast or on YouTube just search locked on Rockets like comment subscribe all that good stuff but as always thank

You so much for watching thank you so much for listening and we look forward to having you back right here at locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets Basketball

Alperen Sengun & Fred VanVleet Lead Houston Rockets To Win After Ugly First Half Vs Brooklyn Nets

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) reacts to and discusses the Houston Rockets 112-101 win against the Brooklyn Nets, in which Alperen Sengun dropped 30 points and continued his streak of scoring 20+ in games. Why the Rockets struggled through the first half and how they cleaned things up in the third quarter, Sengun’s ability to just turn on the scoring and takeover when he wants to, defensive game plan limiting the Nets offense, Fred VanVleet with another 20/10 game and why the shot profile from this game should be the one he has regularly, Ime Udoka trusting Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore with extended fourth quarter minutes, why Jalen Green’s one quarter of good play after a bad first half isn’t enough and more.

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