How the Houston Rockets have turned it around in 2023-24 and been a fun .500 team at midseason

How the Houston Rockets have turned it around in 2023-24 and been a fun .500 team at midseason

The Rockets right now this is just going to be kind of a general Rockets talk because I’m fascinated on where they’re going to go they are 19 and 19 they’re sixth in defense 21st in offense that’s basically been pretty steady throughout the course of the year really good

Defense offense has been let’s call it hit or miss depending on the night right uh they started great at six and three they basically kind of held steady since then they went nine- n in their next 18 games after that uh following back back to back wins against Dallas and New

Orleans they were at 15 and 12 been a bit of a struggle they’ve only won four of their last 11 games those four wins were against the Pistons twice the Nets and then the good one against Milwaukee which I think was every reason to be like okay maybe this team like

Could be a real playin you know playoff team that you know wins a playin tournament kind of situation the losses in those 11 games Pacers Suns 76ers wolves heat Bulls Celtics the Celtics and wolves games particularly were blowouts I feel like when I watch the Rockets I’m watching a team that I’m

Really excited to watch and I’m really excited by the progress they’ve shown I do want to note as well as 57 Odus says like tar een and Dylan Brooks have missed quite a bit of time recently they have had some lineup in and outs no question that’s absolutely right

It does feel like a team that is still really growing and is still trying to just get it all together a little bit and given How deep the West is I don’t know that they’re going to be a playin team but I don’t know that I care about

That I I think is where I’m at given the very clear growth in progress that they have shown over the course of this season yeah I mean I think what I like and maybe why I wasn’t as high on their summer whenever they signed fredman bleet and they signed Dylan Brooks is

I’m like man these guys are going to come in and they’re going to take all of the offensive role and you’re not going to find out about your young guys well that that’s not at all what’s happened we’ve given Dylan Brooks some flowers for not coming in and taking a ton of

Shots so what I like is you’ve talked about this with the Pistons right they need to find out what Kade Cunningham what I’d like is we’re finding out what Alan shenon is what jayen green is or what Jaylen green is not we’re finding out about Jabari and tar een and that’s

Being helped and aided by these veterans so I think it ended up being really good shenon is still first in field goal attempts green is second Jabari fourth tar 6 so like you’re still getting the hierarchy is still where you would want it and every time I watch a Rockets game

They talk about Fred Van B and the culture and what he brings in regard to that we know Dylan Brooks brings a certain mentality that I think is good for these young guys in terms of competing and you know a positive uh confident mentality so I think this has

Ended up being way more than what I thought it was going to be because I was nervous like man well if if Fred Van VY and Dylan Brooks are just going to lead them in points and field goal attempts I don’t like that that’s not at all what

Has happened we’ve seen shingon shine and again maybe people are upset with what Jaylen green has been this year but at least you’re finding out like you know because it can’t be well he doesn’t have a point guard or he doesn’t have a wing Defender and he’s having to take

Defensive matchups no they’ve put Jaylen green in a position to succeed and now it’s like can he do it or can he not yeah I think that’s a really really good way to phrase it uh I want to start beyond that with shenon because I think

It’s by far the most important place to start the as you mentioned like finding things out about who you have and what you have on the team the most important thing they found out is that sh is an All-Star I don’t know if he’s going to make the allstar game this year

He’s going to make the All-Star Game multiple times moving forward into the into his career uh he is a stud he is awesome in terms of his capability of finishing around the basket now he is awesome as a overall playmaking Hub in the center of the court and I think that’s kind of

Where I want to start his ability to make plays in the center of the Court either in Pocket pass situations from fed Fred Van vet or entry passes you know at the top of the key or at the elbow things like that it is the best offense that the Rockets can

Run and it is absolutely ridiculously impressive that this dude that is 21 years old is able to create in this way so I grabbed a couple of Clips in terms of what I’m talking about here so the the first one here is I just kind of want

Want to show how well the Rockets spaced the court around shenon and I think that this is something that is totally different from like the silus era Rockets right eem spacing has been so much clearer and smarter and crisper and part of it is because that they have

Guys like Fred Van vet who you absolutely have to guard at all times uh they have guys like Jabari Smith who is knocking down shots from three this season uh you know they have guys that are real offensive threats around the court which means that it’s creates

Oceans of space for shenon to operate in that middle of the Court area so on this one it’s just an entry pass right like it’s setting up almost like a Spain pick and roll it seems like you’re coming up shanon’s gonna come up and set this

Screen here on Jaden Ivy and you can see Ro uh Reggie Bullock is coming up behind him to potentially do like a screen the screener on the roll situation a Spain pick and roll action instead what they decide is alperin just gets the ball it above the three-point line and you see Reggie

Bullock vacate the area you see Fred go away from him it’s clear that their spacing principles are just so much better this season in the way that they’re thinking about basketball and part of this is having guys like Reggie Bullock over 30 having Fred Van vet has

Played more minutes in the NBA than anybody probably over the last five years because of the way Nick nurse used him so you create this situation where Alper and shenon if you ask him to drive he is so fluid and capable with the ball

In his hands that he is going to find a way to score or to create an open shot where you have to collapse down on him in some respect so this one here it’s just so ridiculously impressive to see okay I’m just going to go spin spin back get it

Through for a shot and because he’s capable with both his right and his left hand finishing around the basket with those little touch finishes is it’s just really hard even for somebody like Jaylen durren that has a real siiz advantage on him to be able to do much

Of anything in this circumstance so it’s the oceans of space that they put them in the different ways that they utilize that space so I grabbed another one here too this one I just kind of attached this one because of the uh the previous Monty Williams quote about Jaden Ivy

That we didn’t get to in the Piston section hey yeah we haven’t tried this guy at point guard as much someone on organization like pointed that out to me oh Monty like come on man what are we doing but like look at Jaden’s speed like just explodes By Reggie Bullock

Just absolutely absurd in terms of his flexibility burst everything like that but now we’re gonna get alperin as the trailer here they’re gonna set like a sweet little one almost what do we want to call this like a one three given that Reggie Bullock I think is the three

Because I see Jaylen Green in the corner there yep so we’re going to come through we’re going to set like a one three ball screen here get the switch yep you get the switch and now shenon is just operating as the trailer in open an oceans of

Space here right this is just fantastic offensive design I think where you have shenon set like almost I don’t know what do you want to call this like a Veer kind of screen for Reggie it’s almost a flare maybe for Reggie to like come well

Reggie almost takes it as a curl but I would assume that Reggie’s going to go back to the wing three-point line there well they Jabari does Jabari does a really good job Sam this we talked about this with Jared McCain watch what Jabari does here this is why relocation is so

Vital to me I would be Jabari it’s not super crazy it’s just subtle Jabari relocates to the wing and he doesn’t get the ball but by him relocating to the wing it allows Reggie to get to the corner because if Jabari was still in the corner Reggie would be hanging out

In the dunker spot which what is Reggie bullet gonna do in the dunker spot so that subtle relocation just helps with overall team spacing no 100 perc and honestly it’s something that I think Jabari probably wouldn’t have done last year sure uh which is growth like it’s

Huge growth for this 20-year-old who’s a killer shooter to be able to understand hey instead of Reggie taking this as a flare he’s going to curl around this action on the opposite side from alperin if he’s going to curl around eventually he’s going to either you know

Get this ball uh you know rolling to the rim or he’s gonna have to relocate to the corner it’s gonna have to be one of the two so I’m just gonna lift I’m gonna do the easy thing I’m gonna lift here I’m gon to relocate into the open space

And again all it does is just look at this open ocean of space for shenon to be able to operate in and Jaylen is doing it on the bottom as well so Fred drove into to the Lane kicks to shun Jaylen is on the strong side so herea

Fred it doesn’t happen super fast but now Jaylen is lifting to the wing Fred’s getting back out to the corner and it just and here’s the other thing that should be like you have Jaylen green who has gravity you have Fred who shoots almost 40% on eight attempts Bullock

Jabari Smith Jr who’s at 38% on four and a half attempts the Pistons aren’t a good defensive team but that’s really good floor spacers you can understand why they’re saying like we kind of have to leave Duren on an island as good as Al shingon is and here’s the other thing

I’ve said this about Luca because he’s such a good passer it leaves him in isolation situations to score because you don’t feel like you can double him and turn him over if they felt like they could double him and make him make a bad mistake they would double him but they

Know if you double ALR shenon he’s gonna find the teammate that’s open and he’s going to hurt you that way exactly right I think they are so so smart and to me this is this is emay as much as anything and I want to be very clear

Like they did not always do this stuff last year like it was part of the really frustrating things about the Rockets like this is all very simple stuff these were young players it was a coach that was probably not quite a head coach you know he’s a assistant on the Pistons now

Like um everybody loves Stephen Silas around the league thinks he’s a great guy but it’s these simple kind of things here where I think eem is drilled down into them we’re going to play five out basketball we’re g to have good spacing and I think you’re seeing now

The effects of that and how it’s created a circumstance for Alper and shenon to be able to really lift his game and become like genuinely a borderline All-Star like if he gets named to the All-Star team I’m not going to have a problem with that he’s averaging 21.7

Points 8.9 rebounds 4.8 assists on 54% from the field look I don’t have a strong like opinion one way or another if he should make it over Chad over wemi like these guys are unbelievable uh bigs across the board and then you look you know Rudy goar is

In this mix uh you know I guess Carl towns is in this mix joic will obviously be there uh you know deat sabonis I think will probably be there Davis Anthony Davis will almost certainly be there whatever you want to do with the Pelicans guys because I would imagine

That one of Brandon Ingram or Zion will be there it’s a loaded loaded group jiren Jackson Jr is in low marinin is there there are so many great bigs in the west I I truly have not parsed through it all I don’t know who should make the All-Star Game

Out of all of those guys compar comparatively to one another he’s gonna be on people’s list Sam like when you guys when you start to make your list alprin shenon is going to be in the conversation My Vibe is he probably gets left off but there’s going to be a lot

Of with all due respect ALR shenon as much as I love ALR shenon those type of comments and you know maybe that’s as far as it gets this year but I think that’s a huge step forward for him yeah no it really is it really is and I would

Expect he’s gonna make a few of these moving forward uh Jabari Smith I think this year has been really really impressive in the leap that he has taken uh this is something that we expected after summer league where he came in and was the best player uh in the two games

That he played I thought he and tar E I thought just completely blew the doors off the place uh he’s averaging 13 and a half points shooting 4740 uh or no it’s uh yeah 4738 uh 84 from you know the line and he’s averaging nine rebounds and the

Passing still isn’t quite there but everything else has just been so so strong for Jabari and they still find ways to get him the ball like in mismatches I think he’s been a little bit more aggressive recently at being able to f find those mismatches and play

At that level uh but yeah know just a terrific terrific season for Jabari Smith too yeah I mean he’s 54% from two I I like to see that in the most recent game against the Pistons I made multiple notes about you know getting out in transition offensive rebound made a cut

Did something off the bounds you know I always believed in jabari’s jumper I thought it was a beautiful jumper and you know going back and watching some of his shots from college it just I don’t know that many guys have made me just go

Oh my gosh as many times as he did with some of his shot making it was you know could he lower his hips and get you off the bounce and you know leverage that shooting ability into something more and then I don’t think the defense he was a

Rookie the defense wasn’t quite what I think people thought it was going to be and now that seems to be coming around as well one other thing I want to say about shenon I have tried to watch for contact balance from players more and more I think that’s super valuable we’ll

Talk about this with the prospect we’re gonna talk about the end and Jaylen Tyson because I think he has this shingon I feel like has really good contact balance he is much stronger than what I gave him credit for coming into the year and that plays out in the

Isolations it plays out whenever he runs pick and roll or when he’s rolling in a pick and roll it’s really important and he really has it yeah and the other thing I want to point out about shenon and Jabari Smith particularly because they end up kind of being The Bigs in

Like ball screen actions and in primary actions pretty regularly I think that both of those guys and again this is a credit to them it’s a credit to the coaching staff e udoka everybody there it feels like they’re really locked in on what the Scout is in terms of what

Kinds of shots they want teams to shoot uh like for instance in that Pistons game like when Isaiah Stewart would be the person screening and alperin would be guarding you know as the big in the ball screen defense and drop it felt like he would even do like

Sometimes like delayed doubles like even after somebody like Fred Van vet had gotten through the screen because he was just like you know what like I would much rather Isaiah Stewart take a three than you know Jaden Ivy whoever you know get a chance to get a shot at The Rim

Get a chance to blow by in some way shape or form get a mid-range jumper Etc right uh they’re good at like forcing it feels like mid-range jumpers they’re good at it feels like they’re just really locked into what they’re trying to do and what they’re trying to

Accomplish I think every time I watch them on defense and that shouldn’t go undervalued because I don’t think every team does that and it’s it’s hard on an NBA schedule because you’re playing back to back and you know all of those things and adjusting from one scheme not that

Maybe they’re completely changing their scheme but just how you’re going to guard a guy uh one other note I wanted to make 53% of their points scored by players under 23 this was the highest in the NBA by far so this goes back to how I started my thought process of I over

Compensated with the Fred Vamp like these free agent signings like oh they’re going for it and it’s going to be a veteran Le team with those guys take no no no this is still a young team led by Young Talent that’s getting all the chances to succeed there’s a little

Bit of overlap right we’ve talked about with Cam and Tade and tar e and all that they’ll work that out they’ll get it a and and a men’s gonna take a little bit of time but I just that was a very impactful stat to me that their young

Guys are still doing loads of scoring with that said real quick shout out Jeff Green this man is still putting in work night in night out has some highlight dongs like shout out to him for still doing his thing at this point in his career and I think providing some real

Value you I mean we talked about the hull at Center and him having to play as a backup five the the minutes he does but I mean when he’s been asked to do it his 16 minutes a night he he’s done an admiral job in what I’ve watched yeah

100% like he’s worked really really hard he’s been good schematically defensively as well it feels like he’s just limited right he’s 68 69 whatever he is absolutely uh tar een has missed some time here recently I love the energy and aggression that tar een gives every

Single game uh that he’s on the court every single minute he’s on the court he play like he helps them play with like attitude it feels like to me if he could finish at the basket I think he would have like real All-Star upside I’m not

Joking when I say this like I don’t know if he’s ever going to be able to finish at the basket well enough to actually reach that ceiling but my God like he is able to get to the rim he’s so aggressive attacking the offensive glass if he

Could finish at the rim and then he continues along the trajectory he’s on currently as a shooter he’s making 36% of his threes almost all of them open you know again like Pedro just brings this up like tar just makes good things happen all the time that’s right

His presence is infectious he is super valuable out there I love watching T een please T whatever you can do I just beg you learn to finish at The Rim like yeah if you can do that the game changes I think for him in such a substantial way

Uh because you then really have to like pay attention to him across the board uh regardless he’s going to be like a you know top he’s going to be something in the NBA like he’s a starting quality player uh as soon as next season to me

And really there’s a case he is already with how he impacts the game as long as the shooting continues to hold at 36 uh you know Fred Van vet we haven’t talked about him a ton but I think Fred has just been so steady and so solid you

Look at the leadership as well like when you watch Rockets games they show a lot of clips of you know this is something that we talked about last year a lot on this podcast with Adam and things like when I would watch the Rockets it seemed like there was no accountability

Uh there was no accountability there was not the proper levels of accountability across each player when you watch them now it’s Fred Van v going over having conversations after breakdowns it’s eay yoka having conversations after breakdowns trying to get guys in the right place getting guys in the right

Frame of mind uh having Fred as like that onc Court coach I think has been so so so important invaluable to them yeah culture matters and he’s been a huge part of it the other thing is like he does it by example he gets after it defensively he has great hands and he

Just he’ll dive on the floor he’ll take a charge he’ll he’ll do all these things you want your young players to do but he’s not just telling them it’s not just eeme asking them to do it he’s saying look at your veteran culture Setter Fred vanet watch him do all of these things

Literally show you that he’s willing to do it at this point in his oh there was another one where just the epitome of I love guards that get involved in the board Sam like I just love a guard that on the weak side is willing to make a

Rotation and get a box out or whatever I think it was against the Cavs he makes a weak side rotation and he gets in there and gets a old school box out on Jarett Allen and I’m just like I love this I love this about Fred Van vet and if

Fred’s willing to do it then you know who needs to do that cam Whitmore like cam Whitmore starts winning on the margins by doing things like that and then the Rockets really have somebody because we all you and I believe he can score the crap out of the ball if Cam

Whitmore starts making weak side rotations for box outs now you’re talking about just him adding a whole another level of value to your team so I I think having someone that shows that the eay can take the film and say look what Fred is doing watch him dive on

This ball in the fourth quarter I think that’s more impactful than just him just saying it he’s able to show it from kind of the culture Setter of your team it’s 100% right you know what the most important like statistical changes for me with the Rockets this year do you

Know what they finished last year in turnover rate offensively so they’re top 10 this year let’s say bottom eight yeah they finished 29th last year in turnover rate on offense what a what an improvement yeah this year they’re ninth that is the Fred Van vet that’s awesome change that is the Fred Van

Vet so important to have somebody who can just be that guy for you I think you can run the show who consistently gets everybody the ball and the spots that they need the ball I think he’s been so so valuable the entire way yeah I agree 100

Per. okay we’re not going to talk a lot about cam Whitmore amen Thompson and even Jaylen green we talked a lot about them on the last episode that Bryce and I recorded which is the rookies podcast uh I think we seriously talked about those guys for probably like 15 minutes

So if you want to listen to stuff on those guys specifically I would say go back and listen to that episode which I think we recorded on Thursday or Friday yeah just a few days ago yep

#houstonrockets #rockets #nba

The Houston Rockets have undergone one of the biggest turnarounds in the NBA this season. Bryce Simon joins Sam Vecenie to break down some of the biggest reasons why. How Alperen Sengun is being utilized on offense, how attention to detail on defense has been better, and how they’ve gotten the turnover number under control.