How Can Ime Udoka & Houston Rockets Solve Jalen Green Double-Teams? + Realistic Schedule Goals

How Can Ime Udoka & Houston Rockets Solve Jalen Green Double-Teams? + Realistic Schedule Goals

On today’s show how can Oka and Jaylen green scheme against the double teams that Jaylen green is going to see more and more of as we close out the rest of this rocket season plus what are some realistic expectations for the end of this season even if the NBA playing

Tournament is not on the table and how that could help the Rockets moving forward and lastly some interesting comments from oka’s Sister on a recent podcast it’s all coming up on today’s locked on Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition sequence start 6 5 4 3 2

1 what’s up and welcome to another edition of locked 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 jtap the show

Of course at lockon Rock it’s free and available wherever you listen to your podcast including YouTube now today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MBA for $20 off of your first purchase and as

Always thank you so much for making locked on Rockets part of your day every single day whether it’s on your way to work on your lunch break in the gym thank you for being it every day or making the show part of your day every single day joining us now is none other

Than your weekly co-host the podfather himself Rockets wire editor and host of the logger line podcast B do B you can track down on Twitter Bend Duos and B we’ve got a little variety of rockets topics to get into today we want to talk a little bit about the double teams that

Jaylen green has been facing as of late and some of the ways that we could hopefully see this rocket team kind of counter them maybe the Minnesota Timberwolves matchup that might be a bit of a barometer for this Rockets team and where they stand as they’re trying to

Close out this season on a strong note making that that play and push although it’s looking a little unlikely so we’re going to have to get into some realistic expectations for the end of this season and what the Rockets can still achieve over these final handful of games and

Then some interesting comments from oka’s Sister about the Rockets young core and maybe some team building expectations for the Rockets going forward so let’s start with the jayen green stuff because obviously Rockets had an incredible month of March right 13-2 an NBA best record in the month of

March Jaylen green was Sensational now just as a quick caveat here I don’t think jayen green has player of the month wrapped up in the bag quite just yet because the player of the month award for the final month of the season is really the player of the month and a

Half award because it includes the final couple weeks of games here in April as well so it’s really un third third of the samples still left exactly yeah so he’s got he’s got to continue playing out of his mind um and unfortunately after the struggles against the Dallas

Mavericks uh and with Luca playing some just ungodly basketball right now uh that player of the month award might might be headed a different direction here in Texas but I think that Mavs game was really interesting Ben because it was the first game where it really felt

Like the the double teams really shut down jayen and really shut down the Rockets as a whole and they really didn’t have a true answer for it it was really concerning to see that nobody else on the court with jayen could step up and and the rockets just didn’t have

Anything when it came to playing four on three out of those double teams because that’s inherently what happens right if you’re playing out of a double team you get a fouron three advantage and the rocket still couldn’t get anything done out of those sets yeah and teams are

Probably going to do it to Jaylen more and more if he continues The Surge that we’ve seen the last few weeks and thought the contrast in that Dallas game from one end of the court to the other was really fascinating because the rockets by and large did not do it to

Luca on occasion they trapped or sent help but they did not do to Luca nearly as frequently as what the Mavs did to Jaylen green which regards to those strategies and a big reason as to why the Mavs were able to burn them in multiple ways certainly you have the lob

Threat with guys like Daniel Gafford and uh dererk Lively although Lively there you go obligatory chew out because you were you were fishing for the lob threat last time we recorded together and so shout out to whoever commented that on the YouTube channel I’m holding up my end of

The bargain now so certainly the Mavs can make that happen over the top and the rockets were very conscious of that but also the three-point shooting even if you take Luca’s three-point numbers aside I think the Mavs were basically right at 50% on High Volume 15 of 31

Even guys like Dante exom who career is like low 30s from three he made his first three all in the first half and so that made the Rockets think twice about leaving him PJ Washington who’s right at about 30% for this year he made a few as

Well and so for emay Oka it’s sort of like you’re damned if you do damned if you don’t yeah Luca is going off but it’s not like there’s this easy fix because the other guys be it through the lob threat game attacking Closeouts or just making open threes the Mavs were

Punishing you all over the court so there was no easy solution as opposed to with the Rockets the shooting was okay I guess I think Fred was the one guy that the Mavs sort of sucked to no matter what he only got off four shots the entire game

Because Fred even if he doesn’t make shots he’s respected as a great shooter he does have that level of spacing to him and then the other two guys that you rely on for shooting Javari did deliver with some of those shots but it was sort of offset by the fact that Dylan Brooks

Did not Dylan was 0 of seven and I looked at the numbers last night it’s been a staggering drop for Dylan Brooks since he came back from the oblique injury before that he was over 40% from three since then he’s just 32% he’s now a negative plus minus player since

Coming back before he was positive by a good bit so whether it’s random or related the facts are Dylan’s not been the same guy I would say the Rockets were okay from a shooting perspective because of Jabari certainly not great but they did not have nearly the rim

Pressure that the Mavs did be it through the lob threat or being able to attack Closeouts even though Kyrie is a little bit small we know how skill he is when it comes to making plays off the bounce and with the Rockets the only lob threat is amen Thompson and with the Closeouts

I wouldn’t really say that any of Fred Dylan or Jabari are particularly strong certainly not Fred at times maybe Dylan although I feel like that’s also gotten weaker as the season has progressed perhaps related to the oblique I wouldn’t say any of those guys are great at attacking the close out and finishing

With power and athleticism near the rim maybe Dylan to a small extent definitely not last night we saw when Reggie Bullock went in for a men when a men got in early foul trouble the most awkward sequence of the game was when they closed down on a men three-point line he

Tried to attack the rim but I think realized by Midway through they didn’t have the uh Power or size to finish so he sort of hesitated then tried to throw up like a mid-range floater which got stuffed because of the indecision and it just felt like you know the Rockets only

Had one upper tier athlete amongst the four players that are getting that four on three and that’s amen Thompson when he’s out there and he can’t be both the REM attacker and the lob threat now he’s probably not going to be the rim attacker anyway because it’s not like

He’s really respected as a shooter at this point and his handle is still a work in progress he’s probably going to be the lob threat well what you need is somebody else that can then attack off the bounce to make that big whoever is protecting the rim have to make a hard

Choice and perhaps have a moment of indecision do I leave him in as the lob threat and then leave the driving lane or do I close out on the driver and then leave the lob threat I think the way the Rockets are configured guys like Fred

And Dylan and Jabari he feels like he can sag back on a men and still be able to recover at that last second because it’s not really an elite athlete and so one thing I’d be very curious to see we’ve heard from that Kelly e story we

Talked about on last week’s pod that Jaylen green before cam Whitmore got hurt talked about playing with not just a men Thompson that’s clearly been to jaylen’s benefit but also a men and cam due to the combination of all of their athleticism and Power in the same

Lineups and I feel like if you had both a men and C in that four on three you would have a men as the lob threat and cam as someone that can attack those Closeouts and really make whoever the big is and it’s going to be more

Difficult if it’s Rudy goar one of the best Rim protectors in the league who you’ll see Tuesday in Minnesota but really threaten them on both ends to me that’s what a lot of the problem was against Dallas you know the shooting I wouldn’t say was a liability but it

Wasn’t great and then with the rim pressure even when the men was out there he can only be one guy he can either be the lob threat or he can I guess on rare occasions he can attack he can’t do both in an Ideal World the way the Rockets

Would punish those four on threes you have certainly some shooting you want to get some Corner threes most efficient shot in basketball but you also want to be able to attack and make that big man who is sort of left out to try in a 4

And three scenario have to make a really hard Choice it feels like with a men being the only top shelf athlete among those other four that choice is a little bit easier and so it’s at least the way it was configured against Dallas a bit easier for the defense to navigate I

Want to keep this conversation going because I think it’s really interesting kind of discuss our expectations for how the Rockets can kind of handle these double teams as as we expect them to continue to be aggressive moving forward trying to shut down jayen Green for the remainder of this season I’ve got some

Thoughts I want to share on this discussion uh as well as we’re going to get to our other topics in today’s episode but first today’s episode is brought to you by better help sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our chest big or small certain things can

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Designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule visit betterhelp.com lockon MBA to get 10% off of your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon MBA and continuing on here at lockon Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball now Ben I’m tracking with what you’re

Saying about the utilization right of of a Min Thompson as kind of the lob threat cam Whitmore kind of gives you that attack you know attacking off the catch that driving threat I do think one of the issues with a men specifically in that Dallas game I think we’re going to

See this a little bit more moving forward now that teams have a little bit more tape on this is they did a really good job of just shutting down a men and shutting down all the areas that he’s hurt other teams on the floor right he wasn’t able to be effective along the

Baseline there was always somebody there you know a a protecting threat to keep him from getting those easy Baseline plays that he’s been getting against other teams and I do think that when Amin was able to get downhill in this game it would he struggled because when

You guard him in with a big like a Gafford or like a Derrik Lively those guys are pretty decent Defenders lengthy athletic they can they can really give a a good hard honest contest without fouling on a minute he just doesn’t have the craft the touch around the rim yet

To be a consistent downhill force and kind a counter when a big is the one checking right it’s it’s a different Dynamic than just oh I’m going to beat my man off the dribble you know a wing that’s my size or a guard who’s smaller than me and then finish over the top

We’ve seen a men do that a lot it’s different beast when you’re trying to finish over a big so I hear I do think there’s some something to amend being able to play over the top as that lob I’m not so sure if him attacking off the

Catch is really the answer because again teams are aren’t honoring him as a shooter but what I do want to see moving forward is if teams are going to be that aggressive in trapping Jaylen and in doubling him you know 30t away from the basket 25 ft away from the basket

Whatever I’d like to see Jabari be involved in those actions it felt like he wasn’t involved in hardly any of them in this game and even though Jabari isn’t necessarily a threat to I guess quote unquote create out of a double team like that where he’s not the guy

That you really want you know putting the ball on the floor and trying to create something for the offense out of the middle of the floor like he would a shingon or we’ve even seen ja landale do it a little bit Amin Thompson’s been

That guy in the offense as of late I do think what it does is it opens up easy opportunities for Jabari to just catch and shoot and Jabar did jaar is good good enough’s he’s good enough to so see I but I don’t think he got enough of those opportunities out of

The Jay and double teams specifically is where I’m getting at like like make Jabari the primary screener as soon as jabari’s man peels off of him Jaylen lost the ball over the top Jabari can easily turn and you know he pops into a three he can turn and shoot the three if

The defense rotates over it’s an easy quick secondary pass to the next man either in the corner or on the you know on the weak side however you want to play it yeah and so fairness to your point you did note on Twitter that Jabari got some usage in the garbage

Time lineups which sort of let him boost those stats so in terms of how much actually comes from this jayen trap or double conundrum for the Rockets yeah I think that’s a fair distinction yeah absolutely and so that that’s one area of of kind of trying to beat the double

Teams so to speak but I think the other area is I I do not like the notion of just willingly letting your best player be taken out of a game I get it if you’re going to be be facing doubles all night then there’s only so much you can

Do if the other team is willing to double team a player 35 40 ft away from the basket as soon as he crosses half court I get that um but at the same time I do think there’s a way to get Jaylen involved using some more off ball

Actions right have him coming off some stagger screens have him coming off some pin Downs get him in motion to where he can catch and attack immediately and it really felt like the Rockets were just kind of resigned to the idea that Jaylen was going to have the ball 30 fet away

From the basket you know defense set completely in front of him and that was going to be it and if they were going to double him cool and the rockets tried to you know make stuff happen out of those doubles and they just weren’t really

Successful so I I would like to see a little bit more creativity from eay and and really by extension from Fred Van vet to make sure that they can get Jaylen involved because the the Mavs really did the best job I think all in the entire month of March of just taking

Jaylen completely out of the game yeah the way the Rockets used Jaylen it actually reminded me a little bit of James Harden late in the 2010s and of course James was not a very high Tempo high-pace guy Jaylen is so I think potentially that’s another area that cam

Whitmore can come into play and that if you play Jaylen Cam and a men together that makes it all the more likely that you’re going to push pace and perhaps get some opportunities early in the shot clock before that trap can fully take hold it felt like the Rockets just sort

Of waited for that trap to come played a bit slower at times in the half court and sort of conceded to they were they were very reactive with the Trap instead of being proactive about it I think is the issue yeah and with regards to the I guess the Harden comparison from the

Late 2010s like I was thinking back to how the Rockets would beat it back then it was not easy because you know the Rockets didn’t really have enough top shelf athletes outside of Harden in those years either and so they ran into some of the the same problems but I I

Think one of the cleaner fits they had was that year during the unguardable tour when Daniel house was at his best and I know he was inconsistent but when Daniel house that first year was at his best this was where he was really useful not just making threes but attacking

Closeouts and you had Clint capella still close to his Peak athleticism as a lob threat and so that can give you some of that Dimension we were talking about earlier because ultimately what it comes down to is punishing that big for taking away the Baseline space like I agree

With you for the most part am men is going to be operating off ball as a lob threat as somebody that wants to crash the offensive boards because for the most part he’s not going to be respected as a shooter there’s going to be rare occasions where perhaps a defense gets a

Little bit confused and closes out on him and so because of that his ability to on occasion make something happen as the closeout attacker can help you but by and large it’s going to be him off the ball so what you need is someone that’s athletic enough to make that big

Occupy more space to where then potentially he does give a men a little bit of that Baseline back or at least has a bit of indecision while he’s thinking about it and so what we saw from the Mavs last night and you know it’s not just a tactical strategy some

Of it’s like the Mavs have the right personnel and that’s something that’s really challenging for the Rockets this week uh Gafford Lively when he played you’re going to have goar and N Reed in Minnesota these are teams that are uniquely positioned I think with the type of big that has the length the

Athleticism the discipline to really hold out making a choice until that last possible second and so that does make it a lot more difficult than it typically is to to really make those four on three attacks work but I think the best possible counter to that from the

Rockets is to then have two top shelf athletes obviously a men operating offb but then cam is someone that can really make it happen very very quickly incredibly explosive on the drives when he attacks those clothes out also I thought cam I know it’s his first game

Back off the injury I thought he was a little tentative shooting from three he made some shots let those fly and perhaps that’s just first game nerves but I think that’s probably the the best solution I could come up with and it might help you just with the overall

Pace solution as well because it did feel like the Rockets just sort of let it come to them they let Dallas dictate what was going to happen and sort of accepted the 413 and if you have jayen in and cam maybe it’s more likely that in addition to be able to attack those

Four on threes better perhaps you avoid that situation altogether because you’re more likely to get the ball down Court quickly and make some offense happen before the defense can fully set up yeah they’re I think going into this game uh Tuesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves they’re going to have to be

The aggressors they’re not going to be able to be passive the way that they were against the Mavericks they have to find ways to get to what they want to do on the floor and a big part of that is getting quality defensive stops and we saw them struggle against the Mavericks

On the uh defensive glass right the Mavs had way too many Second Chance third chance opportunities where the Rockets did play a solid you know 15 20 seconds of defense and then you have you know a tipped ball go back out and then the Mavs get a reset on the shot clock and

That’s just brutal when you have a team as lethal as the Mavericks are as lethal as they were shooting the ball as dominant as Luca was in that game to give to to do all that work for a possession to to result in a miss and

Then to give up the offensive board on top of that it’s just adding way too much insult to injury it’s it’s really hard to overcome that when a team is shooting that well and when you’re giving them second and third chances offensively so need to see that cleaned

Up against the Timberwolves but yeah it felt like the Rockets let go of the Rope a little bit with those second possessions it felt like they got demoralized the body language on the boards just didn’t look like what it needed to be but I I think when we take

A you know kind of zoom out here Ben and take a look at at the remaining chunk of this rocket season they’ve got eight games left I don’t want to say that the play and hopes are completely dead um that loss against the Mavericks and then

The warriors uh being able to pull out the win against the Spurs definitely hurt the standings race a little bit now the Warriors are two games ahead in the Lost column of the rocket so Warriors sitting at 40 and 34 rocket sitting at 38 and 36 yes they still have that final

Game the head-to-head this Thursday in Houston April 4th it’s going to be a hell of a game it’s going to be playoff atmosphere there’s a lot riding on that game absolutely the Rockets I think at that point that is a must-win game but it kind of feels feels like a lot of

These are must-win games now if they want to make that play in tournament but at the same time I I think we can safely say that regardless of if the Rockets make the play in tournament or not finishing this season the with the record hell they could they could lose

Out the rest of the season I think they’d still be you know incredibly pleased with how the season went you know finishing with 38 wins but I think by and large if you look at where this team is at if they could finish with you know a 500 record even slightly above

500 um I think that that speaks volumes the direction this team has headed I think that positions you incredibly well to either make some make some big time moves this offseason kind of really marketing yourself right getting getting away from the I don’t know the negative

PR that this team has had surrounding it for the past couple years during the Silas era yeah I would say four and four is my realistic goal now I’m not saying I don’t have goals above that because I don’t think the play End is entirely out of Play It’s unlikely at this point

Because you don’t have the tiebreaker against Golden State you pretty much have to outplay them by three games so if you go five and three they need to go two- six not impossible but it’s a lot to ask and even if you do win that head-to-head game on Thursday well

You’ve got to pick off two other games as well so it’s a lot to ask but I would say if they can go four and four over these final eight which gets you to 42 and 40 I think having a winning season really validates what em udoka is

Building here in Houston I think that’s the kind of thing that would make players and agents around the league take notice of what happened so quickly and I also think it sort of validates the winning streak look we know they weren’t going to do something crazy like

When 20 games in a row this Rockets team just does not have the talent buffer to overcome something like that because somewhere along the way you are going to run into a really hot shooting team the way the Mavs were last night making 24 or 47 from three that tends to happen

That’s why the NBA plays 82 games for a large enough sample for the the cream of the crop to be identified that’s why every playoff series is a best of seven this stuff happens in a single game sample and so the Rockets just don’t have such an overwhelming Talent

Advantage especially not as young as they are and without Alper and shenon now to overcome all of it if you run into a team with Luca donic and also outside of LCA making 50% of their threes that’s going to be tough so I think what the Rockets have to do over

These final eight if you can just win four of the eight that validates I do think that the winning streak wasn’t a fluke if you can say at least amongst 500 even when the schedule stiffens and you aren’t at your best that would mean a lot with regards to legitimacy of what

They did in March and not have it look like you know it would never be looked at like the seven game streak in December 2021 the Gary bird run let’s not get crazy but you don’t want to finish on a sour note to where that’s what people are thinking about as

Opposed to the incredible 13 and two March and yeah I would say the Minnesota game is especially important they’re going to be underdogs but there is a path you know we talked about some of the things they can do offensively the big question is always well if you play

More rookies a men and especially cam I mean a men is valuable defensively cam that’s still a work in progress are you going to give up too much in the defensive end actually the timber wolves without carony towns don’t really have the offensive Firepower that they

Usually do so you might can survive on defense a bit more against them than you could against some teams certainly against the Mavericks with all n Reed might have something to say about that he’s been Sensational basketball he has but but they just do not have the upside

That the Mavs do offensively that’s where I’m going with that like it’s not a shot at them I just don’t think they have nearly the upside where if Dallas hits you the way they did the other night there’s barely anybody in the league that that can win that game and I

Think that one is low-key important when you look at the play in race because the Mavericks play at Golden State tomorrow night and if they continue to be as good as they were in Houston you have to give Dallas a very good chance in that game

And if somehow you can win that game in Minnesota you’re going to be underdogs but it’s not implausible no Carl Anthony talents I think I can mitigate some of your Just a Touch no disrespect intended to NAS Reed who’s playing well but if you can somehow get an upset tomorrow

Night there is very much a path to where you get some help from Dallas I don’t think Luca is limited by the knee uh I know questionable but he looked just fine to me um and all of a sudden it’s back to one and you’re right back where

You started the week which is hey you win that Golden State game on Thursday and it’s a home game where the Rockets have been so good all season long Sunday notwithstanding then you’re tied and even if you’re tied you’re still down a game because of the tiebreaker but the

Point is what you want to do if you’re the Rockets put some pressure on at least one of the Warriors or the Lakers probably the Warriors at this point entering the last week of the season and who knows if we said before the Rockets go in to these final games they’re

Playing with house money they’re ahead of schedule as opposed to a team like the Warriors they miss not even the playoff just the play in tournament altogether that’s a catastrophic failure and if you can put some pressure on them then who knows maybe that makes some

Crazy things happen late but the key is going to be for anything like that to take hold in the final week of the Season you can’t lose contact now and so what I will say Obviously Thursday you can make up a game right there and there’s also an opportunity Tuesday in

That certainly I think Dallas even in Golden state is probably going to be a slight favorite uh could be wrong in that but I think Dallas the way they’re playing now assuming Luca is out there that’s very winable for them and if the Rockets can pull an upset you’re right

Back where you were a couple a couple of days ago so it’s not not likely but is it plausible yes so because of that Tuesday is a low-key important game if you can somehow pick that game off it sort of feels like to a large degree offsetting the damage that you did by

Losing to Dallas at home it it absolutely feels like a big momentum game right because if you can pick up that one and then have that momentum of a big win on the road against a very good Minnesota team bring that momentum back home against the Golden State

Warriors take both of those two games then even if you were to then lose the next three Miami Dallas and Orlando I think the final three of the Season become incredibly winnable because you’re on the road at Utah and at Portland those are both it’s a back to

Back on the road but they’re very bad teams and then the final go ahead yeah and I was just goingon to say sorry uh the goal that I said from a macro perspective play in or not have a winning season if you can pick off that

Game tomorrow all you got to do is win three out of seven that’s different than four out of seven and that’s gives you a lot more possibility so you know the playin race I think that’s the aspirational goal that’s what’s right in front of them but in terms of just the

Big picture what would you be satisfied with at this point a winning record is on the table I think it’ be huge for Prestige reputation entering the summer if you can pick off that game tomorrow night you’ve got to win just three out of seven to get there instead of four

Out of seven I think that substantially helps sort of that uh that more realistic goal as well I I also think they they’re guaranteed at least three more wins the rest of the season because those final three on the road against Utah Portland and then La the Clippers

Are going to be resting in that game I cannot imagine that they’re going to be you know and maybe unless the standings get real wacky in the west and and the Clippers are you know a half game back of of of you know maintaining a seed or losing their playoff positioning then

Maybe we see the Clippers actually try in that game but I’m fully expecting them to be resting the Utah Jazz and the Portland Trailblazers are both bad so that’s I think three guaranteed wins almost like schedule wins that you can just pencil in and then out of that you

Just got to win one more of the other five games to put yourself at that 42 and 40 margin so yeah I I feel pretty good if if they pick up the win against Minnesota Tuesday night I’m going to call it right now they make the play in

Tournament if they pick up that win slight disclaimer if they pick up that win and if Dallas picks up the win in Golden State there we go that if that happens Tuesday night Rockets are making the play in tournament as the final seed yeah with that said we should note that

The Rockets are 0 and2 against Minnesota this year average margin of defeat is 24 points Jaylen green is shooting just about 30% against those guys we don’t want all this negativity B we don’t facts or numbers no don’t worry about all that I know but I’m just saying like

It will be you know a difficult game so we’re saying when we throw out these hypotheticals we’re saying if they can win as an underdog they will be sizable underdogs for a reason but it’s also sort of fun because again the Rockets are playing with house money and in

Terms of just how legitimate is this Jaylen surge what we’ve been asking for a few weeks putting Jaylen on the road against the exact type of Defense anchored by Rudy goar in the paint that’s given him fits in the past and an Anthony a guy in Anthony Edwards that’s

Been too physic for him at times in the past if Jaylen can come through under that setting then beyond what it means for the Rockets as a team in the macro for for Jaylen himself as just a micro player analysis to see Jaylen come through in that type of matchup will go

A very long way towards I think making us as a fan base feel like what’s happened the last month is very much legitimate and something we can count on moving forward all right final segment we’ve got coming up here in just a moment we’ve got some comments from em

Oda’s sister on a recent podcast with Chris Gardner of the Houston round ball review we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by game time look I don’t know about you but my least favorite thing when I’m buying tickets to any kind of

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Code locked on NBA that’s l o c k e d o n NBA for $20 off download the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed and final segment here at locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball now recently eeme oka’s

Sisteron udoka I hope I’m pronouncing that right I I I did my research before starting hitting the record button on today’s show uh his sister was recently on a podcast with kg Chris Gardner of the Houston round ball review in which they wound up discussing a variety of

Topics I’m going to put a link to the episode in the uh description of this podcast so you can go check out the show go support kg he’s awesome he’s one of my mentors when it comes to the whole you know journalism coverage perspective just like uh the podfather sitting

Across from me right now so wouldn’t be where I am without kg’s help but I I thought these comments were kind of interesting and I think we probably needed debunk a little bit of what was discussed so let me just run this clip back really quick because if you think about Jaylen tar

Jabari um amen cam like that’s a lot right there as is and they’re they haven’t even scratch the surface of their potential yet so it’s so exciting um to have that to work with and to choose from and to see how he’s going to mix and match lineups and things like

That but I do think they need um an a rim protector yeah stepen Adams is there um another one and then shooting I’d say for sure okay so some quick comments from oka’s Sister about what the Rockets kind of need to you know move forward you know kind of things that they could

Potentially Target this offseason she named off uh a lot of the members of the Rockets young Corp uh one pretty decent sized piece kind of missing in there and that was alperin shingon and this clip kind of went viral set a blaze Rockets TW T because everybody was thinking oh

My goodness like clearly there’s there’s an agenda against Alper and shenon and clearly Oka doesn’t like him and you know if she thinks that the Rockets want a defensive-minded you know rim protector then that means the end of alperin shenon and Houston I I don’t think it’s really any of that Ben I

Don’t think there’s some like tinfoil hat crazy conspiracy theory going on I think it’s as simple as she might have just forgotten shun’s name when she was listenting before she even hesitated on a couple of those names there trying to remember everybody it’s not like she has

The roster sheet right in front of her going down a list and she specifically chose to exclude shon’s name and from everything that I understand about where this Rockets team is at and how excited they are about what they’ve accomplished this season they internally have been preaching patience theyve internally

Been you know externally people are talking about you know trade this and big splashy move for that and you see other fan bases you know National Talking Heads pundits talking about breaking up the jayen shenon duo and trying to trade one of them for an established star player and everything

That I’ve heard internally is that they’re very content to just be patient and see how this thing plays out and that the chances of them running back more or less the exact same roster next year albeit with maybe some small tweaks here and there and obviously bringing

Back in the three or four guys that are currently uh injured and not participating uh that’s basically where they’re at and that’s I think the expectation for what we could probably see for this team next year yeah and I’ll just say from a journalism perspective with people who don’t

Regularly do interviews and have not been through extensive uh let’s say PR media training for how to handle those situations which you see more and more in a podcast world where there’s so many more interviewers and so many more Outlets than they used to be focus on

What they say rather than what they don’t say because in most of these situations they just forget look in an interview that’s probably what 30 minutes or so in length maybe shorter than that I haven’t looked at how long Chris had her for there’s a million things you could talk about with this

Basketball team so you’re always having to make choices just as we do when we outline a show that we try to finish in 30 minutes although we go long sometimes obviously um and even when we go long like it’s tough to say everything we want to say because there’s so many

Different directions that you can go nine times out of 10 especially if the person doesn’t regularly do interviews and hasn’t had a lot of media training it’s just that they forgot because again like with the young prospects the Rockets have there’s a core six that’s a

Lot of guys that’s more than most teams when we talk about top tier firstr prospects that have clearly shown something in the NBA already at a high level and alrin is a guy that because he hasn’t been on the floor the last three weeks and that’s been widely publicized

I know T isn’t on the floor as well but that’s sort of Forgotten because with T it’s sort of baked in that because honestly the entire year of 2024 he hasn’t been out there as opposed to with shenon his specific absence is still very new that could be a factor as well

T also a little bit louder on social media I’m just going to put that out there like he still makes his presence very has mom on social media too right so go couple other factors potentially at play yeah but I would just say in general focus on what they say and you

Know if in response to a question about aler and shenon she says something that worries you then okay that’s fair game to maybe have concerns about hey like is she hearing something from emay that isn’t great but in terms of just Omission I would not read too much into

That it’s no different than us when we sit down down have a 30-minute podcast we have to leave off things all the time to fit within the time frame it’s not a State of the Union Address way too many people look at these interviews thinking that the person in question is giving a

State of the union about the franchise and that’s not typically what the question is that’s not the format it’s quick hitting it’s just you know a few targeted questions and just as we forget a point that we want to make which happens I don’t I don’t know about you

Jackson it happens to me all the time like I’ll listen to one of these shows and I’ll be like oh damn I meant to yeah I meant to say so and so and I forgot it happens it’s an occupational hazard with you know the short interview which in a podcast world

Is becoming more and more prominent these days so just look at it that way it’s not a State of the Union Address it’s a quick-hitting interview in that situation unless she specifically says something you disagree with I would say nine times out of 10 something like that

Is just a matter of omission and it’s not something that you should worry about yeah I I again I we saw it kind of doing the rounds Rockets fans especially in this case when it strs to POS with all the positive things that em udoka himself self has said about Alper and

Shenon not just when he was playing but even last week after Jaylen went off in the first couple of weeks since shenon played eay already went out of his way in the radio interview with Matt Thomas to point out that no he doesn’t think it’s all because alar and shenon isn’t

Out there and he still believes that those two can play at a high level at the same time together not only has eay had shunum back when he was playing the first 63 games of the Season whatever it was he’s done the same even in the two

To three weeks that he’s been out so at this point Point yeah I think the evidence is strongly on the side on the side of it’s just an Omission it’s not something that you should lose sleep over on that note that’s going to do it for our show today Ben you know the

Drill that have been where to track you down at yep Ben Duos on Twitter the logger line on Twitter Rockets wire or the Rockets wire on Twitter excuse me and rocket. US today.com for all your daily Houston Rockets news coverage that’s going to do it for another

Edition of locked on Rockets as always thank you so much for checking out the show if you haven’t done so yet please consider subscribing wherever you’re listen to your podcast or on YouTube just search locked on Rockets be sure to like comment and subscribe and if you’re listening via Apple podcast a fivestar

Review helps us out a ton 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

How Can Ime Udoka & Houston Rockets Solve Jalen Green Double-Teams? + Realistic Schedule Goals

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) is joined by weekly cohost Rockets Wire Editor Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) to discuss reasons for and possible solutions for the aggressive double-teams the Dallas Mavericks (and likely other teams) will start using against Jalen Green, realistic end of season schedule goals for the Houston Rockets aside from the NBA play-in tournament push, debunking some tinfoil hat conspiracies surrounding comments by Ime Udoka’s sister on a recent podcast and more.

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