Why trading back in the draft is the Houston Rockets best option

Why trading back in the draft is the Houston Rockets best option

Jabari for three and the win got it we are here to fi Rockets news this Rockets field podcast presented by believe Network I am your co-host lashar Binkley you can always find me on Twitter at Binkley hoops and you can find my written work over at SP nation and the dream shake and of course before we get into today’s topic I want to give my co-host a chance to introduce himself hey what’s up y’all it’s Vader you can find me on Twitter XA at Vader Sports and you can also find me on IG for your Rockets related and Texans related content and Vader of course we are a few days away from the Rockets draft that’s coming up on Wednesday as of right now the Rockets have the number three pick we don’t know necessarily know if they’re going to keep that pick and that’s kind of the topic of today’s show uh We’ve we heard from Kelly e the last couple days in his article he has stated that there are some teams that are interested in that number three pick so that kind of opens the door for the Rockets to have other opportunities besides keeping that number three pick or even maybe trading it to another team um so that’s kind of where I want to start today we’re also going to kind of get into um a little bit about the actual roster that we have right now and what that roster should be going forward but of course the main topic right now is the draft and whether the Rockets should keep that pick or maybe even trade back and maybe add an additional player and get additional draft picks um and again I want to kind of talk about a little bit about that Kelly EO article in the article he stated that there are several teams that want to move up to that number three spot of that they’re really they’re getting really interested in players like Reed Shepard and Donovan clingin two guys that also have been uh tied to the Houston Rockets and three of those teams was Charlotte Memphis and Portland that were aggressively trying to move up and get to that number three pick like I said I want to start there and get your opinion if you’re Rafel stone and you see all these team interest in the pick but you also know that you’re a team that was 41 and 41 and trying to move and take that next step what what would you do in that in that scenario would you keep that number three pick and take the best of player available and also now that we know that uh SAR uh there’s been a report that he he doesn’t want to actually play for Atlanta Hawks that he want to stick at the power forward position and they they possibly trying to move him to Center he hasn’t even worked out for them so that may actually jumble up the top players that are taken early and it may be a player like Zachary reard that may be available at number three or maybe even SAR if Washington doesn’t take him so if you’re Rafel Stone what would you do in this scenario so we’ve been going back and forth with this um like I’ve had some discussions with people I’ve I’ve seen some chats uh where different opinions have been thrown around and you’re kind of playing with um house money at this point because you were not expected to draft at the at the three slot you know first and foremost so at this point it’s like you know I think I think Raphael Stone uh owes it to the the fans to the organization as a whole to do what is best and so like that’s one thing that darl M always talked about right and so whether you loved or hated Daryl Mory he pretty much like you could you could kind of see the logic and a lot of the things that that he did a lot of the the process of why of how and and how he did it you know maybe you might not have agree with it uh you know he gained that reputation that he was not you know wasn’t out of players GM or whatever and he was he was doing things and and treating guys like assets or whatever but like having the the third pick in the draft in a draft where there’s so much uncertainty you have to do your due diligence and I I love the fact that it seems like they’ve been doing that they’ve been bringing guys in such as Alex sa who at one point in time was projected to go number one and probably wasn’t you know necessarily going to be be there at three you know the fact that they brought that guy in tried to identify whether he’s somebody that they wanted uh that means a lot to me as a fan because I’m like um just you know just looking back at previous drafts where um I kind of have questions like did we do everything we we felt like we we could have done to uh move up um and get like Paulo or or get chat and in one of those other drafts because like to me like if if if you have an opportunity to package the third pick which I ironically have again if you have an opportunity to package and then maybe something else and actually you know Target and get the guy that you want I mean you have to do that so if like to me and um SAR looks very raw to me as far as on the offensive side his his defensive ability is very intriguing um you know maybe next to a guy like shenon um if that’s a guy like you feel can help your team get to another level I feel like you know as long as it’s within reason and to move up a spot or two to get that guy I I feel like that’s something that you need to explore you need to like you know exhaust every possibility that you can actually pull that off because like in retrospect you know I love Jabar Smith Jr he he’s he has a lot of talent he’s 611 uh he’s projected to be a good shooter and a good Defender but you know like in retrospect if you could have moved up and got gotten Chad or gotten Paulo you know you’re a better team right now you know I hate to say that no disrespect to Jabari he just like that at this stage in their careers guys just so happen to be better you know and jabbar’s put in work you know so I’m not trying to discredit like him or anything like that like who knows with the future holds he’s still very young a few years from now you know who knows maybe he is on part with those two guys but to me like if if there’s a guy out there that’s above where you’re draft where you’re slotted in the draft and you can get that guy for a reasonable price take advantage of that and then um you know on the flip side like you said like if they’re teams trying to trade up and you you have uh identified that you know I have Reed Shepard I have Stephen Castle I have Donovan kingan or whoever you know bazelle is I have these guys kind of in the same area and you can move back and pick up an asset why not do that right because then you know at the end of the day you are making the Rockets a better team so like I’m very interested to see like this is um this is a very unique unique draft for us a very unique situation I feel like we have guys in a lot of positions we still need certain things on the team and there guys in this this draft they say this is not a draft where there’s going to be like a lot of star players coming out but there are guys that like have specific skill sets that this team needs so I’m very curious and I’m very interested to see how Rafael Stone approaches this so let me kind of throw out a couple scenarios kind some of the rumors that’s been floating around so if you were to be offered um if Memphis Memphis is one of the teams that’s trying to move up from that number nine spot to the number three spot let’s say they offer you Marcus Smart and the number nine pick and they want the number three pick if you’re the Rockers would you do that trade because for me we know Marcus Smart’s history for you know with Ma and I’ve heard that Rafel really loves Marcus Smart’s game if you’re the rockets and let’s say Reed sheeper there at number three would you rather go Reed sheer number three or would you rather trade back and possibly even get another number one pick um maybe 2026 pick or whatever it is would you trade back and do that of course to make the Sal’s match you would have to probably trade away a guy like a um Jack landelle and Jeff Green because they of course they both have contracts around eight or n million dollar a year even a Jan tap may have to be thrown in there so you have to trade away some of your players but not necessarily any of your core players would a deal like that would would that make you want to make that trade or would you just want to stick and trade and drive the player like a reed Shepard to me that goes back to what I was kind of alluding to earlier where do you how do you rank and how do you like as far as your your evaluation process how good is R Shepard to you how good is alexar to you how good is a Don been clinging to you how good is a bazis to you or orista sh if he falls to that to that slot like how good are those guys do you feel like those guys are better than you know in two years than what you could get from uh like a Marcus Martin picking up an additional asset uh surface level because we don’t know and I haven’t you know obviously you and I haven’t been in the uh we haven’t been in any of these workouts so like it’s kind of like we’re kind of like grasping straws right now um but surface level to me like picking up a guy like Marcus Smart who is a all NBA Defender who is um somebody that he made you know loves and and covets and and Slots right in I think Marcus Smart instantly makes you a better basketball te team right and then like you can pick up a the ninth pick in this draft where you can also get a guy who is probably on your board um there’s a lot of guys who I think I would covet around that area because that’s where we thought we’d be drafting anyways right before we before we moved up to number three so there’ll still be a guy there whether it’s a connect or it’s a um a wear or you know there there’s going to be a guy there around H there there’s going to be a guy at nine who you can bring in as a developmental piece and and hopefully down the road that guy can actually be part of your core group so if I can get Marcus Smart and you know pick up the ninth pick you know I would do it I I’ve talked to people who wouldn’t do it because they’re really high on Reed Shepard for example I’m just throwing Reed Shepard out there because he’s he’s a guy that’s been linked to us a lot um and he’s a guy who um by all intents and purposes if you just look at if you just want to go by analytics and you want to go by like historical data like his shooting this year at Kentucky is like historical there has not been very many guys come out of come into the NBA that have the shooting splits that he has so if you believe that that’s real and that’s going to translate to the NBA and he did actually shoot NBA 3es very well and this is a team that is you know in need of shooting and if you think that maybe he can project uh to be a you know better version of Fran Le like you take that right so like but but me not knowing right now then yeah maybe I’ll take Marcus Martin number nine what about you what do you think so so my only issue with ar Shepard is what exactly is he is he an in between Type player is he a tweener is he gonna be a sort of backup point guard occasionally shooting guard is he not fast enough to be a point guard is he not athletic enough to be a shooting guard I mean where does he kind of fit because they say 63 but I’ve heard people say that he’s not even 63 and we all know that small guards in the NBA you you you if you’re gonna be really good you have to be I mean historically good to be that size and to be able to excel in the NBA we’ve seen with FR van v but FR van v has never been a superstar level type player he’s been a really good player Allstar Championship type player um but that’s because he does a lot of different things well he know he doesn’t just do one particular thing and re re Shepard yes he’s a great shooter but also with this roster yeah you always find room for Shooters but if they’re for instance not good on defense is ma even gonna play him where is he gonna play at people were saying Aaron holiday minutes but the only reason Aaron holiday had minutes was because of injuries so now let’s say you have all your players in they’re ready to go where does Reed sheeper fit in with minutes when it comes to minutes because you gotta find minutes for cam you got to find minutes for for amen you gotta five minutes for tar een um all these guys are going to be playing next year and probably I’m in the camera going to be playing even more minutes compared to where they were last year when everybody was healthy so that’s another thing you got to factor in does ma really want to try to insert another 19 20 year old player into the rotation it’s one thing if they’re just gonna send him to the G League that’s like Rafel had mentioned during his last press conference where we don’t have a problem necessarily them not playing right away but if you’re drafting the number three do you really want to draft a guy number three that you’re going to be like they’re not going to play at the beginning of the year at all they’re going to be on the bench because even with a man a man wasn’t going to be on the bench but he dealt with injuries and things like that he was going to be playing but there if you draft a guy number three this year more than likely they’re not even going to be playing right away unless you’re gonna May making a lot of Trades and if you’re making those trades you’re probably making trades for better players so again that number three pick’s probably still not even going to be playing a lot of minutes so for me I would trade back I love Marcus Smart game yeah especially if he’s will he’s a good fit here right like if you put marus SM absolutely perfect yeah I mean especially if he’s willing to come off the bench because we know Fred Van is still gonna be your starter we know Jaylen green still gonna be your starter um small forward if Dylan Brooks is still here he’s still gonna be your starter so if he’s willing to come off the bench and played 20 25 minutes off the bench that is an absolute perfect point a backup point guard um for the Houston Rockets and actually he’s a decent I mean he’s not a great three-point shooter but no it’s not like it’s an a man type of three-point shooting where people not even guarding him from outside so he would be the perfect fit and then you can still get that number n pick and I’m a lot more willing to let that number nine pick go to the G League than I am a number three overall pick so like you say if you can still have that number nine pick and then also get another future first round pick if they’re that desperate to move up to me it’s a Nob brainer unless you can go out there and find a superstar that you can package that number three pick with your other picks but I seriously doubt that’s going to happen so for me with this particular draft and again you don’t know with any draft that the players are going to be good or not you really don’t know that until heck we’re still trying to figure that out from two or three drafts ago for some of the players on the Houston Rockets so but for for me you know what Marcus SM can bring you you know you’re trying to take that next step and to take that next step you need guys like Marcus Smart who is a still can be a a great defender is a decent enough shooter is a decent enough playmaker and brings that toughness that we know Ma loves yeah like uh that’s one thing I was um I was waiting on you to finish up because like he brings a hard-nosed competitiveness to the team like and I’m not saying we don’t have it like we got guys like tar e on the team I think I think a man has a quiet competitiveness to him uh and and he’s very tough as well um I think cam is probably going to bring that too you know like once he gets more established in the league you know there are guys on the team who have it uh FR V obviously to be like a 510 511 dude in the NBA you know playing at the level that he has that he does he has it as well but you bringing in Marcus Smart who like I said he’s he’s been an all NBA Defender uh he’s been to an NBA Finals they didn’t win uh they lost to the Warriors but like he’s been there uh he’s been on successful teams he’s been in you know rotation or starting on these teams as well so like um I don’t know like I don’t know how you can’t love that unless you just really fall in love with that player at that pick number three I think it’s like you said it’s kind of a no-brainer to kind of move back if you can get Marcus Smart and get the ninth pick where you can probably get like a you know I want to say like a similar Prospect Maybe not maybe not um you know like equ an equivalent Prospect but like I have a feeling this is going to be one of those drafts like the jannis ano draft where like a guy who is not drafted in the top five is going to be the best player in this draft because leard type draft y yeah we got there’s gonna be a guy who like we’re gonna look back and be like how did he fall to 10 how did he fall to 12 and so like you know the Rockets have a unique opportunity maybe you add a rotation guy right now and you can take a swing you know on one of those you know guys who are more like a high you know High cealing guys and you like like Aon like a Ronald Holland type Ron Holland Ron Holland is a guy who like I wouldn’t take at three but I would certainly take at nine he’s a guy who like I think could be better than Reed Shepard he’s not better than Reed Shepard right now so I I couldn’t justify taking I couldn’t justify taking Ron Holland necessarily right now at at number three but at number nine man you take him and then you know three years from now he might he could potentially be the best player in this draft I’m not saying he will be but you know that’s the kind of draft this is you just don’t know yeah yeah exactly and I said the only let me let me ask you this question what player would need to be available for you to stay at number three that is pretty much like okay there’s no way I’m trading this pick I’m staying at number three is there any player in this draft that you that’s kind of like a no-brainer that you if they’re available at number three you’re taking them okay so I want to say I do I do believe in Reed sheer because I do believe in the shooting I looked at like like some people who some people who I like trust you know from the anal you know I’ve told you a long time ago like I look at analytics I look at the data I look at all that stuff but I’m also like a it test guy like so like but like I’ve seen his shooting splits like they’re real like he shoots every three-pointer like extremely well and at a high rate even the um you know some guys fool you because they take you know they taking College threets there’s even a statistic out there that you can look up where he’s taking NBA threes and those are still at a very high level so I kind of Reed Reed would be a guy who like I have I I do have my doubts about but like I think I would probably moved back for for for Marcus Martin a number nine um one guy who I don’t have a lot of intel on who I I kind of wonder about is Alex sa so he’s a guy who you know if you’re gonna if you’re going to go with alperin shenon as your franchise player as your center of the future you need a guy like Alex are next to him like so to me depending on do you think he can develop offensively um he’s a guy he’s the type of player like because I really want like a lot of people were talking about talking about Paulo you know in that Jabari draft I kind of want to check I kind of want to chat a little bit because I felt like he’d be able to cover up some of uh shanon’s um defensive uh deficiencies if you want to say he’d be able to like be that weak side shot blocker kind of a RoR or whatever um you know alexar might be able to be that guy so like to me if they if they value alexar if he’s a guy that they really think can can be a missing piece on this team I think you stay at that you stay at number three if you believe in alexar uh ironically you wrote an article about uh what’s his name you got you got some Flack on that but like little little bit Yeah you spelled out your reason why you thought he’d be a good home run swing for the number three pick and if have evaluated that guy as as like the way you know what you were saying about him like if there’s a guy at number three that you you can stay there and you feel like this guy can be like a a in integral piece in the future you stay there if not you know take one of those trades yeah and my whole thinking with pelis was I me personally I want them to trade the pick it’s not like oh they gotta take pelis no matter what it was like if they’re going to stick at number three and if it’s they SAR s Reet or vice versa one two now I’m starting to look at upside I’m starting to look at versatility I’m starting look at okay what can they bring that the rockets need reaer definitely brings to shooting but does he help improve their defense does he help improve their playmaking with for me it’s just with melis he’s just kind of he’s an overall allaround type of player he doesn’t do he doesn’t do anything one thing particularly great but he also is a better playmaker than ree sheeper um he has potential to be a better Defender than re Shepard um he can play Above the Rim he’s really good off ball um his shooting like I said that took a dip last season um because of couple of factors he started off the year with an ankle injury and the g League at night was a complete mess and we see now that they pretty much been disbanded and and a lot of reason why because of their Player Development or lack of Player Development so I took all that into consideration and also going into last season he was the number one Prospect everybody saw him as the number one player in the league and he actually had an interview now which I guess the way you put it is kind of funny the way he put it but he said that if I would shot better last year I would have been a number one guy no no matter what which of course you know that’s like saying if I would have played better throughout my career I would have been a Hall of Famer I mean that’s that’s kind of hard to say and not laugh but I can see what his point is he’s just basically saying that yes I struggled from shoot shooting last year but during when I was in high school I was a much better shooter and he thinks that he can become that shooter again so to me it was just kind of looking at more potential if you’re going to stay at a number three pick in a draft that you weren’t expecting to have a number three pick why not try to go for the Home Run instead of going for a single or a double which to me that’s kind of what re sheeper is you about down we we’d be like remiss to not talk about Donovan kingan like what do you think about him he’s he’s a hot you know Prospect as far as like teams supposedly are targeting him to trade up and then like even we’ve heard some buzs that Atlanta might even consider him at number one um yeah I don’t know like as far as like just from a Rocket’s perspective do you think he makes sense here at number three so I even saw what another thing Kelly EO mentioned was that he was shooting up the rocket draft boards to me that’s kind of just smoke screen because they know a lot of teams want him and hey what’s the best way to get teams behind you interested him and say hey we possibly could draft him because it really doesn’t make much sense for the Rockets if if you plan on keeping alar and shenon if you plan on keeping keep people kind of forget Stephen Adams will be playing next season you’ll have Stephen Adams and you still have uh Jac landelle on the contract to me that’s a pretty good third Center to have um if he’s goingon to be your number three Center so Center is actually your deepest position on the entire team so for the Rockets it doesn’t really make much sense to go out for Donovan kingan to me he kind of reminds me of a walker Kessler type of player who could be a really good role player Off the Bench but again are you gon to draft him at number three for him to what Possibly play fight for the number two spot with Stephen Adams and do we really think if Stephen Adams is healthy he’s gonna be a better player next season than Stephen Adams I don’t see it I think for me the Rockets are kind of just dangling out there to try to get more interest from teams like Memphis um who definitely want to bring in a center and move Jared Jackson Jr back to his power forward or even a team like Charlotte or Portland any of these teams that um and it’s kind of funny with Portland because they made a big deal about trading for uh Aon now they’re kind of also saying that they want Clingan so it’s just a lot of things kind of floating around it’s kind of hard to know what’s true and what’s not but for me it doesn’t really make much sense for in a Rockets perspective because like I said Center is actually a really deep position on a team that kind of lacking in depth in other areas on the court but I mean for you what what do you think of the whole you know that he’s shooting up the rocket draft board and what do you just kind of think of clinging overall I personally think that um I don’t know e was was big on bringing brick Lopez in so I don’t necessarily like dismiss it right because um the reason he wanted to bring Brook Lopez in is because he felt like Brook could anchor the defense that he wanted to run um I kind of feel like Clingan might be a similar Defender so I haven’t written it off completely however I think if you bring kingan in I kind of feel like I hate to say it but and then I don’t want I don’t want the backlash just going to come with this but like to me if you draft clinging at third overall pick in the draft that is signaling to me that you are willing to move off of Alf and shenon who is your best player right now Al sh like Al shenon is like unquestionably like the best player on the team right now like I don’t think that you know at this point most people are going to argue with you about that um I think bringing in a Donovan clinging at number three is kind of signaling that you are interested in like um I don’t know maybe taking a different different path you know to your roster construction um and and I mean there is a path where you can go where you can build around shenon there’s a path where you can go to build around a Donovan kingan um and they’re just very different so and they have the same agent uh like I know that’s been brought up a lot too like they share an agent um you know as an agent you probably would not want both of those two guys in the same situation so I don’t know like I that would be like a very interesting pick I would I would I would question that pick I do like Donovan kingan I um I’ve been watching a lot of like video on him the past few days just to kind of see like I’m like what is the hype about because like to me when I watched him you know just like on first glance um you know he didn’t I wasn’t like oh this is the this is a guy that could go number one in the draft that’s not something that’s not something that I ever like really considered but then like you know the the rumors start swirling around that Atlanta might take him at number one so I was like let me go back and look and like let me see what the UE is on this guy but I just think for the for the Rockets like you said like you still have um you have air gun you have Stephen Adams you have Jack landale who came on towards the end of the year and I think you know we bragged on him a lot at the beginning of the year he had an ankle injury a severe anchor ankle injury um that you know clearly you know inhibited his play he played a lot better yeah you know towards season end so like that is one of your deepest positions so for you to bring a fourth Center into the mix I don’t know it kind of signals to me like there’s going to be like a shift of some sort so like I don’t know I personally I don’t think I would draft him third um unless you’re planning on moving shenon another guy who I think is kind of interesting that that keeps coming up a lot who I think a lot of rockets fans don’t want to don’t want at three is Stephan Castle um he’s another guy who like you know I keep hearing like maybe he could be a true holiday type of guy or you know like even you said like a earlier like a market smart type of guy so I don’t know there’s just so many different this this draft on Wednesday um I think it’s going to tell us a lot about the direction we’re going in it’s it’s yeah this is the probably most um like confusion that I’ve ever had kind of going into a draft over the past like since we’ve been drafting in the lottery you know these past four years like this is probably the most one where I’m just like I I have no I have no idea what we’re gonna do it’s funny this is actually probably the draft where they have the most power because in the past the rocket had to draft where they were drafting because they have to bring in Talent they didn’t have talent they have to bring some talent in but this season it’s almost playing like with house money because I guarantee the front office going into that draft lottery results they were thinking okay be around 910 uh you know we may draft somebody but more than likely we’re going to trade that pick now you jump up into the top three and you already have the the core six that we talk about all the time you’re not really you don’t have to bring in another young guy you’re not at that point anymore you’re at the point now where you’re trying to take that next step but you got a bunch of teams behind you that were a lot worse than you were last year I mean think about it several teams behind you had a lot worse record than you have and you have a higher draft pick that puts you in a really good position and we’ve seen it now with all these teams trying to aggressively move up to where the Rockets are because what they trying to do they’re trying to move in front of San Antonio as well because San Antonio has a fourth and eighth pick and they know there’s certain players that San Antonio is gonna absolutely GNA draft Zachary ret being one of them possibly even Donovan Clingan because we’ve we’ve heard for a while that Victor wiama doesn’t necessarily always want to play the center position um so there’s teams that know this and that’s why I’m sure raell Stone just sitting back there like man this is a great position to be at because I’m not the one having to make the calls this time around it’s teams calling me left and right trying to get a pick that we didn’t even think we would have at the beginning of the season so if you look at it that way to me they this is probably the most power the Rockets have had in any draft they could kind of shape the entire draft on what they do because you know you trade away um you trade away that number three pick and now you got other teams that are going to have to adjust their draft board so this is kind of the Rockets are kind of controlling a lot of what’s going on with the draft that’s why I’m not that’s why I’m not really in love with like um locking in at three I’ll be perfectly okay if they trade because um they’re like like we we’ve said over and over and over and over there’s so much uncertainty in this draft there’s guys I like there’s guys there’s things I like about all of these top prospects but they all are like flawed yes like every single player that you can bring up has a flaw and there are very young they’re like most of them are like 19 years old like if you look at I was looking at it the other day and I’m like this guy’s 19 six months this guy’s 19 eight months this guy’s 19 you know what I mean so um we don’t know we have no idea what they’re going to be so like that’s where the scouting comes in I think the rocket spent a lot of money bringing in like guys who they really trust uh who bringing guys in the room who they feel like have good knowledge on being able to being able to like Scout guys and figure out you know kind of try project what they’re going to be uh but we have no it’s crazy so like yeah I’m I’m not necessarily like locked in at three um and like I do maybe I’m in a minority I don’t know but like adding Marcus Smart to the team that we had last year I just think makes us a better team so if Memphis wants to move up and get kinging or whoever and they’re going to give us Marcus Smart and the ninth pick I kind of I probably me probably I would probably take that I’m not I’m not going to lie to you yeah and uh there a couple more well one more thing I really want to get into because we’re going to make this show a little bit shorter because really the big news is next week on whatever happens whether it’s a trade something big is going to happen next week either the rocket is gonna make a trade or they going to be drafted a number three pick and we’re GNA have the people going back and forth on whether that’s a horrible pick or not that’s just kind of it’s kind of is inevitable that’s G to happen so One Way Or Another We’re gonna have some big news next week and we’re definitely going to be having a show maybe Wednesday maybe Thursday um because of course this year one other quick thing uh the draft is actually two separate days so you have the first round Wednesday you have the second round Thursday now of course the second round is not nearly as big of a deal but the Rockets still may be making moves try to get in you know because if I’m not mistaken the Rockets do have a second round pick this year um if I’m not mistaken so um there will still be some news as far as that is concerned but one thing I want to get into before we wrap up the show is uh I want to ask you this question hasn’t been talked about as much cuz draft is coming up now but we heard some Rumblings about longer term contract or contract extensions for jayen green and alperin shanon so I want to ask your opinion because we know that after this season uh both alperin and Jaylen they Rockets can still sign him that next season as restricted free agents but once you get to that point you’re starting to play a dangerous game of hey that we may lose them for nothing if we don’t come to some kind of contract agreement so if you’re the GM again are you offering any one of these guys um a contract extension and are you offering either one of these guys the max I think I kind of know the answer to that one but I’m still gonna ask you anyway if I’m if I draft down to Ben clinging I’m not I I kind of feel like if you draft down to vling and you’re signaling to me that you love you you like Shen but you’re still you still have some questions about his defense if you’re drafting him at three right I think shunda has has earned you know like an extension I feel like if anybody’s earned an extension on the team is him um but to me like I feel like if you draft Donovan if they draft Don Donovan kingan with the third pick on Wednesday then to me I I don’t see it I think maybe um unfortunately he might be a guy who’s being dangled out there you know what I mean um but I do think like if you can put like a guy like Alex SAR next to Alin shenon I think it mitigate some of the concerns that you have with him defensively because Alex Alex s’s defense is like you know a lot of people were like talking about how like Evan Mobley is like this generational Defender you know and he’s a guy that we kind of missed on or whatever I think alexar brings you some similar similar level defense to like what you would have gotten with Moy and he pairs well um with shinon he’s a guy who also even though he’s seven foot tall 71 whatever he is he does not want to play center so I think that’s a good that’s a good fit that’s a good like if you’re talking about just like from a roster uh construction standpoint and then when we get to um jayen green you know like I’ve I’ve always you know you can go back and look a year podcast I’ve been a jayen green supporter from day one I still believe in Jaylen green how it but like he’s on the clock and I’ve said like I admit it he’s on on the clock I don’t think you can offer him a a a Max contract right now like I don’t think he’s earned it and um yeah do I think that he has the potential to be like a a a All-Star level player yes do I think that he’s earned a Max contract no so to me like neither one neither it just kind of depends like I think if you are if you’ve committed to shenon um and then also I think like if you looking at like building a roster and roster construction it it it may not in your best interest right like if you’re going to give shenon to Max anyway like why do it now you know what I mean when you can still bring in because I think his cap slot is lower than Jaylen because he went like at a different spot in the draft so yeah because jaylen’s making 12 million a year shenon is still only making five million year next season so he’s still regardless his max is going to be less than jaylen’s but I kind of see it the same way if they’re gonna give anybody a Max it will be shenon are they more likely to try to extend him with a lower cap slot I think that’s a possibility it’s a question of will shenon take it if you’re shenon you’re probably like heck no I’m not taking anything less than a Max because I figure I’m gonna get better and some team’s gonna give me that Max so that’s when it becomes kind of a you know you’re playing a dangerous game because after this season like I said restrictive free agent you can match anything somebody offers them but again do you want to go down that route and possibly lose them for nothing if it’s let’s say they tell you they don’t want to come back yes you can match it but if you’re that player and you tell them hey I don’t want to come back we know in today’s NBA they hold a lot more power and they could tell him I’m not gonna play for your team anymore then you have to end up trading him or you just have to end up letting them walk and then you don’t get anything for them at all so this first few months is so important especially more important for Jaylen green than Al shanon because we’ve seen Al shanon play at an All-Star level before he got hurt we haven’t seen jayen green play at Allstar level for more than a month at a time we saw it in March we didn’t see it for most of last season or Seasons before that so if Jaylen green goes out there if he gives you Jaylen green March in October November December then the the questions of whether you give him a Max then those questions start to heat up fast because that’s when you’re starting to see a player that can take it to the next level but you see Jaylen green come out there and he’s playing like Jaylen green has to begin most seasons then the question is gonna be more like are you gonna trade him by the deadline then are you gonna give him a Max yeah because March J Jaylen green look like a top 10 15 player in the NBA like his his um and that’s the that’s the thing where you just don’t know him his his ceiling is so high his floor is so low he’s like we seen both yeah the vast gap between like what he can be and what he might end up being and we just don’t know because he’s been so inconsistent um I’m just hoping you know for the sake of the franchise just as a Rockets fan not even a Jaylen green but just from a a Rockets fan perspective if you really love the Rockets if you’re really a Rockets fan out there like you should be hoping Jaylen green like reaches his potential and becomes like what they hoped he would be when they drafted him second overall you know behind Kade and in between you know Evan Moy because we saw that guy in March that was the guy that I think they thought they were getting and um we’ve only seen flashes of it but it’s the flashes are there and his flashes are so so high and he was not just he was not just doing it on one side of the floor he actually was playing decent defense and the team was winning and so I don’t know it’s just one of those things where like to me now I kind of wonder if it’s a me a mental thing with him and if it’s a mental thing with them that that concerns me more than um that concerns me more than anything else like I hope it’s not I hope it’s not just like him you know like lacking Focus or anything like that because like you you saw what he could actually do in March and it was like like the the only reason he did not win Rookie of I mean not rookie the only reason he didn’t win player of the month is because there’s this guy out there named Luca donic who I don’t know if you know but he pretty much like you know back car his team to the NBA finals this year before he went up against Boston and you know that guy’s pretty spectacular and like uh for a whole month the only player that was better than Jaylen green was was Luca donic yeah that’s it yeah so before we wrap up the show uh real quickly since we’re probably not gonna do another show until after the draft so if you had to put money on it what do you think the rocket is gonna do uh you put me on the spot we didn’t talk about okay um I think we trade to pick I think we tra like if I had to if you said I had $100 you giv me a $100 and I have to put it down on will we pick at three or trade at three I think we’re going to trade I don’t know if it’s up or down don’t make me pick up or down because I don’t know yeah I I’ll put like this I would be shocked if they don’t trade to pick I would be shocked I and I I normally they have so they have so many people who want this pick I I feel like you know what I mean like just imagine like you’re on you keep getting these phone calls like eventually some somebody going to tell you something you like right like somebody going to put like because because not only are you getting all but and that’s the thing you’re getting a lot of calls so they’re bidding against one another and so that drives up the price and so you’re at a unique position where you have a a coveted pick we haven’t had that in a while where like people are like because you know in previous drafts like there’s been like a there’s been a top three there was there was there was Cade Jaylen and Evan Mobley we didn’t know what order they were going gonna go in but those were the three picks um there was Paulo banero CH hren Jabar Smith Jr those were the three picks we didn’t know necessarily what order they were going to go in this draft is different this this this draft you know and then last year there was um who was it Wy and then it was like a me a matter of whether or not sco Henderson or Brandon Miller would go two or three and we had the fourth pick so there was not a whole lot of like confusion at the top of the draft uh as far as top three in this draft you have no idea you have no idea and I feel like you know with all the teams trying to position to move up I think eventually ra Rafael Stone might hear something that he likes and so yeah I think I think we’ll tra like if I had to bet money I think we trade yeah I I I definitely agree like I said I’ll be shocked if they keep that pick uh out of all years um this is the perfect opportunity to take that next step and trade that pick and improve your team right away so like I said we probably won’t have another show into the draft we definitely have a show or two next week after the draft um depending on the timing whether it’s Wednesday or Thursday we’ll definitely let you know ahead of time on that as usual we always appreciate support as usual Vader I appreciate you jumping on and joining me for the show absolutely I always a good time man look forward to uh doing another another show after we make the pick or make the trade or whatever we end up doing with it so we can break that down yeah absolutely looking forward to that and as usual we appreciate everybody’s support let let us know down in the comments what do you think would you trade that pick or would you keep it and if you keep it who would you go with with that number three overall pick uh like I said we appreciate the support we appreciate the likes if you’re not a subscriber go ahead hit that subscribe button and as usual make sure you check out the next episode of The Rocket Field podcast [Music]

The Rockets are in a position of power this draft season for the first time in a long time. Should the Rockets trade back and bring in a player like Marcus Smart or keep the pick and roll the dice on Reed Sheppard?
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