Why Alperen Sengun & Jalen Green Fit Perfectly + Houston Rockets Rent Free In Draymond Green’s Head

Why Alperen Sengun & Jalen Green Fit Perfectly + Houston Rockets Rent Free In Draymond Green’s Head

On today’s show Oka pushes back on the idea that Jaylen green is succeeding because of alperin shun’s injury why that duo does work and how excited Rockets fans should be moving forward plus Amin Thompson’s role and impact and how he has unlocked some new things for this Rockets team since being inserted

Into the starting lineup and the rockets living rentree in Draymond Green’s head it’s all coming up on today’s lock on Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition sequence St six 5 4 3 2 1 what’s up and welcome to another edition of lock on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston

Rockets basketball as always I’m your host Jackson Gatlin native houstonian a credential media member I’m also the host of locked on NBA Mondays be sure to follow along on Twitter at JT Gatlin and the show of course at lockon Rock it’ss free and available wherever you listen to your podcast including YouTube now

Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more with FanDuel right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 200 bucks if your bet wins visit fanduel.com locked on to get started and as always thank you so much for making

Locked on Rockets part of your day every single day thank you for being in every dayer whether it’s on your way to work on your lunch break in the gym thank you for making the show part of your day every single day joining us now is your weekly co-host none other than the

Podfather himself Rockets R editor and host of the logger line podcast Bend Duos you can track down on Twitter at Bend Dubose and Ben we’ve got a a variety a little shorish Board of rockets topics to tackle today we’re going to focus on some of the discussions surrounding jayen green and

Al shingu that duo can they be successful in the future is Jaylen Green’s recent new found success because alperin shingon went down due to injury uh spoiler alert it’s not as you’re shaking your head yeah we’re going to kind of debunk that a little bit the

Second time we’ve had to debunk it here on the show even Oka commenting on that duo and what they should hopefully be able to achieve together in the future we’re also going to talk a little bit about Amin Thompson’s role his impact and how he kind of factors in as a trio

Alongside Jaylen green and Al Brin good and then good old friend of the program Draymond Green Rockets are currently living rentree in the back of Draymond Green’s head and it is a wonderful thing to see it take place so let’s start with he doesn’t care about the Rock ETS right

He doesn’t where where’s my where’s my Draymond clip I don’t give a damn about the Rockets there we go he he doesn’t give a damn about the Rockets clearly two days later that’s not the truth we’re going to tackle that a little bit later on in the show uh shout out to Tar

Een as well um all right so Ben let’s start with the jayen shingon stuff because this has been like a running dialogue with rockets fans the moment Alper and shingun went down and it kind of directly coincided with Jaylen Green’s resurgent Performance this season the fact that he’s really taking

Off looking like a star level player playing like the best player in the NBA over these last few weeks and we’ve already discussed this once you know a couple times before here on the show uh either with Madison or with alyon but it’s not I think it’s disingenuous to

Even remotely suggest that Jaylen Green’s you know upward bounds leap the way that he’s playing as of late is a direct result because of Alper and shingun going down due to injury because we we we saw these two I test matches this we saw these two already playing

Better Together post Allstar break yeah absolutely the Rockets tweaked their offense at the All-Star break and a lot of these Trends were already in place by the time shenon went out on March 10th and look Jaylen will be the first to tell you he missed a lot of shots early

In the season that he thinks he should make now they’re going in I really think it’s largely as simple as that look aler and shenon is not the type of plotting big man who you just stick on the low block and you can make this argument that he’s theoretically in the way no

The Rockets already use shenon fairly creatively when it comes to the mid post the high post behind the three-point Arc a lot of the time so it’s not like when aler and shenon is in the game it’s almost like this caricature that’s been put out there by people that don’t

Really follow the Rockets of oh he’s this traditional big man and he’s just clogging the space no that’s not how he operates and as far as the touches argument does Jaylen need more Rhythm to get going look he had plenty of shot attempts even with shenon in the lineup

I don’t think that all of a sudden the few extra shots he’s got since shenon went out on the 10th has changed this dramatically no I think they fundamentally tweaked a few things with his mechanics his usage was already being changed since the All-Star break they’re playing with more pace which a

Men Thompson is helping a bit with as well I know we’ll get to that these are all things independent of aler and shenon I just feel like largely the discussion has sort of made shingun out to be a caricature an old school big man that you just stick on the low block and

He’s just getting in the way that’s not the way the Rockets with shingun functioned and quite frankly the first two-thirds of the Season Jaylen had opportunities they just weren’t going in credit to jayen and the coaching staff for continuing to work and since the allstar break the changes have taken off

And if you dive into the data you can see they were already taking off before shenon got injured and you don’t have to take it from us um you could take it from us because that’s how we feel about it but that’s also how head coach Oka

Feels about it and he said just as much when he was uh chatting with uh Matt Thomas and Ross Vale on the Matt Thomas Show uh just the other day and some of this resurgent Resurgence has coincided with Al shun’s injury how much of it is an oversimplification to to say that one

Led to the other and just curious your thoughts of of me me meshing and maximizing the abilities of both in the floor yeah I don’t think there’s a direct correlation I think um he we were playing much faster coming out All-Star break I think um you know we went four-

One with Alp out Allstar break and our Pace had increased um you know times two almost and so now we’re playing even faster the one thing you could say is he may have more touches U you know obviously with uh out the post presence of alpie but our Pace was the same with

Alpie I think um we wanted to really increase that get the threes up all those things don’t have anything to do with Alin except for the crowd that he he attracts and so some of the kickout threes that he initiates for guys out of the post that’s a great thing that Al

Does but um you know for for that being the case I think they both can compliment each other very well and even when Jaylen was struggling earlier in the year he had the same quality looks he was he was you know he’s starting to read things better so I think they can

Complement each other very well and the pace and the threes and offensive rebound those things were were being done with Alper and in still now look I I think it’s it’s straight from em oa’s mouth to your ears right they compliment each other perfectly and I think we’ve

Seen that that was one of the few bright spots across this Rockets rebuild for the first two years during that you know that Steven silus era is we saw flashes of what that two-man game looked like between jayen green and Alper and shenon now I will say that earlier this season

I well the the the touches argument I do think is legitimate because while jaylen’s overall like shot attempts were were not they didn’t drop off considerably I think there’s a difference right between shot attempts and actual touches right Rhythm feel for the game having the ball in your hands

Running the offense steering things and Jaylen was kind of you know pushed off more so to an off ball role earlier this season to where he would start games and so much of the offense was running through Alin shenon and Fred Van B that steady two-man game diet that we saw

Early on and then Jaylen would be kind of relegated to that third or sometimes even fourth or fifth option offensively depending on how Jabari and Dylan looked on a given game and then he would kind of be thrown back into the fire with that second unit and expected to produce

And that can be really tough mentally to not get your usual touches to not be in a rhythm to start the game and then to be expected to come in and suddenly knock down shots or or cook the second unit so there was a lot there was a

Learning curve for Jaylen there was a you know a lot of growth that had to go into this but I think to sit here and try and say that that this team is better without Alber and Shing or that these two guys can’t coincide that they can’t that their success can’t coincide

With one another and that they can’t complement each other is just so far from the case and for me it comes down to Nuance look I can accept that maybe there’s an extra level that Jaylen can get to at least now based on the Rhythm argument that you’re making but it’s not

Everything it did not take him from a guy who was below average for the first two-thirds of this season in terms of his efficiency his overall production to a guy who has been absolutely Elite since the allstar break it’s not that a lot of the Improvement was already being

Made before shingon was out now can you argue that at least in the short term maybe jayen is better off and gets from you know very good to Great based on the shingun injury I guess yes I think you can certainly make an argument but what

I reject is the framing that I’ve seen on social media and among some corners of um Rockets Feds that all it took to get Jaylen from where he was for the first two-thirds of this season to where he is now is for shenon to leave that is way overly simplistic it’s not accurate

I think to a small degree the extra Rhythm the touches might help but look there’s a lot more to the game than that there’s been a lot of references to jaylen’s percentages on wide open threes which which have and had improved dramatically even before the shingon injury relative to earlier in the year

And these are wideopen threes that are generated based on the attention drawn by alar and shenon so no I don’t buy the idea that jayen shooting 25 30% whatever terrible number it was early in the year from three wide open that that’s something that’s all for and shon’s

Fault make Jaylen miss those shots earlier this year yeah that or or that that Jaylen needs Rhythm to make wideopen shots no he knows he should make those and he was you know he just had a bad stretch and lots of players they go through slumps and with Jaylen I

Know they’ve tried to do some things to improve his mechanics and you know credit to the team the coaching staff they’ve done that but Jaylen green is not going to point the finger at ala and shenon for missing wide open threes which was a big part of why the first

Half of the season was as ugly as it was at times and so again it comes down to Nuance could you make the argument to an extent that at least for now Jaylen is still learning and that Rhythm helps get him you know a higher ceiling perhaps to

Where it it allows him to have like a 37o game like he did in that amazing win at OKC maybe but it is not an explanation for the dramatic change overall it might move the needle a little but the vast majority of it just comes down to Jaylen playing and

Executing better that’s all it is and speaking of that Nuance I there’s still some more points on this of jayen shingun discussion that I want to tackle before we kind of move into it and and it kind of dovetails and goes goes hand in hand with the conversation that we’re

Also going to have about a Min Thompson and his impact and role as of late the way that he stepped up and the absence of alperin chingun and what this Trio could actually look like on the floor together moving forward for this Rockets team we’re going to get to that and so

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Eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers and continuing on here at lockon Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball you know been over the course of this win streak this Rockets team has strung together some incredible wins obviously the biggest game that we’ve

Seen in a few years that win on the road against a very very good OKC team yes without sgaa the Rockets clearly not at full strength either huge win on the road there have been Pockets though throughout this win streak where we’ve seen this team actually still stagnate

And struggle and have some points where offensively things didn’t look great right namely we can go to that second win uh against the Portland Trail Bay was the most recent one where that they looked so bogged down offensively like they were just really couldn’t get anything going Jaylen struggled in that

First half yes he he responded had a much better second half and the rockets were able to ultimately pull out what looked like a blowout win at the end but it looked far from that to start the game and I think the important thing to note here is in the NBA landscape it’s

Important to have counters on counters on counters it’s important to have multiple different ways multiple Avenues to win games and having a guy like Al Pig and having a guy like Jaylen green playing the way that he has as of late these are two different guys that give

You different Avenues to try and win basketball games right you can play through alred and shud and he can single-handedly win you a game right now you can play through jayen green and he can almost single-handedly win you a basketball game and then you add those

Two guys as a two-man game as a tandem playing with each other playing off of one another they make each other’s lives easier that’s the part that I really don’t understand with people trying to make it a shenon versus Jaylen argument we have seen just how effective that

Two-man game can be and when you have a big that is as skilled and as gifted as alperin shingun as a playmaker as a finisher can do the variety of things that he can do on the floor and you pair that with a dynamic guard like Jaylen

Green who can score at all three levels who puts so much immense pressure on the defense when he’s getting downhill it’s unguardable and the only reason it was it what didn’t look great earlier this season is like we already said Jaylen green had a really rough year right for

Two-thirds of the Season it was bad and so if Jaylen had been playing like this all year that jayen shingun duo would have had the Rockets as a top six team in the Western Conference I feel incredibly confident in saying that right now if Jaylen had been playing

Like this the entire year this team was a jayen or is or was not not even is was because they are he has it now he has made the leap it feels like this is something permanent that this is something that is going to stick and so

Now it feels like this team is ready to take that significant leap next season I know they’re vying for that final playing spot right now but you could run this exact team back next year and I feel so confident about their chances to be a legit playoff you know not not

Legit Contender but a legit like top six playoff team next year same I think they could get in the playoff field as currently constructed plus stepen Adams and with the return of tar een as well just as constructed not quite to the title tier not going to say that they’re

The Thunder just yet in terms of an evolution to that extent that it accelerates that quickly but it’s not ala possibility and a realistic scenario is yeah you’re in the middle of the Western Conference playoff field next season I think that’s absolutely doable with the level we’re seeing right now

From Jaylen green but what I will say that game in Oklahoma City as fun as it was as thrilling as it was I don’t know how you can objectively watch that game and not see the clear need for alpr and shenon because look Jaylen played out of

His mind in that game as great as Jaylen is right now I don’t think you can rely on him to shoot like 60 plus percent every game and 60% on threes as well seven of 11 it took Jaylen green having an out of this world game just to keep

The Rockets close and give them a chance down the stretch now down the stretch give them credit I was mostly Jaylen leading the way and making plays but you know Dylan hit a couple of big threes you also had uh Jabari hit obviously one in regulation and another in overtime

But for most of that game the halfcourt offense was ugly and you know let’s give credit to Oklahoma City them missing SGA was a factor on offense but defensively they’re still a very good team the foundation is there with or without sgaa and the rockets had trouble for a lot of

That game if not for Jaylen playing out of his mind the Rockets easily could have lost that game by 15 points and I think a lot of it’s because the current model is so skewed towards high volume three-point shooting and maybe cam Whitmore returning it sounds like he’s close

Could help this a little bit but there’s just not a lot of creativity outside of Jaylen and when other teams can double and trap and put all of their resources on a guy like Jaylen and other guys aren’t making their open threes which happens from time to time three-point

Shooting does tend to be volatile then you’re going to have some games where it gets sticky in the half court it gets ugly and that’s what generally saw on Wednesday in Oklahoma City now it didn’t matter because jayen bailed him out but as great as jaylen’s been I don’t think

You can count on that version of Jaylen every single time that was something of an outlier so the good news for the Rockets is that most of the teams that they’re going to play coming up are not nearly as good defensively as Oklahoma City for example the jazz on Friday

Night nowhere near as good as OKC so perhaps those other guys get going more against weaker competition but in terms of the jayen shenon dynamic the OKC game was a perfect example of why you need another highlevel Creator in the half court to sort of be a relief valve when

Option one even if Jaylen is your option one and he certainly is right now well there’s value in having an option two that you can really trust to go out there and make plays and just you know win one-on-one battles because right now uh the Rockets are so dependent on

Jaylen and as great as he was on Wednesday I don’t think we can quite count on that version every time out now speaking of like the offensive creativity I think one area that we have to highlight and give a lot of credit credit to is the way that Oka has

Deployed amen Thompson in the absence of alen shingu now he’s not quite the threat that Alper and shingon is right he’s not a threat one-on-one to just go out there and get his and score at nearly the level that Alper and shingon can so he doesn’t put that kind of

Pressure on a defense but he is doing a great job putting pressure on defenses in a variety of ways right we’ve talked about it before but the way that you know he kind of started off you know eay would run him like in the dunker spot kind of probing the Baseline looking for

His chances for for off threat abely but now we’re starting to see the Evolve even further with a Thompson kind of playing that pseudo Center spot for this Rockets team without Alper and shingon on the floor right sometimes yes they’ll use Jabari Smith Jr as a primary screening threat

But jabari’s not nearly the threat to roll to the rim and do something with the ball because he’s kind of offensively Limited in that regard right Jabari is more or less he’s a play finisher he can catch the ball and he can either pick and pop from the

Mid-range or pick and pop at the three-point line but he’s not a rolling threat to the rim he’s not somebody that’s going to Play Over the Top of the defense am men Thompson gives you that and I think that we’ve seen him grow increasingly more and more comfortable

With that role of being a screen Setter rolling to the rim and then making plays for this team out of the middle of the floor we’re also seeing the growing pains with it right he had a lot of turnovers a couple games ago against the Blazers and there’s certain moments

Where he looks indecisive like he’s not 100% sure what he’s doing but there’s also moments where you’re like wow he just knows how to make things happen on the floor like he just gets the ball and does stuff like that incredible uh broken play where he got the offensive

Rebound against OKC dribbled it around the free throw line and just pulled up for a mid-range shot and like kind of helped right so he can be a guy that I think even though you’re not going to exclusively run stuff through him in Thompson he can be a guy that you can do

Some creative things with offensively and I think that the Rockets have done a lot of creative things with him since inserting him to the starting lineup I do as well and I also think that this is something that can be inserted into the Jaylen shenon Dynamic next season that

For the most part was not this season and that’s an important thing to remember I go back to an article that Kelly EO wrote on March 8th this was before the shenon injury and actually this was the day the streak started in Portland it’s not a topic that dominates

Daily conversations although green has spoken to Whitmore and fellow rookie amen Thompson about maximizing their deadly combination of size speed power and talent especially in the open court and that’s largely what they’ve done besides the creative ways is that e can deploy him in the half court the biggest

Thing is that you now have two freakish athletes in your starting lineup and so Jaylen has someone else to run within transition to help push that pace to get him opportunities early in the shot clock and you know amend does so many different things I mean yes he’s still

Valuable on the half court uh he can cut he can pound the offensive glass he can make plays on the short roll all of that is super valuable we know what he does defensively but then the impact that he has on Pace is something that for Jaylen

In particular when you look at the starting lineup for most of this season Jaylen is the only I would say upper tier athlete between in an NBA context I not get crazy I mean these guys are all like great athletes in a general population sense but when we’re talking

About an NBA athletes Fred Jaylen Dylan Jabari and shenon Jaylen is the only Elite athlete amongst those and so when other teams are trying to limit the rockets in transition jayen the guy they can concentrate all of their resources on and you can take away what he wants

To do what he does best as opposed to if there’s another guy with those types of gifts and I think that’s what green was referring to wanting more playing time with uh a men in cam two of your top athletes it becomes much more difficult to stop and where this is important to

Note with the shenon dynamic yes aen replac shenon in the starting lineup because he was the next best option but you could easily replace Jabari with a men you could replace Dyan with a men you could even replace Fred with a men with Jaylen I guess being the primary

Ball handler in that in in that configuration and still have many of the same benefits now you can point out well would the Rockets be able with amen and shenon to make an offense work where two guys aren’t consistent three-point Shooters I mean that’s a fair question

But the truth is I mean with the men and shenon they both need to work on their three-point shot we knew this already this was already true this was already going to be a point of emphasis for both of those players this offseason and Beyond in terms of how the offense

Worked and the benefits of uh the transition play crashing the glass lob threat there’s no reason why you couldn’t and it doesn’t have to be one guy the point is you can you know play a men in a lot of different configurations but there’s no reason it has to be a men

For shenon you could put a men in for one of these other guys as well and still have those benefits the bottom line is I think Jaylen benefits a lot from having a second Elite athlete out there on the floor with him if you think

Back to his year 2 jump relative to year one I think one thing that helped jayen become a bit more efficient last year look at the true shooting numbers who started most of last season KJ Martin and I think that was a good fit for

Jaylen now I’m not comparing KJ to a men a men is a much better player all I’m saying is in terms of the fit in terms of what Jaylen needs to sort of uh play to his strengths particularly the elite athleticism the transition play I do think having another Elite athlete

Unlocks part of the floor for him and so a men for shenon has helped in that regard but that’s where I reject it’s about shenon I think you could have many of the same benefits even if theoretically it was a men for somebody else to me it’s more about jayen and a

Men that it is Jaylen and not shenon final thoughts on this Rockets Trifecta Jaylen Amin and shenon as well as we’ve got to uh revisit with our good friend of the program Draymond Green and his uh concerns or lack thereof about the Houston Rockets we’re going to get there in just one

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Ben because I remember at one point kind of jokingly uh post alster break making the uh you know on social media or whatever saying something along the lines of you know it was the the the tired take was benching jayen for a Min Thompson and the wired take was benching

Dylan Brooks for a Min Thompson because A Min is just a guy very similar to Tar e in a way right when he’s out on the floor this is not a guy that gets plays called for him this is not a guy that you know is a featured focal point of

The Rockets offense yes sometimes he has the ball in his hands and he gets the opportunity to make decisions with the ball in his hands very few and far between though he’s anything he’s so far from being a primary ball handler for this group he’s basically being utilized

As a pseudo Wing right now a kind of a Swiss army knife uh and more so of a a defensive Ace when eay throws him out there uh yes he’s been more of a connective tissue piece offensively now kind of being featured as that fivan uh

You know on the short rle playing out of the dunker spot all the different areas that we’re seeing them use him offensively right now but I do I I would very easily point to that concern about the spacing issues because I do think that is one other area in addition to uh

Having an athlete out there that Jaylen can run and Gun with in transition I do think that the floor being a little bit more open with the true five out spacing has further unlocked a little bit more for Jaylen green and I think that’s one area where when you look at the argument

For Alber and shingu needing to develop a three-point shot there are plenty of times earlier this season where you can look at shingun who would have the ball at the top of the key looking to make a play looking to do something and the big

Is just all the way down at the free throw line right not only does that prevent you know uh off ball movement off ball cutting off ball actions it’s just it’s one of those where if you can get away with giving a guy that much space and he’s not a threat to knock

Down that three ball then it does kind of confound some of the things you want to be able to do offensively let alone the fact that when jayen would have the ball in his hands if shingun is occupying the dunker spot and then you also have a Min Thompson who’s trying to

Occupy the other Baseline the other dunker spot it can I think get a little clogged a little crowded and we saw exactly that we saw exactly that happen earlier this season in the minutes where Jan Tate and a Thompson shared the floor or Tate and a men with shingon if you

Have two non-shooters out there and you’re not playing really high level basketball with guys cutting and moving well without the basketball and catching the defense when they’re asleep you run into issues if guys are just standing around doing nothing yeah I would agree with that but I would just say as I

Indicated last segment it’s largely a concern that we already knew both of those guys are going to work to improve their shot it’s still very early in their careers a men in particular so longterm when you’re trying to win a title a few years from now if both of

Those guys stay at the shooting level they are now would it be difficult to play them together would there be consquences for spacing sure but I think that’s not something that’s new over the past two weeks this has always been something that the Rockets needed to develop it’s just the stuff like

Perimeter shooting especially for guys that haven’t done it before that’s not typically something that you fix on the fly during a season that’s more off seasons of work slow and steady progressions as opposed to you know everybody loves to call Ben Sullivan a guru and pretend that he can just find

Something magical on the fly one tweak and snap your fingers it’s done it typically doesn’t work that way it’s slow and steady methodical so you know the concerns are valid I’m not saying they are it’s just more that for me I mean those were already there even

Before the shayen breakout I guess maybe it’d be better if I said because there’s this argument right is it is it correlation is it causation with the Rockets being better since the shingun injury like all that I I just think there’s something to be said Forbe there

There is a little bit more space to operate with when you have a in Thompson out there he’s just a different presence right there’s less BR other yeah so it is a different kind of a different play style the Rockets have played even faster as Oka already said in segment

One um when he was talking to Matt Thomas and Rossville real they are playing even faster than they were playing when they were playing faster to start the all you know post Allstar break so they have leaned even further into this identity by necessity since

Shingon went down due to injury but I do think the Rockets were on the way towards unlocking something really special with this newfound kind of team identity the more Pace really trying to highlight the gifts of some of the athletes on the roster like Jaylen like amen like cam Whitmore those numbers the

Three-man lineup data for jayen amen and cam when they’re on the floor together that’s why em odoko was going to that Trio so much when he was riding kind of the hot hand of the bench unit he’d bring Fred out he’d bring Dylan out and having those three guys out there at the

Same time was insane to watch the Rockets go from being kind of a halfcourt preferential team a team that wants to run you know a lot of actions through shenon and you know really set up in the half court to suddenly they go to being a terror in transition with

That three-headed monster maybe the bridge can be cam Whitmore that’s an important variable and we should note that cam has not played a single minute since aler and shenon went down so we haven’t had any data to look at there and eay said before the OKC game that

Cam could be coming back before the three-week timetable well the first game that cam missed was the 12th in San Antonio three weeks is next Tuesday so if he’s going to come back before three weeks it’s either Friday in Utah or Sunday at home against Dallas so it

Sounds like cam is close he has advanced in his drills this week and of course cam is someone who does have that Elite athleticism but can shoot at a high level so of course we’re not going to get to see the rest of this year doesn’t sound like now shenon has not been

Officially ruled out for the year so I guess we can’t say it’s 100% but um I do Wonder he’ll be he’ll be back for the first round series against the Thunder or the Nuggets don’t worry about it there you go and we should note that that jayen quote well it wasn’t a quote

But U kayy EO was paraphrasing what he said about playing with a men Thompson and cam Whitmore he included not just a men but cam as well and kudos to Jaylen I mean these players are really smart and it sounds like Jaylen identified exactly what he needed or at least a big

Part of it to get going so first off hat tip to to Jaylen for correctly identifying that but the other part of that is Cam Whitmore I mean a men as great as that pairing has been with a men and Jaylen that’s only 50% of it

There’s also jayen and Cam and so I’m sort of curious to see you know what they look like if uh eay can sort of highlight those minutes a bit more once cam gets back and perhaps in the short term because I don’t know if by next

Season it’s reasonable to turn a men or shenon into you know a consistent 35 Plus percent shooter from three on volume then can uh cam sort of be a bridge in the short- term a guy that you know you can play with Jaylen and shenon

To give um jayen The Best of Both Worlds an elite athlete plus the playmaking of shenon in the half court and to draw attention for more open looks that could be a consideration as well so that’s that’s what’s really useful is that as much as it’s been jayen and Men of late

Cam has some of those same strengths as well we just haven’t seen them because of the injury so hopefully down the stretch of this year we can see Jaylen and cam together a little bit and then next year even if the fit with a men and shenon is a little clunky at times

Because of the lack of spacing number one the Rockets I don’t think next year they’re really going to try to contend so it’s not something that’s necessarily a fatal flaw but beyond that they do have Whitmore as something of a Band-Aid to at least give you a little bit of The

Best of Both Worlds if you will while you’re still working on shenon and a men with the jump shots absolutely now La last thing that we have here that we have to address uh Draymond Green decides to open his mouth and talk about the Rockets yet again now here we go so

Here’s what happened in the aftermath of the Rockets really big win against the OKC Thunder tar een took to Instagram and he directly called out the Golden State Warriors here we go Warriors come out to play Warriors come out to play yeah it’s like

That I love tar E I love his energy I love his Charisma he is such a joy to be around he’s such an infectious personality so animated um and of course he’s a competitor at his heart right so even though he’s not out out there with his guys he’s supporting them he sees

The run that they’re on and he’s you know he’s there you know every step of the way throughout his rehab process supporting this team all that good stuff so that happened and then Draymond Green who again very quick reminder here I don’t give a damn about the Rockets

Draymond doesn’t give a damn about the Rockets took to his podcast to respond to Tar een like that’s when I saw it I wasn’t surprised at all I am a little surprised that he hasn’t played in the game since January 1 and so it’s kind of

Tough to come out yell come out and play and you’re not going to play um it puts a lot of strain on your guys like you can’t get out there and help them Ben the cognitive dissonance here the irony of a guy like Draymond Green saying you’re not out there to help your

Guys it puts strain on them when he stantly gets himself ejected a very controllable variable yes that’s the thing he is choosing to do this to his teammates you can tell me that he’s so out of control that he doesn’t know the potential consequences of his actions

When he decides to do something dirty that might get him thrown out or if he Jaws to the official when he already has a technical foul there’s no way he’s unaware of that he just doesn’t care it’s an impulse and he gives into to that which I guess to each his own but

Then to lecture to someone like Char een who by the way did not choose to have a fractured leg it’s just silly look I mean I guess at a superficial level you can say that if a guy isn’t playing don’t participate in the trash chalk to me that’s like come on there’s there’s

No fun in that like the game is better when guys are you know talking back and forth on social media we get to have some fun with it to me it’s good for the league but even if you are going to take an old school oh you’re not out there so

Don’t say anything even if your teammates are out there whatever it’s not you whatever but at least be consistent if you’re going to make that argument don’t be the guy that then chooses to literally leave his teammates high and dry he literally had Steph Curry almost

Like in tears four minutes into the game against the magic because he got himself ejected Steph was shaking his head frustrated you’ve got to imagine like his teammates his coach Kerr I’m sure they’re fed up with his Antics right look whatever the whatever therapy sessions you know like mandated therapy

Sessions that Draymond had to do know per per his agreement with Adam Silver and the NBA to be able to come back after his last you know little little sabatical clearly they didn’t work Draymond let’s get you the help that you need Draymond go to betterhelp.com

Lockon NBA you’ll get 10% off your first month cuz clearly it didn’t work before man this is It’s and the fact that he he just can’t he can’t stop talking about the Rockets either that’s the best part well and one little thing to keep in one little thing to keep in mind a

Few weeks ago he did go out of his way on his podcast to compliment tar een that’s a subplot as one of the young guys that he really likes and so my guess is that superficially um he might feel you know like his ego was a little

Bruised that a guy he went out of his way to praise a few weeks ago and of course Draymond mentioned seeing some things in tar een that reminded him of himself when he was coming into the league now seeing that same guy turn around a few years later and even if it

Wasn’t a shot at Draymond we know Draymond feels a certain sense of ownership or at least he should with the Warriors as one of their best players maybe he doesn’t feel a sense of ownership they Sten the fact that he keeps getting thrown out of these games

But the point is I think on some level Underneath It All he might feel a little bit burned that he went out of his way to compliment tar and now here’s tar you know saying something that sort of sounds like it’s not really slander it’s

Just you know it’s hype is what it is it’s trying to build Intrigue for that April 4th game and you know we’ll see how it turns out hopefully well for the Rockets but I think that’s sub plot is part of it too and maybe Draymond should start worrying about the Rockets you

Want to know why Ben coaches are dogs all the players are dogs I’m a dog that’s just what it is dogs all up and down the roster they’re all dogs on that note Ben you know the drill every we know where to try there we go dogs

Indeed dog it’s dogs all the way down all right then you know the drill every we know where to track you down at yep uh Ben Duos on Twitter uh the logger line on Twitter the Rockets wire on Twitter SLX and of course Rockets wire. usa.com for 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 whether you’re listening 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 tremendously 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

Why Alperen Sengun & Jalen Green Fit Perfectly + Houston Rockets Rent Free In Draymond Green’s Head

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) is joined by weekly cohost Rockets Wire Editor Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) to discuss Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka pushing pack on the idea that Jalen Green’s success is because of Alperen Sengun’s injury, why the duo works so well together, Amen Thompson’s impact as a starter and how he unlocks new things for the Rockets, Tari Eason Vs Draymond Green on social media and more.

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