B,Scott Rockets report

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00:00I've been waiting all week for this one right here.

00:02See your face, man.

00:03There you go.

00:05I know you're one of the first people I've thought about.

00:07I don't think there's a bigger Rockets.

00:11I know you're a professional journalist or whatever who covers.

00:14But I know for a fact we've had conversations.

00:18This is the team that you care about the most.

00:21If there was one team in Houston that you would want to win a championship,

00:25you've told me this multiple times, it would be the Rockets.

00:28They're the team that you have the strongest emotional connection with.

00:32And to me, this feels like the best, at least since I've been here,

00:37I would assume maybe the Harden years.

00:41But this has got to be right up there since, obviously,

00:46the Elijah Juan Championships, best chance that you feel going into a season,

00:51potentially, that they can win a championship.

00:54So I am curious from you, with the Kevin Durant situation,

00:58are you more surprised that they went ahead and pulled the trigger

01:02and got Kevin Durant,

01:03or are you more surprised at what it actually took to get Kevin Durant?

01:08Yeah, no, I always thought they were going to get him

01:10because it seemed like they had been wanting to get him since last year.

01:12You know, we had first heard about this a year ago.

01:15And there seemed to be smoke there when you put the ties together

01:20or try to link everything together with the relationships Kevin Durant had played with

01:24or under MAU Doka when he was an assistant coach with the Nets.

01:28We already knew that history.

01:29Of course, Roy L. Ivy, a Texas guy.

01:31That's right.

01:31You know, they hired DJ Augustine, who was a Texas guy,

01:34who also played for the Rockets, but is a Texas guy, Houston guy,

01:38who has ties to Kevin Durant.

01:39So, it's like the writing was on the wall.

01:43The part that I'm surprised about, to your question, Ron,

01:46is the fact that they were, and y'all have hit on this throughout the week,

01:49the fact that they were able to give up any of the premier players

01:54that are a part of the core

01:55or any of the premium first-round draft picks,

01:59like the most valuable draft pick that they ended up giving up.

02:01You don't count Jalen Green as one of the premier players?

02:04No, I mean, he clearly wasn't.

02:05I mean, and not only did I not count him as one,

02:07and they did not count him as one, and it seemed like that,

02:10and it seemed like they had good reason for that as well,

02:13like given how things played out toward the end of the season,

02:16given the, I think, overlap in responsibility

02:20and what you would require from Jalen Green versus Kevin Durant,

02:23like you're basically asking for the same or a similar thing.

02:27It's just that one is Kevin Durant, and the other one is clearly not.

02:30So, yeah, no, I was not surprised that they made the deal,

02:33but that they were able to preserve both their present and their future

02:37and doing so I thought was really impressive.

02:40What do you think, B. Scott?

02:41Who do you think that the Durant move, the Durant trade,

02:45obviously with the exception of Durant,

02:47who do you think it benefits the most?

02:49All pieces moving.

02:50Dylan Brooks, I'm going to say Dylan Scott.

02:52Dylan Brooks gone.

02:54Obviously, Jalen Green gone.

02:56Durant in.

02:56Who benefits the most from this move?

02:59Yeah, it's either Jabari Smith Jr. or Fred Van Vliet,

03:04and I say Fred Van Vliet only because of the difference between the other guard

03:11that you play with, the other perimeter guy that you play with being Kevin Durant

03:14versus Jalen Green.

03:16Right.

03:16Like, I think Jabari Smith Jr. being the younger player,

03:19the one that can soak in the most, probably the one,

03:22like he doesn't have a Kevin Durant-style game, but he's similar size.

03:26He's a young player.

03:27He can soak in the most.

03:28And just the fact that they're going to be more having Kevin Durant on the floor,

03:34that's going to play more so into Jabari Smith Jr.'s specific basketball skill sets.

03:39But I will point back to Fred Van Vliet as well.

03:42Like, for everybody, and I've been hitting on this, man,

03:44for everybody that is, like, frustrated with the heavy doses of Fred Van Vliet

03:48that you saw or that you have seen over the last couple of years,

03:52don't get it twisted.

03:53Fred Van Vliet is still going to be about the heat check life.

03:56Two for 13 from three nights.

03:58He's still going to have some nights like that.

04:01But it's going to be – I think the fact that you've got Kevin Durant

04:04is going to necessitate it less, and he's going to feel that.

04:07So I think those are the two players to watch out for

04:10who are going to benefit the most from the move.

04:12Yeah, Brandon Scott here with us as we do our Rockets report

04:16coming off of this huge week for the Rockets.

04:20All right, there are some people who are really against this.

04:24I have decided to choose violence by going back and forth.

04:28These people, the first two days.

04:30Now, I am not one – we had a gentleman who is the PA announcer

04:35who does mornings in Phoenix as well on –

04:40and kind of got a little bit more info on what his experience was with Kevin Durant.

04:45Obviously, this isn't – nothing's perfect, right?

04:47You didn't just get the perfect – all right, no issues.

04:50For you, understanding who's here with the Rockets and their games,

04:56what potential concerns may you have?

04:59Understanding you would do the deal, but what potential concerns do you have

05:03with Kevin Durant's arrival or things that they're going to have to iron out?

05:08Well, I mean, the big concern was we're relating to some Kevin Durant.

05:13Like, the last thing – one of the reasons why I really like the move

05:17is because I'm operating under this assumption that Albert Shingun is an emerging star.

05:22I think, Clint, what you've been saying about how we kind of know what he is,

05:25I agree with that, but he is still a young player who's supposed to be getting better.

05:30Amin Thompson is like a blank – almost feels like a blank campus.

05:34You know, so like – so those are guys that I'm expecting to get better

05:38and I'm hoping, at least for the Rockets' sake, that they still lean into those guys

05:43and rely on those guys at the very least as much as they ever have

05:46and hopefully even more so so you can sort of preserve Kevin Durant

05:51or just not be over-reliant on Kevin Durant in a similar way

05:55that they've been overly reliant on Fred Van Vliet

05:58because they didn't have another guard that could take the pressure off of him, right?

06:02They don't have another perimeter score.

06:03Obviously, Kevin Durant is his own thing,

06:05but they don't have another prolific perimeter score.

06:08Are they going to be able to have an offense outside of Kevin Durant

06:12where they can still generate buckets, generate baskets?

06:17Who could be that – like who –

06:19Who is going to be that – so that is my concern, to answer your first question.

06:23That's the thing that I'm concerned about.

06:25I don't know the answer to your follow-up.

06:27Who's that person going to be?

06:28I think it could be Reed Shepard.

06:29Do I know?

06:30I don't know.

06:31I'd like for it to be.

06:32Do I feel confident in that?

06:34Not quite just yet.

06:35So that would be my concern is that for all of the patronizing that I've done

06:40for people that have done, oh, he's 37 years old.

06:42I don't care about that.

06:43I would care about it a little bit more if they're going to lean heavily

06:46on this 37-year-old in a way that I don't want them to,

06:49in a way that Phoenix did and shit.

06:52It's a thing that I would caution against.

06:53I caught a little pushback yesterday when we brought up the whole odds that the Rockets

07:00have jumped to the second team out of the West in terms of odds to win the West.

07:05I think that's a little bit aggressive with the Kevin Durant ad with a bunch of young guys.

07:12And the point is I think the young guys absolutely have to take whatever that next step is for Amin,

07:20whatever the next step is for Jabari, whatever, you know.

07:24Reed Shepard.

07:25Reed was the biggest one.

07:27Yeah, if he even factors into this.

07:28Yes, yes, like all of that stuff.

07:30Like I don't look at them as they are right now without those young guys taking significant strides

07:35in a positive direction.

07:37It's hard for me to get on a spot of like I'm going to put them up against the leagues,

07:42the best the league has to offer.

07:44Yeah, I think you're just, I think you're operating in a different space

07:48of just not assuming that they're going to do that.

07:49I think a lot of folks that are penciling them in are operating under this assumption

07:54that these things are going to happen.

07:56Like these things that you say have to happen.

07:58For them to be that, that they are going to happen.

08:01I think like you just, if you just do the math of it, honestly, Clint,

08:05they were the number two seed with Jalen Green.

08:07And it's functionally the same team, but now with Kevin Durant.

08:11So if they were the two seed, then what could they be now,

08:16especially if these other players take that leap?

08:18So I would agree with you from the standpoint of it's just a crowded field.

08:22And so it's a bunch of teams that could be the two seed.

08:24It's a bunch of teams that could go to the Western Conference Finals

08:26and therefore go to the Finals, and the Rockets are just among them.

08:29Yeah, I think to your point, I mean, Pat, I think some people look at the two seed

08:34and the way you just laid it out.

08:36And then others, like I've heard Ron say multiple times, is you were a two seed,

08:40but you were an underdog to the Golden State Warriors in the first round.

08:44So that is, which way do you want to look at it?

08:47Like which team are they?

08:48I believe they were closer to being the team legitimately, unproven,

08:53they were closer to the team that was an underdog to Golden State

08:56than they were the legit two seed.

08:58I personally look at it that way.

09:00And I look at it too.

09:01I think when you look at the NBA right now, it's easy to say those kind of things

09:05after watching Indiana and Oklahoma City play in the Finals.

09:08Yeah, well, they looked like, and I even said this at the time,

09:13they were one of the most disrespected number two seeds that I had ever seen in my life.

09:18And their weakness ended up rearing its ugly head.

09:21Like the thing that people doubted about them ended up being the thing that was,

09:26there's more nuance to it than that, of course.

09:29It wasn't just Jalen Green's underperformance, but that was a big part of it.

09:33That was a big part of it.

09:34And not just that, now you've replaced that.

09:37You've answered that question like, do they have a go-to guy?

09:41Who's going to take the last shot?

09:43Who's going to take over the game?

09:45Like these were the questions that you had about the most disrespected number two seed

09:48that I ever seen.

09:49Now they've answered those questions.

09:51It makes you like just logically put them in that place.

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