The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
10/23 Killer B's Interview Kelly Iko
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What do you think was behind the Rockets thinking and the players thinking here? Um, so starting with Alpe, I think, you know, the more the Rockets looked at the landscape and saw players like Donovan Mitchell, you know, Larry Markman, those guys kind of signing your extensions elsewhere, it didn't really behoove them to be, you know, a cap player, you know, next summer. So, you know, with Alpe, they decided to lock him up for five years, when it was the option of on the fifth year. He's somebody that if you compare him to his current draft class, you can make argument he's the best player in that draft class right now. He was a fringe all star. He finished starting in the most improved player. So, getting him at that number, I guess, around 33 million a year, you know, it's pretty good business for them. If that's going to be your franchise cornerstone, right? With Jalen, it's a bit different because of the years and because of the risk on both sides, right? So, you have with Jalen, you know, he can opt out after two years and either hit the market from another extension. So, there's a reality that, you know, he could walk and he was thinking to get absolutely built in return in two years. And there's also the possibility that she doesn't point to his standards that except for himself and then they're stuck with the current. Like, it's risk on both sides, right? So, you know, and all these negotiations, the key is the flexibility and the rockets. Their optimal goal was to be a flexible team. They want to keep that young course together if you can push out decisions about having to pay guys for another two or three years. You know, they'll do that because if you think about it, they still got to pay to borrow an employee next year or the after that and then you have a man who really liked their number of decisions that they have to make in the next few years and they still want to see what this whole team looks like with a few years on their email. So, I think the key was flexibility, but even with flexibility, there's still going to be a good amount of risk on both sides. As I say, you mentioned there's risk on both sides and I think that the one thing Jeremy and I talked about when we saw the announcements made that I was concerned with is you still had some time that you could have bided your time a little bit more before you made any decisions because we really truly don't know what Jalen can be. We think we know what Alpe can be and then there's that whole thing about what can they do together because it seemed like they were both more successful when the other one wasn't on the court. So, that's where I had my concerns. What do you say about that? Oh, I think that's fair. I just think that if you're looking at the landscape and trying to forecast a year from now, you never know. There could be one case scenario if something goes wrong with either one of them and there's a player on the market that's making around 40, 50 million dollars. Now, it's easier to get a deal done because they're making close to that range of money as opposed to if they were making just 16 million and 12 million. It's easier to figure out a trade if they ever came down to that point. But even aside from that, if you can lock them up before the season starts, you don't have to deal with the whole potential of the locker room going into a certain way and it just gives everyone a piece of mind. Now, granted, I think the Rockets as an organization that had all the levers on their side in terms of there were stinky things because you can actually get at times with certain players. So, I think ultimately, you hit the base on a number of factors to give the players long to make it give them security, give them a chance to bet on themselves and also give you as a team flexibility in case you want to make a trade or you want to be negotiated to your top. Kelly eco regional NBA reporter for the athletic base here in Houston. Of course, Kelly Rockets 44 41 and 41 last year, year two coming up of email. Doka, you returned just about everybody who was a rotational player. You had Reed Shepherd, Tori Easton's healthy. Stephen Adams probably upgraded that backup center spot, especially early in the year who get the minutes there. What are the realistic expectations for the Rockets? They'll never tell you. They'll be like one game at a time. But what do you think the expectations of the Rockets should be? We're talking about expectations at least from a Western conference standpoint. I think the expectation should definitely be getting to the plan. It's going to be hard to break in, in my opinion, the top six in the West because you have to think about the thunder, the temples, the sun, the nuggets, ballads. There are a bunch of teams that he directly should finish above Houston. But if there is going to be year over year improvement and you finished with say 45, 46 wins, now you're talking about getting in with the plan. I think that should definitely be on the cards, especially a season after you won 19 more games in the year prior. It's always hard to take that next step after you have such a substantial leap. But if they can clean things up, especially on the offensive side of the ball, I think that if you're accounting for typical youth and development going into the next season, I think that should be enough to get you at least four or five more games in the year prior. So, Kel, when we talk about the fact that there is so much young talent on this team and everybody's looking for the minutes to be able to show their wares, to be able to prove that they've taken a step up, who do you think takes the logical next step this year of the young core and who's going to be kind of odd man out for minutes. We talk about Tari coming back. We already know how loaded the rotation is with talent and everybody fighting for minutes. Who's the odd man kind of out and who's going to take the big leap up? In terms of biggest leap, I'm going to circle with man Thompson. I just think, yes, the jump shot is going to be the biggest storyline of his career, probably. But just in terms of how he attacks the game in so many different areas, you saw what he did whenever Alper went down and he was the team's de facto center, being able to attack guys from the frigo line down. He's an excellent cutter. He understands spacing and he knows how to get other guys involved. I think he is going to be the extractor in terms of bringing that juicing to the second unit, being able to energize along with the camera, along with Tari in the second unit. As far as players that might be like a rotation, so the question, because I think the tricky thing about Tari and Steve and his dad, because they're coming back from injury, you want to manage their minutes properly and you may as a coach that once he has a rhythm, he's going to stick to that rhythm. If you want to count for the starter, Dylan, Debari, Alpe, Fred, and Dylan, and then you talk about Reed, a man that's six seven. Now, you're talking about Tari, Cam, Steven, and then all the days long, right? So it's a lot of guys compete for about nine spots. So I think you had Tari or Cam, it's going to come down to how they're playing on that night, really, because whoever's getting more on both hands than who you need to go with, he always talks like he doesn't care about age or like he's going to play who's giving him the best chance to win. So I think both of the guys have to have something to prove. My answer there would have been Jason on Tate simply because of the fact that for the way they thought of him before and the role that he played and then the money they committed, that he kind of doesn't fit because of there is so many young guys to get minutes. So my answer, I was on referring to the top seven eight guys. I would put Jason on that similar class to Jeff Greenwood. Those are kind of the betweeners in terms of they might not get in the game. There's too many guys that are buying from it. So last question, Cal, from me, but the question then becomes because we talk so much about this is the core that we're committing to for the next several years. This is the guys that are going to be fighting for minutes. At a certain point, unlike years past, when we needed the veteran leadership, when they went out and committed dollars and a lot of dollars to a lot of older guys, do we see this is the year that at a certain point between now and the trade deadline, Fred, Dylan, Jeff Green, the kind of veterans that were needed a year ago are the guys that might be shopped around when you're talking about like looking for dollars that make sense in trades because you have so much young talent? So I got like Dylan, I think just because of how important he is to what he may want to do defensively. I think he made it pretty clear that you may that Fred, Dylan, and Steven are more teachers as well as guys in the locker room. So if it's an email thing, I don't think that he would want those guys to leave. Now if you're in the front office and you're looking at the landscape, of course, you're going to take calls, you know, because the little guys that can help, you know, play off teams. But if you're trying to make the playoffs yourself, I think you want to see what that group looks like for at least another year under email before you then move out to make any decisions because right now you really don't have to do anything right now because of the flexibility you have. Now come next summer when Fred's deal is up or the option can kick in. Now you can have those conversations because then you would have had another year of experience under email and seeing what works, what does it, what needs to be built on, what needs to be probably shipped on. So then you can have those talks as a juncture. But I think, I was going into the season, you know, you want to keep those guys together. Kelly, appreciate the time. Very good insight. I'm sure we'll catch up with you later as the rocket season begins tonight. So thank you. Kelly, you can follow him on Kelly. Kelly, you didn't want to he doesn't want to associate with a prisoner. I don't blame him. I don't blame him. Kelly, eco on Twitter, regional NBA reporter for the athletics. There's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on. Like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one member FDIC. In the world of architecture, engineering and construction, every detail counts. That's why over 3 million professionals trust Bluebeam for PDF markups, digital workflows and project collaboration. 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