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00:00a man Thompson got a new deal this week is this core good enough for the Rockets it's 95.7
00:06the
00:06fan here on your Saturday morning appreciate you hanging with us I'm Luke Morrow he's Chris Partee
00:11and you're you you can join the conversation 713-572-4610 on the text line or YouTube and
00:19Twitch chats as well a man Thompson got his new contract it was announced Thursday five-year deal
00:25208 million overall it's actually kind of similar to the shangun contract as well and if you look at
00:33like uh comparable contracts it's not too bad I think a man Thompson is going to be like the 40th
00:38highest paid player in the league at least this first year I bet I think the contract goes up as
00:43it goes on um but yeah at least for the time being like 40th that seems fair I think a
00:48man Thompson
00:48you know that's that's not like a drastic overpay or anything so well I guess first off Chris just
00:53what were your thoughts when you saw that deal when you saw that contract what were your initial
00:57takeaways for the uh men Thompson uh contract good deal um we knew he was going to get a
01:04an extension on you know a rookie contract essential whatever you want to call it an extension on his
01:09rookie deal uh at some point so you knew it was coming I saw the numbers I kind of did
01:14a little bit
01:15a bit of math didn't have to do quick radio math so I did a little better um but I'm
01:19like yeah that
01:19sounds like a fair deal for him I didn't know he was uh like the 40th ranked or highest paid
01:24player
01:25this season but that that sounds that's good they didn't overpay they didn't didn't sound like they
01:32underpaid him you know he didn't have to he didn't take any you know hometown deals or anything like
01:37any craziness like that um so no I thought it was a good deal for him especially for a guy
01:42who
01:42you already know the Rockets plan on him being part of their core moving forward for
01:53hopefully the next five to ten years you know somewhere in that range if not longer so
01:57they had it feels like they already have plans for him to be one of those guys so
02:01no I thought good deal got it done now it's out of the way you don't have to worry about
02:05him anymore
02:06Tari Eason got his deal earlier this summer uh in the offseason so two guys who they plan on
02:12being around yeah yeah they have their core now Shankoon uh um uh Tari you just mentioned
02:19Jabari now a man Thompson yeah and then Durant in the meantime is you know supposed to be like
02:25the star he'll be here for another year or two we'll see beyond that centerpiece yeah and then
02:29they're gonna have to try to figure it out or hope that somebody like a man will take his place
02:33and
02:34and you know take that step forward but do you think this core is good enough for the Rockets
02:40that these are all the guys you should commit to move forward with and that eventually this is
02:44the group that can bring a championship to Houston if we're are we counting Durant as the core part
02:52of the court no then they're gonna need a little more I agree I like the core don't get me
02:57wrong
02:57I do like it you mentioned uh Jabari Alperish and Goon men Thompson uh Tari Eason yeah core right
03:08there are we not adding Reed Shepard to the core is he part yet yeah okay Reed okay you know
03:14I'll
03:14have to sign him to another deal eventually but yeah you can include him yeah I feel like Reed
03:18Shepard should be included you know seeing how what they draft him number three overall I think he's part
03:23of that so but even still I think they're gonna need more once Durant is gone if we're not counting
03:29Durant as part of that core you're gonna need a little more as far as making a true championship
03:35push I think you need more I do I think you're gonna have to add more especially like you said
03:41a year or two from now Durant might not be here I think the odds are that he won't be
03:46here two years
03:47from now after two more seasons yeah he can't be counted on you know long term no for the the
03:52here and now
03:52yeah yeah so um yeah I would say I like the core a lot but you're gonna have to add
03:57some more to that
03:59text line says uh well-deserved deal for a man I just hope that they leave this core alone and
04:04let's
04:04see what they can do with a healthy Fred Van Vliet this year and that's a big difference as well
04:08the
04:08addition to a Fred Van Vliet but also the idea like is if you think this team is good enough
04:13to win a
04:13championship this year that's one thing but what about this team eventually when Durant is gone because
04:19Durant's not here for the long that's not a long-term plan he's nearly 40 do you have the
04:24other pieces here to continue to move forward or at least be good enough that when Durant is gone
04:29you can plug in another maybe similar type of player the pieces are all around and it's almost
04:35like a paint by numbers type of deal that they can remain competitive for the foreseeable future
04:40yeah but you say comparable type of player to Durant but almost in a sense is like
04:46he's not one of the greatest offensive weapons we've seen in this league ever there's not a lot
04:51of guys that compare to Kevin Durant say what you want about Kevin Durant okay there's a lot you can
04:56say about Durant but on the most of that you know has to do with his burner accounts on social
05:02media
05:02but on the court we haven't seen too many offensive threats more capable of taking over games
05:13than Kevin Durant so it's going to be hard to find someone comparable to just slot in that's why I
05:22say
05:22yeah you take Durant and I think we can put Fred Van Vliet in the same category as Kevin Durant
05:27here
05:28as not long term even before the injury he's in his 30s already right I want to say 33 maybe
05:36for Van Vliet somewhere in that in that range 32 33 so I don't know if he's going to be
05:42here for
05:42the long term he might but coming off of the bad injury that he had I don't know we don't
05:46know that
05:47for sure so yeah the core great I love it but you got to keep building you got to keep
05:53adding to it I
05:54believe yeah absolutely and I'm with you on Durant but but I guess more so my point being like 38
06:00year
06:00old Kevin Durant I get it he will be this year I get it because I don't know where you
06:04would rank
06:04Durant in terms like top players in the league can you find a comparable piece I get this current
06:09Kevin and who knows where he was great this past year no doubt but who knows like what we're going
06:13to get this year as you continue to get older and as they asked more from him last year and
06:17he did have
06:18the injury at the end of the season with all that said who do you trust more to take a
06:23step forward
06:24offensively in their upcoming season the Texans who begin a week from tomorrow or the Rockets who
06:31obviously will get started in October look the Rockets by the way remember the context clues
06:37or just context in general remember the Rockets brought in a shooting coach yes they did off
06:42season who do you think or who would you feel more faith in that yeah this offense this is going
06:48to be more improved this season look why you gotta ask us tough questions because this is not for me
06:56I
06:56don't think this is an easy question it's not an easy ask even with the Rockets having a player like
07:01Kevin Durant the offense still isn't you know isn't always the I guess most enjoyable to watch it
07:09wasn't always the most easy offense as far as like flow even last season but I would say that I
07:17would
07:18say the Rockets I would say I trust the Rockets more to at this point because we have not seen
07:25everybody's hoping that CJ can bounce back from you know the playoff losses and I'm sorry the
07:31playoff loss and but his his struggles in the playoffs last last postseason and that this offense
07:38can take the next step in year two under Nick Cayley but we haven't seen it yet we got another
07:42week
07:43before the the Texans are going to be on the field and we can actually see what it's going to
07:48look
07:48like right now I would say I trust the Rockets a little more to actually grow this season that's
07:54just me talk about the shooting coach they brought in you get Fred VanVleet back I know he I know
08:02they're going to lean on him more for leadership and as a point guard you know making that and helping
08:09that offense flow but Fred VanVleet can score the ball a little bit too when when he needs to or
08:14when called upon at least he could before uh the injury that kept him out all last season so I'm
08:20going to go with the Rockets here that's fair in that Fred VanVleet I do think is going to have
08:26a
08:26big impact in this offense I think just him being just having a point guard simply is going to help
08:30this offense be better how much better I don't know is it gonna I'm not telling you it's going to
08:34be a
08:34top offense in the league but I think it'll just be a little bit smoother crisper than it was a
08:38year ago
08:38however with that said I don't know if the offense was still that great two years ago with
08:45VanVleet now of course the difference being well now you have VanVleet and Kevin Durant yeah but
08:49has he made doka in his time in Houston ever had a great offense or an offense that's even been
08:54enjoyable to watch whereas you look at the Texans and I know different system and it was a few years
09:00ago but I have seen CJ Stroud play at a really high level and this offense was really good his
09:05first
09:05season I know it's been a while though it has been too long but I know like that that's in
09:12him
09:12that's that's somewhere in there and it's on the Texans to get it out of their quarterback in this
09:16offense because they're capable so I guess my point being I think the ceiling is higher for the Texans
09:22just simply based off of what I've seen before where I feel like the Rockets are still more of
09:27that unknown they brought in the shooting coach they hope it will help specifically with
09:31the men Thompson start to shoot better but that's a change or that's an improvement on something
09:36uh trying to get to a point that we haven't seen yet where Stroud it's more like can we get
09:41back
09:42to when we were really successful and I think that might be an easier move now look basketball players
09:48have improved their shooting percentage throughout the course of time no doubt uh you know Magic Johnson
09:53Michael Jordan LeBron James some of the greats have all become better shooters throughout their career so
09:57it's very doable but it's just kind of like the fact that I haven't seen a men Thompson be a
10:03good
10:03shooter I'm gonna bank on the fact that CJ Stroud can return to form before I'm gonna bank on the
10:08fact
10:08that one offseason will make a men Thompson a good shooter and this happened and that happened all this
10:13other all these other things click where the Rockets become a much more improved offense than
10:17hopefully but the Texans are this year you're right about that it does take time for like you said we
10:23have
10:23seen guys become better shooters or over but it it takes years though to become a if you're not
10:30a good shooter or even a decent shooter when you enter the NBA it usually takes years to become a
10:35good shooter it took Jason Kidd about 12 years or so Asin Asin exactly Asin no J yeah it took
10:43him
10:43at least the first decade damn near of his career in the NBA probably a little longer to become what
10:50you
10:50would call you know even a decent shooter he became a pretty good shooter but it was much later in
10:54his
10:54career once some of the athleticism kind of went by the wayside he became a really good corner three
11:00shooter but yeah so I get what you're saying there but I think again Fred VanVleet returning you already
11:07got Kevin Durant now you're going to have those guys together hopefully everything is you know still
11:11going to be on track for VanVleet to be ready by the beginning of the season uh in what mid
11:16-October
11:17actually NBA has what training camps coming up here soon I'm sure within within a few weeks I
11:21believe so um that's going to get going here quickly I'm still going to go with the Rockets
11:26that I trust more because you talk about CJ Stroud yeah we've seen it but it's been three years now
11:33that you know a couple years ago since we actually saw that rookie season of his right and what this
11:40is year four for CJ yeah this is year four for CJ so it's been a few years now since
11:45we saw that
11:45side of CJ Stroud now maybe they can unlock something maybe Nick Cayley the second year in
11:52Cayley's offense is going to unlock something in Stroud that we haven't seen in a few years
11:58I got to see it first so I'm still going to go with the Rockets uh just every you know
12:03everything
12:04that they've done the few things they did in the offseason hopefully the shooting coach has you
12:10know is going to work work out wonders for this team maybe he can have an effect that Strom has
12:15on
12:15the pitching pitching staff here in Houston for the Astros maybe it may be something to that
12:20effect I don't know but I'm going to go I'm still going to stay with the Rockets here that I
12:24trust
12:24more yeah as you kind of mentioned uh during that it's it is like training camps around the corner
12:29or whatnot preseason games begin soon yeah obviously we're so caught up and rightfully so in football
12:35because college football is here in the NFL is about the beginning of four days baseball we're excited
12:40again around here because the Astros are playing better baseball and we're gearing up for a potential
12:44October run and it's just like oh yeah by the way the Rockets are going to begin in a few
12:48weeks
12:48and nowadays especially with the schedule I mean like the NBA see the regular season now begins like
12:52in the beginning of October we're like a month away yeah we are from NBA games which is crazy it
12:57used to
12:57be the end of October now they keep moving it up so much uh so someone on the text line
13:03said this is
13:04exactly why I was surprised they paid him what they paid him I'm assuming about a man Thompson it's crazy
13:09to me that they view him as a superstar but needed to bring in a shooting coach to help him
13:13and then paying him before even seeing if the shooting coach works it's fair but you're betting
13:18on the upside and there's plenty of upside there with the men Thompson the shooting is the big thing
13:22last year I saw this stat the other day he shot 24 percent on shot attempts outside of the paint
13:29yeah that's atrocious for an NBA that's not good at all that's atrocious for a high school player
13:35let's just be honest like outside of the lane and then outside of the lane is like an eight-foot
13:40shot
13:41right like that's bad for anybody let's just be honest yeah and he would miss three out of four
13:46of his shots outside of the lane but when you take away let's forget about the shooting he does
13:53pretty much everything else so well that the contract he got is really the going rate for a
14:00wing player of his level where he's at right now in what going into I guess year four for a
14:07minute or
14:08three three four I forget I think it's year four for him going in now so he that's about the
14:13going
14:14rate for a guy of his level right yeah that's about the going rate yeah for 40th highest pay I
14:22think this
14:22year if you look at the guys next to him like I think actually like Jalen Green I think is
14:26there
14:27you know it's like it's it's it's comparable play it's it's not an absurd group that I'm in
14:31Thompson's with of like wait they're paying him as much as this guy so it is pretty fair it's similar
14:36to what uh Shang-Goon signed as well and like I said I think you're betting on the upside where
14:40he's already been a good player he's not a star I wouldn't say he's a star he's certainly not a
14:44superstar but you're betting on the fact that he can continue he's only like 23 you know he can
14:49continue to develop and try to get there and if he does now you have him at a reasonable price
14:53and I do think he'll continue to develop and grow I do yeah I think so and they need him
14:58to
14:58they need somebody from this core group to really take a big step forward Shang-Goon had a bit of
15:03a
15:03disappointing past season even a man didn't take I thought a big enough step this past year that
15:08they were probably hoping for they need somebody other than Durant to take a big step and it really
15:13helped this team
15:13help this team