Kelly Iko

speaker

390 appearances 9 recordings 1 series first heard Nov 2024 last heard 11 Feb

Kelly Iko’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Feb 2026 with 1.

Appearances

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The Athletic NBA Daily · 76ers & Embiid implode to 2-11 | Lillard bails out Bucks · 19 Nov 2024 podcast

But from a Houston standpoint, they want to get the best shots they can, especially for a team that doesn't shoot well from three at all. And we saw, it might've been tired leg. This was the sixth game in nine and nine days. So that could be that. It was just one of those things.

I think it's a bit of both. I think it's something where you, and if we're being honest, you know, this is in Illinois, you know, Fred VanVleet had an event for, for kids bringing out. He, we saw what he did last night in Chicago. You know, he wants to take it to them, you know, because he's from Rockford. Rockford is halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee.

You know, he has, I think official 26 tonight. It's a number of things. And then you're playing in Milwaukee where it's like at any given point, Giannis can go super turbo nuclear. So it's like you're trying to figure out on the fly in real time in a tough environment. It's a very hard place to play in Milwaukee in physical form. And the game is just drawing out.

And you could tell very early on that if you weren't going to play through Alperin, and they did it for a little bit, and then they went away from it. The problem with Houston offensively is that They have so many options. It's like a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Like you can play through so many different options, but at some point you're going to have to find some consistency, especially in the fourth quarter late in the game. When it's winning time, you're going to have to find a system to go through.

I think the bread and butter should be the two-man game between Alperin and Jalen, but everything should start with Alperin. in terms of getting him on the low block, getting him in the mid post and allowing him to dictate depending on what the defense is giving to him.

Now, on games like this where he kind of starts out slow, you have to go through your plan B and C. Plan B is, let's see what Fred has tonight. Can he get it going? Because he's a guy that wants to defer off the rip. So can he turn it up or not to get it going? And plan C is seeing if Jalen can find a rhythm because he's a rhythm guy.

We saw in the fourth quarter where he hits, I think, like five in a row and then kind of teeters off. It's just a give and take. They have too many options. And I think that lack of a true identity is what's going to be the most detrimental thing to come down the road because they have a defensive identity. They're going to swarm. They're going to be aggressive. They're going to be physical.

Offensive is another issue. And I think it's going to take them some time and more reps under EMA and more trial and error for games like this to kind of figure out, okay, what do we want to do on any given night?

The Athletic NBA Daily · Booker scores 40; Suns scorch Clippers | Wembanyama 5x5 · 1 Nov 2024 podcast

Doing good, man.

So I think one of the bigger signs of growth from a young team like the Rockets is how to figure out those ugly games late in the fourth quarter where you see you have to withstand a Kyrie and Luka Doncic onslaught, and you're on the road in a tough crowd, and the offense is sluggish and stalling out. You have to figure out a way to crank out a dub.

And I think for the Rockets, and especially for Jalen Green, You're seeing that late in these games, they're putting all of their trust in him to figure things out on the fly. And in year one and year two, he might have taken some bad shots here and there, and he might not have had the most efficient night overall.

And even tonight, it was still a tough night because Dallas set their defensive game plan around Jalen Green, slowing him down. But you saw what Emay did in the fourth going small, opening up the driving lanes for him and allowing him to attack angles with the man Thompson as that small ball screener.

So I think this is a good – the process of the game might not have been great, but from a viewer perspective, that's kind of – it was kind of like a playoff. Oh, it was fun. It was fun, man. The records. It's an in-season tournament. Yeah. It's an in-season tournament kind of game, so it was a good experience.

I think so. And this goes back to a lot of the work he put in over the summer to improve his overall efficiency. Now you're seeing, I think he's averaging the lowest turnover percentage he has in his career.

I think it's like seven and a half percent compared to a 31 and a half usage rate, which is telling you that, you know, this guy is taking care of the ball and they're giving him the lion's share of the offense. And obviously you can go back to the three-point shooting and shooting over 12 threes a game and he's hitting like 40%. The effective field goal percentage is up. The true shooting is up.

And he just looks like the game is slowing down. And you want to see that going from year three to year four. Everyone compares it to Anthony Edwards and the leap he took in year four. Now, obviously, it might not be the same because of different circumstances, but Jalen is a guy that...

When you put everything together, you kind of see exactly why he's the sort of player that the Rockets pinned their rebuild hopes on. Because he's so electric. He's a three-level scorer. You can get from end to end. And you see now he's playing engaged defensively. That was one of the biggest questions of his career. Was he going to be a defensive liability for all these years to come?

And you're seeing him engage. I think E-May has really gotten through to him in that respect. And then he's turned it out and been efficient at the end.

In a game like this in the fourth quarter where the game kind of slows down and gets bogged down, it's really possession by possession. Alperin wants to set up on the low block. He wants to try and attack either Gafford or Lively or whoever's on him. But at the same time, the way the game was going, Jalen and men, they were finding success going downhill.

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