Chapter 1: What is the current status of the Rockets heading into the All-Star break?
Rockets fans, welcome to the Rockets LaunchPod, an exclusive podcast from the home of the Rockets. Sports Talk 790. Red Nation, get ready. The Rockets LaunchPod starts now. Welcome aboard. Ben DuBose here, Paolo Alves there.
Welcome back to another episode of the Rockets LaunchPod presented by Clutch fans and with support from Sports Talk 790, official flagship radio station of your Houston Rockets. It's Wednesday, the 18th of February. The Rockets are 33-20, the number four seed in the Western Conference. They have not played in a week due to the All-Star break.
Chapter 2: What are the implications of the Kevin Durant burner controversy?
That will soon change. They're back in action Thursday night in Charlotte. We'll talk about that a little bit. Although today's show will be more bigger picture trends since we haven't had a game in over a week. There's certainly some things to talk about, including recent developments. We'll get to that shortly.
But in terms of, I guess, the scope of our discussions, I want this to be more macro than micro to sort of preview the back half of the regular season, the upcoming playoff run, and ultimately what makes this a successful season for the Rockets. So we'll get back into more micro game-by-game analysis next week when we have a few games to react to. Now we've had this break.
The Rockets have gotten to recharge.
Chapter 3: How can the Rockets improve their performance in the second half of the season?
We've gotten to recharge. I want to look more holistically at what needs to happen over the final 29 games of the regular season, the playoffs beyond that, and what ultimately is going to lead us to feel optimistic about the years ahead versus perhaps needing to make significant changes this summer. We'll get into all of that shortly, but Paolo, I'll start you with this.
Going into this game against the Hornets, what is your greater concern? Kevin Durant's recent propensity for turnovers or Alfrangian Goon's ability to shoot and defend?
Can I go with both? I'm going to be honest. It's probably Sengun's ability to defend because that's something that's going to manifest itself every single possession that is on the floor. MKB's turnover proneness is going to show up at what tops eight possessions a game, which is a lot. Eight turnovers is a lot.
Chapter 4: What factors contribute to the Rockets' playoff success this season?
But I don't know how many possessions a starter plays per game, but I would guess. Did you understand the reference? Oh, okay. See, I was counting on addressing that first, but I took it at face value. That's my bad.
Okay, well, I'm glad to have gotten one over on you. Yeah, let's start with the alleged KD Burner storyline. I'm saying alleged because to this point, KD has not addressed it publicly, and those were among the screenshots that were leaked. Of course, we are in a world where screenshots can be faked, and since...
You know, certainly in my case, as someone credentialed inside the building, I want to be responsible.
Chapter 5: What are the key areas of concern for the Rockets moving forward?
I want to give Kevin Durant a shot to tell his side of the story. It's possible it's not true. It's possible that some of it is true, but not all of it. Or it's possible that all of it's true. Well, I don't know all of it. There were certainly some screenshots that were fake and people piling on. But, um...
It's certainly an interesting storyline in a week that we thought was going to be relatively quiet. KD and Shingun played in the All-Star Game. It was relatively uneventful.
Chapter 6: How does team chemistry affect the Rockets' playoff chances?
Reed Shepard in Rising Stars. But, yeah, there has been a lot of talk this week about the alleged KD comments and, if true, what they would mean. And I want to start off the top by saying... One narrative that's been out there in the last 24, 48 hours that I don't like, there's been this talk of why aren't bigger accounts talking about it, i.e.
people in the media, big influencers on social media, and so on and so forth. I mean, some of it is giving some deference to Kevin Durant and waiting to see his side of the story. We're not going to have to wait much longer. The Rockets are back in action tomorrow night, so they are going to have media availabilities.
They simply haven't in the past week because they haven't had any team activities. So I'm pretty confident in saying that this will get addressed.
Chapter 7: What needs to happen for the Rockets to consider this season a success?
And just on a professional human level, you always want to hear both sides of the story before you rush to a conclusion. But more than that, Paolo, my take on this is It's not about, if true, what it says about Kevin Durant. What we're concerned about is what it means for the Houston Rockets as a basketball team.
And that comes down to not how we feel about it, but about how the guys who allegedly were talked down about in these group chat screenshots, which, by the way, it wasn't as if KD was putting his teammates on blast. It was meant to be a private conversation. You can certainly question if if he should be more discreet in who he trusts.
But it wasn't like he was using his bully pulpit to try and throw these younger guys under the bus. But according to the screenshots with the Rockets, it was all Perinch and Goon with his shooting and defense and Jabari Smith, let's say his overall IQ, among other things that were allegedly called into question.
Chapter 8: What are the expectations for the Rockets in the upcoming games?
And in terms of what it means for the success or failure of the Rockets, It's going to come down to how they feel about it. And so there's so many variables that we don't know yet. First off, is it true? Is it entirely true? Is it partially true? Is it total fake news? And then if it is true, even if we assume the worst, then what's Kevin doing behind the scenes? Is he addressing it head on?
Is he denying? Is he deflecting? Is he apologizing? What's Ime Udoka's role? There's so many variables that we don't know yet. And I'm not saying we're going to learn everything, but we're going to learn a lot more over the days ahead. And then most importantly, we'll see how these players interact with one another on the court starting tomorrow night in Charlotte. Maybe they move past it.
Maybe it's a non-story. Maybe it's fake news. Or maybe... you can see and sense that the chemistry is off and this becomes a lingering storyline and something that's hard for the young players to get over, being sort of called out, even in private, by one of the greatest players of all time and someone that they had looked up to for years. I don't know how this is going to play out.
But what I do know is that How I feel about it is not the story. This is not, you know, how do we feel about Kevin Durant? Is he going to win Times Man of the Year, or I guess hypothetically, Teammate of the Year in 2026? This is about how it affects the Houston Rockets as a basketball team, at least from our perspective.
Maybe there's others around the NBA that are into the clickbait, but for us, it's how does it affect the Rockets and whether they win or lose games. And... The ultimate story there is still to be told, and it's not going to be decided by how we feel. It's going to be decided by how the players feel, the leadership of Ime Udoka and Kevin Durant, and what happens moving forward.
And that's if at least parts of this are true, which we still don't know yet. So that's why I haven't weighed in too heavily on podcasts or my social media pages. It's not that I'm trying to avoid it. It's just in terms of what actually matters, taking predictive value moving forward, what it means in the locker room to these guys and on the court in the weeks ahead.
I mean, it's about how they process it. And we haven't even talked to the guys yet, let alone seen them on the practice court, in real games, behind the scenes. It's... so speculative at this point that I just, you know, some of the memes are funny and it's certainly something I'm watching with a raised eyebrow, but I don't, I don't see the point in rushing a take or jumping to any conclusions.
And that's why, you know, it's not that I'm averse to talking about it. I've seen that storyline that, oh, why are people just trying to sweep this under the rug? I don't think it's bad. It's just in terms of what it means for the Rockets, that's still to be determined, right?
Yeah, I think there's two sides to it, right? The first one is what matters truly is how Jabari Shingun and the rest of the team feel, right? If they take it too hard or if they are offended by it, if it's real, That may break team chemistry and that may force decisions in the offseason about how we move forward with this team.
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