The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - NBA Veteran Ryan Hollins Joins The Show To Talk About the Rockets Offseason Moves

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

NBA Veteran Ryan Hollins Joins The Show To Talk About the Rockets Offseason Moves 

112. That's holy misread. 1102. You scrambled the numbers, but you got close. Yeah, I was going to say, man, I just need to move. Room 112, where the players dwell. It's went over my head. Is that a song?

Is that a song I should know? No, I just made it up on the spot, Matt. That's not true at all. Hey, it's the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Let's say how to our friend Ryan Hollins? Ryan, are you a Dodger guy? Yes or no. You can't be an Angel's fan.

There's no such thing as Angel fans. Correct? We can't disclose that. We're Astros guys. We're Astros. Oh, okay? State City Home Network. What is wrong with you?

You're such a politician. I love you. You know that. Oh, my gosh. How are your brethren in Los Angeles? They can't be very happy. The local 9 went in there and beat them three straight times. Oh, I mean, it's a long season, Maddie.

You know that. Whoever is tied at the end. But no, L.A. has its chairs ups and down. You know that. I know. I know. Hey, now as official rocket broadcasters, we can freely talk about all the moves that were made, my friend.

So let's go piece by piece on this. The Kevin Durant talked never really ever went away, and it got piping hot as the offseason began. When you were hearing the name, you obviously are very encouraged, one of the greatest players of all time. But now put in perspective, how does he fit as a Houston rocket in your opinion?

opinion? I think it fits beautifully, Matt, because the one thing that we know is E-Mays built a culture that will not waver for a player or a poor mindset as a whole organization, everybody's on the same page. And the reason I say that is you're not going to, you're not looking at Kevin Durant at this stage's career and saying Kevin Durant, go, go in, you know, score 50 points a night, going, you know, average seven assists, go be a playmaker. You want Kevin Durant to be Kevin Durant, and that score the basketball. He brings championship experience. He brings Lent to this double big lineup that we saw so much success with.

He's already had a rapport with Jabari in the offseason, and he's a guy that you're excited about what he can become because his work ethic and his mindset. but the Houston group, which was top of the league in defense, top of the league in rebounding, struggled in a half court to score if they can't manufacture points with their defense, you got a guy who can manufacture his own offense. So that's the excitement there to join this group that has already built something that was second in the West last season. All right.

So who takes over the moxie part of the Dylan Brooks loss to the Phoenix Suns? And again, one of the things that Ross and I have talked about, is say what you're all about Jalen. And obviously, Jalen was at or near the top of scoring for the Rockets all season long. And he also played 82. It feels like all these acquisitions, Doreen Phenny Smith, Clint Capel, the re-signing of Stephen Adams,

obviously Kevin Durant. No one expects these guys to go full 82, but you're replacing two guys that gave you as many minutes as anybody on the Rocket's team last season. Yeah, well, I think it's key, obviously, man. It really, really hurts losing Dylan and Jalen. and Jop, but what Raffel did is he addressed needs, okay? So I envision, this is not from the coaches staff or anybody, that Finney Smith can play that Dylan Brooks role as obviously he doesn't have the energy,

but he brings the size, he can defend, he can shoot the three. I think he could be the long-term starter in that position because you're right, Matt. That's a lot of minutes at the two and three spot that are missing, and you'd assume, hey, Kevin Durant, you're going to want him for the playoffs. He may not play in a huge amount of minutes. You know, you're not necessarily looking at 82 games. The importance for Kevin Durant is in the playoffs. So Finney Smith was a huge signing,

and I think everybody overlooked that because they didn't see, as you noted, Matt, the importance of Dylan Brooks and Jalen Greene and their availability and how hard they played and the energy and effort. And, you know, Finney Smith is he's one of those guys, and that's why the Lakers were so upset that they couldn't sign him and he ends up getting away. Ross with you here as well, Ryan, and a lot of talk has been had about the starting lineup. How do you see it configured?

Do you think it'll be, you know, we saw it for stretches last year to where Coach Udoka would make it very matchup dependent, and it wasn't the same five every time. Do you think it'll be more of the same? Absolutely. I can see that. Obviously, you can pinch to Shingun, Durant, Van Vliet, as starters. and I think this is my opinion. I thought, and I'm in Tompson as a starter, obviously,

but I think the gold that we found towards the end of last season, Ross, and Ross, I know Matt thinks you're crazy, but I think you're going to agree with me on this, okay? You're going to agree with me. I think Jabari come up the bench with such a cheat code because he can sub in at center and you get really fast and really small, or he can sub in, you know,

and you get this jumbo lineup for, one of the guards and go big or let's say Durant sits out or you know Finney Smith or whoever misses a game he subs right in because for most of the time here with the Rockets he's the starter and he won't miss a beat so I think the goal would be you know just the versatility of Jabari Smith Jr and that's why Houston went out and extended him and really put faith into him and I think even the urgency for the Durant wasn't just for Durant is because hey we got this young star in Jabari Smith Jr. that we believe in. and it showed a lot of faith in him.

Yeah, I would agree. I think Coach Udoka values his versatility, like you said, guarding basically one through five on switches and using him in any number of different ways. He's so matchup dependent, but he can help you. He's like a great tool to have in the toolbox for Emi Adoka, and as will Kevin Durant be,

and kind of how much do you think about this offense and the way that it's kind of flow to where one of the good things about the offense last year was, while it was Jalen Green sometimes Alper and Shingoon, there was a lot of equality with guys getting looks and stuff like that. And with Kevin Durant, who you got to be that kind of ISO alpha dog,

but you don't necessarily want to build your offense around that. Yeah, and again, I think the biggest thing is like, you know, Kevin Durant spot up and shoot. You know, we're going to, we're a guy. We can run offense and some sets through. But Shingun was double-team all season long. And the times he didn't get double-team,

He tried. He absolutely cried. And even in the playoffs, he was successful. You know, just being put in and a end. So now you're saying you can't help off Durant. You can't help off, you know, Finney Smith. He's a good shooter from out there. And that just changes the offense.

And then I listen, man, there's the great Jim Herrick, UCLA champ, 95 coach. He had a saying. He was saying, you guys would love this. He goes, he goes, it's not about the exes, knows, it's about the Jimneys and Joe's, okay? So it's about the players, okay? So when all else fails, you get the ball to Kevin Rand, and you get out the way, Matt, Thomas.

Who is your favorite player on the 1995 UCLA championship team? Ed O'Bannon. Ed O. Bannon, come on, man. Ed O. AdO. Bannon is a legend to this day, and we see all this NIL stuff going on, and that is because of his impact and the things that he went out and fought for, and he'd be, he'd be a multi-millionaire if this is his NIL era. Who had some key free throws for UCLA in a tournament game way back in the day?

I can't remember who it was, who it was. Oh, you're talking. Oh, you're talking so maddy. You know how to talk about it. Oh, okay. It was right, Hollards. It was right, Hyatt. Ryan's with a space city home network. We are so happy that we're able to openly discuss now the moves.

Give me some, look, I've been telling the audience, during Finney Smith, his three-point percentage has gotten better every year. He was an assassin against the rockets the last two times the rockets played them. Give me a thought or two about him and about what Clint Capella is going to bring to the mix as well. I love his game. Finney Smith was a guy that's been on Houston's radar for the way that he defends. I thought that one of the biggest moves in getting him showed a real commitment to what E. He would like to do.

He's got size. So if you go with five big, versatile guys on the floor, he fits. He plays extremely hard. and again, he fits culture. I thought that it was a culture move. That was big and saying, hey, we're committed to the way that we played last year, which is huge.

You know, and all of a sudden Houston shows up with all these three-point shooters or offensive specialists, I think we'd be in trouble, but keeping the bones of it there. It's funny. I said this the other day.

I said, you know, Houston hasn't had a threat like Clint Capella since Clint Capella. guy who's extraordinary at rolling to the rim, blocking shots and commanding defense. And that defense was one that topped in the NBA off of just ball pressure and walling up on the weak side and not really having a shot blocking presence inside. Stephen Adams brought that towards the end. But, you know, he was trying to, he was still kind of working his way back getting healthy.

So, Mike Kempela, they're going to clean up a lot of mistakes from the guards. And that ends up getting scary, you know. And then with Clint, he's had some injury. problems in the past will be honest but the goal is, damn it's Stephen Adams can play one game on, one game off. And you get really, really good play at the five position and there's a commitment to that double

big lineup that was so big and really featuring our in Shungoon. All right, size up the Western Conference. Notably, Oklahoma City, I don't even count the Lakers, honestly, unless Luca becomes completely different. Denver, Minnesota. I mean, tell me how sick this is going to be covering these Western Conference teams this year.

It's sick because you get essentially all the teams back and then you get a number of acquisitions. Denver, I mean, Denver scares me in some ways just as much as Oklahoma City does because Cam Johnson was a huge acquisition. They get healthier. They get younger. And I think that they definitely improve. They got the best player on the planet, you know, undisputedly. and they Pauli Yilkech over there.

But the Western Conference, man, it is as thick as they come. And I thought the biggest thing that impressed me about Houston is like they went out and at some point during the season beat everybody in the NBA. They beat the league's best. And that made you so hopeful moving into next year. And I'm intrigued to see how Houston plays this season going from being the hunters to being the hunt head. And I think just maintaining that ship on their shoulder, staying fiery is huge.

And you've got the experience of Ambley. and Kevin Durant and me guys like that. So it's going to be a fun season, guys. Hey, guys, can we start it tomorrow? I don't even know if you saw this clip circulating that Kevin Durant working out. And he looks unbelievable. I mean, he looks better than you on a game day

with your suit on calling some U of H basketball. I mean, he looks unbelievable out there, Matt Thomas. It's close, though. Hey, Ryan, should we invite Ross with us to get Habachi soon or no? Oh, Ross, you're definitely open to invite to Habachi soon or no. Ross, you're definitely open inviting about you. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. You guys want to go this week? I'm busy. Wow. I'll go with you, Ryan. Let's see. What do I got?

All right. Ryan, I love you like a brother. You know that. Thank you very much for coming on the show. And I will see you very soon. We will hold you.