The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Media Day! Multiple High Profiled Guest Join The Show Ahead of the 2025-2026 NBA Season.

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Rockets Media Day! Multiple High Profiled Guest Join The Show Ahead of the 2025-2026 NBA Season.

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 10.03 at H-town, 10-03. What do those boys doing for us? I'm fine with it. Yeah, that's right. Good morning, and welcome to the Matt Thomas show with Ross. They go to 10-07. I don't care.

It's all good, maybe. They make more money than we do, so we must have to learn that. Sorry. Hey, Rossi, good morning to you. Hey, Matthew. How are you? We're good. We are inside the TOTA Center, in the Bowels, as they would say,

where we are here for Rockets Media Day, 2025-2006. I did let Jonathan our great producer, who's been with us, God, how long many months now? I don't know. How many more we don't know at this point? All right.

We want him here as long as possible. Absolutely. We've trained it well. Stop trying to boot good people out. Well, I think it's finances to do it more than me, but that's a different issue for a different time. You're not helping.

But today is a little bit of a herky-jurkey day in terms of we try to keep. Keep to a broadcast clock. That's going to be out the window at least for a couple of hours today as we get hopefully many, many of your favorite Houston Rockets. And including the brand new one today. Kevin Durant's going to stop by for a few minutes. Rockets Media Date, nothing else as far as I know going on in Houston Sports. Not a thing.

So we will not get at. We will obviously focus a lot on the rockets, but there are other things to get to. Matter of fact, we'll do that right now before some of the rocket folks start to come in. Texans yesterday shut out the Titans. You were there in Battle Red Jersey. I was very proud of you, good family photo there. Follow him on IG at SportsRV for that. Look at this.

I thought you'd like that. Thank you, Matt. And the first half was as pitiful of a football game as you will find in the National Football League. Well, the Texans had the Titans right where they want to. Exactly. It was defensive battle. They were halfway to a shutout and got the full shutout.

Yes. Texans were bad yesterday. I know there's a lot of Texans water carriers that are just like, oh, this is the greatest thing ever. Now look, the second half was much more fluid than the first, and things got going. And CJ had his best game, productivity-wise, at least stat-wise. Protection-wise, first half was not great. Second half was significantly better.

But... Breakout game for you know who. Who called it last week. Woodrow marks. Woo! Actually, he's not a Woodrow. Woody is the nickname. Yeah, I don't remember his name.

I think something regular like Greg. Greg Marks was fantastic for the Texas yesterday. I'm sorry, Joe Quavius. Okay. I think Woody is significant. better. Joquavius de Cain de Quine.

What does it call him Woody? The Titans are awful. I mean Cam Ward, not good. Pollard was decent, but there was any receivers getting separation. The defensive line was there for a while.

In fact, CJ was running for his life a lot of that first half. But once things settle down, that's a bad football team. And as much as it pains me to see every once in a while Rossi, those Tennessee Titan Super Bowl videos? Because they went that one year when they left certainly after leaving town.

Yes. That's a hot mess of a franchise. The only guy going for him is a brand new stadium. Other than that, I wasn't overly impressed with Cam Ward. Not that I'm ready to I don't particularly care how his career goes. But that's a bad organization with head coaching head scratching moments.

Play calling changes in week number four, which is not a great sign. They change out general managers. and coaches like you and I change underwear. Their owner is horrific. I mean, it's just bad. Their coach didn't know that one elbow down constitutes a catch in the NFL, which is one of the most basic rules.

Shins, elbows, knees, head, nose, all of it counts. Have you watched one day of Red Zone? It comes up like five times. And by the way, I'll be brutally honest with you. Once it got to, I think, 19-0, I went Red Zone the rest of the way because I knew that Tennessee wasn't going to score. Well, you might have known it, but Texans took care of business.

They were seven-point favorites, and they won by 26. They took care of, like, yes, it's a bad team, but also, Texans have struggled with bad teams. Texans have had issues with bad teams before. So I still, I'm not going to call it the most impressive performance of all time, but to go out there and take care of business, I thought was obviously a step in the right thing. I think the University of Tennessee is better than the Tennessee Titans. I think the volunteers would have put up a much more of a professional way.

Yeah. So we will dive into that probably a little bit more. tomorrow and Wednesday. Obviously getting ready for Sunday's game with Baltimore, which now seems possible to win. Lamar Jackson, A, wasn't good in the first half against Kansas City, and then he got hurt. Hamstring making it right now,

and not that anything should worry about how Vegas feels about anything, but right now the game is off the board because I don't know about the situation. Give me Cooper Rush for four quarters, and the Texans have a chance to win in Baltimore. Let's go, baby. See, you never know in the NFL. You do never know. You never know.

Guys are getting hurt left and right. it sounds like the initial diagnosis. They were thinking one to three weeks, I think they said, with Lamar Jackson. You never know with a hamstring. So if there's ever a time for the Texans to go to Baltimore and win, this Rossi will be a must win situation. Oh, here we go.

You have to be. Must win in week five. First of all, they're one and three. You have to be Cooper Rush. You just have to. You know it too. It'd be nice. Okay.

Astros finishing up the season yesterday. I'll ask this question because I already know the answer. How much of the game did you watch? I watched zero pitches. Me too. Okay. Game 162 when it doesn't matter

doesn't get my time. I was so heavy in the red zone in the second half of the three o'clock games that I just, because it didn't matter. I know that Lance McCullors did pitch yesterday, gave you three innings, asteros and a bunch of bombs, 6 to the final score.

But 4Ks and 9 whiffs and three innings pretty solid for McCullers. he's ready, Matt. He's ready to bounce back. I'm putting my name on it. Listen to yourself trying to sell that to the city. You didn't believe me, did you? Not a word.

I didn't believe it either. Not a word. It's funny. I was on Channel 2 last night on Sports Sunday and Randy McAmore. Oh, you were? Yeah. Oh, wow. Good for you.

Why are you laughing, Gordy? Why, Gordy's laughing. Gordy never gets invited. That's why he's mad. He's just always mad at it. No. It was on Zoom. I wasn't going to drive a way down there.

Well, you swore it off, and then I was on there twice, and now you come back. It's fine. I'm talking about me and you. No, I wanted you to be on there. Give you some more run. No, I'm good. I was drunk. That's not.

Don't tell Randy that. He's listening right now. That's fine. Randy knows a deal. I was tailgating. No, you. I was tailgating to the Texans game. No, I thought you went drunk on the show with him.

Oh, no, no, no. I mean, I was drinking yesterday. Oh, he called you first? No, he didn't call me. Oh, I was going to say. the backup. That's fine. He calls me about 30 minutes before I got to come on because somebody canceled on him.

That's not true. We will get that fixed. By the way, happy birthday to Randy yesterday who turned. I won't say, that's up to him to tell you how old he is. By the way, speaking of birthdays, it's a happy birthday to Kevin Durant. It is his birthday for real? It is his birthday today. Oh, wow.

Is he 38 now? I'll let you ask him. Okay. I mean, he's 37. So we will dive into some lots of Astros' conversation as well today because, again, just a real, not a gut punch, but just an utter sense of disappointment. I was watching Texas and Cleveland play Saturday before the Astros of the first pitch. My pregame show was over with by the time that Garcia for the Rangers

hits the Cleveland Guardian with the bases loaded to win for the Guardians. By the way, are your American League Central champions. 15 and a half back and win the A.L. Central because the Tigers literally backdoor the way into the playoffs because of unfortunately the Astros not doing what they're supposed to do as best. Not that the Astros deserved it. They didn't earn it. It was at their feet. Yeah. Wasn't their hashtag earn it one of those years?

I thought it was win-win-win. Root, root, root. Oh, okay. That'd be funny if it was win-win-win. If they use that next year, there'll be another bit steal. They stole my car city from me. It would be win-win-win next year. Built for this.

What's next year? Massive changes coming? Elbow discomfort. We hope to stay healthy. I mean, there's a variety of things we can go with on that. Tommy, John? Let me tell you something We're not going to utter the term Tommy John's surgery

Under any circumstance at all next year You're okay with that? Elbow strain. All right. Well, remember the term it was discomfort? We don't even see discomfort anymore. It's just flat out, owl. Inflammation.

It's a little wordy for a hashtag. All right. Real quick before we get to the break, when Durant comes on, or you can build to keep it together? I will see. I don't know. I think I'll be fine. Because let me tell you, there's a handful of athletes

that if they walked in right now, you know, like I was, when you said Nolan Ryan, on weekly. I was Jello. Yeah. I mean, I was a hot mess when he was my favorite picture of all time. Your questions were worse than normal. You know what? That was unfair. You hear that, Joan?

John. Jopold, Mr. Jolla. All these shots are I taking. It's all the first thing. It's terrible on me. He's rude has been to me so far. I don't even know what else I said. What else did I say? I don't know. We'll figure it out. We'll do an air check of the show. Of course. I kid.

But I mean, I'm trying to think in the history. of you and I working together. No one for me. I don't think we've ever had Earl Campbell on the show. We've had Hardin-on in Westbrook. Yeah, that was fine. Remember we were worried about Westbrook being surly, and he was pleasant. No, no.

But Kevin Durant's different. In this same room. I'll be frankly honest with you. You watch athletes from afar, and you're in a maze by them, and now I'm going to be with him, you know, hopefully calling 80, you know, or how many games he plays, I don't care. He's one of the, however you want to order it, 10 to 12, at worst, 15.

best hoopers to ever walk the planet. Yeah. I mean, the next, I mean, we've had some great ones come through here. Chris Paul will be one of the greatest point cards ever to play. Harden, Westbrook. I mean, we've talked to them all, but I guess the next person on the list that I would have to interview would be probably be LeBron

and that's probably not going to happen. Only it would be a Houston Rocket. Still time. Well, he plays until he's 50. We got a shot. I mean, I don't know how he would feel about that. But that's a different. You know, I can get along. Yeah, it's all about winning, right? All right, 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-9-0.

We are here. We'll be taking calls sporadically. We'll try to go out the phone numbers when we think we've got some spots. But if you just want to sit back and listen today, that's okay, too. Again, so much to get to on the Texans, so much to get into on the Astros. And, of course, our Rockets Media Day coverage here, which will feature all, I believe, many of the heavy hitters that you will want to hear and see this season on Sports Talk 790, right? Can't wait. We kind of need it, don't we?

It'd be nice. Texans are bouncing back. They're going to win Sunday. They got to win. Cooper Rice is playing. It's a must win. It is an absolute must win. And we've got a new halftime guest, not a halftime, a halftime show announcement from the Super Bowl today.

Oh, yeah, it's your favorite. You got all his hits. If you said, Matt, I will give you $250,000 for every bad bunny song you know, you would be still stuck with your $250,000. Well, you want to tell you that's something funny? Please. I would be in the same spot as you. Really?

I recognize some of his songs. I don't really know. Bad Bunny. We got a poll question up right now, and that is on the website, or the Twitter account, at SportsMT, and that is Bad Bunny.

These answers, there could be something in between. Bad Bunny, can't wait 22%. I'll watch something else, 78%. Now, what about, I'll check it out?

There's no, I'll check it out answer. Well, I mean, I think Can't Wait would be in the same category? No. Well, I'll check it out. It doesn't mean I can't wait. Well, how about this?

My answer is, I'll check it out. I'm going to check it out. Okay. Good, see? I mean, how many times? There have been a lot of musical acts in the Super Bowl that I've just kind of said, eh, no good. But I'm going to sit up.

I'm not going to go, like, change a channel to, like, HGTV. I want to watch the halftime. Yeah, see what the puppy bowl's looking like. All right. 12, 10.15. Matt and Ross with you until 2 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. One, Rossie. Oh, I haven't.

Oh, no. You know what? You want to you're saying, are you on to do a second one? I'll say yes, let's give a second one. It's really more like one and a half. Oh, okay. And it doesn't revolve around the Astros. I think you were worried that.

You did have me worried. Cam Robinson has just been traded. Okay. Okay. He just got signing the off-season. Yes, he did. Going to the Cleveland Browns and a swappage of late-round draft picks, according to multiple sources.

That's some cap relief for the Texans. That's good, I guess. Mm-hmm. How's Ariante Ursary looking? Apparently significantly better than they thought, because he's playing, and Cam Robinson's not, and now you're moving him for. Titus Howard only had two holding penalties?

How many was it? Oh, my God. Is he taking over the lead for most penalties on the offensive line? It's been Laramie Tunsel for the last few years. Well, yeah, nobody's going off sides every five seconds. I mean, false starts, or legal motions or delay of games and all that kind of good stuff. I have no opinion on it whatsoever to say that when Cam Robinson doesn't play,

he probably said, look, I'm a veteran, get me out of here, and they said, I'll find you somewhere to go. They signed him before they drafted Ariante Ursary as kind of like an insurance policy. Well, ushery beat him out and is playing better, and so they're going to go with him, and that's good. I'm down with it, whatever. Save a little bit of cap space, and, well, hope your guys that you do have stay healthy, because if somebody did go down, some depth of Cam Robinson would be nice,

but I understand why the Texans are making the move. I'm not overly familiar with the Tennessee Titans defensive line, but how about that climb over Jake Andrews in that first half of the game? I mean, you were going to hurt people. He got over like 0.1 off the clock. Yeah, that was the fastest ever. That was the fastest sack in the history. It felt like the fastest sack in the history of football.

You know, when I told you this on Friday, you got mad at me. What did you tell me? I was like, I'm worried about C.J. Stroud. And there were three times in the first half that he was, like, lumbering around. You said he was going to get hurt. He was fine. He finished the game. You think he's fine?

You think he's, he finished the game. He think he woke up this morning going, it's a bright, such shiny day. And he's like, my ass got beat. He's getting some, he's getting some treatment. But he's all right. It's the NFL, baby. Nobody's 100%.

Lamar Jackson's not 100%. Joe Burroughs not 100%. J.J. McCarthy's not 100%. Whoever else. Who else has hurt these days? There's a lot of quarterbacks. Oh, Jane Daniels was hurt for a while? Jane Daniels is not 100%.

It's hard out there for a pimp. By the way, did you see what Cam Smith said? The quote? No, I did not. Not Cam Warren. Excuse me. Oh, Cam Ward.

Oh, yeah. Was that true? Was that a real quote? I think it was true. I saw that floating around. I'm looking for the audio of it. Okay. If we can find it, we'll try to play it at some point.

Because if we find the audio of it, for those of you don't know, if he says, if we keep it a buck, which means keep it 100. If we keep it a buck right now, we ask. I don't think he said that because we would have found it on our social. You got it? It's got to be. Here it is. Yeah. Oh, we got to get that put in the system.

Oh, yeah, Ross is playing off his computer right now. You know, it's Jonathan, if you can get it. I'm talking to it. We can just start. I get sent it to them. That's a drop on the show, right? We talk about the show. Or like, when our show sucks really bad, Jonathan, you feel like you can play that anytime you want to.

My God, yeah. God, that was awful, awful, awful what he said. But these, right, they're terrible. I mean, are they going to win two games this year? Yes. I guess it's hard. It'd be really hard to go on 17. It seems about right.

Yeah. All right. So that's what we got going on. I just answered you, Jonathan. The Texans front. And that's just like him a rando drop in. Because we've already got our name segments all locked in. We keep it a buck we ass.

That's just, I mean, I give the kid credit for coming up with that. Yeah, we get beat 26 to zero by a not very good football team. Hard to feel good about it. Were you surprised by the number of empty seats in a building yesterday? Not exactly. fairly empty to start. It did fill in. I would say the bottom bowl was like 85 to 90 percent full by halftime. People got in there late. I mean, it's, I don't know. It feels like that's just been the MO for Jackson's crowds forever. Forever. And it's funny because it's not just Houston that

doesn't. It's like Laker games. People got to the Lakers games late. It was always late, get there late, leave early. Some cities had that reputation. We had a chance to ask, Cam Ward, what he thought of all the empty crowd at the stadium before, and here's what he had to say. Everything, interception to a penalty, to an incompletion by me, a bad

ball, and then once we're past the 50, we just not continue the drive. So, I mean, we're keeping the buck right now, we ask. So we're on for it. So from now on, Jonathan, all want to do is I want that little part there.

That's all I want. I got here on out. And you can just drop that in, maybe not today, We don't want to be saying that today, but certainly more back in the studio tomorrow. We could do some of that. Okay, so back to what I was saying before. So the crowd, and I told you, I kind of felt like the energy was going to be a little bit of an issue.

Now you go to be Baltimore this week. You got to go to Seattle, the following two weeks after that. I mean, it's a tough, you get a tough little swing coming up here for the local football squad. Yep. But as you said, things are breaking their way. Maybe we'll see what's happening with the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson.

being out, that can be winnable. And look, I mean, you're going to be dogs to the Seahawks, and they're pretty good, and Sam Donald's been playing well, but you have a really good defense as well. I wouldn't say, I don't know, just projecting whatever we think that spread would be. Would it be like, I don't know, five, five or six Seahawks by that or something? I mean, that's a winnable game. So you are the official handicapper of the show. Would you like to tell me if Cooper War of Cooper Rush's name starting quarterback with

the line should be on the game? Giving Baltimore two points. What's up, Jay Sean? I would say Yeah, maybe Baltimore I would say, okay, let's think about this With Lamar Jackson.

With a good Texan's defense They're just a shut up. They're probably still about like seven and a half Seven favorites somewhere around there. You probably take a reshave off four or five points. So Ravens minus two and a half. Okay, if you're within one point, either direction. I'm going to donate $25 your favorite charity.

Two and a half or one and a half? Okay, my favorite charity is the Ross Fund. I figured it would be that. Little Real Foundation. I get that. I figured it as much. All right. 713, 212.

5, 790. If you want to come in and talk to us, we've got a lot of rocket stuff coming up in the next hour and a half to two hours. So if you want to chime in now, we'll get to some Astros. We'll come back. Just some general thoughts about,

not necessarily this season. We'll do more of that tomorrow. Matter of fact, Joe Espada and Dana Brown are both going to speak tomorrow and their end of the year get together. So we'll obviously have a chance to chew on some of what they had to say. But today is just more of a initial thought about how the season ended and probably

the most one of the more frustrating weeks in Astros baseball as the Astros and Tigers Rossi why not being tied but the Tigers win the tiebreaker 713 yeah that's all you gotta say 713 212 5790 we're live inside TOTA Center for Rockets Media Day coverage as you listen

to Sports Talk 790 Matt and Ross with you from TOTA Center the media day events will kind of get started the next half hour or so around 11 o'clock and then it should be pretty crazy. I already told Jonathan he's going to lose whatever hair he's got left because of the strange clock will be using, but that's fine. It's willing to do this once or twice a year.

This is probably the busiest day of the year for the producer of the show. Hardworking, Jonathan? Yes. I'm going to look out of black man after the show, huh? No hair? No hair? You're going to twinning. I mean, I keep as long as you can.

All right. So I went on and I mentioned I was on with Sports Sunday on Channel 2 yesterday. and Randy's like, what do you expect for off-season? One of the things he brought up to me was Zach Cole. And he said, what did you think of September, Zach Cole? And I said, do you know what you got to do? You have to, oh, there's the newest member of the Houston Astros Media Wall of Fame right there. How about that, Bill O'R.

Yes, sir. Dang. How many Walls of Fame can you one man be on? I'm trying to get on one. We're on the air, Bill. I know you don't use a microphone anymore, but we're... I know. He looks great for his late, how old he is.

I said, I said, do you don't read March numbers and September numbers, this same. And so I think Zach should be given every opportunity to get ready to be a part of the 2026 roster. But I just, I tempered everything. I don't think September's awesomeness all of a sudden means he's going to be a 40 home or hitter next year. Yeah, we don't know, but we saw a lot of power. You saw some encouraging signs. And it's not only just the major league numbers in September, he was also your minor league player of the year, which doesn't always mean anything if we go down the list of minor league players of the year,

position players for the Astros. Right. But at least hope will spring eternal for Zach Cole to be a contributor because not only would that be a fun story, you need the help in the outfield. You do. And there's a spot open. I don't know what the future of Hesu Sanchez is, frankly. I don't know how much Yorra is going to.

Nontendered. You okay? Excuse me. Sorry, it's a little dusty idea. You want to get burped out of? Are you coming up? on Gretchen or are you taking a break? I don't know she's hanging out or what's going on?

I was like, you know her daughter wrote a book? I didn't know that. That's what we're going to ask her about. Okay. Yeah, why not? You're going to get a signed copy or one? Well, I'm looking for at least a commission check or something here on this. Gretchen Sheer is a president of the forward.

She didn't ask me to write anything. She didn't ask me to write anything. Gretchen Shear is the president of business operations for the Houston Rockets. And so your daughter is, my daughter's age, right? 17, correct? Yes, she's senior. And she wrote a book. She did write a book.

Whose idea? Her idea. She said, Mom, and write a book. She had a school project where she did a research project. And the teachers said this is a good framework for a book. And so over the summer, she turned it into a book and asked zero help from her dad or from me. So she found a publisher. Wow.

And the name of the book, ironically, Ross, is I love the play-by-play voice of the Rock. I don't think that's the name at all. That's my favorite person. It's a little wordy, I want a shirt down. one down. No, it's let's, let, I should know this, let's talk about feelings, a guide for teenagers, which is ironic. Perfect.

Because I had a lot of feelings. Coming from, yeah, coming from her mother who is known for talking about her. So it's published now, right? It's published on Amazon, yeah. She did it by herself. She found a couple things after the fact, so they're going to do an updated copy. But, yeah, so she's on a roll. So if you have any kids, we have a lot of adults that have daughters and sons listen to the show,

I'm assuming Amazon or where we're, You can find anything on Amazon at this point. I also have a son, by the way. She has a twin brother. He started a little podcasting thing. Oh, now they're coming after our jobs. No, no. He's like interviewing.

They did a volleyball interview this week. There's somebody I know. At John Cooper. So I'll have to send you links and you can give him tips. Well, maybe he can replace Ross eventually someday. That's, yeah. I don't think we can afford them. Everyone's contracts are up.

I'm just saying. That's true. Look at her. She's contract watching me. Going in hard. I've got two more years. He'll be ready by then. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. All right. So let's get to the changes. First of all, in the building, the seats are going to eventually change, right? They are. Eventually, yeah. And in about a month, we will start the process. So we're going to do it.

And we don't have a lot of downtime. So as we have gaps between games and concerts, we're going to start changing out the seats. We'll start in the upper bowl, and we'll work our way through. So it'll take us about nine months or so by next summer. They will all be new. What kind of changes?

So these are the original seats. So the new ones will have like a more durable vinyl cover. They're black and pewter weave. So the coloration will change. And the most exciting part, every single seat in the building in the lower bone and the upper bowl will have a cup holder option. So all seats upstairs, cup holders. It's just a little thing. They're 23 years old, so no springs.

Ross, you don't know this, but we've gone to a lot of arenas in the last couple of years, and it feels like, God, Gretchen, about a third or a half are always trying to fix something up. We've seen a massive rebuild in Toronto, Phoenix, I could probably name four or five others. You've been doing that as well. You ultimately are going to completely revamp this arena, right? Yeah, I mean, over time, right? We started with the technology and the video boards that was big, and then now the seat.

So we're really focused on kind of fan-facing areas first. We're doing a huge wastewater pipe project right now, super sexy. But every off-season, we are doing something to make sure that this building stays up and running. And we're working on, you know, some bigger, longer-term projects that will be coming in the next couple of years that we're excited about. And the crazy part is these arenas still have to operate. You still have to put games on and concerts on. So sometimes it's a little bit of a logistical situation. and it may not happen this year, but down the road,

we'll be making those few alterations in terms of our way to our path to our seats probably, right? Yeah, just like when you're kind of reconstructing a team to build for the future, that's kind of what the arena is. So, like, today everyone's like, welcome back, great to see you. I'm like, we've had 32 concerts since we saw you last. Like, this building does not stop. We'll have 11 shows in October, so it's really busy and a puzzle piece

and the facilities team and our arena crew. does a great job getting it done while everyone else is asleep. And what is that, what goes into those decisions, I guess, is what your, is it to try to improve the seats and all those types of things? Because I guess my simple brain is just like, oh, it works, it's fine. The seats are good. We don't, like, what goes into that, the decision making process? Like, why?

What is the why of trying to just continue to update everything and make it better? Yeah, I mean, for Tillman, the focus first is the fan experience, right? So the video board and the technology and bringing, you know, the game to life was a huge priority. And the seats are obviously dated. And so we are starting in the upper bowl. Adding a cup. There was a big deal and a harder process than one would think just with spacing to make sure that every fan in this building, regardless of where they are seated, has the best amenities possible.

So really kind of a fan experience first. And then there's the stuff that you have to do. like we got a new roof, right? Like that's amazing. The Toyota Center lights are back on the roof. But that was a year-long process because we did it while we were hosting events. So there's the, you know, the bones of the building that have to stay in really good shape. And our facilities team has done a great job in order for us to be able to do the fan amenity stuff as well.

The most important thing people want to know is what are we going to be eating this year in the arena? All of the food. They will, I think you guys will test. some today, right? Their audience is like, I was hoping. Yeah. Yeah. No, there's, the barbecue station is getting updated,

which is on the north side, outside of 115 that we're very excited about. They'll have, they'll go through all of it and Levy will do a great fair for you guys. So I don't want to, I don't want to spoil it. The audience is like, we don't care what Matt and Rossi. The most important thing is what we'd be drinking, and that is we, Margarita Mondays are coming back based on Casamiga. So, you know, you guys will get your. you'll get your good shirt that I know that you love. And then we're going to have a signature cocktail that I'm super excited about.

Like, Red Rising, it'll come in a special cup. I'm a little bit obsessed with the U.S. Open's Honeyduce, so we're creating our own version. You're not allowed. You'll be working. But, you know, after. For sure, post-game beverages. Post-game, post-game.

It's going to be a busy time in here. You've got NCAA basketball coming in the building. That's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, we have a game coming up, a regular season game, and then we'll host the regional. otherwise known as the Sweet 16 in early March. And hopefully we'll have some friends playing. Yeah, and hopefully this building will be really busy.

I don't know, early to mid-June somewhere in that range. It'd be great. That'd be great. You have to clear those dates, right? The date booking is a puzzle piece for sure. But yeah, the league gives you the calendar. And then when you book a show, there's rural dates. And there's a whole process that goes on.

Tell Shakira. No, sorry, you can't be here in June 9th. Sorry, very busy. I should do halftime. That's true. All right, Gretchen, thank you for coming by. Thank you. Looking forward to a very exciting season, and I'm assuming that Kevin Durant, Jersey sales are going quite well.

They were pretty good. You could put 114 on them, and it would be the... People are over about what number he was going to wear. It doesn't matter. Just score 30 points and stay healthy, right? Sounds good to me. Thank you, Gretchen. She's your president of business operations for the Rockets with us here for a few minutes on the show.

1043 is our time. We've got players and coaches coming by. We are at Media Day coverage here on Sports Talk 790. I was telling you about Big City Wings. Today, they got a brand new special $10 any burger with his side. 150 Mikalob Ultra Drafts between now and 3 o'clock, 550 big brews and 650 premium brews. That's what you got to do today. Then you go tomorrow and watch baseball, not involving the Astros.

Rossi. I'm going to be honest with you. And I'm even deathly afraid to put us a poll question. We don't watch. non-Huson sports. I mean, I think the baseball playoffs will be epically not discussed on this radio show. Unless there's something miraculous

that happens or amazing or a once-in-a-lifetime situation. We'll see. Yeah, I'll keep an eye on it, I guess. I mean, Red Sox Yankees is always sexy. Got the Cubs involved. You have the Dodgers involved. You've got, I mean, you've got all the heavy hitters. I mean, the Reds getting in over the Mets probably didn't help out

there much, but... Reds, Dodgers doesn't... It sounds like a midweek series in June. They're petitioning for the Dodgers to play games at 8 a.m. Pacific time. But, you know, I'll pay attention maybe when the World Series comes around. We'll see. So I'll see who I'm rooting against. I like to watch Joe Hottani.

I would say that. Yeah, for sure. When he pitches, I want to watch. For sure. All right, so if Jim Crane pulls Dana and Joe into the offices today, shuts the door. Everybody's good? Just making sure. Well, my thought is this.

know if you call a press availability for those two guys if they're on the firing line. I agree. I mean, I think Jim's mulling it over. I mean, he probably had a Cavassier and kind of thinking about things. But my guess is, I would say this, neither one of them deserve to lose their job. I would agree. I don't think they're having a celebration going, man, if we just, we'll run it back next year. And that's the one thing I was telling Channel 2 last night is that I don't think running it back is going to be the answer. You've got massive holes in your starting rotation. You've got way too many information. fielders. And you've got other outside things to, I mean, you have to figure out why this team had so many catastrophic injuries and why the recovery process for so many of those guys was slower

than the average team. Now, everybody is not built the same. Yes. Every, you know, some teams are going to have more injuries than others. Look, Arizona had a bunch of injuries this year because I was talking about how bad the Astros situation was and the bunch of Diamondback fans came at me and said, look at our list. So it can happen to other teams. Diamondback, they had like six or seven guys on the Major League team have Tommy John, I think. And the reality is, baseball today, I don't know if it's because of the pitch clock,

and if it's because of the spider attack elimination, it could be just the pressure that these teams are asking their players to put on off-speed pitches. It's Velo and Spin. The emphasis on Velo and Spin is hurting everyone. Yeah, I would say from a macro viewpoint of this, if you're Major League Baseball, you should be concerned

that so many injuries are taking place. But I don't really care about their squads. I want to talk about the Astros. Dodgers had a lot of pitching injuries, too. The hitting was a major issue for this team this year. Now, again, when you're doing different lineups and you're putting guys higher in the order than they probably should be, if Jose Altovae is a number six hitter for a really good baseball team, you don't necessarily worry about it,

but if he's a top three or top four guy, he's seen his numbers drop. Christian Walker's runners-in-scoring position batting average, probably to me, would be an alarming thought. Now, again, he did leave the team at home runs at RBI's, and it was really good away from Dyken Park, but in the home ballpark, he was not very good. Yeah, I'm not just trying to pinpoint him. Well, those two guys, you mentioned, are they top and played appearances?

We were kind of talking about this. Carlos Correa finished in your top ten and played appearances. He came over the deadline day. Like, it's just you had a lot of the injuries, and the guys that you would have liked to have, next year, if Christian Walker's on this team, you can't play him 154 games at first. You can't play Jose Al-Tube, 155 games as he's 35 turning 36 either.

You had to do those types of things. out of necessity with all the injuries. And it's just, yeah, you need to figure out what's going on, where you're playing those guys, both of them. If Christian Walker, A, is on the team, and B, where Jose L. Tuve is going to be because you would like to d.H. him as much as possible,

but do you feel the same way about Yoron Alvarez? Yeah. You've also got to figure out if there's what to trade. I think you're one too heavy in the infield, for sure. And I was listening to Sean and Dan this morning coming in, they basically echo the same thing.

I don't think, I think the untouchables are Altuve and Correa. And Alvarez, obviously. Altouet is intouchable because of the name. Yeah, I mean, he's going to retire in an Astro uniform.

I don't see any other way that's not going to happen. Correa is still, you brought him over, and he is not necessarily the heart and soul, but he is a glue guy. Does that make sense to you?

Yeah. And he was very good. And he was very good. The power's not what it used to be, but I don't think anybody expected that. But I think Paredes could be up for conversation. I think... Here's an name they brought up. I kick the tires on Yarner-Diaz.

Yeah. Yiner-Diaz, I think, is a... Because if Yonix ready, or close to being ready, if you re-sign Karatini, MLB pipeline doesn't end all be all. They have Yonix timeline is 27. But I think they had, you know, I mean, they probably had that time. timeline for Cam Smith is 27 or 28. He came right up. So it depends. Yes. Ideally, this is the problem. You have a lot of candidates that you,

Christian Walker is your first baseman. Ideally, you would like to slide Esauk Paredes over there if you're keeping Correa and Pena and not trading either of those guys, which I wouldn't say it's completely off the table, but it's unlikely either of those guys get traded. And then you would like to eventually transition Yainer Diaz to a first base, but but you can only put one guy at the three in your lineup every day. So you absolutely could find somebody who wants to transition Yainer Diaz to first base slash D.H. Hybrid role. But you don't have room at D.H., and you don't have room at first base. And Yonner Diaz isn't throwing guys out.

He's not the greatest defensive catcher. And three straight years, his plate production has gone down. And I do think that has to do with him being an everyday catcher because he wasn't that in the minor leagues. And the reality is this. If you, because you want to move, Yonner, if you do, other teams know the scounder report. My guess is if you're a team that thinks Yonair Diaz is a guy that can help you out, you're bringing him to your team and you're probably converting him to first base. I think you would do that.

And I think fans would see his production go up at the plate and be like, how could you trade him away? And it's going to be a situation where he wouldn't be that guy here catching him every day. Yeah. So I think there is tremendous work to be done by, Dana. My guess is Joe will have to make some staff changes. There might be. One, two. It's funny, you have two pitching coaches and two hitting coaches. I don't know if that's the new trend in sports today. The pitching has been spectacular. They're hitting not so much. Yeah. So I think there's going to be, again, the one thing I will continue to say is I don't think Jim Crane is in the room going, hey guys, if we don't have all these injuries, we're winning 95 games and we're runaway winners in American League West.

Yeah, but isn't that a true statement? Not runaway, but I think they win the American League West. Oh, well, I would think, I mean, the way that Yordon came back after he's being gone to 100 games, it looked like he was getting back on that horse. Yeah. He's one of the five best hitters on the planet, in my opinion. You finished three games back of the Mariners. Three games back.

Could he have been the difference in three games? Absolutely could have been. Yeah, for sure. But I just, I don't want, because here's the thing, you're starting a rotation right now? Tell me if I'm wrong. guaranteed 100% spots. You've got Hunter Brown 1. And we're done.

Christian Hockey Air 2. 3, 4, 5. And you never should go into the season just thinking about 5 because you know you're going to be using 10 or 11 or 12. We're in the Astros case 15. You know what I'm saying? I don't know. Could we see Mumber Maldez back in an Astros uniform?

I think we're going to see. It could happen late in the season. We're going to see, and they were talking about this this morning too, Rill and Reese. Dylan Reese Dylan Cese Dylan Cese oh maybe they've been after him

for a couple years now that could happen he's a free agent I think yeah you could sign somebody everybody else is who knows you can't we love Jason Alexander

and what he did deserves an opportunity deserves an opportunity he'll be a question mark AJ Blue Ball deserves an opportunity but Lance is going to have to work his way he's going to have to go in like he's 19 years old looking for a spot

he doesn't he's going to be fighting for a spot It's easier to cut him off the roster when he only has one year left. Correct. All right, 1057, we're at Rockets Media Day. We've got players and coaches coming by to say hello to us between now and 2 o'clock this afternoon. Gordy is going to peruse us also some high-leverage guests. He's already promised us at least one big-name guest between now and 2 o'clock that we don't know about. Oh, wow.

We've actually given him an assignment. That's not true, I don't think. And then you think he'll go over there. He thinks he's afraid of him. Gordy's Gordy's a chaser I don't want to give him such a hard time Gordy's a chaser

Gordy you're doing a great job You don't even have to be here right now We love it We love it I appreciate you I'm sorry Matt gives you such a hard time Yeah it's a term for being here It's a tournament dear man

Thank you for being here Gordy 1058 second hour The Matt Tauber show of Ross is next year on 790 Matt at Ross with you We come to you today From the Turner Center Where it is Rockets Media Day 2025

For which should be a very very interesting season. It'd be kind of weird for us. We'd be here today thinking about the Astros playoffs tomorrow and Wednesday, probably the noon spot, but that's not going to happen, unfortunately, as their season comes to an end yesterday with the game against the Los Angeles. Angels.

Need him to go 5 and 1, Ross. They'd have made the playoffs at 5 and 1. They'd have made the playoffs at 4 and 2. I've got to bring that up. That's sad. It's a 4-hour radio show. Well, I guess. Cam Robinson got traded today.

you okay with that sure why not texans with a huge win because you are a betelred ross yes massive win backs against the wall must win the game and they came out and they shut out the mighty tennessee titans they're not mighty at all they're basically a uh cfl team they're not mighty at all but still i mean and i don't want to you know act like they made some kind of statement to the league or anything like that but they went out there and they took care of business they were seven point favorites they won by 26 and it was their first shutout in a long time, right? Third ever shutout, I think, in franchise

history. I mean, that doesn't have very good. I mean, yeah, look, even horrific teams score points. To shut somebody out is very impressive. And they did miss two field goals though, right? I believe the easy ones. Two less than 50s. So, I mean, Clay on the 4U tab, Clay

Travis, who lives in Nashville, obviously that's the game he gets and he's like, oh, he's a Titans fan, right? Yes. And he's on Titans Sports Radio before he went national. Yeah. Full political. He basically says that this game is awful

and that Beth Mowens was the perfect narrator for this masterpiece. How was Beth Mowens? I was at the game so I didn't catch it. You okay? Was it that bad? Look, I don't know her. And she does a competent job. It's just the voice.

There are some people in this world that people's voice is just great on them. Okay. It's just a hard It's just a hard listen Okay But I mean It is And Ross Tucker

I don't know if he is Having intimate relations With Nick Casario Oh really But he had a statement In the first half of the game yesterday He's like man The Texans have so much depth

They don't know what to do With their offensive line And I was like What? Are you kidding me? Well I guess he was right They traded away Camp Robinson So much depth

I've never heard in my life In the last three years covering the Texas depth and offensive line in the same sentence. It's not been happening under Nick Casario. But, yeah, that was a little odd. But it was, you know, look, nobody watched the game. I mean, it was the least seen of the different CBS games, probably for a reason. New York City was not clamoring for Tennessee, Houston, put it that way.

That's fine. And it also wasn't on Red Zone much. No, it wasn't. So what I would do is I'd watch the game on 11, and then we'd go over to Red Zone and watch. And nobody hit the Red Zone until, but what, the second half? Well, it was the only game that didn't have a touchdown in the first half, and it took to the third quarter for either one of the two teams are getting to the red zone. You can't be on the red zone if you don't get in the red zone.

That's what I'm saying. It's terrible. Woody Marks hit the red zone, baby. So Rudy Marks are now RB1 now, right? I mean, it'll be a split. I mean, tell me what he did to not deserve that opportunity. It'll be a split, and then that's fine. he out carried Nick Chubb and he out targeted him and outproduced him

so Nick Chub is fine as a backup and split one to a rookie just learning the job and taking over the reins and then a veteran guy who doesn't have much juice in his legs but he's trying and Nick Chubb I mean Nick Chubbs I think is it okay I mean he's fine it's just he's a replacement level he's a replacement level yeah you can find somebody on the street that can give you what Nick Chubbs is done. Right, right. And you know what, every team needs to have that. But if, I don't know if Woody Marks was thought to be the main go-to guy, frankly, they were thinking about Joe

Mixon. Now, is today, this is the fourth week, right? So. Yeah, what's going on with Joe Mixson? My guess is D'Amico will be asked, I mean, I would hope that he'd be asked about the Joe Mixon Update. Joe Mixen Update. Butabob. But-a-bub. I don't think so. Okay. I don't think there's enough people who particularly even care. When is his foot good to go? Is that I'm going to go with? Sure, why not? All right.

I mean, that was impromptu, so that's fine. Thank you. We are here at Rocket's Media Day, where the Rockets can do all of us a favor of Rossi by just getting out to a very fast start. I've already been on a couple of radio shows this year. They're like, well, what's going to happen with no Fred Van Bling? I'm like, good question. I'm in Thompson.

Now, I don't know. My guess is that we're going to ask you me about it. Okay. He's going to say it's fine. Well, I mean, he's going to say, look, he's got a man. He's like, I don't know what we're going to do. It's over. No, he's not.

Man, I hope we went 30 games. I will say this. You're kind of teasing about that a little bit. I am obsessed with AI press conferences after losses. Oh, gosh. You are Mr. AI. You've been to see more of those now? I am obsessed with two AIs.

The baby's talking. Oh, my God. And I know, that's weak on my part. I fully admit that. But I'm also obsessed with when they bring up, when they add in new comments to coach. Like, we got totally out-coached. My team played like as.

Yeah, he's not going to do any of that. Cam Ward actually said that. Yeah, that was actually funny. But it's just to me, it was one of those situations that I just like, because there is, there is AI of email out there. Oh, there is? There's a ad everybody out there, Ross. I haven't watched it.

We're going to try to get you AI, but it doesn't show up on my four you. Well, that's because you're a smart guy and don't look it for you on the Twitter. I don't know. I'm getting Mets stuff on my 4-U. I didn't realize you were such a big Mets fan. It's always sunny. That makes sense. No, no, no.

Why am I getting LSU stuff? Cordy must have been on my account. Are you guys sharing an account? Oh, Manchester City stuff. Now, that would be on my 4-U tab. Big 5-1 win over the... 5-1 is like a 75-30 game, right? His beat-down, Maddie.

Speaking of big scoring games. Oh, my gosh. 40 to 40. The buzzed Rockets beatwriter is here. Teresa is here. Sports ball. Hashtag sports ball. Sports tarissa's or Twitter account. You want to follow her there.

Teresa's Sports Face, I believe. That's what it's called? I got you. I got you. Oh, 40-40 last night. And I know you're going to tell me there are very few ties in the NFL. Okay. There's still one too many ties in the NFL. I'm going to be honest with you.

I fell asleep. I didn't watch the end of the game. What happened? It was 40 to 40 to 37. Green Bay scores a field goal late to tie the ball game. Okay, so it's the first tie in three seasons. There was no ties last year. Right.

No ties the year before. Correct. So it's not been the biggest issue. Well, you know what it did, though? It did. Did it miss field goals or what happened? Well, I didn't watch much the guy. I fell asleep.

Okay. You know, so I didn't see my appearance on that TV show. Okay. I can't say the name of it because the guy. You can't. You can't. That's fine. Yeah, you're a whore.

You'll go anywhere. No, he called me. I said, I'll do Zoom. I don't know. I had to put a nice collared shirt on. Yeah. Normally I was in my underwear and T-shirt. I wasn't going to even ask.

Yeah. Because I didn't want to know. But point being is just, I don't like ties. Okay. You know what ties are, don't you? Wonderful. No. Everyone wins?

It's like kissing your sister. What? I knew you were going to say. You heard that phrase before, Jonathan, right? Ties are like kissing your sister. I mean, you'll do it, but it's not you're looking forward to it. You know, you learn something new every day. That's all I'm going to say.

You know, it's funny, John, it's a popular phrase. My wife did not hear that phrase until I said it to her. I said, you know, ties are like kissing your sister. And she's like, what are you talking about? So you learn things every day. No, actually. Okay. I would, my philosophy is if you don't want to, if you still want to keep the ties,

make the overtime period 15 minutes. Yeah, but they, they shortened it for a reason. I know. It's going too long. It's going to play or something called player safety. I don't know. I don't play your safety is all about it. And it hasn't come into play that much.

So it was only two drives, two field gold drives in the whole game. That's what happened. Yeah. Okay. If you're a fantasy fan of Green Bay or Dallage, you did quite well for yourself. Yeah, 40 a piece. 40 a piece? Yeah, I woke up and I'm getting my ass kit.

That's great. By the way, Torals are off to a 4-0 start. Nothing of you asked, but I'm about to be 1 in 4. Or 1 in 3. That's fine. All right, we are at Rockets Media Day where we will have, I believe, Revin. Can we rhyme? We have Ryan players?

No, they're going to be on. Are you coming or isn't he? Kevin Durant will be here. Ema Doka's going to come by, believe him. And Thompson will be here. Among it, whoever knows what's going to show up. It's a pulper. I definitely would like to get them in.

I'd hear his thoughts about taking over the reins. Yeah. 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-1-2-2-5-7-90. 11-16 on a sports talk 7-9. We'll be visiting with IMA Adoka coming up in a few minutes. Kevin Durant would stop by, man, Thompson. I don't even know who else is coming over.

That doesn't even matter. We'll just talk to people. Okay. And get ready for the season. Yes. Rockets have two home games first in the preseason before going the road. It was last year it was flipped around.

So looking forward to. You're going to Birmingham or anything like that? I am going to Birmingham, actually. Yes. Burma, should be fun. I want to people even know what that accent was, who that was. As long as you know, man,

that's what's important. It wasn't terrible. Yeah. Rockets will open up with two home games and then two road games and then we open up on the year. Three weeks from tomorrow? Yeah, the 21st. The very first NBA game of the season will be in Oklahoma City.

We will be there at Ring Night when the Thunder get there, unveil the banner and win the championship. And it'll be the very first game on NBC this year. Their new television deal is coming into play. Spoiling Ring Night for Oklahoma City. Let's go. I want to say this. I want to say visiting teams have done a pretty decent job over the years of ruining Ring Night.

You keep saying that, and I can't refute it because I have no idea. But I will have an answer for you tomorrow. Okay, good. Because I need to do a little bit of research. You are? Well, it'll take me five minutes. I'm going to say, I figured you'd ask somebody to do it for you. Where's Gordy?

Yeah. No, there we go. Gordy's used to. I will do it organically by myself. Okay. I'll give you the last five openers. Okay. And we'll see how they do.

All right. All right. If you want to chime in, you can before those guests start coming through at 713-212-5-790, 7-190. 7-190.7-19. The Fred Van Bavliat situation, obviously, is a massive downer. Although you see you already had the surgery. Yes. I'm going to save gut feelings for tomorrow.

But mine might involve a Fred Van Bleet tomorrow. Okay. Just. As in like a late May appearance? Well, I would be sad. Am I more wishful thinking? Or am I that hopefully the recovery process

for these situations are a lot shorter than they were. Well, October is in two days. So let's call it the start of October. Normally, at least a nine-month recovery, right? Okay. Maybe I'm just speaking this into... I hope so.

I mean, I want you to be right. Sports science these days, guys, come back quick. Adrian Peterson came back in about three weeks. It felt like when he had his when he was in the mic. You know, the reason why I'm hesitant to see this is because we've been sitting there watching the Astros for the better part of six months, and Luis Garcia's Elman took a lot longer. Actually, Christian Javier was right on time, so that wasn't necessarily a bad one.

But who else is... I mean, there's been a lot of guys that have been a lot longer. I mean, the shin injury for Kyle Tucker lasted three months. The hand fracture lasted forever for Yordon Alvarez. So maybe I'm more of a bias towards than I should be. But how's old Kyle Tucker doing for the Cubs these days? He had in the playoffs. Yeah.

How do you finish his season, by the way? Let's see, 136 games, 143 OPS plus. Career 140. Everybody said the hitting coaches with the Cubs. Oh, they're revolutionizing Kyle Tucker. 140 career OPS plus he had 143 with the Cubs Sorry

So thank you I digress Thank you for the Cubs hitting coaches Extra 3 points That is extra 3 points That is absolutely right That's very very 179 last year with the Astros

Oh I mean can imagine if If Joe has to let one or two of them go I think they're going to walk in They're going to go What do you think I would do With Zach Short With Ramona Urias

Jesus can't it Hasu Sanchez is swinging out of his shoes and has the worst swing decisions I've seen ever. You're giving me Jacob Melton and you want me to hit. He's going to a bat 350? Come on now. Everybody's going to say, hey, everybody's got to be a fall guy. wishing you the best. It is

obviously about who the roster is. Now what do hitting coaches? People could be saying, well, what do you bring even hitting coaches in a mix? No, it's your fault. It's right, but we're going to finish the point. They are, they do are, they're supposed to detect nuances.

They are supposed to detect bad habits. But if you're expecting at the major league level for hitting coaches to turn somebody into a career, like Taylor Tremel is never going to hit 30 bombs. He's never going to have an OPS above 850. No. Now, if you do get something like that, then that player can then say, well, thanks to this guy seeing what I did on video. I mean, look, the number one thing that Alex Breggman used to always tell me is, I'm going to be the one that's going to fix my issues.

I'm going to be the one that's going to stare at the video. I'm going to be at the one that's going to see what I've done in previous years when I was more selective and better at the plate than I had been during a particular slump. I mean, Christian Walker came here and regressed. That's a fact. Jesus came here and he regressed from where he was. That's a fact. But, I mean, it's a mixed bag. And we'll see what happens.

Kyle Tucker, we'll wish him the best with the Cubs. I'm wishing him to have a very, very fortuitous postseason. For those of you don't know, Ross and I have two bets on this, and it ultimately is going to cost me about a hundred bucks. Oh, baby. Not when I had that fried rice. Okay, so fried rice is a couple caraps of sake. $5 is the fried rice extra charge.

You got my sake or what? A couple of sake bombs. You might as well enjoy yourself. I'm going to have to Uber. Can you get my Uber to the... Wait, I'm not paying for transportation. There's only a... A certain amount of this bag.

Can you pick me up? I'm on the way. So Ryan Hollins and I go to this Habachi place in Denver, and they squeeze the sake into your mouth. Yeah, the guy squirted it in your mouth. Yes, he did. Thank you. We'll see you on Friday.

I hope not. I'm just pointing out. How did you feel afterwards? How about those Texans? One and three. Nice bounce back. Winnable game. weekend, so you said it's still off the board, right?

Well, it could change. I mean, my guess is it will be off the board until at least Wednesday because they'll be the first time that the NFL will have to require the Ravens to give his injury report. Yeah, I mean, it's it doesn't see. If he left the game and it's a hamstring, I would imagine that he's not going to be.

So it was funny because I was watching Red Zone when he got pulled and who's the anchor that does the Red Zone? Scott Hanson. Scott Hanson. Now, when I was watching Red Zone five years ago, I was Andrew Siciliano. Well, he would do it on direct TV because he would tell you which channels to turn to

to turn to different people. It's funny. They would use two different people, yeah. Scott Hanson was the generic for people that didn't have direct TV because he's not going to, if Celiano was saying turn it to channel 701 or whatever, it doesn't help anybody. Yeah. So he's like, I wonder if he got benched. Because that's what he really thought.

He's like, man, are the Ravens giving up this early? And then like two minutes later he says, well, CBS is reporting. He's got a hamstring injury. Okay. By the way, he did not speak after the game. I would say injured players not speaking after the game is somewhat, it's up to them

kind of. It's not the most. If he just had a bad game and didn't speak, that would be bad. But if you're also injured and left the game, that feels like that's fairly common. Well, put it this way. The Ravens were down 17 when he got hurt.

Okay. So he wasn't having, they weren't having a good game. They couldn't stop anybody. Okay, so maybe he could be back. Maybe he could have played, but they were just losing so much? No, no, no, I think it's a serious injury. I just think that it was, my point was, I don't think Lamar Jackson was all of a sudden making this a model,

model game. Pat Mahomes had his best game in a couple of years. Yeah, it was going to take a miracle combat. Yeah, is what, yeah. So, I don't know. Maybe, again, if you're going to catch the Ravens at a bad time, this is the absolute best time to get some at a bad time. Wow.

That was nice. You put that on a t-shirt if you'd like. I would love to. Well, so things are looking up. And, yeah, I was trying to see if I see it on the board, but I don't. Yeah, it's off the board. If you can go one-in-one

between Baltimore and Seattle, back-to-back road games and then off-week in between, I would take that if I was the Texans. By the way, the Colts should still be leading this division by three games. They absolutely

literally gave one away. A.D. Mitchell. A.D. Mitchell. Longhorn legend. First of all, makes this incredible catch. Yes. Sprinting down the left sideline. About to score to give the, I think that at that point,

the Colts of two touchdown lead. I think it was tied in. It would have been a one touchdown lead. I think, but I could be wrong. Regardless of what it is. He's going to the end zone. He's going to make this incredible grab. He does so. And then he extends his arm

out a little bit, whether it's a showboat, whether it's a showboat. It was 10 to 13. It would have been made it 17 to 13. Okay. So we're going to watch the replay. Here it is. So, by the way, Daniel Jones throws this really great catch. He gets around two defenders. He's the 30, the 20, the 15, the 10, the 5, he reaches out, and fumbles the ball.

I'm going to look at the give you the exact yard line at the 1. Touchback to the Rams from a no touchdown, from a touchdown to a loss of possession and no points. And the Rams come back late to win the game. That's a shame. That is a shame. When are these receivers ever going to learn, seriously? How many more years? How many more times?

are they going to be told? You need to have, I don't need to go high school football coach on you, but somebody needs to sit them down and, everybody, everybody on your team. Do not celebrate, you can celebrate all you want after you hand the ball to a referee. Go hand the ball to a referee. If you just made that rule to where you can't do anything, or we're going to, I don't know, we're going to fine you or we're going to suspend you for a series. Hand the ball to a referee and then do whatever you want. You can do cartwheels, backflips, you can do choreography, Whatever you want to do. Just hand the ball.

Hand the ball to a referee with two hands, maybe. Because he was going to hate the ball. I also hate two. I hate when guys dive into the end zone, too. You never know what could potentially happen. A lot of times guys lose that ball too. Yes. All right, quick timeout.

We're at the TOTA Center for Rockets Media Day. This is Sports Talk 790. Matt Ross with you here at Toyota Center for Rockets Media Day 2025. We are joined down by the head coach of your Houston Rockets. see may have docker with us. I would say how's your summer? It was great for the most part, right? A little R&R and then Fred and all that.

But that thing's been pretty good, right? Yeah, overall, a good summer in a lot of ways. I've seen a lot of growth from our guys. And obviously, I'll be on the big stage and some additions. And so overall happy. Yeah, the injury obviously puts a little bit of sour taste in your mouth going into camp. But we have enough on our roster. We'll figure out how to get it done.

and we have the versatility to do it. We'll get to that in a second. I do want to ask you about the trip to Turkey. He played in the Euro League Championships, right? That is what they call it. What is that competition like? And what have you seen, forgetting about that tournament, but just what have you seen from Alpi's off season

that has you so bullish on him for again this year? A tremendous amount of work he put in behind the scenes. And obviously that showed on the big stage, continued growth. And his trajectory continues to go up from when I've gotten here. He's growing in every area. obviously made it to All-Star game, helped us achieve what we did last year, and had great carryover into the summer into his work ethic

and wanted to be better and a great Eurobasket tournament. So I want that all to kind of culminate into a great season here and him continue to grow and do what he's done last few years, and I think he's on the right path for that. Is he physically much different or is kind of the same body right now? I think his conditioning was a lot better. You know, playing kind of year-round and what he did and what he had to do and shoulder the load and carry a lot.

lot of load for that team. He had to be in tremendous shape and the physicality they play with over there. Like I said, all that should carry over well until the season, but it looked like no fatigue. He had a lot on his shoulders and obviously delivered at a high level. How collaborative is that? How much is that you talk to him and tell him things you want to see from him or him doing things on his own? A little bit of both.

Obviously, you know, after the season, you talk about areas of growth and going into your workouts in the summer and then the staff that was all. over there with them for a month plus. They're working on specific things, and then the national team uses them a certain way as well. And so there are some similarities in the things they've done that we've done with him. And so, you know, it's not familiar for him to do, but you see things on both sides. Things he worked on obviously carried over with his national team, and some things they

do you can implement here as well. And so the bottom line is he's a young guy that's growing at a rapid pace, and he was rewarded with the All-Star appearance last year, and we want him to take another step this year. Yeah, is there like constant contact or you try to be more hands off? How do you approach that? Yeah, it's both. It's your, like I said, the staff is there with them. You know, majority of the summer, I went over for four or five days and just kind of, you know, checked them out and spent time with him, but you see the growth, you see the improvement. And, you know, at the point when he's playing with this national team, you just let him do

what he does and you don't want to bother him. And then after the tournament's over, you know, we reached out and caught up and talked about how well he's looked and how well he's played and the achievements he's accomplished. And so it's a little bit of both. You give him their time away. They hear your voice all year. But at the same time, you're encouraging them and checking in and giving him kudos for the accolades.

When fans would call me, they'd say, Matt, what do you want to see this year? And I think one of the things you wanted to see is the growth of Reed Shepard in terms of more ball handling more time on the floor. And now the pressure is even on him more. And I don't think you're saying now with Fred gone, it's yours. But collectively, you've been asked multiple times

about exactly how that role is going to. be filled and I think you used by committee is that an appropriate term oh that's a way i mean we have a lot of guys that can um you know have grown and can handle and and do a lot of things to initiate offense and that's the benefit of our depth and versatility on our team is that you don't have to rely on one guy fred shoulder the load a lot you know the first year especially with the young guys and um we want to keep our turnovers down get us into specific things but i think in year three four for some of these guys they've all taken steps in that area and re going into a second year the confidence that he's shown in the offseason so far.

We'll carry over well into the game. The physicality of the game, I think he's improved his body and his understanding of what it takes from the physical aspect to be successful. And so he's worked on all those things and this really showed up well so far. And so the opportunity is going to be there regardless. With Fred out, it obviously will be expedited a little bit. But you got our men, you got him, you got Katie, you got Alpi, you got different ways we can do it.

And I think we'll figure out how to get it done. Does something go away from a men's game when he's got the ball in his hand? Let's say you said you're our starting point guard You're going to play 25, 28 minutes in that spot Is there things about his game he loses Because he's handling such a other ball responsibilities? No, I think what he does, he does naturally He gets a rebound, he pushes it

He's a one-man fast break, that's not going to change You just have to have a different mindset at times About awareness of who's on the court And who you want to get the ball to in different spots And so that part, it's been in Fred's hands a lot but he has to take that step anyway. He's played a lot of point guard in his career. And so just thinking differently at times about attacking versus getting guys involved.

You mentioned the turnovers and with Amin Thompson, what is it like for you to try to have him be himself to try to make plays, but also you don't want to limit him in what he can do with his creativeness, but you also do want him to take care of the ball. Yeah, I mean, that's an area of growth for all our young guys and young guys across the board in the league for the most part. And so, you know, getting shots and not turn the ball over is obviously it's been an Achilles heel before we got here. But we've really improved in that area and that's helped us record-wise for sure.

And so Fred being one of the best assistive turnover ratio guys in the league has definitely helped us. But these guys will have the opportunity to have taken next step now. And so like I said, you don't want to take away from some of the natural things he does. But he has to have the understanding of getting guys involved, get us into certain sets, game, time, score situations and some of the things he hasn't had to experience so far. We'll let you go on this. I always love the behind-the-scenes stuff with Katie. Were you in the room when you got the phone call? So the deal was consummated?

Were you maybe on a beach? Were you at home? Take us through that and how intimately involved you were in those conversations. You know, just look, part of it is making the trade work, but also part of it is Katie, coming here. You're going to be this missing piece or a puzzle. Yeah, we were all together when we found out it was most likely done. You know, it was a long process that a lot of conversations behind the scenes.

but, you know, you're excited to have a guy. You miss the guys that are gone and, you know, what they meant to the program or what they've done in those years. And so it's a little bittersweet as far as that, but you understand what you're adding as far as a unique talent and some of the areas we struggle in as far as closing and consistent scoring, he addresses those. And so a guy worked with a ton over the past few years,

you know, in Brooklyn and Team USA, and then obviously played and coached against him a ton as well. And so understanding what he does on the court, some of the things he does in the sleep will obviously benefit us, But, you know, it was ups and downs and sometimes it looked good. Sometimes it didn't and eventually got done. But a big part is that he wanted to be here and that's what made it work. Is he going to play a pickupball with you or no?

No, he owns a team. A pickleball team? Oh, wow. Wait a minute. The little things you learned. Yes. Okay, you tell them to hire you, put you on the team? We get your contract.

We actually started back in Brooklyn, back in those COVID days when you couldn't go out. So that's where he kind of got the itch and saw us playing with Steve Nash and the whole coach and staff. Thanks for my way. We appreciate it. Thank you guys. All right. We'll see. I'ma doke.

Head coach of Houston Rockets with us here on the show, 1136. We'll take a short timeout. More to come here from Toto Center as Eme Addoke and the rest of the Rockets. Meaday, 2025 here on 7-9. It's Matt Ross and our friend, Javierny Smith Jr. The part of the Auburn Tigers. His squads drop two straight in football, but we're not going to bring that out much.

Right out of the gate. That's fine. See, sometimes just saying nothing is the best thing you can do, right? As long as we beat Bem, I'm good. There you go. Congratulations. You got a fresh contract, my friend. That's good for you.

I appreciate it. Look, what's the big spend? Anything that? No, I actually. Take care of folks, somebody like that? No, everybody's taking care around me. But I'm just saying, I bought a watch. That was my, that was my little gift to myself.

I bought a watch. Nice. But that, to me, look, you earned every penny of it, but just the fact the Rockets got that taken care of. That's got to be one thing off your plate. For sure. You know, it definitely puts a, take some relief off of yourself. You know what I'm saying?

that you're situated. I want to be here for a long time. I want to be here for the rest of my career. So, you know, why not? Why not? You know what I mean? So I'm excited. Excited about this season, clearly, Fred being gone.

Somebody's going to take that and Locati will do that in his own way. But you're going to be a little more boister, I would assume, this year. Yeah, in terms of, there was a lot of moxie in that floor with Fred and Dylan, and those guys are not going to be with you this year. For sure. It's very, definitely some tough shoes to feel. You know what I'm saying? But we got the guys for it, you know?

And I think Fred believes that. And I'm sure he's going to be around the line and helping us out still. So it's going to be interesting, you know what I'm saying? But we're going to figure it out. You know what I mean? We're going to be all right. We're going to figure it out. I know his voice will still be around.

He'll still be helping us big time. But we've got guys, we've got personnel, we've got the coaching staff. We're going to figure it out. We're going to get in the league. You first get in the league, you guys are just trying to get to relevancy, then you get to the playoffs. And now you've got, if you go on the internet or anything, you're title contenders. Yeah. That's got to be a special situation.

that carries additional pressure that you've never felt in your NBA career. For sure. It's pressure that you want. It's pressure that you dream about. It's pressure that anybody in this league wants to have. You know what I mean? It's a being on a team that's capable of doing that. And it's not often. And Fred reiterates to me a lot that it's not often that you have teams that are capable of winning the championship. So the best thing we can do is maximize it. Lock in every day and see what we can do.

Team growth expected. What about you individually? Do you have any sort of goals or things you've been working on this off season? You look pretty ripped. Yeah, man. Getting strong? I've been lifting a little bit. You know what I mean?

Working on my body. Working on my overall game, ball handling, working on everything. Trying to not put any limits on my game. Everybody always talks about potential. You know what I'm saying? It's time for me to show it. It's time for me to come out there. I'm a little bit more confident, aggressive.

Just show what I can do. You know what I'm saying? And that's what I'm excited to do. I feel like my confidence level has went up a lot. And that comes off the work you put in. You know what I mean? I know I've put it in the work. I know I put it in the work.

time. So the results and the work would definitely show. A lot of that has to, confidence especially helps with shooting and, you know, first year, three point percentage is maybe where you wanted to be. How do you feel about your shooting as a guy who can stretch the floor and really help out, especially with the way the team's constructed now? For sure. I think I have the ability to be a 40% three point shooter. I feel like I have the ability to be one of the best shooters in the league, you know what I mean? And it's just on me to find a balance between how to take a lot, how to take good ones and also learn how to turn those down and get other teammates involved and see what else is open.

So it's something that always has been a part of my game, something that is a focal part of my game, shooting, you know what I'm saying? So I think it's my duty to just show that how elite of a shooter I am. Everybody will say, well, this year's workouts offseason, we're cool and everything. Sometimes it's lip service. For sure. Tell me, number seven's here. Alpi had a great offseason.

I'm sure you are out doing your thing. a man and look, Reed's got to step up too with growing in the NBA. Give me a vibe if I took video of, and I'll see y'all later this week at training camp, but what is it like looking at y'all's workouts today as maybe a compared to you a year ago? It looks, it looks wild, you know what I'm saying? Everybody has improved. Everybody has gotten better. Alpi's looking better.

Katie looks like Katie. Tarry looks better. A man looks better. I look better. New faces around the gym. The team looks ready. You know what I'm saying? The team looks focused.

the team looks good, you know what I'm saying? The vibe is there. Everybody around the arena, everybody around the team believes in it. You know what I'm saying? And it's that kind of feel, you know what I'm saying? So it's a good feeling to have around the arena. It's a good thing to look at your left and right and have people you're going to the world with who you believe in and believe in you.

So it's going to be fun. You've gone against DFS a lot. You've gone against KD a lot. Are you open at this point to say, hey, here's how I could stop you. And I'm just curious, how did you stop me? What kind of conversations are those like? I mean, no, we ain't had those conversations yet, but training camp would definitely get cracking a little bit,

you know what I'm saying, with us competing with each other, with us pushing each other, with us getting each other ready for the season. And going against KD every day in fact, you've got no choice but to get better at defense, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And going against Dorian on the offense,

then you've got no choice but to get better on offense, you know what I'm saying? So every day it's going to be a battle, every day is going to be a challenge, but I'm lucky that I can, but I'm lucky that I can, battle and practice every day with two of the best players in the league at what they do. And it's something that's going to help me.

What's the most anxious thing about this season, about who takes over Fred's minutes, how you get off to a start? I mean, you're going to have personal goals. You're going to have team goals. But what's giving me the most curious thing about this team for people that are back on the rockets bandwagon, especially after making the playoffs last year? I think it's just the mental side of it. You know what I'm saying?

the maturity of the team. You know what I mean? Everybody throws around this young word and all of that, but I just feel like it doesn't matter. You know what I'm saying? And that's what you may always tries to put it in our head. We're here. We have to grow up. We have to make those jumps. We have to make those mental jumps and those. We have to look the part. You know what I'm saying? We have to look like we know what we're doing. We don't have a lot of people on the team. We don't have no rookies playing this year. We don't have anybody who is, who wasn't on the team, who hasn't been to the playoffs or who is new to it. You know what I'm saying? Like, we have people who have been there.

We have people who have experienced the high arcs of the league. So, you know, it's just time, man. There's no more excuses. No more young excuse. Like, everybody has seen it. And what is it like for you personally as somebody who has started some, has come off the bench? Of course, you want to start every game. You want to be out there every game as much to balance kind of being humble, being a team player,

but also you have to have that certain personal hunger to thrive in the league too to where you say you want to be out there. For sure. I think that's something that has to be in you. You know what I'm saying? It's a confidence type of thing. It's a thing that you want to, in your mind, you're thinking, if I play better, the team will be better.

If I take this shot, the team will be better. You know what I'm saying? It's just you're kind of trusting your work. And I feel like that's what I'm going to be doing this year. You know, just being more aggressive, being more assertive, knowing that I got this, Katie. You know what I'm saying? Exactly.

Exactly. You know, waving Katie off a few times. Oh, I can't wait for that. that. I love it. I can't wait for that. I'm sure he'll be waving me out too. Here's me calling it. Durant left side over to Jabari. Jibari's, I got this. Yes, sir. Let's go. I like it. Hey, thanks for coming by. Congratulations on your new deal and look forward to seeing your progress. It's your progress. That's a friend. All right. That's Jabari Smith joining us here. Madden Ross. It's 1150 on Sports Talk 790. With a word right now for uptown appliance repair. I'm very happy to tell you that you've got a place to go.

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whether it's an ice maker, whether it is a high-end gas grill, wash or dryer, dishwasher, up to, can fix it for you. 281-758-99-78, 281-78-9-9-78, and online at Uptown Appliance Repair.com. We are pleased to be joined now. I got to make sure I get the official title here right here, Patrick. So we're going to put him on microphone right now. Patrick Vitita, who is, Dad's busy off in Italy.

He's having a good time. Did he? So he calls you. He almost came back just for this interview. Oh, that's ridiculous. As good as it is an opportunity. to talk to Matt, it's tough to pass up. We've got to talk about those weekend rates at the Golden Nugget, but we'll do that all fair.

Come on. With the kind of play that you have, it's everything free is what they tell me. High roller, high roller. I don't know. Let's not talk about something else. Okay. All right. So dad calls you and says, I'm taking this job, and you're like, you're doing what now?

Yeah, you know, I think it was a bit of a surprise for all of us. It's something that, you know, he had always mentioned if he is given the opportunity and it's the right country and the right time. it's something that he would love to do, certainly a bucket list item, if you will. So we were surprised, but to have the opportunity to serve the president in the country and do it in a place like Rome, Italy, you know, I'm happy for him.

I think, you know, he's getting an experience that's invaluable, and he's having fun. You know, all you have to do is keep up with his social media or whatever. You know, it was Milan Fashion Week last week. Yeah. You know, he's getting tailored in the middle of a cocktail party by, you know, Brunello Cuccinelli or something like that.

And he's sending us saying, like, you know, he's young again. He's living the life that I think many would want to live. And we're happy for him and proud of him. You know, he's representing our country, representing our family. And hopefully the Houston community sees that he's representing Houston and Texans, you know, on a major stage. So he misses it. I think, you know, maybe the most difficult part for him being gone is not being at 41 home games. He loves, you know, coming to these Rockets games.

He loves being a part of the excitement and the energy. And obviously, it's a year ahead that there's a lot to look forward to. But he'll be watching, you know, even if it's three or four. And they've been passing Italy? I'm assuming they do. He's got, I don't know, I might get him in trouble. I think he's got, like, DirecTV rigged up to where it thinks he's in Houston. No.

We'll cut that part. That's going to be edited all the thing. Hey, you know what? The ambassadors were using DirecTV, right? That's a plug at the least. But obviously he has a tremendous faith in you, and I will give you a lot of credit, not that I've been involved in a lot of your meetings,

but you have been there through all of this and learning from the ground floor up. And then you had a very interesting off-season where you were presented an opportunity to get one of the 15 greatest players ever to play in the NBA. Yeah, that's right. And I appreciate that. Obviously, a lot has gone on in now almost a decade since we came into the position that we are with this team.

And, you know, we did a lot of the work we did. And at times made some meaningful sacrifices because we wanted to put ourselves in a position where we could ultimately contend and contend in a way that was, you know, hopefully sustainable and not just taking a shot here and there. But could say, hey, we've got a five, seven, ten year kind of look at this. And this year, you know, the opportunity came to, as you said, add, you know, one of the greatest players of all times, someone who, you know, even at turning 37 today has, you know, not fallen off and is consistently, you know, doing it at an all pro world class level. And to add his skill set, to add his leadership on and off the court, his work ethic, you know, that these young guys are able to see, you know, we think is really special. important. And, you know, we're excited. You've got to get lucky. Things have to go your way. You're going to be faced with adversity like we already have. But, but, yeah, you know, Kevin is a special player. And, you know, you got to take advantage and be opportunistic when those things present themselves. I'm Ross. I'm with you too here. Nice to meet you. Just as far as the addition of Kevin Durant, can you already feel like just, I mean, on the business side or the whole team? It's funny to me, adding a player of his caliber while it helps on the floor, it feels like it can change really the scope of a franchise. Yeah, I mean, I think you're exactly right. And the answer is all of the

above as far as what he impacts. You know, certainly the excitement, the lure, the national attention is a little bit different. You know, we won 52 games last year and had a really exciting team, but it is a star-driven league. And, you know, unless you're really winning big deep into the playoffs or you have one of these exciting players like Kevin is, sometimes there's a little bit of a lag as far as the attention and the respect that you get.

The addition of him certainly, I don't want to know if it's zero to 100, but it's something to 100. And so yeah, we feel it everywhere. Obviously on the business side, there's excitement and people want to be in the building immediately. They want to be a part of what we are hopefully building.

And yeah, from the basketball, side. Kevin not only is an incredible talent, one of the best to ever do it, but it's not an accident why he is Kevin Durant. He loves the game of basketball. He loves this league. He works as hard as anybody that we've ever had in the building. And he's a great teammate. Part of the reason why he wanted to be here and he is here is he's a believer in what we have going. He's confident that the veterans we have, but more importantly, the the youth that we have are on their way to, you know, being impactful special players in this league. And we think it's the right fit.

And we certainly hope it's going to work out. A couple more minutes here with Patrick Fratita. There have been opportunities in the past, maybe not in the first few years since everybody left, to go make that splash move. You got it with Fred and Dillon a little bit. Was there a part of you that was like, you know, we can run this back and maybe make a small minor deal here or there? or was there a situation that said this was the off season that I want to go for it all, so to speak? Yeah, I appreciate that question.

You know, I think the answer is no. There was never a moment of desperation or we need to do anything. That's not really how we operate. We won 52 games last year with a young team that was going to grow naturally, organically into this year. As guys got older and got more comfortable, it was another year under the same coaching staff, a lot of continuity, which certainly is helpful. But no, we would have been comfortable doing this a variety of different ways. We felt like we had put ourselves in position to be successful without doing anything.

But the right player, the right deal presented itself. By no means do I feel like, oh, we're going all in. Absolutely not. I feel like the deal that we did and the player that we brought in and what we left ourselves with allows us to be hyper-competitive and have title hopes now, but it does not foreclose anything next year

or the year's following. So, you know, it's one of the attractive parts of what we did this summer is we feel like we did something that made us really, really good now, but doesn't hinder our ability to be great in the future as well. And, you know, I've got a very long-term view on this

that's, you know, me, Raffel, his staff, EMA, all of us that get together and are designing. and building what we want to build. We all have a long-term view, and we want to be good for a long time, and we just got to be opportunistic. And when the right thing comes, we'll take a hard look at it. It's usually a pass.

But on this one, we said, let's go. Let's do this. I don't know how active you are on social media, but I'm always, I love rumors. Now, I wish I could call you and say, Patrick, what do you think about this? Come on, you do. I'm fine, I'm fine. I don't even bother you for 3-2 blackjack, but that's a different issue again for a different time on that one. When you see things like that, is it comical to you?

Or is it, hey, somebody's putting that out there for a reason. Let's go kick the tires on this. Are you suggesting when I see rumors that are untrue? Both. When somebody says, and I don't want to put names out there because a particular player may want to think about playing somewhere else. do you go, all right, Rafael, laba phone call, see if this is agent-driven,

see if this is just a reporter, just trying to throw stuff out there? Yeah, I mean, I would say, I think by the time that it's maybe reaching social media or any media, there's a good chance that it's already, you know, gone through the great vine of the league. And, you know, 95% of the time, I'd say,

you know, we're already aware of the validity of it or not. But, you know, when people, throw out erroneous things online or what have you and um look i've been a sports fan my entire life i've been a houston sports fan my entire life i've been listening to your show for as long as i can remember before i could drive i was throwing you know now i've told you on so so i remember what it was like before i'm in the position i am now and the sports fans the people that are conjuring stuff up whether it be true or not true that's what makes this great people care people are passionate people people want to consider what it would be like to have this player or make this trade or sign this player

so you know we when it comes to making decisions we're you know we're in our box and we don't hear a lot of it but i even the the the crazy stuff i see online and there's plenty of it um you know i just appreciate that people care about this business they care about this this sport this league this team as much as they do this is the matt thomas show with ross 1204 sports talks 790, Matt and Ross with you here on the program. We are joined now by Amanda Thompson. You and your brother on that slime magazine cover, huh? That wasn't bad.

Yeah, that's tough, right? How long did that take you to do that? Like an hour. That's it? Yeah, like an hour. Man, down in Florida doing your thing. Is that where you spend a lot of the off season in Fort Lauderdale? Yeah.

Go back to my high school workout. You know, that's where a lot of my family is. That's nice. That's nice. Congratulations on the great success. Congratulations on every time I look, on social media like up and coming top 25 star do you look at that kind of stuff

or you're like oh that's nice I appreciate that when I first got to the league I would look at it it was exciting now it's like at some point you got to go out there and do something you know what I mean before you get it so yeah it's exciting still though but you gotta do something you're doing plenty my man I'm so

happy that your success so far everyone's asking me is the man going to bring the ball up I'm just a re going to do it what have you been told what are you thinking Do you think it's going to just organically over the course of the year kind of just settle its way into who plays in what position? I think organically it's going to settle.

You know, before anything happened, I think I was going to get a little bit more on-ball reps too. Yep. And Mreed was too, so I think it's just accelerated a little bit now on that. Do you think it's a situation? I mean, do you find yourself want the ball more, or can you do some things, do you position yourself to score better when the ball is not directly in your hands?

I feel like I can, I'm very effective in both aspects with the ball and my hands and then off the ball too. So I'm definitely somebody that could play with any lineup, you know, whoever's bringing the ball up, you know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, there are very few guys in this league that can play four positions. I mean, you've got Katie's with you now who's done it quite a bit in his life as well, but to master it, I love the fact that one night you're starting point guard, you've been two guard, you've been playing power four to the dunker spot.

Was that always something that you dreamed of to be that kind of versatile player? Because it's turned out that way. Yeah, I never dreamed about that. My first year, I played center for, like, offensively for the last 20-something games. I never thought I was. Center. I played center my rookie year. Point Center, let's go.

I never thought I was going to do that. But I feel like it's taught me how to, first off, be more versatile and how to get myself open and others open, too. So what with Fred of going of course, we know that he brought a lot of both as kind of like a coach on the court and somebody who had a very good assisted turnover ratio. What kind of things you think you can see of what he did or do you feel like there are things that you can borrow kind of what he did to run the offense to try to help things transition more smoothly with him. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I got to pick his brain even more now, you know, try to become that leader extension of coach on the floor. You know, we got Katie for that too. lot of vets but I still want to get better at that and um this is the turnover thing you

nobody wants to get turnover it so you know if I could emulate Fred but Fred's one of the greatest to ever do it in that aspect you can't just snap your fingers and do it I mean you can't just snap but I could be conscious of it yeah but you also want to stay within yourself yeah I say with it myself yeah for sure I think Fred's gonna be screaming at you all year long you know this right you got a new assistant coach that's what he did the last two years yeah it's all good I mean there are there are there are worse guys to be yelling. I mean, the guy, and that's the thing about him and D. Dylan was that those were guys that were ready to beat their chest, we met you, yell at you, but it was all in love. And now, you may have to

take some of that role on now. Yeah, I mean, Fred, Fred was always, like, I mean, top professional at it. Like, he's, you never feel away after Fred yells at you. You know, you know what Fred wants to you, and you're ready to go to war with Fred. So, I mean, it's going to be the same thing. He's just going to be on the sideline, but I know he's going to still have that, that impact for sure. what is that like for you it's part of the rocket's culture with you doca with fred and with you being part of that as well it's kind of like you know this day and age you don't see a lot of like hard

coaching or or like you said yelling and stuff like that but it just seems like it's well embraced by this team yeah i don't feel like it's as much yelling as people think it's really it's stern you know they're gonna get the message across okay but it's not um it's not like you just yelling like some college like cursing me out calling me names like it's all respectful and i feel like our guys take it really well too so i just love the blank talking y'all make all during the whole year i just it's it's so inspirational i mean and you're not

bad guys you just don't get in our way yeah for sure i mean i feel like you got to be able to turn it on on the court because i was telling everybody we're a bunch of nice guys you know what you all are sweet time of heroes like send me like let's go out to dinner with those It was a nice guys, but on the court, you know, we want to win, obviously. And sometimes that shows in different ways. Do you see Tatar at all during the off season anywhere? No, I didn't see him. You don't want a vacation with him?

No. No, we were probably in the same place. What was your reaction when you heard Kevin Durant as a Houston rocket? My reaction was, like, very excited, you know, getting Katie, because to do it, a dude, I watched my whole life, you know, one of the best ever. So, yeah, that was my original reaction, yeah. Any age references, you know, he's turning 37 years old today? He's turning 37 years old today.

You get him a cane or something? No, I mean, probably one of the top 37-year-old, so whatever. Oh, I would think so. Maybe the number one 37-year-old ever, so I think he's good. to me, and I don't know at all at this point, but it's much about basketball. It's very little, let's get on social media and do a bunch of stuff. It's very much a business for him because I think he wants to play into his 40s, and you have to have that kind of discipline if you're going to play as long as he's going,

wants to play at least. Yeah, I mean, I feel like for him to be still here, you know, he's obviously super about his craft, and then you hear that, and then you see it, and you see how he goes through every rep, and he's going through it, like, like he's really trying to get better still then like how much better can you get at that point you know what I mean but he's doing it so it's like inspirational to watch

before I let your run do you and Oster have a call to your mom and dad first one of the NBA finals gets a special gift or something my dad is my dad has you know I can't even say this on the camera I can't give you all stuff but I mean hopefully I get to the finals first is what I say yeah they're gonna be in our place

very early in the season. I know. I'm mad. I wanted to like ease into the season before I kill him. You know what I mean? I don't want to just. Oh, yeah. That's very nice of you.

Yeah, you know what I mean? But you'll hug it out after the game. I'm going to hug him before. I'm sorry, I've got to do this. Oh, I like it. You know what I mean? How many times have you gone against each other in your life? Not much, right?

Not much. Probably maybe a little over 10 times. And who has the advantage of this point? Oh, he might have the event. I got the most in the league, but he has the most in general. Well, late October, it's got to change. It's got to change. All right, Amanda Thompson with us here on the show.

Thank you for coming by, my friend. I appreciate him. Man Thompson joining us here. Short time out here from TOTUS Center. It's 1211 on Sports Talk 790. All right. It is 1217 here on Sports Talk 790. Matt and Ross with you here, Rockets Media Day.

We are expected to be joined by Kevin Durant coming up in the next few minutes or so. Ryan Hollins is going to come by after that. And then if you missed our email conversation, we'll probably play that towards the very end of the show. A couple things on the NFL front from the Texans. You know, I am the Texans insider, and I continue to tell you that on a regular basis. Joe Mixon sounds like there's no immediate update on his future. Aaron Wilson backing up my initial reports and say it could be a long time. Well, yeah, I mean, I've been telling you for a long time.

Go and tell you what Aaron said. D'Amico Ryan speaking about Joe Mixon saying he is not ready to return at this time. And Aaron Wilson adding per sources, it will be much longer, if at all, for Mixon to get back on the field this season. And that's okay because Chubb is holding it down. And Woody is doing great as well. Woody and Chubb in the backfield. Woody and Chub. Sounds good.

What else on the Texans front? Well, Cam Robinson was traded. course. Yeah, I'm sure he was a good teammate, glad to have him. There just wasn't a spot for him, that kind of thing. I'm assuming. By the way, Danico Autry and Jalen Reed returning, opening up their window to return from IR.

Yeah, but no Joe Mixon. But no Joe Mixon. No. Okay. It is the Matt Thomas Showwood Ross. We are on Sports Talk 790, and we are going to be joined here in a matter of moments by one of the greatest players ever to play in the National Basketball Association period in his story.

He looks up to the screen. He says, Colonial City's Thunder Media Day. Complete disgust. Must lose him. Kevin, I'm Matt. This is Ross. What's up, Matt? I'm your radio play by play guy.

You shook his hand at the University of Texas. 2007. And he's not wash his hand since then. That's true, actually. Me either. Well, I didn't realize you guys. Yeah, you didn't know. You didn't know?

First of all, welcome to Houston. You've been here many of time. Let me ask you this. We were at your place in Phoenix late last season. I think it was a game. You got hurt in. Yeah. Was there any thought looking at that young basketball team at the time?

I could see myself being an extra part of this squad. Or am I just making that up? Yeah, for sure. I mean, because I was right around the time that there was so much noise around our team in Phoenix. And I was being put in the trade machine by every media website for the last three or four months. And obviously Phoenix had told me that they were trading me a month or two. before that. You know, so I had my eye on teams, and I had my eye on places that I may potentially go

anyway, you know, so, yeah, I was, of course, I was checking out the Rockets, and I think everybody in the league seemed how fast they got to this point of being a respected team again, you know, because nobody really respected the Rockets coming in here four or five years ago or right after the Chris Paul, James Hardin era of basketball. Right. So to get that respect around the league so fast. It just stood out to me. That brand of playing ball was really,

it showed how the IQ was. Switching defenses, playing double big sometimes, playing small within the game. You know, coaches coaching every possession, and guys are focused and locked in on his message. You know, so I was peeping all of that type of stuff throughout the game, and I appreciated that, and I wanted to be a part of it.

And so you'll have a phone call to EMA and say, hey, we can do this? You guys work with each other, what, national team? You did the Nets? for a while? Yeah, I didn't directly call it. You don't think you probably could. Because of the league rules, I didn't directly call.

You are a rule follower. You're a rule follower, Katie. Exactly. I go by the book. That's right. But, of course, it got out there that we both might be interested in one another. And it happened pretty quickly after that. I heard some rumors that Houston wanted to get involved at the trade deadline, too,

when Phoenix had called around the league saying they wanted to see what my market was. So, you know, you hear all of these rumors and, you know, where there's smoke, there's a little, you know, that's fire for sure, you know. So once everything could be, you know, agents could talk to GMs and coaching and all that stuff. It just kind of worked out pretty fast. Do you have any specific, I mean, what is your attitude? What is your mindset coming into this season? Coming into a new situation and getting traded?

know there's obviously a lot of noise and you're somebody who doesn't try to pay attention to that at all. So what is your purpose and motivation for this upcoming season? That's changed? Oh, man, just to, man, I'm a simple guy, man. I just try to focus on the craft every day, try to be better than I was yesterday. I know that I can play a huge part in what we do as a team, but we are a team. And we all have to bring our best every day in order for us to reach our full potential as a group. So I try to focus on what I do the best and try to bring that to the group

and also be as a resource of somebody who has some IQ, who has some experience. So whenever anybody needs to walk or talk to anything on the court, I try to be there for them as well. But I don't try to be too overbearing. I just try to go out there and play my game, work on my game, and bring that to the group and be a good teammate. My phone always open, my door always open to come over and hang out. So I just try to be coachable every day and every day and learn. So I just try to be a teammate, man.

I know I've accomplished a lot in this league and people look at me a certain way, but I really, really take pride in. I really got consciously try to be just one of the guys every day. I need you to beat two-year-old of former teams. We can't beat the Warriors, and you know that directly. Can you beat us one time? And then Oklahoma City is bragging. They're doing a lot of bragging up there right now.

So it's been incredible run for you, my man. I've called many of your games from a distance and see you here wearing rockets, Gary. It's frankly surreal. It is. It is. Walking in and usually that route is that quick left to that visiting locker room. And to walk past it and going to their rockets lock, right? We didn't went through some battles playing against the rockets and flying into the city.

nervous to play these guys in this building in the playoffs you know so to have those battles and to finally be here and down the rocket's uniform it is pretty surreal it is a team that's young but it's got the veteran guys clint's here now you got dFS uh you know fred'll be obviously from a distance but you're not babysitting i mean this is a team that is 152 games went took golden sake to seven i mean there are there are clearly expectations and that comes to no surprise to you yeah i mean expectations can do two things, you know, either make a man out of you or, you know, you can run into the corner and curl up, you know. So I've been on teams where, you know, guys did both, guys, and rose to the occasion.

And I've been on teams where we didn't know how to handle the expectations that come with being considered a championship contender, you know. So that noise comes with being a good team and it's going to get loud throughout the season, any bad play or loss or bad body language or. anything, it'll be under a microscope and it'll be dissected. The great teams, regardless, block out all the noise and keep the main thing, the main thing, and focus on one another. So that's a small element that people don't talk about in the journey,

but I'm looking forward to seeing what that would be like for this team because they never had these type of expectations. These young guys never played under these expectations before. So I'm looking forward to see how that makes us as a group. All right. last question longhorn go ahead happy birthday age 37 uh do you have you had any conversations or talk about back and backs playing full 82 yeah and and gifts no playing playing a full 82 in a season is that your goal or what do you trying to do to as far as manage the season I don't talk about managing the

season yeah I just go out there and just play um yeah I expect to play 82 for 48 minutes a night that's how I'm that's how I'm looking at it obviously that's not that's not realistic but you know I kind of keep my mind focused on playing every game, like load managing. Obviously, I'll listen to the training staff that they figured they see is something that would work for me, but for the most part, I'm trying to go there and play as much as I can, man. All right, now are we feeling about Arch Manning?

All right, that's Kevin Durant with us here on the show. He is Arch. Arch SEC play. We're going to show these boys. Yes. That you. Yes. are for sure the number one pick in the drive.

There it is. That's a mic drop right there. One of the greatest of all time. A man who's beating us too many times. Now a legend in Houston, Texas. Kevin Duran, I'm looking forward to calling these games. Quick time out here on Sports Talk 790. All right. I've been doing this a long time,

and I don't mean to fanboy too often. But I'm about to fanboy here. Oh, Brian Hollins is here. That's why I'm fan-boid. Whoa. Hold on. Oh, I'm on the wrong. Are we on the wrong one?

I'm on that one, sorry. Go ahead. Test, test. Hello. You were in rare format. I witnessed it. I, you know, Rosie. I, yeah.

Rosie Red. Oh, yeah. You're still blushing a little bit. I am. And I get, you're doing it too because I'm chill. We love. I'm just kidding. Ross is really never washing his hands or changing that shirt in town.

The photos being framed. That was great. That type of year, fellas. You know how old he is? You played against him. Yeah, man, here's the thing for KD. I think I have a special relationship with him being that I played against him, watching him coming to the league as a Sonic, him and Jeff and Russ and those guys

and had a really, man, just gone to war. I think I went against them in two different playoff series. So seeing KD as a rocket in a guy that I played against, you know, I could say this man, he's one of the only guys I feared on a scouting report. You're looking at a scout and report and you're playing against a guy. You know, you're playing against LeBron. You're going, well, you know, keep him off the rim, you know, contest his shots, you know, don't let him get going, beat you with the assistant. And you match up with KD and say, I don't know what we're going to do if he gets rolling. We don't have a double team that can stop him or the way that we'd have.

have to double and trap him is going to allow everything else open in the game. But he's one of those guys, and I consider myself a defender in the league, that you feared on a scouting report. And now he's here. And now he's here. And tell me, because we've called games, obviously, since he's still been in the league. Is there anything, when's father time, look, injuries are going to kick in? But is there anything about his game that we looked five or six years ago that would necessarily be he changed his game or is he pretty much the same guy that you were going against? What the biggest thing with, you know, with Kevin Durant that breeds longevity is the fact that he's tall and he can shoot and he is an assassin. He gets to his spots and he's got length. So even if he

loses a step or two laterally, he's got the limp to catch up on the defensive end and then being able to shoot the basketball over guys and post up. I remember I was actually on first take, And I was having a debate on would he be the same after the Achilles? And I said, yeah, there's no doubt. He's thin. He's going to be able to play forever. And he can shoot. He's got left.

So you got a recipe for success there. We got another guy there by the name of Jabari, who's going to be pretty darn good. It looks like he's starting to excel. He saw him a few moments ago. He's actually taller than me now, which is ridiculous. He was about an inch shorter than we're about the same height last year. I think he's legitimately tall than me now. So being able to learn from Kevin Durant, those guys, hopefully he mirrors that same type of career.

I'm interested your thoughts on the defensive side. Like in his prime, I mean, those Hampton Five Warriors lineups worked because he was kind of the rim protector. He was the five of those lineups, and he's not that same guy. But where do you think he fits as far as defensively at this age? Because we know that the Rockets win have the last couple years been a team in IMA Adoka with that culture set as a team that wins with their defense as well. For one, he brings so much versatility defensively. And that's one thing that Rafael and EMA really hang their hats on is having versatile

defenders, guys that can guard one through five. And the thing with KD that stands out, I think people really underrate him defensively. And what stands out that I remember seeing, they were playing against the Lakers. And I think it was a third or fourth quarter. And he took the assignment to go and guard Kobe Bryant. And he was able to stay step for step with Kobe. now he's not the same defender he was then but it showed that he can be special on that side of the

ball and I remember going up one time getting my shot block from the guy and I don't even remember how to get my shot block too much I looked over him like I thought nobody was there and it was it was Durant so you know he is unique where he can you know play some power forward play some center along with being on the wing just naturally with that type of length visiting with Ryan Hollins our good friend Space City Home Network

and casual contributor to this show, a man who eats more harbache than anybody else in North America. You can eat some of that if you want to. They brought us some grub. He's got his eye on our shoes. Hold on. Slap his hand away. Ross.

It's unbelievable. Everywhere we go, he gets food delivered to him. He gets food delivered to him. It's crazy. Out of nowhere. Are you, do you ask for this? No. No.

Do you know better than that? I call a job on that. I call Joe. He gets food. Can you just hook me? Just keep a brother on the list. Keep me on the list on the short. Because he gets, Ross, Ross, he gets too much food.

Yeah, I know. I mean, it's milkshakes, it's donuts, it's ice cream. And then smoothies, don't forget that. Yeah, just get me on the short list. Trying. I mean, I wish I could say I'm arguing with you about this. These are all true stories. Okay, back to basketball?

Back to basketball. Fred Van Vliet missing, obviously. They said it's going to be everybody. It's going to take a village. It's going to be a little more Kevin Durant, a little more Reed Sheper, a little bit more of Men Thompson. One of the things that Fred brought, though, was that floor generalship, especially late in games, getting you into offenses. How much are they going to miss them, especially early season, I think will be a tougher to adjust. This was the position that as an organization, the Rockets weren't equipped to lose.

You know, everything had been shored up somewhat of a 1A, 1B, you know, even a lot of depth, even at the center position. You know, you got Al P, you got Clinton, and Stephen, and that's the one you didn't have. And with Fred, a lot of people may wonder, well, what does Fred Van Ville do well? This is Joe Burrell going down for Cincinnati. You know, they're not going to, this is Brock Purdy going down as a Niner fan for the 49. This is imagine if CJ Stroud can start. This is losing your quarterback, your toughness, your leadership. And for those computer geeks, what we say, this is the information guys, the information from the coach to player to game.

Fred shortens that. There's zero. Emey snaps his fingers and whatever he would like to see on the floor happens. Now without Fred, there's going to be a delay to a change. And you heard Durant a couple moments ago speaking about what? He said, I saw the Rockets change defensive strategies, offensives, I saw them play different styles. You do that because of Fred Van Vleet.

So now the challenge is, I mean Thompson, Reed, Aaron Holiday, a guy who the group, the organization really would have loved to play more last season. played great minutes. You saw career numbers out of them. Now that opportunity is going to be there. So it's going to take everybody, and it's a group guys that we saw win. Uniquely, Matt, and tell me, if I'm wrong, they won games on the defensive end. Yep. They want offensive rebounds, and sometimes they won scoring. So you're going to have to lean. You're not going to have the same styles that you can win with, but you're going to have to lean heavily in those other areas. I got a note for you. I don't think the Rockets want

to lead the league in offensive rebounding this year. Don't want to? Nope. What did Draymond Green said during the playoffs last year? What do you say? He said they're leading the league in offensive rebounding because they're missing so many shots. Yeah, we got Kevin Durant, so I think that might be. All right. If you're drawing it up, and I'm not saying you're doing it during training camp,

you're not even doing it maybe for the first 10 or 15 games, is a men Thompson better serve for this team running point or moving him all over the floor? Right now, all over the floor. He was primarily great in the dunker. That's what people don't understand. He played underneath the defense. When he'd get the rebound, he'd push, he'd go. They're kick-aheads.

He was Mr. Transitioned. That was his green light. Right now, we know he can do that. Now, the future of the rocket says you put them all on ball, you let him make his mistakes, and you figure out, and that's your point guard of the future. So for EMA, you'd like to imagine he's probably going to experiment in between a little bit of both because he's one of the greatest players that I think.

ever seen play underneath the dink defense and what happens is you kind of hit shingoon in a 15 action or or a delay and when shingoon goes and he's double comes he hit a men and a men was great scoring and then being that secondary playmaker. Rockets really were unique in that aspect but putting a man on the basketball I think he plays all over the floor and finds ways to exploit his mismatches he's perfect so good you are really good you're really good you're really good. It's a crime, but you're losing so many games this year. I don't mean to bring that that it. It's a crime. Maybe I'll be like your third or something. You can come and come so with an end up with anything. I don't think we can afford you. Yes, you can. Have you seen

the car this guy drives? There's not a habachi mill. He hasn't picked up. Yes. Yes, he can afford me. That's true. That's true. He's Jamaican. Just give your, uh, your, uh, your, uh, you're, what? You're Jamaican the way you work. Jamaicans have a lot of jobs, man. Oh, Okay. Oh, see, he respects it. You know that? He respects it. If someone says you're Jamaica, it means you work a lot.

Actually, I do have Jamaican heritage. I don't know if you do that. Oh, okay. I did not know that. Matt does not. No, I'm as white bread as it gets, my friend. This is what it is. You're tan when we go to L.A.

That's true. That's true. All right. Ryan, I cannot wait to work with you guys again this year. It's so much fun hanging out with you and your insights. And you're just a great friend, and I really appreciate you coming by on the show today. You missed me, didn't you? A little bit.

We had dinner a couple times this, obviously. Not enough. Habachi soon. Ross, you're invited. Oh, let's go. We got a bet on Kyle Tucker's contract for Habachi. Seven and a half years. I hit the over. It's a matchy season.

When are the Texans? Okay, I'm going to throw it out. Come on. Get you got a minute. Go ahead. Why not? Okay. My Texans, are they not doing the line assignments?

Are they not identifying the rushers and stunts that are happening? Or is the offensive line just poor? He sent me the video of that line coming over. Yeah, they have to, well, they've been shuffling. They've had like four different offensive lines. and four games, right? I think. No.

Got to get continuity is key. Or is that when you're identifying blitzers and rushers and saying, you got him, you got him, you got him, or guys just getting beat because I was saying basketball, if I go to help, right, and then after I help, nobody has my man, and then I look bad on film, I'm not going to go help again. So I don't think you want to go just throwing somebody at the bus, right? I think that's some of that. That shouldn't happen at home either when it's quiet. Okay.

Communications. Communication. So a little bit of both. Communication and each man to a role can be better. Yes. Couldn't have said it better myself. That is the one and only NBA and NFL analyst Ryan Howard. The O-line guru.

Oh, my God. And you're a great Madden player too. Is that true? And CJ's my guy. CJ tank and those guys, man, I want to see him do well, man. I'm definitely excited for him and know how much it means to him and those guys hold themselves to a standard, man. They want to be out there doing well.

So I hope they figure it out because the offense is so much better than what we've been seeing, fellas. It's so much better. 26-0-0 baby let's go yeah yeah and you know it as a player sometimes you got to see basketball you want to see the ball go to the hole

you know you want to see a touchdown you want to be in the red zone you want to see those things so hopefully that jolts the group into you know playing the way that they can play because the defense is lights out oh god

Texas talk Texas talk with Ryan Hollins let's go podcast it was on my heart it was on my heart no you you know you are 100% authentic. I appreciate you, Matt Thomas. All right, there it is. The one and only, Ryan Houns. We're going to have a little snack now. We've got some great sponsors of the show while we have a little snack.

Yeah, I want you to go ahead. Hear from them. 1243 on Sports Talk 790. More coming up here from TOTA Center next. Man, I got a serious problem, Ross. It's 1249 here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. I'm a 53-year-old grown-ass man, married, three children, good life, got good friends, good radio. Great co-host. Great co-host. I mean, spectacular. Spectacular. underutilized.

Oh, my God. I'm still fanboying over Kevin Durant. I've never been as close to him as we were in that conversation. All right. We've got a little real talk on a Monday. I was a little touch nervous. I'm always going to be nervous. I mean, I'm nervous than anybody we have on that are impactful people.

My heart rate was probably, my BPMs were probably up. But, you know, by the end of it, I was fine. He's just a guy. He was chill. He's very nice. He's very, very, very. chill. No, let me, and I just wants to hoop.

And I would tell you this. He believes in Arch Manning, which I appreciate. Yeah. I would say he's going to do what is necessary in terms of meeting commitments. He's not, you know, and he will get into a tussle on Twitter once in a while, if necessary. Love it. But I've done enough where he kind of was at the broadcast meetings in New York a couple weeks ago.

And they said as much. The people that have covered him before and said, look, he's all about basketball. Yes. And because I think, you know, he did talk about he wants to play and it was four. He's 37 today, as a matter of fact. So, I mean, you can do it. I mean, I think LeBron set a standard to say, you know what? You keep yourself your body, right?

You love basketball. Because, frankly, I don't know what Kevin Durant wants to do post-basketball life, but I don't think he's thinking about that anytime soon. That's why I think a LeBron also doesn't want to quit. What else is he going to do? He's just a born Hooper. Yeah, that's just the way I would put it. He was, I mean, that he loves basketball.

He's obsessed about basketball. And then also, he was born. seven foot with like a seven five wingspan so it kind of worked out for him right also a great shooting touch i mean he's got that's what greatness takes is you have to have some of the some of the inborn as far as like you know physical skills and all that type of stuff and then also that attitude that love that work ethic that word has come up from a couple of players that we've talked to about him is that work ethic that he has to put in the work and you add all that up and you end up with one of the all-time greats and that's what he is and hopefully can continue

to be for the rocket's this season. And I will steal some lines from Adam Clinton. A man, Thompson too. I mean, for a guy who's been the league two years, he just looks the part. I mean, that is a, he is a star in the making. If that shot can get

even a little bit better, because it got better from season one to two. So never going to be considered a long-range threat, I don't think. But the so many of the intangibles that he brings to the table, and the ability that, again, can play four different positions. Very few players in NBA can put that on their resume right now. Yeah, he's already

first team all defense, that is going to, I mean, that's a huge help and that's a big feather in his cap, and that's going to be a plus player. So to make that leap from plus player to star, that's when you're going to have to kind of add in that offensive game. And he's going to have some opportunities, especially as a playmaker, you didn't have to go out there and score 20 points game on this team. No. But if he can go out there, get them in their offense, be a good playmaker, and score and be

effective, and knock down the occasional corner three. Well, here's the thing. teams are going to back away if you can't do it. And that's going to put a lot of pressure on the other four guys on the floor that are trying to look for their open shot. You know, EMA always says to me, and Terry tells us guys, there are good shots to be found all over the floor. It's your responsibility to find the great shot. And if Thompson can at least keep it reasonable in that corner of three, which is his preferred spot to shoot the three-pointer, that's going to make everybody's lives a lot easier.

Yeah, teams are going to back off on them. But, I mean, teams have backed on other players for years as well. who aren't great shooters. I mean, Russell Westbrook is one of the first ones that come to my mind. You have to still win with playmaking, with craft, with the speed that he does have.

So you can still get to the basket. Obviously, it's going to be a little bit more tough, but it'll help with a guy like Kevin Durant stretching the floor where, you know, there were times last year where you had him in on the floor, Shangoon's not a three-point threat, other guys who aren't plus three-point shooters,

and the paint can get a little packed. So if Jabari, he told us he wants to be a 40-per-3-point, point shooter. If he can get close to that, Kevin Durantz, was 43, I believe, last year. And I don't know about Alpi, but other guys on this team who could be three-point threats, that's going to open things up for a men in Thompson down low. And Alpy, too, I mean, and again, I take these things with a grain of salt, but everything from ESPN reports to the reporters that are going overseas to watch said Alpy was a man possessed in that Euro League. Now, it's not the NBA, but it's not far off.

No, it's, hey, well, it's better than if he was scoring six points a game every game. So for him to dominate, we'll see how much that matters and that growth. Because I think E.M.A. Doca mentioned it, strength and conditioning. It did look in the playoffs. He was missing a lot. How many times did we talk about him missing bunnies and missing hook shots and missing shots that he normally makes? Well, I want that free throw number to start going. Because it was 75 of the first two months of the year, and then it started to dwindle.

I don't think that's an accident when we talk about strength and conditioning and trying to stay. I mean, it's a long season, man. 82 games is tough, especially the way the guys push their bodies in the offseason, and you have to build that up. And so if he can continue to do that as far as having more win towards the end of the season and of the playoffs, that's going to be huge.

Because we know he's very good. Can he continue and keep that up? Because his field goal percentage has gone down, I think three straight years for Alpi. All right, here's what we're going to set the final hour of the show. We're going to go general sports between 1 and 1.30 because we need to catch up on just a couple of Astro thoughts, a Texan thought, and we've not taken any phone calls. Today, again, today has not been an easy day for it, but we can't open the phone lines up. In fact, we would encourage any of you that would like to call in about anything that you've heard on the Rockets, if you want to get your thoughts in about the Texas performance against the Tennessee Titans, and then obviously the Astero is ending the season.

We'll do a lot more of that tomorrow when you and I are back in studio. But for the next half hour, if you want to come in, let me give me the phone numbers, a couple of the number. the time. 713, 212.5.790. 7132-1-2-5-790. Then at 1.30, we're going to play the EMA-A doka conversation to a quick break, and then we'll get to Kevin Durant. And just in case any of you happen to miss it, because it's just an opportunity. It's Kevin Freakendorand it's Kevin. It's Kevin freaking Durant. Who's the most famous person ever on there? Let's think about this during the break if you can't. Anything comes in mind. I will come to an answer when we come back. Because I've got a short list. Okay. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3.790.

3212-5-790 with a word for Uptown Appliance Repair. I want all of your refrigerator, those of you with gas grills, those of you with high-end washer dryers or dishwashers to get it working. And if it's not, you're going to call 281-758-9978. That's 281-758-9978, and visit with the wonderful people at Uptown Appliance Repair. They are A-plus rated, as Bobby Firo's company, with the Better Business Bureau. thousands of satisfied customers. They've got locations in Dallas, but the one we want to worry about is right here in H-town.

281-758-9978, 281-78-9-9-78. And with all the repairs, you're going to get exclusive to your warranty. If you have a wine cellar or would like to get one, they can help you with that as well. It's called Uptown Appliance Repair Online Uptown Appliance Repair.com, but better yet, write the number down because you're eventually going to need them. 281-758-9-9-78-28-28-28-8-9-9-78 Uptown Appliances Repair.com. This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. 102 on Sports Talk 790.

Matt and Ross with you from the battles of the Toyota Center, the house of Katie built. Actually, it was Steve Francis built this, right? Okay. Steve, love you, but I think the taxpayers are used to pay it for it. Ross, how are you? Look at you. Having a little treat during the short brief break we had here on the show. We are opening the phone lines up. I'm going to kill some time while you finish chewing because you've done that for me before in the past and not judge me.

So thank you very much for that. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-2-190. No, thank you. Delicious food here at the Toyota Center this year. Oh, my gosh. I'm about to – there's a hot dog with brisket on top of it. You know how much I love biscuits.

pork or brisket? I don't know. I don't know. I'm asking. It really matter. I'll eat it. And we've got, oh, again, open line this half hour, and then we're going to replay the EMA of Donka and conversation with also Kevin Durant to close out our show today.

So that's going to be the final half hour of the show. Back tomorrow in studio, where we will be hearing from Joe Espada and from Dana Brown. How long do you think it'll take? I know my own personal answer to this. Oh, by the way, let's finish just something wrong. Okay. You asked who the most. famous person's ever been on the show.

To me, it's Nolan Ryan on a weekly basis, and we've had Roger Clemens on before. Dan Marino was on in a Super Bowl. Do we count Super Bowl or no? Absolutely. Dan Marino absolutely has been on a Super Bowl.

Mark Summers does not... Mark Summers does not make it. I guess he's pretty famous. Anyone of the Carl Mecklenburg does not make the list. Oh, well, hey, come on, man. Okay, so let's knock the Rock pockets off the board because

those are all players we've normally had on because we can carry the game. So that's, media days don't count. Is, okay, well, they don't count? Kevin Durant was on the show. Okay, so, okay, so Katie jumps to the top of the list? I don't know. Damarino is probably more world by the fans. Wow, that was big.

I've interviewed Barry Sanders before when I was in Minneapolis when I did that, and I was literally a kid in a candy store. Okay, Vince Papali? Nope. No, the list. Okay, I'm going to go Mount Rushmore right now. Yeah. Dan Marino.

Yes. Nolan Ryan. Yes. Kevin Durant. Yep. I think Roger's on there. Okay, Roger Clemens, yeah. Over James Hardener or Russell Westbrook.

That's probably correct. Um, yeah. Yeah, there's the photo of me and Mark Summers that... Gordy's photo... Photo list is beyond me, but, you know, good for him. Who's the most famous guy who canceled on us? I'll see, Bill Walton. Dalton Shultz canceled on us because they're

stationed in town solos from him. All right, we'll leave the list there. But I'm sorry. What were we talking about before that? I don't know. Oh, I was going to ask you about how long it's going to take you to decompress from the Astro season? I've been to decompressing for a couple days.

I mean, they were basically eliminated before Saturday's game, right? Yeah. I think we will continue to, First of all, everything will roll into place. As far as decompressing, I mean, it feels like they've been out of it for a few days. I'm kind of over it already. Is that bad? Can I tell you the most disappointing thing that happened this past week?

Was it so? Yeah, from the fan perspective, because we deal with the fans. So many people are like, I don't want this to make the playoffs. That was dumb. I just, I, in the category of, that was dumb. I just don't get it. I'll get it. Now, in the NBA, it's a little different because you get lottery.

You get lottery and eight never beat one. I mean, I'm saying never, but largely don't. You got no shot. But if you get in this thing, for instance, Detroit literally backdoored its way in the playoffs. You don't think AJ Hinch is getting those guys fired up for a potential long playoff run? So you would be on the road taking on the guardians, right? If you want, if you gone in, the Astros I'm talking about? Yeah, you're the final playoff seat.

Yeah, they're the least of the three division champions, yes. So you would be on the road taking on the Guardians. You're going to tell me they can't win a three-game series against the Guardians? I mean, the Guardians have been hot, but hell, the Rangers won a game Friday night. I mean, it's baseball. It's baseball. It's baseball. It's baseball.

It can happen in baseball. Like you said, NBA teams seven games, eight a generally ain't got no shot. The other team's fully healthy. Baseball, anything can happen, man. The Diamondbacks made the World Series in 2023. You can catch lightning in a bottle and then hope for the best. and the thing with the Astros is as the playoffs went on, they would have gotten healthier.

Jordan possibly coming back. Jeremy Pena, maybe. Jeremy Pena at some point. Josh Hader, perhaps, at some point. Probably not, but... Those feel like those are all less than 25%, but, you know, if one of them was able to come back. Yeah.

And you obviously, if you made the playoffs, you did something this past week that gives you encouragement because you were starting that series with Seattle needing to have a five-in-one week. So if you got there, you did something right. You took care of business, but you didn't take care of business against the age. You didn't take care of business losing that one game to the Angels.

No, you didn't. Three-nothing lead. Gone. Good job, Astros. Hitting was the most difficult thing to watch. One for nine was the scoring position in that game. I don't know. Well, let's see.

Your number six hitter was a guy who's been in major leagues for two weeks. weeks. It's not. I mean, in theory, if you really want to, really want to break this down, then I never should have been in this to begin with. It's a miracle. I've said that a couple weeks ago. It's kind of a miracle.

Ryan Gusto and Colton Gord had ended this season as third and fourth on innings pitch for this team. And your number two, your number one was Frumber who fell apart down the stretch. At least he bounced back with a great start his last time out. But your top, innings pitched. it was Fromber who inconsistent slash bad yeah that's part of it

that's another storyline is what the hell happened to the Framber Valdez who gave you double digit straight quality starts I don't know he just he just couldn't find it felt like he couldn't find his curveball

and I mean there were a couple classic Fromber blowups unfortunately which had seemed like not necessarily a thing of the past but they had been much much less frequent the last year and change and yeah, third innings pitch, Gusto, fourth, Colton Gordon,

fifth, Stephen Okert. Let me take you to, let's take us this spring training on West Palm Beach, Matt, and I say, you're talking about, I say, what does he do? Does he handle the lawn at the ballpark? What exactly does a Stephen Oker do? Three, four, five in innings pitch of the season,

I would told you were Gusto, Gordon, and Okert, and O'Fromber was number one, and he was terrible. You'd be like, okay, well, how many games under 500 do they finish? That's where you'd be. it wasn't supposed to be but nobody wants to think that way nor do I want to think that way because even as bad as things were

even as bad as the series was with Seattle where they swept you at your home ballpark you went into the final week of the season still under most circumstances controlling your own destiny because you knew that Detroit and Boston were going to beat each other up Cleveland in Detroit were going to beat each other up

you just winning forces you to the top of the heap you could have even been as good as maybe the second wild car Yeah, but the top three-year lineup, ideally are Pena, Yoron, and Esock, and two are gone, and one's on one leg. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we just got our hopes up higher than we should have, I think, with that June and the way that they were kind of... We were literally saying to ourselves, I have no idea how they're doing this, and then it evaporated.

And that just really shouldn't be a shock. But it also doesn't mean we still can't be frustrated, which I think we can be frustrated. The guys who were out there could have gotten it done, but they didn't. And unfortunately we're going to be in a situation where we're just going to be watching other teams and probably the very laissez-faire attitude towards the baseball playoffs. Let me tell you.

You guys know this. We've gone to do those pre-game shows outside on the concourse. Temperature's a little cooler. Everybody's smiling. There's a huge energy. There are $37 drinks for it to be bought. People buy them.

Yeah, I don't. Good crowds. The roof sometimes gets opened. Well, Major League Baseball strong arms the Astros and opening it. Yeah. But you know what I'm saying? There is something about the October aura. That's the term that these kids use in a lot these days.

Yes. The aura of fall baseball that we've been accustomed to since 2000. We got a little bit of a 2015, although they weren't home. But 2017, it's been a lot of Diken Park. It just has. Yeah. Super's bringing up, yeah. Major League Baseball has the lottery, but I think the Astros' chance would have went to, like, 0.39%.

So, I mean. Yeah, I don't think there's any saving grace going, oh, at least we've got a lottery chances are opening up. You're not going to shut down everybody. Teams shut down everybody in the NBA so that they can get ping pong balls. That's not going to happen in baseball. You're not going to shut down everything for a 0.39 chance because that's what? They didn't, and now they still have their 0.9 chance or whatever it is.

And that's just only for the one pick, right? Do they do a top three type of thing? You're that something I cannot possibly give you any interesting. and I'm sorry, I should. No, it doesn't matter. Who cares? The Major League Baseball draft is the, not I won't say least important, but least covered.

Well, you have to, you could say it's the least important because they're the least immediate, but we saw what the Astros model league system went through after losing two consecutive years or not having one. 0.39% chance. You know what? Okay, if they get the number one overall pick, I'll say it's worth it. I mean, people would be excited, but it would only be excited for those people to say, okay, here's his number one overall pick. We'll see in three years.

Now, granted, the Astros have had the number one overall pick, we'll see in three years. granted, the asteros have had some 1-1s and have worked out quite well for them. Carlos Korea being one of them. Yes. Breggman being a second overall pick. Phil Nevin not being one of them. Lance McCullors for a while was pretty good. As far as the draft picks go.

He had a decent career. All right, 113 of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. If you would like to chime in, this is our last open segment of the day. So I know that it's been harder to get people to come in and call, but you are more than welcome to do so. If you would like to, it's 713-212-5-7-90. 713-212-5-7-90, bottom-of-the-hour, e-madocca conversation, bottom-of-the-hour as well, our visit with Kevin Durant. So if you want to get in, whether it be about the Astros and the season as a whole, again, we'll spend much more time on tomorrow, but I do want to hear from somebody if you're out there bumping around going, hey, I've got something to say about the Astros.

We will certainly welcome your call. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Matt and Ross with you at 119 on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Sports Talk 7.90. It's a properly named show. News out of the Texans. Cam Robinson's been traded to the Cleveland Browns. That probably won't be a topic A on my show,

but it could be a part of the A team between two and six. The A team. What a lovely program that is. Oh, my God, I cannot wait to listen to it as soon as I get in the car. I won't listen. They cuss and discuss a lot of texts. I'm sure it's great. I'm sure it'll be wonderful.

I'll be listening to music. Don't say that. Adam's right here. Don't you'll be leaving soon, Adam? You don't mind being late. looking for more treats what else in the Texans Joe Mixing

DeMico Ryans would not clarify or give any further explanation about it's shocking it's Joe Muxon did he have his foot amputated why is this shrouded in mystery why can't somebody just come out and say we expect him in six to eight weeks or he'll be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks

or he's out for the season if he's out players go on IR on every NFL team basically weekly it feels like and they're out for the season. Malik neighbors just tore his ACL. He's out for the year. Why is this some kind of crazy thing that needs to be shrouded in mystery

and nobody can say anything? And then when you're asked about it, you get upset. I just, explain to me. I just don't get it. Well, I mean, teams have become way too overprotective of their injury statuses. I got news for Domeco. as much as Joe Mixon is a part of this team, teams still game plan for other players besides Joe Mixon.

They know who Joe Mixon is. You can't really surprise a team by just throwing them out there and go, look who we got here available to us. That's not allowed by rule. Yeah, and he's not even practicing. I just don't, I think that these coaches think that if you don't say anything that gives the opponents are like, what are we going to do now? We don't know if Joe's going to play or not. No, we kind of know.

And transparency, look, everybody in life, companies have secrets. Companies have intelligence they want to keep. If you are day-to-day with a player, I can kind of, Russ, I can kind of get that. But this isn't day-to-day. This is not week-to-week. This is month-to-week. This could be potentially season ending. And frankly, if you are the Baltimore Ravens, if Joe makes them all of a sudden ready to go today, They'd be talking about him, but they're also worried about Woody Marks, who was really good yesterday. Yeah, well, and that's the thing. He has to be activated. He has to practice and all that type of stuff. So I'm just going to go with, I still just, I don't understand why this has to be some kind of crazy thing that they just mums the word on Joe Mixing.

Because they'll leave us to speculate. Is he out for the year? Is there some other issue? You know, there's some rumor, Twitter rumors about botched surgeries and all this other stuff. And let me tell you, that may be a rumor, but if things are botched, you know, you know, using your term, not mine, then I wouldn't say a word about it, because there could be some legal action involved in this. That's true.

Okay. Okay. That actually exists. So honestly, he's got a malpractice suit guys. I can't tell you anything about it. Even though we can't guarantee that, by them not saying anything, it's reasonable for us to expect that something went wrong with something medically. It's just weird.

It's just a weird situation. And Chubb is kind of just a guy. Woody Marks looks like hopefully he can be something. He's coming into his own and had a good game and needs to continue to follow that. up because the good game was against the Titans in a blowout scenario. So we'll see going forward. It doesn't mean the, you know, Woody Marks is about to rush for 1,500 yard and stuff like that.

So it's going to be week to week as far as what's going on there. But it's weird. Just weird that it continues to be something. And one, then Domingo gets so angry about it. Well, now, to be fair, I thought he was completely unprofessional about getting mad about the first time. I don't think he's gotten mad since. Okay, good.

But it was kind of, it was an odd choice to become so heavy hand to the media. you when he didn't need to be. Well, we'll see what happens. When he plays, he plays. I want to also guess you, this is a little bit off the beaten track on this. When you release, they released CJ Gardner Johnson earlier this week, and somebody asked, well, why did you do that?

And he goes, we're going to keep that in-house. How much in-house should there be involved with, in sports in general? That's a good question, and I don't know. I think any of us, us don't want all of our business out there and what's going on in our personal lives exposed to the media. But when you are a professional athlete and things are happening basically on the clock,

right? It's like personal lives and things on the clock, which would it be with Sejard Gardner-Johnson. If he's calling out teammates and causing ruckus and meeting rooms and all that type of stuff, I mean, I feel it's a fair game to be reported. It's a hard line to walk straight because if something happens to. happens at your place of work, that is non-work related, you are asking for privacy on that. I understand that. But if you are doing things, for instance, if you and I started having nasty on-air fights

and it took to off the mic. Yeah. And one of us had to go and our bosses and say, why did you let Matt go? And they would, we're going to keep that in house. We can keep that in house. I don't know. But also, there aren't beat reporters asking us questions after every single game. I mean, we have listeners and fans of ours, but there aren't articles that are invested in us, and we appreciate that.

We don't have public practices and injury reports and stuff. It's just a different animal. I guess my question would have been is if Domingo would have come up and said, look, CJ said some things that I didn't vibe with and I can't have it in my locker room. That would have been like, wow, thank you for the end. insight. Instead, and again, and maybe it's not his fault because every coach does this, you know, we always go to that, we keep things in-house. Yeah. But, I mean, the popularity of sports, the backbone, maybe they don't need beat reporters right now and the internet age and all that type of stuff, but the way that these teams grew and thrived

the way that they did was garnering interest from fans via newspaper, beat reporters, television coverage and all that type of stuff. The NFL, obviously, they're made men. NFL can do whatever they want right now. But part of it, and part of the reason your league is so big, well, the sole reason your league is so big is because you have so many fans and so many fans who are invested in your teams and have fantasy football and players and make bets and do all that type of stuff. I mean, I think embarrassed they brought a guy in so quickly that became such an A-hole so fast.

Is that part of it too? Yeah, he's gone in four weeks. Nobody planned for this. Nobody. Yeah. Nick Casario, Dmito, Rion, he's probably, C.J. Gardner himself was like, what? Because let's see the scenario, aren't you?

If he goes out there and says, well, he was a turd while he was here, he's out, then I guess the next question would have been, well, he was a bad guy in other places. Why did you bring it in the beginning with? I guess what you do is when you say, we're keeping that in house. You're basically keeping it just as is. You're not willing to open things up anymore than you are. Let me squeeze in one quick call. Let's go to Stephen in Los Angeles on 790 before we hear from Emeadocas.

Stephen, good afternoon. Hey guys, great job with the interviews today. It's been a lot of fun listening to everybody. Thank you. Just really quickly, I know you're trying to squeeze me in. I'm just hearing all of the interviews and seeing all of the pictures and seeing KD and Rocket's Uniform that is Photoshopped. And, you know, I've got to say, it just has made me feel giddy all day long.

And I'm very excited to see what this season has in store. obviously losing Fred Van Fleet is a really, really big deal, a lot bigger deal than I think some people are willing to admit. But I still think this is a very capable basketball team. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch. Matt, I look forward to listening to you and go Rockets. I'll call another time with some Astros questions. Appreciate you guys. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you, Stephen. Yeah, I can tell you this. Look, I've seen Chris Paul come here. I've seen Russell Rusbrook come here. this is the most excited.

This is my 10th year calling the game. This will be by far the most excited. Look, expectations are astronomically high, but Ross, through the Western Conference, is filthy, competitive. Even with Fred here, it wasn't a foregone conclusion of rockets going all the way. But in terms of anticipation level,

compared off coming off of what we did last year to what could be this year, especially if Kevin Durang is on the floor, as many times as he can, and can score, and can be the outside presence of rockets, I've been looking for. Yeah, it's crazy.

And like he was saying, it's making you giddy. Like, the same thing. Like, Matt, when he walked in here, it'd be cool to meet Kevin Durant, no matter what happened or what he was there. He's wearing a freaking Rockets, Red jersey. He's in your gear. Houston, freaking Texas. This is exciting, man.

And you've spent a decade plus hating on the guy, not hating, but just like, I've never. Well, I know. If I wanted Kevin Durant to go two for 14 against the Rockets, absolutely. Yeah, I guess the Rockets, sure. Do I want to go 13 for 14 in this future 80 games, whatever he plays? Absolutely.

All right, Eme Adoka, on the Fred Van Vleet injury, bringing Kevin Durant here, and the development of Alperin-Shingon all straight ahead as the Matt Thomas show with Ross continues 129 on Sports Talk 790. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show with Ross, broadcasting from Rockets Media Days at the Toyota Center. great conversations, great show all day long, a couple of big ones that we do want to play for you. Starting with head coach IMA Adoka, of course a lot to discuss with him, the growth of the players, the addition of Kevin Durant, also the loss of Fred Van Vle.

But conversation started off talking about Alperin Shingoon and the big summer that he had over in the Eurobasket, how he's playing and how he's progressing as he needs to have some personal growth as well. the rockets are going to be successful this year. Yeah, overall, a good summer in a lot of ways. I've seen a lot of growth from our guys. And obviously, I'll be on the big stage and some additions. And so overall happy, yeah, the injury obviously puts a little bit of sour taste in your mouth going into camp.

But we have enough on our roster. We'll figure out how to get it done. And we have the versatility to do it. We'll get to that in a second. I do want to ask you about the trip to Turkey. He played me with the EuroLeague Championships, right? That's what they call it. What is that competition like and what have you seen, forgetting about that tournament,

but just what have you seen from Alpi's off season that has you so bullish on him for again this year? A tremendous amount of work he put in behind the scenes and obviously that showed on the big stage. Continued growth and his trajectory continues to go up from when I've gotten here. He's growing in every area. Obviously made it to All-Star game, helped us achieve what we did last year and had great carryover into the summer into his work ethic and wanted to be better. and a great Eurobasket tournament. So I want that all to kind of culminate into a great season here and him continue to grow and do what he's done last few years

and I think he's on the right path for that. Is he physically much different or is it kind of the same body right now? I think his conditioning was a lot better. You know, playing kind of year-round and what he did and what he had to do and shoulder the load and carry a lot of the load for that team. He had to be in tremendous shape and the physicality they play with over there. Like I said, all that should carry over well until the season.

But it looked like no fatigue. He had a lot on his shoulders and obviously delivered at high level. How collaborative is that? How much is that you talk to him and tell him things you want to see from him or him doing things on his own? A little bit of both. Obviously, you know, after the season, you talk about areas of growth and going into your workouts in the summer.

And then the staff that was over there with them for a month plus, they're working on specific things. And then the national team uses them a certain way as well. And so there are some similarities in the things they've done. that we've done with him. And so, you know, it's not familiar for him to do, but you see things on both sides. Things he worked on, obviously carried over with his national team

and some things they do you can implement here as well. And so the bottom line is he's a young guy that's growing at a rapid pace and he was rewarded with the All-Star appearance last year and we wanted him to take another step this year. Yeah, is there like constant contact or you try to be more hands off? How do you approach that? Yeah, it's both. Like I said, the staff is there with them, you know, majority of the summer.

I went over for four or five days and just kind of, you know, checked them out and spent time with him. But you see the growth. You see the improvement. And, you know, at the point when he's playing with this national team, you just let him do what he does and you don't want to bother him. And then after the tournament's over, you know, we reached out and caught up and talked about how well he's looked and how well he's played and the achievements he's accomplished.

And so it's a little bit of both. You give him their time away and hear your voice all year. But at the same time, you're encouraging them and checking in. giving them kudos for the accolades. When fans would call me, they'd say, Matt, what do you want to see this year? And I think one of the things you wanted to see is the growth of Reed Shepard in terms of more ball handling more time on the floor. Now the pressure is even on him more.

And I don't think you're saying now with Fred gone, it's yours. But collectively, you've been asked multiple times about exactly how that role is going to be filled. And I think you used by committee, is that an appropriate term? Oh, that's a way. I mean, we have a lot of guys that can, you know, have grown and can handle and do a lot of things to initiate offense. And that's the benefit of our depth and versatility in our team is that you don't have to rely on one guy.

Fred should have to load a lot, you know, the first year, especially with the young guys. And we want to keep our turnovers down and get us into specific things. But I think in year three, four, for some of these guys, they've all taken steps in that area. And reed going into a second year of the confidence that he's shown in the offseason so far will carry over well into the game. The physicality of the game, I think he's improved his body

and his understanding of what it takes from the physical aspect. to be successful and so he's worked on all those things and this really showed up well so far and so the opportunity is going to be there regardless with fred out of obviously we'll be expedited a little bit but you got our man you got him you got katie you got different ways we can do it and and i think we'll figure out how to get it done does something go away from a men's game when he's got the ball in his hand if let's say you said you're our starting point guard and you're going to play 25 28 minutes in that spot there's some is there's things about his game he loses because he's handling such a other ball responsibilities? No, I think what he does, he does naturally. He gets a rebound. He pushes it. He's a one-man

fast break. That's not going to change. You just have to have a different mindset at times about awareness of who's on the court and who you want to get the ball to in different spots. And so that part, it's been in Fred's hands a lot. But he has to take that step anyway. He's played a lot of point in his career. And so just thinking differently at times about attacking versus getting guys involved. You mentioned the turnovers and And with Amen Thompson, what is it like for you to try to have him be himself to try to make plays, but also you don't want to limit him and what he can do with his creativeness, but you also do want him to take care of the ball.

Yeah, I mean, that's an area of growth for all our young guys and young guys across the board in the league for the most part. And so, you know, getting shots and not turn the ball over is obviously it's been an Achilles heel before we got here, but we've really improved in that area, and that's helped us record-wise for sure. And so Fred being one of the best assist, Turnover ratio guys in the league has definitely helped us, but these guys will have the opportunity to have taken the next step now. And so like I said, you don't want to take away from some of the natural things he does. But he has to have the understanding of getting guys involved, get us into certain sets, game, time, score situations and some of the things he hasn't had the experience so far. We'll let you go on this. I always love the behind-the-scenes stuff with Katie. Were you in the room when you got the phone calls? So the deal was consummated. where you may be on a beach, were you at home? Take us through that and how intimately involved you were in those conversations.

Just look, part of it is making the trade work, but also part of it is Katie, coming here. You're going to be this missing piece or a puzzle. Yeah, we were all together when we found out it was most likely done. It was a long process that a lot of conversations behind the scenes. But, you know, you're excited to have a guy. You miss the guys that are gone and, you know, what they meant to the program or what they've done in those years. And so it's a little bittersweet as far as that, but you understand what you're adding as far as a unique talent.

And some of the areas we struggled in as far as closing and consistent scoring, he addresses those. And so a guy worked with a ton over the past few years in Brooklyn and Team USA and then obviously played in coached against him a ton as well. And so understanding what he does on the court, some of the things he does in the sleep will obviously benefit us. But, yeah, it was ups and downs and sometimes it looked good. Sometimes it didn't and eventually got done. part is that he wanted to be here and that's what made it work. All right, that again is Emeadoka. He's got to be a kid and a candy story.

He's got a whole lot more to go to a deeper team. I was just walking through. Just saw Joshua Kogi come back during Finney Smith. I mean, Clint Capella is now going to help out. So on nights that you don't want to use Stephen Adams is in a back-to-back situation, which I don't think you're going to be some nights where KD's not going to be playing. Only thing that that's spoil a little bit is obviously Freddie in that starting lineup, playing those minutes would have been very valuable for this squad.

Yeah, you got a lot of wings, you got a lot of bigs, as we had Ryan Hollins on, and he astutely pointed out, kind of thin there at point guard, so they're going to have to figure something out. They have the guys that can do it, I think early season on. You could have eased in more of M. Thompson minutes, more Reed Shepherd ball handling opportunities, but the easing in period is gone. They're going to have to hit the ground running.

Oh, by the way, game number one, you've got the defending champions in their house. Ben and Ross with you for a final segment here on Sports Talk 790. We accompanied you from a Toyota Center. I just saw Reed Shepard and gave him the what-for us on questions he's going to be asked about. Can you handle the role? Are you ready to take over? How's your shooting? You didn't do any of that?

I did talk to him, yeah. Oh, you did? Yeah. Oh, what did he say? Do you record it? No. I was going to the bathroom. Oh, you were talking to him in the urinal?

Well, no, the way to the urnals. Let him do his business, man. Come on. Oh, no, no, no, no. You say, how's it hanging? I've never asked a man how it's hanging. Just in general, how's hanging, Matt? Off to the left a little bit.

All right. You're sick. Nobody needs to know that. Tomorrow we're going to make our predictions about the World Series champions. You got your bracket ready for the major league baseball playoffs? I'm not talking for the rest of the show. Yeah, I know. You're discussing what size that's hanging on.

No, I didn't know. It's just a phrase, Matt. Okay, that's fair. A phrase that we talk about with Kevin Durant. All the all-time greatest? Goats, one of the goats? I put top 50, and that feels fair, right? I'm putting them top 12.

What's up? Oh, we don't have time for this. I will say, till I hit my grave ahead of Steph Curry, because he was the finals MVP on those teams, better defensively. What's up? You don't put the greatest shooter of all time in the top ten. I'm not saying you put them both in there, but Kevin Durant's got to be ahead. And they're both of their primes.

They played in the same team, and Kevin Durant was better. What's up? All right. There you go. That is the gospel, according to Ross. Hey, let's hear from Kevin Durant. And I brought up a game that the Rockets played in Phoenix. Late in the season, I want to say early April, right?

I didn't see this. ESPN reporting. He said he plans on signing an extension with the Rockets? Yeah, Rockets, meanwhile, saying, none you. No, they actually said Nunya. Oh, okay. We don't discuss those types of games. Okay.

Meaning, let's get it done. Here is, Katie, on the conversation that he and I have. about was the Rockets on the radar, especially after that game by the Rockets beat Phoenix in late last season? Yeah, for sure. I mean, because I was right around the time that there was so much noise around our team in Phoenix. And I was being put in the trade machine by every media website for the last three or four months.

And obviously Phoenix had told me that they were trading me a month or two before that. You know, so I had my eye on teams, and I had my eye on places that I may potentially go anywhere. So, yeah, I was, of course, I was checking out the Rockets, and I think everybody in the league seen how fast they got to this point of being a respected team again, you know, because nobody really respected the Rockets coming in here four or five years ago or right after the Chris Paul, James Hardin era of basketball. Right. So to get that respect around the league so fast, it just. stood out to me and that brand of playing ball was really uh it showed how the IQ was switching defenses playing double big sometimes playing small within the game you know coaches coaching every possession and guys are focused and locked in on his message you know so I was peeping all of that

type of stuff throughout the game and I appreciated that and I wanted to be a part of it and so you'll have a phone call to e-may and say hey we can do this we work you guys worked with each other what national team. You did the next thing for a while. Yeah, I didn't directly call email. You don't think you probably could. Because of the league rules, I didn't directly call. You're a rule follower. You're a rule follower.

Exactly. I go by the book. That's right. But it of course, it got out there that we both might be interested in one another. And it happened pretty quickly after that. I heard some rumors that Houston wanted to get involved at the trade deadline too.

Phoenix had called around the league saying they wanted to see what my market was. So, you know, you hear all of these rumors and, you know, where there's smoke, there's a little, you know, that's fire for sure, you know. So once everything could be, you know, agents could talk to GMs and coaching and all that stuff. It just kind of worked out pretty fast. Do you have any specific, I mean, what is your attitude? What is your mindset coming into this season? Coming into a new situation and getting traded? And I know, you know, there's obviously a lot of noise and you're somebody who doesn't try to pay attention to that at all.

So what is your purpose and motivation for this upcoming season? That's changed? Oh, man, just to, man, I'm a simple guy, man. I just try to focus on the craft every day, try to be better than I was yesterday. I know that I can play a huge part in what we do as a team, but we are a team. And we all have to bring our best every day in order for us to reach our full potential as a group. So I try to focus on what I do the best and try to bring that to the group and also be as a resource of somebody who has some IQ, who has some experience. So whenever anybody needs to walk or talk to anything on the court, I try to be there for them as well.

But I don't try to be too overbearing. I just try to go out there and play my game, work on my game, and bring that to the group and be a good teammate. My phone always open, my door always open to come over and hang out. You know, so I just try to be coachable every year and every day and learn. So I just try to be a teammate, man. I know I've accomplished a lot in this league and people look at me a certain way, but I really, really take pride in. I really got, consciously try to be just one of the guys every day.

I need you to beat two-year-old of former teams. We can't beat the Warriors, and you know that directly. You can beat us one time, and then Oklahoma City's bragging. They're doing a lot of bragging up there right now. So it's been incredible running for you, my man. I have called many of your games from a distance and see you here wearing rockets, Gary. It's frankly surreal. It is.

It is. Walking in and usually that route is that quick left to that visiting locker room. And to walk past it and going to their rockets, lock, right? We didn't went through some battles playing against the rockets and flying into the sea, nervous to play these guys in this building and playoffs, you know. to have those battles and to finally be here. Down in Rockers' uniform, it is pretty surreal. It is a team that's young, but it's got the veteran guys.

Clint's here now. You got DFS. You know, Fred will be obviously from a distance. But you're not babysitting. I mean, this is a team that is 152 games. When took Golden State to 7, I mean, there are clearly expectations, and that comes to no surprise to you. Yeah, I mean, expectations can do two things,

you know, even make a man out of you, or, you can run into the, corner and curl up, you know. So I've been on teams where, you know, guys did both, guys, and rose to the occasion. And I've been on teams where we didn't know how to handle the expectations that come with being considered a championship contender, you know. So that noise comes with being a good team and it's going to get loud throughout the season, any bad play or loss or bad body language or anything. It'll be under a microscope and it be dissected.

And the great teams, regardless, block out all the noise and keep the main thing, the main thing, and focus on one another. So that's a small element that people don't talk about in the journey, but I'm looking forward to seeing what that would be like for this team because they never had these type of expectations. These young guys never played under these expectations before. So I'm looking forward to see how that makes us as a group. All right. Last question, Longhorn. Go ahead. Happy birthday, age 37.

Have you had any conversations or talk about? Back to backs, playing full 82. Yeah, and gifts, no. Playing a full 82 in a season, is that your goal? Or what are you trying to do as far as manage the season? I don't talk about managing the season. I just go out there and just play. What do you tell you to play?

Yeah, I expect to play 82 for 48 minutes a night. That's how I'm looking at it. Obviously, that's not realistic. But, you know, I kind of keep my mind focused on playing every game, like, low managing. and obviously I'll listen to the training staff that they figured they see as something that would work for me but for the most part I'm trying to

I'm trying to go there and play as much as I can man. All right, I'm good with that. He can do as much as he wants. To be ready in late May and early June. How about that? Thank you to the Rockets for their great assistance all throughout the course of the day.

Up next, it is Clanton. It's Wexer downtown at the... Where are they? Where are they? I don't know. We're downtown. They're in the studio, are they? I've got all the equipment. Yeah, they came mail in the next four hours, but they will try.

It's part of the A team. Talk to you out tomorrow at 10 here on 790.