There's data out there that suggests the Houston Rockets' main players are better when Jalen Green is not on the floor with them.
This was presented to Rockets general manager Rafael Stone when he spoke with media members Tuesday, and he brushed it off.
This was presented to Rockets general manager Rafael Stone when he spoke with media members Tuesday, and he brushed it off.
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00:00Okay, so there was a graphic floating around the internet yesterday
00:02in the aftermath of the Rockets getting knocked out in seven games by the Warriors.
00:07And it was a graphic that showed on and off the floor splits featuring Jalen Green.
00:15So when Jalen Green's on the floor with this guy, here's what this guy's net rating is.
00:20When Jalen Green's not on the floor with, say, Alper and Shengun,
00:23here's what Shengun's net rating is, that kind of thing.
00:26And it is probably slightly flawed because this is just two guys out of five that are on the floor.
00:32But when something is this drastically skewed one way, it doesn't feel like it's nothing.
00:38So this chart, if you can envision this, basically the message was that Alper and Shengun,
00:45Fred Van Vliet, Aamen Thompson, Dylan Brooks, Stephen Adams, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason
00:49are all more productive players, some significantly so,
00:54with Jalen Green off of the floor than with Jalen Green on the floor.
00:58This is perfect visual fuel for people that are hell-bent on getting Jalen Green up and out of Houston.
01:04Right, right.
01:05You're trying to create a narrative here, you know?
01:07Yeah, and I always get a little bit nervous about those because obviously the stat nerds and everything,
01:13the genuine stat nerds are very good at breaking this stuff down.
01:18And yet, there's a level of complexity that, you know, okay, the times that Jalen Green isn't on the floor,
01:24is it also, you know, when you're playing against the backups and rotational players or games
01:31where he's just not playing at all and guys are featured more heavily.
01:33So I don't, without having like a hardcore, so whatever, a lot of people are using it as evidence that, man,
01:39Jalen Green is actually the opposite of a guy who makes better, guys better around him.
01:43Yeah.
01:43The guys are actually much better without him.
01:44That's correct.
01:45Yeah, like the people who want Jalen Green gone would be standing outside Toyota Center
01:49waving a path and I are describing.
01:53This chart actually got brought up yesterday in the Raphael Stone-Eme Odoka postseason exit press conference,
02:01and Raphael Stone is not buying into that chart.
02:05That's a really flawed question.
02:07So, like, we have, there's great data that we have and we use, but, and I can, one of my, you may would know,
02:18one of my favorite things, and I tell them when we have a new, when we have new coaches join,
02:23one of my favorite things to tell them is I can make data say whatever I want it to say.
02:27And, and so, you know, I think, you know, we, we heavily use it, but, but we're very careful to try and really parse it out.
02:39And I would say that, I would say that that, that, that some of our very best lineups include him.
02:47And so, so, so that, that, that piece by itself, I just think that's just, yeah, that's just, that's just not correct.
02:54It is, and it's tough too with, I think when, and I'm not discounting like the, the, or saying that, that, that chart might be, is, is wrong or anything like that.
03:06It's just that, I think there's some days, you see this in baseball a lot.
03:08Like people are super analytical and everything will start really diving into the numbers and, but they'll still be going by lefties versus righties and what have you.
03:17Where the teams that are really advanced, like their analytics that they're using are way more individualized and advanced to where they're, they're, they're looking at the actual shape of the pitches and the actual splits and everything.
03:29And it's super convincing in analytics that's available to the masses.
03:36You got to always just take it with a grain of salt.
03:38And that, yeah, there's times when Jalen Green is out there and because when he's ball dominant and successful, other guys' net ratings might not be as, as good, whatever.
03:47Um, I just, uh, I, I think suffice it to say that the Rockets have a different feeling about Jalen Green and whether it's based on analytics or anything else than the, probably the public at large does right now.
04:01Now, I also think though, that the Rockets might, the Rockets might not be looking at Jalen Green as a guy who's a future superstar.
04:08And as long as you can accept that, all right, it's very, very, very much on the cards that Jalen Green is not going to develop into the superstar and the savior that everybody wanted.
04:16But it doesn't mean he's a bad basketball player.
04:19No, no.
04:19And it doesn't mean that he can't be part, uh, uh, uh, an integral part of a really good basketball team.
04:24He still does have to keep making improvements.
04:27So, yeah, I, the, the, the most interesting one on the chart, if we, if we, I'm going to, I'm going to give a shred of credibility to the chart.
04:34At least I get it.
04:35A hundred percent.
04:35Yeah.
04:35I'm not trying to discredit.
04:37No, no, no.
04:37And what I'm about to say and what I'm about to say here is, is that this shangun shangun being the one who's got the longest bar graph of positivity without Jalen on the floor is interesting to me.
04:49Just cause I've always thought that they're a bit of a clunky fit with each other as your two, as your two offensive guys.
04:55Like Jalen's not a sniper from outside shangun's a back it down in the post guy.
05:00He's a really good passer out of the post, you know, and, and I, Jalen is a guy who's probably better attacking the rim than he is, uh, you know, settling for step back jumpers and things.
05:12While he's a guy who can play on the perimeter because he's a really good passer and he sees the floor, got an okay shot.
05:18Um, there, there is that element of, especially in the half court, that things are a little gunked up for Jalen to be Jalen in the half court.
05:25So that thing, that, that part is, is at least interesting to me, but people are, people are weighing in, um, you know, guys, we watched Jalen play.
05:32They don't win 52 games without him.
05:34He had a good year in a horrible playoffs.
05:35That's all fair.
05:36That's all fair.
05:37But you also need to acknowledge, Texter, that playoff basketball is very different than the 82 game grind of the regular season.
05:43Right.
05:44No, and that's what I, that's where I think people immediately after the game seven, I think everybody is heated as hell and throwing all kinds of wild statements out.
05:54I think that after everything settles down, it's like, yeah, I can't sit here and look at a chart and think that somehow Jalen green wasn't a good basketball player in the regular season.
06:04It just, it doesn't, um, it doesn't jive with common sense and what your eyeballs say.
06:10So the, like, yeah, there's a, there's a bit of skepticism for me to look at a color coded chart and say, oh, yeah, look at that.
06:17He's trash.
06:17He's no good at all.
06:18Well, and the fact of the matter is, and we'll, we, we got to hit a break here because Nick Casario is joining us bottom of the hour.
06:23If they were playing any of the other four or five teams, they could have played in the first round.
06:27We might be singing a different tune.
06:28Golden state has his number, you know, like gold, golden state has figured out the Jalen green thing.
06:33So, so there's that too.
06:34That was a bad opponent for him.
06:35Now you got to be golden state at some point, if you're going to get through things, but we'll see.