Latest / Bleacher Report / Jalen Green's Message to NBA Teams, Rockets' Season So Far and Amen Thompson Praise | Taylor Rooks X

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Jalen Green's Message to NBA Teams, Rockets' Season So Far and Amen Thompson Praise | Taylor Rooks X · Bleacher Report

0:00
Speaker 1: Jalen Green, I'm so happy that you're here on the show,
0:03
Speaker 1: obviously having such a phenomenal year. So I appreciate you
0:07
Speaker 1: taking the time.
0:08
Speaker 2: I appreciate you.
0:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course. And like I was saying, I knew
0:11
Speaker 1: you were going to come with something, a little something
0:13
Speaker 1: light on the feet.
0:13
Speaker 2: Tell me what we got got.
0:14
Speaker 3: The little boat taking things, both Tagger Runners, Kinky Silver
0:19
Speaker 3: gon By, not crazy.
0:21
Speaker 1: Yes, not crazy, just a little something. I expect, nothing less.
0:24
Speaker 1: You know, before you came, we were talking about just
0:26
Speaker 1: all of all of the things that surround Jalen Green.
0:29
Speaker 1: Of course your style, but we were like, are we
0:31
Speaker 1: ever going to hear these songs?
0:33
Speaker 2: Were they ever hear about that?
0:36
Speaker 1: Hey, listen, I know everything, okay.
0:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, me, yeah, Me and my teammates got some songs,
0:42
Speaker 3: teammates from the past and teammates present. I don't think
0:47
Speaker 3: ever I see Jell drop the song. Yeah, people be joking,
0:50
Speaker 3: like you know, JT, the real the real musicians. So
0:54
Speaker 3: I don't think we ever going to drop that.
0:56
Speaker 2: It's just a.
0:56
Speaker 1: Fun So you just have them and you keep them
0:59
Speaker 1: in the tuck to him every now and then. But
1:01
Speaker 1: no plans of letting, no plans Okay, then at least
1:04
Speaker 1: tell me what's your style, Like, what.
1:06
Speaker 2: Do you Yeah?
1:08
Speaker 3: Uh, I mean I just like vibing on the beat.
1:13
Speaker 2: I guess you could say, I don't know, I guess
1:16
Speaker 2: you's that like a gunna vibe.
1:17
Speaker 3: Probably, Oh okay, we kind of like to get in
1:21
Speaker 3: there like this.
1:21
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, I think the world needs it. For now,
1:24
Speaker 1: we'll leave it to jell O. But eventually, well, I
1:29
Speaker 1: mean it would be hard to focus on music just
1:31
Speaker 1: based on the like I said, phenomenal season that you're
1:33
Speaker 1: having right now. I really enjoyed doing sideline for you
1:36
Speaker 1: alls games. I'm excited that I'll get to do it
1:39
Speaker 1: for your game against the Grizzlies. But what has felt
1:42
Speaker 1: so different for this team this year?
1:47
Speaker 2: I mean it's a lot of different things.
1:48
Speaker 3: I mean it started last year, you know, with just
1:50
Speaker 3: the whole you know, restarted, like the culture and uh,
1:55
Speaker 3: you know, Emake came in and Best came in. From
1:59
Speaker 3: the jump, it was just like about to change this around.
2:01
Speaker 3: So I think everybody was already on the same page
2:03
Speaker 3: with that, the young guys and the young guys that
2:06
Speaker 3: came in, So it was really just a good situation
2:09
Speaker 3: and a good restart.
2:12
Speaker 1: In You've already had some huge wins. Beat the Lakers,
2:15
Speaker 1: beat the Grizzlies, beat the Calves, beat the Celtics. I
2:20
Speaker 1: want to talk about a couple of those wins and
2:21
Speaker 1: just have you walk me through what those wins took.
2:25
Speaker 1: I want to start with the Grizzlies win January thirteenth.
2:28
Speaker 1: Y'all won one twenty to one eighteen and you had
2:31
Speaker 1: forty two points. What sticks out about what that victory
2:35
Speaker 1: took from this team?
2:38
Speaker 3: Well, really, in that I think it was in the
2:40
Speaker 3: third quarter. I think we was down teen, or maybe
2:43
Speaker 3: it's the fourth towards the end of the game. So
2:45
Speaker 3: really it just took the togethernes in the fight. I
2:49
Speaker 3: feel like, you know, if we go out every night
2:51
Speaker 3: and play our hardest, we're going to have a chance.
2:53
Speaker 2: Regardless.
2:54
Speaker 3: I think our team is very deep from starters to
2:57
Speaker 3: the bench, So all we got do is go out.
3:00
Speaker 2: There and play horror.
3:02
Speaker 1: And you've had your career high three different times, all
3:05
Speaker 1: forty two points? What is it with the forty two
3:09
Speaker 1: that's about?
3:10
Speaker 3: I always say the last time I got this, like, man,
3:12
Speaker 3: I can't shake forty two. I don't know, I just
3:15
Speaker 3: need a couple more free throws.
3:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, forty two is still a great number. It's
3:21
Speaker 1: just funny that all three.
3:23
Speaker 3: I'm not complaining, but I mean a couple more free
3:26
Speaker 3: throws and like get a little fifty in there.
3:28
Speaker 1: So and with that Grizzlies game. I'm always interested in
3:33
Speaker 1: these very like marquee matchups. Obviously on their side they
3:36
Speaker 1: have an explosive, entertaining offensive talent and John Morant rockets
3:40
Speaker 1: of course. Have you the matchups like that bring a
3:43
Speaker 1: little something else out of you.
3:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
3:46
Speaker 3: I mean at the end of the day, you're going
3:48
Speaker 3: out there to compete, and you know, you feel like
3:50
Speaker 3: you're the best player on the team, no matter who
3:52
Speaker 3: it is you gonna call.
3:53
Speaker 2: In, you know, so why.
3:57
Speaker 3: So yeah, So it's always fun when you're playing get
3:59
Speaker 3: somebody match up with, you know, especially like when the
4:02
Speaker 3: crowd involved, you get to talking a little bit.
4:04
Speaker 2: It's all love at the end of the day.
4:06
Speaker 3: But you know, we all got the same goals when
4:07
Speaker 3: we step into the lines and trying to win.
4:09
Speaker 2: So it's fun though.
4:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, let's talk about that. Celtics win huge win
4:14
Speaker 1: monster games from Dylan Brooks from Im and Thompson. I
4:18
Speaker 1: know when that game you had twelve In a game
4:21
Speaker 1: like that where they are trying their best to take
4:23
Speaker 1: you out of it, where do you go mentally internally?
4:26
Speaker 1: How do you internal life those sort.
4:27
Speaker 3: Of games games like that is what else can I
4:31
Speaker 3: do to impact winning? I feel like that's my biggest thing,
4:36
Speaker 3: is like how I'm going to impact the game if
4:38
Speaker 3: I'm not scoring. But I feel like, you know, I
4:41
Speaker 3: played a solid defensive game in that game, and you
4:44
Speaker 3: know I had some good amount of assists, really getting
4:48
Speaker 3: off the ball when the double team comes, accepting the
4:50
Speaker 3: double team and really.
4:53
Speaker 2: Just finding the hot hand.
4:55
Speaker 3: You know I could, I could take it on the
4:56
Speaker 3: team when it it's not my game, but like, how
4:59
Speaker 3: something to impact it? So, I mean those are the
5:01
Speaker 3: main two ways, you know, passing and playing defense, and
5:04
Speaker 3: maybe just even running the lane. We'll do something to
5:07
Speaker 3: open their Finnish open one of my teammates up. So
5:10
Speaker 3: it all just depends on what's going on in the game.
5:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, and especially when they end up and wins, that's
5:16
Speaker 1: really all you can ask for. I mean those games
5:18
Speaker 1: that I just mentioned, I feel like everybody is finally
5:21
Speaker 1: taking notice to what this Rockets team can be. What
5:25
Speaker 1: do those wins show or prove about in this Western
5:27
Speaker 1: Conference who you all are.
5:30
Speaker 3: It shows that we not just a fluke, like you know,
5:32
Speaker 3: a lot of people thought in the beginning. You know,
5:36
Speaker 3: we got a couple wins early, and it was like,
5:38
Speaker 3: you know, people saying that we don't know how to
5:41
Speaker 3: play basketball, all types of stuff.
5:44
Speaker 2: But I feel like we got.
5:45
Speaker 3: A lot of dogs on our team and a lot
5:46
Speaker 3: of hungry people that's trying to win. Yeah, So I
5:49
Speaker 3: think that's what it shows.
5:50
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, you have a smile
5:51
Speaker 1: on your face.
5:52
Speaker 3: You always knew, yeah, I mean since last year, I
5:55
Speaker 3: knew it was only up from there. And I mean,
5:58
Speaker 3: especially in the first two years, it was tough, you know,
6:00
Speaker 3: just being at the bottom. Like I've never been in
6:02
Speaker 3: this position before. So just to see that turnaround, and
6:08
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just a different feeling the way different feeling.
6:10
Speaker 3: It's a good feeling. When you lose a game that
6:13
Speaker 3: you should win, it hurts way more. Like it didn't
6:16
Speaker 3: feel like that my first two years, Like it was
6:18
Speaker 3: really just going out there the.
6:19
Speaker 1: Hoop, you know, and now it's a completely different situation,
6:22
Speaker 1: really different. Yeah, from the outside looking in, I felt
6:25
Speaker 1: like that final stretch last season where you all were
6:29
Speaker 1: fighting for the play in, fighting for the playoffs, playing
6:32
Speaker 1: meaningful basketball was really important. Like why was it good
6:36
Speaker 1: to get a taste of that going into this year?
6:40
Speaker 3: I think, well, first it started with I think that
6:42
Speaker 3: was the longest streak we had that year. So just
6:47
Speaker 3: just putting those stacking those wings back to back with
6:50
Speaker 3: was super important for us. We gotta taste of like
6:54
Speaker 3: what the feeling was like of what we need to
6:56
Speaker 3: do every night. So we kind of just carry that
6:59
Speaker 3: on to this year and once we got our rhythm,
7:02
Speaker 3: we just you know, you see, we still keep going.
7:04
Speaker 3: So it's all that's about is just finding and knowing
7:06
Speaker 3: what you're supposed to do every now on the day
7:08
Speaker 3: to day basis.
7:09
Speaker 1: I spoke to your GM, Raphael Stone, and he obviously
7:13
Speaker 1: loves this team. I was talking to him about the
7:15
Speaker 1: trade deadline and he said, I love this team. I
7:17
Speaker 1: love that we're developing. I love the talent, and right
7:20
Speaker 1: now this is our team and it's who we want
7:22
Speaker 1: to stick with. What do you think this young core
7:25
Speaker 1: has shown everyone about what you're able to do?
7:30
Speaker 2: What have we shown?
7:31
Speaker 3: I would say, I would say you have to get
7:36
Speaker 3: your rest before playing us, for sure, just because, like
7:39
Speaker 3: you said, we're a young team, we're super talented. We
7:42
Speaker 3: got a lot of depth from starter to bench. So yeah,
7:47
Speaker 3: I would say, you have to get your rest and
7:48
Speaker 3: really take the game serious, because before it wasn't you
7:51
Speaker 3: wouldn't take it serious. So that's what I would say.
7:55
Speaker 1: And what kind of just confidence does it instill in
7:57
Speaker 1: you that you know everybody in the front office they
8:00
Speaker 1: all believe in the youth, in the development and the talent.
8:03
Speaker 2: It's a good feeling and it allows us to be ourselves.
8:08
Speaker 3: We have that like when we got the whole team
8:10
Speaker 3: behind you that believes in you, there's really no time
8:12
Speaker 3: for a second guessing yourself. Just know you gotta do
8:15
Speaker 3: go out and do what you gotta do every night
8:16
Speaker 3: and be yourselfs.
8:18
Speaker 1: So we always you ask for Now, speaking of young players,
8:22
Speaker 1: I know you knew Amen Thompson would be good. I
8:24
Speaker 1: know you knew it. Yeah, did you know it would
8:27
Speaker 1: be this good?
8:30
Speaker 3: The stuff that he's been doing lately is being crazy crazy, Uh.
8:36
Speaker 3: I mean he's a walking double double. If it's trade
8:39
Speaker 3: ball and mid he's falling, it's even scarier. I just
8:43
Speaker 3: want to I just want to say, like if he
8:45
Speaker 3: gets a jumper, like a consistent jumper in this league,
8:49
Speaker 3: done over because you can't stop him downhill. He's gonna
8:53
Speaker 3: guard the best player every night. He's gonna go rebound
8:56
Speaker 3: and get put backs, and he's just overall like a
8:59
Speaker 3: great like person. So I mean, we got all that
9:03
Speaker 3: together and warn it's like worn to be a superstar,
9:06
Speaker 3: you know.
9:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, He's been such a joy to watch and obviously
9:09
Speaker 1: such a freak athlete. There's, of course things that we
9:12
Speaker 1: don't see because we only see the games. What is
9:15
Speaker 1: the most athletic thing that you have seen the men do?
9:20
Speaker 2: I've seen so many now it's like normal to me.
9:23
Speaker 2: Not normal.
9:24
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say normal because I still be in shock
9:26
Speaker 3: every time I see something.
9:29
Speaker 2: But I'm sure he did. He did something in practice
9:31
Speaker 2: over the summer. For sure.
9:33
Speaker 3: It was like okay, hold on, Like it was probably
9:36
Speaker 3: a dunk or something. I mean, he's had a couple
9:38
Speaker 3: of dunks this season. Even last night when we play Atlanta,
9:41
Speaker 3: he like carried the ball over one two and like
9:45
Speaker 3: punched on him. I'm like it was that easy, Like well, yeah,
9:50
Speaker 3: I mean he surprised me every time.
9:52
Speaker 1: I loved his postgame quote where he said no one
9:55
Speaker 1: can guard Jalen Green except me? Can the men guard you?
9:58
Speaker 1: He's locking you.
9:58
Speaker 2: Down right now.
10:00
Speaker 3: No, you can ask him about what's going on this summer.
10:03
Speaker 3: You know, we was you know, we had our phase.
10:06
Speaker 2: He may have. You know, he's a defender.
10:08
Speaker 3: He's a great defender in this league, one of the best,
10:11
Speaker 3: if not the best.
10:14
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean.
10:14
Speaker 3: We've had our phase though, so we're not gonna do
10:16
Speaker 3: all that.
10:17
Speaker 1: You're like, I've done the one v one and I
10:19
Speaker 1: came out on time.
10:20
Speaker 2: We're not doing all of that.
10:22
Speaker 1: When I chatted with him the last sideline game my dead,
10:25
Speaker 1: I think I told you that he called you an
10:27
Speaker 1: underrated defender.
10:28
Speaker 2: You agree? Yeah?
10:30
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you were really becoming a complete
10:33
Speaker 1: two way player?
10:34
Speaker 2: Yeah?
10:34
Speaker 3: I feel like I feel like from my first two
10:37
Speaker 3: years of being on being a pick on guy is
10:43
Speaker 3: completely different now, Like, I mean, you're not gonna call
10:47
Speaker 3: me up all the time. Now you might call me
10:49
Speaker 3: up one time to see what's going on, but there
10:52
Speaker 3: ain't nothing going on. So yeah, I feel like I've
10:54
Speaker 3: grown a lot in that situation. I really think my
10:56
Speaker 3: offside like helps our defense and like being low man,
10:59
Speaker 3: that's where.
11:00
Speaker 2: I was really bad at.
11:02
Speaker 3: I feel like I still got some work to do
11:04
Speaker 3: on that, but I feel like overall I've becoming better.
11:07
Speaker 1: But you talk about no longer being like that pick
11:10
Speaker 1: on guy. What level of just like, Okay, this is
11:13
Speaker 1: my pride that I'm putting on the line when I
11:16
Speaker 1: go out there and I defend.
11:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's all of it.
11:19
Speaker 3: For like being a pick on guy in a game
11:23
Speaker 3: that you feel me supposed to win or it come
11:27
Speaker 3: down to the last street.
11:28
Speaker 2: Since somebody call you up.
11:29
Speaker 3: It's like all right, you want to like they feel
11:31
Speaker 3: like it's like a spotlight, Like man, I had this dance,
11:34
Speaker 3: so yeah, it's super important.
11:36
Speaker 2: It's probably on the line.
11:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure, and you're coming out on top now.
11:40
Speaker 1: I love it. How would you measure your level of
11:44
Speaker 1: confidence at this point in your career.
11:47
Speaker 2: I would say I would say it's grown. It's pretty
11:51
Speaker 2: high right now.
11:54
Speaker 3: I feel comfortable of knowing what I need to do
11:57
Speaker 3: and you know what shots I'm gonna get and knowing
12:01
Speaker 3: what the defense may throw at me. You know, it
12:03
Speaker 3: all comes down to like the work you put in,
12:05
Speaker 3: especially like during season. Look matter whether it's the little
12:09
Speaker 3: workhouse or the morder workouts, just getting shots of extra reps,
12:15
Speaker 3: so I stayed at I stay on that like for
12:18
Speaker 3: most of the year, my whole routine.
12:21
Speaker 2: So that builds the confidence there too.
12:23
Speaker 1: Because it feels like very clear every year how your
12:27
Speaker 1: confidence has grown. And I know you and I chatted
12:30
Speaker 1: about consistency and how you want to get there and
12:33
Speaker 1: the strides that you have taken. You said that you
12:35
Speaker 1: feel you still have a ways to go, but you
12:38
Speaker 1: clearly are a lot more of a consistent player, and
12:41
Speaker 1: I'm curious how your mental approach changed for you to
12:44
Speaker 1: reach the level of consistency that we're seeing now.
12:47
Speaker 3: I would say it's really routine. I mean most of
12:52
Speaker 3: the game is obviously confidence. The rest is, you know,
12:56
Speaker 3: skill and routine. And I think you like into like
13:00
Speaker 3: a routine and have something that you're doing every single day.
13:04
Speaker 2: You know.
13:04
Speaker 3: The rest the rest is easy because you know and
13:06
Speaker 3: you put in the working and stuff. So like you
13:11
Speaker 3: just said, like I told you, like, I feel I
13:13
Speaker 3: still got ways to go, but you know, it's all
13:15
Speaker 3: about second days, and I feel like I'm starting to
13:18
Speaker 3: stack those days.
13:20
Speaker 2: Well.
13:20
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this as I was getting ready
13:22
Speaker 1: for this interview. First time I met you was the
13:24
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one NBA Draft. You were the first lottery
13:27
Speaker 1: pick of the post Heard and era. There was so
13:30
Speaker 1: much hype around you in that day, in that moment,
13:33
Speaker 1: and I just remember all the things everyone had to
13:37
Speaker 1: say about you and the pick, And I'm curious if
13:40
Speaker 1: you ever get past the pressure of being the second
13:43
Speaker 1: pick in the draft, like what you mean, Like like
13:47
Speaker 1: when you are decided that you were going to go
13:49
Speaker 1: number two overall to a team. There is that pressure
13:53
Speaker 1: of being like a franchise changing player, of coming in
13:55
Speaker 1: and impacting, of being that guy, and there's just a
13:59
Speaker 1: general fresh sure that comes with that. Does that go
14:01
Speaker 1: away or do you think that stays with you?
14:05
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean I feel like it always stays
14:07
Speaker 3: in the back of your head. Like I don't think
14:10
Speaker 3: anybody ever wants to, you know, fall off or not
14:15
Speaker 3: be like meet the standards that you have in your
14:18
Speaker 3: head already as it is. So Yeah, that pressure stays
14:22
Speaker 3: in the back of your mind. But at the end
14:24
Speaker 3: of the day, you got you gotta block everything and
14:26
Speaker 3: just you know, go be you, Like I'm sure.
14:30
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not sure.
14:31
Speaker 3: Everyone has been doing this since there was kids playing basketball,
14:34
Speaker 3: and then it got to a point where you start
14:36
Speaker 3: playing and like extra work and then got to the
14:38
Speaker 3: point now you're in the NBA. You go to college,
14:40
Speaker 3: you kill at college, killing the NBA. So it's just
14:43
Speaker 3: all about the work and what you put in. I
14:46
Speaker 3: mean half the game is confidence. You believe in yourself
14:49
Speaker 3: that would take you far enough.
14:51
Speaker 2: Right there?
14:52
Speaker 1: Are you a kind of player where expectations that people have,
14:55
Speaker 1: if you feel you or you a kind of person
14:57
Speaker 1: likes to set your own, how does your mond work?
15:00
Speaker 3: I would say both. I mean, I see I'll be
15:04
Speaker 3: seen what people say. I don't really feed into it,
15:08
Speaker 3: apply to it or nothing like that, but I see it.
15:12
Speaker 3: I would say that fuels me. Also, I also set
15:14
Speaker 3: my and I have, you know, goals that I want
15:18
Speaker 3: to reach personally as a team. But yeah, I see both.
15:24
Speaker 3: It fuels me. And I got my own too, so
15:26
Speaker 3: it balances out.
15:28
Speaker 1: I know that you used to write goals on sticky
15:30
Speaker 1: notes and you put them on your door. If you
15:33
Speaker 1: were doing that this season, what are some of the
15:36
Speaker 1: individual goals you'd write on those sticky notes?
15:39
Speaker 3: Individual goals for basketball obviously all stories. One of them.
15:47
Speaker 3: Playoffs is one of them. Win more games than last
15:52
Speaker 3: year was one of them. I think we're on our
15:54
Speaker 3: way to that, and then you know, the championship up there.
15:59
Speaker 3: For sure, got it in for that. But yeah, I
16:03
Speaker 3: would say those those are pretty much, you know, my
16:06
Speaker 3: my basketball individual goals.
16:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, all star around the corner. Do you feel like
16:11
Speaker 1: you've done enough to deserve one of those spots? Uh?
16:14
Speaker 2: See, that's a that's a tough one. I don't know.
16:19
Speaker 3: I have no clue, really, I really don't know. I
16:24
Speaker 3: feel like I've been solid. I've had some highs and
16:26
Speaker 3: some lows, but overall, I feel like I've been, you know,
16:31
Speaker 3: very solid and for the most park insistent. I'm not
16:35
Speaker 3: gonna be perfect every night, but I feel like I'm
16:39
Speaker 3: doing you know, my partner and what it takes to win,
16:42
Speaker 3: and you know, I got a good team around me
16:44
Speaker 3: that's helping.
16:45
Speaker 2: Me get to that.
16:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you've had some very high highs for sure.
16:50
Speaker 1: You did a piece with GQ and Tyler and he
16:53
Speaker 1: asked you what you want out of your career and
16:57
Speaker 1: you said, I want respect. Do you feel like season
17:00
Speaker 1: you have gotten closer or at that level of respect
17:04
Speaker 1: that you want to command?
17:06
Speaker 3: No, I don't think I have. I don't think I have.
17:11
Speaker 3: But that also plays a part of it.
17:12
Speaker 2: I got a lot more to do too.
17:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like there's still a lot more I
17:19
Speaker 3: have to do. I feel like I've taken steps though
17:23
Speaker 3: in the right direction. But it's early, still my fourth year.
17:29
Speaker 3: I'm twenty two years old, so there's still a lot
17:33
Speaker 3: of times to gain that respect within my early ages.
17:38
Speaker 1: I'm surprised to hear you think that you haven't gained it.
17:41
Speaker 3: I mean, I've gained a little bit. I got some respect,
17:44
Speaker 3: but like, I don't know, it's not there. Yeah, all
17:48
Speaker 3: the way to respect that one.
17:49
Speaker 1: What does the respect look like to you? Because maybe
17:52
Speaker 1: I'm defining it differently than you are.
17:54
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how to respect looks like
17:57
Speaker 2: to me.
17:57
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, I haven't really seen obviously, I get them
18:01
Speaker 3: all props, you know, here and there. You know, I've
18:05
Speaker 3: done what I needed to do to get to the
18:07
Speaker 3: point where I'm man, But I feel like it's it's
18:10
Speaker 3: only the beginning, So.
18:13
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what that looks like.
18:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you can asked me about like three years,
18:18
Speaker 3: I gotcha, but.
18:19
Speaker 2: I think I think it's coming up.
18:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I would say I've been doing this a
18:24
Speaker 1: while and the number one thing you do to get
18:28
Speaker 1: respect is win, for sure, and that is absolutely what
18:30
Speaker 1: you all have been doing. How have you just learned?
18:33
Speaker 1: It feels obvious, right, But the impact of winning, what
18:37
Speaker 1: that does to teams, what that does to players, what
18:39
Speaker 1: that does to perception? What does it do like around
18:44
Speaker 1: the Yeah, around the league? For yourself, I.
18:47
Speaker 3: Think it puts you know, people on notice and that
18:53
Speaker 3: that's a that's a formal respect to right there. And
18:57
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, as a team, as a Houston Rockets organization,
19:00
Speaker 3: people are starting to look at its different. Yeah, and
19:03
Speaker 3: you know, and they're not gonna take us lightly no more.
19:08
Speaker 3: But yeah, well we still got a lot of work.
19:09
Speaker 2: To do for sure.
19:10
Speaker 3: It's just you know, it's about to be All Star
19:13
Speaker 3: a little break in between and come back and stuff starts.
19:18
Speaker 2: To get a lot more serious.
19:19
Speaker 3: So if we carried this home after all Start, then
19:23
Speaker 3: I think people were really like stamp.
19:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I asked you, what two things do you believe
19:30
Speaker 1: caused the turnaround for this team? You told me and
19:33
Speaker 1: the vets, So I want to talk a little bit
19:35
Speaker 1: about both. I thought it was really enlightening everything that
19:39
Speaker 1: you told me about how you had to get used
19:41
Speaker 1: to being coached by e May because at first you
19:43
Speaker 1: didn't get it. What do you mean by at first
19:47
Speaker 1: it was hard and you had to figure it out.
19:51
Speaker 3: I mean that has a lot to do with, you know,
19:53
Speaker 3: the habits that I created for myself over the first
19:56
Speaker 3: few years, just not being gage defensively, you know, being
20:02
Speaker 3: out there and just floating and not going out there
20:07
Speaker 3: and playing my heartiest by the time and really just
20:11
Speaker 3: understanding the game. So yeah, when he came in and
20:16
Speaker 3: so I'm not playing defense, comes it down and you
20:19
Speaker 3: don't wonder why you're not playing the fourth quarter and
20:22
Speaker 3: in the in the defensive possessions. So I mean, that's
20:26
Speaker 3: that's That's also a prior thing with me, Like I
20:29
Speaker 3: feel like I could, I could do everything out there.
20:32
Speaker 3: So I want to be in those situations to sow
20:36
Speaker 3: you like you could trust.
20:37
Speaker 2: Me to win.
20:38
Speaker 3: So at the end of the day, you got to
20:41
Speaker 3: gain his trust. That's all you want to see, Like
20:43
Speaker 3: can you do it? He knows I could do. I
20:45
Speaker 3: think that's why he would have me shit down, because
20:48
Speaker 3: if you're not doing it what you're out there for.
20:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, before I ask another question about emmy, I just
20:54
Speaker 1: want to pause because it takes such a high level
20:57
Speaker 1: of self awareness and I also think humility to be
21:01
Speaker 1: able to say what you just said, that you felt
21:03
Speaker 1: like you didn't create good habits, that you weren't doing
21:05
Speaker 1: everything that you could. I'm sure in the moment it
21:08
Speaker 1: didn't feel like that, though, So how were you able
21:11
Speaker 1: to look in the mirror and say, I was not
21:14
Speaker 1: doing the things that I should have been doing.
21:17
Speaker 3: Early on, I could look in the mirror and say,
21:21
Speaker 3: because at the end of the day, you gotta respect
21:23
Speaker 3: the game. You can't you can't play the game or
21:26
Speaker 3: the game go play you. So when you look at
21:30
Speaker 3: it like that and you're not handling your business as business,
21:35
Speaker 3: then you're gonna wonder why why this ain't going that way?
21:39
Speaker 3: Or you know, the hard time is gonna feel harder
21:42
Speaker 3: than they're supposed to feel like. But when you look
21:45
Speaker 3: at a loss or something like that, it's really just
21:47
Speaker 3: a lesson. So if you're looking at it like that
21:50
Speaker 3: as a lesson within a hard time, then you're gonna
21:54
Speaker 3: learn and you're gonna prevail from that. You're gonna grow
21:57
Speaker 3: from that. So I think that's what that was coming in.
22:01
Speaker 3: And you know, he made he made a real coach,
22:04
Speaker 3: like you know, he was a Boston to playoffs, was
22:06
Speaker 3: in the finals.
22:07
Speaker 2: Like, that's a real coaching over there. So yeah, I.
22:10
Speaker 3: Ain't never had that before. Not not knocking my old
22:14
Speaker 3: coaches because they were great and they helped me, you know,
22:16
Speaker 3: on the path to where I'm at right now. So
22:20
Speaker 3: it was just it was just a lession. You know,
22:22
Speaker 3: you got to be a coachable win them situations.
22:25
Speaker 1: No, I think that's that's such a mature approach to
22:27
Speaker 1: have with it. Did you think that this sort of
22:30
Speaker 1: style of coaching was the kind of coaching that you
22:33
Speaker 1: would like or are you surprised by how it has
22:35
Speaker 1: pushed you to become such a better player.
22:39
Speaker 3: I feel like, yeah, yeah, I know, because that that
22:44
Speaker 3: is the type of coaching that you know, you want,
22:47
Speaker 3: you want somebody to push you to be your best.
22:50
Speaker 2: But also it was it was just hard.
22:54
Speaker 3: It it's just the NBA, Like, yeah, that's not the
22:59
Speaker 3: NBA what he was doing for so like.
23:03
Speaker 2: This is the NBA.
23:04
Speaker 3: This is like the real, like word, this is what
23:07
Speaker 3: we're going to do to win. And if you're not
23:09
Speaker 3: on board, then you can come sit down.
23:12
Speaker 1: I've heard you use the word habits a few times
23:15
Speaker 1: now that you're a pro. How much do you see
23:17
Speaker 1: that those habits they make or break who you are
23:20
Speaker 1: as a player.
23:20
Speaker 3: For sure, you gotta have good habits. You got k
23:23
Speaker 3: good habits like you just said, I mean, you're not
23:26
Speaker 3: gonna go to the details, but them my habits, yeah
23:28
Speaker 3: could break you.
23:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, they just knock you off your game.
23:31
Speaker 1: The other thing, like I said, you said it was
23:33
Speaker 1: May and the Vets. Big shout out to both Fred
23:36
Speaker 1: van Vliet and Dylan Brooks. Fred is such a pro,
23:40
Speaker 1: big big fan of Fred. How have both of those
23:43
Speaker 1: guys helped make you a better player as well?
23:47
Speaker 3: Just bringing that winning coach of you know, Fair got
23:50
Speaker 3: a championship uh dB be into the playoffs multiple times,
23:57
Speaker 3: just just just knowing what to do and just to
24:00
Speaker 3: calm the game down, slow down, Like we still got
24:03
Speaker 3: young people over here. Sometimes in that fourth quarter we
24:06
Speaker 3: get a little sped up, but for it and they're
24:08
Speaker 3: showing the game down. Let's get people in position. You've
24:11
Speaker 3: ben set this up to where you know, we get
24:13
Speaker 3: a good shot.
24:15
Speaker 2: TB.
24:17
Speaker 3: Hiss just mentality approaching the game, his toughness and you
24:23
Speaker 3: gotta have somebody like that that you just go to
24:25
Speaker 3: war with. And I think between all of us with
24:29
Speaker 3: the young guys, the vets. Even Jeff Green like championship
24:32
Speaker 3: winning mentality coming in Jack Londale winning mentality Steven and
24:36
Speaker 3: has been played with Johann Russell Westbrook, so I'll be
24:41
Speaker 3: learning a lot from him. Just guys like that, Like
24:46
Speaker 3: they just bring that winning mentality. So that's what we needed,
24:49
Speaker 3: you know, we didn't understand how to win, so it
24:51
Speaker 3: helped out a lot.
24:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say, you know, in sports, having
24:54
Speaker 1: a VET is something that is thrown around a lot,
24:57
Speaker 1: but until you're in the moment where you don't have
25:00
Speaker 1: vets and then you then get vets and see how
25:03
Speaker 1: they can really infuse goodness into a team. I don't
25:06
Speaker 1: think you really understand the value of having a strong.
25:10
Speaker 3: It's super important, super important, especially when you know you're
25:13
Speaker 3: a rookie and you get traded to a team you
25:16
Speaker 3: probably you probably gonna if you're a good rookie, you
25:18
Speaker 3: can probably get traded to the worst team, and you
25:21
Speaker 3: know you might have some vets, you might have not any,
25:23
Speaker 3: and some might wouldn't be getting out of there. So
25:26
Speaker 3: it's just the whole rebuild situation. But if you come
25:29
Speaker 3: if you're going into a situation where you got good vets,
25:32
Speaker 3: just taking as much as you can and like absorb everything,
25:36
Speaker 3: like experience, so that it would go along with because
25:39
Speaker 3: then you'll know when you become that VET and you
25:41
Speaker 3: got a rookie, let me help you out, young feelings.
25:45
Speaker 1: Oh, you're going to be a good VET. You're gonna
25:47
Speaker 1: be a good VET. You have learned from some of
25:49
Speaker 1: the best, and you will know what it is like
25:51
Speaker 1: to not have the VET, so you'll be able to
25:53
Speaker 1: bring all that experience into whenever you have your rookies.
25:58
Speaker 1: A few more fun ones for you. What's it gonna
26:00
Speaker 1: take to get you back in the dunk Contest?
26:04
Speaker 2: I was actually just talking to my people. If I
26:06
Speaker 2: if I get if I do the.
26:07
Speaker 3: Dunk Contest, I gotta make All Star. Like, if I
26:10
Speaker 3: make All Star, I'll do the Dunk Contest. But if
26:13
Speaker 3: I make All Star.
26:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you had a magic wand you could fix
26:19
Speaker 1: it exactly how you wanted to, how would you fix
26:22
Speaker 1: the Dunk contest?
26:24
Speaker 2: Fix it? I don't know. I don't know. I didn't
26:33
Speaker 2: like I didn't like how it was like a minute.
26:35
Speaker 3: It wasn't it like a minute or something that you
26:37
Speaker 3: get to do the dunk sixty seconds you get a hold,
26:40
Speaker 3: you just keep going up there, keep trying dunks.
26:43
Speaker 2: I didn't like that.
26:44
Speaker 3: I feel like you should go back to like you
26:45
Speaker 3: get three items, yeah, because it's like if you ever
26:48
Speaker 3: get your three teams, then stop because now you're.
26:51
Speaker 1: Just out there doing whatever.
26:52
Speaker 2: Are you tired?
26:53
Speaker 3: Now you might go get hung or something. So I
26:56
Speaker 3: think it should just be three teams.
26:58
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, speaking of dunks, we have one dunk that
27:00
Speaker 1: we want you to walk us through. It was a
27:02
Speaker 1: great dunk. Which one You've had some good ones? Which
27:05
Speaker 1: one you think we're about to pull up?
27:07
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, is it? You see there? They see there.
27:16
Speaker 2: I feel like it's going to be the Detroit one.
27:18
Speaker 1: You are correct a walk us through this one.
27:24
Speaker 2: Let me see. I was about to restart.
27:28
Speaker 1: This is my personal favorite.
27:30
Speaker 3: We over here talking green pointing for talking, so walking
27:35
Speaker 3: around right now talking. Yeah, it was it's a good game.
27:44
Speaker 3: Detroit just recently beat us. I think we won this one.
27:49
Speaker 3: The guys were playing great. I think I had an
27:51
Speaker 3: okay game and then that one just it just took
27:55
Speaker 3: like it was a da even matter if I just
27:57
Speaker 3: had an okay game.
27:57
Speaker 1: After this, did it feel like one of those ones
28:02
Speaker 1: right after you did it.
28:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, I knew it was, you know, just
28:08
Speaker 3: because me and Burrow got history. You know, you've had
28:12
Speaker 3: some battles over the years, especially like when you're going
28:17
Speaker 3: ahead to head with somebody in the same class as you,
28:19
Speaker 3: like it's super important stuff like that. But yeah, I
28:24
Speaker 3: just saw the opportunity and then through the dawn I
28:27
Speaker 3: was able to get into my lunch pad.
28:30
Speaker 1: So yeah, do you feel like in some ways you
28:33
Speaker 1: all will sort of always be tied just one and
28:36
Speaker 1: two in that draft?
28:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's gonna be forever fa as long
28:41
Speaker 3: as we in the NBA plenty against each other. You know,
28:44
Speaker 3: we're trying to go out there and compete, and you
28:48
Speaker 3: got shot every night.
28:49
Speaker 1: Yeah. So my producer Ron and I were laughing because
28:52
Speaker 1: in the broadcast Ryan Hollins a few times were saying,
28:56
Speaker 1: Jalen is all remaxing. I don't know what that means,
28:59
Speaker 1: but I'm trying to get a better understanding of Aura,
29:03
Speaker 1: and I hope you know all the kids say you've
29:05
Speaker 1: got it.
29:05
Speaker 2: I don't know.
29:06
Speaker 3: I don't know what the ord thing I've heard of it.
29:08
Speaker 3: I could put like a guess on what it is.
29:13
Speaker 3: But yeah, I don't really. I've heard a lot too.
29:16
Speaker 3: That sounds like a TikTok there.
29:17
Speaker 1: I think it is. But yeah, everyone says Okay, Jalen
29:20
Speaker 1: has the or you're all Aura NBA team apparently you Shay,
29:25
Speaker 1: And I don't know what it is.
29:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's just more so how you carry yourself.
29:33
Speaker 2: I guess, I don't know.
29:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you got a botagus, Yeah, yeah, something like that.
29:38
Speaker 2: I don't know.
29:39
Speaker 1: All right, two more questions and I'll let you go.
29:42
Speaker 1: I really loved reading that for I think it was
29:46
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one. You were journaling, and it was
29:49
Speaker 1: important for you to go to therapy. What if you
29:52
Speaker 1: learned from both of those things? And do you still
29:53
Speaker 1: do either one?
29:55
Speaker 2: I don't journal no more. That was.
29:59
Speaker 3: That was during their time when he's in COVID and stuff,
30:02
Speaker 3: so it was pretty pretty lonely. But the therapy I
30:08
Speaker 3: try to try to stay on top of. I go
30:12
Speaker 3: back and forth with it, like I'll do it for
30:14
Speaker 3: like a week and then stop, and then do it
30:17
Speaker 3: for a week again, or a couple of days and
30:18
Speaker 3: then stop.
30:21
Speaker 2: Yeah.
30:21
Speaker 3: I try to balance therapy eternally. No more, but therapy,
30:25
Speaker 3: I feel like it's it's good to have someone to
30:27
Speaker 3: talk to, especially like when you can't I can't talk
30:31
Speaker 3: to the people around you all the time about certain
30:33
Speaker 3: situations and stuff. It's good to go in and you know,
30:36
Speaker 3: get stuff off your chest. So yeah, yeah, I'm still
30:39
Speaker 3: I'm still working on that, like trying to like keep
30:42
Speaker 3: that in a routine.
30:43
Speaker 1: Yeah. We we end up talking about therapy a lot
30:46
Speaker 1: on the show because I've I've loved hearing athletes talk
30:49
Speaker 1: about the ways that they embrace it in the different
30:51
Speaker 1: forms of therapy. I've gone to therapy every week for
30:53
Speaker 1: like two years, and it's just completely changed my life
30:56
Speaker 1: for a lot of the reasons you're saying, have somebody
30:58
Speaker 1: that you can not even always just like talk about something,
31:02
Speaker 1: but talk through something and get you to understand maybe
31:04
Speaker 1: why you did this thing or why you think this way.
31:07
Speaker 1: So I'm happy to hear that it has helped in
31:10
Speaker 1: whatever capacity you want it to help.
31:12
Speaker 2: You help you with. I appreciate that, of course.
31:15
Speaker 1: And we ask every single person our state farm question,
31:18
Speaker 1: who has given you the biggest assist off the court?
31:22
Speaker 2: The biggest assist off the court?
31:28
Speaker 3: Mm Okay, let me think I'm gonna say.
31:36
Speaker 2: I feel like it's a truck question to the assists
31:39
Speaker 2: off the court.
31:40
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say not like some people say their parents
31:43
Speaker 1: and people say.
31:44
Speaker 3: There yeah, okay, okay, okay, yeah, I'm gonna say I'm
31:47
Speaker 3: gonna say my family. I'm gonna say my family, my friends,
31:53
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna the Langston in there too. Thanks to
31:56
Speaker 3: thank said.
31:57
Speaker 1: My god, Yeah, tell me more, tell me more. You're
32:02
Speaker 1: just like okay, likes to shout out and big assists
32:08
Speaker 1: off the course. No, this was so much fun. Got
32:12
Speaker 1: to take in. I guess what the aura of Jaylen Green. No,
32:17
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time, and I'm excited
32:19
Speaker 1: for the Grazzies game tomorrow.
32:20
Speaker 2: I appreciation of course,