Jackson Gatlin of the Locked on Rockets
Podcast Always great to talk to.
Big day around the league,
NBA free agency kicks off and
a lot of deals being made.
Probably the biggest one
for the hometown Rockets.
A three-year $130,000,000 reported deal for
Fred Van Bleet from the Toronto Raptors.
Initial thoughts on signing
Van Bleet by the Rockets.
So look, Daniel, this is exactle
type of signing that this Houstn
Rockets team desperately needed.
Look, they are a young,
young basketball team, one of the youngest,
if not the youngest in the entire NBA.
And when you look at what direcn
they want to go next season,
they need a guy who could
be an extension of emo doka.
Emo doka is a great signing,
a great addition for the
Rockets this offseason.
And he is the leader that
has been desperately missing
in that Rockets locker room.
But now they add a guy in Fred n
Vleet who can be the extension of Emu
Udoka on the floor for this Rockets team.
Look, he's 29 years old.
He is a proven winner.
He is a former NBA champion and
he's going to be a guy that can
help organize this young Rockets
core on the basketball floor.
He is going to elevate.
The play of every player on this roster,
from Jalen Green to Alprenching Goon,
Jabari Smith, Junior,
and even a guy like Almond Thom,
who hasn't even stepped foot on
the court in a Rockets jersey y,
is going to be able to learn soh
from such a high caliber championship
level point guard in Fred Van Vleet this.
It might seem like an overpay on
the surface and I'm sure we'll
probably dive into the logistics
of the contract a little bit,
but honestly I think this was a great,
fantastic signing for Houston.
It's obvious that they
targeted Van Vleet very early.
They wanted to get this deal do.
They threw a lot of money at
him and I think e-mail Udoka
had a lot to do with this.
He absolutely did, right.
We we saw for months,
dating all the way back to Dece,
the reports, the rumors,
the interest in James Harden.
And one thing that I would likeo
push back on is I've seen a lotf
Rockets fans chalk it up to all.
It was never going to happen.
James was never going to
come back to Houston.
It was just a leverage play.
That is absolutely not the case.
There was interest on
both sides of the aisle.
the Rockets wanted to bring James Harden
back and James wanted to come b.
But.
At some point along the line,
there was a line drawn in the sd
where the rocket said we are not
going to overstep this threshol.
We're not going to spend this
much money or go this many year.
And that's when both sides
kind of had to reevaluate.
And when you look at some of the reporting,
when you look at some of the messaging,
the conversations,
all that the James Harden rumors
and interest really started
to cool down around the time
that the Rockets brought in.
Eme Udoka and a lot of the a lof
my understanding of the situatit
least is that there was interest in a,
you know,
reuniting with James Harden.
Ultimately,
it feels like Eme Udoka didn't
necessarily want that for his
vision of the team moving forwa.
And that's why they pivoted so
abruptly to going away from wang
to bring back James Harden and
then putting Fred Van Vleet at
the top of their priority list d
they got the guy that they want.
Well, I'm going to have to
agree with e-mail on that one.
I I was never a big fan
of bringing James back.
Now one thing people are talking about,
you alluded to it is the contrat
three years reported $130,000,0,
the first Max contract offered d
accepted during this free agency period.
You know, on the surface at firt
glance that's a that's a lot of money
for a player like Fred Van Vleet
who's a great player, no doubt.
So $43 million is a lot.
They have the cab space they
need to spend it.
What's your take on the
overall money aspect of this?
Look,
it's it's definitely,
it's a lot of cheddar cheese, r.
It's it's kind of tough to stomach the
idea of 130,000,000 to Fred Van,
but this is ultimately what was
going to happen and I do think
there is a little bit of concern
here where the Rockets kind of.
They were pretty transparent in their
desire to get Fred Van Bleet ri.
So much so to the point that the
Raptors got to a point where they were
comfortable offering Van Bleet t
4th year and the Rockets Basicay
a lot of the messaging was thaty
wanted to prioritize 2 year long deals.
We knew that the two year Max ws
going to be on the table for Van
Bleet and ultimately they had to
bump it to that third year Max l
to be able to secure his servic.
I don't think it's the end of te
world because again, he's 29 years old.
He'll be 32 or maybe not even
32 at the end of his contract.
It might be 31,
but he's he's not going to
age like right away.
It's not the same as bringing in
say a 34 year old James Harden
on a four year $200 million Max.
They're quite different circumstances
and because this was the Rockets priority
target and they didn't really h,
unfortunately I think a backup
plan if they didn't get Van Vle.
Then they kind of got to a point
where they had to put that third
year on the table to make it ha.
But ultimately I see a lot of Rockets
fans who are a little concerned about,
oh, well, you,
you just drafted Ahman Thompson.
He's supposed to be the point gd
of the future.
What do you do down the line whn
Ahman Thompson is ready to start
and you still got Van Vleet on
the hook for a couple more years
at Max Money First off?
Having two starting quality NBA point guards,
one of them with championship experience,
is a very,
very good problem to have in today's NBA.
Even on Max money for Fred Van t
as the NBA salary cap continues
to increase as the new TV deal
comes into place and the salaryp
continues to balloon A year from now,
two years from now,
that Max contract might not look
nearly the same way that it does today
as it does a year or two from n.
And one more point to add to that annual is.
At some point there might be the
next distressed superstar who
wants out of a bad situation,
and when those types of moves are made,
you need tradable salary to make that happen.
And now the Rockets are going to have
a very big trade chip in Fred Vendley
to the point where if Almond Thompson
is ready to take over the reins even.
You know,
halfway through this next NBA
season or a year from now,
whenever that may be,
then they'll have a pretty decet
trade ship in Van Vleet.
Either just because he's a
good quality point guard,
or maybe because they use his sy
as a the buoy for a bigger tradd
even even look at the basketball fit.
Van Vleet always made more sense to me than
James Harden because he's a versatile player.
He doesn't have one style of
basketball that he can play.
He's a guy who has played off the bench.
He's played as a primary guy.
He's played as a second or third fiddle guy.
He can play with the ball in his hands
and be your table setter on off.
He's a good shooter.
He's coming off of the worst
shooting year of his career,
I think, or at least.
His career when he became a a notable
member of the Raptors unfortuna,
but he is usually a very high
quality 3 point shooter.
A guy that can space the floor and easily
somebody you can envision playing alongside.
And Ahman Thompson because you n
run Fred Vandeleet at the point
guard spot and then Ahman Thompn
can check the other bigger plays
defensively and it's a match
made in heaven at that point.
Well, I like the idea of
having a coach on the floor,
especially with so many young g.
I like the signing.
I think it's good.
And let's see where the Rockets
go from here. Hey, Jackson,
thank you so much for joining m.
Appreciate it.
As I MB a free agency heats up.
Always a pleasure, Daniel.
Thanks for having me.