Featuring Ben DuBose (USA TODAY’s Rockets Wire) alongside Don Knock and Paulo Alves (Clutch City Control Room), Friday’s newly released episode of The Launch Pad Podcast breaks down the latest wave of offseason news and rumors pertaining to the Houston Rockets.
The topic of the day is the implications of University of Kentucky product Shaedon Sharpe declaring for the 2022 NBA draft, in which the Rockets are guaranteed to have a top-five selection. Sharpe is viewed by many draft experts as having the most star potential of anyone outside of the consensus top four (Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith, Paolo Banchero, and Jaden Ivey), so his inclusion in the pool could be big for Houston.
Beyond Sharpe, other topics discussed on Friday’s podcast include:
- Acceptable offseason trades for veterans Eric Gordon and Christian Wood, and whether there’s a market for John Wall;
- What head coach Stephen Silas needs to show in the 2022-23 season to keep his job and potentially earn a contract extension;
- What needs to change to improve Houston’s defense, which ranked dead last among the 30 NBA teams in defensive rating;
- Plausible veteran free-agent targets in the 2022 offseason.
The podcast can be watched via YouTube (see embed below) and listened to via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more (Linktree).
