Yeah, Monday edition of the PODLO different schedule this week because we had a immediate reaction pod to the Jimmy Butler trade that we dropped on Saturday,

went almost an hour talking just about that trade. I thought we had a lot of things to discuss, including where Philly goes from here that I thought it was a really interesting discussion. So please check that out if you haven't listened yet.

But we're going to start here because we're getting into the middle of the week. We're going to do half of the Western conference here and let's start with one of the most interesting drama filled deems in basketball.

The Houston Rockets, the latest reporting came out over the weekend and now Tim McMahon has tweeted that Rockets players and coaches believe that Carl Anthony has played his final game for the franchise,

apparently with the emergence of two way player Gary Clark who has been solid so far, but was not exactly who I would guess Melo envisioned himself losing time to it appeared that there was not going to be as much of a role for Carmelo, but it does seem like to me guys, if you're just reading the tea leaves, that this is more of a Rockets decision than a Melo decision that they're just sort of like, oh, we want to do the right thing for you because you're not going to play, but yeah, you know, we kind of would rather just have the roster spot on someone who's not going to have a

negative nine net reading. Yeah, I think it's just in to hear where Chris Paul and James Harden fall on this because I think I think Houston's being really smart and that they're attacking this early, whereas with OKC last year, I think all of us just kept expecting Melo to get better eventually. And then we said that he'd be good in the playoffs and he wasn't good in the playoffs. So Houston's tried this out for, I don't know, 10 or so games and I think they realized that it's not working at all. So it decided to go another direction. So I'm interested to hear how the other players respond to that decision.

Well, and so you have watched them the last week or so, obviously he was bedridden, no doubt, with an illness, these last few games, and now will not be making the trip with the team to Denver. But before that, what did you see from him? What was such a big problem with him?

It may be a little greater detail than we've been able to talk about so far. Well, I think most of the people when they talk about Melo talk about his troubles switching on the players, but I think he's just as bad off ball on defense as he has on ball. He's terrible as a ring protector. He just swatts guys like with that vicious swipe that he uses instead of but walling up and using any verticality. And then sometimes they'll just choose not to rotate on a play.

And the defensive rating with him on the floor is 114 and with him off the floor actually is 105, which is like a top five team in the league. So I think he's at the heart of a lot of Houston's issues defensively.

So I think you could see a big improvement with him off the floor. But I mean, and then just offensively, he never got to the foul line. He wasn't hit his three very well. 32% from three.

And he had a white side-esque five assists in 10 games. So he wasn't passing at all either. So he was he wasn't really helping out at all offense and he was crushing the defense. So it seems like I think they're going to be much better without him. So I don't know what you guys think of that.

Well, I mean, I watched a fair portion of their game on Sunday against the Pacers. And I don't know whether it was James Harden looking better physically. Chris Paul is still doing what he told to make man that it's tendonitis. So that's worth watching as well.

But the rockets to be clear. Yes, his elbow issue. So to me, this was the most like the rockets on both ends of the four that they've looked all year.

The ball was popping a little bit more harden was more aggressive at one point. He took some aggressive heat check pull up shots.

And they were getting great looks early for quinkapela. And they were bouncing around a little bit more defensively. So it looked a lot more like it.

And Gary Clark being a part of this rotation is another reminder that you don't necessarily need. And I don't know Gary Clark's game.

Enough to know if he's like way better than being an undrafted guy who made who made their team as a two way guy.

But it's not always about how good a player is. It's how well they can fit around what you already have.

And I think that was what mellows problem with this team was is that he couldn't fit in the box that they need for everybody that's not James Harden or Chris Paul on either end of the four.

Yeah. If I can just go. Okay. Well, that's just going to say about his stats. You know, it wasn't really anything where like, oh, teens were just shooting incredibly well.

And he was on the floor and team shot 4% better from three to one the floor. But that's not a crazy number. A lot of it was just that they couldn't get a defensive rebound when he was out there.

And part of that's not his fault. If he's playing with the second unit, they haven't really had an NBA quality back up big man. And then the following went way up to him.

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