The Dream Shake

Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Two years ago, the Houston Rockets were coming off a disappointing Western Conference Finals exit. They pushed the eventual champion Golden State Warriors, but a key injury to Chris Paul and a bevy of missed three pointers (and some Scott Foster) conspired to dash Houston’s hopes of a third franchise championship. The Rockets re-signed Chris Paul to a 4-year contract for the maximum and committed to running the team back for another shot. We’ve come a long way in two years. Tonight, the Rockets will look completely different from...

Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Despite a five-point loss to the Bulls, Victor Oladipo’s debut proved better days are ahead for the Rockets. Stephen Silas was two picks away from drafting Victor Oladipo during the 2013 NBA Draft. He was part of the then-Charlotte Bobcats draft process as an assistant coach for the team. With the Bobcats holding the fourth pick, Silas studied some of the top draft prospects coming out of college. One of which was Oladipo, who just took home the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors at Indiana University Bloomington. But as he...

Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports Jeremy and Mike start your morning off right! Hosts: Jeremy Brener, Michael Brown Jeremy and Michael break down Victor Oladipo’s strong debut and the miscues that lead to the loss vs. the Chicago Bulls. The Dream Take is on iTunes: Click Here to Download. Click here for the direct RSS feed. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @JeremyBrener Follow Michael on Twitter: @BSWPodcast_MB Follow Ray on Twitter: @raymondlucasjr Follow TDT on Twitter: @TheDreamTake Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes. Send all feedback, comments, and...

Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via The Rockets might have lost, but Victor Oladipo put up big numbers. Victor Oladipo’s Houston Rockets debut was spoiled in a 125-120 loss to the Bulls in Chicago on Monday night. The Rockets got off to an extremely poor start to the game. Houston shot an abysmal 2-of-11 from deep in the first quarter. They also gave up the ball nine different times, with Christian Wood contributing to three of them, getting called for two offensive fouls and a travel. Oladipo looked out of sorts to begin, going only one-of-four from the field with...

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports Can the Rockets end their road trip strong? The Houston Rockets play the last game of their three-game road trip tonight against the Chicago Bulls. John Wall and Danuel House Jr. will still be out, but tonight marks the debut of Victor Oladipo for the Rockets. Also joining him will be Eric Gordon and DeMarcus Cousins. It may not be our true first look at the new era of Rockets basketball, but, hey, we get to watch a new player make their debut for Houston for the 746th time in the past three years, and that’s always fun. What do you...

Photo by Randy Belice/NBAE via The Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls met twice in the preseason, with the teams splitting a pair of games in Chicago. As the Rockets travel to Chicago for the teams’ first regular season matchup, Houston is quite a different team. James Harden and Christian Wood missed those first two games. Obviously Harden won’t be suiting up tonight, but Wood will. Additionally, the Rockets welcome in Victor Oladipo into the squad from the Harden trade. The Rockets hope to have some combination of DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Gordon, and Sterling Brown...

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports Check out what the TDS staff has to say about the James Harden trade. Just days after the Harden trade went down, all of Red Nation is still trying to process it and formulate their opinions, especially here at The Dream Shake. We’ve put together all of our thoughts, opinions and concerns into one article to try and encompass all of our differing opinions in one spot. For this edition of the Roundtable, we have Jeremy Brener (JB), Darren Yuvan (DY), Coty Davis (CD) and Conrad Garcia (CG). Feel free to join the conversation in the comments...

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports Jeremy and Mike talk it out. Hosts: Jeremy Brener, Michael Brown Jeremy Brener and Michael Brown break down the Houston Rockets’ 103-91 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The Dream Take is on iTunes: Click Here to Download. Click here for the direct RSS feed. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @JeremyBrener Follow Michael on Twitter: @BSWPodcast_MB Follow Ray on Twitter: @raymondlucasjr Follow TDT on Twitter: @HardenMyTake Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes. Send all feedback, comments, and questions to jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com. Please...

Photo by Ronald Cortes/ Mason Jones and Christian Wood put on a show, but it wasn’t enough for the Houston Rockets to avoid their seventh loss of the season. The Houston Rockets displayed the same heart and effort that led them to a four-point victory on Thursday, but they could not replicate the same success. Saturday evening, the Rockets fell to the San Antonio Spurs 103-91 inside the AT&T Center in San Antonio. With the loss, the Rockets and Spurs split their two-game series, as Houston falls to 4-7 on the season. The most difficult challenge the Rockets had to...

Photo by Ronald Cortes/ After their best win of the season Thursday night, the Rockets have a rematch with the Spurs in San Antonio. It’s hard not to get poetic about the team’s first win in the post-James Harden Era. I could write about how the game was a “passing of the torch” or how the new Rockets, led by Christian Wood, Jae’Sean Tate, and Sterling Brown, grabbed the brass ring and woudn’t let go. But this is a game preview, and Darren already wrote a game recap better than anything I could say here. The Spurs likely feel like they let Thursday...

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports What’s the holdup? After the knockout trade that officially ended James Harden’s tenure with the Houston Rockets, many were surprised by the news that it would be Victor Oladipo, not Caris LeVert, who would be coming to Houston to vacate Harden’s spot in the lineup. The Pacers’ portion of the trade came in a subsequent deal, meaning they did not participate in the Rockets-Nets-Cavaliers trade that sent Harden to Brooklyn, Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince to Cleveland, and Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, Caris LeVert and a boatload...

Photo by Bart Young/NBAE via As the head coach of the Houston Rockets, Stephen Silas’ first 10 games were a painful reminder of how hard it is for a black coach in the NBA. But his future remains promising. This isn’t what Stephen Silas had in mind when he took the job to become the Houston Rockets’ next head coach. Sleepless nights three months into the job? Hearing your best player tell reporters the team isn’t good enough to win? Watching two Hall-of-Fame players walk out the door without giving it a chance? Silas had a difficult test ahead of him since he...

Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports New name, same podcast. Hosts: Jeremy Brener, Michael Brown In the first episode of The Dream Take, Jeremy and Michael discuss the Rockets defeating the San Antonio Spurs in the first game of the post-Harden era. The Dream Take is on iTunes: Click Here to Download. Click here for the direct RSS feed. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @JeremyBrener Follow Michael on Twitter: @BSWPodcast_MB Follow Ray on Twitter: @raymondlucasjr Follow TDT on Twitter: @TheDreamTake Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes. Send all feedback, comments, and...

Photo by Ronald Cortes/ No Harden, no problem. So how about them apples? The Houston Rockets opened up the post-James Harden era also playing without John Wall, Eric Gordon, and Danuel House, but they played hard, perhaps harder than they’ve played all year, and used some clutch fourth-quarter play from Christian Wood and Sterling Brown to edge past the San Antonio Spurs 109-105. The Rockets were down five points with three minutes left in what was a very good and fun-to-watch game, but both Wood and Brown hit big shots, while P.J. Tucker and Jae’sean Tate made...

Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports The after Beard era is here. Houston Rockets vs. San Antonio Spurs, January 14, 2021, 6:30pm CDT Location: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas TV: AT&T SportsNet, TNT Radio: SportsTalk790 Online: Rockets App Spurs SB Nation Blog: Pounding the Rock It’s the first game of the post-James Harden era, and the outlook is not good for the Rockets. John Wall is out tonight, as is Eric Gordon and Danuel House. Newly acquired Victor Oladipo is also not yet in town, so it’s a skeleton crew for Houston. Rockets starters: Tate, Tucker, Wood, Brown,...