Jalen Green is one of the most electrifying young talents in the NBA. He is the Rockets’ leading scorer, averaging 21 points a game to go along with four rebounds and three assists. He is one of the leaders of a young Houston Rockets team that has shocked everyone this season. Green stepped into the Star Studio to discuss his head coach Ime Udoka, his teammate Alperen Şengün, and talk a little love on Valentine’s Day.
What’s your go-to meal at Wingstop? We’re gonna go get lemon pepper, mild, all flats, large ranch, yeah, and the Hi-C punch.
Did you know the Rockets would break out this year? Yeah, I felt it just because at the end of the season last year, we were on that little winning streak and that wasn’t something we put together before. So I feel like once we got a taste of that, it was just something that we wanted to keep doing. Obviously, we didn’t end that year getting into the playoffs. But we knew what we needed to do coming into the season.
What did Coach Ime Udoka tell you when y’all met for the first time? That he wants me to be an all-around player. And what he means by that is he knows that I could score the ball, but he wants to see me play defense, if my shot’s not falling, getting guys involved, rebounding. So, yeah just being a more all-around, complete player.
You are one of the most durable NBA players. You think players don’t take playing as seriously as they should?Yeah and no, I always looked at like this as a kid: if you’re not injured, like, for real, you should go out and play. I don’t like talking about injuries in general, but if you’re injured, like, you can’t walk or go out there, then, yeah, okay, go sit down and rest. But like if you just doing it because you sore and you tired, or you got a little bruise, now that’s a different story.
Do you believe you should have been an All-Star this year? Um, yeah. I believe I should have gotten in there, but, I mean, there’s gonna be another opportunity for sure.
Let’s talk about your All-Star teammate Alperen Şengün. Is he a Top-3 big man in the league? Top five, for sure. It ain’t really that many bigs that are doing what he’s doing. Jokic of course, I feel like having a better season than Joel Embiid for sure. So I’d really put him right after Jokic.
What’s your love language? Quality time and physical touch.
What’s your love language that isn’t a love language? When she cooks for me and babies me.
