A Few Words From the Heart for H-Town

You know what my favorite thing about Houston is? It’s really a city of go-getters. People from the outside, they don’t get it. They might look at H-Town as slow or Southern or whatever. But if you actually live here, you understand that it’s people from all over the world down here just trying to get their piece of the pie, and that’s why this place has such an amazing creative energy. The food, the music, the way people are …. Houston is one of the most underrated places in America, bro. 

I almost don’t even want to hype it up too much, because we gotta keep our thing our thing down here, you know what I mean? 

I loved being a Rocket, for real. I almost can’t believe I’m talking about H-Town in the past tense. But that’s life in the league. 

Listen, nobody likes to get traded. But I can honestly say that I get it, bro. This is a business, and if I was up there in the executive chair, I probably would’ve made the deal, too. I think it’s a better situation for both sides, and I’m just excited to get it popping with Book, and to create that winning culture that we figured out down here in Houston. 

What’s that thing that people are always saying in these moments? Don’t cry because it’s over? Smile because it happened? Bro, I’m smiling. It’s nothing but love for the Rockets. I’m sorry I gotta try to bust y’all ass now, but every time I see y’all, it’s gonna be love. I mean, I grew up here, for real. Some dudes just be saying that when they get traded, but I really came here at 19 years old still eating Skittles before games, and I’m leaving here as a father. It’s been a time, y’all. 

When I got here, all anybody was talking about was a “rebuild.” 

“Rebuild, rebuild, rebuild.” 

Doing that droopy dog thing, looking at the floor, you know what I mean? 

“Gee, I dunno. Might take 4 or 5 years, man. Just take it one day at a time.” 

Pssssshhhhh. We said, “F*** a rebuild.” 

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I think our group was just too young to even know any better. Maybe most teams would be chilling during the third quarter of a regular season game in February or whatever, just thinking about where we were gonna go after the game. Bro, we were playing every possession like it was life or death. Even when we were losing, we were entertaining. Our philosophy was, “Hey, we’re young and athletic. So let’s slide our feet.” 

We were flying around every gym in the league. We were doing the electric slide in that b*tch. You always knew Houston was gonna be playing some defense. Not defense, D-Fence, bro.  

The vets on the other teams would be looking at us like, “Yo, it’s a Tuesday, bro. Chill. Aren’t you dudes supposed to be trying to get picks?” 

But we weren’t trying to chill. We weren’t trying to get picks. We were trying to win now. 

My rookie year, we won 20 games. Twen-tee, bro. Within three years, we had the Toyota Center packed out for a home playoff game. I’ll always be proud of that. To flip it around like that, it’s about culture. We had our young core, but we also had vets like Fred VanVleet — guys who had really won in this league — showing us the way. 

I’ll never forget…. This is the first time I ever heard something like this from a vet …. I came out on a heater one night. I think I hit like three in a row to start the game, and the next time down the floor, I passed it. As a young dude, you almost got that guilt, you know? “I guess I gotta pass now.” 

Man, Fred looked at me crazy in the huddle during the timeout, and he gave me the green light in front of everybody. 

“Yo, did you just pass that? Shoot it again, bro. We’re running this s*** through you until you miss.” 

We were such a close group. That’s why it’s so tough to even be doing a goodbye, because I might as well just post a link to the whole damn roster. Every guy is somebody I was close with — somebody who I’ll keep in touch with after basketball. Fred, Amen, Tari, Jabari, Jock, Steven Adams, Jae’Sean Tate — everybody. Even our coaching staff and trainers — Royal Ivey, JB, Willie — you guys know it’s bigger than basketball. How many conversations about life did we have? Thank y’all for helping figure my s*** out. Not just as a ball player, but as a young father and as a man. 

And of course, my Turkish brother, Alpy. When we first came in here as kids, I didn’t know what the hell you’d be saying half the time. We were teaching you how to swear in English, bro. Remember that? You’d be showing me all that Turkish rap, and I just couldn’t get jiggy with it. I’m sorry, bro. Y’all gotta learn to switch the flow up. Hahahaha. That’s my guy though. I didn’t know Europeans could be so down-to-earth like that! I thought y’all were all bougie. But no, Alpy is cool as hell. 

With him and Amen, Rockets fans got a lot to look forward to for years to come, man. I can tell you because I had a front row seat for it — Amen isn’t just gonna be great. Amen is gonna be crazy. 

At the end of the day, man, the biggest testament I can say about my time here is that the day I got traded, I spent all day on the phone. I know how it is in this league. Some teams, they’re not that close. Some guys, they get traded and call up their 1 or 2 dudes on the team and that’s a wrap. Me, I was calling the whole roster. Started calling in the morning and it was dinner time before I said my last goodbye, bro. 

Thank God at least DB is coming out to Phoenix with me. I can’t wait to see a traded DB. He’s gonna be out there creating chaos, bro. 

You know what’s funny? First person I called after I got the news was my mom, because of course. You gotta call Mom. If I even had one second of feeling sorry for myself, that was gone by the time she picked up the phone. A lotta moms work the night shift to provide for their kids, man. Shout out to all the moms. But my mom worked a night shift as a corrections officer, bro. That’s a hell of a shift she was putting in.  But when I was coming up, she still used to come home in the morning and then drive me three hours to Oakland just to play basketball. She used to sleep in the car between games and everything. 

(Hey Ma, remember how I used to be getting bubble guts in the car before every game? Nervous as hell! I know dudes in the league that still be doing that, by the way.) 

“If you nervous, that means you ready!” 

Right, Ma? 

Taking long drives, playing basketball, handling business. That’s always been our life. Ain’t nothing going to change now. I got a team out in Phoenix who wants me to be me. I get to play alongside one of the best in the game in Book. It’s another opportunity to build a winning culture. Another opportunity to show people how deep my love for this game really is. And another opportunity to shut up y’all petty-ass haters, too. (I see everything, and I thank you for it.) 

So I’ll miss Houston and all my guys down there, but I’m smiling, man. I get to play basketball for a living. How can I have a bad day? Every day I’m hooping is a good day. 

H-Town, thank you for the love. For real, thank you. 

And if I bust y’all ass for 30 next season, just remember the good times! 

Sincerely, 

Jalen