The Rockets have the sour taste of disappointment still lingering from last season’s playoff exit. They lost to a Lakers team without Luka Doncic, in a series where Kevin Durant played just one game. This, compounded by the fact that they lost Fred VanVleet before even playing a game, makes Houston hungry to play basketball and show the league what they should have been a season ago.
This is a veteran team complemented by young talent. But when you have two groups on different timelines, there is sometimes
a conflict of interest when it comes to deciding what is best for winning. Alperen Sengun is making $35 million this season, but Steven Adams makes more sense at center. Reed Sheppard was the third overall pick in the draft, but has not panned out quite yet. There are tough decisions the Rockets have to make if they want to maximize the rest of Kevin Durant’s career. And those decisions could prove fatal if made incorrectly.
Houston Rockets: Over/Under 48.5 wins (-110/-115)
To win the NBA Finals: +2700
Last Season: 52-30, lost W. Conference first round
Key Additions: Marcus Smart, Bogdan Bogdanovic
Key Losses: Dorian Finney-Smith
The Rockets’ lack of offense in the playoffs six months ago is what sunk them. Without Durant and VanVleet, they simply could not score enough points. Now that those guys are back, their offense should theoretically be better, but they are still going to force minutes on Sengun and Sheppard because of the capital they used on them. Ideally, the Rockets are able to trade one or both of those guys for a dynamic guard who provides shooting and move Adams into the permanent center spot. Kyrie Irving, for example, is a name that both makes sense and has been floated around. Until then, however, they are juggling too many things. Finding the right guys to play nightly without completely disregarding their younger pieces will be challenging. Houston is going to regress in the win column as they find their way forward.
