One move the Rockets must make this season

The Houston Rockets are off to their best start since their franchise record-setting 2017-18 season. That season, of course, featured Chris Paul and the Rockets’ second-best player in franchise history, James Harden. The Rockets won a franchise-best 65 games that season, and it was also the last time they made the Western Conference Finals.

The Rockets have gone through a complete overhaul since then and were hoping they could get back to that level or beyond with the hiring of Ime Udoka in 2023. The Rockets have made progress, going from a rebuilding lottery team after Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2021 to a playoff team the last two seasons.

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Unfortunately for the Rockets, they have plateaued over the last two seasons, bowing out in the first round in both seasons. There were legitimate reasons for that, as the Rockets made the playoffs for the first time in four seasons in 2024, and last season they were without not only Fred VanVleet, who was out all season, but also Kevin Durant, who missed all but one playoff game.

Heading into this season, the Rockets plan to have a full roster for the first time in the Kevin Durant era. VanVleet was ready to start the season, along with Steven Adams, who missed the last four months with a lower-body injury. Those plans lasted one game into the regular season, as Adams went on the injury report with a right soleus (calf) injury. Udoka stated that Adams is not day-to-day but week-to-week.

Clint Capela is the Rockets’ third-string center and filled in for Adams last season after he went down in January, and he filled that role again at the start of this season. Capela is now a two-time Rocket who started his career with the team and played during the Harden era; he had some good games filling in for Adams this season, but the 32-year-old is now also out with an ankle injury.

Even after their loss Wednesday night to the shorthanded Minnesota Timberwolves, the Rockets are still 7-2 and are one of the early favorites to go deep into the playoffs. They have their most versatile team since that 2017-18 team and improved their bench this past offseason….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/one-move-rockets-must-season-172811122.html

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Publish date : 2026-11-05 17:28:00

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