Over the past three seasons the Rockets have been one of the worst teams in the entire NBA. It was a stark difference from the James Harden era in Houston, as in his eight years there, the team made the playoffs every single year. But after trading James away, the team prioritized gathering young talent, which meant the product on the floor wasn’t very good. Under coach Stephen Silas, the team often looked more like an AAU team than an NBA team, relying on isolation and raw talent. However, things are about to change. It was rumored entering this offseason that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta was pressuring the team to make the playoffs in 2024. It seems as if the front office has obliged, because they did a lot of things to speed up the timeline this offseason. It started with the firing of coach Silas, and replacing him with Ime Udoka, who coached the Celtics to the finals in his first year in 2022. They also spent big in free agency. It started with giving a 3-year, $128M contract to former Raptors point guard and 1-time all-star Fred VanVleet. They then turned around and gave a 4-year, $86M deal to Dillon Brooks. A lot of people clowned both of these deals at the time, but Brooks just won best defender in the FIBA World Cup and scored 39 points to rip the Bronze Medal away from Team USA. So maybe the contract wasn’t so bad after all. To me they were one of the biggest winners of the offseason, especially when you factor in their draft. After originally considering Villanova forward Cam Whitmore at number four overall, they decided to take guard Amen Thomspon out of the Overtime Elite. Then Whitmore fell all the way to 20 due to medical and interview concerns, which was ridiculous, and the Rockets took him there. So they got two prospects worthy of top-five picks. Whitmore immediately proved them right as well, winning summer league MVP in his debut summer league. When you add this great offseason to an already really impressive young core with Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr, Tari Eason, and Kevin Porter Jr, you start to realize just how talented this team is. The potential and upside with this group is just hard to believe.
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