Through 10 games, the Rockets look a lot like the team people expected - good, sturdy, and still sorting out a few important details.
What has changed around them is the landscape. The Western Conference has opened the season looking deeper than plenty of people predicted, with 10 teams entering Monday at .600 or better.
The East, by comparison, had just four. So even with Houston off to a strong start, the Rockets are tied for fifth in the West with the surprising Golden State Warriors and sitting behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves, two teams that have held up despite long-term injuries to three All-Stars between them: Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Anthony Edwards.
Houston has had a fair amount of continuity of its own. Three core starters - Durant, Jabari Smith Jr. and Amen Thompson - have played in all 10 games, and Fred VanVleet has already logged eight as he works back into rhythm after missing a full season because of a knee injury.
The results have been mixed, but the ceiling is obvious. The Rockets have beaten the Celtics, Thunder and Spurs, which says plenty about their ability to go toe-to-toe with almost anyone. They also dug themselves a huge hole against the Suns this week before a furious comeback came up short.
One of the more encouraging developments has been Kevin Durant’s view of Alperen Sengun. Durant recently said he considers Sengun his equal now, and that matters for more than one reason.
Ime Udoka has been trying to trim Durant’s minutes and workload to keep the future Hall of Fame forward fresh for the postseason, and Durant has pushed back on that at times. But on the floor, he appears to be giving way just enough - and only if he believes Sengun and the other younger veterans are ready for the extra responsibility.
That group has given Houston a real scoring spread. Durant, Sengun, Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. are all taking between 11.8 and 15.6 shots per night, and every one of them is shooting 51 percent. That kind of balance gives the Rockets a different look from game to game and should make them harder to scout as the season goes on.
The frontcourt depth, though, has taken hits. Houston entered the season with Steven Adams and Clint Capela as useful complements behind Sengun, but Adams is still dealing with physical breakdowns and has no timetable for a return after a calf injury.
Capela is also out with an ankle issue. The Rockets have enough length to match up in some spots, but rebounding is one of their strengths, and they need at least one healthy backup big to keep that edge intact.
Defensively, the Rockets are still in solid shape, even if the last stretch has shown some cracks. They rank 10th in defensive rating and have the personnel, starting with Thompson, to climb again.
They’ve been excellent at the three-point line, sitting second in the NBA by holding opponents to 31.6% from deep. But they’re giving up too many easy baskets in the paint, which is why they’re only 16th in overall field goal percentage defense.
Without much rim protection, the priority is clear: keep drivers out of the lane.
In Other News...
Kevin Durant Faces One Rockets Question That Could Define Their Ceiling
Kevin Durants first meeting with the Suns in a Rockets uniform offered a quick reminder of how much his shot diet can shape Houstons offense. He still got to 21 points, but the night was defined less by volume than by where those looks came from, with the Rockets leaning on a scorer who spent most of his time working from the perimeter and the midrange instead of forcing the issue at the basket.
For Houston, that matters because the ceiling of this group is tied to how often Durant can bend a defense in the paint and create easier answers for everyone else. When his touches turn into tougher jumpers, the offense can flatten out, and the Rockets lose some of the pressure that makes their attack dangerous. The question now is whether they can get him into more rim attacks and turn those possessions into something more efficient for both Durant and the team around him. [Read more 🡒]
Rockets Face A Bigger Problem Than Their Improved Offense
The Rockets have clearly tried to evolve their identity this season, moving away from the bruising, physically dominant style that defined last year and leaning into a more polished offensive approach. The results have shown up in a better offensive rating, but the tradeoff has been hard to miss. Houston no longer looks as overwhelming on the glass or as disruptive on defense, which is a significant shift for a team that built so much of its edge on controlling possessions.
What makes the change more complicated is that the offense still does not have a true superstar to lean on every night. The Rockets can play prettier basketball and still need someone to steady the attack when the shots dry up, but the bigger concern may be on the second unit and in the paint. Steven Adams absence has left a noticeable void in the frontcourt rotation, and Houstons need for a more reliable backup center is becoming harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Rockets Fans Just Got Another Reminder Of Sam Cassells Respect Around NBA
Sam Cassells name keeps surfacing in the kind of conversations that usually come with a head coaching job, even if he still does not have one. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott recently called attention to Cassells rsum, pointing to his championship pedigree as both a player and an assistant coach, including his role in Bostons 2024 title run, and framing the longtime NBA veteran as someone whose experience should have already translated into a top job.
For Rockets fans, the renewed discussion is another reminder of how widely Cassell is respected around the league and how long his coaching path has stayed just out of reach. Scott also tied Cassells situation to a broader pattern of Black coaches being passed over for head coaching opportunities, a point that only adds more weight to the fact that Cassell has continued to draw praise without yet landing the kind of opening many around the league believe he has earned. [Read more 🡒]