Houston Basketball has officially recovered and is back in the NBA’s spotlight as they sit, at the time of this article, in 2nd place in the west at (43-25) and in great position to get back to the postseason for the first time since the NBA bubble season all the way back in 2020. So what’s changed in Houston to put them back in relevance?
The biggest change with the current team, from their previous seasons of success, is James Harden being gone. After the strange 2020 season for the Rockets which ended in a loss to the eventual champions that year in the Lebron and AD lead Laker team, the team traded Russell Westbrook to the Wizards and with this move Harden decided he wanted out of Houston. After months of stagnation between Harden and Houston, the Rockets would go on to trade him to the Brooklyn Nets in a three team deal that also included the Cavs. Houston received two players, one from Brooklyn, Rodions Kurucs and Dante Exum from Cleveland but the real value in the trade for them would lie in the pick swaps they acquired. The Rockets obtained three first round picks from the Nets and one first round pick from the Cavs, and in addition to that they got first round pick swaps with the Nets for 2021, 2023, 2025, and in 2027. All the draft capital they gained from this trade would allow them to go on to put together the strong core of players now and even in the future.
The Rockets then were able to start their rebuild in 2021 with the selection of Jalen Green as the 2nd pick in the draft. In that same 2021 first round they would also go on to pick Alperen Şengün with the 16th pick. Following the 2021 draft, in 2022 the Rockets would go on to select Jabari Smith Jr with the 3rd pick in the draft. Finally in 2023, the Rockets with the 4th pick, drafted Amen Thompson. These four players would provide the structure for their new core of young players they were able to acquire in the years following them, tearing down their older roster. In this time period Houston acquired their current head coach Ime Udoka, who up to this point has yet to record a season where his team has finished below 500 and currently as of writing this article the Rockets are 13 games above 500.
Initially after the Harden trade had occurred, it was expected that Houston was going to have a long time before they could create a core as good as they had previously had with the James Harden’s high flying offense years, but in only a few years they now have a new young core that looks like it will be successful for the foreseeable future.
