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The Golden State Warriors are defending champions, coming off one of the best statistical seasons ever and could be even better this season.
The Los Angeles Clippers pulled DeAndre Jordan back from the abyss and have finally built a bench.
The San Antonio Spurs still have their big three and just signed the best free agent in the class in LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have Kevin Durant back healthy and are ready to unleash the best one-two punch in the league with Russell Westbrook.
The New Orleans Pelicans are poised to take off as Anthony Davis fulfils his destiny and starts literally devouring the league.
Yet, with all those teams looking as dangerous as ever, one team keeps coming to mind. Why not the Houston Rockets?
Due to injuries, members of Houston’s rotation sat out 180 games last season, the third highest tally in the league. Dwight Howard, still clearly a top five center in the league missed half of the regular season. The Rockets still won 56 games.
Not only did the Rockets battle through the injuries and a stagnant offence to finish second in the conference, they fought back from a 3-1 deficit against the Clippers to pull off a famous series win.
This team has the confidence to beat anyone. They have a legitimate top-five player in James Harden.
They have one of the deepest rosters in the league, with GM Daryl Morey’s asset accumulation and shrewd drafting coming together in his goal of crafting a contender. And Houston may have solved their glaring offensive issue with their trade for Ty Lawson.
One of the best creators in the league when at full strength, Lawson should be able to take the pressure off Harden, allowing him to catch and shoot and create more off the ball this season. Where the Rockets got into trouble in their offence in the 2014-15 season was when Harden was left to create the offence by himself, often resulting in stagnated isolations and a lot of dribbling.
While Harden is arguably the best player in the league in isolation, given his unmatched ability to get to the free throw line and score from anywhere on the court, having another creator will allow more ball movement for Houston and create opportunities for Morey-ball’s hailed three point shot.
This team is good, and they can be crazy good if they have a full season of luck. Having Lawson get into the heart of defences with his slash and kick style will allow Harden to attack off the catch. Having Harden’s herky, jerky style coming at back-tracking defenders is a scary thought.
Patrick Beverly is returning to add some much-needed defensive punch to the back court, Trevor Ariza will lock down the wing, Terence Jones will continue his rise as a quality two-way big man and Howard is hoping for a full season of rim protection.
Houston ranked sixth in the league last season for defensive rating, with a mark of 100.5 and should be able to improve on that and crack the top four.
Lawson is a player who averaged 9.6 assists last year for Denver, an objectively bad team. While Lawson has had personal issues, with his drinking problem a major factor in Denver trading him, the fact that he has signed a non-guaranteed contract means he has no choice but to focus on basketball. Otherwise his livelihood will be taken away.
No team has a deeper rotation than the Rockets, with Donatas Motiejūnas set to improve on his impressive campaign last time out and Sam Dekker ready to be a difference maker straight out of the draft.
Don’t sleep on the Rockets, because they won’t sleep on you. They’re a driven team, who will be desperate to make up for their poor showing in the conference finals against Golden State.
If Houston can put together a season without major injury they are as threatening as any other team in the West. And that automatically makes them a contender.
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