Houston Rockets basketball has been a staple to the hearts of Houstonians since before the back-to-back teams in the 90’s. The Rockets went through ups and downs in the 2000’s, marked by the peak of the 2008 22-game win streak.

But the James Harden era of Houston Rockets basketball had the city fired up about the hometown team, and the hopes of a championship were at an all time high in the 2010’s. That is where it all fell apart and burned in the eyes and ears of millions, who had to learn to embrace a new era of Houston basketball. 

On the edge of glory

Flash back to 2018, it’s the end of May and the city of Houston is buzzing. They have not only the defending champs, but the hated one-sided rival in Golden State down to the brink of elimination. Coming into the series, the Rockets had the home court advantage while the Warriors were the favorite according to the books.

The Rockets started down 0-1, then fiercely took games 2, 4 and 5 to have control of the series going back to Golden State. In Golden State, the Warriors handled the Rockets, with Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry all going for 20+ points.

This brings the series to a tie, going back to the Toyota Center for one of the most consequential games in Rockets history. The only problem – Chris Paul is out for the series with a hamstring injury. 

The Rockets were in the prime position to take down the juggernaut of the NBA and started the game blazing hot. The Rockets had a commanding 11-point lead at halftime, but in the wise words of Rudy Tomjanovich; “Never underestimate the heart of a champion”.

With the Warriors storming back in their infamous third quarter domination, the Rockets quickly got cold from deep. Mixed with questionable calls from the refs, they found themselves in a deficit going into the fourth quarter. They never regained the lead as the game lives in horror to Houstonians as the ‘0/27 game’.

The Rockets went 0/27 in the second half from 3-point range, the same shot that got them to that point. It’s a scar that Rocket fan’s still haven’t gotten over 7 years later. 

It was proven to be true the Rockets never had the opportunity to win in the Harden era more than in 2017-2018 and the wheels began to fall off following that year. The Rockets shipped out Chris Paul a year later for James Harden’s former teammate Russell Westbrook, giving up multiple draft picks in that transaction.

That timeline only lasted one year, and Westbrook was traded. At that point, it became clear this team was starting to fall apart. After a rift between Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and the team owner Tilman Fertita, they fired the mastermind behind the Harden era, also dismissing the coach (Mike D’antoni) in the same offseason with Morey.

Harden then asked out of Houston in what was an extremely tumultuous shortened offseason after the Covid nightmare of the 2019-2020 season. The Rockets then hired current general manager Rafael Stone and former head coach Stephen Silas and the next era, one marked by a lot of pain for Rockets fans, began. 

It can only get better from here?

Out was Russell Westbrook, James Harden (after 8 games), PJ Tucker, Clint Capela, and pretty much the entire roster built up to compete against the Golden State Warriors, and in came John Wall, Christian Wood, Victor Oladipo, Kevin Porter Jr. and other stop gap players who played that season.

The team was absolutely laughable, with no defense being played, terrible coaching, isolation basketball and overall poor play marked throughout the season. My mom would say “they would play as a team for 18 out of the 48 minutes per game.” As a fan, you would go to the games to watch in person some of the stars on opposing teams, as I did for a few years.

That 2020-2021 Houston Rockets team went 17-55, the worst record in the NBA that season and their worst record as a team since 1982-1983. The good news was they acquired a plethora of draft capital through trades and got assets that would help start the new era of Rockets basketball.

They had a 20-game losing streak at one point, the longest such streak in franchise history and one of the longest streaks in NBA history. It did not look like many of the players on that roster would be of much use to a contending teams roster. The only man from that team that was still on the roster this year was swing forward Ja’sean Tate. But from that year began the structure of the years to come. 

In the 2021 offseason, the Rockets got the No. 2 pick in the draft, an unlucky roll for a team with the worst record in the NBA and a clear No. 1 talent on the board in Cade Cunningham. But from that draft, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone also had three other first round picks to work with.

In that draft, they selected guard Jalen Green at No. 2, center Alperen Sengun at No.16 via a trade with Oklahoma City, and then center Usman Garuba and combo guard Josh Christopher at picks No. 23 and No. 24, respectively. Yes, they missed out on players like the hometown kid in Quentin Grimes and guard Cam Thomas but it was quite a draft to build off of.

They let Kelly Olynyk go in free agency after acquiring him that season, and came to a handshake agreement with guard John Wall that he would not play the following season as the team was focusing on players in the future. Eventually, Wall would be bought out but it took awhile to get there. Despite the young players, the season did not look much brighter for the Rockets than the year before did. 

The 2021-2022 Houston Rockets were a young team, and were incrementally better than the year before. They finished 20-62, 3 games ahead of the previous year, with only a 15-game losing streak (instead of 20 the year before). They had a 7-game winning streak at one point towards the end of the season, the longest during Silas tenure.

I was lucky enough to witness two of those games and it was one of the only times during those years the Toyota Center had any life in the stands. Jalen Green started slow but got better as the season went on, Alperen Sengun showed some serious flashes and was quite a surprise for how good he was considering the draft pick.

Kevin Porter Jr. showed flashes during the season on the offensive side, but was very inconsistent and did not play defense worth anything. Christian Wood was decent on offense too, probably at his maximum trade value during this season, but once again did not play any defense.

Garuba and Christopher got a good amount of minutes, and both were decent players but they were not anything spectacular. Garuba seemed as a “desolate man’s” Clint Capela and Christopher was yet another decent scoring potential guard with limited defense. Silas was a joke at coaching, and it was clear he would not be the man to lead the charge for the next era of the Rockets being anything worth of competing.

It was an absolute joke to watch him coach, being a fan I would be constantly frustrated watching games. He had no idea what a good rotation was on the team, would never call timeouts when needed, and just seemed like he had no idea how to handle his players both on and off the court. It was a pain to watch him coach. But almost as fast as that season had started had that season ended. Rafael Stone had quite the offseason ahead of him. 

The 2022 offseason did not have a lot of moves for the roster but it did produce two of the players fit to be on the current roster and future roster. Christian Wood, someone who became a problem in the locker room as his tenure went on, was traded to Dallas for the No. 26 pick and other assets (which was later used to get TyTy Washington at No. 29).

The Rockets received the No. 3 overall pick in the Draft Lottery, with Paolo Banchero and Chet Holmgren going ahead of their pick, forward Jabari Smith. Via the James Harden trade, the Rockets also had the No. 17 pick, drafting forward Tari Eason to be yet another piece for the future of the organization.

John Wall was bought out during the offseason as well. With their seven first round picks of the 2021 and 2022 draft, the future was the focus for the following year. 

The 2022-2023 Rockets season marked the third and final absolute abysmal season for the franchise since 2020. They were one of the youngest NBA teams, and development was the main focus over the short-term future. With that season came the departure of the last veteran from the Daryl Morey days in Eric Gordon, being shipped to the Los Angeles Clippers at the deadline.

I will always love and respect Eric Gordon for his services he did for this franchise. With the focus on development, Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith and Tari Eason became clear cut players for the future of the team. Kevin Porter put up great stats but didn’t seem like someone to build around with and it was starting to become obvious he was going to be moved at some point.

The defense was awful yet again. They turned the ball over consistently and the leadership for the players was non-existing, resulting in a 22-60 record. It was clear as a fan there were flashes in the pan but the brightness of the future was certainly still dimmed. But quickly as that season ended, changes were on the table and ‘Stage 2’ of the project was quickly beginning. 

Building Blocks

Stephen Silas being fired started the offseason of what would be a franchise changing one. The Rockets went through many interviews, with fans fantasizing who they could get. The situation was looked as a solid place to work at, and had some of the biggest free agent coaches interested to work in Houston.

The Rockets chose Ime Udoka as the leader of the men and started building the team off his identity. Udoka had only been a head coach for one season before beginning his tenure with Houston, but it was clear he was talented, taking a Boston Celtics team that was being questioned whether they could ever win a championship all the way to the finals before losing to the Golden State Warriors (because, of course) in 2021-2022.

He was then suspended indefinitely right before the 2022-2023 NBA season by the Boston Celtics for improper conduct. Because of that, he became available during the following offseason which fell into the Rockets lap. 

Not only did the Rockets decide to change it up at coach, but they changed up the roster a lot. They had a ton of cap space to work with and two more first round picks to sweeten their team. In the draft, Houston got Amen Thompson at No. 4 overall before adding Cam Whitmore with pick No. 20.

From there, they signed four veteran players in Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, Jeff Green and Jock Landale. VanVleet is a tough point guard that was a crucial piece to an NBA championship team (2019 Toronto Raptors). He signed a 3-year,  $128 Million contract, the max for a player of his caliber.

Dillion Brooks is another tough, hard-nosed player from the Memphis Grizzles, who was at a low point in his career when he got signed. He got run out of town in Memphis and was a huge joke to NBA fans for his antics in the previous season. The Rockets were laughed at by the media.

They also brought in longtime NBA veteran Jeff Green and backup center Jock Landale, both players who were on the 2024-2025 Houston Rockets. This was the most crucial offseason in the 2020’s decade and boy did they hit it. Rafael Stone has built his new roster for the future and it was clear they were sick of tanking. 

After a progressive offseason, the 2023-2024 season was marked by tremendous improvement and growth. At one point, they looked like there was a serious chance to make the playoffs before winding down the season by cooling off. They finished 41-41 but it was clear they had begun the ascent to eventually competing for a championship, while that still might be a few years away.

They had missed the Play-In Tournament by only a few games, with the team substantially growing in defensive prowess and team basketball. Sengun had a breakout season, Fred was a strong vet who played well pretty consistently, Dillon Brooks was a huge boost for the backbone of the team, Jabari made a nice leap, and Amen/Cam Whitmore showed huge progress.

During the season, an under-the-radar trade deadline transaction was acquiring Stephen Adams, someone who was already deemed out of the season. The only two disappointing factors were Tari Eason missing most of the season due to injury and Jalen Green not taking a huge step forward in his play. But, after everything Rockets fans had gone through, the future was looking bright. 

The 2024 offseason marked far less movement then the previous offseason as Houston felt pretty confident the team would be built ready to fight in the 2024-2025 season. They got the No. 3 overall pick (via the Brooklyn Nets in James Harden trade) and selected Reed Sheppard, a sharpshooting guard ready to help the team score in the future.

They did not sign anyone in free agency but picked up the options for Jae’Sean Tate and Jeff Green. They made a couple of small trades, including trading the Brooklyn Nets draft rights for 2025 and 2026 for the Phoenix Suns future draft picks (2025, 2027 and 2029 first round picks) and the Dallas Mavericks 2029 first round pick.

It was a move that was questioned at the time but turned out to be very smart for Houston as we look at it now. Now, it was clear that the Rockets intention to gather their postseason experience begins in 2025.

Part 2 of this Houston Rockets dissertation will be The 2024-2025 Houston Rockets season recap, coming out soon!