NBA Western Conference Finals Expose What the Rockets Are Missing

There is a clear gap right now between the top two teams in the Western Conference and the rest of the competition. It seems like the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs are on another level.

Their talent runs deep and the kind of basketball those teams play allow them to perform better. The gap seems to be so much that many NBA fans believe that the Spurs and Thunder are destined to meet many more times in the conference finals.

The Houston Rockets would like to say something about that in 2026-27. The Rockets did not find much success against both the Spurs and Thunder, having lost three out of the four regular season matchups vs both teams.

The Rockets were expected to be a contender this past season, but injuries severely hurt their chances and completely changed the team construction. There are quite a few issues the Rockets still deal with that OKC or San Antonio don't. Houston is still a few steps behind, but it can get a lot closer if the right buttons are pressed during the offseason.

One of the areas that must get better for next season is the bench production. Both the Thunder and Spurs have a bunch of high-level contributors throughout their team that can bring the spark and depth off the bench.

Rockets Must Get More Bench Production

May 1, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason (17) warms up prior to game six of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images | Erik Williams-Imagn Images

The Thunder probably have one of the most impressive bench units in the NBA. They regularly play 10 men, and that has continued in the conference finals. The Thunder recently put up 73 bench points in Game 3, which was the most in 55 years. OKC also had 183 bench points through the first three games, which is the most in a conference finals series ever.

While that will be almost impossible to meet given Houston's bench couldn't get to that total for weeks combined, the Rockets don't necessarily need to go that far.

When you look at the Spurs, they are obviously not as deep as the Thunder but still have a couple of scoring options and veterans to choose from. The Rockets have the potential capability of matching the Spurs' efforts off the bench. Health is the key for that.

The Rockets bench got completely screwed due to the injuries. They otherwise had a solid group that looked good on paper at the start of the season. Reed Sheppard is a huge part of that. If Fred VanVleet stayed healthy, Sheppard would be the primary guard coming off the bench to provide a scoring spark and he did that on multiple occasions this past season.

If the Rockets stayed healthy, Tari Eason would also be primarily off the bench only. His energy, effort and defense would be valuable to have and add depth to the rotation. Additionally, back-up center Steven Adams got hurt in January and that was a massive blow. Adams made a huge contribution to the offensive rebounding and was a huge piece off the bench as well.

The Rockets had also signed Dorian Finney-Smith to a huge deal in the offseason, and he didn't get healthy until the end of 2025. Even then, Finney-Smith didn't look 100 percent and was nothing like initially anticipated. DFS took a massive step back and it's possible he could return to his old self after a full healthy offseason.

Josh Okogie and Aaron Holiday were both signed on one-year deals and each had their moments. Okogie in particular turned out to be a productive player. Clint Capela was also signed on a multi-year deal with the Rockets and his signing gave the depth needed at center.

If the Rockets re-sign Eason, they'll have potentially four real contributors off the bench in Sheppard, Adams and Finney-Smith. That's a great start. The Rockets do need to add more veteran guard depth to the bench and a back-up point guard that can really play and score. If they can get another scoring guard alongside Sheppard, the bench could theoretically get complete.

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