NBA Power Rankings: Rockets Dead Last After Winless Start?

The Houston Rockets are three games into the new NBA season and are still searching for their first win as a team.

After finishing with the league's worst record the past two seasons, expectations aren't very high, and they haven't moved the needle after three season-opening losses, including a 20-point defeat on Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Athletic also doesn't see the needle moving much, placing them last in the latest edition of its NBA power rankings.

"The Houston Rockets are a bad team, but they’re a fun bad team," The Athletic writes. "And that’s kind of the point of this stage of the rebuild. It’s also what we should expect for a lot of this season. The Rockets’ young guys will get better and more comfortable as they get into the second half of the season.

"Oddly enough, this team is shooting really well from 3-point range (38.3 percent) and has the worst 2-point percentage (45.8 percent) in the league after the first week. While some of these guys are struggling, Jalen Green looks to be continuing his strong second half surge from the rookie campaign."

The Rockets are one of six teams to start 0-3, but with two competitive losses in there against the Atlanta Hawks and the Memphis Grizzlies, it's only a matter of time before some of these L's turn into W's.

The Rockets are back in action Monday night at home against the Utah Jazz. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

You can follow Jeremy Brener on Twitter @JeremyBrener.

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