Rockets Receive Puzzling Midseason Report Card Assessment

This year's Houston Rockets team has been a great illustration of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You just never really know which team you'll get from game to game.

Which makes Houston's midseason report card assessment rather......interesting.

It comes by way of Zach Harper of The Athletic.

"Something feels off with this Rockets team." Harper wrote. "Adding Kevin Durant was a no-brainer, but we are not seeing them look like they’ve taken it to a higher level than last season. They could really use a strong finish."

Harper gave the Rockets a B and rated the team fourth-best in the conference. His grade is consistent with that of both Lou Williams and Chandler Parsons.

Houston is on the same pace as last season, when they finished second-best in the West and were everyone's darling, or Cinderella story, if you will. And were defeated in the opening round of the postseason.

The current trajectory is the same.

"Something feels off?"

Houston has had a mountain of injuries to rather important pieces. Like Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams. That might be the "something."

The fact that Houston is on the same track in significant stretches without those guys is proof alone that they've taken it to a higher level than last season.

Can you imagine last season's team without Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams?

Yeah, me neither.

But I know that group wouldn't be third-best in the West.

There will be nights where Houston will take their matchup personally and beat a good team like the Denver Nuggets, with both teams at full strength. As a reminder, the Nuggets have more wins than the Rockets, so they'd qualify as a good team, by all standards.

Or beat the Detroit Pistons, who have the top seed in the Eastern Conference and have the second-most wins of any team in the league this season.

We've also seen the Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs this season, at full strength, drawing praise for limiting Victor Wembanyama to 14 points on 5-of-21 shooting.

When the Rockets are hungry and motivated, they've secured victories against each of the best teams in the league this season, including even the Oklahoma City Thunder, who everyone thought was unbeatable through the first few months of the season. (Time is flying, because it feels like that was just yesterday).

By the same token, the Rockets will drop games to the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz, who all are tanking and hoping to benefit from the 2026 NBA Draft class.

You can really never be too confident about which Rockets team will take the court on a night-to-night basis. Yet and still, Houston holds the third seed in the Western Conference, with a 35-21 record.