The Houston Rockets defense was largely a mess in 2021-22.
That isn't to be overly harsh. Young teams often struggle on the defensive end in the early years of a rebuild, though even by those standards Houston's defensive metrics were startlingly poor. The Rockets finished 30th (out of 30 teams) in defensive rating last year. No team allowed more points in the paint, nor more points in transition. Stephen Silas' squad was pummeled inside and beaten on the break. The result was an unsurprising 20–62 mark, a far cry from the 65-win juggernaut in Houston just four seasons prior.