In the not-too-distant past, the Houston Rockets were legitimate contenders for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
The James Harden-led Rockets won a whopping 65 games and came one dismal shooting half short of the Finals less than five years ago, and even as recently as 2020, Houston put a scare in the eventual-champion Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals. The heights of Houston's previous era aren't as distant as the current state of the roster suggests.
That's not to be totally doom-and-gloom about Houston's situation as we inch closer toward the midway mark of the 2022-23 season.