13. Houston Rockets (1-4)
The Houston Rockets have gotten off to a rough start, to say the least. They’ve only won one of their first five games and are now nursing an injury to James Harden. Even though he’s not expected to miss extended time, every game he misses hurts.
Many penciled the Rockets in as the second-best team in the Western Conference before the season, but that is looking less and less likely. Especially as the team continues to scramble to find their footing to begin the season.
The addition of Carmelo Anthony hasn’t been the seamless transition that many were hoping it would be, and the losses of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute appear to be having quite the impact. I don’t think there’s anyone that’s really worried about Houston, but I feel there should be some trepidation about this team’s ability to just flip a switch.