The Rockets had plenty to cheer about this season, including the improved play of Jalen Green.
The good news is the Rockets were the most improved team in the NBA this season.
The bad news is, well, there is no bad news.
As disappointed as head coach Ime Udoka and his team were at falling short of a winning record and the play-in tournament, the Rockets’ 2023-24 season was a successful one.
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They may have left a little meat on the bone with their .500 record, but they ate in what might be the most improvement the team has ever shown from one year to the next.
As reasonable as the in-house expectations of making the playoffs were, a 19-game improvement in wins from last year’s 22-60 season ties for the best in franchise history, matching the jumps the Rockets made from 1983-84 to ‘84-85 and from 1977-78 to ’78-79.
No disrespect to the key newcomers to this year’s squad, but none of them is Hakeem Olajuwon or Moses Malone.
Olajuwon joining the team as a rookie was the main reason the Rockets went from last in the Western Conference to third in the mid-1980s.
The first time the Rockets had a 19-game improvement was in 1978-79. That came off a year in which they lost Rudy Tomjanovich early in the season to “The Punch,” and then went 4-17 to close the season after Moses Malone was injured. The following season, Malone was the league MVP.
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There were no extraordinary circumstances leading to the Rockets being the worst in the NBA in recent years. They were bad because they were bad.
An upgraded roster and desire to win made a difference. As did Udoka, who shined in his first season in Houston.
Tim Nissalke and Bill Fitch each coached the poor season and the 19-game uptick.
Fitch inherited the worst team in the league, landed Ralph Sampson in the draft and worked a 15-win improvement in his first season with the Rockets.
If Udoka can match Fitch’s 34-win increase over two years, the Rockets would go 56-26 next year, a record that would have put them one game from the best record in the Western Conference this season.
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Udoka will definitely take that. Is it doable?
Despite only one season under his belt, there weren’t many questions about Udoka’s coaching ability. He did lead the Celtics to the NBA Finals. Still, the meshing of a few veterans with an inexperienced group that had never won at the NBA level would be a test.
Udoka was more than up to the task.
The Rockets closed with a 16-7 record over the final six weeks of the season, and they did that without leading scorer Alperen Şengün for the final 19 games. Boston (17-6) was the only team with more wins during that stretch.
They finished in the top 10 in defensive rating this season, after being last in the league the previous two years.
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The Rockets didn’t do enough to make the playoffs with their .500 record, but we’re talking about a team that was an NBA-worst 118 games below .500 with just 59 wins the last three seasons combined.
Anything near .500 is worthy of a parade.
Clearly, the Rockets are on an upward trajectory for the first time since the pandemic.
They have so many young players with room to grow, that the team should improve without any major additions. Four of the team’s top six players in total minutes and six of the eight leaders in minutes per game are 22-and-under.
A couple of rotation pieces will be added in the injured Tari Eason, who averaged almost 10 points in 22 games before getting hurt, and Steven Adams, who was acquired in a trade, but sat out the entire season because of knee surgery. Eason and Adams will add weapons to Udoka’s defensive attack, a key to the next phase of growth.
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The challenge of figuring out how Jalen Green and Şengün can best play together is a much more fun offseason task than determining if Green can play at all.
The high-flying shooting guard, who just turned 22 two months agio, is far from a finished product. Two years of freewheeling, unstructured coasting slowed his progress, and some of his bad habits may never be broken, but players with his talent are hard to find.
Green showed enough in an up-and-down third year that it is reasonable to believe he could become a star with continued growth under Udoka.
Having taken advantage of more offensive opportunities, Şengün is at the top of the list of the league’s most improved players numbers wise this season.
The slow-dazzling big man ran point center at times, directing an offense that opponents had difficulty figuring out.
Malone and Olajuwon led their teams’ turnarounds from inside the paint. Şengün did it from all over the floor.
If Udoka and his staff cut out the best round hole and square peg on the court within which Green and Şengün can fit at the same time — easier, now that they have seen each up close for an entire season — the Rockets will be a playoff lock next season.
Not meeting that goal would be the time for disappointment.
For now, the future is brighter than it has been in a long time.
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