For a third consecutive season, the young and rebuilding Houston Rockets (13-47) own the NBA’s worst record, and the prolonged stretches of losing aren’t always easy to take behind the scenes.
“When you talk to people around the NBA about Houston, you just don’t hear good things about their culture, about their locker room,” ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony said on a recent podcast with Zach Lowe. “People that are on that team, they’re like, ‘We are a mess.’”
In addition to making a coaching change, Givony said Kevin Porter Jr. was a player he would cut, presumably for off-court reasons.
On The Tony Kornheiser Show, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst added:
I think Houston is a dangerous fit for anybody, because that team is out of control. They have have completely destroyed and broken down (head coach) Stephen Silas, who is a good man but cannot handle the renegade operation that has become. Pretty much everything the Rockets do is a mess right now, so if I were Victor (Wembanyama), I would be a little bit worried about Houston.
With a pivotal 2023 offseason approaching in which the Rockets will have up to $60 million in salary cap space, what does the franchise need to do to restore its reputation and appeal to free agents?
Hosted by credentialed media members Jackson Gatlin and Ben DuBose, Tuesday’s “Locked on Rockets” explores that topic and more, including how the potential return of James Harden could help.
