The holiday season isn’t off to all good tidings and cheer for the Texans. The fan base is certainly increasingly “Bah Humbug!” in sentiment after an awful loss to a crummy Tennessee Titans team that was 2-8. Since their lofty 5-1 start the Texans have dropped four of six games, and it doesn’t get much worse than falling at home to one of the worst teams in the league. If the Texans aren’t too stuffed with humble pie to move around Sunday, they should (and better) rebound against the 2-9 Jaguars in Jacksonville. If the Texans pratfall again, blowing the AFC South becomes very possible if the Indianapolis Colts win at New England Sunday.

Astros’ fans meanwhile deal with their own angst awaiting Alex Bregman deciding where he will sign. If Bregman goes elsewhere, even if it’s because the Astros choose not to match or come close enough to someone else’s crazy offer, that the Astros’ biggest signing of the offseason is with a new stadium naming rights partner won’t exactly leave the natives un-restless.

Red-hot Rockets

So, this holiday weekend, the feel-good Houston pro sports team of the moment is the Rockets. Familiar with them? National Basketball Association? Have you noticed they are off to a stellar 14-6 start? That’s second best in the Western Conference. That’s with just under one-quarter of the regular season played, so no anointing of imminent glory here, but it looks like a legitimately quality squad. And that's with high lottery draft pick Reed Sheppard contributing very little thus far. Sheppard was drafted primarily for his pure shooting ability. Overall, the Rockets’ three-point shooting is weak.

Jalen Green continues to be more tease than big-time player, mixing in too many clunkers alongside his sometimes breathtaking explosions. Green is still young, not turning 23 years old until February, but he has made no jump to suggest he’s knocking on the door of upper echelon shooting guard status. Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, and Anthony Edwards were all substantially better players at Green’s age than Green is now.

Second season head coach Ime Udoka knows this, as evidenced in his more than once in a blue moon benching of Green in crunch time of games. The Rockets have a strong head coach, exponentially better than was the in over his head Stephen Silas. In fairness, Udoka had a year of head coaching experience with a quality Celtics team (that won the Eastern Conference championship) before coming here, while Silas was a novice head coach who inherited a mess. But Udoka clearly commands the room and almost forces improvement in ways Silas demonstrated zippo. Again, it’s only a slice of the season but this squad is showing the best Rockets’ defensive chops in more than 15 years, going back to Rick Adelman’s time on the bench (Adelman was underrated as a defensive coach because of his offensive acumen).

Having better talent helps, and watching second year man six-foot-seven inch Amen Thompson and third year guy six-foot-eight Tari Eason wreak havoc on D can be something to behold. Both are the modern multi-positional, long-limbed, uber-athletic type winning teams need. If Thompson can develop even a decent jump shot he has All-Star games in his future. Big if. Shooting can be coached and developed some, but to an extent it’s an innate skill. Alperen Sengun could have an All-Star game in his very near future, as in perhaps this season. Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama are the only centers in the Western Conference you’d rather have.

What the Rockets lack is the guy who can be the best player on a first tier title contender. He’s probably not on the roster. When to aggressively seek that guy versus letting a nice stew simmer is a challenge. While the NBA salary cap is going to balloon ten percent per season for a while (it’s 140.6 million dollars this season with the luxury tax kicking in at 170.8 mil) Tilman Fertitta’s payroll is going to mushroom if the objective is to keep the whole young core together. Green and Sengun’s contract extensions kick in next season at over 33 million dollars for each. Eason and Jabari Smith are extension-eligible after this season. Without notable growth in his game, trading Green pretty clearly will be explored (again?) at some point. Fred VanVleet is a solid veteran presence at point guard, but a middle of the pack point who in no logical world has the Rockets picking up his almost 45 million dollars option for next season. If they want VanVleet back, maybe it’s something like three years 70 million to greatly lower his salary but increase his overall guaranteed take.

The Western Conference is loaded, but the Rockets’ youth and depth makes them well suited for the 82-game regular season. Before entering a franchise coma when James Harden basically quit going into the 2020-21 season, the Rockets had missed the playoffs only three times in 36 years. They have now missed the last four seasons. That streak should end this season. Only once in franchise history have the Rockets missed the playoffs five years in a row, and the first two of those years they were the San Diego Rockets.

For Texans’ conversation, catch Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me on our Texans On Tap podcasts. Thursdays feature a preview of the upcoming game, and then we go live (then available on demand) after the final gun of the game: Texans on Tap - YouTube

The Astros are always in season for discussion. Our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts drop Mondays: Click here to watch!