Kevin Durant's Rockets 'Not Viewed as Legitimate Title Contender' Around NBA, Reveals Shams Charania
Having played around .500 over the past six weeks, the Houston Rockets' once-promising season is fading fast with people around the NBA questioning their championship bonafides.
On Tuesday's episode of Get Up, ESPN's Shams Charania explained that the Rockets are "not viewed as a legitimate title contender" within the league.
"When I talk to teams around the league, the Rockets are not viewed as legitimate title contender. Now, could they be a threat in the first round? For sure, but without Fred VanVleet, without Steven Adams, those are two starters they're down for the season," Charania said.
The comment comes on the heels of the Rockets' 100-92 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. They scored just 22 points over the final 18:53 in the second half after taking a 70-61 lead midway through the quarter.
Those offensive struggles have been a common symptom for the Rockets during this extended malaise.
The Rockets are 10-9 dating back to Feb. 4 when they lost by 21 points to the Boston Celtics. They rank 16th in the NBA in net rating (minus-0.7) during this period, primarily due to their offense being the eighth-worst in the league by rating.
It's even worse later in games, as their fourth-quarter net rating during this 19-game span is (minus-9.9), ahead of only the Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers.
If you want to take it back even further, the last game Steven Adams played before suffering an ankle injury that required season-ending surgery was Jan. 18. The Rockets had the fourth-best net rating in the NBA at that point, but they have fallen to 16th in that category since Jan. 19.
Kevin Durant was supposed to help solve some of the offensive issues for the Rockets because that was where they were most hindered in the postseason last year when they lost to the Golden State Warriors in the first round.
While Durant is having another strong season, the lack of a consistent No. 2 scoring option has made it difficult for the Rockets to overcome when he's not taking over games.
Alperen Şengün has missed the last two games due to a back injury, which does take a huge bite out of the offense. He leads the team in assists and rebounds per game, while averaging 20.2 points per contest.
The Rockets (41-26) still sit fourth in the West despite their recent issues, but they are only one game up in the loss column on both the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
There's still time for Udoka, Durant and the Rockets to turn things around looking ahead to the playoffs and a favorable schedule to do it, but they haven't shown themselves to be an elite Western Conference contender for some time now.
