Jalen Green has grown into the leader on and off the floor that the Rockets envisioned when they drafted him No.2 overall to become the cornerstone of the rebuild. Credit: Getty Images

A year ago this time, the rebuilding Rockets were surging late and looking like a possible playoff team after an extended postseason drought.

But down the stretch, the Rockets just weren’t ready to take off.

This year, however, is different.

With six games remaining in the regular season, the Rockets are not only making the playoffs but depending on how it goes, they could finish as high as the No.2 seed in the Western Division. How is that for a rebuild that has included four straight NBA Lottery drafts?

You have to give credit to general manager Rafael Stone for staying patient and remaining on course as the losses and lottery picks piled up. It had to be tempting to flip one of those four top-four lottery picks for a proven veteran. I foolishly thought it would have been the right thing to do instead of stockpiling unproven young players.

Rockets second-year coach Ime Udoka has found the right rotations that have pushed the Rockets near the top of the Western Conference. Credit: Getty Images

Stone also made the right call on his second head coaching hire, bringing in Ime Udoka after his widely successful first and only season as the Boston Celtics head coach. Udoka has been everything this young core Jalen Green, Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason needed.

“Everybody is showing up,” Sengun said recently. “It’s a great team. Everybody wants to win, the coaches want to win. It’s just a great team.”

And that has been evident since almost out the gate when we saw a Rockets team that couldn’t stick in the Top 10 in the Western Conference to become a play-in team last year quickly establish itself as a top three team this season. We witnessed Green, the first of the lottery picks in the post-Jame Harden era, grow into the team’s leader on the floor and in the locker room. Sengun, who actually wasn’t a lottery pick, has become an elite big man and Thompson has become a nightmare on both ends of the floor for opponents in his second season.

You also can’t sleep on Stone and Udoka’s veteran free agent additions Fred VanVleet at the point, Dillon Brooks at small forward and big man Steven Adams coming off the bench. These three have filled in the gaps while adding the leadership and toughness that only seasoned NBA veterans can bring.

Brooks and VanVleet were excellent additions last season but the young core wasn’t quite there and it was evident when they fell apart in April after a spectacular March.

Amen Thompson (1) has been nearly unstoppable on offense in his second NBA season. Credit: Getty Images

But this season has been different. Green has emerged as a legit NBA star along with Thompson and Sengun. It’s also been fun to watch Thompson evolve from a ball of energy off the bench to a starter who isn’t going back to a reserve spot after averaging 16.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.6 blocks as a starter. That’s come maybe at the expense of Smith, who is now coming off the bench at power forward because Thompson is too good to sit down. Smith missed 22 straight games after breaking his hand.

The good thing is Smith, who has been a starter the last couple of years, doesn’t seem to mind. This offseason, the Rockets have to figure out if they need to move on from VanVleet to get all of their young stars on the floor together, but that is a non-issue now.

“I’ve been out for so long I am just ready to play,” said Smith, who suffered his injury in early January. “I don’t care if I start or what.”

That’s a positive for the rebuilt Rockets, who are only getting better.

Again, the Rockets put together an impressive March, winning nine straight at one point while closing out the month winning 11 of 12 games.

The difference is they don’t have to win in April to solidify a playoff spot. But they need to do enough to keep the Denver Nuggets from stealing the second seed.

So now it’s about positioning and figuring out which potential play-in game could be beneficial in advancing in the playoffs. There will be stumbling blocks, even in the first round of the playoffs, with experienced teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors around. The Phoenix Suns could be a problem in a series should they sneak in through the play-in rounds.

But just having these thoughts and discussions are a nice problem to have and proof that the Rockets are showing signs of growth. 

I've been with The Defender since August 2019. I'm a long-time sportswriter who has covered everything from college sports to the Texans and Rockets during my 16 years of living in the Houston market....