Winning a Championship Will Be Harder Than Ever for the Rockets

The Western Conference is as stacked as it can be. Most teams in the West are swinging for the fences with major additions through trade, draft, and free agency. Every team is battling to be one of the top teams in the West, and the Houston Rockets are right in the thick of it. Houston finished this season with the second seed in the conference, but the team didn't play well enough to move past the first round. The road will continue to get more difficult, and the Rockets must find ways to keep up with a constantly improving conference.

The Rockets are set to succeed with their elite defensive capabilities. The Oklahoma City Thunder have shown the impact of excellent defense this postseason. Houston's defense has many similar elements: physicality, speed, and aggressiveness.

However, a key difference between the Thunder and the Rockets is the presence of a league MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He is the ultimate offensive weapon in the half-court, which is primarily where the Rockets struggled most on offense this season. An elite defense without the offense to back it up is not a formula for winning a championship.

Houston's competitors are getting better this offseason. The Dallas Mavericks currently hold the first overall pick and will likely add Cooper Flagg to a squad featuring Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. The San Antonio Spurs are also adding a high draft pick despite making a big move for De'Aaron Fox early in the season. The last time Zion Williamson played a large portion of the season, the New Orleans Pelicans made it into the postseason despite another Williamson injury in the Play-In Tournament.

These are teams that didn't make the playoffs and could be in the mix for the postseason next year. The teams that did make the postseason this year are still gearing up to improve.

Houston's playoff opponent, the Golden State Warriors, will likely improve on their seventh seed finish due to the addition of Jimmy Butler. The Warriors played like a top-four Western Conference team with Butler to end the season, but they couldn't make up for the subpar first half of their season. Luka Doncic is getting a summer to grow accustomed to his new team, and teams like the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves will be in the mix due to their elite players and quality team construction.

For the Rockets to earn their first Finals appearance since the 90s, they must find a way to match up with the rest of the West's superpowers. Houston's defense can compete with anyone, but they'll need one of their young players to elevate and become a player capable of being a top-five performer in the postseason. Many of their competitors already have that caliber of player, and getting through those teams will not be an easy task.