Every year there are pre-season projections, some of which are understandable and some of them will cause you to do a double take. The Rockets are always on the end of the national hate, and are either overlooked or are picked to be the favorites in a not so good way. The recent ESPN panel predictions was definitely the latter, as they wrongly picked James Harden to be ninth most likely player to win the MVP.
What got lost in those pre-season rankings was the other pick involving the Rockets, as ESPN picked them to be the team with the most turmoil.