They will have a difficult time cracking the upper echelon of Western Conference teams in the public's eye.
The Houston Rockets have had an excellent start to the season, posting a 12-4 record and, as it stands, holding the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
Yet, given their losses to both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets, NBC's latest NBA Power Rankings have ranked the Rockets below both of those teams, identifying them as the fourth-best team in the league as it stands.