Rockets need to reclaim their identity

The Houston Rockets are having an identity crisis.

Think Fight Club (which, as an aside, I only watched for the first time a few years ago, and if you haven’t seen it, don’t bother; it’s been caricatured to the point that it feels like a parody of itself), in reverse. The Rockets were a rugged, fist-wielding Brad Pitt in 2025-26. Pesky social conventions like “getting good shots” and “running offensive sets” were boring and beneath them. The Rockets were winning fights instead of playing games.

In 2026-27, they’re more like the neutered, emasculated Edward Norton. They’ve mostly been doing all the right things, and it’s mostly been working, but they’re just lacking some kind of cliched,…