In a recent 5-on-5 feature, only one respondent ranked the Rockets among his top 5 teams entering next season. The exercise itself holds little bearing – Houston was expected to finish among the bottom half of playoff teams last season, before ultimately claiming the second seed. But for our purposes, where do the Rockets really stand among contenders? To begin, the most striking thing about the Western Conference is the existence of the Oklahoma City Thunder. When recounting the absolute brutality of the conference, one easily forgets that it did not feature the team that entered the season considered to be the very best in all of basketball.