It’s kind of remarkable how much people still talk about the Rockets. Rebuilding teams traditionally aren’t part of the national conversation until May (the lottery). Some of the discussion is coming from bad faith actors reveling in the demise of a franchise they detested in the 2010s. But even the best-intentioned analysts have found the Rockets very difficult to watch this year.

You can count myself as one of those analysts. If it weren’t for this newsletter, it’s unlikely I’d be able to watch all 82 games this year under my own volition. I applaud all the fans that have soldiered on, because almost everyone is in agreement that this has been an incredibly frustrating basketball team. And contrary to the public discourse, it’s not because they’re losing games.