ESPN ranks Houston Rockets Schedule as 11th easiest

ESPN ranks the Houston Rockets Schedule as the eleventh easiest of all NBA teams.

Last season a common problem for the Houston Rockets was a lack of long home stands. The longest lasted just 3 games. The result was less practice time, shorter recovery periods, and accounted for slips in player production.

Fortunately the schedule makers have given H-Town a reprieve this year. ESPN poured over all 30 schedules to determine where each team ranked from hardest to easiest. To wit, ESPN ranking places the Houston Rockets schedule as the eleventh easiest.

ESPN Ranking:

ESPN ranking determinants are based on number of road games, rest time and various other scheduling factors. ESPN utilizes SCHOENE among other factors to determine the team rankings:

"To create these rankings, we created a baseline forecast for each team by averaging the projections from , real plus-minus (RPM) and the . For each game, we calculated the probability of winning for the two teams based on the baseline forecasts, home court and other scheduling factors — rest, road back-to-backs, travel, etc. We used those probabilities to run the schedule through a simulator. SCHOENE ESPN Summer Forecast"

As a result, ESPN ranked the Celtics, Jazz and Raptors with the easiest 3 schedules and Nets, 76ers and Suns with the toughest 3 schedules. The easiest three NBA schedules belong to the Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz and Toronto Raptors.

So, ESPN described why the Houston Rockets schedule ranked 20th:

The Rockets’ schedule effect comes out well in the simulations, but Houston is tied with Golden State for fewest games on two or three days of rest (three).

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What it means:

Especially relevant Houston Rockets longest home stand of 4 games is slightly improved over 2015-16.  Additionally, as mentioned the Rockets have the fewest games on 2 or 3 days rest.

Therefore the Houston Rockets won’t use schedules as an excuse for failure. That said, harder timetables make reaching the playoffs more difficult. As simple as it sounds, additional rest time could garner one extra victory. Therefore with the parity among teams in the West that one win could make a huge difference.

While free agency news develops stay in touch with SCS as the site features all 30 team signings. In addition if you’re a fan who wants to follow free agency closely consider checking out SCS Free Agency Profiles for all 30 teams:

Next: Updated Free Agency Report

Next: Free Agency Profiles for all 30 Teams

Due to the large Houston Rockets fan base, Space City Scoop is always looking to add new talent to our writing team. To that end, we’re looking for individuals with a specialized focus.  Specifically the first area of focus is perfect for someone who is constantly surfing the web for breaking news on injuries, trades, insider info. Consequently this individual would select the top news items and provide timely quick hits to keep SCS readers in the loop.

The other writer would possess an especially strong social media background and would like to interact with Clutch City Fans. Therefore this person will promote SCS team content on facebook and twitter. As a result the successful candidate will  make sure to promote the best content coming from H-Town fans. In conclusion if you are a budding writer who possesses these qualities SCS encourages you to check out the SCS link, and fill out an application.