Houston Rockets: Is it time for the Rockets to embrace tanking?

Houston Rockets center Christian Wood (35) Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Rockets are good when fully healthy

While the despair of the losing streak makes it easy to think the team is awful, the 8-4 record before the losing streak was not a fluke.

The John Wall–Victor Oladipo-Christian Wood combination, that became known as WOW, showed glimpses of major potential to be a competitive big three. The main issue the team had when all three were healthy, was Oladipo seeming to be out of touch offensively.

Since then Oladipo has also gotten injured but he just put up 27 points against the Toronto Raptors in Friday night’s loss, showing a little bit of the All-Star version of Oladipo. It is possible as time goes on, that he can get closer to that form than the form he has shown in the majority of the games he has played as a Rocket.

Alongside the WOW trio, Eric Gordon has had an amazing bounceback year, and is very capable of leading the Rockets’ second unit. Once the team is completely healthy again, Gordon will go back to his sixth man role which will bring stability to the offensive woes the team has had lately.

Wood should also be returning within the next few weeks, and even if he comes back after the All-Star break, barring another injury, he will be available for the last 38 games of the season. That would be enough time to make a run for the playoffs and potentially become a dark horse contender.

All of that could happen in an ideal world, but unfortunately, that isn’t how the NBA works.

Next: Why tanking makes sense