Rockets: The key difference between the 2001-02 team and this one

This year, to be frank, has been a horrible year for the Houston Rockets and their fans. Going all the way back to the offseason (which feels like years ago), the Rockets have traded away superstars, saw former general manager Daryl Morey leave to spend time with his family (for like a week), and have undergone a lot of roster turnover.

So much turnover that they have barely had enough players to actually take the court.

Rockets coach Stephen Silas has endured one of the worst situations any first-time head coach has had to deal with in any sport. The one saving grace has been the possibility of a high-lottery draft pick, but of course, in this season from hell, that is not even a guarantee.

As we all know by now, if the Rockets’ pick falls to fifth, they’ll lose that pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder. But Rockets and draft talk haven’t been an item for almost the last decade. This is because the Rockets rarely had a first-round draft pick during the James Harden years.

Morey and the Rockets were constantly in win-now mode and usually traded away that pick to bring in veteran players to try and help the Rockets get over the hump. The Rockets have not had a chance at a number one overall pick since the 2002 NBA Draft lottery.

Even then they only had a 8.9% chance to get the number one pick, but we know how that turned out. Despite the long odds the Rockets ended up with the first overall pick and of course drafted Yao Ming.

The year prior to that pick the Rockets were one of the worst teams in the league, finishing with a 28-54 record. Let’s took a look at that team and compare them to this year’s team, which currently holds the worst record.

Next: 2001-02 Rockets