Bill Simmons offers surprising take on the Rockets after just one game

As the Houston Rockets fell, 124-125, in Tuesday night's season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder, there were still a number of silver linings that revealed themselves surrounding the team's chances to be seriously competitive in the Western Conference this season.

Moreover, according to Bill Simmons on the recent episode of his podcast, all three of the team's major young pieces, including Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun, have all taken huge leaps, and each of their individual improvements were on full display against the Thunder.

Even with Kevin Durant on the roster, the Rockets will need to lean on their ascendant young core to elevate them into title contention, and their performances in the first game of the regular season looked incredibly promising for their ability to do so.

Bill Simmons thinks the Rockets could be seriously dangerous this season

Simmons, who is an NBA analyst for The Ringer, said that, through this first batch of games, the primary thing he was watching for was if Houston was able to conform their offense around the absence of starting point guard Fred VanVleet. Now, after just one game, Simmons is sold on the fact that they will be able to do so:

"I thought Thompson looked like he went up a level.... Sengun went up a level. Jabari went up a level... They convinced me tonight that they just bring so many things to the table that this one glaring flaw they have [can be overcome]."

In the course of a brutal loss like the one the Rockets suffered, it can be easy to get lost in the pain of seeing that 0-1 on the team's record. However, let's not forget that this team went toe-to-toe with the reigning NBA champions and almost pulled out with a road victory on their banner night: an impressive feat in and of itself.

On the night, Sengun stole the spotlight with his 39-point performance, but both Thompson and Smith looked excellent as well.

In addition to his usual staunch defense, Thompson looked like a confident offensive threat, scoring 18 points on the night and shooting 8-of-17 from the floor.

While Smith made slightly less of an impact on the game, his 16 points, and 7-of-15 shooting from the floor, flashed a confidence that could have massive implications for the team this season.

Therefore, although the Rockets certainly still have some major wrinkles to iron out in the absence of VanVleet, their young players showed enough promise in just their first game that there is ample reason to get excited about this team and what they can be this year.