2 disastrous mistakes the Rockets must avoid this summer

After three seasons of being bottom-feeders in the NBA, the Houston Rockets find themselves ready to turn the corner. The Rockets wrapped up phase one of their rebuild, which entailed losing a boatload of games, in hopes of landing the first overall pick and/or landing young talent through the NBA draft to supplant players that were dealt as a part of the Rockets' teardown.

The Rockets landed Jalen Green with the second pick of the 2021 NBA Draft, who has the early makings of a professional scorer, although NBA writers don't seem to appreciate his skillset and potential. Green increased his scoring outputs from 17.3 points in 2021-22 to 22.1 points in 2022-23 and hasn't reached his full potential yet.

Green has already shown the ability to live up to his pre-draft comparisons of Zach LaVine and Bradley Beal, and can even morph into Devin Booker, with time. The Rockets also landed Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr., who have etched themselves into the Rockets' core.

Now the Rockets seek to transition to phase two, which they hope will entail postseason appearances and a return to the relevance that surrounded the franchise during the first eight seasons of James Harden's Rockets days. But the Rockets' ability to get there will hinge on them making the right moves, as the flip side of that equation could set the franchise back for potentially a decade.

Let's take a look at two disastrous mistakes that the Rockets must avoid this offseason.