Los Angeles Lakers among teams with the best title chances

5. Houston Rockets

Put two ball-dominant alpha dogs on one team and what do you get? One pissed off superstar.

While on paper, adding former MVP Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets seems like a stroke of genius by general manager Daryl Morey. However, it seems to add more problems than it solves.

In Westbrook and James Harden, you have two former MVPs, both at the top of their game, coming off historic seasons in which they each put up incredible individual numbers; individual being the keyword.

While Westbrook put up these numbers his team crashed out of the playoffs in 5 games against the Portland Trail Blazers. Even with George on the team, Westbrook and co. couldn’t get over the hump.

The same thing happened to Harden and the Rockets. Once again they met the Warriors, once again they failed to win. While losing to the Warriors is to be expected as they were an all-time historic team, the fact of the matter is, Harden and the Rockets simply couldn’t get it done.

Now with Westbrook and Harden, can the two former MVPs come together and get the job done? The sheer fact that they are on this list led me to the conclusion that if they can make this work, the rest of the NBA is in a lot of trouble.

Harden is one of the best players in the NBA, that alone should make the Rockets dangerous, add Westbrook to the mix and you have a real handful on a nightly basis.

If Westbrook can reign in his bad shooting tendencies, which is colossal IF, then the Rockets can be one of the more dangerous teams in the NBA.

I am convinced that Westbrook will continue to be Westbrook and the Rockets will be a good playoff team but not a great one.

If Harden and Westbrook can learn to play together, then the Houston Rockets could be Western conference finals bounds.