The offseason is a rare time for players to relax and go on vacation, or to spend time with their families. However, the fans are a little bored, even if the training camp does not start until the end of September, and the next period of time not only will there be no games, but even rumors and news will be very few, it is purely a boring long grass period of two months.
Of course, the Rockets are very good at maintaining the heat, and they have also announced the preseason schedule in advance. The Rockets will play a total of four games, starting with the Utah Jazz and featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans, and the final game against the San Antonio Spurs in the same division.
Similar to the Rockets, the Jazz are currently in a rebuilding period, and the Jazz have been on the verge of the play-in tournament for the past two years. But the Jazz are swooping in the second half, and it seems that they are not in a hurry to produce results, but continue to accumulate assets, especially since the next two seasons are draft years, and the Jazz are likely to be directly rotten. As a result, the star Lauri Markkanen has been involved in departure rumors, and the Jazz, like the Rockets, have a lot of young people on the team, and they are expected to have more opportunities in the future.
The Thunder and the Rockets have been rebuilding for about the same time, but they quickly completed their rise, mainly because the Thunder acquired Shay Gilgeous-Alexander, plus better use of the draft picks in their hands. So last season the Thunder topped the Western Conference, and after stopping in the second round, the Thunder traded for Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein in the offseason to try to make the lineup more reasonable, and the Thunder must have high goals in the future.
The Pelicans are also a playoff team, they were swept out of the first round by the Thunder, in fact, the Pelicans have changed a lot of lineups this summer, including Naji Marshall, Valanciunas and Larry Nance Jr. have left, of course, the Pelicans still brought in Dejounte Murray and Daniel Theis, and the overall strength of the lineup should not be underestimated.
Finally, there is the San Antonio Spurs, the two teams are in the same Texas and Southwest divisions, and the original sense of competition is stronger. And before the start of last year's draft, when the Rockets drew the lottery, Victor Wembanyama was sure that he would not go to Space City, and actually celebrated in a high-profile manner, which made the two sides tie the knot. Sure enough, against the Spurs four times last season, the Rockets players are quite desperate, and they are excited when they see Victor Wembanyama, so even if it is only a preseason game, I am afraid it will still be full of gunpowder.