The Houston Rockets came up short against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs last year, and were fairly disappointing after all the hype that they received. James Harden and Dwight Howard were a very impressive duo, and Chandler Parsons played excellent basketball to help relieve pressure off of them. Unfortunately, the Rockets’ depth was something that put them at a disadvantage against the Trail Blazers, and their star duo was unable to beat out Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Heading into this season, the Rockets are going to be a weaker team on paper due to the loss of Chandler Parsons this offseason. They are going to miss his scoring punch and especially his three-point shooting ability. Houston is going to have rely a lot more on Howard and Harden than they did last season, and they are going to need someone else to step up and perform in the role that Parsons did last year.

All of that being said, it’s going to be a very interesting season for the Rockets. They are going to be a different looking team than they were last season, and they are going to be asking a lot of things from Trevor Ariza that he might not be able to give them. Trading away Jeremy Lin for practically nothing could come back to hurt them, and their overall depth is something to be concerned about looking at their current roster.

What five bold predictions can be made about the 2014-15 Rockets?