Daryl Morey says Rockets should be favorites in West

What else did you expect him to say?

Rockets GM Daryl Morey is both confident and a bit obsessive on the topic of bringing a title to Houston. So when Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle asked him if, with the Warriors taking a step back, the Rockets should be the favorite in the West, there was only one answer.

“Yes. We’re favorites. But as usual, there is some very tough competition: Clippers, Lakers, Utah. Then I’d say people are probably underrating Golden State still. We have a healthy respect for them. But we go in shooting for the No. 1 seed.”

That’s a lofty goal, but this is the bigger question to me: What matters more, a top seed or adding in load management so James Harden and Russell Westbrook (and Eric Gordon, Clint Capela, etc.) are rested and 100 percent (or as close as any players are at that point in the season) when the playoffs start? That’s not a simple yes/no answer, there’s a sliding scale of rest vs. need for a high seed, but the team needs to have a priority.

There are plenty of questions about the Rockets heading into the season: Can isolation masters Westbrook and Harden find an offensive balance? (My guess is they do, although it could take a little time.) Do they have enough depth? Can this team defend at a high level — an advance deep in the playoff level — with Harden and Westbrook on the court at the same time? (That’s the one to watch.)

Morey sees a team that has the advantage of continuity — even with all the changes, because Westbrook and Harden have known each other back to their high school days — and a team that will play a little faster.

“I think we have great continuity because I think we’re returning more minutes than most teams in the league, but also the familiarity of all the players. You get players of similar age like Russ and James and Eric in particular, they’ve known each other since they were very young. They’ve been battling on the court together, against and with each other for a long time....

“I think we’re going to get back to transition being more of a weapon for us. That was something Mike did very well his first year for us. Mostly because we were an elite halfcourt team, we got away from it. With a weapon like Russell in transition, you have to use it.”

The Rockets are going to be good this season. Very good. Favorites in the West good? That they are going to have to prove.