Houston Rockets vs Washington Wizards NBA Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/5/21

The Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets meet Tuesday in NBA preseason action at the Toyota Center. The Washington Wizards won 34 games last season and will make the coaching debut under Wes Unseld. The Houston Rockets are coming off a 17-win season and enter the second season under coach Stephen Silas.

The Washington Wizards made a lot of changes this offseason, including the trade of Russell Westbrook. The Wizards brought in Aaron Holiday, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Spencer Dinwiddie and drafted Corey Kispert. That’s a hell of an offseason for the Wizards and gives Bradley Beal possibly the most help he’s had in his NBA career. Of course, Rui Hachimura is making positive strides in his NBA career and Davis Bertans has proven to be one of the better shooters in the league when he’s right. The Wizards are quietly putting together an intriguing roster and could be a sneaky team when it comes to the playoff race. I’ll be watching the Wizards closey this season.

The Houston Rockets are still in rebuild mode after the trade of James Harden, but they made a lot of positive additions. Guys such as Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Josh Christopher and Usman Garuba make the Rockets a better and more intriguing team. Some of those players could be the future of this Rockets squad, and that doesn’t include guys such as Kevin Porter Jr. and Christian Wood, who have really high ceilings and can carry the load immediately. Daniel Theis is also an underrated pickup for the Rockets and provides a major boost to the Rockets front court. The Rockets are still a move or two away from being relevant, but there’s enough here to be excited about Houston basketball in terms of the future.

This should be a fun preseason game between two teams on the rise. The Wizards are obviously a lot closer toward contending, but a lot of that has to do with the vets they have on the roster. The Houston Rockets are loaded with young prospects who should get a lot of run in these preseason games and those are the sort of teams that do well in these meaningless games. Open playing time creates more competition.

Give me the Rockets to win their first preseason contest.