The offseason actually held a lot of disappointment for the Houston Rockets. Not only were they unable to sign the big-name free agents that they were after in Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony, but in their pursuit of those guys, they also lost Chandler Parsons in restricted free agency. Looking at how they’ve started the 2014-15 NBA season, though, you’d never know that any of that ever happened.

Houston sits at 13-4 after the first month of the season and is in the mix at the top of the loaded Western Conference. While you might expect that to be a flash in the pan, they are actually playing a brand of basketball that seems sustainable for an entire season, though it may not be conventional.

On the offensive end of the floor, this team is geared around taking an enormous amount of attempts from long range. The Rockets are averaging over 34 attempts from three-point range per game so far this season, which is by far tops in the league. To put into perspective just how many threes this team is taking, the second-placed team in terms of attempts is at just over 27 per game.

Their offensive hasn’t been as productive as you might have come to expect from this Houston team, but their strategy on that end of the floor has proven to be effective and efficient. What’s been more surprising, though, is the prowess of this team on the defensive end of the floor.

The Rockets are currently boasting the third-best defense in the league after the first month of the season. There seems to be a massive emphasis on that end of the floor with even the defensively infamous James Harden showing a new level of commitment on that end of the floor. The Rockets simply play good team defense and have done a fantastic job of controlling game-flow with their effort on defense.

With Harden playing at a high level and Dwight Howard doing the same when healthy thus far, the Rockets haven’t missed a beat despite missing out on their targets in free agency this summer. They look like a team that’s going to be a problem for almost any matchup when the postseason rolls around. That’s obviously a win for them this early in the year.

Final Grade: A-