The Houston Rockets were among the teams playing during the NBA’s slate of games on Christmas Day last season, and their complete dismantling of the Los Angeles Lakers that left head coach JJ Redick steaming over his team’s lack of effort. But the Rockets were not among the teams selected for the Christmas Day honor this year, contributing to head coach Ime Udoka’s belief that his team is being overlooked this upcoming year.

“Yeah I would say so,” Udoka said. “We played on opening night last year, we played on Christmas last year. So that says it.”

The Rockets are coming off a disappointing end to last season as they were eliminated in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs by the Lakers who were missing star guard Luka Doncic and only had Austin Reaves available for two games.

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The Rockets injury woes of their own last season as Fred VanVleet suffered a season-ending ACL injury before the season began, Steven Adams was lost for the year in January and Kevin Durant was limited to only one game against the Lakers in the playoffs due to a knee injury and subsequent ankle injury.

Ime Udoka is entering his fourth season at the helm as Rockets head coach, and the team has posted back-to-back seasons of winning 50+ games while making the playoffs.

Part of the Rockets’ offseason plan was to improve their backcourt depth which they did with the free agent signings of veterans Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic. They also kept players from their young core intact with contract extensions for Amen Thompson and Tari Eason.