While I get that Houston has performed very well the last few years, they added a lot of garbage players (Anthony and M. Chriss and B. Knight) and lost solid role players. The players referenced above are usually net negative players (using advanced stats).

Paul, Harden and Capela are still formidable, but the players they brought in do not compliment them well. The question is not did they get worse than last year, but rather, by how much. I think it is enough that their regular season record will drop below that of the Jazz. That said, when the playoffs come and they tighten their roster, they will be better than their regular season record this year.