http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=1526779 Fox Sports NBA has a Fan Power Poll in which you can go and rank all 29 teams. The default rank for the Rockets is #9. I voted the Rockets as currently 5th overall and sure enough, the fan poll shows that most people agree.
Although the Sonics have a 6-2 record, I'm somewhat suprised that they rank 4th on the default as well as the fan polls. I believe that the Rockets are a better team than they. I guess we'll wait and see until they play each other.