Sadly I was too young to have enjoyed the championships, so I'd say MVP Harden era as that was the second best team IMO.
I bet the responses here correlate with each poster/voters’ age. I grew up with the lost dynasty of the 80’s, and in that stage of life and fandom, my friends and I lived and died with each win and loss. Hell each bucket and stop. The championship years were great, but life changes as you age, whether it’s college/grad school, early professional life, marriage/kids etc. And probably so does the intensity of fandom for most folks. It was fun having enough time and money to have season tickets and attend a lot of the Yao/McGrady/artest era games. But that was less pure and perfect than the fandom of a kid.
I was 4 years old when the championship years occurred. Although the Yao & T-Mac era is the most nostalgic, the Harden MVP almost NBA champion was the most fun I had as a Rocket's fan. That game 7 loss still haunts me. also, where is the Aaron Brooks and Chase Budingner era on the vote options? Haha
1. Favorite era - 2 time champs 2. Most nostalgic Era - Rudy and Calvin, and Kunert, and Newlin etc 3. Most promising team derailed - Hakeem and Ralph - by cocaine use by Wiggins, Lloyd and Lucas 4. Most enjoyable regular season - Harden, CP3, Capela 57-3 with those 3 playing together. 5. Team that should have won it all - barring injury - Yao Ming's team when he got hurt 5b. Harden team when CP3 got hurt 6. Most amount of promising rookies - 2022-23 team - LET's GO ! DD
Cannot separate 80's and 90's - that was the DREAM era imo. The Yao era was hell fun but gotta go with Harden era as 2nd favorite ever. Loved the Moses and Big E eras too.
Its hard not to pick the 2x champs here. But I will add that I watched the Rockets more between 1983-93 than any other era.