As I pointed out yesterday, the thing about having a team that's built around one player, and was assembled with role players to compliment the skillset of that player, is that it only works as long as that player is healthy. Regardless of whether you think Harden is better than Howard, or vice versa, the Rockets' role players were assembled to compliment Harden's game, which means that the Rockets will continue to be competitive as long as Harden remains healthy, no matter how many 'starters' they're missing. They can play without Beverly, and Jones, and even Howard, because their team is not built in such a way that they need those guys; the usefulness of those players is a function of what Harden can do, and nobody else.
Our problem is that the locus of our entire identity is DeMarcus Cousins, which only works as long as Cousins can play.
And, FYI, Houston is only missing three starters.