Don't beat yourself up, you aren't the first gardener to make this mistake. That network of surface rooting can quickly fill a container; rhododendrons are often purchased rootbound. I'm not sure if it can be saved not being able to see it, if the plant is not too far gone, it might be rescued by digging it up and replanting, but I admit that would have been better done in Fall than now. Is there anything that looks alive to you? You can scratch with a fingernail on any stems you suspect may be alive, checking for green underneath bark. Remove anything obviously dead with sharp pruners. To replant, cut any circling roots that may be strangling other roots - the roots need to be opened up. On many root bound containerized rhodys, it's hard to loosen enough roots for it to be helpful, but you can make about four 1" deep slashes with a knife down the length of the rootball sides, or even root prune - cut away about 1/2" from all sides of the rootball and another from the bottom - sharp knife. Put it back in the hole, making sure not to place it deeper than it was originally planted, fill hole with water and make sure the remaining roots are accepting the moisture at this point. Then fill, water well again. Mulch. I don't know what to say about hubby noticing...Around here if anyone ever asks about the gardening budget, I just point out it might be better not to know and that pretty much ends the conversation.:)

Hello laubev2002, Sad to say, the flower buds probably have been at least damaged. If they are completely dry and brown, there is little likehood of flowers. Some buds in more protected areas of the plant or beneath the snow line may produce some flowers, but likely not a full truss - the outer buds receive most of the damage from cold, leaving at least some of the inner ones to bloom.

I'd wait until your normal pruning time. Most of the leaves in the photo of yours do not look too bad. You can cut back to the point where you see a green swelling of new growth or just let the browned leaves fall off naturally. The latter course results in naked stems which won't look great, but if you pinch out the growing point on lower branches to encourage bushiness, it will soon fill in. The extremely curled leaves on the neighbor's plant may mean that the stems themselves are too damaged to recover. Cut these back to a growth point on live tissue - might as well be done now.

I have seen the new growth on rhodies (and kalmias) come out like that and as the new growth gets larger and matures, it flops down normally.