One Area Fred Vanvleet Can Improve on Next Season for the Houston Rockets

Since his first Houston Rockets training camp, Fred VanVleet has been the team's on and off-court leader. During his first season, he helped the Rockets have their best season when taking care of the basketball and improved by 19 wins from the previous season.

Going into the 2024-25 season, VanVleet and Ime Udoka believed that for the Rockets to take the next step and make the playoffs, VanVleet needed to take a step back, especially on the offensive end. VanVleet played the second-most minutes per game in his career and controlled the basketball in most Rockets possessions.

VanVleet taking a lesser role led to Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun having the best seasons of their careers. The Rockets finished with their most wins since 2019 and their first playoff appearance since 2020. That also led to a drop in VanVleet's numbers across the board as VanVleet became more of a complementary player than the previous season.

VanVleet statistically had an up-and-down regular season, and that continued into the playoffs as well. Going into the offseason, there are questions about whether VanVleet will be back for the 2025-26 season, but most reports indicate that he and the Rockets are on track to work out a new deal that would extend his contract at a lower salary.

That leads us to the first installment of our series on one area each Rocket can improve on. For VanVleet, the one area he can improve on that will help him and the Rockets next season is his 3-point shooting.

Fred VanVleet has to improve from beyond the arc next season.

In VanVleet's first season with the team, he was one of the Rockets' most dependable 3-point shooters, shooting 38.7 percent from downtown. In 2024-25, VanVleet saw a drop in his 3-point shooting, which at times dragged down the Rockets' offense.

VanVleet has never been known as a player who can get to the basket consistently and score in the paint, so to be successful and help his team, he has to be a threat from the perimeter. Opposing teams last season sent double teams at Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green a lot more often as they wanted to force other Rockets like VanVleet to beat them.

As mentioned earlier, VanVleet's numbers dropped across the board, including his 3-point shooting, as he shot the second-worst percentage of his career from beyond the arc at 34.5 percent. For the Rockets to be able to spread the court, they will need a better showing from VanVleet, especially if he will be playing 30-plus minutes next season.

As currently constructed, the Rockets are a bottom 10 team in terms of 3-point shooting, so they will need VanVleet to improve in this one area if they want to go from the up-and-coming team to a championship contender.