Three Burning Questions Heading Into the Season for the Houston Rockets

The Rockets have had plenty of positivity when it comes to the offseason, but there have been setbacks as well. Fred VanVleet, the Rockets' leader on and off the court the last two seasons, suffered a potential season-ending injury right before the start of training camp. The injury left the Rockets' already shallow depth even more shorthanded.

As part of the Durant trade, the Rockets traded away Jalen Green, their starting shooting guard and leading scorer, which means they will enter the season with one less guard. Now, with the injury to VanVleet, the Rockets are left with a backcourt of second-year guard Reed Sheppard and third-year rising star Amen Thompson.

Sheppard will go from barely playing to end last season to now possibly playing 30 minutes a game on a team hoping to be playing in late May and early June. Sheppard, at times, struggled on both sides of the court with the speed of the NBA. The Rockets sent Sheppard to the G League early in the season to help build his confidence, and now he will be one of the main rotation players, either coming off the bench or as a starter.

The question is, will that be enough for a team that is expecting to compete for a championship? So far this preseason, the Rockets have had multiple starting lineups that have included Sheppard starting at point guard and also Thompson starting as point guard in game two. The Rockets are up against the first tax apron, meaning they can't sign players to a minimum contract, so this will be the backcourt until at least December.

The one thing that will help the Rockets' backcourt is that it won't all be on them to be the only playmakers, as shown in the first two preseason games. The Rockets will run much of their offense through Durant and especially Alperen Sengun so that the pressure won't be as intense on Sheppard and Thompson. However, they will need to step up at times and take control of the offense for the Rockets to take that next step.

Will the Rockets have enough shooting outside of Kevin Durant?

Since the start of the rebuild following James Harden's departure, the Rockets have struggled in several areas on the offensive side of the ball. When the Rockets shifted from rebuilding to a competitive team in the summer of 2023, they improved in most of those areas. However, there is one area that has taken longer for the Rockets to improve in, and that is outside shooting.

The last two seasons, the Rockets' shooting has improved. They finished 23rd in the 2023-24 season after finishing last the prior season. They were slightly better last season, finishing 21st in the league, shooting 35.5 percent from deep. However, if the Rockets want to go deep in the playoffs, they will have to improve their outside shooting.

Briging in one of the best shooters of all time in Durant helps the cause but the Rockets will need players like Thompson who has improved his shooting percentage from beyond the arch in each of his first two seasons, Sheppard who led the nation in 3-point shooting his only year at Kentucky but struggled in his first year in the NBA and Jabari Smith who has been average for the most part from 3-point range. As teams clog the lane to keep Sengun and Durant away from the basket, the Rockets have to make opposing teams pay by shooting better from beyond the arc.

Can Alperen Sengun go from All-Star to Superstar this season?

The other burning question for the Rockets is whether Sengun can go from a first-time All-Star to a superstar and possibly even an MVP candidate. Sengun has gone from being an Euroleague MVP whom most in the United States didn't know much about in the 2021 draft, to a player who spent most of his time coming off the bench in his first year in the league, to an All-Star last season and a standout in EuroBasket this past summer.

Sengun's rise last season played a big part in the Rockets winning 52 games and making the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Sengun averaged 19.1 points and a career high 10.3 rebounds in his fourth season and became the Rockets as Ime Udoka put it calming force on the offensive end.

Most of the talk around Sengun has focused on his offense, but Sengun took a major step on the defensive end last season, which led to Udoka having more confidence to have Sengun in close games late in the fourth quarter. Now, with the Rockets looking to go deep into the playoffs, many expect Sengun to take that next step this season and become an MVP candidate.

Sengun was already going to be more involved as a playmaker before the news of VanVleet's injury, but now he will be the Rockets' leading facilitator. We have already seen it throughout the preseason, and it should continue into the regular season as well, just like it did in Türkiye's historic run to the EuroBasket Finals. Sengun is poised to enter superstar talks, which will come at the perfect time for the Rockets' championship run.

The Rockets do have several pressing questions heading into the 2025-26 season. There will be questions about the backcourt, the Rockets' shooting, and whether players like Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson can take the next step. Despite these questions, the Rockets will be one of the teams with a realistic chance to raise the Larry O'Brien trophy in June.