Last Updated on June 15, 2025 4:53 pm by Keston Paul | Published: June 15, 2025

The Rockets season can only be classified as a success, ascending all the way to the second seed in the Western Conference. A hard-fought first-round playoff loss made the ending bittersweet, contrasting against the regular season wins. The question now isn’t if the Rockets can fight to the playoffs – it’s this: how will they proceed further?

How’d It Go?

After failing to make the Play-In in the 2023-24 season, the Rockets more than made sure that wouldn’t happen again. They rode the wave of fantastic depth and high-energy play to the tune of 52 wins, good for the second seed in the Western Conference and the fourth-best record in all of the NBA. The team fully bought into a physical style, making every game a dog fight in which they usually came out ahead.

The interesting part was that the Rockets did all of this without a clear-cut top-30 player on the roster. Alperen Sengün’s production stagnated as teams focused their defensive efforts on him in the half-court. Fred VanVleet started showing signs of aging as most of his stats dipped. Jalen Green did have his best scoring season on a points-per-game basis, but his shooting and nightly impact remained streaky. Third-overall pick Reed Sheppard contributed little, displaying classic rookie struggles.

Instead, the core of the Rockets was all the extremely competent rotation players they could throw onto the court night in and night out. The best of these was Amen Thompson, who had the one true breakout season on the team. He tallied impact play after impact play, with emphatic blocks, dunks, finishes, and numerous other highlight-reel plays. Tari Eason returned well after a curious leg injury in the 2023-24 season, playing in a majority of games and flashing the same disruption that enticed fantasy managers previously. Jabari Smith Jr. didn’t shine statistically but chipped in with valuable spacing and helpful defense. Dillon Brooks continued to provide solid two-way play, leading the charge on defense with his toughness and grit.

Overall, the Rockets have to be encouraged with how the team produced. Even though a playoff exit to the rival Warriors will sting, it should only fuel the team forward in the future. Potential star trades could shake things up, but either way the Rockets have arrived and are ready to take additional steps forward.

Coaching

Head coach Ime Udoka has always preached toughness and defense. These principles didn’t waver in his second season; if anything, they were amplified. From CleaningTheGlass, Houston possessed the fourth-best defense in the league. Every player on the team would not give an inch of space on defense, all the way from Sengün and Steven Adams down low to even Jalen Green on the perimeter. Udoka relied on his perimeter defenders to stem the flow of drivers to the paint and preferred to plant his big men around the paint to deter any rim attempts. Later in the season, he even took to playing Sengün and Adams together in a 2-3 zone. Teams took 32.8% of their shots against the Rockets in the midrange, good for the fifth-highest rate in the league. Midrangers tend to be some of the lower-efficiency shots an offense can take, so forcing the offense into taking more of them is usually a positive sign.

Udoka also stressed winning the possession battle, unleashing his athletic players in a variety of ways. On defense, Udoka had no concerns letting all of his perimeter players pester and hound opposing guards, even if that led to things getting chippy. The stats may say that the Rockets only forced a middling amount of turnovers compared to league average, but it certainly didn’t feel that way. In addition, the team crashed the offensive glass with reckless abandon. The Rockets by far lead the league in offensive rebounding percentage, acquiring oodles of extra possessions for the offense.

All the positives stand true, but the lack of offensive creativity was a consistent blemish throughout the season. The offense was stagnant, reliant on Sengün post-ups, Green isolations, or VanVleet pick-and-rolls to create anything. A lack of shooting threats cramped the court, allowing teams to pack the paint and dare the Rockets to beat them from deep. This flaw reared its head the most in the playoffs, as the Rockets had no way to attack the Warriors defense. You could argue the Rockets do not have the strongest personnel, but the simplicity of the offense ushered by Udoka did little to help.

The uninspired half-court offense will be the next hurdle for Udoka to solve. Maybe it is something that the current Rockets squad will just not be equipped for. As a fan of the team though, I am desperately hoping for more off-ball actions and a way to generate mismatches in the post for Sengün.

The Players

Alperen Sengün

C, Houston Rockets

ADP: 27.6/29.3 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 47/62 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 70/90 (8/9-cat)

Sengün had a curious fourth year. He did make his first All-Star game and was the face of the number-two-seeded team in the tough Western Conference. However, you wouldn’t be able to tell from his stats alone. Indeed, Sengün’s stats stayed relatively flat with only his rebounds increasing from the prior year. He did play one fewer minute a game which affected his counting stats, but even then that isn’t what fantasy managers expected after selecting Sengün on average in the third round.

Why did Sengün disappoint? His FG% dropped from 53.7% to 49.6%. We can factor in Sengün’s creation load as a reason, but really he shot much worse on short midrange shots. From CleaningTheGlass, Sengün shot only 41% on shots classified as short midrangers. Last season, that number was 48%. Some managers may point to the three-point percentage dropping from 29.7% to 23.3% as a cause, but that came alongside 1.2 three-point attempts a game. That is not enough volume to impact the bottom line. The reality is that Sengün just shot worse and was not as effective as an offensive player.

Fantasy managers should be encouraged that Sengün’s steals, blocks, and assists stayed consistent while he became a better rebounding presence. Hopefully with improved offensive talent, a more creative offense, and development, Sengün can prove he is worth his ADP.

Fred VanVleet

PG, Houston Rockets

ADP: 38.4/68.0 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 90/84 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 85/74 (8/9-cat)

I won’t sugarcoat it; VanVleet’s offense nosedived this year. Offensive stats of 14.1 points on 37.8% from the field and 5.6 assists a game are not cutting it for a player you drafted to help lock down your point guard stats. VanVleet isn’t known for being the focal point of an offense, but I don’t think many saw this low of involvement.

The best demonstration of this reduction is via CleaningTheGlass, whose usage stat incorporates both shooting and passing. VanVleet’s usage was at 19.7% this season, the lowest of his career. Not the lowest in the past five seasons, but of his ENTIRE CAREER! That makes it even more surprising that his field-goal percentage fell concurrently. Usually, less usage leads to easier shots and better accuracy, but that wasn’t the case with VanVleet.

At least the triples and steals were strong at 2.7 and 1.6 respectively a game, but those alone weren’t enough to fully satisfy fantasy managers. We’ll have to see if VanVleet can recover slightly next season, but I would lean towards this being closer to the new normal for VanVleet (more on that later).

Want access to the rest of this Season Wrap? You’ll need to have a FANTASYPASS membership. Click here to learn more and sign up! 

Premium Access Required:
Error: Cannot find Jeenathan Williams Jr. in player database

• About the Author
• Latest Posts

Mark C

• Punt Intended: The Cooper Flagg Scouting Episode | Is Thomas Sorber the Best Fantasy Big Prospect?
• Season Wrap: The 2024-25 Houston Rockets
• Season Wrap: The 2024-25 Memphis Grizzlies