Fred Vanvriet is ready to play a leadership role with the Houston Rockets and hopes that his best young teammates will build on their success last season by jumping a massive leaps and building on its success.
Even before the Houston Rockets added Kevin Durant to the roster this summer, they were expected to make a massive leap. Their lack of experience caught up with them when they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Golden State Warriors after securing the second-best record in the Western Conference.
But along with veterans like Durant and Fred Vanvriet in town, young people like Alperen Senggun, Amen Thompson, Reed Shepherd and Jabari Smith Jr. are all expected to take the next step and establish themselves as a legitimate threat to Oklahoma City’s lightning.
Vanvleet spent most of his offseason in Istanbul training with Alperen Sengun and was impressed by what he saw.
Durant arrives as the most talented player on the roster, but Senggun is far more important. At just 23, he is away from his first All-Star appearance and is expected to remain one of the better young players in the NBA along with Texas rivals Cooper Flag and Victor Wenbanyama.
Sengun has been compared to Nikola Jokic for his versatile offensive game and eye-catching passing abilities, but he is more athletic than Jokic, and at least his ceiling has not yet been touched, according to Van Vrit.
“I think Alpi can do another big jump,” the veteran said. “He was clearly an All-Star last year, and I want to be strong, better and more experienced this year.
Sengun, who was second overall in the 2021 draft, was officially the face of the franchise, being 16th in the same season.
Mostly non-invasive Rocket lost to the Warriors in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs. It was his first postseason appearance in five years and he didn’t make any progress in the end, but it’s hard to call the season a disappointment.
Heading for next season, the Rockets and Nuggets are the main threat of west lightning, and their ability to go toe toe with the league’s best big players on both ends of the court have already established themselves as “playoff risers.”
| span | ppg | RPG | APG | FG% | 3pt% |
| Regular season | 19.1 | 10.3 | 4.9 | 49.6% | 23.3% |
| play off | 20.9 | 11.9 | 5.3 | 45.0% | 37.5% |
Vanvleet might be in something. After a “good playoff series”, the fifth-year center should be expected to make a leap, and his team is expected to become a very realistic favorite in the first two rounds of the 2026 playoffs.