4 Increasingly fascinating Rockets storylines heading into 2024-25

The Houston Rockets are about to get their 2024-25 season underway.

Finally.

The offseason is long for everyone. Still, it's especially arduous when your team is envisioning its first playoff run in 5 years. Rockets fans have been biding their time, and now, they can see if the team is ready to make good on its goals.

There's no shortage of questions surrounding the Rockets. This team is young, brimming with potential, and full of uncertainty.

Here are the 4 burning questions we most want answered in order of priority.

4. Is Amen Thompson a playmaker?

Is Thompson a point guard? That horse has been thoroughly beaten. It's dead. It also happens to be a moot point.

This is 2024. What's a point guard? Who cares? Here's the pertinent question: does Thompson have any on-ball juice in the halfcourt?

The preseason suggests that he'll continue to function as a wing. Thompson is averaging just 2.0 assists per game. That's not indicative of selfish play. Thompson simply is not getting the ball often enough to make plays for his teammates.

Will that change in 2024-25? Ultimately, nobody should be worried about Thompson. With his combination of outlier athleticism and basketball intelligence, he's going to be a highly impactful player in the NBA.

We're just excited to see the precise shape of his impact.

3. Is Alperen Sengun's shot real?

Speaking of preseason stats, Sengun is knocking down 40.0% of his 1.7 three-point attempts per game.

Sure, the volume is low. That's fine. Nobody is trying to turn Sengun into Karl-Anthony Towns. He's not going to be among the best shooting big men in the NBA.

He does need to space the floor to be an optimal primary playmaker. Sengun is a lethal low-post scorer, but that makes for a limited approach. In the playoffs, teams may opt to let him cook in single coverage and trade twos for threes. For now, they'll be happy to send double teams as long as the Rockets are one of the worst-shooting teams in the NBA.

If Sengun draws his defender to the three-point line, it'll open up options. It would free up driving and cutting lanes for Jalen Green and Amen Thompson, and generally allow Sengun to attack in a wider variety of ways.

Let's see if his shot holds up in the regular season.

2. Can Jalen Green break out?

Some readers will be surprised that this isn't the most burning question. Stay tuned.

Still, this question burns with the heat of a hundred suns. For all of his warts, Green still has a case as having the most offensive potential on this team. He has perhaps the quickest first step in the NBA, and his vertical is among the league's highest as well.

Can he put it all together? That likely hinges on his shooting. If Green can get his triple to fall reliably enough, defenses will have to respect him from every area on the floor. That will allow him to leverage his devastating speed to score at will.

Otherwise, we may find an answer to our next question before long...

1. Is a blockbuster deal around the corner?

The last question may have burned with the heat of a hundred suns. This one burns with the heat of 4 Suns - first-round picks, that is.

The Rockets have a lot of assets. Beyond the surplus of young players we mentioned, they've got one of the league's better collections of draft capital. This organization is in an opportune position to trade for a star if one hits the market.

Yet, there's an obvious downside in trading for a superstar. It lightens your load of assets, and it would compromise the roster continuity that the Rockets currently enjoy. If this young core projects to contend for the title in a few years, the Rockets' front office will keep it together.

If they don't, a deal could be around the corner. The obvious target is Devin Booker should the Suns want those picks back. Still, unexpected stars request trades every year in the NBA.

We can't wait to find out if one of them becomes a Rocket.