Last season was a rough one for the Rockets, and their offseason took an unwanted turn when their talented young point guard, Kevin Porter Jr, arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend.
But there is reason to be optimistic in Houston. The addition of Fred VanVleet will provide them with a much-needed veteran presence, while their vast swathes of young players have talent in spades. Jalen Green will be given the opportunity to more efficiently maximize his prodigious ability behind VanVleet, Jabari Smith Jr will benefit from another season's experience, while Cam Whitmore and Amen Thompson both have the capacity to make an immediate impact after being drafted in the top 20 in the 2023 draft.
But there is one player in particular who is capable of taking the biggest step forward of them all in season 2023-24, and if he does it will have a big role in fast-tracking their ascent up the Western Conference.
Alperun Sengun is the Rockets best candidate for a breakout season
Thanks largely to a guy called Nikola Jokic, centers who can do a little bit more than the traditional crashing and bashing of the bigs of a bygone era are all the rage in the NBA at the moment. Alperun Sengun has a little way to go to catch up to his European counterpart, but the unique skill set which could potentially turn him into a star of the NBA has been plain to see during his two seasons in the league.
Having been drafted with the 21st pick in the 2021 draft, Sengun's solid first season was backed up by a whole lot of improvement in 2022-23, with his 28.9 minutes per game yielding 14.8 points on 55.3% shooting, 9.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists. He might look ungainly at times, but Sengun is a super slippery scorer and can pull off passes that others can't even see, all while standing at a touch under 7'0″.
At times last season, he was close to unstoppable, and the Rockets' offense ran largely through his big hands. During a nine-game stretch in January, he had at least six assists in every game, managed two triple-doubles and averaged 19 points, 10.2 rebounds and 7.3 assists. At that point, he was just 20 years of age.
All the while, the Rockets were losing nearly every game – they won just one during that stretch. That's not to suggest that Sengun's exploits weren't having a positive impact on his team – it's to say that he was still managing to put up such impressive, efficient numbers, despite the fact that he was hardly getting any help from the rest of his team.
This season, his teammates will all have an extra year's experience under their belt, as will he, while the presence of VanVleet as well as Dillon Brooks will make the Rockets a far more well-rounded team. They may not run their offense through him as often as they did last season with a veteran point guard on their team, but they'll nonetheless be eager to facilitate his growth by giving him plenty of time on the ball, and it's Jalen Green whose touches will suffer most from VanVleet's presence.
A player with the size and skillset of Alperun Sengun doesn't come along often, and in just two seasons in the league he's already shown really significant improvement. The sky is the limit for the Turkish marvel, and in year three he is capable of really beginning to stamp his presence on the NBA.
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