{"id":762976,"date":"2026-06-17T02:24:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T02:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/762976\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T02:24:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T02:24:46","slug":"ridiculous-fred-vanvleet-decision-is-about-to-doom-the-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/762976\/","title":{"rendered":"Ridiculous Fred VanVleet decision is about to doom the Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5d\">Despite all of the talented guards potentially available in the trade market or free agency this offseason, the Rockets are reportedly not interested and would prefer to stick with Fred VanVleet as their primary point guard. This decision could become a death knell for Houston considering their roster makeup and VanVleet\u2019s age. Even if they don\u2019t feel the need to replace him immediately, the Rockets should still <a href=\"https:\/\/spacecityscoop.com\/rockets-must-face-painful-fred-vanvleet-decision-sooner-rather-than-later\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">search for better guard talent<\/a> to eventually fill in VanVleet\u2019s role.<\/p>\n<p>The Rockets are making a huge mistake<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">Around the league, other top contenders are searching for ways to improve by adding talented guards. Even teams that are set up better in the present and future than the Rockets, such as the Pistons and Timberwolves, are desperate to add another perimeter scorer. And yet the Rockets front office seems firm in the same stance that doomed them last season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5m\">They don\u2019t feel the need to make a big move and bring in another point guard. Last season proved that they don\u2019t have any natural point guards on the roster besides VanVleet and yet they seem adamant on running it back. Perhaps the Rockets believe they can find additional <a href=\"https:\/\/spacecityscoop.com\/rockets-can-address-glaring-weakness-with-ready-made-second-round-shooter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">backcourt talent in the draft<\/a>, but that\u2019s a long shot considering they don\u2019t even have a first-round pick.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">If the Rockets want to truly <a href=\"https:\/\/spacecityscoop.com\/spurs-finals-struggles-give-rockets-perfect-reason-to-make-bold-offseason-gamble\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">contend with the West powerhouses<\/a>, they will need additional depth and talent in their backcourt. Even the Thunder eventually bowed out against the Spurs largely because of injuries to key perimeter creators, while San Antonio maintained a strong trio of great guards until The Finals.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5s\">Time and time again in the playoffs, we saw the importance of quality guard depth. The Knicks themselves got a great boost from Jose Alvarado as a backup point guard in The Finals, where he was able to help them survive with Jalen Brunson off the court and even take pressure off Brunson. The Rockets had no one like Alvarado in their playoff series; just adding one floor general in VanVleet next season won\u2019t be enough.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">Many other teams have fallen victim to the curse of stagnation in recent years, and the Rockets can\u2019t afford to join them. As it stands, Houston is already behind its conference rivals in terms of roster construction and overall talent. It just comes off as obvious hubris if the Rockets are reluctant to pursue the trade talks and free agency pursuits that could help them improve their most obvious flaws.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow spacecityscoop.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=spacecityscoop.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite all of the talented guards potentially available in the trade market or free agency this offseason, the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,292,194,4066,6,211],"class_list":["post-762976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-rockets","tag-basketball","tag-houston","tag-houston-rockets","tag-houstonrockets","tag-nba","tag-rockets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116763077325793080","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}