MILWAUKEE — The disappointment in Fred VanVleet’s voice, as he leaned against a wall while talking to reporters, spoke louder than what he was actually saying.
Minutes earlier, the Houston Rockets had dropped a nail-biter to the Milwaukee Bucks, a game in which they had led by double-digits before letting go in a frantic ending. And annual trips to Milwaukee and Chicago where they had played the night before — both cities less than 100 miles from VanVleet’s hometown of Rockford, Ill., — were always emotional.
But VanVleet’s irritation wasn’t because Houston lost another close game in front of friends and family. It wasn’t about not taking or making the final shot, despite being the leading scorer that night on an evening where consistency evaded everyone else. He’s not wired that way anymore.
VanVleet couldn’t get over the fact his inbounds pass to Alperen Şengün, from a point guard who prides himself on precision, was slightly off. From the veteran playmaker’s perspective, the pass was more important than the set, spacing or anything else with the possession.
“Just wasn’t the best pass,” VanVleet said as he shook his head. “Gotta give him a better pass”
Behind his exasperation, however, was a reminder that VanVleet has made peace with his commitment to taking a step back within Houston’s hierarchy. A year ago, he might have been the one taking the last shot.
At the beginning of the season, VanVleet publicly admitted he would be deferring more to the youth on the roster. Considering the Rockets’ raised expectations, one would think the reliance on VanVleet, now in his ninth NBA season, would only increase.
In the not-so-distant past when VanVleet was with the Toronto Raptors, this mental shift wouldn’t have been possible. Elite point guards, like quarterbacks in football, are extremely hands-on and detail-oriented. That leadership style doesn’t always mesh well with younger players.
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VanVleet came to Toronto with a decidedly old-school mentality, and the step-by-step path he took from undrafted free agent to All-Star informed his view on how players and teams should grow. When it came time for VanVleet to lead, he had calmed down from his younger days — as Sportsnet’s Michael Grange reported, he once sent a teammate to the hospital because he was so flagrantly intense in a practice. But he was still very much an unsubtle advocate for putting in time and skipping no steps.
That worked fine in the Raptors’ 2021-22 season when they surprised the league by going from the lottery to the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed, and less so when success was more elusive. With Scottie Barnes looking to further establish himself after a Rookie of the Year season, Pascal Siakam going for All-NBA honors to qualify for supermax status and OG Anunoby trying to carve out a bigger offensive role, VanVleet had a lot of disparate goals to try to bring together. (That was even before considering his upcoming free agency and trying to back up his All-Star berth.) That job belonged to the coaching staff and front office, too, but VanVleet admittedly lacked the softer touch required to allow those disparate goals to come together into something bigger. Finding a way to further integrate Barnes, whose role was often minimized through games, was a particular problem.
“I’ve been in that position before,” VanVleet said. “We had a lot of guys trying to figure it out at the same time in Toronto, and lost a little bit of what held us together in that process. I didn’t want to make that same mistake here.”
So for VanVleet, who won an NBA championship by assuming a big offensive role, ceding control to youngsters yet to experience playoff basketball takes some adjusting. The line between leadership and ego became an underlying struggle toward the end of his Raptors tenure, with multiple players trying to assert themselves concurrently. But his leadership approach is something VanVleet said he came to terms with before donning a Rockets jersey.
He saw something different, which would make his eventual decision easier.
“Just understanding the team, structure and where guys were,” VanVleet said. “As someone who’s done it already in terms of winning a championship, making an All-Star Game and things like that, most of these guys are still in their first contract, trying to check things off their goal list. It’s easier for me to set the tone of unselfishness than it would be for them.”
VanVleet’s gradual evolution from professor to teaching assistant is more than an eye test. Through Dec. 1, VanVleet’s usage is down to 21.9 percent according to Cleaning the Glass, placing him in just the 37th percentile among guards. His assist percentage has also dropped from 31.2 percent to 25.2 percent (34th percentile among guards). The Rockets have been involved in 13 clutch games, with VanVleet first in minutes played but third in points and usage — and a considerable distance behind Şengün and Jalen Green (34.5 and 28.2 percent, respectively).
Juxtaposed with VanVleet’s dip in shooting — he’s hovering around 34 percent from 3 and 83 percent from the free-throw line — and it’s understandable why the Rockets, for all their defensive plaudits, have been inconsistent at the other end of the floor. But it’s still a difficult ask for a prideful player struggling offensively to do less, not more, to find a rhythm.
“Hell yeah,” VanVleet said. “Especially when you’re not playing well. It’s easy to take a backseat when everything’s working, you’re winning and playing well. But those nights when you don’t play well and are out of a rhythm, that’s when you’re really tested. That’s really the only time it counts.”
The 30-year-old guard is still finding his balance within a Rockets offense still working out the kinks. In many ways, VanVleet’s diminishing lead was necessary. Houston’s 15-6 start isn’t possible without its youth taking positive steps in their development. Şengün is a stable, multi-faceted source of offense and Thompson, Tari Eason and Smith have been given room to thrive in their respective roles. (Green has struggled with shot-making consistency after a blistering start to the season.)
As a result, Houston has fared better in the non-VanVleet minutes compared to when he first arrived. Per PBP Stats, the Rockets are a plus-2.9 in 325 minutes when VanVleet is off the floor, compared to a minus-2.1 last season.
Head coach Ime Udoka’s system has been predicated more on in-game flow and rhythm than a pecking order. The Rockets still keep to their tenets of pace and spacing, but their half-court offense flows through who has the hot hand — or anything close to it — outside of their transition department.
Şengün and Green have been delegated with more play-initiation responsibilities, freeing VanVleet up to impact the game in other areas. According to tracking data from NBA.com, his 1.4 screen assist points are the highest at any point over his nine-year career. Even at 6-feet, VanVleet’s low center of gravity catches opponents off guard, a pleasant fit for a screen-heavy Udoka offense.
“Offensively, we’re still finding out what works for everybody,” VanVleet said. “You can see what it looks like when it does, but it’s not gonna be like that all the time.”
The search for a system that benefits everyone on the floor starts with the relationship between VanVleet and Udoka. The pair are in constant communication, with Udoka understanding VanVleet’s importance to their success and VanVleet an amenable veteran. Having both arrived in Houston at the same time, there has been a healthy dialogue on what works and what doesn’t, what needs to be tweaked and how to keep up in the ever-changing NBA.
“It’s been great,” VanVleet said of his relationship with Udoka. “He’s very receptive. We talk a lot and figure out what works through the numbers. Coming in, we had so many holes to fill given how they were playing the last three years. We wanted to go slow and build a foundation defensively and unselfishly. We’ll get more layered as we go, the offense will continue to grow and we’ll find more success in that area.”
That the Rockets are a plus-8.7 in VanVleet’s minutes (82nd percentile impact) is not a surprise. He remains one of the best defenders in the league, pound for pound. Even though VanVleet isn’t always on the ball, his personal turnover percentage of just 5.6 percent correlates directly to Houston being the best in the league at ball retention while he’s on the floor. In the lone game VanVleet missed this season, a 102-87 win over the Washington Wizards, the Rockets struggled, finishing with 19 turnovers to just 13 assists.
Nights like that highlight VanVleet’s most impressive skill — timing and impact. He can read the court and step up when his teammates look to him for an offensive lift in important games. Last Tuesday, Houston won an impressive road NBA Cup game over Minnesota 117-111, with VanVleet leading the way providing 27 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. So far in NBA Cup group play, VanVleet is shooting 47.6 percent from 3 and dishing out 9.7 assists to just 1.3 turnovers per game. And Sunday, against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, VanVleet led all scorers on the floor with 38 points on an efficient 10-for-19 performance.
“Just a consummate pro that’s been there, done that,” Udoka said following Houston’s 119-116 win over Oklahoma City. “He isn’t really worried about stats. He’s worried about whatever is going to help the team win.”
VanVleet says he has always tried to have that team-first mentality.
“The best teams that I’ve been a part of is guys getting it through the system, but we’re still finding what that system is,” VanVleet said. “That’s been my thought process, how do we all benefit playing together? We know Jalen can get 40, we know Alpi is a hell of an offensive player, Dillon can score, Jabari can score — but what works for everybody at the same time?”
Regardless of VanVleet’s offensive role, he remains the team’s emotional compass and leader. In tense moments, like late last season following a home win over the Bulls involving a scuffle between DeMar DeRozan and Green, it was VanVleet who met with his former Raptors teammate in a back room to mediate the situation. This season, when the Rockets felt aggrieved by several officiating decisions in a home loss to the Trail Blazers, it was VanVleet who challenged the referees, earning him an ejection and a prompt $50,000 fine. His teammates routinely look to him for guidance in that department and his mild-mannered-yet-no-nonsense approach is part of his secret sauce that has the Rockets eyeing the postseason — and possibly more.
“The goal is to go deep,” VanVleet said. “And not just to make the playoffs, making a real run. Last year was cool but we didn’t make the playoffs — I don’t think anybody was happy with that. It was cool from the standpoint of jumping in the win total column, but we want to go to the playoffs and make some real noise. So understanding what that takes and we’re off to a good start.”
— The Athletic’s Eric Koreen contributed to this report.
(Photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
