Adu joins cannot save everything. Who should the Rockets rely on for three-pointers? Van Jordan is the best answer

Although there is no Warriors who can make three-pointers a team, the Rockets are actually one of the best three-pointers in the league since 2012. No one will deny it.

Yes, since Harden arrived in Houston, the Rockets have been the best team in the league to shoot three-pointers. But in the past two years, the Rockets have dropped significantly due to team style issues.

Let's review, after Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, the Rockets' three-point shooting and three-point shooting percentage have dropped, and we hover around the bottom in these aspects. The team's three-point shooting percentage was in the bottom 10 in the season when Harden was traded and the two subsequent seasons. In fact, the Rockets ranked first in the league in three-point shooting percentage in 2022-23, and the last one.

Plus a lack of defense and a young team, you can see why the Rockets have been at the bottom of the standings for three seasons after Harden's trade. When veterans like Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks were introduced, the Rockets began to turn that trend. VanVleet shot 38.7% from three-pointers in his first season with the Rockets, the second best shot as a starter in VanVleet’s career.

Brooks shot 35.9% last season, a career-high 39.7%. The Rockets shot 35.5% from three-pointers last season, an improvement from the 2023-24 season. However, VanVleet's shooting percentage fell by nearly four percentage points last season to 34.5%. So after a while, the Rockets' overall three-point shooting rate has not improved much.

This is also the first time since the Thunder era that Durant has partnered with a group of teammates who are not good at shooting three-pointers, but the NBA in 2016 is different from now. The previous NBA hovered at the baseline of around 105 points, and your average three-pointer of less than 40% will not affect your winning rate. But now the league has increased significantly every 48 minutes of offensive rounds, and three-pointers have become one of the benchmarks for a team to win.

Of course, Durant's team generally has no bad three-pointers. In addition to Durant's first-tier three-pointers such as Curry, Thompson, Booker, and Irving, there is another reason that Durant has the ability to attract double-teams and still force long-range shots. In addition, Durant's attracting double-teams naturally makes the three-point shooting environment for other players relatively relaxed. If the Rockets want to make a significant improvement in three-pointers, they need others besides Durant to stand up.

In the Rockets' current roster, only three players have higher 3-point shooting percentages than the league average. The three players are new Dorian Finney-Smith, Aaron Holiday, and of course Kevin Durant. Even if the Rockets were the best rebounding team last season and are likely to be the best rebounding team again in the upcoming 25-26 season, being able to open up space is crucial for any team, especially those entering the playoffs.

I personally think that VanVleet is the key to whether the Rockets' three-pointers can return to the top-class level of the league. If he can pull up space, it will also be helpful to Shin Kyung's offense in the inside. The Rockets struggled in their first four games against the Warriors, trailing 1-3. They didn't return to the series until VanVleet started to hit three-pointers continuously. The Rockets were able to drag the game into tiebreak thanks in large part to Van Vleet's hot three-point shooting form. If Fred VanVleet can continue his improved shooting level in the playoffs into the upcoming season, the Rockets can truly turn their face-to-face strength into real strength.