What is Considered a Successful Season For Houston Rockets in 2024-25 NBA Season?

The Rockets are set to take a step forward next season.

Mar 21, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka (center) talks with Houston Rockets guards Fred VanVleet (5) and Jalen Green (4) during the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports / Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Rockets are an intriguing team ahead of the 2024-25 NBA campaign. They've got two directions they could go in terms of roster-building -- both of which to end up as NBA title contenders, though with two very different timelines.

The Rockets' young core runs about seven players deep, meaning a youth movement and focusing on development could be the right move. Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks, two win-now guys the team acquired a season ago, could complement a star player, though, which would come at the expense of the young core.

Either way, the team is an intriguing one to follow next season. What does a successful season look like, though?

Assuming general manager Rafael Stone sits on his hands for the season, allowing the team's continuity to decide the future and for the trade market to sort itself with a potential star player becoming available, a successful season could be quite simple to determine.

The Rockets want to end up with a title-contending roster. They also finished No. 11 with a 41-41 record a season ago. Using baby steps to build a contender, a winning season and making the playoffs would be considered a success in Houston.

With a young core surrounding their win-now talents, development should carry the Rockets into an improved season, too. Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun have contracts to earn. The rest of the young core needs to continue to carve out what their long-term impacts in the NBA will look like, too.

Improvement will come at the hands of continuity, too, with Ime Udoka heading into his second season as the franchise's head coach.

The goalpost could move as it pertains to what success looks like in Houston next season, but that's only if the club makes a roster move. Whether the move gears the team towards competing now or in the future would determine which way the goalpost moves, too.

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