I don't think he struggled offensively vs Achiuwa much at all. Even when he got blocked he still made a great move to get open. Really I think it's more about reps. Rockets coaches should be telling the guards to get him the ball every time. In a larger sample size I think he would more than hold his own. Achiuwa did give him some problems defensively but as the game went on Sengun realized this guy couldn't shoot and just played off. The refs also decided to swallow their whistles on some pretty obvious fouls on him yesterday. Especially considering all the touch fouls they called on him.
I caught the game about halfway through the 2nd quarter and watched until the middle of the fourth. Was it pretty bad? Sure, but if we're going to get hyped about the rookie after the first 2 games the game last night is meant as a reminder that these kids ARE 19 year old kids. My thoughts: JC went a bit chuck-heavy tonight like some have already said. He's still trying to find the right balance of being the swiss army knife: when to be the ball distributor/facilitator, when to score/shoot, etc. Green was pretty good from what I saw prior to him leaving. When I say "pretty good" I mean he was getting the shots he wanted and was scoring pretty much effortlessly. Sengun had his ups and downs but I see a guy trying to hold the team together during chaotic times on the floor. Whether it be people trying to go into iso mode or Green leaving the game or the rest of the team not wanting to put in the effort on defense, I thought he gave really good effort until he ran out of gas at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th. He got hacked a few times (reffing was atrocious) but kept plugging at it. I am still excited about his footwork and, for a big man, his dribbling and ball handling is pretty damn good. The team as a whole missed a lot of shots from 3 (looking at you, Lamb and JC) and that was pretty much the nail in the coffin.
I'm talking about Sengun, just as it is ridiculous to say that he will destroy the league this year based on the game he played in the previous two games, it is ridiculous to say that his performance was disappointing in the game he played yesterday. A player who has not yet had an official NBA game in his career, who has turned 19 just a few weeks ago was quite satisfying against a player like Achiuwa with high motor skills, quick enough, tough and almost 3 years older than him. He dominated the rebounds against Achiuwa. Although he made a few mistakes in defense, he was overall satisfactory. He had trouble attacking but he also suffered in the previous games because he is not yet ready in terms of condition and strength. Houston has already invested in his future, not his current status. Just like other rookies. It is necessary to evaluate his current performance not as a completed-player, but as a developing player. I really can't understand how disappointing his performance yesterday was. If we're going to talk about a disappointing performance, let's talk about the 5th pick Scottie Barnes not 16th pick Sengun. Because a truly disappointing performance would be like Barnes's. By the way, the referees were awful yesterday and fouled every move of the Rockets players while they turned a blind eye to all the brutality of the Raptors players. There was a trio of referees who didn't even know jump ball. Barnes was breaking the rules when Barnes jumped ball with Sengun but they didn't blow the whistle. Because those referees were all garbage. I can agree with you on Christopher. The only criticism I would make about him is that although he is very talented, I think he has open to the mental-boom. His unconscious running towards the hoop reminds me of Russ and it's hard to bear. Still, I'm sure he'll improve after playing in the G-League for a while. He had some pretty satisfying passes in the Pistons game. Unlike Russ, he doesn't seem entirely reluctant to share the ball. As for Garuba, he came to the game after getting off the plane and sleeping in the hotel. What exactly did you really expect from him and how disappointed were you, my friend?
Look at that jump ball at the beginning. Referee #23 was truly a garbage. I'm sure she doesn't know anything about basketball. I wrote it here during the game. The whole game she protected the Raptors and killed the Rockets.
I thought Sengun looked good last night. Precious was a difficult matchup for him but he found a way to consistently impact the game.
Honestly I’m not sure why the NBA even has female refs. Adam Silver has gone kind of overboard on embracing wokeness. I’m sure the WNBA would love to have her.
All good points….just saying we need to throw the last game out because they all sucked. They played so fantastically the game before I was just a bit disappointed (but that’s natural). Christopher will be a star someday because he has legit talent. Garuba is great on defense but I have serious doubts he will ever be much offensively. We’re kidding ourselves if we think he will ever be similar to Draymond Green offensively. Hope I’m wrong but just looks from film I’ve watched that he is pretty limited offensively, but a show stopper defensively. Sengun will be a huge success at PF and below average at Center. A combo of Sengun and Wood will equal the max quality we got from Kelly O.
I don’t want to get too deep into my reasons for believing that and certainly there are exceptions. The good ones must build trust rather than create doubt and perform poorly like Lauren Holtcamp did with Chris Paul. Remember this? https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Sports/chris-paul-criticizes-female-referee/story%3fid=28767649
bro, Chris Paul has been in the league 16 years and has never won against Scott Foster. Gender doesn't make you a trash ref, lol
I mean that's just crazy talk. There is absolutely zero reason that a woman isn't capable of doing that job just as well as a man. And it's really screwed up to point at one woman making a mistake and blanketing all women with that. Just as it would be screwed up to put the mistakes of one black man on all black people. etc.
Y’all need to remember @Sengun and @Jalen Green OnlyFan are from parts of the world in which they still view women as less. @DreamShook @Williamson
It’s just my opinion. Race isn’t a factor here, I don’t like that you brought that up. Men and women are objectively different and usually assess situations differently than men. I’m not sure a female referee (in the general sense) is fit to govern a grown mans sport. I’ll leave it at that but I respect your opinion.
