KPJ is Russell Westbrook on this Rockets Team. Such a Low IQ, terrible chucker, Line Drive 3 Point shots ain't helping the team.
Seriously, if it wasn't for Jalen Green, KPJ would be the worst player getting serious minutes. Having two low IQ, terrible chuckers as your starting guards is rough. That's why both should take a back seat to better young players like Sengun and KMJ.
Anyone got any takeaways from this article? Just unsubbed from the chron because they upped the price too much. Thanks in advance.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Rockets’ mammoth road trip out west contained growing pains for every member of the team, in particular rookie center Alperen Sengun. Watching Sengun from game to game is like cracking open a fortune cookie and unfurling the hidden message inside. Sometimes it reveals unexpected flashes of brilliance. Sometimes you get only a vague sense of optimism or foreboding. Whatever the case, the five-game road trip was key to Sengun’s development. He experienced his first two games in the starting lineup when center Daniel Theis was injured. The rookie handled his starts against the Lakers and Suns with mixed results. He returned to the second unit for the Rockets’ losses to the Nuggets and Warriors but appeared to operate with increased awareness and confidence. In Sunday’s loss to Golden State, Sengun scored 12 points, two shy of his season high, and collected five rebounds in just 16 minutes off the bench. He shot 3-of-4 from the field and made his only 3-point attempt but struggled at the foul line (5-of-12). Listed at 6-9 and 235 pounds, Sengun finds himself matched up against hulking centers like Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic as well as against smaller forwards like Otto Porter Jr. and Will Barton. He is capable of holding his own in either situation, which gives the Rockets added versatility on defense and offense. Against the Warriors, Sengun was guarded mostly by 6-10 big man Nemanja Bjelica and 6-8 forward Porter Jr. Sengun successfully backed down Porter a handful of times to get shots off at close range, on one occasion landing a tricky turnaround hook shot. Early on in the game, Sengun occasionally failed to exploit favorable mismatches when the Warriors switched smaller defenders onto him, often choosing to kick the ball out from the low post rather than use his size to bully guards like Damion Lee. He grew more comfortable and aggressive in those situations as the night wore on, successfully drawing contact inside or boxing out defenders to help the Rockets crash the boards. “He’s a quality post player. He can attack smaller guys,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “I think he had (Nemanja) Bjelica down there and did a good job on him. Putting him down there gives us two things: He can put pressure on the defense with his scoring, but he also puts pressure on the defense with his passing ability. That’s something we’ll explore more and more as the season goes on.” Sengun’s ability to draw fouls is impressive, too, though he will have to make more free throws than he misses in order to truly capitalize. With one second remaining in Sunday’s first quarter, Sengun baited Steph Curry into fouling him on a half-court shot — using the Warriors point guard’s own move against him. Sengun, however, made only one of his three resulting free throws: not a Curry move. Sengun’s passing, or what Silas likes to call his “craftiness,” still sometimes catches his teammates by surprise or results in overly ambitious decisions. He committed three turnovers with only one assist Sunday. The Rockets are still adapting to each other’s tendencies while each player simultaneously learns to self-edit. Both will take time, but on the whole Houston values Sengun’s creativity. Although Sengun is only 19, his years of professional playing experience in Europe show in how he is cognizant of spacing and timing. On one drive to the basket against the Warriors, Kevin Porter Jr. split two defenders, prompting Sengun’s defender, Otto Porter Jr., to step to the ball. Instead of acting like a moth drawn to flame, Sengun smartly recognized an opportunity to create additional space and moved back toward the basket. He was in perfect position to receive a pass and flush an uncontested dunk, which whittled Houston’s deficit to 43-40. Sengun’s defensive highlights included a from-behind block on Jordan Poole in the fourth quarter. Poole blew past Armoni Brooks at the free-throw line and barreled into the paint. Sengun stayed with him and timed his jump perfectly to swat away the ball at the height of Poole’s shot, sending Poole to the floor — all without fouling. While Sengun will presumably remain in the second unit to spell Theis and Christian Wood, every possession he spends on the court will continue to shape his development and that of the Rockets’ other young players. “Al-P’s great,” Theis said. “He’s been making plays for us. He’s a post threat. I think we’ve got a good mix, especially from our bigs, inside out.”
With 96 minutes to distribute between the 4/5 positions, there is no reason Sengun shouldn't be averaging 24-25 mins a night (except foul trouble). It's funny Theis seems to be coming on and Wood seems to be digressing. I would like to see a little Theis/Sengun time on the court at some point. Wood playing almost entire 1st Qtrs should be reduced.
cmon you could put Sengun 10 minutes at SG and hell produce more than jalen green and play both better offense and defense at 2
Then why does he have more turnovers than assists? Sengun is a good playmaker for a big man but KPJ and Green have set up teammates more and more effectively as at least their assist to turnover ratio is above 1.
The worst 5 man unit so far for Houston is also our starting lineup: Porter, Green, Tate, Theis and Wood. In 111 minutes together they have a net rating of -20.4 (81.7 offense; 102.1 defense). When you replace Theis with: Eric Gordon: net rating 6.6 (98.4 offense; 91.8 defense) in 29 minutes with Porter, Green, Tate and Wood Kenyon Martin Jr: net rating 12.9 (112.9 offense; 100 defense) in 13 minutes with Porter, Green, Tate and Wood Alperen Sengun: net rating -14.5 (101.4 offense; 115.9 defense) in 31 minutes with Porter, Green, Tate and Wood
You keep saying this but the actual numbers aren’t telling the whole truth. Half the turnovers are from lower IQ on the receiving end. Not knowing how to play with a big that can pass. Some are absolutely his fault, trying to do too much. And no, KPJ and Green haven’t setup their teammates better. They’ve had more opportunities due to playing time.
I honestly like what I've seen from all 3 of the frontcourt players. Frankly, if you removed Green and Porter from the team we would be much, much better. They are both pretty damn terrible right now. I wish we had moved Porter last offseason when we could have likely gotten a little something for him. He does absolutely nothing for Greens development or anybody elses, and drags the whole team down.
Forcing plays in limited time results in this. Also, you act like there’s much difference. KPJ 5.2-4.5 Green 3.0-2.9 Alp 2.4-2.6 Its pretty much a 1-1 ratio for all 3
