Sengun's lack of length and height is what can make his ceiling lower despite his high IQ and polished passing. He will probably never be a rim runner or lob threat as a center. He needs to model his game into a Diaw, or Draymond Green, and continue to improve on his passing. It also doesn't hurt that his footwork is already phenomenal in the post, he just lacks the height. He needs to develope a scola like hook shot to not rely so heavily on backing all the way to the rim.
Also non Rocket fans who only joined when Sengun was drafted. That’s cool and all but let’s call a spade a spade. The Turkish D-MO for my rockets fans…. but Sengun knows his rights.
If we check fat asses Harden will be flag bearer. Personality is more important than where are you come from. Otherwise NCAA is a very poor league and no one from NCAA should play directly in NBA.
Im speaking directly to the Euro player. Throwing around whataboutisms is just as egregious as pointing out warts game to game. Luka Doncic took the league by storm and then settled - now he is a fat ass who is regressing. I hope Sengun does not go that route - he is not athletic enough to become complacent. Sure - I like Sengun's youthful exuberance, but personality isnt winning championships either.
There are lots of real basketball lovers in this forum who just want to watch/follow good players. I followed Rockets when Rudy T. was coach, Akeem, Sam Cassell, Clyde, Vernon were playing, followed again when Yao was there, completely neglected Harden era, came back Alpi drafted. I loved Rockets due to team play (Hakeem and Co) and hope they will be a team again. If Rockets field a 5 out of KPJ, JGreen, Alpi, Garuba, KMJ, Josh, Nix the average age will be approximately 20, one of the youngest NBA team, if not the youngest. The only difference between our group and the others that we believe Alpi will be the core. Others might think JGreen or KPJ might be. Fair enough but we don't insult the others. It will be a team of champions.
Yeah his height is the main thing that will limit him in some ways. It will be interesting to see where he can get to with that limitation. I am hoping Draymond Green type player in his own way.
I think the NBA as a North American league has been stagnating, you saw more and more MVPs from Europe. There is no sign of another Lebron. And not even a PG like CP3. They are still shooting a lot of 3s, the league is not as interesting as it was decades ago. Even the super teams are looking more pedestrian to me. I am really disappointed in the last 2 draft classes including this one, and I am not even talking about Jalen Green.
The NBA is the premier GLOBAL product for basketball. Not trying to intertwine sports and their relevance especially with how much football (American) is loved in this country, but in terms of basketball there is no league better and the gap between the players and overall competition is still huge. Players worth their mettle come to test themselves here and some foreigners find success, but a good portion of them flame out. Shooting never goes out of style and the teams who are good at it typically find themselves deep in the playoffs. Rocket Ball of 3&D took the league by storm and its still a big philosophy albeit losing its tentacles. I dont get overly worked up over young players in the NBA because it usually takes a couple of years to make those bust type declarations about single players, let alone entire draft classes. Time will tell, but I think the popularity of NBA basketball is at an all time high myself.
For some reason the talent coming out of US high school and college systems have not been as great in the last decade. All the great American players we have now are still from the previous decade. The recent MVP level players that are in their 20's have all been European or African (embiid).
His length or arm length hurts him to be a SUPERSTAR. He can still be a star i do not think he just a Center but a Power Forward as well. He needs to work on his outside shooting. He is a very good player and when you have NBA vets going hard at you, that means the scouting report having "fore alarms" that this guy is lethal on the offense end. To me he plays like Jokic and Sabonis but both of those guys are only 6'11 and Sengun is suppose to be 6'10 but i think he does not have long arms. Also, once he have a NBA offseason he will be more stronger and limber to move around better. I think he can be a 3rd star on a Championship Team. We have Green but we are in need of another star on this team.
European winnings against NBA teams: '70s: 1 '80s: 3 (one of them was Soviet Union team) ' 90s: 0 '00s: 5 '10s: 8 in the first 6 years and NBA stopped playing against European bigs except Israeli Maccabi, to protect the credibility of the league. NBA miles ahead of other leagues but the gap shrinking day by day. The total result of the last NBA-European teams matches (2015-16,except Maccabi) is 4-2.The last win against European team is 92-89 (again except Maccabi). The odd for Euroleague top-8 AGAINST NBA 9-30 is even now. Euro teams cannot handle NBA 1-8 at the moment but we don't know in 10 years time. As they don't teach the fundamentals at college level Europe will produce more and more NBA MVPs in foreseen future.
Giannis, Embiid and Jokic arent necessarily "young" players. What other Euro is making noise - Luka? Saying that the stars of the NBA are from a previous decade just shows how skilled these players are. If you look up "best NBA players under 25" you'll find that most of the list is American except Luka, Domantas, Ben Simmons, and Bam.
I love how disruptive our rooks are already. More Rockets will be added to list if Garuba gets any consistent minutes.
A true Dream Team waxes the floor with any all star global team you can put together. NBA stars have in more regularity avoided international games to work on their own skill sets during the off season and avoid injury for the NBA campaign. Destroying international teams just isnt as fun as it used to be. Shrinking the gap is subjective when there is no doubt whatsoever that the majority of star players in the league are American regardless of age.
When Real crushed OKC (scored 142 points) Thunders' starting five was Westbrook, Adams, Oladipa, Robertson and Sabonis. What other stars you need to overcome an European team?
why would I go younger, players don't usually reach MVP levels until they are 25-30. The US system has not produced a MVP level player since Kawhi who was drafted in 2011. Harden, Curry, Lebron, Durant etc. were all drafted in the before 2010. The current MVP's you just named in the league who are in their prime are all not product of the US system. In the next generation, as you mentioned, the best the US has got is Ben Simmons and Bam.... that just tells you how far we have fallen. Obviously there has been all star level talent like Booker, Tatum, Trae, but none have shown they will be on the level of Durant, Curry, Harden CP3, Lebron etc. of the previous generation. Hopefully in the next couple of years we will start seeing more North American great prospects.
You remember when guys like yourselves were all excited about USA Basketball losing some games in the Olympics? How did that turn out in the end? Who really cares about random ass games? Best of the best its all USA and it isnt even close whether you want to believe it or not.
