Dwight's new measurement was 6'9.75" barefoot and Hakeem clearly taller than him so maybe Hakeem was hitting just a hair under 7ft in those big ass 90s shoes. Its ok. If everyone today including all the media and game announcers constantly still call KD a 7fter when he's been recently measured barefoot as 6'9.5 then Hakeem can remain a 7fter. Difference is in the wingspan, Alpy at 7ft wingspan at 6'9. Hakeem 7'6"
Stop it with the small ball crap: Sengun 6’10” Smith 6’10” and growing Eason 6’7” (huge Wingspan) JG 6’4” KPJ 6’5” Granted we probably will be starting Tate for a while at SF 6’4” but has a 7 ft wingspan. Our defense sucked because we did play small ball a lot last year (we had no choice). That is why we drafted two guys who are + defenders. If our defense does not improve this year it won’t be because we are small it will be that good defense is not being coached. Hopefully, Silas is turning those reins over to Hollins this year.
Sengun's wingspan is just over 7 feet, not 6'9 and while he'll never be Olajuwon, having a 4% block rate (same as Clint Capela last year) as an 18 year old rookie is impressive... not as impressive as Olajuwon's 4.3% as a 22 year old rookie, but clearly Sengun does not struggle as a rim protector.
NBA is rapidly leaning to the long range game therefore 'rim protection' fetish won't do us any good. Every player should be able to stay in front of their man and contest shots. Defensive versitality, positioning, anticipation and rebounding are still keys to success. A modern big should be quick to rotate, should be able to go out to 3 pt line to contest, not easily beaten 1on1 and have a good positioning and anticipation for both team defense and rebounding. İt's not only length and wingspan. Not having wood is a big plus this year. No wonder kpj, green and sengun would develop their games defensively. If rookies can translate their game to NBA as + defensively, we will definitely improve a lot. Having a bum anchor would not improve anything at all and it would hurt offensively.
Yes all the Sengun is a bad defensive player is being spewed by people that really weren’t watching that close. His problem was having absolutely no help from the forwards on the team. Tate was too short and a terrible rebounder. Wood, well you know. Defense is about teamwork and with the addition of 2 + defenders you will see a lot of improvement in both interior defense and rebounding. We needed high energy guys with length and that is exactly what we drafted. Now let’s hope the coaching staff can live up to their job. One caviat to this is Sengun’s upper body strength does need to improve. I sure hope he’s putting in the time in the gym.
Well Sengun is gonna give it his all to protect the rim. I’ve been down on his defense, but after watching more tape, he’s not that bad. There actually could be some upside there. Can’t believe I’m saying this lol. We do need a backup rim protector though
I wouldn’t mind a backup bruiser to come in and punish the likes of Embid or other guys extremely large individuals, just don’t see it as a priority, especially this year.
While a rim protector is never a bad idea, how your building your team will dictate your greatest needs. If the Rockets are going run and gun, then a rim protector (IMO) isn't our top priority.
His dad claimed he is still growing. In a photo I believe dad looked an inch or two taller so maybe he grew later, also.
Rockets need another center, period. Garuba cannot be counted on apparently and Boban needs to be released since he is a 5 mpg player. And we don’t really know what we’ll get trying to play Sengun starters minutes for a full season.
To play a season expecting no injuries and no foul trouble from basically two kids under 20 years old is foolish. We need a competent backup 7 footer…team has always struggled in that area since the Mutumbo days and will likely do so again this year and moving forward. Just not a priority in Houston and may help account for the lack of success since the decade of the 90’s.
Well, with Tate getting paid more than anyone else but Gordon, are we really going to see that? It sounds like he's going to be a starter so is he going to be playing the 4 or is he going to be a wing or are they doing positionless again. If that's the case, the only difference from last year will be a young 6-10 Rookie Jabari instead of a vet 6-10 Wood.
