Short answer is yes, but what fun would that be? Some here have seen what a dominant big man can do for a team. While others have seen a once in a life time big man operate on a a nightly basis. Fewer have seen a grouping of talented young bigs playing together and cherish these memories most. So yes we should quietly wait but we ,I, are not. I know Sengun & Smith are not Ralph & Akeem but I am very much excited just the same.
That's ridiculous. He is about 6'10 and his wingspan isn't any less than that of...Lebron, among others.
Sengun is 6’9” which is undersized. The centers in league that height have long wingspans and are really athletic. Not saying Sengun can’t do it, but he’s definitely undersized in length
This was Sengun last year matched up against Kabengele (#27) who was measured at 6'8.75 without shoes, very similar heights. Sengun is certainly a smaller C, but his size isn't awful, remember all 6'8 and 6'9 centers since the league started have been listed 2 inches taller than what they really are because they were listed in shoes. Rockets legends Dwight Howard and Nene? measured at 6'9 barefoot. Omeka Okafor, Al Jefferson, 6'8.5 What's more worrisome than his height is really his lack of lift. Hopefully, as he gets older he leans up, and gets his conditioning and strength right to be more agile and effective defensively. He will never be a prototypical defensive C but if he masters the foot work and positioning while using his strength he could have a similar impact defensively that Nene provided.
That what I’m saying. He’s 6’9” and doesn’t have the athleticism to make up for it. I still believe he can figure it out
The point of defense is really just to negatively impact the shot of offensive players however you can do that. Certainly a great shot blocker is the ultimate version of that but there is a school of very effective below the rim defenders who realize that you can be effective just by being a big body in the right position. It’s definitely an art but I think for a guy like Sengun, he could be a passable rim defender just by interrupting offensive players’ angles and increasing the difficulty of the shot that way. The place where I think he is more concerning is what to do about him when he gets caught on the perimeter or has to show on screens against good shooters because that’s all speed, foot work, and hip agility and he only has one of those three things.
Sengun is already very good at verticality and boxing out. You can also point to him drawing charges at a solid level. The best thing he can do is control the defensive boards and look to merge enough with our athletic team defenders to minimize space inside. He will need to position himself well consistently and go straight up. My own personal prediction is that Al is going to thrive with these young long defenders around him the next couple years and actually become an above average defensive player.
If Ewing is really 7'0, then Hakeem is 6'11, which would make Sengun's 6'10 correct. I'd say Hakeem was slightly taller than Otis (6'10). Otis looks about Sengun's height.
My musing on Jabari and sengun and playing 2 “bigs” is that it’s more about athleticism on the defensive end than it is about shooting (spacing) on offense . Both are important, but depending on wh at other skills your bigs have , you can get away with it and be OK . it’s on d you get exposed . Smith brings so much athleticism and sengun is underrated, his flexibility is very high . on the “Power” end of things , sengun can detonate at the rim . He is a strong kid and he will only get stronger as he gets older . I’m curious to see what his body looks like this year and what athleticism he brings . smith , just from summer league (so small sample ) he looks light . But , big frame to fill out and very young . How fast can he stay if he gets above like 240 ? Sengun already around 240 . So going into next year you have sengun at like 250 and smith at 235 and both limber . Year after that if things go well they have a chance to be the among the best frontcourts in the nba
Chuck Hayes was 6-5 on a great day. I think Sengun’s hands, instincts and strength will show out this year. Like Yao, it is going to take him a little while to figure out NBA refs. Also, Sengun as an athletic specimen is now tremendously underrated.
Most people get less explosive as they grow older, but Sengun will get more explosive for a couple of years because his strength training, basketball training and diet were rudimentary before coming to the NBA - more rudimentary than even your average international draftee. He will jump higher and explode faster this season. His agility is already elite. He dominated the 3rd or 4th best basketball league in the world at 18 years old on natural talent and coachability. Not to mention his English sucked at the beginning of the year at least and that makes grasping new concepts more difficult. He played with the bench of the worst team in the NBA around him and that kills your passing abilities. Defense forget it, only a Hakeem level defensive C would have looked good defensively on last season's second unit. We don't need him to be Hakeem on defense. If he is net neutral or positive on defense, his overall impact on the floor is going to be eye popping. Excited to see him surrounded by KPJ, Green, Gordon/Tate, Jabari who are all good defenders. You won't have Wood's defensive assignment roaming freely on the court or Jalen Green looking lost on team defense (which was not the case for JG by season's end), which are problems that fall on your defensive anchor's shoulders usually. Those days are over, we actually have good defensive talent and the organization has shown a heavy focus on defense with the players they drafted and assistants they hired. I have no doubt that within a hardworking and motivated defensive group, Sengun can be an Andrew Bogut defensively. If he's polished his 3pt shot, we are in for a "how did I not see this coming?" season from Sengun.
Sengun can bring us what Luis Scola brought us a prime player for the Era the Rockets are currently in.
He has high basketball IQ going for him at least, which I'm not sure how many other big man in the league actually have.
I think Sengun is athletic enough. He's not prime Dwight Howard, but he's not Zach Randolph either. He caught and finished a few put back dunks last year. Unathletic players don't do that. Lots of dunks in traffic, dunks off the dribble in traffic. He's god enough athleticism plus I expect that he will maybe get a bit more explosive in the coming years with NBA training. Don't sleep.
Dream is definitely 6’10” they used to always add 1-2 inches on players height. The NBA recently been trying to change that. Perfect example is that Dwight Howard was listed at 6’11” but he actually measured a little under 6’10”
Alp is around 6’10 in shoes with a 7’1 wingspan. While that is undersized for 5s, it’s not ridiculously undersized. He has enough athleticism, strength and IQ to be effective. Just needs time.
