Actually a good exercise so let's play this game. Let's say the Rockets held a draft to use a player for *only this year*. And the top 10 teams currently in the NBA got to draft the Rockets players to help them win a championship. Who gets drafted first? Second? Third? Fourth? This is the order I believe they would go: 1. Eric Gordon 2. Jabari Smith 3. Jalen Green 4. Tari Eason 5. KJ Martin 6. Alperen Sengun 7. Jaesean Tate 8. Usman Garuba 9. Garrison Mathews 10. Kevin Porter Jr If you outright held a draft with Rockets players to be had for multiple years or even the rest of their careers, then it'd probably look like: 1. Jalen Green 2. Jabari Smith 3. Tari Eason 4. Alperen Sengun 5. Eric Gordon 6. KJ Martin 7. Usman Garuba 8. Jaesean Tate 9. Garrison Mathews 10. Kevin Porter Jr Right now, Eric Gordon is the most valuable player the Rockets have when it comes to actually winning basketball games. He's older, understands all of schemes, has played in championship level games before, was an integral part in one of the best teams ever assembled (probably the best team to not win a ring), etc. Not sure what else needs explaining. Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun get schemed off the floor a lot right now. Jalen's issue isn't physical, it's more mental. He needs the reps and needs to stay engaged. Alpy's is both physical and mental. He's just not athletic enough to stay in front of the premier playmakers in the world. I can like a player but also understand their limitations. And such is the case with Alpy. At best he's Jokic lite. And Jokic is pretty good. Championship level player? I dont think so. I know what happens to those guys in the playoffs. It's why in the end, Jabari is the better pick over Paolo. And Paolo is pretty much better Alperen Sengun.
TRANSLATION: ROCKETS MANAGEMENT IS STUPID and wont learn from failures of the predecessors...theyd rather blindly stick to what doesn't work but is done by everybody... following the crowd is not the way to win...you have to go against the grain if you want do do anything of significance... draft order has nothing to do with players value or ability... acting like it does is like thinking the taller the player the better...its an outdated 19th century layman thinking...
There's a few things that just baffle me, both organizationally and this board. One of the excuses we have seen people make for Silas and his HORRIBLE TERRIBLE OFFENSE is low iq players. Players who don't know how to read past the first read. Playing through Sengun actually simplifies the offense significantly, where off ball reads are much simpler with cuts or screens. Along those same lines, having lower IQ players off ball and allowing one of our only high iq players to make the read seems logical. But its not apparently. Sengun's Defense. That's another hot topic of why he doesn't get the minutes or why hes not a future star or whatever. The minutes he gets, 20 or 40 doesn't matter, utilizing him the same as any rim running C just baffles my mind. If you have a player who is a liability on defense, but special on offense, you think you'd focus on what makes him special in the minutes you play him. If he's going to be used as a rim runner and just doing these horrible KpJ pNr plays, trade em. Get the player that fits the scheme. Against teams that have stud Centers, Embiid, Nurkic, etc.. we should be featuring Sengun heavily in the first half, looking to draw foul trouble. But nope. We have a willing passer who, analytically, is one of our best offensive players and high points created player that also excels in hustle categories who is being used as a simple screener and roller. It boggles my mind.
For sure. His defense is an issue. May cost him millions over his career. Can you think of other players on the same level as far as inefficient defensive players in the league that were good? Notice how teams and coaches will start to create systems to disguise flaws? Try different systems and schemes to cover up the players issues. I remember Shaq in Miami, Pat Riley ran some super interesting defenses vs the PnR to cover up Shaq'sdefense there. Jokic with the Nuggets now, they vary the schemes pretty well. If effort was the issue, it's a bigger issue. He'll get better, but will need a coach that has the ability to adapt systems to player strengths.
He's 'fine' within the restricted area. In space its a nightmare. Jokic is the guy that most of his rabid fans like to equate to him. Jokic isnt some defensive stalwart, but he offers more in terms of being an offensive threat so you can live with it - NOBODY sags off of Jokic.
I would care to list my own but after seeing those mock drafts… oh boy. Definitely one of us don’t watch Rockets games recently. Jalen and Jabari don’t live up to hype tbh… Sengun is already a better player offensively even though he hasn’t been used properly. He never has the ball usage of Jalen or KPJ, but opposing teams know who to double team consistently because they know who is the real threat out there. Jalen is worse than Sengun defensively… almost every opposing guards against him has had career nights. Doesn’t make sense to rank him higher than Sengun at this point. Jabari has shown some spark but it’s still early to talk if he will be a role player or not. My prediction is that he will be the third best player at best like how Chris Bosh was.
ah the mental gymnastics needed to justify saying something so stupid as ego is a better basketball player than sengun lolol you probably also think durant embiied and harden are better players than jimmy butler just because they shoot 3s....afterall durant has won multiple finals MVPs...lololol ps and good luck to any contender that trades for him...hes helping noone win anything... hes not winning you the ring, not even playing for the warriors...lolololol
Chris Bosh is a HOFer and a multi-time All Star. He also didn't have the defensive impact Jabari Smith will have in his career. Feel free to list your own. This is a discussion thread after all. Sengun is just like Jalen/Jabari right now. Not being used right (thanks KPJ/Silas!) and immensely talented at the things he does well. The biggest difference for him vs the other two is that he's going to be an absolute negative on the defensive end of the floor. Jalen is super inconsistent right now. Defensively and offensively. But the tools are all there. He is the single most troublesome player we have on the roster for opposing teams. That is a fact. Alpy has been pretty bad the last couple of weeks. But so has everyone. I have a feeling there's more going on behind the scenes than we know.
Funny isn’t it? We all have our opinions lol. I think Sengun is the 4th or 5th best prospect on this team. I’m factoring in the fact that he won’t be playable in many playoff series
Except we know the combination that worked yesterday was when KPJ was in foul trouble and not playing.
The chances that he is an absolute negative on the defensive end is similar to him being absolutely great defender. Last year it was said that we need a rebounding big, because Sengun is not tall enough, unathletic and he will never be a good rebounder. Well, come this season he rebounds better than our athletic lob threat, much better. Same with defense. I think he does much better on defense but it is hard to see the actual improvement when perimeter defense is this bad. My projection for him is to be an okay defender, definitely not a negative. Even if he ends up as a negative, which i see highly unlikely, it is not something that you can take for a fact. You undervalue how players develop and how players can function better when they play in the right system.
"he rebounds MUCH BETTER than our athletic lob threat" Bruno = 19.6 reb% Garuba = 18.1 reb% Sengun = 17.7 reb% https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2023.html
Bringing this convo back to the OP: I think Sengun is our most important player offensively, but I do not think he is our "best" player at least at 1/3 of the season. The fact is if the Rockets want to win a game right now, Sengun needs to be the primary playmaker on offense, and be playing off of Jalen in the pick and roll. Him and Jalen are the offense right now that has the tools needed to win games. That being said, I do think Jalen and Jabari are better prospects to factor into the teams future. Some might say Tari has more potential to have longer NBA impact on this or other teams. I've seen enough of Sengun now to be confident in saying that if he's the lynch pin in a trade to get a franchise altering cornerstone, you cannot think twice in trading him. I wouldn't give him away or even look to trade him at all, but I also wouldn't get incredibly attached to him either. However I get that it's easy to do. The guy is by far the easiest Rocket to root for, is entertaining as hell, and really has that passion/IT factor that winning teams need. I'm a huge Sengun fan, but we do need to be honest with ourselves that I don't see him as a franchise cornerstone piece, and I don't know that you'll ever be able to anchor a top 5 defense with him as a starting center.
