I believe the major reason is Jalen being drafted 2nd. admitting Sengun is better than Jalen (he is) is forcing people to re-examine the draft. Too me it was always about getting as many lotto tickets looking for a winner no matter draft position
What will you do if Stone trades or "dangles" Sengun in trade talks in the next 24 months? Angry tweets? It's the NBA we are talking about. Young players get traded all the time in the 2nd to 4th years of rebuilds that have yet to produce a franchise cornerstone talent like a Durant or a Giannis. It happens all the time, and all the time itchy trigger finger owners (especially new ones) trade away young talent before they commit to long term money in exchange for proven veteran stars. This isn't some wild theory here. It's the reality of the NBA, the job security mentality of GM's, and the ego's of billionaire owners. I personally wouldn't trade Sengun anytime soon if I was Stone, but I'm not Rafael Stone. I just really don't know if much of the Rockets fanbase is mentally suited for what a true rebuild entails. Don't listen to me if you don't want to and just assume the fantasy that Tillman freaking Fertitta actually has the patience to keep this same core group of young players on a roster for 5 years without scratching the itch to sign and trade for veteran players, and trade at least a couple of the young players while they still have '"intriguing young talent" value. It's as if you guys are new to the NBA or something.
I think it's perfectly ok. We can just act as if we had drafted Alpi 2nd and Jalen 16th, it is still an excellent draft. Who knows, in a few years we might see we got the best two, or two out of the best 5 players in that draft (depending on Jalen's progress, because it is already clear Alpi is the best player from that draft). What's important is that the organization recognizes that we must build around Alpi. Jalen, Jabari, Tari are perfect additional pieces to the core. They complement our franchise player Alperen Sengun well. Depending on their progress we can let them grow with Alpi or keep developing them and then swap them out for pieces which fit even better around Alpi. I am very confident that Bari and Tari will always fit well around Alpi. Wemby or Scoot would be amazing additional core pieces. If it ends up being someone else, it should still be someone who is part of the extended core, which, as of today, should include KMJ, Tate, Garuba, TyTy.
You guys are so weird. I clearly said that Silas should play through him the rest of the season, and I've said before he's my favorite player on the roster currently. But the fact that I just said the truth... that he's not big enough to defend the paint by clogging it and without the athleticism to be a switch defending big like Draymond, suddenly you guys get all worked up as if I called your mother a who$e. Grow up guys. We all lived through in the Lin era, and you guys are making LOF's look rational. We ALL love Sengun, and think he's awesome. We just don't live on fantasy island 24/7, and are allowed to speak to the reality these next couple of years.
Nobody was even responding to you, other than to tell you that your attempts to make the conversation about you failed.
You're telling us to grow up, and at the same time, the defensive bar you're setting for him is.....Draymond Green? Are you sure you don't live on fantasy island?
Haha. Okay. What an emotional trainwreck you are today. It's basketball dude. It's the NBA. Get a grip.
As long as alpee can improve his defense (understand how to stay longer in games), physically get stronger as well as add long range shooting in his bag, i bet that day when we truly labeling him as our franchise player won't be too far away for sure.
You know that I'm talking about the switching ability... not LITERALLY being Draymond Green. I said it earlier that I think in the offseason he can work one his body to get there, but I haven't seen that level of athleticism yet. Not saying it cannot be done though. Also... I've talked since my first post through the perspective of job protecting NBA GM's. Not how i feel personally.... but you guys don't actually read the post and just get all emotional at the first sight of perceived negativity. The NBA is brutal for the reasons I stated, and without patience. Also seeing how Jalen's skills he needed to work on most seem to have gotten no offseason improvement, it's hard to see the infrastructure for high level offseason development happening with this franchise. I have some real concerns about player development in the offseason, and how that's being nurtured. Hopefully Al P will hire his own team, or his agent will get him the help he needs to shore up some of his weaknesses.
Ok, so far in this thread, I'm seeing Sengun being used in a comparison to Doncic and Jokic, and now you're comparing Sengun to Curry? A couple of really good games by Sengun and we're putting him on the offensive level of those 3? I'm not even going to bother to respond to your ridiculous post. Some of y'all are crazy.
Today, yes. At the time we would be closer to contending for a title - in 2-3 years, depending on additions? No. I wouldn't trade him for anyone from the last three drafts, that includes Banchero.
Puts up 33, 15, 6, and 4 blocks on 14/17 shooting, "Yeah b-but the scouting reports said he can't shoot or play defense..." Man why do ya'll even entertain these dumbass mother****in' people on here when they are clearly so miserable in life lol
You were making the argument that it is a problem if your franchise player gets hunted on defense. I gave you an example of the franchise player routinely getting hunted on defense. That doesn't mean "comparing" them. Also, your post is bookmarked. Even today, going back to the "Alperen Sengun is our best player" thread, there are already 100s of hater posts which - even today - are so ridiculously wrong, one could spend an entire day laughing at them.
The only way he gets traded is if he tells them he will not re-sign with them. Regardless I predict not only will he be our franchise player he will also be in league MVP discussions within 3-5 years.
I think you're really underselling his shooting ability. You're acting like he's Clint Capela out there and he would have to invent an entire new skillset to be able to shoot. We've seen him make plenty of three pointers, we've seen him hit the turnaround jumper from 12 feet, we've seen him hit the Dirk off one leg. He also shot a lot of jumpers in Turkey before coming into the NBA. Sure, the percentages aren't there, I'm aware of that. They need to get better. But we don't need to pretend like he's in Boban territory. I think the way you're characterizing it is inaccurate.
Does he have areas where he can and should improve? Yes, absolutely - but that means there is still a ton of untapped upside, and none of that is unachievable: learning more about defense (and the team putting the right defenders around him) training his athleticism even more - goal should be to get a physique/strength like Sabonis has today, which is absolutely achievable training his jump shot and expanding his range to allow him to shoot the 3 a bit more, even if just to keep the defense guessing - based on his shooting form and his free-throw shooting, this is absolutely achievable stamina - this should to some extent come naturally, with more minutes having a supporting cast which doesn't freeze him out, like KPJ and Jalen were doing - either KPJ stops hogging the ball, or there is the door Just by realizing this completely untapped potential, he can grow similarly to how Jokic grew in his first few years in the league. Most importantly, the front office needs to make the conscious decision that they build around Alpi, and he needs a proper coaching staff who execute that.
