In DEFENSE of Alperen Sengun - Analysis on why Sengun may already be an above average defender

his offense is already at Harens level and near Jokic just needs greater usage and playing on ball more to statpad so you and other casuals can recognize his greatness

oth he is a solid rim protector just not kinda rudy gobert is, but he can guard in space and stay with guards better than rudy

he also isnt a center he is a point guard!

but i guess this could be perhaps too sophisticated and nuanced for you cause you look kinda a heavy inbox thinker? LOL

 

“above average defender”

lol

u can get stats to say anything

people were posting stats on here showing that the likes of KPJ and Westbrook are A+ level playmakers

Don’t several stats paint Jokic out as some very good-elite level defender?

bullsh*t

 

SOFs keep trying to pull up some bad stat to prove their point. All you gotta is watch the games and you’ll see he’s a poor defender. Him making a few plays doesn’t mean ****. Can you think of one thing he’s good at defensively?

 

best thing I can say is that at least he’s not bad AND lazy on defense

 

That’s the funny part.. the dude tries really hard and still can’t defend lol. Effort is a skill though

 

something to take into consideration...i always knew the analytics is dumbalytics but this has some next level fraud potential

 

Not only is it painfully obvious that Sengun - is in no way shape, form or manner (stats, eye test etc) an above average defensive big man for a starter (or even a rotation guy) in the NBA...

.... but I'm starting to be convinced - like legitimately convinced, that it's almost impossible to even assemble a "not bottom 10" defensive unit around him.

Basically the only hope is to assemble an offensive unit that is SO overwhelmingly elite (think Durant-Iriving- Harden, for 15 games) that it almost doesn't matter (plus there are so few unsuccessful possessions you are always in a set halfcourt scheme on d.

That seems unlikely.

The other way is to somehow assemble a core of elite, all D team quality two way players including a stretch shot blocking 4 (Kevin Durant or JJJ), mikal bridges, bruce brown etc, can't have tooany non shooters and need good cutters and screeners.

Even then - EVEN THEN - he's still going to get hunted in high screens - i don't get what the remedy of that is?.

He can't switch.

He can't drop.

I guess you can try to trap the way the Wolves did with Towns last year but that only gets you so far (plus Towns is a primary scorer with long range so he's different on offense).

I was skeptical about building around a guy with these known limits - but these last few weeks have been absolutely disastrous to the extent it even surprised me.

 

The plan is to Pray For Wemby and hope he breaks a shot blocking record.

Before the SOFs come for me this reply is a joke...

 

This post is horseshit.

 

I disagree on how bad you see Sengun being defensively but one thing I agree with that you said is that "he can't switch. He can't drop."

This is his biggest problem that he can't fix with effort. Of course he CAN do both. He is in drop quite often but he doesn't have the ability to do either extremely effectively. He just doesn't have the size of Jokic or Embiid or Lopez. So he can't just sit back in the paint and expect it to deter everyone. But, he also hasn't shown the quickness to show and recover to his man consistently.

What I do see from him is that he has very good instincts, you can tell he's played a lot of competitive basketball for a young player. He knows where the ball is going or where it will be. That's why he's a good defensive rebounder.

And while the last part sounds great, it's usually the part that his peers will figure out later. Sengun can't figure out size and athleticism.

But, to be fair to him, I don't see how this information should affect how the rockets play him...especially not with the other options they have.

 

Wise men don't base things on one disastrous season.

That's why I am skeptical signing Harden, he is destined to play less perimeter defense.

The modern team should not be built around one guy no more but a tandem or a trio.

The heliocentric concept hasn't bore many fruits to me..

Automatically you would have more weapons and Alpe didn't have to be zeroed in on.

Realistically Alpe shouldn't have to be the go to scorer but a good second to third option.

But Harden is definitely just a shorter pit stop on the way to a podium place.

 

msg to sengun haters
if you dont want him, cry to rockets FO ; make them trade sengun

 

That's not how the NBA works, you're probably confused because you've only watched it for a couple of hours...

 

Extremely well laid out thesis on why Sengun is a decent defender, and a perfect explanation of the biases that cause our dumber posters to believe he's a bad defender.

Naturally, those same dumb posters bury the good post in 9 pages of complete crap, using the exact same biases reasoning OP warned against, learning nothing in the process.

Some of the stupid highlights:

"Stats are meaningless because defense"
"Team bad defense, Sengun on team, that mean Sengun defense bad"
Sengun short arms, Sengun defense bad"

There should be a post limit for the constant offenders. A lot of good stuff gets buried by the volume of **** they produce.

 

lol. funniest line I've read in weeks

 

30 years plus 2 hours

you

lol. dumbest line I've read in weeks plus 2 hours

 

Don't mind those 2 they're obsessed haters that spend their every waking moment posting about a player they don't like.

 

Harden for the 3-4 years in which the Rockets don't control their own fraft pick and his specific ability to create shots for others on an ultra elite, poimt god level is worth the .... less effortful defensive tradeoff, Imo, specifically because it's a short term fix unlike Sengun.

Harden at age 33 not contesting a run out layup when he's otherwise managing the game seems fundamentally different than trying to accommodate a Sengun whole career of getting can't play Kantered