I love Sengun but he is nothing like Dirk. Dirk was one of the best ever jump shooters who mostly played below the rim. If there is one thing missing from Sengun's game, it's a consistent jump shot. Sengun already has twice the dunks Dirk had in his first two seasons. Sengun is a MUCH better passer than Dirk. Basically, their games are nothing alike. Just stop. Sengun had as many triple doubles this season as Dirk had in his entire long career.
Nothing alike? Both are offensive-oriented Euro bigs with questionable defense and lackluster physical attributes though Dirk at least had the luxury of being a 7 footer which put him in elite territory height wise. As you keep confusing (perhaps purposely), I didn't say Sengun and Dirk are the same or even similar. I said that he is the closest big that led a championship team that Sengun can be matched up with. As for which bigs are actually similar to Sengun, obvious answers would be Jokic and Sabonis. Neither however, have made their teams championship teams.
Sengun and Dirk have basically the same wingspan. This whole nonsense about "elite height-wise" is just that, nonsense. People here always underrate skill and IQ, and overrate physical attributes.
There hasn't ever been a player that has singlehandedly won a championship. Basketball: Team game, you know. If you have an exceptional player, you have to build the team in view of his strengths and weaknesses. Neither Jokic nor Sabonis has been supplied with an ideal team. Nor Sengun. (Or he would've had 15 triple-doubles now, hehe.)
Taller is taller, that's a fact. If their wingspans are equal and Dirk is taller, he is going to have a higherreach and more importantly, a higher release point on his shot whether that be a jump shot, hook, floater, etc. Try thinking about it logically for a second. People don't underrate skill or IQ, they just understand that skill and IQ only take you so far. Shaq and Duncan are a great example of this. Shaq is a mental midget in comparison to Duncan, but we can all agree that Shaq was the more impactful player during their overlapping primes and could dominate the game individually as few centers could. If Michael Jordan had the body of Shane Battier, you think he would be nearly as successful as he was? You can learn skill. You can compensate IQ with experience. You can never grow much taller, become faster, or jump higher however.
Here is the thing though, until Sengun develops a consistent jumper or an absolutely unstoppable post game, I do not consider him an exceptional player worthy of having an NBA team specifically built around. I definitely agree that he is much more skilled than peers of the same age group, but development isn't linear nor does everyone have the same length to their journey. Some young players come in more skilled, but already close to the end of their development journey due to various physical handicaps. Others come in raw, but develop drastically due to the headroom their body allows. Green for example has that sort of potential with his frame and sheer overall athleticism. Now, Sengun still does have a lot to improve upon, namely his range and that will do wonders to his overall challenge of stardom.
Wemby or Scoot change the dynamics too much. Both are supposed to be franchise players that need to ball in their hands. I'm not even saying it has to be Sengun who's the odd man out. Hell it could be Jalen but that's too many mouths to feed who need the ball I'm their hands.
I think both Jalen and Wemby are more on the receiving end of passes. They can score a lot (Green and Wemby both) and probably also rebound and block a lot (Wemby, due to sheer height), but neither of them will be the playmaker. I would be incredibly excited to get Wemby. Either way, I think the odd man out should be KPJ. He is the one making the ball sticky, and usually looking for his own shot first. Green, Wemby, Sengun, Jabari would all be better options.
KPJ is the odd man out I think regardless of where we draft. At the very least he no longer will be a pg. If the Rockets don't get a top 2 pick, then the team immediately needs to form an identity that this is a Green/Sengun offensive hub system.
KPJ is the odd man out I think regardless of where we draft. At the very least he no longer will be a pg. Also
Şengün’s importance to Houston’s overall offense was clear — a whopping seven points better with him on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass — but his style at times clashed with the team’s lead guards. In the last few weeks of the season, Green and Şengün have been able to build on their chemistry. https://theathletic.com/4394358/2023/04/09/houston-rockets-stephen-silas/
I wouldn't crown sengun the franchise player yet bc I have yet to see how he would thrive under a New coach, but he is the steal of the draft at 16th. His potential to b great is quite insane. For folks worrying about his "lack of defense" threatening our chance of a championship, I can't take dem seriously since we having won anything since 1995, lets focus on the achievable stuff first like making playoffs.
