I dont know if Sengun can be better one day then jokic but i know Sengun will be after 18 NBA seasons 11x all star 8x NBA all first team 3x MVP 2x finals MVP
I think this is quite high for Sengun but I won't put a cap on anyone. Hopefully it comes true. However, I'm going to highlight this....Sengun with accolades like this will definitely be impressive!
My two big takeaways watching this Denver playoff run: Love him, but Sengun will never be as big as Jokic. Just not happening, sorry. He might make up for it in other ways (greater athleticism?), but one of Jokic's underrated superpowers is how much space he takes up on the court. It makes him a deadly pick-setter and an underrated defensive presence. He's also got the edge on Sengun in standing reach, and that allows him to get off shots over some players that Sengun would struggle with. Jokic is a really underrated shooter. He is deadly from all distances, from little pops inside the free throw line all the way out to the three point line. It's honestly a little bit Dirk-like; it never looks as fluid and easy for Jokic, but the results aren't dissimilar. It's a fantastic go-to weapon that allows Denver to still produce decent scoring even when the offense breaks down. I'm not convinced that Sengun will ever be as good of a shooter as Jokic. It's not impossible, but he has a very long way to go. Right now he just needs to get confident enough to hit wide open three pointers, let alone establish a midrange game. So, no. For those two reasons, I am not willing to go out on the "Sengun will become Jokic" limb right now. That is not to say I'm down on him. I think him and Green are the two most-likely Rockets to end up in all-star games, and of the two, gun to my head, I'd have to say Sengun is the more likely. But there's a pretty big gap between making one all-star game and winning multiple MVP awards, and Sengun is very, very far off from the latter.
Sengun definitely seems to have a similar b-ball IQ when it comes to passes and I see the potential for him to become a Jokic-type player if surrounded by the right coach and unselfish players. At the moment the team is filled with young players that are trying to make a name for themselves more than win and I think Sengun will thrive in a winning team, which I hope the Rockets get there soon.
Even Jokic can't be Jokic every game. He's the best center since prime Shaq. 20 years, this guy is better than anyone we've seen in 20 years. Just look at the fuc.ing state of this team there is a guy named MPJ who can do pretty much nothing on the court except for hitting 3s occasionally and he's not even shooting that well from behind the arc in this playoff. Aaron Gordon, the definition of mid. Some ordinary citizen named Bruce Brown, again another role player KCP, 52 years old Jeff Green and a rookie that has role player ceiling at best. I like Murray a lot and that's it. He's playing with bunch of what the f.uck is he doing if he's not making his shots players. They are not terrible but they are all mid. Denver's being in the finals is actually a miracle with this roster. They don't even have like Eric Gordon level vets. Their vets were still mid even in their primes. If they win it i'd put this championship over Dallas' 2011 championship. Nowitzki had allstars man. Good playoff performers, players who were used to being on that stage. Expecting Sengun to replicate this success is asking waaay too much from him.
Just a reminder: it's a ridiculously unfair comparison. One is 21 and the other is 29. Jokic is at the peak of the world, you can just as easily be talking about Jason Tatum and he would also compare unfavorably to Jokic at the moment. Jokic is looking like an all time great right now. It's just too high a bar although the comparisons are logical. Big man who initially struggled with defense is good at posting up, short drives, playmaking, rebounding and an improving 3pt shot. Makes sense that you'd compare them. However, if you're looking to rate Sengun's ceiling, here is a random list of top 10 C's in the league: Jokic Embiid Bam Gobert Porzingis Ayton Jarrett Allen Wendell Carter Jr Vucevic Christian Wood List doesn't mention everyone like JJJ and Sabonis. Just to use it as an example and give you a wider perspective: if Sengun ends up somewhere at the center of this list, we'll have done well with our pick. If he ends up higher than that (say top 3) we'll have done amazing with our pick. Jokic and Embiid are in a tier of their own in this phase but I can see Sengun being the 3rd best C when he's 25 years old. I think top 5 is a realistic expectation. Certainly worth investing time and development in.
Shooting might come i think it's more about his hesitation than anything else but his size will keep being an issue on defense. Maybe he grows an inch this summer tho it's very unlikely. To win a championship in this league you need to have a superstar on your team that's not up to discussion. We didn't draft a future superstar and i don't think we will in the next draft and we won't have our Spo. This crop can't win a championship unless we get a superstar in the future i dunno. We don't have a Jokic, we don't have a Klay, we don't have a Kobe and we don't have a Spo. We most likely have a Sabonis/Vucevic, maybe a Fox and an MPJ.
Call me crazy but if I was to say the 2 players he most reminded me of in the clips, one is Dream in the post, the other is Harden on the drive. I can't wait to see him over the next couple of years when he gets in even better shape (US fans often don't realise the sheer difference in terms of training facilities between a top American prospect and a top European one, Sengun will have had access to pro facilities when he was young for sure but they're probably not on par with most big US schools and definitely not bigger US colleges, and that goes for soccer players even in the countries where soccer is king) and starts to catch up to the physical side of the league he's going to eat at the line with that much body control through contact. US athletes also have their facilities at their school, for most European sports your school facilities aren't **** and you have to travel to the sports ground to use the good facilities. It's not as "right there" and dominant in your day to day life until you hit young adulthood.
Turkey is one of the best leagues in the world mainly because of investment in foreign players and marketing, but training methods and facilities are limited and dated. Sengun was in poor shape when he showed up, even if kind of slim. He's somewhat better now but it's a 2-3 year process for his body to change. Sengun will keep getting more explosive, he just has to follow the Sabonis/Jokic model of getting the in the best shape you can be in. Also let's not forget he was a teenager when we drafted him. Almost all players drafted at the same age had poor training. So many of the things we need just take time.
