Yeah, it's been clear so far that Ime's playing him as the #1 option finishing the plays more than the "hub" initiating them. I'm actually not against it, I've always said his post play is his most elite trait with the flashy playmaking a secondary skill. I think it makes sense anyway, you cement him as the offensive scoring threat and he'll draw more and more doubles which will open up the lanes for him to exploit his vision and passing, it's a win in the long term.
My expectations for Alperen are very high. He isn't playing great, yet he is averaging 26 PPG at 21 years old over his last 12 games while creating wide-open shots for his teammates. That is what you call potential. Real... Potential... The sky is the limit.
I want to see him take a big big leap with his shooting next season. I hope he’s locked in the gym this offseason just chucking 3-balls and mid-long range shots. Thats the next level to his game…and I’m convinced he can do it. At some point those 3-pt pump-fakes at the top of the arc will actually mean something. I am over the moon about AlP! Wish the org had prioritized him more last year. It’s a stinging indictment of their player evaluation.
Not surprising. Defensive single number stats are trash. You can see the same questionable numbers with Dillon Brooks.
Not thrash, but they are line-up ratings, not personal stats. In yesterday's match, bench defensive ratings were very bad, so the starters who spent more minutes with them had worse defensive ratings. That said if a center who played for 37 minutes has a good defensive rating, not relative to team mates but absolutely like 98, he has to be a good defender.
You do not even need stats to see how fast Alperen progressed last year and this year...... Who knows....but there are late bloomers that still ended up being very good to great as well. It is not linear for everyone.
The second time Udoka benched him too early when he was 19 pts, just during All-Star voting time. How you convince people to vote when they realise even his own coach does not trust him to make the team competitive?
The score was 92-74. 18 points difference, not 30. This is Udoka problem. He surrender very easily. One time he did not surrender, it was Bulls game and the score was 101-85. The game went to OT. He surrendered in Suns game when the difference was around 10, Booker and Durant played against our 3rd string, we lost around 20. If he challenged we would likely still lose but probably by 8 to 15, not 32. The guy is not competitive. 0.500 team is OK for him. Audentes Fortuna Iuvat
