Alperen Sengun is the Rockets' franchise player (removed "confirmed" to remove the jinx @daywalker)

That move was AWESOME and I think he can get better offensively.....its his DEFENSE that I question

 

21 points on 16 shots is not "getting whatever" Turner wanted. You're overstating.

 

On defensive rating, it is mostly a team stat except for the great defenders. Sengun was not that yesterday, but plays the position most of those players play.

 

Hakeem’s fingerprints all over his game. Love it.

 

If he shot it before the right foot came down I would be inclined to agree with you.

 

Both can be true. Şengün needs to improve defensively (I think he can and he will) but defense is also a team effort. Even a good defensive big needs to be surrounded by good defenders.

Jazz had prime Gobert and couldn't get anything done in the playoffs because they were absolutely getting killed on the perimeter.

Hell no one seems to question Myles Turners defensive capabilities although we were able to score 129 against them without FVV.

 

Alpi's energy was low yesterday, and has been for some time. Anybody who watched the game, or just saw the look on his face and how he was dragging his body overall for a couple minutes could see that. But I think your diagnosis is wrong. He didn't check out defensively because his offense isn't flowing. He was checked out in general but still can do something decent on offense because that's his thing, not as good as his usual but not that bad either.

Although the defensive rating cannot be compared to conclude he was better than other starters, his net rating and his +/- are positive in a game he played 36 minutes. It doesn't mean his defense was good or even average directly, but it certainly didn't cost the game and is not the main problem to identify. And this is on a relatively poor offensive production. His net rating and +/- would even be better if he had his regular offensive game.

It is the bench that lost the game and that is not very surprising. FVV is out, you are left with Sengun who really has pg type vision to control the game. And Green and Holiday that can put the ball on the floor and create something. That is too little and at some points in the game it had a cost. In addition Cam, when his shot falls has great production and suddenly boosts the team but when it doesn't fall the team loses all the rhythm, makes it harder to keep up on defense as well.

 

It was a borderline non-call. Extremely hard to judge without slow mo. It looked awkward though. That's why a lot of people thought it was travel when it happened. The so-called Euro steps when it first was used egregiously by Ginobili raised some eyebrows. Harden's step back was also questioned. All these moves don't look like natural basketball moves. Only after countless reviews and analyzing did people start to accept their legitimacy.

Also, NBA refs usually give the offensive player the benefit of the doubt for post moves. We saw some of those questionable moves by LeBron and Kawhi posted in the past. Runaway dunks also have a lot of no call traveling.

 

But wait, there is a tweet that says metrics wise Sengun's defense is good

 

Indiana drags everyone into a crazy shooting match with them, it's hard to judge defense at that pace. I will say certainly no one really looks great defensively on either team.

With that said sometimes I do wish Sengun had more length to contest

 

I agree that it was and should be a no-call, just discussing whether the assertion was correct which is more of a technicality than anything else.

 

Don't we all? I mean, you would basically have a poor man's Hakeem at that point in time and no way he would have gone anything less than #1 in the draft.

 

"Alperen Sengun is definitely a guy whos motiviation to play defense hinges on his production on the offensive side of the ball. This was one of the worst defensive performances by Alperen of the season. And I'm sure a lot of fans are going to be upset at hearing that. The Alpy stans out there. I'm sorry. But it was."

 

I dont want to destroy this safe space, but THIS is usually where the discussion goes off the rails.

Dream in Year 3:

 

Awesome highlights.

Alpy isn't close to Dream, who is the GOAT center. I just see some his training paying off here. He has the finesse, footwork and IQ to pull off some of those crazy, amazing moves.

 

You mean this is when the discussion will go off the rails when Sengun is 24, because you will still try to **** on your player rather than enjoying your player.

OR let's do it Os style:

why are sengun haters so sensitive

 

Nah I'll allow you SOFs the space to wallow around together for the sake of civility, but everytime you guys try to position Sengun alongside one of the true GOATS of this sport let alone Houston royalty you should expect me or any of the other REAL Rocket fans to chime in. You could always go take a sht on Jalen Green - seems that always makes you guys feel better!

 

It's okay we **** on everyone at any age. You should see the hate threads for James Harden