But this is also what makes him so special. He is really unique in a time where most of international prospects visit American prep schools or college. Or are children of former players and play for big clubs. Alpi on the other hand is from a small town, played for smaller teams, showed up with zero English knowledge in the NBA and yet he was able to become one of the best young players of the league.
Anyone that didn't think Sengun was the Rockets best player was an idiot - it has been abundantly obvious for sometime. The question of whether he is a franchise player is kind of silly, because it does not matter - in that you put the best team on the court, and if someone becomes a franchise player, they will emerge. Sengun has the potential to be a top 5 offensive machine - because of his passing and foot work. I believe we will see him improve handling double teams and shooting from the outside. At that point he should consistently get over 25 a night with at least 6-7 assists. The nice thing about him is that he can work with a high usage point guard as well if that happens.
Yeah for a center it's a nice thing to have but not necessary when you can impact the game in so many different ways. He'll still be a starting caliber center for a playoff team even without 3pt shooting but adding that in your bag puts you in MVP conversations. The most encouraging thing about his outside shooting is 1) He's already at .30 2) He doesn't airball it. Consistently airballing 3's means that your shooting mechanics are ****ed beyond repair. Sengun's mechanics probably need some minor adjustments. I honestly don't see an issue with his release. Probably sth to do with his knees or feet placement. If i was him i'd religously work on it though. He should work with a shooting coach this offseason. My money is on him shooting 31-32% from the perimeter (3 attempts) next season.
Amen Thompson has a really high basketball IQ.... he and Sengun will play winning basketball together because they lack egos and understand the game really well. If Amen starts to improve his shooting, those two could become a top duo in the league..... Smith also plays well off of them as a three point shooter, rebounder and defender.
Alpi, Amen, and Fred are the only guys on this roster with any court vision on offense at all, I swear. Maybe Unc a little bit by weight of experience.
This evaluation is true I believe. This type of understanding of the game doesn't always become obvious looking at raw numbers - but it will long term show in wins and losses. Both the Spurs dynasty and the Warriors dynasty had guys like that - and both teams GM's have said they targeted these types of players. A natural and intuitive feel for the game is genuinely important.
If this is the case, I wonder what it would take to convince someone who maybe didn't expect him to be this good (which is fair). I mean, what would the kid need to do to convince those hardcore Rockets fans who didn't believe in him? He is already breaking all kinds of records, seems like a good kid, and the current best player on last year's championship team is probably the most similar player to him - and he is tracking fairly closely to that player at the same age. What does he need to prove to win over those who didn't want him drafted and who would have traded him for a bag of chips. Win us a championship? And until he does, we should look for a "different archetype" center? I'm not a basketball savant and I have been wrong many times before like most of us, I'm just wondering if it is maybe really hard for some people to change their mind once they have "dug in"?
you know he's a great player when he puts a stat-line up like that and i think "man he could have had a better game". lock him in a gym shooting FTs all summer.
Rockets Core: Alperen Sengun That's it. That's the core right now. The rest of the players better spend the summer bulking up (Jabari) or getting better at passing (Cam) or getting better at shooting (Amen/Tari) or getting traded (Jalen).
https://sports.yahoo.com/impressed-...ut-well-it-almost-didnt-happen-162352087.html Impressed with Alperen Şengün's impressive breakout? Well, it almost didn't happen It was the same basket inside Toyota Center, the same rim in front of Houston’s home bench, where Victor Wembanyama cracked the most vicious hammer of his rookie season atop Alperen Şengün’s curly hair. Tuesday night, nearly three months later, Şengün drew the French phenom at the left block, scooping a pocket pass from Fred VanVleet that would help blend Wembanyama into the sweet taste of revenge. With one look over the wrong shoulder, Şengün froze the Spurs’ young center for just the second he needed to pirouette the opposite direction and into Houston’s red paint. Şengün cleared even more space with his lower half and baited Wembanyama with a few more fakes to return the favor; a poster jam of his own. And it was just one highlight for Şengün during an evening replete with its own sizzle reel, perhaps the greatest showing of the 21-year-old’s three-year career. Şengün finished with a career-best 45 points, plus 16 rebounds, three assists and five steals. He bullied Wembanyama with his strength and footwork all night long. He drilled 2-of-3 triples. He poked the ball free from Big Vic’s grasp on multiple occasions. On one play, he even soared, full extension, to meet Spurs guard Devin Vassell at the rim. Şengün blocked the attempt with both hands before snatching it clean off the backboard. And how did he follow that performance? With a ho-hum 23-point, 19-rebound, 14-assist triple-double against the mighty Clippers on Wednesday. It all encapsulates the detail and development Houston has prioritized for the No. 16 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft ever since head coach Ime Udoka was hired to lead a revamped era for these Rockets. A plan, as avid fans of the league’s slop cycle may recall, once focused on possibly starting Brook Lopez at center instead. The NBA is full of sliding doors that open and close before free agency comes and goes. Steve Nash was nearly a Net before he was nearly a Raptor before he improbably became a Laker. Tim Duncan was going to sign with the Magic. The what-ifs stemming from Lopez’s flirtation with the Rockets this past summer, where Houston drew Lopez’s eye before he re-signed in Milwaukee, don’t bring as many league-shattering alternatives. Although him bailing on the Bucks would have certainly thrust another obstacle in Milwaukee’s ongoing effort to construct a contender around Giannis Antetokounmpo. And who’s to say if Şengün would have flourished to this degree, this season, without standing as Houston’s primary big? Şengün is posting 21.3 points, hitting 53.9% from the field and grabbing 9.3 rebounds with 4.8 assists per game. He’s drawing comparisons to Nikola Jokić from Nikola Jokić himself, both with an immense appetite for gorgeous no-look dishes. The only players in NBA history age 22 or younger to even average 19-4-4 on 50% shooting over a full season: Antetokounmpo, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Thompson and Kevin Johnson — with OKC wing Jalen Williams primed to join the illustrious list as well. The Lopez noise surely reached Şengün as May bled into June and quickly became July. If he viewed the Rockets signing former second-round selection Bruno Fernando last season as competition for Houston’s starting center position, he was bracing for battle with the Bucks’ veteran shot blocker. “You know, of course, when you’re hearing that sh**, you’re getting nervous, of course,” Şengün told Yahoo Sports. “You don’t want to lose your spot. But if [Lopez] was coming, I was ready for a fight.” That was part of Houston’s calculus. The Rockets were quite intentional about spending to speed forward after three seasons stuck in the league’s cellar. After all the innuendo about Houston reuniting with James Harden, the Rockets committed to a defensive-minded philosophy when they hired Udoka, aiming to establish the brick and mortar of a contending-caliber scheme, while one of Houston’s young lottery picks hopefully emerged as the backbone of an elite offense. It required a harsher leash and less space to commit mistakes. Udoka was never going to promise any minutes to any player, no matter their draft slot or salary. Even if you won your role, you could still lose it. Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. have both been yanked from fourth-quarter action throughout this campaign. (...)
Moving forward, I think this is the most important thing. It is not really hard to build around sengun, People think in terms of cliches and that results in wrong conclusions. Sengun doesn't shoot 3s so he is a major spacing problem. Right, but he does have extreme gravity, so he does create spacing in a different way. And honestly the current team's problem is our guards can't shoot and thus cannot create spacing for sengun to operate in the post or attack the rim. He is not a lob threat so he can't play with a high usage point guard, they need the rim rollers. Wrong again. Sengun is a very mold that fits the modern game very well. I didn't see it but his mobility and ability to attack the rim in the pnr is very good. So he won't be jokic, his shooting will not be as good most probably, but he will have weapons that will keep him in the jokic territory in terms of production.
