Sengun is without a doubt one of the 10 best players in the league. He’s absolutely incredible and we’re very lucky to have this 23 year old superstar. all those guys you put on that list to take up the final 2 spots. What GM would pick any of them over Sengun if they were starting a franchise? I think Sengun is the clear choice. He’s younger than all of them and I think his impact with his scoring and play making give him the clear edge. Not to mention he’s a top 10 rebounder as well and he’s a solid defensive player. I’m just so impressed with Sengun. How many centers can you iso up top like him. His ball handling footwork and quickness with the ball are just not something you see from any other center in the league. He’s special.
I am watching that play over and over. The way he was avoiding Giannis was like that kid who ran away from the security after taking a selfie with Ronaldo.
Same. Just ridiculous. That's my center! Like with all great Houston centers of the past, there's an element of No, no, no... Yes! With Dream it was the baseline fadeaway from behind the basket. With Moses it was the miss, miss, put back. With Yao it was..., well, Yao was mostly solid. Anyway, with Sengun, it's the loosey-goosey dribbling on the perimeter leading to a bucket or great pass.
At this point, I'm not sure how you can argue that Sengun isn't playing like a top 10 player. He's putting up the best Net and Offensive rating for a contending team. His split of 23/10/7 is fantastic - only Joker put up those number or better last season (but to be fair, Joker's numbers were much better). And, frankly, teams treat Sengun like a top 10 player - who was Giannis guarding in crunch time? Now, there is a fairly large gap between Sengun and the established top 4 (Joker, Luka, Giannis, Shai). But he's in the category right after them.
If Alpi is a top 10 player, that means 6 of the top 10 NBA players are non-American. If you are ready to put Victor at #5, the top 5 are all "foreigners". A few years ago, I never thought this would be possible.
His impact on offense is actually somewhat similar to what Zion Williamson was supposed to be/occasionally has been. Just an absolute menace with the ball in his hands, too big and strong and skilled to easily stop. He is not quite that level of finisher when gets to the rim due to being less athletic, but I think he is a better passer, rebounder, and defensive player, and obviously has been much more durable so far.
There was another poster (who got banned) who claimed Sengun should play like Luka handling the ball. Look where we are now. You can’t make a bad call about Sengun as long as you make a positive call.
IQ is a real necessity to be great. It is starting to be a noticeable trend - Euros play smart basketball growing up. US play uber athletic and not needing to use their head much in order to be better than they're young competition. Its why it was obvious from day one Jalen never was destined for greatness.
I was talking offense and for the most part, Yao stayed within his boundaries and didn't push the envelope that much.
Top 10 is really pushing it. He needs to do this for the rest of the season and the playoffs to make that leap not 9 games into a season.
Just curious who your top 10 players are. Are you including currently injured superstars like Tatum and Haliburton? Older stars like Curry, Lebron, and KD?
Even just basing it on this season alone, I think he'd be right on the edge of top 10 status. Best you could argue for would be #10. For traditional stats, the only box score statistics he places in the top 10 for are rebounds and assists, both exactly at #10. For advanced catch-all stats, he's generally in the 10 to 20 range. The biggest issue with arguing for him as a top 10 guy right now would be his scoring volume/efficiency, neither of which are all that close to being in the top 10. I will say that he is one of the least-specialized, most all-around solid players near the top of the rankings. He's not a bad defensive player at all anymore, and this season (since he's actually shooting the three ball well so far), has been good to great at virtually everything on offense. For all of this, though, the sample size is still too small. He could improve or decline as the season goes on. In any case, if he does keep this up I think he will at least have a very strong case for making All-NBA.
