This is one of the most common misnomers I see being passed around. The reason why post scoring is frowned upon today is because it is the least efficient form of scoring in all of basketball outside the dreaded contested long 2. The reason for this is the decline and dearth of skilled bigs progressively over the past 20 years. I call it the Michael Jordan effect. A generation of kids watched and idolized MJ growing up, so more and more prospects wanted to be like Mike as opposed to working on boring low post work. That theory may or may not be right, but whatever the case, we have seen a lack of skilled bigs which has resulted in inefficient post scoring which has in turn led to small ball, because you no longer get punished playing a 6'8 guy as your tallest player because there are very few skilled and efficient post scoring bigs that can take advantage. This was why Gobert was run off the court with small ball, not because he couldn't guard the perimeter(few bigs can) but rather because he could not punish small ball on the offensive end because he lacks any semblance of a post skill. The elite post bigs, Jokic, Embiid, are just as dominant today as in any other era, they were literally the top two mvp getters. The small ball era has not stunted them one bit. It is just that efficient post scorers like them are few and far between. Enter Şengün. His scoring efficiency last season in the Turkish league rivals Shaq and Steph Curry in their prime. Obviously I am not saying that will translate over to the NBA 1:1 in his rookie year(or perhaps ever), but to dismiss post scoring as not useful in today's NBA is foolish when failing to put it in the correct context. Inefficient post scoring is useless. Efficient scoring, anywhere, from 3pt, from mid range, from the post, is always useful and supremely useful in high leverage moments like the playoffs when you need to diversify your offense because the defense has already shutdown your plan A-C(like we have experienced under Morey/D'antoni/Harden ball for years. Actually analytics guy Morey said it himself. When the pendulum swings too far one way(right now towards small ball), its is ripe to zag and go the opposite direction to counter it(low post monsters like the top two mvp guys).
i hear the same about midrange all the time, yet people who shoot midrange get to finals because of it, hit clutch points and win championships all the time in recent years ps should have PMed Stone before the draft so that he doesnt commit such a huge mistake of drafting him and trading 2FRPs for him
Good stuff, kudos to @CXbby for pointing out why he will be effective and fight the lazy narrative of not useful skill in the NBA. Look at that footwork people and his passing, then reminisce about Dream and Scola, watch some Jokic and realize how great this guy can be for us. There is a reason he was top 10 in a lot of mocks.
not only top 10 in a lot of mocks, but top 5 on most big boards. slipped due to team need and other factors. like the warriors probably wouldn't take him at 7 because of wiseman. hollinger, had him #4 I think? ford, givony, Schmitz all said in interviews if he were taken in the top 5 they wouldn't think its a reach. here's the thing for people thinking his game doesn't translate. skill translates. motor translates. IQ translates. pro experience translates. that doesn't mean he'll be an MVP here because he was there. doesn't mean he'll be jokic or sabonis. but his floor is so high that he can contribute rotation minutes right away at 19 and with his effort, IQ and age there's no reason to think he won't improve into a starter, or all star. his fit with green can be superb. not only in a PnR with green drawing so much attention and Al being a great finisher, but Al can pass out of the short roll to shooters, you can run high post sets for him and DHO's for green. he's a great passer on cuts which is something green is excellent at. Al Garuba Green all fit really well and complement each other seemingly perfectly if they all reach their potential. the crazy part is that they all have a strong case that they will as they all have incredible work ethic (reportedly), high motors, high IQs, easily coachable, and want to learn. they've all shown the ability to improve in the past 2 years too which means you can expect more of it.
I am happy his a Rocket. I am puzzled as to why OKC passed on him. To trade him to us is like doubling down on a bet because he will be playing when our trades with them are in effect. OKC is not a bad franchise and usually do the right thing. Just my thoughts as I read through. I am happy he is ours.
I am as excited about Alp as about Green. And I am pretty excited about Green at this stage. He just seems to have this swagger.
He is a Scola Jokic hybrid. Has the passing and IQ potential of both and a similar feel for the game that maximizes his offensive impact. I don’t agree with the post/paint game not being useful. If anything when things slow down which they always do near the end of games and you need a bucket this is a skill set that can get one for the team. I can see him becoming enough of a threat that he will be collapsing a defense in his own right when teams start realizing they have not been able to stop him. That will open up wings and cutters which translates to a much bigger impact for the team and offensive flow. The real question as OP highlights is his defense. How much of a liability will he be once he hits his ceiling. He is not going to be a great perimeter defender and he needs to develop his footwork and lateral quickness. I can see him becoming respectable in drop coverage situations. I also see him being less of a liability when he is flanked with some elite defenders. It seems Stone has really done his homework here because Garuba is just that and they both know each other’s games already. Perhaps there has been a plan going on for quite some time. I also believe we have limited intel on his latest trajectory since there has been major international travel restrictions in place to get scouting done. There is no combine data or recent workout report available to any teams. Maybe Stone did this though in some way and had a scout get a personal workout? His shooting game will also have to improve which most likely will. That is less of a concern. He has the mechanics and it shows in his FT percentage. He was apparently leading in attempts with his team and that is in a league that allows way more physicality than the NBA. This alone is proof of his incredible threat in the paint and at such a young age! Iam very excited about Sengun. Iam also excited we got Garuba. There are lot of fans that really wanted him and were shocked their team passed by him. At 19 years of age he is a defensive nightmare. And looking at what pieces we need to complement our others he is a perfect fit. In Stone I Trust!!
I agree with the Scola comparisons due to the footwork and general craftiness but Sengun plays above the rim and seems much more athletic than Luis. He has the tools to be a better defender just needs to put in the work.
One caveat for my OP and his mvp in the Turkish league which is traditionally the second best domestic league in Europe- last season due to covid there were budget cuts and visa restrictions for some foreign import players, so the competition was lower than in normal years. There were still plenty of ex nba players that played, Shane Larkin, Sam Dekkar, Thomas Robinson and many more. I looked at players who have played multiple seasons in the league to get an idea of stat translation, there was definitely about 10-20% in stat inflation last year. With that said, that takes nothing away from what Sengun was able to achieve, the greatest productive season in 20 years. Even if you subtract -20% from that it still would have been terrific for a 18 year old. Also he played very good teams like Anadolu Efes which ended up winning the Euroleague.
MVP od Turkish league at 18 and they ask is he good for gleague lmao i love you Americans i havent see accolade like that in Europe since Doncic. I bet Stone couldnt believe they got him. Not saying he is Doncic because hes not but why not Pau Gasol in couple of years? You think its easy? Mirotic came back to Spain straight out of starting five in NBA and he didnt look like he was feasting. Turkish league may be better than spanish
In the past, the Turkish League was much better than Spanish League but due to the financial weakening of the leagues due to Covid, the Spanish League went one step further, but the best teams in Turkey are still stronger than Spanish teams. The last Euroleague champion was already a Turkish team Anadolu Efes. Anadolu Efes is a very strong team and is the best in Europe as you can tell by the fact that they are the last Euroleague champions. Efes have many former NBA players on their roster. Shane Larkin, Rodrigue Beaubois, James Anderson, Chris Singleton and Vasilije Micic who was named Euroleague MVP. By the way, OKC hold Micic's rights and there was a rumor at one time that OKC was going to call him into the league, but then I don't know what happened. The reason I'm telling you this is that Beşiktaş, what average roster age is around 20 against this team, made it to the semi-finals of the Turkish League this season. As a Beşiktaş fan, I can say that the budget of our team was only 750.000 dollars. So just as much as Sengun's buy-out. If you consider that good basketball teams in Europe, such as Efes, Fener and Real, have a budget of 20-25 million dollars, you can understand how funny Beşiktaş's budget is. It is essential to know that Şengün was selected as the regular season MVP with such a team, and that he almost single-handedly carried Beşiktaş to the semi-finals. Beşiktaş lost all three matches at the semi-finals against Anadolu Efes. It was already clear that Beşiktaş would lose this series, and there is an extra thing I would like to point out about Sengun regarding this series. Since it was obvious that Beşiktaş would be eliminated in these three games, Sengun went out of his normal playing style and shot more, prepared his own position more. He tried more fade-aways, more mid-ranges etc. I remember, Mike Schmitz, ESPN's draft analysist, came to watch him before these games, and maybe Sengun turned to different games to show him his hidden talents. As a result, he averaged 14.6 points in 3 games against Efes with 51.3% FG. It should be noted that he spent an average of 23 minutes on the field in all three games (matches in Europe last 40 minutes in total). He also averaged 4 rebounds and 3 assists. He didn't miss any free throws throughout the series, all 11 hits. And it may not mean much for now, but he tried 8 3-pointers in 3 games and hit 3 of them. Moreover, I remember that one of them was step-back. Yes, I've seen a few times this kid who is said to can't shoot throw step-back three-pointers. Reason I'm writing all this is that he's just sometimes unnecessarily compared to guys like Darko Milicic, Dragan Bender etc. While those men Sengun was compared were holding towels on the bench at the age of 18, this boy did the above statistics against the champion team in Europe's most prestigious organization. To sum it up, the Rockets took a good player with the potential to be great and there's no point in sending him to the G-League. I followed the matches when another Turkish player, Omer Yurtseven, received an invitation from the G-League. It's no different than a dump. Empty stats slot. I think it would be one of the most illogical things in the world to send players like Sengun and Garuba who came from Europe ready and played like this.
Yes to put Sengun's Turkish season in perspective and why he won the mvp. His team was completely financially strapped and were forced to go with a bunch of young players. They started their season 0-6. Sengun then proceeded to become the third leading scorer in the entire league, fourth leading rebounder, second leading shot blocker, second leading free throw attempts. In 28 minutes a game. The highest PER and collective statistical season in 20 years. And led his rag tag team of kids to a 19-11 overall record. Made it to the semifinals in the playoffs and only lost to the team that would eventually be the Euroleague champions(not just turkish league). The man didn't just put up empty stats and give it all back on the other end due to his supposed bad defense. He took a bunch of scrubs and won big.
so you're talking about players who have never been to an nba training camp to have their official roster heights listed? what josh christopher has been listed at on google or arizona state has no bearing on what we've been talking about. and the link you're relying on for his true height is from nba.com, when you've spent the whole time claiming that the nba is the one who is inflating heights. remember this: "How NBA height works: ....." my reply to you was that the nba cleaned all that height in shoes stuff up a few years ago.
You know, hearing from who maybe even doesn't know Beşiktaş earlier all this made me happy as a Beşiktaş fan. I have a very short story. Yes, Beşiktaş started the season with 0-6 under the coaching of Bıyıktay. At that time, Bıyıktay constantly wanted another American center instead of Alperen and Beşiktaş board did not accept this. After that Bıyıktay was fired. Beşiktaş hired the new coach, Kandemir. After that, Kandemir built the whole team around Alperen. And now, Sengun is a Rocket. I'm thinking, if Bıyıktay hadn't been fired that day, we wouldn't even have known about Sengun's existence today. Life is always full of surprises.
