This was my fear. Jalen plays well while Alpi is out and people like you will find ways to find random comments of people joking about Green being better than Sengun to find a new avenue to **** on Green rather than just going along with positive vibes of the team currently. Alpi fans don't try to be that type of fan that gets jealous because someone else on the team gets some praise here and there.
“What we saw with Alpi — it’s obviously gotten better as he’s gotten older, more experienced and skilled — is his ability to beat his guy 1-on-1 to get to a layup or dunk,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone told The Athletic. “(That) was evident in video from the Turkish league and from the very first practice we had him. That’s just a real strength, and he has moves upon moves upon moves, and it comes very naturally to him.” It’s strange to think that at one point in his young career, Şengün was lodged behind Daniel Theis, Christian Wood and even Bruno Fernando. Eight months ago, his starting job was considered in jeopardy with the arrival of Udoka and a potential run at veteran big Brook Lopez. Today, there’s no question that not only is Şengün the best player on the roster, averaging 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.0 dimes a game, but he might be the most important for its future — especially if the Rockets want to add building blocks toward the gradual path to contention.
“It’s strange to think that at one point in his young career, Şengün was lodged behind Daniel Theis, Christian Wood and even Bruno Fernando. Eight months ago, his starting job was considered in jeopardy with the arrival of Udoka and a potential run at veteran big Brook Lopez. Today, there’s no question that not only is Şengün the best player on the roster, averaging 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.0 dimes a game, but he might be the most important for its future — especially if the Rockets want to add building blocks toward the gradual path to contention.” OOF. This is NIGHTMARE FUEL for the big cheese. Hope he’s coping well.
Mangum opus by Kelly Iko. If you weren’t keeping track, this is his first and only focus piece on Sengun the last three years. As a mouth piece for the Rockets (with quotes from Stone and Ime), this also feels like, finally, an organizational capitulation to the inevitable truth that some of us basketball savants have seen from the start. It’s ok if you are late to the party, but please don’t pretend to still be a Rockets fan if you miss the boat completely.
Amen Thompson, rookie: He’s a really good teammate, positive guy. I feel like he understands, because people get on him, so he’ll never get on you too much. He’s going to try to teach you, even with the language barrier. He does a good job too, at the same time. Basketball is a universal language, so he does a good job. Very good teammate, love Alpi. Nate Hinton, rookie: Just being around him, he’s a good guy. He wants to win. He plays hard every night and tries to give it his all. That’s one thing I learned about him, going out there and taking the game seriously. Trying to dominate every night. He has a lot of game and can be one of the premier guys in this league if he takes care of his body. Just keep developing, lot of potential. Can also be a potential threat from 3 because he’s always open, they don’t guard him out there. If he hits a couple of those moving forward in his career, it will up his game some more. Jae’Sean Tate, fourth-year wing: Hmmm. I’ve known Alpi for a while. I would say … one thing I’ve learned is he’s very family-oriented. He brought his family over this year, and they traveled in packs and supported him. It was pretty cool to just see where he came from and to meet some of those people. But also just about how he got here, his story. I didn’t really follow early on, but he had the opportunity to share with us his path to get here, and it’s pretty cool. Aaron Holiday, sixth-year guard: He’s a good dude, good kid. Can’t call him a kid obviously (laughs). He’s a really good player, very talented. He has all the tools to be one of the best in the NBA one day. Reggie Bullock, 11th-year wing: He’s learning English (laughs). But just his offensive game, I didn’t know he had the total package with the posting up, his moves that he can get to. I really haven’t seen a big this year that can bang with him down low. He’s been so good with touching everything, so probably his matchup advantage that he has against bigs. Fred VanVleet, eighth-year guard: It’s not like one thing. Just getting to know his personality on and off the court. A lot of times, who you are as a person kind of shines through your game. When you watch somebody from afar, you kind of see it but then when you get to know them, it makes sense. I see him coming with the full-length mink coats and all of that, he got that flair to him. He got swag to him, it’s more Euro than anything, but it’s been good to build a relationship with him. He’s a great dude and just wants to be great. Learning that part about him has been fun for me. Dillon Brooks, seventh-year wing: He’s very modest. Plays hard, he’s learning, he’s a sponge. I didn’t know how good he was until I started playing with him. He’s got more facets to his game, and he’s resilient. He’ll come back stronger. Jock Landale, third-year big: He’s a great guy to have in the locker room. Pretty harmless, doesn’t cause any problems, gets around these guys. That’s all you can really ask for in a teammate in the NBA. I think he has a care factor for the rest of us, and that’s important. Boban Marjanović, ninth-year big: I feel like I know everything because we both come from Europe. I know his history because we played a lot of games. I went to Turkey a lot, and I know him and where he comes from; it’s similar to Serbia. But I didn’t know he was such a good guy. I can guess, but when you meet him, you know for sure. And you can see he’s a good player. You don’t even need to be around him to know that. But I can say he’s a great person with a great heart. That’s what really matters. Jalen Green, third-year guard: I feel like I kind of knew everything about Alpi. We came in together, so we built a really big bond over the past three years. Just seeing how next level he can take it to, I didn’t know that — he showed me that this year. Jeff Green, 16th-year forward: Just his skill set. From afar, you don’t see it because you don’t play him every day. But how young he is and how skillful he is, I think that’s something you don’t see every day with a young guy like that. https://theathletic.com/5350802/2024/03/19/alperen-sengun-growth-teammates-rockets/
Not true. Though, most of Iko's articles are about multiple topics so he doesn't have too many focus pieces, I can remember 3 off the top of my head. There was also one recently about Sengun dominating Wemby (unless you are counting this about Wemby, then it is two). Also there was one about Sengun versus Jokic early in the year. There was at least one his rookie year.
Yes most of his articles are multiple topics, some of which have included Sengun already, but he does also write entire articles focused on individuals. (the Sengun vs Wemby one I thought was more of a game recap, but I see your point) During the offseason Kelly wrote individual pieces that focused on nearly all the players, ranging from our big acquisitions in Fvv, Dillon Brooks, to Tari, Jalen, and even Jeff Green. Notably, to some of us, Sengun was left out. This reflected the organizational focus, or lack there of, on imo the most important player on the team. That has clearly been rectified as seen by the changing tone of Kelly throughout this season leading up to this article.
...honestly, I have never heard Jalen say anything interesting in these types of interviews - normally it's just a bunch of madlib phrases strung together that you might hear in a sports interview. I almost wrote him off as being simple but after seeing him speak in a few different contexts, I think he actually may not be as outgoing as you would think from the flamboyance and resorts to the madlib sports quotes out of anxiety/nerves. I get the distinct impression he knows it part of the job, but he just talks until it goes away and isn't putting a lot of effort into those interviews - and hasn't that always been the knock on Jalen anyway - his defensive effort?
