Congrats! Well deserved (should have been one last year) and glad folks are starting to recognize that the Rockets and they're players are relevant.
"I feel amazing. Amazing day for me, for my country, for my family," Şengün said. "I was dreaming first (of) coming in the NBA. After I came over here, of course, that was my goal, to be All-Star." Şengün is the first player drafted by Rockets GM Rafael Stone, who was named to the position in October 2020, to become an All-Star. "Oh, I don't care about me. I'm just immensely happy for him," Stone said. "It's an important benchmark in his life dream. One awesome thing about Alperen is he's truly motivated to be great and I'm just really happy for him that he got this recognition." "Just (being) impactful, winning. I think that was the key this year," Şengün said. "Last year I had a great year, too, but we are not in the spot we are right now. Just being good and helpful on the team at both ends, offense and defense, whatever the team needs, I think that was the thing this year." Rockets second-year coach Ime Udoka said he saw Şengün's All-Star potential when he first took over in Houston. "We're all proud of him and the work he's put in. And I think the whole team is obviously excited, thrilled for him," Udoka said. "You saw Alpi's talent, you saw Jalen's talent, Amen and the guys we've drafted. And the beauty of it is that it's not everybody's night. You know, we have guys that we don't have to rely on night in night out, and he's still being rewarded for it." Şengün is just the second Turkish player to become an NBA All-Star, following Mehmet Okur in 2007. In his home country, lampposts were papered with flyers promoting Şengün’s All-Star campaign and politicians stumped for him on social media. "Turkey and Houston fans, all of them, I love them," he said. "That's one of the reasons I do it. The people watching me, texting me at 4 or 5 a.m. They waking up at 4 or 5 a.m. to watch me in Turkey so I just give it my everything over there." Udoka said on Thursday that he believed the Rockets had a plethora of players who would soon also become All-Stars, including Green, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason. "Go down the list," Udoka said. "A bunch of young talent, and obviously they're all starting to form their own identity and fill out certain role for us. ... And so a lot of careers still to be defined and games to be defined."
