The person on this team that needs to grow the most is Ime. He was the right guy to motivate these kids to be professional. He now needs to become more professional and work on his weaknesses or at least acknowledge them and get some help from an assistant. Anyone with basketball sense knew what inserting FVV back in the starting line-up and benching Jabari was going to do to our offense (not to mention defense and rebounding). We need FVV and Dillon, but we need them coming off the bench.
The expectation from Alperen has clearly changed this year. He gets criticised after 27 - 30 point games that the rockets lost. Last year such a performance would be praised. We want him to bring wins, what you want from your franchise player.
You'd be wrong. Rockets do not even have a viable full time back up center. And Alp has the greatest impact on wins for Rockets.
Alpi had a good game and he can't even get a little bit of credit. Not even wins change the vitriol guaranteed to come his way so why expect any different in a loss. Literally nothing less than a perfect game will do for the haters like his near perfect game with a bad turnover at the end. They will latch unto that 1 mistake for dear life. Oh well. He is by far our best player recognized as an all-star by every one except a few GARM members with their panties in a bunch because he doesn't fit their ideal of a player. Let the haters stew in their hatred, they are sad beings and of no importance.
People keep focusing on his FT shooting and turnovers. But those aren't really his problems. His FT% is actually quite consistent year over year. His assist/turnover is at a healthy 2:1 for two consecutive seasons. His main problem this season is missing shots. He missed so many close range easy shots. And his 3pt shooting not only has not improved but even regressed some. As such, his efficiency dropped significantly. I really don't know why he's been missing those bunny shots.
He is an all star player, he is NOT a franchise player. His deficiencies on defense are glaring and other teams target him, and he can be contained by clogging the paint, which limits his passing and scoring. He is a very good player, but not a franchise player. DD
Amen is at his best with Alp on court and vice versa. Their chemistry not just special but unique. "One of the more impressive occurrences in the Rockets’ season is how Thompson and teammate Alperen Sengun have had a positive impact on the floor together. Both Thompson (25.4 per cent on 1.3 three-point attempts per game) and Sengun (23 per cent on 1.4 attempts per game) are poor low-volume shooters yet have a positive net rating when on the floor together, an anomaly in today’s league." https://www.theroar.com.au/2025/02/...playmaking-is-amen-thompson-the-nbas-unicorn/
