If you are a ROCKETS FAN and not a Sengun Fan, you would know that is not true. Sengun is probably better STATICALLY because he plays on a defensive centric team with a defensive minded coach. But as far as natural defenders, they are the same. They are the same height and length, Sabonis is some what quicker but not by much, and they are about the same athletically.
Height is not determinative of defensive prowess. Defense is moreso about effort, attitude, lateral quickness, length, active hands + IQ. And I am most definitely a Rockets first so I question all the so-called Rockets fans who absolutely despise Alperen Sengun and continue to propagate disinformation. FYI - Both Alperen + Domantas may be same height (6'10) but not same length (Sengun 7'0.5 wingspan vs Sabonis 6'10.5 wingspan). But length by itself does not automatically mean better defense.
Like I said Sengun isnt the one defending the guard in PNR situation. For example if Donovan Mitchell has the ball the one guarding him is Amen not Sengun. If Mitchell calls for a pick the Rockets dont switch, its still Amen fighting thru the pick to defend Mitchell Sengun drops back to defend the rolling big man. You are right if teams are hitting at 40% from 3 the defense is useless. But Sengun rarely guards threes he is a center. He isnt chasing guys thru picks and running then off the 3 pt line. We dont switch with Sengun so he isnt put in compromising situations.
I'd trust him more to create assists witjh his 2 to 1 assist to turnover ration than Jalen with is almost 1 to 1 assist turnover ratio also Amen, Holiday, and Reed
No moves at the deadline to play this season out and “see what you got”. We’re quickly learning that this team is not THAT good (might not even be good enough to win a playoff series) and may even slip to play in tourney. we can officially break up the beloved core 7 and bring a star or two in this offseason.
Udoka's defense is "switch everything". He feels it's the best way to limit the 3 pt shots. What that means is that all of our defenders have to be able to guard multiple matchups. He tries to match up Sengun on guys who likely aren't going to be used in the PnR. That's why we so often guarding non-centers. The problem is that teams see what we are doing and are doing things to attack it. They are going out of their way to put Sengun in pick and roll. When they do, his responsibility it to step up and prevent the quick 3 off a screen. In the situation that you described, they don't want Amen trying to go over a screen, that will allow open 3 pointers. Instead, they switch so Sengun can stop the open 3. Of course, that then leaves Sengun trying to stop dribble penetration. Here's a good article describing Ime's defensive philosophy and how he is trying to keep Sengun off the ball. https://www.theringer.com/2024/11/25/nba/houston-rockets-defense-ime-udoka
We do indeed go over screens a lot in PNRs involving Sengun. Coach has even said when we do, we want the guard to pressure the 3-ptr from the side, and follow the dribbler in, with Sengun needing to slow the dribbler enough for our guard to disrupt from behind or actually get back in front. I was going to say I wish I would bookmark any Udoka’s interviews involving X and O and strategy, then I read your article … that’s the quote I remember in there. He’s talking about going over the screen. It’s also clear each game, too. And you’re right, Coach would prefer to switch all PNRs. And now with the Zone, looks like he’s practicing another adjustment to help Sengun lineups with defense. also, we see a lot of teams defending the 3 from the side on PnR, going over. It is becoming common, and effective enough, vs putting your big on a switch island.
Houston doesn’t have enough offensive juice to win the title this season [Stone obviously did not get this memo], but everything it’s built on the other end is a strong indicator of where the organization is trending. “Every team that’s won a championship is usually a top-five ranked defense,” Udoka tells The Ringer. “That’s a non-negotiable for me.”
I mean sure - you don't HAVE to have Sengun defend on the other side of the screen but the whole point of the conversation is there is a competitive advantage to having a player quick enough and long enough to buy the defender time to make it over the screen so they can resume guarding the roller - or better yet someone who can neutralize the action altogether by just switching. That's why we are having this conversation that Sengun can be a good player, but ultimately a player that holds your team back from winning a title if his fatal is that he can't help cover the ball handler against the very best shooter who Houston would certainly have to play against if we want to win a title. It's not a Sengun criticism, it's just the fact that the overwhelming majority of NBA Finals contenders from the last decade+ didn't have to sub out one of their best players to prevent open 3s. Yes Amen is amazing and could come over the screen but also against guys like Steph - that won't necessarily be good enough even if it's good enough for the regular season against regular teams. I'm talking about how good we need to be to complete for a title and unless Sengun is going to turn it up to Jokic unstoppable offensive mastermind levels(got to be an efficient 3 level scorer like Jokic - which Sengun is not), then you can't justify making Sengun your franchise centerpiece - you just can't....unless you are not serious about winning a title.
I disagree with you on a lot of points(like you thinking Cam has good Bball IQ), but I think this is one area we can agree on. I think Sengun is a valuable player especially for the contract money but I do think he is the guy we need to explore the trade market on to see if we can find an upgrade elsewhere that is more i line with the roster. Honestly if we could find a way to turn Sengun and some combination of Green/Cam/Tate/Tari/future picks into a Derrick Lively plus a better shooting wing/guard - that would make us a much better team in the long term. Note I'm not saying we should trade Sengun just because - I'm saying we should see what type of value we could get in exchange for him and then determine if that value is worth the loss.
Ditto.....and if Sengun suddenly develops a 3pt shot....well......great for us ! My point is we can't play Sengun on the low block and win anything - now if he can shoot the 3 at 38% - we have something..... DD
Even Jalen does not shoot 3P at 38% yet. Completely unrealistic expectation that a 5 should be shooting better from distance than either of the starting guards.
he is the only play through option. and the only reason he averages 5apg is because there are no shooters on the floor with him. well the ones that are supposedly good shooters constantly brick wide open sht, and good shooters like cam and reed don’t get minutes because of nonsensical tyrant coaching.
