The Denver Nuggets had a losing record in Jokic's first two seasons. They weren't tanking as blatantly as the Rockets have been, though, they didn't have the worst coach in the world, and by the second season, they committed to Jokic and built around him. From then on, they became a winning team. The Rockets, on the other hand, have been prioritizing 3-4 players ahead of Alpi (KPJ, Jalen, Jabari, and also still Gordon) in terms of minutes/touches who are actually a lot worse than Alpi so far. They have the worst coach ever, and they have been losing on purpose.
When you feed the audience with "Marvel" type of movies, you create people looking for superheroes. You need 5 great players and 4 very good back-ups to get a ring.Alp is the best of the current core and Rockets already have 5 or 6 players out of 9. Need 3 or 4 more to contend in 3 years time. It is better to enjoy watching Alp rather than being gloomy. Enjoy every little improvements Alp/Tari/Green/Jabari/KJM/TyTy/Josh get. This is a team sports, we don't need another "Kara Murat, Zoro, Hercules,..". We need mortals fighting for team sprit, sometimes fail, gradually learn to win. Alp is the best Rockets player and I hate that "The guy, franchise player, cornerstone, generational talent,.." descriptions.
Sengun is 3rd on the team in touches per game. And that makes sense because guards naturally will touch the ball more as they will get the vast majority of full court inbound passes to them. Sengun is the highest non guard in terms of touches and has more touches than a guard like EG who also brings the ball up regularly. https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?TeamID=1610612745&dir=D&sort=PTS_PER_TOUCH You can also see things like points per touch. If you only include the regular rotation guys, KMJ has the highest points per touch efficiency on the team. Green is second.
Okay, but we’re 13-41. The players and Silas aren’t trying to lose. I’m not saying Sengun can’t ever be that guy (he won’t be imo) I’m just talking right now as we stand, there’s no franchise player on this roster
You are correct that nobody is being treated as the franchise player - the closest to that would have been Jalen and KPJ. I understand we disagree on this, I am of the opinion that the Rockets should commit to Sengun the way the Nuggets committed to Jokic (at a similar time of their careers). As a Rockets fan, based on the performance our young players have shown so far, that's what I would like to see, because I believe the results could be similar to what the Nuggets achieved (becoming a winning team - I understand that they have not proven that that can end up being a championship formula). I love watching Alpi's passing, Tari's hustle, KMJ's dunk shows. I still have hope that Jalen and Jabari will "get there" and the pieces will all end up fitting together. And that Alpi can be the "hub" that facilitates everyone else's success. So my assessment is based on my belief in Alpi's potential as much as in my egoistic preference as a fan. I root for the Rockets, I want them to win, I think they will win more by building around Alpi, and I enjoy watching fancy passes which result in spectacular dunks a lot more than I enjoy watching someone with a questionable attitude (KPJ) dribbling the ball forever, taunting opponents while losing, freezing out teammates, etc.
The most important part of watching these games is "to enjoy". Alp gives us that enjoyment. I also enjoy when KJM dunks, Tari hustles and TyTy floats to score. Beauty. I was watching Jokic last night.He was one reb short of first half triple double.What a great enjoyment. He did in a very modest style, similar to Alp's humble appearances. Alp has become MVP in every league he played and NBA is the next one. I have no doubt. But I always prefer team players rather than indivudial success. Alp is a great fit for team success.
I understand where you’re coming from. Sengun is really good. Would you at least agree you with his archetype, he absolutely needs to be great and not just good? That’s my thing with him. If he’s gonna be the franchise and the guy we need to build around, he needs to be a top 10 player in this league, maybe top 7. I see what you see in him, I’m not blind. Most teams aren’t gonna build around that, but will we be that team? Doubt it
To me the answer is definitely no. I guess we all define the term differently but that’s an easy no on both players.
Durant's OKC Thunder were 13-41 in his sophomore season but he was clearly their franchise player already. I'm not equating Sengun's sophomore season to Durant's, but team record alone says nothing about one player.
I agree Rockets need to "commit" to Alperen. However, the "commitment" is not such a big deal, this is not a "till death does us apart" thing… The Denver situation was a bit trickier, they had to trade away a good young Center in Nurkic, because it was too explosive to have a Serb and a Bosniak play the same position. Rockets don’t have that problem. All they have to do is to sit everyone down and say, guys this is Alperen’s team because we look the best when he’s the Boss. JG/KPJ would need to cool off their jets a bit, and feed off Sengun, which will be better for them, actually. And nothing is set in stone, if Green makes a leap, or if Henderson proves to be the whoopdedo, things can change. Whatever is best for the team. Whoever makes the team the best is the top dog, simple.
Well, we want the Rockets to become a contender, so yes, I agree with you that for that to happen, he would have to become great. I am very hopeful that that will happen. I also think that we might end up in a situation where he might be 1A or 1B, a bit different from let's say Jokic on the Nuggets, where literally the whole team is nothing without Jokic. We will have a top 5 draft pick next year, will have cap room, and we hope Jalen and Jabari will pan out still. I think using Sengun as the hub is a no-lose proposition, because it doesn't block everyone else's development we currently have on the roster, I think it actually helps them. The question, of course, is, will we be good enough on defense? I think that we have been bad on defense with or without Alpi. He will never be Hakeem or even Rudy Gobert on defense, but I think he can be on Jokic's level with the right teammates and system around him. So even if someone else becomes an even bigger "franchise player" (Wembayama, Green, someone else), I don't think we lose anything by making Sengun the hub now and giving him the ball.
and sengun is better than durant! because hes a better harden and harden alone is better than durant!
ah franchise franchise something something lolololol i knew this almost half a year ago that alpi is one of the most efficient and most deadly players deadly in isolation plus one of the best playmakers, supreme vision, otherwordly passing ability plus willingness and almost addiction to pass!! hustles...solid on defense, has tons of charisma...fashionable and trendy euro white guy in the mold of Jokic and Doncic LOL sounds like a franchise to me!!! lololol
wait what if some franchise trades for klay and make them their franchise guy? is that your criteria? lol
Fair enough. It's a weird term that can mean a lot of different things. To you a franchise player is basically the best player on a team capable of winning a championship. There's only a handful of those guys in the league and on this roster only Jalen is capable of being that (probably). Sengun could be but he would have to basically be *better* than Jokic to outweigh his physical limitations vs Joker. I think outside of Scoot/Wemby, Brandon Miller is where it's at for the Rockets. Surrounding Sengun with Green/Jabari/Miller and everyone moving would be a definite direction. Then one of those 3 could blossom into "the guy".
Silas is woefully unprepared to run the offense through Sengun. I think he overestimated our guards and underestimated Sengun. Need a new coach that knows how to implement an offense with more Princeton/Sac/Den/GSW principles. If I am Stone, I am holding all my key players until we see these guys in a system. I’m still not worried about JG/Jabari. Happy to see them both taking ownership, too. Signs of a leader, unlike Silas, who likes to point his finger at everyone else.
lol you have brain limitations, alpi has no physical limitations buddy... you suffer from inside the box thinking, archetype worship, basketball idolatry and dinosaur bb thinking, burried alive in the past times you probably also thought harden and luka cant play pg because they are fat... but you keep that 7 foot, 3 point shooter fetish alive...lolol not a lot of good it did to embiid ...alpi shut him down last time they met in fact it could be argued that Jokic has physical limitations to be as good as Alpi because he is slower and more plodding type.. Alpi is a true PG like Luka, Harden Giannis, because he is faster more mobile and agile... but can also play like a center...definitely more versatile than Jokic...and easier to build around! alpi is often faster than guards in transition...he is lethal in transition, in that regard he is more like Giannis HIS VERSATILITY IS THROUGH THE ROOF
