Love it, just add Steven Adams behind Sengun. I like him. You might think this is hyperbole, but I truly think that team could go all the way.
Jabari projects as better Markannen. I agree that I'd love Lauri or for Jabari to be Lauri right now but this fanbase needs to be patient. Sengun is the hub and needs Jabari to turn into that guy along with one more wing. Amen/Jabari/Sengun are the core of this team. Just need to fill in the last two spots with some slashers in the Paul George/Jamal Murray mold.
Sengun had his beat game of his career last nighr. So encouraging see him not get flustered by length or bad foul calling and just stay at it physically. Felt like a huge moment in his career arc for some reason.
This battle will be fun to watch for however many years Wemby's career last before he sustains career ending injury. Note: I hope I am wrong about that but the odds are not in his favor based on history.
Obviously, If he is fully developed and still shooting threes at 30%, that’s a bad look, but Alperen is 21 and still developing. He isn’t Jokic. He isn’t Embiid. He is not 7-2/7-3/7-4… Jokic has size that allows to get away with many, many things. He is basically playing water polo out there. Alperen’s strengths are different. He is smaller, and therefore he is going to need to rely on his quickness and his open floor skill more than Jokic has to. For him to be able to maximize his ball-handling, passing, and strength around the rim, he needs more counters for bigs like JV that will stand underneath the basket and let him shoot, while mucking up the rest of our offense. In a universe where he is able to develop into a guy that can shoot semi-bulk threes at 35-40%, my god. Legitimate MVP candidate. Right now he takes 16 shots a game, 2 of them being threes. I think he could take 20 shots a game, with 5 of them being threes. I’d start him on it now. Hell, I’d have started him on it 3 years ago.
Putting pressure on the opposing centers and getting them into foul trouble might be a significant thing for sengun. attacking the rim really has this additional benefit, and also drawing double triple teams. We don't really see the results of his gravity due to poor shooting. In the end I don't like his mentality of setting a bar for himself, but I also don't think he'll end up shooting 5 of them, he'll probably be better off using some of the 5 elsewhere.
I think he needs to do all of the above. Attack the rim aggressively. Shoot the mid-range. Shoot the open threes. Be an all-around “complete” player. I’d put zero limits on him right now. (That Dream fade yesterday was gorgeous…)
22/14/8 is more preferable than 27/10/6. Alp has to stimulate the others.Better we have other scorers but more assisting/rebounding Alp.
We have so many other good rebounders, especially next year with Adams and Tari back. I'll take 24/10/10.
Sengun should rarely shoot 3s. It is a waste of resources. Attacking to rim, assisting to a good shooter will bring more results/benefits. Same for Jalen. Just tell him to shoot less 3s and do other things more efficiently.
I am OK with your figure but recently an NBA team got 84 rebounds in a game. Rockets might grab around 55 per game (Alp/Bari/Tari/Amen/Adams and recent rebound prodigy Jalen can grab 50 per game easily) . Guess Alp might collect between 12 and 14 if Adams&Co help him in box-outs.
The respect from Shaq is very notable. Dude is about as big of a casual as they get and is the anti AI in terms of how he doesn’t really praise young players. I had thought the Pau Gasol comp was probably the most accurate till this year as I think Sengun has a higher ceiling.
