I remember Nate Duncan talking about this and basically said this isn't really a big deal until the postseason. I imagine the Warriors would be able to better exploit this than other teams given their veteran laden nature and lots of playoff experience. But most teams wouldn't be able to really do much in regular season settings where there's nearly no practice and minimal preparation for each game.
Rudy Gobert gets hunted too. Hell, nearly every C in the NBA is hunted. CP3/Harden went C hunting every damn night. It is to be expected unless you have Hakeem back there. What matters is the team defense. Hunt away. We got Alperen on the floor for 32 minutes and GSW scored 90 points. Rockets have the NBA’s 2nd best defense. The problem we are going to have in the playoffs is the gawdamn shooting.
This has always been the argument against the Sengun archetype is....can this type succeed in the playoffs? Even Jokic for all of his many accolades has exactly one Finals trip in 10 seasons. We had our own MVP here for a long time and every year he was Top 2 in the voting and they begrudgingly gave him one so they never had to again. I'm pleased with his progress defensively and specifically his verticality at the rim this year, his closeouts/traps, his lateral movement and hips when defending guards, and his steals are underrated. I feel like Sengun has been a better defensive player this year than Jokic has ever been but the gap between them offensively is still monstrous. Again though, we might be a superstar by committee between Amen/Sengun/Jabari and potentially Reed. There are downfalls lately with the "build around one guy" structure. It's incredibly hard to keep those teams together. The Rockets are poised to keep the Sengun/Jabari/Amen/Tari/Dillon/FVV core intact for a long time. Sprinkler in one of Reed, Jalen, Cam or someone else making a leap and we should be set. I don't mind the thought of us being an enhanced version of the mid 2000s Pistons.
FVV is going to have to level up to his norm to be part of the core going forward. His is shooting 38% from the field and 31% from 3. He probably will, but he also needs to more consistent. Jalen gets pummeled for being inconsistent, but Fred gets a by. We are obviously a better offensive team when we play faster. FVV was bringing up the ball much faster to start the year, but has reverted to a much slower pace. We need all of 21 secs or so to run our half-court offense.
Maybe I should've clarified the FVV part. The Rockets are going to have to re-work his deal and relegate him to a bench role if this team wants to genuinely get anywhere. Anyone that wants to know why FVV is important even on days when he can't hit water on a beach should watch Vecenie's video analyzing our defense yesterday and how quickly FVV recognized the Golden State actions and ordered Bari or Sengun to stay, switch, etc. Until someone else can do that or until the team collectively understands that, FVV needs to remain in the starting lineup. My suspicion is that Amen will be the one to both take over the playmaking duties as well as command the defense. Reed could do this as well. I'm bullish on Reed/Amen/Sengun as they are all highly intelligent. Jabari worried me a little bit to start the year but you can see it coming together now. But ultimately yes, FVV is a floor raiser and a ceiling dropper. You are always going to be limited if he's having to play meaningful minutes or as a crutch. I notice that Jalen naturally defers to him when he's on the court. I'm pretty out on Jalen being much more than a spark guy from quarter to quarter (it's honestly not even entire games. His good games often times are him going nuclear for a quarter) but a small part me believes that FVV is actually holding him back. I feel like him and Amen are a better duo. Sengun is the 1A until further notice but this version of him is about best player on a second round team. He has regressed as an offensive player and progressed as a rebounder/defensive player. I wish he had just gotten better at both. He would be a bonafide superstar if he had. Right now he's a cheeky All-Star. Also his 3s are driving me nuts.
If we want Sengun to be perfect or jump from all star level to mvp level, the defense discussion is reasonable. There is really little room to improve on defense for this team though. Already 2nd overall in the league. The bigger improvements for the team can come from offense, particularly from Green and FVV. We hold GS to 90 points and shoot 22% from 3 and discuss possible improvements on defense. And it is not only shooting 3's neither green or FVV can't attack the rim efficiently. FVV because he is too short, green because he has one gear and has no decision making. We basically need Green to improve, FVV is not in the timeline anyway. I am not sure whether he can, but that is the next step this team has to take. And Jokic had just one accolade not because he is a bad defender, because he played for Denver with a very weak supporting cast. He has overachieved for sure.
Hell this was MY fear too when the Rockets drafted him on his ceiling. I thought his offense needs to be at a very high level for his defensive limitations to be worth the trouble. Of course, he's already proven that his offense has reached the level where he's worth it. And the Rockets are definitely better equipped to handle his defensive limitations than most teams. But the playoff question will remain a question until we actually play in a series or two for sure.
Boozer hunting yao. Stockton hunting Barkley. Schrempf hunting Hakeem getting him to the three pt line . I always say this when the topic pops up over the decades. It's basketball 101. You beat it by not jacking up 20 straight bricks and returning the favor. Last season, they would take Sengun out, Harden hunted Jabari.. game over. Portland, same thing. Warriors trying to get in to the play in, hunted Amen and Jabari. Along came a chubby Michael Buble fan who flew too close to the sun. He thought, "If I have a defensive midget at center. We won't get hunted." I still remember the cover story after game 1 vs the lakers. "Rockets to revolutionize basketball." That didn't go well. Take your favorite defensive big and look at his pnr defense. Chances are he's been and will be flambe'd I don't mind the offense/ defense substitutions with 2 minutes in the game. It's smart. NBA will probably try to change that. No subbing during dead balls in the last 4 minutes.
There is no defensive player who can effectively guard every speed, every size, every strength. It's just physically impossible. Even Hakeem wouldn't be able to do it. There's no way a big guy can be fast enough to defend a speedy guard. If he could, he wouldn't be strong enough to defend the big dudes down low. NBA offenses always seek mismatches. It's up to the defenses to adjust team-wise, not just individual players.
I think that is fair. Alperen Sengun is a foundational piece, but he isn't a true first option on a championship team right now. There IS A PATH for him to be a superstar, but that path is one where he realizes his potential as a dynamic playmaker, with a .600+ TS%... I would never count him out. One thing to watch is his FT%: .693 to .772 through 25 games... When the FG% gets back to 54-55%, things get scary. The three might not be far behind the FT%, too. I think the same can be said for JG in terms of the FT% jump. It's possible we see some major jumps in the 2nd half of this season. AWESOME DAYS TO BE A HOUSTON FAN! Keep your trade machine to yourself!
I think you're missing the point of the original Sam Veciene take and the subsequent discussion. It's not so much whether Sengun is capable of defending quick guards, but rather that he's playing up in the current Rockets system that leaves him vulnerable to such things. I remember this was something people mentioned about Jokic a few years back in terms of defensive schemes, and of course he had a lot of detractors on whether he can win a title before he end up winning one. The question isn't about Sengun's natural ability as a defender, so much as whether the Rockets can take this same approach in the playoffs against top teams and still hold up as a top defense.
I think our defense is good enough in the playoffs with Sengun. We have enough good defenders who can cover each other and Ime has instilled the willingness in the players to buy in. I trust Ime on defense. The issue of this team is still the offense. Jokic could win a title because even though he was not the ideal defensive anchor, his offense is so good that they could still beat the opponent. But he can't do it by himself. Denver's offense has been weakened by Murray's injuries and the loss of Bruce Brown. (And they are still a top 5 offense. That just shows you how good Jokic is on that end.) We are the opposite. Our defense is good enough to beat anybody on any night. But our offense is so anemic we can also lose to anybody even when we play insane defense. Sengun is still not close to Jokic's level.
