Are the Rockets better going through....

He is a two way player in that he isnt bad defensively like say Kelly Olynk.

He is good on both ends of the ball he just isnt ELITE on defense. Thats why we look at stats to see what the metrics are telling us.

 

If Turner is so good why isnt he an all star? What you can do is not as important as how well you do it. Sengun is pretty good at being a hub. Turner aint even an all star so even if he can be a stretch 5 he aint worth a 23 yr old all star.

Mathurin is shooting 34% from 3 how is that a dead eye shooter? We have better shooters in JG and DB and both of them play the wing. Hell Eason is also better shooter and he also plays the wing.

 

If opponents are driving at will on the Rockets how did they even get the 2nd defensive rating and a top 5 seed with up to 3 major players being out at times?

What metrics can you show Sengun is bad at defense? I would like proof of this other than you saying thats the case. You saying its a fact doesnt mean its a fact. Look at stats and show them to me how Sengun is failing as a defender. You say defensive ratings dont matter but you dont even have one stat showing me Sengun is a bad defender? lol

The bolded part is saying we didnt get Sengun to be a defender. Its like asking Steph Curry why he isnt guarding SGA and Jokic 1 on 1. It doesnt mean Steph is exempt from defending guys obv he tries on defense and the same is true for Sengun.

Here is Sengun defending players with some actual footage of him being a good help defender.


Even 3 yrs ago before Udoka Sengun was already trying hard on defense

 

Unless you have Joker running the game through the post in 2025 isn’t the move.

 

Again metrics isn’t the end all be all. Did you watch the last 13 games or did you not? Last game Kings exploited the Rockets poor screen and roll defense which they have had issues defending all year. Jazz did the same. Nets did the same. Knicks did the same. Warriors did the same. Heat did the same.

what do you mean we didn’t get Sengun to be a defender? What does that even mean? Now that’s stupid and seems like you are arguing a point for no reason. Again what’s the point for players to improve then if their role is simply set the day we drafted them. What kind of stupid reasoning is this? Stop it bro dont show me no footage because I watch all the games and watch replays of our defense and offense.

 

Sorry but who are you and what are your credentials again?

Its crazy you are arguing with me and your only evidence is "trust me, bro". Dont look at stats, dont look at footage all that matters is you watched the game and so Sengun sucks on defense?

And you're calling my reasoning stupid? Sengun has indeed improved if you look at his defensive stats like def rating and defensive box plus minus if you ever bothered to check. But since you are larping as Sauron and think you are the all seeing eye I dont think theres any merit to this discussion.

You do you CF has more than enough posters crashing out one more wouldnt make a difference.

 

Unlike you i do speak out of my ass. What have you presented me? Youtube videos? What else? Arguing about what? Because i said teams drive on us and our paint defense is weak? Sorry you got in your feelings. I have been cordial with you and you have resorted to petty bullshi+ like you always do. Go watch the games and know what the fuc* you talk about before coming to me arguing like a little bi+ch you are.

 

I have also been cordial with you since we agree on other topics. I just find it ridiculous you think what you saw is more important than stats and actual footage of Sengun defending people.

Stats dont tell the whole picture but they are more objective and reliable than a poster's opinion on what he saw.

 

Teams drive on us and exploit our poor pick and roll defense. Now go be in your feelings. I don’t care. Pointless to go back and forth arguing about nothing. As you recall you used the word stupid repeatedly. Petty bi+ch

 

You are the one crashing out and being all in your feelings not me. I called your reasoning stupid and not you, why you think you saying something and passing it off as fact without any proof will convince total strangers like me to believe you?

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/ball-handler?TypeGrouping=defensive&dir=A&sort=PPP

Rockets actually top 5 in PnR defense so unlike what you saw they have been pretty good on PnR Defense on average. Opponents doing PNR have 39% FG against the Rockets for the season. These are the facts and not what you saw.

 

We run some Princeton plays (via @heypartner ) but I'm assuming they are not going well because we are so bad at shooting that people can just sit in the paint no matter what we do.

I think some people can technically install it while guys like Adelman know how to tweak and teach it at an elite level.

 

If you genuinely believe Sengun's defense was the problem against the Kings, you have no basketball knowledge whatsoever.

 

I'm not adopting anyone's position here but I was cruising around NBA's stats and noticed the following(I did factor out low volume players here):
On Offense(more than 100 posessions) Sengun gets the 3rd most PnR offensive opportunities and is in the bottom 28th percentile of turning those into points(PPP) - not related to this convo but it was an option in the PnR Man play type stat so I pulled the numbers for kicks.
On Defense(more than 20 posessions) he is involved in the PnR the 10th most in the league(teams targeting him) and is in the bottom 20th percentile of opponents scoring on him. Maybe that skewered a bit by guys hitting 3s instead of 2s on Sengun but it speaks to the larger trend away from less mobile bigs for this same reason - there are too many good shooters in the league now.

....the team defense may be on the whole solid at defending the PnR but it would appear that stat is despite Sengun and not because of him. This would also validate the strategy of Houston to get Sengun out of PnR coverages - you see it all the time where Sengun's assignment is often to run to the rim then pick up the low man or the guy in the corners with two offensive players so that his man can be switched when a player pops to the top of the court to be involved in PnR. Basically Udoka is actively trying to keep Sengun out of PnR coverages defensively so guys like Amen, Dillon, Jabari, etc can be involved instead. This also allows Sengun to fill a roll as a low side helper that I think he is a little better equipped to handle.

I'm not saying Sengun isn't a good defender - he has really improved and is even a plus guys at certain areas. The concern with him is less that he can't be a good defender situationally and more how mightily he could struggle if a team decides to exploit that 10+ times a game in a 7 game playoff series - you are only strong as your weakest link. Today by the stats, your offense gets a small bump at turning PnR possessions into points if Alperen Sengun is involved and that's just a fact.

 

Again this goes to my argument we dont pay Sengun for his defense we pay him for his offense. Its like Steph Curry, I am sure when opponents attack Curry in the PNR they get some boost as well. So by this logic is Curry just a bad player in the NBA? Why is GSW paying him the max when he is a bad defender?

Every player has strength and weaknesses if you hyper focus on PNR which the team already defends at a top 5 level and then blame it on Sengun why does that even matter? Suppose we replace Sengun with Clint Capela who is a better PNR defender will that make the Rockets better or worse? I am sure Capela will help PNR defense but then you lose so much on playmaking and scoring it isnt worth it. And Sengun is even good at help defense and has a positive defensive rating.

This whole argument was wrong to begin with because Stephen A assumed the Rox were always getting torched on PNR by everyone when that wasnt the case. Ime had Jabari guarding the paint against PNR and then Sengun is the one hedging and doing help defense. So even if Sengun is bad on PNR it doesnt matter cuz he isnt the one defending PNRs. Of course opponent teams arent dumb they will try to target Sengun as you said but thats not possible every play hence despite their attempts to target Sengun they still only score 39% FG based on the stats. That is pretty good.

 

He is bad on defense - at best below average.

Anyone can see that teams target his drop on PnR and his slowness of foot - it is ok to say the truth.

DD

 

Teams target him but they still only score 39% FG on PNR. Is 39% on a good percentage for opponents? I dont really think so.

 

Sengun used to work harder on offense to get a great shot. He would get the ball in the pocket, back down his man, turn his shoulder and use an array of counters.

Now, it seems like he just gives up on the play when he doesn't have an easy inside finish and just tosses up more deep floaters and set shots.

I would like to see him go back to dribbling into the chest of the defense and finding Amen/Tari if he can't get a good angle for his hook shot. It was never really his touch that was elite, it has always been his footwork that was special. He needs to go back to using that to get easier looks at the rim as opposed to bailing the defense out with set shots and floaters.

 

Mike Brown just got fired this year. Sabonis had been thriving in his dribble hand-off based Princeton-like offense in the last few years. Bringing him in as an offensive coach could do wonders for this team and would really complement Ime.

 

I don't know who is tracking your numbers, or whether they are remotely true.

But during the Sacremento game it was wide open 5 footers all game long......with Sengun backing up into the paint.

In the playoffs teams will target that - and we will fail because of it.

Sengun is not an all time great like Curry he is a very good NBA player, particularly on offense, but with him shooting all 2s, and opponents shooting mostly 3s, we are losing ground unless he shoots 60% - and he isn't close to that.

I am sure the Rockets know this, and might shop him this summer as an all star he brings the most back in trade, but without better 3pt shooting either from others, or Sengun we aren't going anywhere in the modern NBA.

DD