The damage is done. I don't think you trade Sengun at this point. After just signing a 5yr/$185M deal in the first yr, you're going to be dealing from a negative. He's played well offensively in the past and people /GMs love offense and efficiency. My problem with Sengun has always been defensively and he can not rebound outside of his area. He does not offer enough on that side of the ball. I've said it before, this team needs another Wing scorer, preferably a shooter at the SF and a shot blocking, rebounding, rim running center.... WOULD HAVE LOVED DERRICK LIVELY
I hope Alperen gets traded at some point and saves himself, or he might get wasted in this team.. I think Udoka also does not like him.. And many fans already seem eager to put the blame on Alperen by using the bad game he had the other night as an excuse.. But overall, their team is simply trash in the first place.. Udoka has no idea or a plan about the offense.. The players do not have any basketball IQ or court vision probably except Alperen and Van Vleet.. I doubt they even play a single offensive set prepared by Udoka himself.. They do not know how to use Alperen to get the most efficiency from him.. Because they don't have an offensive plan for him.. They just give him the ball outside the paint, sometimes even at top of the key close to 3-point-line.. Then just stand there and watch.. No motion, cutting, or ball movement.. Nothing.. So, Alperen ends up either forcing his way to the basket, or passes the ball to one of the builders to put another brick in the wall when he gets doubled.. Because there is no help or system around him.. Udoka is simply locking up Alperen into the role of a big man who only sets screens, or rolls.. But even that has not been working that well so far.. Because the players in this team are extremely selfish, especially Jalen Green and Cam Whitmore.. They don't have the ability to run any offense or create for others.. They resemble streetball players.. All that narrative about Houston being better without Alperen is probably because of playing small ball without him, and charging to the basket like on a medieval battlefield.. So, I don't really know what do you expect Alperen to do in such a mess.. Probably it is easier to hate him also because he is a foreigner..
I don’t know if this is the right thread to start this discussion but I do have some opinions regarding Sengun being traded. I personally do not think he fits on this team with our current coach, and I also don’t think he fits on this team if Jalen is a better play than him. In other words, if Sengun is Batman and Jalen is robin, I think the skill sets are complementary. But if Jalen is Batman and Sengun is Robin, I think they’re not. I think you’d want a much different player as your Robin to fit next to Jalen. This is all assuming Jalen continues to show that he’s a better player than Sengun, I know it’s only 3 games. But even if Sengun gets it together, I really just don’t think he fits with Ime, and that’s a bigger problem. The whole “maximizing your Batman and robin” thing is a problem down the line for trying to win a championship and we aren’t there yet. But the Ime problem is very real and immediate, and I just don’t see them as compatible.
Ime is completely clueless on offense. Most likely, he's the coach before the coach, by the time the rockets are trying to actually compete (if we get to that point) he won't be the one leading the team. He's not the moron mark jackson was and we obviously don't have anyone like steph but he's just as clueless when it comes to coaching offense. I wouldn't worry about how players fit with ime.
I’d preach a little more patience. It can be frustrating at times but merging Batman and Robin into a compatible duo takes 1-2 years. Tatum and Brown didn’t merge well for half a decade. It feels like pulling teeth right now but trust me if we continue to work on it, the results will be stellar. Just need defenders to start respecting both their shots a bit more. Improve the spacing around them. I think we’ll get there.
The GOAT, Michael Jordan was benched briefly by Phil Jackson upon the insistence of Tex Winter who did not like the way MJ played at that time. Name anyone greater than MJ who was ever benched? Pippen was benched too, several times during his tenure with the Bulls. I am not saying that Alpi is on that stratospheric level as the two mentioned above. I am just providing facts that disprove your assertion about any team benching their franchise player. BTW, Sengun is still very young and raw in the context of the NBA. So are Jalen, Reed, Bari, Amen, etc. We can criticize their play from game to game depending on how they perform, but it is certainly unwise (I am using a mild term here) to prematurely judge them and predict how they will impact the team down the road. The season has barely started and every team and player is still adjusting to the new season. I can't see any team at peak or playoff level of play at this point. Trade Sengun, Jalen, Bari, or anyone on the team already? I thought we were on planet Earth and not on Jupiter or something.
I don't think it's got anything to do with patience, and I'm not saying it can't "work" at all. I'm saying it would work a lot better with a player that has a different skillset and archetype. To oversimplify, since my posts tend to get really long, we've seen the Jokic-Murray thing work. I think a shooting guard like Jalen is the ideal running mate for Sengun. However, if Jalen becomes a top tier SG, I don't think the best fit next to him is a player with Senguns skillset. That's just not who I would want there. That doesn't mean it will be terrible, that doesn't mean it "won't work." But if we realize that Jalen is "that dude", and he needs a running mate, I think you can find something way more compatible than a Sengun type player.
If the Rockets are dumb enough to trade Alpi, I would like him to play for one of the best coaches ever, Spo with the Heat. That is my second favorite NBA team after the Rockets. A pair of Bam and Alpi with really good shooters around them that the team has now would be a great match in the ECF against the Celts.
Maybe you're right, I agree that he is clueless offensively but I'm not sure the front office sees him as a problem, or that they see him as the "coach before the coach". And even if they do, I just think the fit is so awkward between Ime and Sengun that it's really going to hold back both the team and Sengun as a player. I don't think it's harmless.
I've said the exact same thing. It's not about liking or disliking a player. The players coaches, fans, we ALL want to win. And I think its clear, Sengun does not fit with THIS roster. Sengun needs to be on a team that focus on the half court, where he can be surrounded by shooters. And he needs to be next to a legit PF. Jabari is not strong enough. Its better to trade one player who doesn't fit, than to trade several to compensate one player. Now with that being said, since they just paid Sengun, they can't trade him now! They will be trading from a negative position.
We aren't exactly on the same page here, there's a bit of a difference in our opinions. I DO actually think Sengun fits with the roster. I think with the right coach, all of the pieces fit perfectly. But that coach is not Udoka. We need a coach with a different philosophy and different strengths to maximize this roster with Sengun. And I don't know who that coach is, or if he's available. But it's not Udoka. But regardless, if we DO stick with Udoka, and we commit to playing Ime Udoka basketball, that specifically is where Sengun doesn't fit.
I like Ime, and I trust him. I think Ime and Alpi are a much better fit than one would think after a few games. Again, the one who has performed very badly in the first few games is Amen, not Alpi.
We have all of last year to look at, it's not just a few games. And we also have his time in Boston to look at. The man is just not creative offensively. He doesn't seem to care about that side of the ball at all. He's like a reverse Mike D'Antoni. If those rockets lost a game 130-128, MDA would think "we should've hit one more 3". If the current rockets lost a game 75-76, Ime would think "we needed one more stop."
