Ime Udoka postgame, says Alperen Sengun is in "tremendous shape"

I think lot of younger players can get more athletic their first 3-5 years. Kobe was an example. His 23-25 form with Shaq was more explosive than his teenage dunk contest winning form.

Its we see them in high school & college looking so much better than their peers, that we think thats their springy athletic peak. But in the NBA, their athleticism doesnt stick out too much, even with improvement. So it looks like its flatlined. But even guys like Giannis can get more Greek Freakier athletic. (Meaning Cam & Amen can still potentionally get MORE athletic)

But maybe its seeing Sengun's build as "forever doughey". One of those types thats meaty weight gain potential. I didnt see it like that.

 

Lmao.

 

All about bang bros.

 

To be fair, Alp returned the ball a bit too high. And it got higher and higher. Jalen did alright, considering he’s probably not played soccer much before, if at all.

 

Super fun though, reminded me of that Nash header to Amar'e for that dunk.

 

lol

 

You were pretty close!

 

Haha nice, thanks! This one is after his rookie season though. Will have to look up the earlier post.

 

I find it pretty rare although you have some good examples there.

Turkish genetics are really well suited to putting on muscle so I'm not worried about that.

 

I thought his upper body looked much stronger. He looks like he worked his ass off in the gym this offseason. Can't wait to see how it translates as we get into the regular season and he plays his real minutes.

Also hoping he takes the next step forward with his jumper. If players can't back off on him, he gets that much tougher to guard.

Hoping for a 25, 10 and 6 season from him.

 

25

25/10/6 on reasonable efficiency & D would be borderline 1st team All-NBA and top 5 MVP.

I hope that's Alpi. I hope he's him. But there's a significant portion of this board that thinks he's 2-3 tiers below that type of player as his ceiling. For the Rockets sake, I hope @Clut....those posters are wrong.

 

I've had Alpi on my fantasy team the last 2 seasons and it's been great but now he's getting drafted mid 20s and it really will take a line like that to still justify it. I hope he can get there but this team just has so many mouths to feed right now.

 

Those numbers aren’t far off from last seasons numbers.

 

Yep, it would! That's why I'm hoping for it. We need one of our players to get to that level, and if somebody's going to do it this season, I think Sengun is the most likely candidate.

Doesn't necessarily mean I'm expecting it to happen. I'm still a fence-sitter when it comes to the "is Sengun a future superstar"--neither a pessimist nor highly confident he'll get there.

 

I thought all of…..
Sengun
Amen
Smith
Green

looked like they had made positive strides with their body.

 

Counting stats aren't that important - and I wouldn't be surprised if Sengun's counting stats don't take much of a jump this year even if he improves, since we'll be less reliant on him personnel wise and usage wise. Sengun staying at 21/9/5, but improving his on/offs and impact stats via improved defensive versatility, quicker decisions, and upping his 3pt shooting viability would be a fantastic result. His counting stats aren't the challenge for him, it's proving the teambuilding and scheme limitations wrong.

I mean, Julius Randle basically averaged 25/10/6 on solid efficiency and defense the last 2 years and I don't think most see him as a top 40 player in the league.

Sengun producing the same numbers but proving value on defense/playmaking/spacing viability >>> Sengun producing "more".

 

Alpi does look stronger, his physique more "defined," and I wouldn't be surprised if he's a little bit taller, as well.
Uh, why haven't we given him that extension again? If there's a good reason, I may have missed it.

 

I'm not really concerned as much about him continuing to progress on defense, team play, etc--I think that's almost a given for any of our players who has the right mindset (Sengun clearly does) under Udoka. I'm already sold he's going to be playable defensively and he's going to play with effort and within the team concept and that all of those things will continue to progress.

The question I still have with him is whether he can be individually dominant enough to be the best player on a championship team.

Regarding the Randle comparison--worth mentioning that Randle has managed those counting stats while being relatively inefficient, especially for a frontcourt player. Sengun is already significantly more efficient. I mean, yes, if he pulled up his counting stats by tanking his efficiency, that would not be good, but again--I don't see him as a player who is going to struggle to play "the right way".

 

That's such a confusing mindset they have.

I wonder which other 21year old is averaging 21/9/5 as starting C on a top 10 defense without another rim protector. In fact the best C's in NBA history have all been at or around those numbers at 21.

I don't think he hits the 25ppg mark but no one would blink if he went 23/10/6/1.2 on a championship calibre defense. That's a marginal improvement for him. If that's marginal, then he is already an elite prospect.

This board has been underrating its foreign C's for over 30 years. It's so tiresome. The rest of the league is fawning over Sengun in most stories and articles.

It's ok if you were a cynic to start, but it's no longer reasonable to be so close-fisted about him. Just turn a new page and admit you were off.