no doubt! Sengun is easily our 6th or 7th best player right now. It could change soon though. How much y’all wanna bet Sengun won’t finish the game tomorrow? It’ll be KPJ, Jalen, EG, Tate, and Jabari
I am also a minor Sengun fan but I do not care as much about arguments so do not lump us together in a group.
**** off with the race card bullshit. What a load of absolute crap. I'm a Sengun fan you asshat, I bought his jersey last year. I just don't think he's the second coming, or in the top 5 players on the roster as things currently stand.
My take has nothing to do with race good sir. I don't care what color you are, if you have game you belong in the league. Sengun has game. What is happening now is the same thing that happened to Jalen last year. People's expectations now that we've seen his potential and his elevated role on the team are higher and with that comes more scrutiny. Doesn't mean we don't like him or don't value him, I for one just want\expect more out of the starting center. Doesn't mean he wont get there, just like Jalen has shown improvement on both sides of the ball, I believe Alpi can as well. And Tate is ahead of him (currently) when it comes to who gets the ball, pecking order, scoring priority (whatever you'd like to call it). If you've watched games you know that. Heck Tate was a starter last year and heavily involved in the offense. Haven't many complained about Alpi's lack of involvement? This may change and hopefully it will because I don't want Tate as a starter and would like to see his role minimized in favor of folks like Jabari, Alpi, and Tari
This is all fair. The only thing is - for a player whose strength it is to be creative with the ball to show improvement, he needs to get the ball (only exception on our team is probably Tari, whose game is almost designed for him to be good by just being there for all the broken plays, etc.). It's slightly different for a PG, who has the ball by default. I am hopeful though that the coaching team understands this and will ensure it. To me, Alpi's improvement is tied to KPJ's improvement, and I don't think it is a zero-sum game. KPJ needs to remember that it's best for the team to get more people involved than just him and Jalen. And when he makes it a point to do that, get Alpi and Jabari the ball early in the game to get them going - this will be a sign of his own improvement as a PG, and it will be to the benefit of the team.
Definitely agree. Especially with this last part. Call me old school but I'd really like to see anyone playing the point focus on getting his teammates going early and scoring later in game if needed. KPJ is a talented scorer, so would rather he be a playmaker first and look for scoring opportunities second. I've seen some of this in the few pre-season games, but need that consistently.
I wouldn't say its racism, but more of a bias for American centers than European. Like if posters were to draft folks, they would pick with what they know and are used to. If they were to draft big man's, it would b Savvy big european man < athletic big NCCA players. 9/10 times. More game sample size, and more dedicated scouting reports
I don’t get what you mean. I am annoyed and against being lumped as a group. That is why I called it. And don’t recall ever mentioning you in that context.
That I agree. But it still does not explain the weird aggressive, attacking tone of those posters, and why they obsessively try to bash the player’s supporters.
It's cause when we defend Sengun, folks take it as us acting like only fans. You do have to admit, there are sengun fanatics. Even though my signature hypes up Sengun, I am open to solutions for Sengun to do well. Meanwhile you have Hakeem94 ranting like a lunatic about how the Rockets slighted Sengun on every decision. The posting of few makes others group all of us as rabid Sengun only fans. That Sengun is the best player thread, also rubs folks the wrong way also
When Sengun is playing well, I'll be looking forward to people saying topics like this never existed and "no one was ever hating on Sengun, just offering constructive criticism," like they did for KPJ, Jalen, Jabari, literally any promising young player on our team.
Sorry mate but you get kiss all & post BS. If SOF's were rooting for a trade, it wouldn't be to a team where Alpi would ride the pine. I'm about 80%SF and I don't want to watch Alpi games where he just sits on the bench or cheers. Remember Memo Okur, The Money Man. Before becoming a star in Utah, he got a ring with the Detroit Pistons... Who remembers that ring? Noone. This is the most advantageous place for Alpi because after all, it's the worst team in the NBA now. He will get his half hour of PT. What will they do - cut him?
I know that as well. But I feel like the fanaticism in the anti Sengun crowd even more fanatic than these guys. It is both directed to both the player and the posters. And those posters include me. Why do i need to face this aggression in a forum that i come for fun? Because I picked the name AlperenSengun and there are some other fanatic posters who support sengun? By the way the prejudice in the athletic&savvy players goes both ways. Most europeans underestimate the value of athleticism and how much it can elevate a player. Because it is less valuable in the euro game, and growing up you see much less of these athletic freaks and what they can achieve.
I think both extremes would be wise to not make a knee jerk reaction one way or the other. If he has a good game, it does not mean he's the next coming of Jokic, if he has a bad game it does not mean that he's unplayable trash. Sengun will have matchups and nights where he'll make those in both extremes feel justified, he's super young and a fairly unique player so hopefully there will be more nights where his superfans are happy than those where his detractors are happy as he heads towards the beginning of his prime in a few years.
So in some of the recent Rockets podcasts and one of the recent articles (Feigan?), there's suggestions if pairing Sengun more as a playmaker with the bench unit. One of the reasons being KPJ showing some consistent offense in preseason. My response to this: 1. If Sengun is the starting center this year, then give him the chance to gel with Green, Smith and other starters. This was one of the main points of moving Wood. 2. People may have opinion on how good KPJ to set up other guys, if KPJ, Green, and Jabari are as good at offball (spot up and cuts), run it through Al P to see how much we can push this system. 3. ISO diet. We know Green is good at it. KPJ can do some, but that can't be the entire offense. Especially with Jabari here, we should incorporate more pick n roll/pop. Just because KPJ is not great at it, doesn't mean we can't try it with Al P. The preaching of 'connectesness', we can't just ISO our entire offense. The point of maturing an offense is to be better at the half court sets. An NBA offense, not your turn/my turn YMCA rec ball. ISO is always there if a play is broken and you want to fall back on. When I hear the term, 'i'm not worry about the offense, ... focus on defense'. I agree our defense needs work. But we were 26th offense, so we should worry about our offense. Our iso is not good enough to be at Dame/Trae's level where we run iso/gravity ball majority of the time. Last year's iso heavy ball was out of necessity. Team is supposed to be maturing. 3. The Sengun playmake with the 2nd unit suggestion. I ask why? We already did that last year. Sengun and DJ Augustine took turns on it. Sengun should be playing with the starters more (not less). If it doesn't work than you pull the plug, but you have to try first. They gave kpj and entire year for the PG experiment, people want Sengun to play less with starters after four pre-season games. If people want to see if KPJ can work with Bruno, Silas can overlap KPJ to the 2nd unit not the other way around for Sengun. If Silas want 2nd unit's offense to not fall off the cliff, let Green get more touches with first unit and let KPJ run some with 2nd unit. If just to see how good Bruno is a roll man, Gordon can practice with Bruno in the 2ns unit. There's several options. If KPJ is a lukewarm PG , and Alp is good at court vision and passing, the answer is not play Al P more with the bench, run more plays through Sengun. Jabari needs to eat. Tari/Tate can cut, let Al P set those guys up. Everybody eats. The coaches should commit to their goals, some of things I'm hearing in the Rockets-sphere make me thankful they are not coaches. p.s. Even if Wemby comes know what you have first with Sengun in the starting lineup, so there's a comparison baseline.
Sengun has matchup issues, when he plays an athletic big that is his size or larger he really struggles on offense and fouls a lot. If he starts, there are many games he will be on the bench with foul trouble. If he comes off the bench and plays with our better CUTTERS in Eason, KMJ, Jabari, and Green - with the 2nd unit he will thrive..... He is not a lob threat, and even though he has great hands for a pocket pass he can't finish over taller bigs....or struggles at it. If he would get a Pick and POP game going where he hits a midrange he could do that when faced with larger bigs....to be more effective - he still needs work on offense other than Post ups. On defense he needs a TON of work he is slow to recognize things and is many times out of position as a result and reaches to compensate getting cheap fouls.....he has to put as much energy in getting better on D as he does on O. DD
