We need to start Alpi and run a lot of the offense through him. We will know by end of year if he can start and make it work. I thigh though, the effort for much of tge O to go through him must be deliberate.
Ok with start, not ok with running the offense through him, both KPJ and Green are better at that, they also need the ball, Alpi needs to find his way to fit with those guys without needing the ball. And on D, while he can block a shot every now and again, he is out of position and reaching which has led to far more fouls than successful blocks, probably a bad habit he picked up playing against lessor talents in Turkey. Needs to be better positionally and stop the drives by being in FRONT of the man, not on the side..reaching.....I know casuals won't understand this but serious fans will. DD
The lob threat is a nice to have but not a requirement. If we want to run a vertical game, we have guys who can do it. Green, KJ, and certainly Jabari can be the recipient of lobs. Al P can even dish some out, if offense is running through him. Abdul is on the bench. Silas is supposed to have this large playbook. We don't have to suggest and solve everything for them. There's talent, coaches get the big bucks to figure it out. Problem solving, just because some fans don't see the answer, doesn't mean they're not there.
By the way, Alpi's skin seems to have gotten 100 x better already (looking at some of these older highlight videos).
Bruno fouls much more than Sengun. Just check his numbers, or remember that he had 3 fouls in 9 minutes last game. How do you think he will stay on court? And sengun's numbers do not suggest he will get into foul trouble often. He will every now and then, but to suggest that he should not start because of that, is crazy. He commits unnecessary fouls but the rate of that happening has decreased over the course of the season. Playing against starters will only help him develop, and he is more likely to commit less fouls with the starters. That's not an argument for playing him with the second unit. He needs to develop, he is developing. To suggest before the regular season starts that he should not even get a chance to see how he does with the starters does not make any sense. To suggest that in a rebuilding team where winning is not a priority and do this in favor of a player like Bruno is doubles it.
OK he didn't quite complete the self-lob alley-oop but it went in anyway. KPJ should show how good of a passer he is by getting the timing right to get Alpi an alley-oop dunk!
I think that is a given. The point of discussion is not to isolate totally, and by that I do not mean to post him up regularly. Running plays at times where he can take midrangers, pass to the cutters, pick and pops, anything that we want him to be better at and anything that explores how he can be used together with Green, Bari and KPJ. My impression from preseason is that he is already better at those. Let's wait and see how it goes.
20. He's 20. Actually just turned 20 less than 3 months ago. He's over a year younger than Tari Eason, almost a year younger than Josh Christopher and TyTy Washington. He came here not speaking the language at all. He is still the second youngest player on the team, behind Jabari Smith. All this talk by the haters about "no rim protection", "no defense", "not playing above the rim", "is too short", "we should start Bruno instead" - honestly, whoever talks like this is just a hater. This kid oozes talent. And swag. If KPJ keeps his head on straight, we might have our starting five for years to come, and personally, I think their strengths are very complementary.
Totally agree. I don't get the mentality that focuses on assumed limitations. He started, what, 20 games? And played really well during them, by the way. For a player who has seen so little floor time that has consistently shown flashes when on the court and that we traded two FRPs for, it is crazy to me that the coaching staff is even considering starting Bruno freaking Fernandez over him.
Up and down, he had 5 fouls in 17 minutes against Miami .....and others he was more contained. I am not sold on him as a starter, but I don't mind if he starts, but he has to get better on defense, and do things WITHOUT the ball on offense. He is not good enough to stay in the post and get the ball every time down the floor that doesn't fit our better players......but we can do some of that with 2nd string players - so he can get more touches playing with them....and be more of a facilitator. KPJ, Green and Gordon are going to facilitate most often from the guard position, we are an outside in offense. As for Bruno - it is simply a matter of fit - he fits better...and doesn't need the ball.....Ironically the BEST fit at the center position is WCS in the GLeague I think he is the fall back of Sengun and Bruno struggle.... Sengun is a good player, a quality one, just needs to find his fit, no NBA team will build around him on the post like they did in Turkey - he is not that guy here. DD
No team in Turkey built around Sengun. He was frickin' 17! Either you're deceived by his play (even though you wouldn't admit it) or you know nothing about Turkish basketball. Either way - shush.
They didn’t do that in Turkey either - look at the last quarter of the last game, when he wasn’t even on the floor. I was in Izmir last week and spoke with a few hard-core basketball fans. Of course I asked about Sengun and all said they like him but he was a nice secondary player. Maybe I found the only “haters” in his home country, or maybe they see the same thing … he is a very solid player who plays well his role as a secondary playmaker - or primary if in a second unit - but just doesn’t have the size, athleticism or shooting to anchor an offense or defend top NBA centers.
This is where the discussion gets meaningless. I tell you, he improved over the season, and Bruno fouls much more, which are statistical facts. Your answer is he fouled 5 times in a preseason game. Sengun is actually very good without the ball. He constantly sets good screens, he is always aware of how the offense develops, moving and pointing others to move to the open areas. I already said he doesn't need the ball in the post, though it should not be totally abandoned since it is a strength and it opens up the game in different ways . If your best case scenario for such a smart and versatile player is posting up all day long, I can't do anything about it. It is totally possible that having Alpi as a potential extra facilitator, not to mean that he should be the first choice, with the starting lineup will carry this team to a new level.
I gotta say, I’m envious of some of y’all’s ability to make radical decisions about young players in such a short time. Because if there’s one thing we all know, it’s that CF posters have never judged a player too hastily.
Look, there is no need to WHITE KNIGHT guys that are getting paid millions of dollars to play a game. They are public figures, they put themselves in the league, and fans have every right to talk about anything game related. I don't think we should talk about personal stuff, but that is a personal preference....and standard. Anything on the court or that effects the court and play is fair game. DD
And if we are going to fixate on stats of 1 game, he had 5 assists against indiana. I remember many posts by you claiming KPJ is a good playmaker because he makes 6 assists per game. Sengun did it with at most 1/3 of the usage. That does not mean he will do that all the time, but that shows the potential he has with the first unit. He also scored 2/2, another hint that he is working on his weaknesses. It is actually obvious that he is working on his shot, just from the way he shoots the ball, with more confidence.
