It's usually by year 3 you know what a player will turn out to be, while the true great dominant ones showcase it rookie year and others may take 4 or 5 yrs to put it together and become possible fringe all star worthy Sengun will show what he is made of in his starting role and see if his limited time last year was legit or was he just feasting on the backups, the next two seasons will say alot more than any preseason or summer league euro play, if he is that guy it will show on the NBA hardwood, until then all of our opinions are basically null n void
I witnessed how Sengun improved on Turkish league. I also saw some signals in the eurobasket regarding the shooting. He would be fine.
W…T….F… Are you talking about??You say this after our first loss and first bad game he’s had in a preseason game.Please stop being a rockets fan sheesh.The kid is like 20.He’s a baby.Highly skilled and has a great ability to put pressure on defenses.SMH he’s extremely useful and the future of this team imo.Smh
I get it, he's an easy player to want to like, his personality is infectious and he makes some miraculous plays on the offensive end .... I want him to succeed too. If 'we're being honest, it isn't just that one game. But what that one game did was highlight all his shortcomings showing just what we saw for 72 games last year .... against a team that didn't play any of its starters. That was a G-League team Miami ran out there and spanked the Rockets with. Bottom line, he doesn't protect the rim or deter opponents from driving, and he doesn't have the lateral quickness to stay in front of the average NBA player. I do expect he improves as a player but .... I don't expect him to improve as an athlete: He is what he is and that's a 6'9" guy who isn't at all explosive or particularly quick of foot. Those shortcomings will stick with him.... and they will limit him on the defensive end. That's just the cold hard truth. Because of that, he has to be ultra efficient on the offensive end to be a part of this team's future and I think it also requires the right defensive big next to him to hide some of his flaws (Tari & Bari might both fit that description). Luckily, we've got a couple more years to see if he can be that ultra efficient offensive hub.
I never projected the future. I was simply saying what he is now, which is simply not good defensively. He is limited laterally and vertically plus short wing span. That’s where we are at this moment in time.
That’s the issue. Limitations. We all love him and wish him well but he is physically limited. You don’t just increase your vertical by several inches or grow longer arms. Minor things can be adjusted and improved like footwork, strength, and getting in right position etc. so here we are again. An intriguing and entertaining player offensively but limited defensively which doesn’t bode well for his position.
I know, I’m trying to explain this to Cmoak in the other Sengun thread, but he doesn’t get it. He can’t fix some of these issues
But that’s the issue. As good as Smith or other Rockets may be on D Sengun is still the 5. And when teams run a high screen and roll or when they attack the paint he is the guy that’s supposed to make these stops on drop coverage or interior paint defense. Unless he guards 4’s which isn’t a good matchup for him considering the athleticism of 4s in this league. This is the Sengun problem or conundrum.
Sengun is not a flawless player. I truly believe if used correctly in a Ginobili type role he would be most effective. Let Green, Smith & even Porter get theirs then let Sengun put the game out of reach by piloting the second unit. Use his skills to give us a different perspective that most other teams can’t match up with. Then work our starters back in with their shooting. End the game with whom ever has the best matchup or is playing well.
One game being that he hasnt had a game THAT bad. All players have flaws, but generally good players dont have many or any games where all of their flaws culminate into a disastourous performance like that. Its like using James Harden's worst games to say he cant be a starter on a championship team. We know all of his shortconings and they appeared often enough, but there werent many games (even in the plsyoffs) where all the flaws reared their ugly head. Same with Sengun or any other player. Guys can still be successful with their flaws. Last season Sengun showed promise and had a lot of success even with his flaws. This wasnt his first game going against NBA quality players. He did it throughout the summer having good showings against Jokic and Gobert...he played well in game one against Poetl and he had several good games last season against starting NBA bigs. But again, he may end up being a bench player at best but using the worst game of his career (a pre season game as a 20 year old) to sum up his game/limitations is a little far fetched imo.
Sengun has a Luis Scola body and defensive ceiling. However, Scola never had to log heavy minutes at the 5 spot.
