Growth is logarithmic, not linear. The kid who is 6'4" at 13yrs old isn't going to be 8ft when they are in high school - they just got closer to their peak sooner. In basketball terms that means you just cut down on mistakes - play more efficiently. Your counting stats dont necessarily change drastically. Lebron was 27/7/7 in his 2nd year and wouldn't you know it - that's also his career average 20 years later. So, Sengun stan @AlperenSengun , take the advice I gave above and go ask yourself why Sabonis hasn't seen success in the league, why people don't consider him a top x player...and most importantly ask yourself why you come at me like I insulted Sengun for comparing him to a current MVP candidate of similar size and position playing in a similar style(forward hub creator/playmaker) with a 20/14/8 stat line on good efficiency? ....and don't respond with dumb statements like 'Sengun already possesses skills that set him apart from a current MVP candidate' because that's just ****ing laughable
well to be fair, they have never played a playoffs with a decent team where he wasn't injured. Even while injured, he's had monster impact in a lot of these series, where philly is way up when he plays and way down when he sits. I think sengun will get there, but he's not there yet. Rockets were basically the same on offense when he sat and considerably better on defense (which is pretty wild for a center). Embiid sure made maxey a lot better, he was pretty mediocre when embiid was out
sabonis is not an mvp candidate, he's not a top 20 player. I would say he's a negative asset on his current contract as well
He was 8th in MVP voting this year(between Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant) and 7th last year. This is widely shared information. Kind of surprised you would respond with such certainty over something you are so obviously wrong about.
oh i consider "mvp candidate" to mean "has a chance to win mvp". This year that would be luka, shai, jokic. It is pretty crazy that he finished so high though, pretty funny. Really shows you people just focus on counting stats even in 2024
A whole post of pulling untrue facts out of your ass. Sabonis is the 15th most doubled player in the NBA according to statmuse. You hear that @AlperenSengun ? Ironically Jalen Green is the 19th most doubled player in the league and this list ends at the 25 most doubled players this year and I don't see Alpi on this list meaning Sengun isn't even the most doubled player on his team.
....generally it means "your on the list the NBA shares" - not "your on what some sports bros at Barstool think the list should be". Sabonis is a pretty good player - I think most people are underestimating just how good he is...You really should familiarize yourself with his game before you say Sengun is nothing like him. He doesn't have as many flashy passes later in his career but he similarly had some risky no look passes earlier in his career in the same way as Alpi. I mean the Sabonis was the best player on a Kings squad that was the 2nd seed in the West last year until the last week of the season and fell to the 3rd seed. What's even wilder is they won two fewer games this year than last year and fell to a 9th seeded team this year. It goes to show you how big losing those 50/50 games can be when you don't have a clutch player - those shots that fell late in games for them last year didn't this year and they were a play in team as a result. Its also why Dallas can be a trainwreck on a lot of nights but as long as they have Kyrie and Luka they will more often than not pull out anything remotely close in the final minutes.
i've never said sengun is nothing like him, that's other people. I'm just not a fan of no defense big guys, never have been, never will be. If i was starting a team and could have sabonis on the max, i would pass. I think it's borderline impossible to build a competitive team around him if he's your best or 2nd best player
Speaking of pulling stats out of one's ass. You must be referring to this list: https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=most+double+team+player+per+possession+2023-2024 Which is wrong btw as it's only sorting players by total possessions (Statsmuse sources are questionable IMO) Makes sense that Sengun wouldn't be on there as he missed a large chunk of the season. Anyone that watches the games can see that Sengun was getting double, triple teamed consistently once teams figured us out. Another instance of trying to look at stats instead of watching the games.
Let me ask you a question, forget about Sabonis. Do you genuinely believe that Jalen was double teamed more than Alpi this season? lol
A completely flawed stat, and no mention of how they define "double team." Probably every hand-off action Sabonis initiated was defined as "double-team." I literally haven't seen any team double-team Sabonis in any games ever.
I agree I came out the gate hot Your post was beautiful and a much smarter way to explain what I’m trying to say
That sounds like a very ‘Stan’ thing to do. Looking at a stat, not understanding it and just post it because it aligns with what you think. @glimmertwins wont do that. Come on. It is only dumb stans like myself who would do that.
For context he got 1 vote. A random person could have voted for any random player and certainly there many other players who deserve that vote more. No sane person would vote for sabonis as a top 5 mvp candidate.
I did not ‘come at’ you. Just pointed the gaps in your argument. Looks like you can’t handle a Stan answering you. If anything it sounds like you get upset to be challenged by a Stan and resort to words like Stan and dumb. Nobody thinks growth linear. Oh I forgot, I am dumb Stan. Any 21 year old has a lot of room to grow. And the 21 year old Sengun is way more promising than the 21 year old sabonis. Infact 21 year old Sengun compares well to the current ‘mvp candidate’ sabonis. If you think Sengun will not surpass sabonis, that’s an opinion, but any developmental metric based on stats or eye test would suggest otherwise. And I never mentioned any counting stats. Actually you can easily find my many posts pointing out the fallacy with counting stats. But who am I to talk about stats? Still waiting on the double team stats on Sabonis I already addressed your question about sabonis not being a top player . He is a limited player. Just like there are major differences between jokic and Sengun, there are major differences between Sengun and sabonis. I pointed those to you too. It is just a discussion and every now and then you can go out of elite group of basketball fans and discuss with stans like me.
…that’s called shifting the goal posts. I never said Sabonis is a top 5 MVP candidate…but he was the best player on a team that nearly got the 2nd seed last year and he happens to operate in a role similar to 3 time MVP Jokic so naturally he got some MVP votes. Sabonis is a pretty good player. I find it shocking that there are so many Sengun fans who are certain Sengun is way better yet don’t have a clue how good Sabonis really is.
