So guys you only see the actual Results! Some facts for you: A few facts for you: Alperen Şengün turned down a max contract so Houston would have more flexibility to build a better team. He also has zero diva behavior and always puts the team first. He was only the 16th pick and has become the best young player from the rebuild. As we can see, he is a true competitor. His teammates love him, just like the organization does. That shows the strong bond he has with the franchise. In the locker room, he is probably one of the most important pieces of the Rockets. He is a player you can build a team around, but you need the right coach and the right puzzle pieces for it to work. We have seen that it doesn’t work with Kevin Durant because he isn’t willing to buy into that system. Of course, you can trade him away, but what you might get in return could send the Rockets back to the stone age. Therefore, my recommendation would be not to take that risk. Instead, trade Kevin Durant for valuable assets and build a team around Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün — one that truly works with those two. And not to forget, Alperen Şengün has brought many new fans to your franchise, and that will continue in the long term if he stays. If you send him away now, people will accuse Houston of being ungrateful, and all those new fans will turn their backs on the Rockets.
You guys act like there is something criminal about Sengun initiating from up high in the middle of the court - that's similar to where Jokic, Sabonis, and Draymond all initiative offense from because it allows good passes to read doubles and hit their men immediately rather than relying on a connective passer to work the ball around the floor until it finds the open man. Passing out of a double to capture opposing teams in rotation is valuable but finding the exact man the defense is trying to hide is the most valuable pass - Alpi's position at top is directly related to that. The problem is that he isn't much of a threat to shoot the ball from that position so teams aren't going to double him until he tries to make a move going to the basket and I think most of us would agree he works HARD trying to get into a scoring position from there....and that is the fundamental problem with Sengun's skill sets right now. The place where he can be most effective as a passer also happens to be the place he is least effective as a scorer and vice versa. Jokic extended his range, Sabonis eventually extended his range, Draymond didn't but he is also an all defense guy and GS just augmented to have players cut around him so he can act as a second rim diver if someone is curling around his screen. At some point Alpi is going to HAVE to do what everyone has been begging him to do - either be a significantly better defender or have some more offensive shooting range or ideally some combination of both to justify putting the ball in his hands more....and that includes FTs as well because if you are giving a guy high usage, they also need to be able to draw fouls and convert those fouls into points. Sengun is both a bad FT shooter and doesn't generate fouls on volume like most high usage guys. This is the cost of being a high usage guy in the NBA - you need to generate points to justify getting the ball in your hands and if you can't shoot, don't draw fouls at a high rate, don't hit FTs, you often times don't generate the points per possession to make it smart to put the ball in that players' hands. That's not to say Sengun can't be a great player in the NBA, but it's to say he probably can't be a "primary" in the sense you guys are thinking about it where Sengun gets the ball and initiates the offense. You need a team offense to make Sengun's limitations work and that's not the coach we have and also not the type of offense KD generally plays in.
I mentioned something similar months ago: Offensively Sengun / Amen is bad Defensively Sengun Reed is bad Seems the easiest way to fix this (and move into 21st century basketball) is to move Sengun and, @xtruroyaltyx and I had a discussion on the topic and our solution was Kel'el Ware, now everyone is on the trade with Miami Herro & Ware bandwagon. But .... Sengun is still a much better player than Ware and after the past couple games, I'm beginning to think I'd like to see Sengun & Amen with another coach before giving up on the pairing. Ime hasn't had his crutches to run his craptastic offense thru ... It's forced other things. I really don't believe in Amen becoming a good or even league average shooter but a different coach with a more movement based system might be able to make them work. In these 5 games, the trio of Shepard, Thompson and Sengun has an offensive rating of 113.9 and a defensive rating of 97.7 and have shared the court for 113 minutes - that's 22.6 minutes per game. That's a net rating of 16.2 for the trio. The two man lineup of Sengun Shepard has a lower defensive rating (98.9) than the Sengun Amen pairing (102). How shocking is that?! Looking at more of the 2-3-4 man lineups, Shepard is in the just about all the highest net rating lineups. Sengun, Jabari, Amen and Reed is the most played lineup, offensive 113.6, defensive 97. That's a 16.6 net. (During the regular season they were a -1.)
So I'm offering Sengun and Durant straight up for Jokic TODAY! WHEN? Today! As soon as the off season hits Id be signing the deal if Denver would say yes.
Three main components to this: #1 Alpi takes some shots he shouldn't. #2 Amen is a negative when it comes to spacing. #3 The Offense. It Sucks. I blame most of it on the offensive scheme. When you have Sengun & Amen with KD, Reed and Jabari, that's 3 really good shooters. Problem is, the scheme is to take turns going one on one instead of working as a team. Alpi catching the ball at the 3 point line and going to work is just not good offense. Same for KD. It's almost like watching Charles Barkley - backin him down, backin him down ..... still backin him down. Alpi needs to catch the ball either on the low block or in the high post .... KD in the mid range or in catch and shoot situations from 3. They don't have to work so hard to get shots - the turnovers decline with less dribbling .... or put Sengun in the pick and roll with Reed .... with KD and Jabari on 3 point line and Amen cutting to the rim from the opposite side, defenses have to play it honest. Ime just doesn't have the tools for this job .... rah rah play harder. If I was Reed Shepard, I'd be in the lab all summer working on my pick and roll game .... and watching old school film on to make entry passes to the post - that's really a lost art. Bottom line, just get guys the ball in places they can be efficient from with minimal effort.
I really like Sengun, but I still think you trade him in pursuit of a franchise player. I am militantly against trading Sengun for an aging star. As others have said, fit with Amen is a big concern. But to me more of a concern is what you give up defensively at center, which I see as a key position defensively. If you can’t be a spacing center you better be a rim protector. Sengun is neither.
Yeah I dont see Amen ever being a guy who will be able to shoot threes off the dribble at even a 30% clip. I dont think he'll get there as a catch and shoot guy either, but I think thats more likely. That said, Id build the roster as if he wont get there and if he does itd just be an added bonus. And as good as Amen is defensively, he'd be even better with a real anchor at the center position. Defensive anchor helps everyone on the team. Kel 'el has been on my radar for a second now. Id love to facilitate a Giannis to Miami trade and get Ware and Herro.
Alpi has SKILLS, he just lacks athleticism and stamina. I think he needs to be paired with an athletic center. I would love, love Ke'lel Ware next to Sengun. C - Ware PF - Sengun SF - Jabari SG - KD PG - Amen
I do believe in this maxim in general. I also believe in the maxim, If you can't shoot, you'd better be a center. I think the Rockets have an exception to both maxims, but that it will be difficult to be their best with both.
Yeah - Sengun isn't a good defender. It also is hard to play Sengun and Sheppard together against good teams. It puts too much pressure on everyone else defensively.
Is Giannis healthy? Would KD have been playing 36 minutes a night? You get past the Lakers for sure with Giannis -- you probably get past the Wolves.... but I don't think you beat SA unless Wemby gets hurt and the only way you beat OKC is if their plane crashes. Udoka would like it because he could roll out next year -- FVV/Sheppard/KD/Amen/Giannis and Smith as a super 6 man and Adams in some line ups.
The Rockets are probably the ONLY team that has a center who can not shoot; Jokic, Embiid, Wemby, KAT.
