Alperen Şengün: From Underrated Draft Pick to All-Star Game Contender

Alperen Şengün’s outstanding performance has put him in a position to be selected to the All-Star Game this season, but how did he go from being an underrated draft pick to winning the admiration of his peers and gradually becoming an important role for the team?

At the beginning of the season, I wrote an article about the key role of the Rockets in this season. At that time, I thought it was Jalen Green. After all, with his physical fitness and scoring ability as the core of the team’s reconstruction, or as the team’s ticket-selling sign, it should be It couldn’t be more suitable.

So even though I think the Rockets should build the team around Green and Alperen Şengün this season, both of whom belong to a dual-core co-governance model, Green’s performance should be better. Because when the tactics initiated by Şengün fail to run, Green will serve as the breakthrough point.

However, after the current battle, the scale of reconstruction is not tilted towards Green, but the rhythm is weird, and the style of play is biased towards the penalty area. Şengün is not brilliant but can steadily deliver efficiency.

Perhaps when the Rockets traded two first-round draft picks to the Thunder for Şengün, the 16th overall pick, they never thought that their investment could bring such a high return on investment.

Question, achieve extraordinary results

“He is the MVP of the Turkish League, which is one of the best basketball leagues in the world.”
“There are really not many people who can achieve such an achievement at this age.”
“He’s a very skilled basketball player.”
“And the interesting thing is, he doesn’t just do one thing well, he can do many things.”
“So, I think his ceiling is higher than a lot of people.”

In 2021, the 19-year-old Şengün participated in the NBA draft of that year. With the halo of the Turkish League MVP, he should be a popular candidate in the lottery. However, his too slow movement speed does not conform to the current trend of NBA emphasizing switching defenses, and his good low-post singles have long left the ranks of the league’s mainstream offensive skills. These are the reasons why Şengün has been questioned, but Rockets general manager Rafael Stone has criticized him. He is deeply confident that with his skill set, he can definitely increase the Rockets’ upper limit and become the next Nikola Jokic. This is also before the draft. He does not hesitate to propose a trade to the Thunder, but also wants to get Şengün and firmly hold it in his hands. The reason above.

“I thought I was going to be a top-10 pick, but that didn’t happen.”
“But this gives me motivation to prove my ability to other teams.”
“I feel like if I went to Oklahoma, my English would be slower.”

Then talking about being traded in the draft, Şengün joked that there are many Turks in Houston. These compatriots can help him improve English faster without having to rely on self-study. They even gave him the opportunity to play against everyone in the past three years. The motivation of a team is to prove their mistakes in the draft.

However, in his first year in Houston, Şengün was not the core of the team, or more accurately, in the first two years of his career, he was always positioned as a deputy.

At that time, the Rockets were in the process of rebuilding. After star James Harden was traded, head coach Stephen Silas wanted to copy the successful model of the past in an attempt to turn Kevin Porter Jr. into the next Harden, so he constantly gave him the ball and let KPJ dominate. attack. However, KPJ’s narrow passing vision and unstable finishing ability make it difficult for him to become the backbone of the team. Most of the time, you can see KPJ cutting in suicidal. After one or two failed attacks, he chooses to pass at the last moment. ball.

This not only makes his passing easy to predict, but because his teammates have to clear the offensive space, they can only watch the play from the outside or work hard at the basket after the pick-and-roll. This is what Şengün did in the past two years.

Brewing, waiting to explode

Even with the support ability, Şengün occasionally performed well on the court, but the main axis of the Rockets’ offense was completely dominated by KPJ and Green, who joined later. Although the two had the ability to lead offense and defense, they were not creative enough, resulting in the team’s team rotation. A puddle of stagnant water, and the team’s record has been struggling at the bottom.

Little did they know, the real answer was already on the team.

“He’s very talented.”
“I know it’s weird to say this, but I think the Rockets should give Şengün more room to play.”
“Because as a team, their offense is too stagnant sometimes.”
“Especially when they’re focusing on shooting three-pointers.”

These words were spoken by Nikola Jokic, who was originally considered the template for Şengün. In the two years since Şengün joined the Rockets, Jokic has become a two-time league MVP. He believes that Şengün has the offensive ability in the low post, which allows him to single out defenders to a certain extent. When the opponent wants to send someone to double-team and fight When assisting in defense, his passing ability can free up space for his teammates.

2023-12-31 05:29:08

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