AlperenSengun

Preseason question: Is it too late to hope for a shooting renaissance? The first month or so of last season was a glorious mirage. Who can forget Sengun drilling five 3s in the Rockets’ season opener against the Thunder, a double-overtime thriller? Sengun hit 20 3s in his first 20 games—more than he’d made in the entirety of his sophomore campaign. Little did we know then that he was already exactly halfway to his total deep-range output for the entire season.  

 

It’s a crucial missing ingredient for what is otherwise one of the most advanced offensive skill sets at the center position. Sengun can make physics-altering passes as well as most point guards. He can bring the ball up the floor and mash smaller defenders into oblivion on the block. The comparisons to Nikola Jokic are hackneyed and unfair, but that’s always been the blueprint for Sengun’s particular style; Jokic entered best in the world conversations and has remained at that mountaintop since he became a reliable 3-point shooter at solid volume, giving defenders nowhere to hide. But five years into Sengun’s career, he’s yet to come close to shooting the deep ball at a league-average clip. He has a worse career 3-point shooting percentage than Giannis Antetokounmpo. Hell, noted non-shooter Dwight Powell—who was practically forced to shoot 3s in his prime years with the moribund Mavs when Rick Carlisle was just throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick—has a better career percentage. Sengun is just 24, only now reaching the point in his developmental arc when big men have historically put all of the pieces together. Houston’s hopes of contention rest on the potential for explosive growth from its young core. If there is a league-average shooter in Sengun somewhere, now is the time for him to emerge.