Alperen Sengun had a good season for the Houston Rockets, becoming a first-time NBA All-Star in the process.
The star center just missed the All-NBA team, but he did get votes for it, averaging Sengun 19.1 points, 10 rebounds and almost five assists a game.
Offensively, Sengun was good this year. He scored a little bit less than he did in the 2023-24 season, but it was not enough to hurt his impact overall. He shot 49.6% from the field, a percentage that needs to be improved going forward.
However, his playmaking ability, given his 6-foot-11 stature, was where he shined. The center's ability to find a cutting Amen Thompson or Jalen Green, was great for the team. Thompson got unlocked under the rim this season, and a big part of his plays down low were courtesy of Sengun's help. Sengun started the season shooting poorly, and he increasingly got better. He showed a lot of in-season improvement and had some dominant games of 30-plus points. He gets an A for offense this year.
Defensively, the All-Star was good and fit Ime Udoka's defensive strategies well. Sengun averaged one steal a game, but less than a block a game. He averaged 6.9 defensive rebounds, fine enough for his role.
His foot movement looked a lot better this season than it has in his first three seasons and that should really help him for the future. Sengun had a defensive rating of 108.3, which was the seventh best in the league this season.
Pairing Sengun next to Steven Adams defensively was an unexpectedly great move by Udoka. The two big men were in tandem on defense, and were the main reason that Houston went on big scoring runs.
They stopped teams from getting into the paint and scoring down low. In a zone defense with Adams and Jabari Smith Jr., Sengun was able to stay low and not over commit, which stopped offenses almost entirely, whether in the paint, midrange, or outside the three-point line. He found ways to get to his spots defensively and was a big reason why the Rockets won games. Sengun gets an A for defense as well.
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