Why Houston Rockets Alperen Sengun Is An All-Star, Jabari Smith Jr.’s Role & Jalen Green’s Struggles

Why Houston Rockets Alperen Sengun Is An All-Star, Jabari Smith Jr.’s Role & Jalen Green’s Struggles

On today’s show why young Houston Rocket Center alperin shingun is playing at an All-Star level Jabari Smith Jr’s evolving and growing offensive role in Houston and what exactly is going on with Jaylen green it’s all coming up right here at locked on NBA you are locked on NBA your daily NBA

Podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what’s up and welcome to another edition of locked on NBA the biggest stories with the local experts I’m your host Jackson Gatlin also host of lockon rockets right here on the locked on podcast Network

Your team every day and now it’s me Jackson Gatlin host of locked on Rockets here to break down how a few of the Houston Rockets young core pieces are either living up to an exceeding expectations this season or failing to meet expectations now that the Rockets

Are firmly in quote unquote phase two of their rebuilding timeline sitting at 15 and 12 here on the season just as we are a little bit past a quarter way Mark of this NBA season and the first guy here the the the guy who means so much to

This Houston Rockets team is none other than their budding Allstar big man alperin shenon so why is alperin shenon thriving under new head coach Oka how has he taken such a significant year three leap here first off a big part of it has just been he’s got the trust of

The coaching staff he’s been empowered by the coaching staff to be the best version of himself there were times his first two years in the NBA playing under the previous coaching regime here in Houston where he was often marginalized his role was minimized he was benched in

Favor of other guys that were just not as good as him at the Five Spot and now you’re seeing a head coach who really I you know is able to identify his strengths and lean into them Al shingun is very clearly the Rocket’s best player play this season he’s putting up absurd

Numbers he’s basically averaging 20 points 10 boards and a little over five assists he’s a walking 20110 and five every single time he steps on the floor he’s coming off of his best game as an NBA player dropping a career-high 37 points against the New Orleans Pelicans

Who had no answer for him defensively whether it was them throwing their big guy Jonas valent chunis on him or trying to throw a smaller more versatile defender in Jeremiah Robinson Earl the Pelicans had zero answer for Alper and shagon he attempted a career high 17 free throws nailing 14 of them and

That’s the crazy thing is offensively he’s going to generate such high quality offense either a high quality look for himself down low the paint drawing free throws and getting to the charity charity stripe or drawing a routine double team and being able to kick the

Ball out to an open shooter or at least get the defense in rotation therefore generating an open shot for the Rockets offense imodoka has called him a calming presence for this Rockets team offensively they’ve routinely gone to him late in games when they need a bucket when they need a high quality

Possession and that speaks volumes about how much the coaching staff really trusts him but even though he’s been the numbers are incredible offensively the biggest step that he’s taken in his game this year is defensively he has risen to the challenge that Oka has given him to

Be a better defensive player in the past I I do believe his defensive limitations were largely overblown he was often times made out to be kind of the scape goat for some of the Houston Rockets defensive struggles the past couple of Seasons but now we’re seeing Alper and

Shun effectively anchor a top three defense in the NBA because he’s been given the opportunity to play through some mistakes to learn from some of his shortcomings and he’s got a coaching staff that really does trust him and challenges him it hasn’t been all sunshine and Roses there have been

Moments where Oka has benched Alin shenon or has directly called him out for lack of effort or lack of energy at times throughout a game and when those moments do happen Alper and shagon usually bounces back the very next game in a big way so he has been the Rocket’s

Best player this season he has been a large reason for all of their success so far this season should he be an All-Star this year I think the case is pretty cut and dry I think he absolutely has to be in the running for an All-Star nod this

Season you look at the big man competition around the NBA landscape Nika joic is in like a tier of his own at the top of the league but then you’ve got you know Jo and beid Anthony Davis and you got kind of maybe the next TI of

Bigs right the BAM out of BIOS Carl Anthony towns uh damont sabonis and and I do think Alper shun finds himself very squarely in that mix of kind of that next tier of big men and I I think he’s probably even better than some of those

Bigs in that list that I just named off now I’ll let you decide where he falls in that uh in that scope but the numbers speak for themselves he’s playing at an All-Star level and he’s even got teammates campaigning for him to make an Allstar team most recently tar een

Grabbing the Mike after their win on the road in New Orleans Al zon is an Allstar I’m just letting everybody here know it the wizard is an Allstar you heard it here first but Albert and shingun isn’t the only young Houston Rocket this season who is growing into a bigger role

For this rocket team Jabari Smith Jr their third overall pick from the 20122 NBA draft after a let’s face it he had a rough rookie season you know the Rockets were the NBA’s dumpster fire there wasn’t a lot of structure there was no identity here in Houston and Oka came to

Houston and brought this team an identity and you’re starting to see Jabari Smith Jr really flourish and Thrive with that defense first gritty mentality and identity that eeme brought to the Rockets So jabari’s defense really started to take some serious strides this year and then more recently

The offense is starting to really click for him the offensive numbers were pretty have been pretty solid since early November but over these last three games GES eoka has decided to adjust his rotations and has really given Jabari Smith Jr the Reigns in the second unit

For the Houston Rockets where at the top of the second quarter top of the fourth quarter it used to be kind of Jaylen Green’s show it used to be those were the minutes where Jaylen green was supposed to run the second unit with four bench guys and that was supposed to

Be his chance to just take over the game and score the basketball and do what he does or do what he’s supposed to be able to do best and that has not been the case so far this season more on that in just a moment so the Rockets have pivoted and have

Given jabarus MC junr the opportunity to get more touches to become more of a focal point offensively especially there with the second unit but even with the starters he’s been given more of an opportunity he’s developing a great little Twan game playing off of their big man in the middle Alper and shenon

He’s cutting a little bit more he’s getting to the mid-range which is his bread and butter spot on the court and the numbers have been insane over these last few games he’s averaging 27 points on 63% shooting and 60 % from downtown 91% at the free throw line over these

Last three games for the Rockets he’s just over 39% three-point shooting for the season and he’s really starting to look like the player that the Houston Rockets thought they were getting when they drafted him number three overall uh a little over a year ago the player that

Was largely built as being the consensus number one overall pick up until you know 48 hours before the NBA draft he had a rough rookie season he’s really coming into his own now as an NBA player and it’s been some really exciting stuff to see now the one major downside to

This Houston Rocket season is even though they’re well ahead of schedule they’re playing above 500 basketball sitting at 15 and 12 this year and EM odok has done a fantastic job turning this team around and also credit to a couple of the veterans there in the mix

Fred Van vet Dylan Brooks who have played very instrumental roles for this Rockets team and and also Jeff Green as well Off the Bench the one sore spot here has been Jaylen green who’s become an incredibly polarizing figure amongst amongst Rockets fans because this Rockets team is only as good as Jaylen

Green is on a nightly basis he’s kind of the Swing Factor The X Factor for this team where when he has a bad game and when he’s not delivering what he’s supposed to deliver the Rockets do kind of struggle and they’re still able to eek out some wins they’re still able to

Grind out a win here and there like they did against New Orleans where Jaylen green was frankly terrible in that game he finished the game with just nine points on two of eight shooting and he had six turnovers he was benched Midway through the third quarter and didn’t

Play for the final 18 minutes of the game didn’t see a second of action in the fourth quarter didn’t play for half of the third quarter and the rockets have largely been a better team without Jaylen green on the court this season they’re about minus 10 points worth it’s it’s

Like a minus 10 net rating when he is on the floor versus when he’s off the floor for the Houston Rockets this season it’s been honestly really rough to watch because he has regressed so much here in year three that it’s it’s becoming a pretty significant concern that we’re

Entering kind of bust territory for jayen green I have very cautious Optimist at this point that he will figure it out but the easiest way to describe it is he’s a shooting guard that can’t shoot the ball he is so wildly inconsistent that even when it comes to

Just knocking down the wide open shots that alprin shenon or Fred Van vet are generating for him offensively he’s not a reliable shooter and the rockets have too many other players that are way better at other things on the floor if Jaylen green isn’t scoring the ball he’s

Not bringing you enough he’s improved as a playmaker he’s improved as a Defender he gives good effort but if he’s not putting the ball in the hoop the one thing that he was drafted to be able to do there are better options on this Houston Rockets team and on this Houston

Rockets roster and we’ve routinely seen Oka opt to bench Jaylen green late in games to go with guys like Aaron holiday or T een or Jeff Green because they provide more to this Rockets team when Jaylen green isn’t scoring the basketball so the question really is how much longer do the Houston Rockets

Continue to experiment with Jaylen green how much more of a rope does he get before the Rockets ultimately pivot away from him either by reducing his minutes or completely pulling him out of the starting lineup altogether or at worst case scenario potentially exploring trade options for him they’re really

Isn’t a concrete answer at this point and there’s not really an answer as to why he’s regressed so much shooting the basketball the only thing that I can come up with is that he’s trying harder on defense and he’s not being given the cart blanch ability to just shoot

Himself out of a funk because there are other players that provide more efficient offense more consistently on this team so you’ll see the team go to Jaylen for half a quarter a quarter early in the game or they’ll try to get him going in the third quarter and if

It’s not there then they’re back to their trident true go to Alper and shenon go to Jabari in the mid post or in the mid-range let Fred Van vet run pick and roll and those versions of the Rockets offense work well it doesn’t look great when it’s

Being run through Jaylen green right now but hopefully he’ll be able to turn things around will Alper and shenon become an Allstar this season how far can the Houston Rockets ultimately go with head coach eeme udoka I’ll have be covered for all of that and so much more over at locked on Rockets

Why Houston Rockets Alperen Sengun Is An All-Star, Jabari Smith Jr.’s Role & Jalen Green’s Struggles

Jackson Gatlin (@LockedOnRockets) discusses which of the Houston Rockets young core pieces are thriving and struggling, why Alperen Sengun is playing at an All-Star level, how Jabari Smith Jr.’s offensive role has grown, and Jalen Green’s concerning regression.

#Rockets #NBA #AlperenSengun

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