Is the Houston Rockets early season success for real? In this enhanced segment from the Thinking Basketball podcast, Cody and Ben break down Alperen Penguin’s 2024 leap to stardom and why the Rockets have improved enough to make the playoffs in the competitive Western Conference.
–Full episode–
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrBnwBYE0no
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Th3qJyvg9T0StWe2wiZ9N
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/233-most-improved-player-predictions/id1428290303?i=1000635108489
Support at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Basketball-Ben-Taylor/dp/1532968175
Podcast: https://player.fm/series/thinking-basketball or at https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ben-taylor/thinking-basketball-podcast
Website: https://www.backpicks.com
Twitter: @elgee35
Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
Stats courtesy:
http://www.pbpstats.com @bballport
https://www.basketball-reference.com
https://stats.nba.com
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.
31 Comments
Why is Cody in a sauna
Sengun is really damn good, Ime is such a brilliant coach to come there the 1st year and realize the center is their best chance at a stable offense
Would love to see you do a breakdown of Dillon Brooks and his defense, plus the improvements he's made to his offensive game this season
VV is as cp3 game controller like as it gets . Will it last ?
Hey, first off, love the content. Secondly, what software do you use to edit your clips? When you draw the circles and cut and paste different clip segments together?
True generational talent unlike Wembustyama
Thunder sold
Sengun is very smart young guy. He just need experience. Couple years after he is gonna be veteran.
Let's not set unfair short term expectations. This is a very young team. What this shows is that they have big time potential. Their most clutch pickup was udoka IMO
this channels gone light years into the meh
With Alperen’s rise, I recently thought about the value of picking from high seeds. You can tank and keep picking from 1st-4th year after year but in the end, your 16th pick carries you to whatever achievement you’ll do. If you pick someone like Wemby, it’s obviously a greatly valuable pick, but it happens maybe once in a decade for only first pick. There are more misses than correct picks. Reigning FMVP is 41st pick for god sake.
Sengun is definitely the go-to guy of Rockets. No question about it. I don’t think this will change in the near future. We have seen enough.
Yess, now my boy Alpi Şengün is receiving some love
In a recent interview, Alperen said that he added the one-legged jumper to his skill set just by working on it in the entire summer. He also said he wants to add new things to his game every single year. This year’s thing was that shot. This is the mentality I want to see from a young talent. He also improved his English a lot in the last 2 years. He didn’t speak a word once he first came to the league. Now I actually enjoy his interviews. He doesn’t give standard boring answers and he genuinely tries to give some informative answers.
Bringing in Udoka was a very smart move. He seems to be a good coach and after the debacle he went through in Boston he must have a tom brady sized chip on his shoulder so he has a ton to prove. Van Fleet is a good pick up. Having a young team that can grow together is great but bring in a veteran point guard see what happens… remember when CP3 took a bunch of guys half his age to the playoffs?
please make a video on Andrei Kirilenko! Or a video on the most scalable players among the all time greats!
I guarantee u the rockets won’t make the playoffs 😭😂
Sengun is really good. Very frustrating as a laker fan seeing him carve lakers' defense.
I believe okc or houston rockets will be the next dynasty and the other team a lottery usage for a super star or 2. Its almost set up that way through history. All that young talent for both teams and one will be a dynasty and the other will be used for lottery picks and a potiental star or two coming to the team. Just my personal opinion
I might get some flak for this, but I thought, since he was a rookie, that the Rockets should build around Sengun, not Jalen Green. I’ve sold my Franchise-Player Jalen Green stocks a long time ago. Basically, I’m not a fan of athletic, shot chucking small guards. Those guys are a dime a dozen. Sengun is not.
i’ve been talking about al p since his rookie year he was bursting with potential ⏸️
Maxing Jalen Green will be a mistake
It’s crazy how good he is😂😂 the development and extra 2 inches transformed his entire game
2:15 damn that was subtle but nasty
I need one of these on the magic
Can we do a dive on Haliburton and Lamelo, how their games are similar and what makes them so effective as lead guards?
Can't support this Rockets team as a lifelong Rockets fan. Our cheap ass poverty owner can't hang in the NBA, only owner out of every team to never go a. single cent into the luxury, and that was with a 67 win legit contender. Oh, and he's a rapist who hires a rapist coach.
Love Sengun, but I hope this team crashes and burns until Tilman is forced to sell the team.
There is one guy in this team currently who is not suitable for the chemistry coach Ime is trying to build. It is Jalen Green. He may be athletic but he has low basketball IQ and not a team player at all. Defensively he is not above average either. You may see him score over 30 points sometimes but look at his efficiency. He plays on his own most of the time in offense. When the ball gets to him once, it is impossible to get it back. Yet his efficiency is so low and he is so inconsistent and not reliable. When he speaks, you think a high school kid is talking. I think he should be traded. It will take ages for us to see a mature Jalen Green both mentally and game-wise.
The rockets have vastly improved but i dont think its enough yet to reach the playoffs. Playins would already be a great accomplishment but the west is so deep this year, i see 12 teams (yes memphis as well) that should be in playoff contention so at least 2 of them wont even make the playins (probably 2 teams that get struck by injuries)
sengun has the capability to become a ture superstar. I think if his jump shooting becomes more consistent, and he is able to shoot a little better, he can be top 5 center in the league
I’m biased because I love Jalen Green and Sengun. I’ve been rooting for them and the Rockets pretty hard since they drafted them. I think they have found an identity and that is a HUGE step in becoming a competitive NBA team.
Trade Cade for him? 9cat 12t H2H