It's not just Sengun - it's that a universe where Sengun and Amen Thompson are both franchise cornerstones on the court for 36 minutes is gonna be more of this **** barring 3 steph Curry's out there with them Rockets are less than the sum of their parts
the only way that happens is a Durant injury. He has been amazingly durable this season considering his age and workload. I’d love to see them try this lineup maybe in the rest of the back to backs. It would serve 2 purposes: give Amen and Reed more experience as leaders and resting Durant for the playoffs. That seems a bit wishful thinking where Ime is concerned.
honestly I’m not gonna tail against the FO for the Bari pick. They’ve made other draft mistakes. But I do think they got caught sleeping and they didn’t evaluate Bari as hard as they did Paolo. I also think you can move up and down a draft. It’s not pick Jalen Williams at #3 or nothing. You can trade down. You can trade for future picks. You can trade for prospects. It’s just that u have to be accountable for your picks. Bari is not a #3 pick; lots of folks got that wrong. can we agree that the Nets were always gonna be bad? I don’t believe they turn down the Knicks Bridges offer no matter what we did. They could have easily had a top pick in 2025; they just got unlucky. And they could have a top pick in this loaded draft. Trading the Nets back their picks was a mistake because they didn’t properly account for draft strength. The Nets were never gonna be good. The 2026 was supposed to be a monster going back several years of projections.
How bout trade down, trade for future picks, etc? Again, not railing against them fir 22 but u have to be accountable for your picks.
Respectfully, I think that's just not true. We've had an elite defense two years in a row with Sengun as our 5. We played great playoff defense with Sengun as our 5 last year. The impact metrics say Sengun is a positive defender at the 5. The fact that he isn't Wemby or Bam is not a teambuilding constraint. Sengun does not "need Amen's defense to succeed" - we have been great-to-elite defensively over the last two years without Amen on the court. This is coming from someone who is more of a "fan" of Amen than Sengun. To the extent Sengun is flawed as an asset going forward, it is not because of teambuilding constraints he personally creates - Sengun as a 5 is more of a teambuilding loosener than a constraint. It'd be because Sengun's strengths are not strong enough. His weaknesses are not the issue - they are much much less weak and jagged than Amen's weaknesses.
im fine with that draft. Easier to say in hindsight. The 21 draft set up the core of this team and determined how we played in terms of style and ability. I think Sengun and Green were mistakes although I very much like those players. They just aren’t championship caliber players or winning players. And even with this I agree they shouldn’t have done the Durant deal. We could have added another guard or young scorer in the mix. Trade didn’t make sense then and still doesn’t make sense now
Sengun looks great on defense when he is covered up by *literally* 3 all defensive team players in Thompson, FVV and Brooks, and another guy who is of the same caliber in Eason. Take those guys out he is exposed. You can *survive* with him on defense if he has the right support system, but guess what his offense isn't good enough to compensate
Amen has no superstar potential. None. His ceiling is Shawn Marion and that’s only if he starts hitting 3s off the catch at a reliable rate. I hate dissing the kid, because I honestly believe Shawn Marion 2.0 is a fantastic player. At the same time, that’s not a player you give a max contract or build around. If Alen was the size of Giannis or had shown the ability to finish consistently with one hand (take a look at his scoring highlights - they are almost all done with 2 hands) over defenders, I could see the logic. But he’s not just a poor shooter - he’s extremely limited in his ability to finish around the basket. Before we trade Alpi, I want to see him play with a dynamic point guard with sharp outside shooting. For his entire career, Alpi has played with mediocre guards. FVV is the best guard of the group, but his best skills are ball protection and defense. He doesn’t run an offense beyond the most basic level. Give Alpi a legit Pg who can make defenses pay (either via a shot or a pass) for doubling and I think you’d see his efficiency improve dramatically. In my opinion, building around Amen would be way more foolish than building around Alpi. One guy has shown the ability to be an offensive focal point despite not having an offense built around him. The other guy has the potential to be a strong (but not elite) finisher in the open court - how many championship teams since the 80s Lakers have won this way?
I would argue that Sengun's impact metrics are likely being propped up by our overall roster; I feel like this happens a lot with advanced defensive statistics and anything that's on/off related. It's hard to separate an individual player's defense from the guys he usually plays with. I'm not saying he's a bad defensive player, I don't buy that narrative any more than I buy into the idea that he is really good defender. I'm just saying he's closer to average than he is to being elite. You can absolutely build a good defense with Sengun in the starting lineup, you're correct that we've proven that, but I think the fact that we've emphasized size and athleticism so much is making him appear better than he really is, and that same approach to roster building is part of why we've struggled with spacing. You can certainly argue that it's easier to compensate for Sengun's defensive limitations than Amen's shooting limitations. I think there's some truth to that, but my larger point is that when you emphasize defense at all positions but one, it becomes harder to build a strong offense. A two-way player who is above average on both ends is extremely valuable and expensive even if they're technically considered a "roleplayer". We were fortunate, whether through luck or having a smart front office, when we bought low on Dillon Brooks and saw him turn out to actually be a plus rather than a negative on offense. Usually guys like that cost a significantly larger percentage of the cap.
He is tough to build around. His defense is not good enough. His shooting is not good enough. (All of it: free throw shooting, 3pt shooting, touch-around-the-basket shooting) Cool, he makes some awesome passes. And can play “point center” in a pinch. The discussion was always Paolo v. Jabari (same draft class, whatever) but this is true about Sengun. “Oh, he’d (Sengun) make a great 2nd/3rd option.” … Why? If the ball isn’t in his hands and offense isn’t going through him, what does he offer? You like his rim protection? You like his shooting? You like his half-ass screens because he expects to get the ball back on the roll? He’s an offensive-first center (who’s also inefficient). 2x all-star (whatever that’s worth) And his contract is…fine? 2026-27: 24 $35,642,202 21.47% (cap%) 2027-28: 25 $37,339,450 21.42% 2028-29: 26 $39,036,697 21.33% 2029-30: 27 $39,036,697 20.31% (Player Option)
Last two years combined, defensive rating: Sengun + Amen + Tari : 110.7 Sengun + Amen : 112.4 Sengun alone : 110.2 https://databallr.com/wowy/HOU/2025/2026/regular/high/wowy/1630578/1641708/1631106 Those are all big minute samples. 110 defensive rating would be top 3 in the league. And that’s not even adjusting for Sengun having really unlucky opponent 3pt shooting splits this season. If you adjust for that Sengun’s number looks even better. Again, I’m no Sengun stan. But the argument that his defense is the big problem for us that requires us to play terrible offensive lineups to stay competitive is not rooted in statistical reality. The correct critique of Sengun is that his highs are not high enough to be a best player on a championship team, we are an org that only cares about championships, and he’s the super valuable counterweight that could be used in trade for a player whose highs are high enough. The critique that his game is ugly to watch and Amen’s is more fun is also valid and I’d agree with it lol.
Thank you for injecting some sanity into the discussion. Can anyone name a perimeter player with no offensive skills beyond dunking who is a first option?
Yeah like I said, you can have a good defense with Sengun if you surround him with elite defenders - nobody is arguing that. He's not, however, going to provide much rim protection when your less good units are there and he a weak point that teams will exploit at times (which is why he comes out at EOG situations). The argument though isn't just that Sengun is so bad on defense he has to go, it's that (of the Rockets 2 cornerstone players) he is not a galactic level defensive disruptor like Thompson, and that he and Thompson uniquely combine to destroy the Rockets HC offense with Sengun s increasingly low efficiency elbow in game and Thompson's dunker spot only repertoire being an intractable problem Rockets need to break up this core, Sengun - Thompson are the most valuable pieces and also are a bad fit together on offense
