There was never any question whether Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun would be a good NBA player — he was productive about ten games into his career. Stellar footwork, feathery-soft touch and almost unparalleled vision for a big man (Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis exist, so Sengun's vision is paralleled by a few guys) made him an instant hit in Houston.
By year three, Sengun was a borderline All-Star. He averaged 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists last season and Rockets fans understandably tabbed him as the franchise cornerstone going forward. Expectations for Sengun and the Rockets were pretty high coming into this season.
Those expectations — the team expectations — appear, through 24 games, like they will be met. Houston is 16-8, third in the Western Conference, with perhaps the best defense in the NBA.
That sounds like a smashing success (and it certainly is) but oddly enough, Houston is playing incredible basketball while many of Sengun's statistics have dropped. His points are down from 21.1 to 18.5 and his shooting efficiency has dropped considerably. His assists per game (5.3) has stayed mostly the same and his two-point shooting is down to under 50 percent from 56.7 percent last year.
Is any of this cause for alarm? Not really — and there's a pretty big reason why.
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Counting stats might not tell the whole story, as is often the case. Houston is 7 points better per 100 possessions when Sengun is on the floor, a massive number no matter how you slice it. He makes the team better with his passing, even if his scoring numbers have slipped a tad.
If Sengun's numbers were down and the Rockets were bad, a few alarm bells might start going off ever so quietly. But Houston is really, really good, and Sengun remains a massive part of the operation.
If he gets his scoring numbers back up, he'll likely look like an improved version of last year's player. Rockets fans may be cooling a bit on Sengun's ceiling, but right now he's an ultra-helpful player on a great team. That still sounds like a franchise cornerstone to me.