All-Star Houston Rockets big man Alperen Sengun enjoyed a breakout season for the 52-30 squad last season.
After agreeing to a five-season, $185 million contract extension just ahead of the 2024-25 season, Sengun helped turn the team’s fortunes around, returning Houston to its first playoffs since 2020.
The 6-foot-11 big man averaged 19.1 points on 49.6 percent shooting from the floor and 69.2 percent shooting from the foul line, a career-best 10.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.8 blocks per bout.
Sengun’s on a tear this summer
During EuroBasket so far this summer, however, the 23-year-old has been looking even more dominant for his native Turkey.
On Friday, during a 92-78 blowout against Czechia, Sengun logged 23 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists.
After the bout, Turkey head coach Ergin Ataman bragged about just how much more cohesive his EuroLeague club, Panathinaikos, could be with on Sengun on it than Houston’s roster, per Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.
“I saw on social media, both in the United States and in Europe, people writing about my statement on the difference between the EuroLeague and the NBA. Give me Alperen Sengun at Panathinaikos and we will beat the Houston Rockets,” Ataman said.
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In a 95-54 decimation of Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta’s Portugal on Saturday, Sengun scored 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five dimes.
Although five days still remain in group play, Turkey and three other undefeated clubs have already made it to the round of 16, per FIBA: three-time MVP Nikola Jokic’s Serbia (2-0), one-time All-Star Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen’s Finland (3-0), and the fairly NBA-loaded Germany (3-0).
To hear Vukasin Nedeljkovic of BasketNews tell it, part of the reason for Sengun’s success this summer is Turkey’s application of the big man in low post actions.
“While he is also heavily used as a low-post threat in Houston, Ataman has made it a primary focus and taken that usage to another level,” Nedeljkovic writes.
“Roughly 34% of Sengun’s offensive possessions in these games came from post-ups – a significant jump compared to around 22% with the Rockets,” Nedeljkovic adds.
How Houston plans to use Sengun in the painted area with Kevin Durant and Clint Capela coming to town (and a re-signed Steven Adams returning) could move his usage into the opposite direction. Happily, he is connecting on a higher post-up success rate of his shots this summer than he had during the 2024-25 season.
“Not only is the usage up, but so is the efficiency: Sengun averaged about 0.79 points per possession on post-ups in the 2024–25 NBA season; during these friendlies, he raised that to 0.93,” Nedeljkovic notes.
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