Despite back-to-back All-Star nods, Houston’s rising star faces scrutiny from his peers. Analyze the shooting struggles and "boring" playstyle labels fueling this controversial anonymous player poll result.
Every year the NBA has an anonymous players pole, and the Houston Rockets were at the center of attention this time around. Alperen Şengün was voted as the most overrated player in the league, per TheAthletic.
A surprising title to be awarded with for sure, considering he’s been named as an All-Star in back to back seasons —— but then again, not many role players will ever make those kinds of lists. In some sense it can be taken as a compliment because people are expecting more from Alpi.
There are undeniably a few areas of his game that need some work, with all around shooting being a main one for me. Defense wins championships, but let’s face it, you gotta be able to score in this league.
Shooting below average from the free throw line and three point line are always going to hurt you. They’re some of the most valuable shots in the game of basketball.
When thinking about similar playmaking big men in the league, Domantas Sabonis comes to mind right away. The second generation NBA star has outperformed Şengün across the board when it comes to shooting.
55.9 compared to 51.8-percent from the field and 34.2 to Şengün’s 28.1-percent from deep. Free throw shooting is closer at 72.9 vs 69.9 from the young Turk, but you still see a significant gap. Even Sabonis isn’t consistently named to the All-Star team, despite him having better numbers in some areas, as seen on Sports-Reference.
Perhaps that’s part of the reason why Houston’s big man could be considered overrated. Many fans around the league wanted Ivica Zubac in the game last season, as well as numerous other supposed “snubs” that we see every year.
Even then Zubac and Sabonis don’t have the flashiest games in the world. Some might even call them boring, which I’ve definitely heard about Şengün too. I think he easily has more exciting passes and dunks than either one of them has had, but I still get it.
He’s called Baby Jokic, and plenty of people don’t like the way Nikola plays, despite him winning three MVP awards. Sometimes it’s just not the viewer’s cup of tea, and that’s really all there is to it. Denver’s big man just averaged a triple double as a center, and people will call it boring.
At the end of the day, you can’t please everybody. Alperen Şengün is definitely far from blameless in any criticism he may get, but I think he’s also far from being overrated. He hasn’t made an All-NBA team yet, and only made the All-Star game as an injury replacement this season.
I’m not sure who was rating him much higher than that if the NBA hasn’t done it yet. He seems pretty properly rated to me.
