Alperen Sengun has been the talk of Summer League

Las Vegas Summer League wraps up today, and while much of the focus was on the top five picks in the draft early on, it’s a player taken in the middle of the first round that seems to be on everyone’s lips now: Alperen Sengun.

AN IMPRESSIVE DEBUT

Sengun, a 19-year-old Turkish big man who was taken with the 16th pick by the Houston Rockets, came into Las Vegas with an air of intrigue. After all, it was a strange, Covid-riddled season that left NBA front offices few opportunities to get up close and personal with the draft class before they made their selections. Unlike North American prospects, Sengun’s progress and development had not been watched by anyone but professional draft experts with any interest until this year. And due to travel and flight restrictions, Las Vegas is the first time that many in the NBA world have actually seen Sengun in action.

And what a sight it has been. He made a splash in his first game, totaling 18 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, and four blocks in 27 minutes while going toe-to-toe with No. 3 overall pick Evan Mobley. He made waves with his obvious talent, but also his unusual quirks, including a free throw line routine that includes him moving the ball right to his lips as he whispers a Turkish prayer, cajoling the ball to go in the basket.

Sengun is coming off a season where he won MVP of the Turkish Basketball Super League. There are over 30 former NBA players in that league, and it’s home to traditional European powerhouse Fenerbahce. Even if the league’s quality took something of a beating because of the economics of the pandemic, he far outplayed his competition despite being just 18 years old.

SENGUN’S STATISTICAL PROFILE

The reason that Sengun had so many scouts' interests piqued, besides winning MVP, was that the advanced analytics love him. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton’s draft projection model had Sengun as the best prospect in the 2021 class, a spot ahead of actual No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham. And it’s easy to see why when you look at his numbers.

Sengun is 6'10”, and 240 pounds with a 7'0.5” wingspan. In his aforementioned MVP season, he averaged 18.6 points and 8.9 rebounds while hitting more than 66% of his 2-point shots. And he did it as his team’s main offensive threat, meaning he was drawing the opposition’s best defensive player night in night out. 

The only small blight on Sengun's resume was a grisly 21.2% from 3, a shot that will be essential if he has to play power forward until he gains weight. Still, he was so efficient from everywhere else that he managed a 68.5% true shooting. And given his touch and free throw form, there’s every reason to believe Sengun will be taking - and making - a decent volume of NBA 3’s in the near future. We saw some flashes in Summer League of just that.

WHAT HE SHOWED IN VEGAS

Expectations were high for Sengun in Vegas, but there was also skepticism. He was painted as a talented but not overly athletic big who could score inside and might have difficulty defending his position. And in the NBA that kind of player has been going like the dinosaur in recent years. 

But any concerns that Sengun was that kind of NBA big were quickly quelled in Vegas. He’s not the kind of above-the-rim explosive finisher that has been a recent model for success, but he is a top-tier athlete in other ways.

He’s a ground-bound, below-the-rim guy, but he moves like a ballerina through the paint. And that’s no hyperbole, Sengun has the flexibility and footwork of a world-class dancer, and in sideline warmups was spotted regularly doing the splits prior to tip-off. That might not seem significant to some, but it's an indicator of his incredible strength, which taken alongside his feel, finesse, and touch, makes his ceiling extremely high.

Sengun showed solid positional instincts on both ends of the floor, even more remarkable when you consider that he barely speaks a word of English at this moment and is playing on a Summer League roster that is, for the most part, unfamiliar with one another. He had excellent timing, erasing many opposing possessions at the rim and showing a natural understanding of where he needs to be on the floor. For a player that entered with defensive questions, he averaged 3.0 blocks per game, and was a clear defensive plus overall.

His ability to score the ball inside was as advertised. His level of craft and footwork, combined with his elite flexibility, allowed him to break into the paint and get all the way to the rim even when it seemed he had no path to the basket. And he’s not a selfish player either. In addition to flashing some outrageous passes, he was setting screens and doing all the dirty work that helps make an NBA offense go.

That Sengun showed all this in an offensive environment like Summer League that strongly favors guards over bigs is extremely impressive.

Years - and maybe even month from now - general managers around the league may be kicking themselves for not drafting Sengun when they had the chance.