Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun?

[r0drig0lac]

another monster game for Duren, both very good players.

[sca]

Time to revisit this thread.

While there is no longer any doubt about who the better player is, threads like this one show how prone people are to stereotyping players rather than comparing them directly. In lots of people's eyes, Duren is an athletic banger / defensive anchor in the mold of Dwight Howard / early Clint Capela etc. while Şengün is a slow-footed, non-defensive type of big who would never be able to anchor a successful defense in the modern NBA. It's the same people who insist that Jokic is a bad defensive big just because of the fact that he's not a direct shot challenging threat, although his positioning awareness and rebounding / boxing out instincts (which are far more important to defense than mere shot-blocking) are top notch. Sorry for the reviving an old thread, but just wanted to rant a bit.

[maverick_41]

We need to normalize the reviving of old threads. Reflexion is the most interesting (and sometimes funny) thing to do.

[sepulchre]

2 games into the playoffs, maybe it is time to revisit this thread again. Did anyone change their opinion since December?

[schnakenpopanz]

2 games into the playoffs, maybe it is time to revisit this thread again. Did anyone change their opinion since December?

I don't know what you want to hear. Alperen Sengün has proven himself to be one of the best prospects and Duren has been great too.

[ejftw]

2 games into the playoffs, maybe it is time to revisit this thread again. Did anyone change their opinion since December?

Nah, character still matters

[TFJava]

Alperen Sengun

[LockoutSeason]

Duren is a much better fit with Cade and is a great intangible guy.

Sengun is a better fit with the Rockets that need his much more polished offensive game.

Both teams are happy with what they have.

[zshawn10]

Both are very good, young centers and important to their own teams and play different roles

[Bloodbather]

Duren is good, but Alpy is at a completely different level.

[Chuck Everett]

All I needed to see out of Duren was those two games in MSG to know he's not another Andre Drummond. You can at least play him in crunch time and he makes free throws. Third year player who is still only 21. A whole lot to like here.

With Sengun, I know people make the comparison to Jokic, but I don't think he can get to that level. However, he's a much more aggressive offensive player at this stage and truth be told, he could average a ton if he just figured out what his go-to-move is. He does so many things, but it can lead to turnovers. I would love to see him pick two or three spots on the floor and get to spamming. He would be unstoppable for teams like the Warriors when he does that.

[Special_Puppy]

2 games into the playoffs, maybe it is time to revisit this thread again. Did anyone change their opinion since December?

Nah, character still matters

How does Duren have superior character to Sengun?

[PostGameDaVinci]

Duren is a much better fit with Cade and is a great intangible guy.

Sengun is a better fit with the Rockets that need his much more polished offensive game.

Both teams are happy with what they have.

I don't know man. Cade and Sengun could have a beautiful 2 man game. Pistons would be a nightmare to defend if they had another playmaker like Sengun.

I'm a huge Duren fan but Sengun is a couple tiers better.

[chilluminati]

Duren is good, but not a great defender yet. He's getting better every year though, so I'm not at all worried about his current deficiencies. The Duren/Cade connection has the most alley oops this season, and the defensive system alongside playing in space with a star PG has Duren playing at a high level. Once he improves his awareness and timing, he's going to be exactly what the Pistons need as a franchise piece at center.

Sengun is the better overall offensive player with playmaking chops not many other bigs display. Duren is more athletic and is/will end up much better as a defender and finisher.

Like many others have said in this thread, the Rockets have the guy they need for their system, and Detroit has the guy they need for theirs. Although if they switched teams, they'd still both be very successful. They're just a couple of talented dudes.

My take from 2023 is still pretty relevant.

Depends on what your team needs. I'd take Duren 10 out of 10 times since he became my favorite, but if I wanted to play my offense out of the post I'd consider Sengun, as right now I don't see Duren developing a crazy dream shake or anything like that. Personally though, I like athletic defensive 5's regardless of the ability to stretch the floor.

[LockoutSeason]

Duren is a much better fit with Cade and is a great intangible guy.

Sengun is a better fit with the Rockets that need his much more polished offensive game.

Both teams are happy with what they have.

I don't know man. Cade and Sengun could have a beautiful 2 man game. Pistons would be a nightmare to defend if they had another playmaker like Sengun.

I'm a huge Duren fan but Sengun is a couple tiers better.

Cade and Duren are the #1 alley oop duo in the league. Sengun isn’t doing that. The Pistons would not be better if they traded Duren for Sengun, even though Sengun would have better offensive stats.

[hugepatsfan]

I think Sengun is clearly better individually. Sengun is a bit of a clunky archetype that can be hard to get the right mix around when he's your centerpiece or part of the nucleus. Duren on the other hand, is a more limited role player but one who pretty easily assimilates himself within any roster makeup because his skills are so portable and low maintenance.

[Maf]

Duran made big progress but I still rather had Duran Duran on my squad.

[tmorgan]

Duren still needs a lot of work on defense. With Stewart hurt, we put Harris on KAT in game 2 because we needed JD for heavy minutes and he would have fouled out otherwise. Harris did a great job, though!

I’d still prefer Sengun, but it’d really mess up our current team and the way it operates.

[PostGameDaVinci]

Duren is a much better fit with Cade and is a great intangible guy.

Sengun is a better fit with the Rockets that need his much more polished offensive game.

Both teams are happy with what they have.

I don't know man. Cade and Sengun could have a beautiful 2 man game. Pistons would be a nightmare to defend if they had another playmaker like Sengun.

I'm a huge Duren fan but Sengun is a couple tiers better.

Cade and Duren are the #1 alley oop duo in the league. Sengun isn’t doing that. The Pistons would not be better if they traded Duren for Sengun, even though Sengun would have better offensive stats.

It's not like they have some great offense because of alley oops. They're middle of the pack. They need another creator more than a lob threat.

And Sengun is showing that he can still be a part of an elite defense in spite of his shortcomings. Duren has potential to be an elite defender, but he's not there yet.

[K_chile22]

Sengun is a better defender than duren right now. People caught up on archetypes.