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

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Who Would You Rather Have?

Jalen Duren
213
37%
Alperen Sengun
367
63%
 
Total votes: 580

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

Post#361 » by bstein14 » Sun Feb 8, 2026 3:53 am

Jalen Duren has a higher ceiling due to being a year and a half younger and due to his elite athleticism. Of course that doesn't mean he ever hits that ceiling he just has more room to grow his offensive skillset where I don't think Sengun is adding to his athleticism. Obviously Sengun is much more offensively skilled at the moment. Duren has taken a good step forward in defense this year. I know Duren/Ausar are #1 in lowest PPP allowed while defending a pick and roll as a combo, and Duren an Cade are #3 in defending a pick and roll as a combo. It's something many traditional bigs struggle with with but Duren has gotten really strong at showing enough to prevent the shooter from shooting on if the defender goes under until the guard/wing can recover while also not showing so much that the roll man gets too open. Watching bigs, Stewart was immediately good at this for Detroit and I watched years of Andre Drummond never be good at pick and roll defense. Great to see Duren really start to excel at it now in year four.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#362 » by whitehops » Sun Feb 8, 2026 4:18 am

seul1903 wrote:That’s why imo comparing Sengun and Duren is tough.. their roles and what they’re asked to do are completely different. But even with all the chaos around him, I still think Sengun’s value and ceiling are higher.

yeah it's tough to compare. sengun is undoubtedly better at creating his own shots and making plays for others so if your team is without a dominant play making guard then he's 100% more valuable. duren though is a perfect player to pair with someone like cade, luka, young, harden, etc.

i'd say sengun's role overall is more valuable but i feel like you can fill that role (even in aggregate) easier than duren's role. not sure what my point is but i think houston would rather have sengun and detroit would rather have duren.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#363 » by Kiss of Death » Sun Feb 8, 2026 4:20 am

MoneyTalks41890 wrote:
Kiss of Death wrote:
MoneyTalks41890 wrote:
Sengun is in his fifth year now and his efficiency is getting worse, not better. And he just had his teammates rip him on the court for not playing defense. KD of all people. And also Amen.

Chet is a DPOY who can actually score efficiently. Sengun isn’t really in his class.


Chet is overrated.
Even you backed off of your ridiculous claim that he was a top 5 center in the NBA already as a rookie.
I guess you didn’t have a choice when they had to sign Hartenstein to replace him because every other center dominated him.

Exactly when did Chet win DPOY?
If you have to lie to make a point, you don’t have a point.


I mean they moved him to power forward and won a championship? Major own.

He’s a top 3 rim protector. He was top 5 his first year playing. Stats all back this up. He’s going to win DPOY this year and is obviously of that caliber.

It’s not really clear what Sengun is. Though given his outburst towards the female ref he has a lot of growing up to do. But on the court his shot hasn’t developed and his coach is calling him out as a bad defender in the pick and roll.


Sure Sparky.
You waiting for Sengun to have a couple bad games so you could bump a thread that’s been dead for 4 months just proves your desperation.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#364 » by sashaturiaf » Sun Feb 8, 2026 9:43 am

Sengun is easily the better player, Duren is just an athletic body who knows how to play a little bit of basketball.

Sengun is obviously the one to take
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#365 » by AdamSSSlither » Sun Feb 8, 2026 11:40 am

im a shooter so give me duren
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#366 » by Kiss of Death » Sun Feb 8, 2026 7:36 pm

An updated list of Alperen Şengün’s accolades at age 23:

- Youngest MVP in Turkish League History (18)
- Youngest Center in NBA History with a triple double (20)
-Youngest NBA Center to record 30/15/5 in a game (20)
- Youngest Center in NBA History with multiple Triple Doubles (21)
- Youngest NBA player to have 45+ PTS, 15+ REB, 5+ STL in a single game (21)
- Youngest NBA Center to have 14+ AST in a single game (21)
- Youngest NBA player to average 20/5/5 with a 50.0+ FG% in a season (21)
- Youngest NBA Center to record 750 career AST (21)
- Youngest NBA Center to record 3,000 career PTS + 500 career assists (21)
- 2nd youngest player in NBA History to reach 2,500 PTS, 1,500 REB, and 700 AST behind LeBron James. (21)
- 2nd youngest NBA player to average 21/9/5 in a season behind Luka Doncic (21)
- 3rd Youngest All Star in Rockets History behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming (22)
- 3rd youngest player in NBA History to reach 2,000 Rebounds and 1,000 assists, trailing only LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. (22)
- Youngest Center in NBA History to reach 1,000 Assists (22)
- 2nd most triple doubles for a 22 or younger Center in NBA History.
- Led All EuroBasket Players in player of the awards with 7. (23)
- Broke the EuroBasket record with 41 offensive rebounds in the tournament. (23)
- Youngest Player to record a triple double in Eurobasket history (23)
- Member of the Eurobasket All Star 5. (23)
- Youngest NBA Center to reach 50 career games with at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. (23)
- 2nd Youngest NBA Center in NBA History to reach 10 career triple doubles (23)
- 3rd Youngest 2x all star in Rockets History behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming (23)
- 1st 2x Turkish All Star in NBA History.

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

Post#367 » by HumbleRen » Sun Feb 8, 2026 8:58 pm

HumbleRen wrote:People keep saying saying Baby Jokic while completely forgetting one of the largest reasons that Jokic is this good is because he’s one of most hyper efficient scoring bigs that we’ve ever seen in nba history.

Sengun can’t even get to league average TS despite shooting 40% from the 3 right now. Don’t tell me he’s baby Jokic. He’s not. The worst version of Jokic would never be inefficient beside a player of KD’s scoring gravity. Not even Sabonis would.

Let’s stop acting like Sengun is some scoring savant.



Aged well. 40% to less than 30% from the 3 with the worst true shooting efficiency for a volume scoring big in the league lol.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#368 » by DelAbbot » Wed Feb 25, 2026 6:32 am

Sengun is a floor raising ceiling limiter

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

Post#369 » by The Warewolf » Wed Feb 25, 2026 6:44 am

I’ll take Duren. Sengun is a walking brick.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#370 » by tmorgan » Sat Mar 21, 2026 4:05 am

So… you Sengun-backing folks. Still sure with that?

I myself gave Sengun a clear edge as of last season, but things have changed. Duren has improved on both ends, and while it’s still a choice between a broader skillset and a smaller one, Duren’s impact from that smaller skillset has gotten a lot bigger.

Sengun: 20.3/8.9/6.1 on 50.6/28.3/69.1. 33.5 mpg, 3.3 to, 20.9 PER, 5.9 WS, .144 WS/48, 2.4 OBPM, 1.3 DPBM.
Duren: 19.1/10.6/1.7 on 64.1/—-/72.8. 27.7 mpg, 1.7 to, 26.2 PER, 9.0 WS, .264 WS/48, 4.4 OBPM, 0.3 DPBM.

Some caveats do apply. Houston playing without a PG has expanded Sengun’s role. Duren’s still not a good defender, but he’s no longer bad. They have about the same block and steal rates per minute. And Cade definitely gets Duren a good share of easy buckets.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#371 » by Black Jack » Sat Mar 21, 2026 7:13 am

I prefer a hybrid called Japeren Serengun, with Duren’s athleticism and Sengun’s playmaking.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#372 » by PostGameDaVinci » Sat Mar 21, 2026 11:13 am

I picked Sengun at first but now I've seen the light. Gimme Duren. Sengun isn't a good enough scorer or playmaker to outweigh the expectations of his position: rim protection and efficiency. It limits your ceiling if you're relying on an inefficient half court creator who also can't make up for it on the other end.

Alperen is probably better in a vacuum, but Jalen allows you to build a roster without needing a hyper specific fit. Sengun is getting close to Karl Anthony Towns type of player. Yea he's an allstar/all nba level talent but it's hard to be a real contender unless you have the perfect fit around him.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#373 » by Chokic » Sat Mar 21, 2026 1:35 pm

This is one of the rare threads where ive been going back and forth on. At this current juncture give me jalen duren.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#374 » by GSWFan1994 » Sat Mar 21, 2026 1:49 pm

Why does Duren play only 27 mpg? I'm not following the NBA as close as I should this season.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#375 » by bonita_the_frog » Sat Mar 21, 2026 1:52 pm

Sengun and Cade Cunningham would be an incredible duo, Duren is very lucky to be in Detroit.
Detroit's offense would be majestic with Sengun, and Houston's offense would excellent if VanVleet was playing.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#376 » by DonaldSanders » Sat Mar 21, 2026 2:41 pm

I'd take Duren by a large margin, the gap on defense is huge and he is an easier archetype to build around. And although I don't take things like EPM religiously, they show roughly what tier a player is: Duren is #12 right now, Sengun is #128.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#377 » by tmorgan » Sat Mar 21, 2026 4:19 pm

GSWFan1994 wrote:Why does Duren play only 27 mpg? I'm not following the NBA as close as I should this season.


It’s a good question. There are a number of factors:

1) Ankle trouble still limits him at times. It’s my only remaining concern about giving him his max contract.
2) Occasional foul trouble, although not as frequently as in previous years. But this links to (3)
3) Detroit has one of the best backup centers in the league (Stewart), and THE best third string center in the league (Reed).

Sometimes Beef Stew or BBall Paul just get it going on nights when Duren isn’t 100% or feeling it or whatever, and Bickerstaff increases their minutes, as he should. Also, they are both (but particularly Stewart) better defenders than Duren, so when defense is a priority due to score or matchups, Duren might get a little less run.

The Pistons aren’t going to be able to afford to keep all three of these guys forever unless they decide to make Stewart a 4 again (which would be a mistake) or actually try Reed for bigger minutes at the 4 (which is worth exploring, in my opinion). Currently, all three are on bargain contracts (last year of rookie deal for Duren, 15 for Stew, 5 for Reed). Duren’s about to get a second contract max, I imagine (outside offers will force it). Stewart has two more years at 15m, and Reed one more year at 5.6m. You’d hope Duren is ready for at least 30 mpg by then.

Duren’s become a media darling by making the All-Star team and legit improving. But he’s not all the way there yet. That’s fine, he doesn’t turn 23 until the start of next season. You just gotta hope he has the drive to continue to improve after getting his huge contract, because he can definitely still get better on defense, and it’s clear he has the touch to operate more off the dribble and from outside the paint. His ceiling is legit All-NBA (not 65+ games All-NBA), but he has a ways to go to deserve that.
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#378 » by Deivork » Sat Mar 21, 2026 9:07 pm

Black Jack wrote:I prefer a hybrid called Japeren Serengun, with Duren’s athleticism and Sengun’s playmaking.


Jalperen Durgun*
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#379 » by Dmcg88 » Sun Apr 19, 2026 3:13 am

LOL at this thread

Duren turning into an all pro and getting better while Sengun has plateaued. TO machine that can’t defend
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Re: Who Would You Rather Have: Jalen Duren Or Alperen Sengun? 

Post#380 » by bstein14 » Sun Apr 19, 2026 3:31 am

CptCrunch wrote:Duren might have more value based on his role. His ceiling is however just a good role player center.

Sengun has a decent shot at becoming a franchise player. He is so far ahead of Jokic's developmental curve that it is insane. Big with decent shooting, elite passing, passable defense and near 7 foot size is not someone you can just acquire every draft.

You can however try to draft a Duren every single year.


Duren the 1st player since Wilt to average 19+ PPG and 65+% FG% in a season making them the only two to ever do it. Wilt did it just once in 66-67 at 30 years old. Jalen Duren was 21/22 this season.

Duren joined Jokic as the only player ever to average 19+ PPG and 68+ TS% in a season.

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