Alperen Şengün

[ofeek]

Born on July, 25th, 2002, 18 years old Alperen Şengün has been having a great season so far.

Here is his wikipedia page;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alperen_%C5%9Eeng%C3%BCn

Being in the member of the same class as Usman Garuba, he has been a bit under the radar during 2020-2021 season which may change very soon. So, I really think he deserves a separate thread here.

In a game which just ended less than an hour ago, he put up yet another solid performance with 30 points, 13 boards and 3 blocks in 35 minutes. More remarkably, he did reach 30 points with only 15 field goal attempt where he made 11/14 2pts and 0/1 3pts.

So far in Turkish top tier league within 8 games, he averaged 20.3 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.4 BPG in 29.5 MPG.

You can find the collection of some of his performances so far in the league;

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Turkish league may not be as competitive as Spanish ACB, but with Euroleague powerhouses Fenerbahçe Beko and Anadolu Efes, it is not a league to be underestimated, either.

So, he is by far the most intriguing Turkish prospect with NBA probabilities within the next years to come.

[UcanUwill]

I heard of this kid, and Turkish league is very good considering. That said, this is first time actually seeing his highlights, and I gotta say that his stats are far more impressive than his tape sadly. He is very young so he should expand this game, but those videos were underwhelming in my opinion. Pick and roll big, but not really athletic or long.

[ofeek]

Another solid performance today.

29 minutes, 22 points, 14 rebounds, 3 asists, 1 steal, 4 blocks, 3 turnovers.

Watch on YouTube

only 9 field goal attempts with 5/9 2pts and 12/13 free throws made.

some highlights of his performance ( 30 points, 13 rebounds ) from last week;

Watch on YouTube

[nolang1]

I think he's my top international prospect at the moment on production alone. Luis Scola would be a good example of someone who doesn't jump out on tape but just scored at a solid clip wherever he played, and Sengun is more of an athlete and seems to have better shooting touch, not to mention all the steals and blocks he's been racking up.

[ekpeudoh]

At age of 18, he is a perfect offensive power.

Defense is not that good.

But will definetely be drafted and i guess will start.

Reminds me john collins.

[clyde21]

i mean his production is absolutely absurd but i'm having trouble projecting him to the NBA, doesn't really have legit C size to me, but not really sure if he's a 4 either

[Stillwater]

who lol never heard of him

[ofeek]

another sick performance yesterday.

29 points, 13 board, 6 steals and 3 blocks

Watch on YouTube

Finally, about a month after i opened the thread here, ESPN projected him at the 30th place, among the top 100 talent for 2021 draft.

[EvanZ]

Not sure what to make of him yet.

[No-Man]

He is like turkish TJD with some Domas and Scola in there, probably not as good as those because of athletic tools limitations but the guy is skilled, physical and has a massive motor, love watching him, just not sure how much upside is there

Pretty obvious he is going to shoot 3s just fine

[baldur]

who lol never heard of him

21st pick in current tankathon mock draft.

[SwipeDaFox]

He has a lot of DeMarcus Cousins in him, minus the All-World freak measurements.

If this was 10-15 years ago he'd be talked as a top 5 pick - in the modern NBA sadly he has very little working for him until he shows he can knock down 3's at close to or above 40% rate - and even then he'd be considered a liability most of the time - So his stock is inevitably going to suffer.

Looks like a real solid player though. I love his handle for a big guy.

[SkyhookinUrMom]

Looks like a player, but centers that play back-to-basket, below-rim are at all time low demand

[Mirotic12]

He's a smaller, less athletic version of Ioannis Bourousis. I seem him having the same problem Bourousis had. Bourousis had a huge frame, and once he filled out, he couldn't guard on pick and roll, or on switches. And that was despite that he was very athletic.

Sengun is noticeably shorter (probably like 2-3 inches), but I still see that huge frame that looks like it will fill out a lot. And he's noweher clsoe to the athletic level Bourousis had.

If Sengun could somehow stay at his current size and weight, then he has a chance to be OK on defense. But if his body fills out a lot more out, which it looks like he has the body type that will, then I don't see him being able to defend on pick and roll and on switches.

[nolang1]

He has a lot of DeMarcus Cousins in him, minus the All-World freak measurements.

If this was 10-15 years ago he'd be talked as a top 5 pick - in the modern NBA sadly he has very little working for him until he shows he can knock down 3's at close to or above 40% rate - and even then he'd be considered a liability most of the time - So his stock is inevitably going to suffer.

Looks like a real solid player though. I love his handle for a big guy.

I get what you mean where they both show good bursts of athleticism in tight spaces and have excellent hands. I think there's a tendency to dismiss the highlights of guys like that as too pedestrian or characterize them as black hole volume scorers when more 'efficient' low-volume players are either harming their team's spacing by not getting themselves in position to receive a pass or get an offensive rebound or leaving points on the board by fumbling the ball and being forced to kick it out rather than immediately going up with a dunk/layup.

I don’t think hitting threes will be too much of an ask eventually if he’s above 80 percent on free throws right now. The top 5 is too much, but the top 10-15 is looking a lot more penetrable than it seemed going into the season.

[clyde21]

size difference between Alp and Cousins is real tho, and Cousins had an absurd handle for his size too, great passer, and that size variance makes a huge difference defensively for them, even tho Cousins himself was not necessarily a great defender

don't really see it with this guy tbh, might carve a niche as a 2nd/3rd unit scoring big like a Kanter or something but the ceiling is pretty low on him

[nolang1]

Maybe it's because the first I heard of him he was being compared to Kanter (seemingly because they're both from Turkey and score and rebound a lot), but he seems more athletic than advertised. Plus he's a whole year younger than players like Suggs and Mobley, so he can change a lot from a physical perspective. Regardless of the perceived athleticism limitations, I don't think someone can be #2 in rebounding and #1 in blocks in the Turkish league without having a good idea of what to do on the defensive end.

If he keeps up this level of production, it's going to be Luka and him and then all other young European prospects far behind. At that point what he brings to the table outweighs the negatives and it's certainly worth seeing what he could do playing with a stretch 5; obviously it's worked pretty well for a player like Sabonis.

[Mirotic12]

Maybe it's because the first I heard of him he was being compared to Kanter (seemingly because they're both from Turkey and score and rebound a lot), but he seems more athletic than advertised. Plus he's a whole year younger than players like Suggs and Mobley, so he can change a lot from a physical perspective. Regardless of the perceived athleticism limitations, I don't think someone can be #2 in rebounding and #1 in blocks in the Turkish league without having a good idea of what to do on the defensive end.

If he keeps up this level of production, it's going to be Luka and him and then all other young European prospects far behind. At that point what he brings to the table outweighs the negatives and it's certainly worth seeing what he could do playing with a stretch 5; obviously it's worked pretty well for a player like Sabonis.

OK hold up now..........the numbers he has on Besiktas in Turkish League, would translate to like 6 and 4 on Real Madrid, IF, IF, IF he even made the rotation.

There is zero comparison with Luka. Zero.

Sengun is obviously a really skilled big man. But already he's being way overrated just because of age and numbers that don't mean a whole lot in European basketball. I've seen many centers over the years have the same or better numbers than he has in similar teams, then go to EuroLeague and not even last as a 3rd string center. Let's pump the brakes on putting him in Luka's class.

Nikos Chougkaz's numbers in Greek first division:

http://widgets.baskethotel.com/site/esake/player/5836553/

10.1 points
6.0 rebounds
10.4 PIR

He's a 6-10 small forward with quite good mobility and athleticism. He's a good finisher and a good 3 point shooter. He can even handle the ball a little bit, and is a decent passer.

His play is basically as good or better than Poku's play was n the second division, but he's in the first division.

You know how many minutes Chougkaz would get on Greek EuroLeague teams Olympiacos and Panathinaikos? I believe it's pretty safe to say about zero. Like 99.9% chance he would get zero minutes. Olympiacos would very likely he have him on their developmental squad. Yet, he's a 6-10 prospect with very good production in Greece's first division.

The problem is, that means nothing when we are talking about the level of big EuroLeague clubs, where such players would have little chance to make a rotation.

[peZt]

If only he was a few damn inches taller. He should still find a role in the NBA I think. It's not like he is Enes Kanter level of bad on defense, he's ok on that end.

Side note: As a turkish person it is incredibly sad to see how all these turkish prospects turned out. I think from 2012 till 2017 or something we won like 10 medals in the U16-U20's but almost none of the players turned out good. This was supposed to be our golden generation but all we got out of it were Cedi Osman and Furkan Korkmaz. Shows you how much more important it is to have 1-2 great prospects in each generation than 12 solid ones, even if the latter might win you some gold medals

Someone like Onuralp Bitim looked soo promising yet didn't develop at all in the last 4 years. And don't get me started on guys like Okben Ulubay, Kenan Sipahi or Egemen Güven

[No-Man]

Sengun's size is fine if he shoots, which he will, obv defending in space etc, prob hard to see but during the RS things like that matter less, his productivity is just insane

Obv if he were a 7-footer with his skillset/fluidity etc he would be a top5-10 pick

He is a 1st rounder, I think you can project him to be Luis Scola-ish