When long-time Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson has this and only this to say about an All-Star selection, “he’s number nine in rebounds… shooting 49%… um”, it’s not a great look. Such was the statement delivered to herald the announcement that Rockets center Alperen Sengun would be a 2024-25 All-Star. With a 54% True Shooting (TS), Sengun’s decreased efficiency this season has been an issue since opening night. His numbers are down from last year and pale compared to some of his non-All-Star peers’. Many people are wondering if Sengun deserved to be an All-Star.
Sengun’s All-Star Nod About More Than Just the Rockets’ Record
Who Missed Out?
The entire premise of an All-Star is that they are the best of the best. For Sengun to not deserve such an accolade, it follows someone would have to deserve it more. Luckily, there’s an entire All-Star announcement tradition dedicated to this – the All-Star snub category. So, do any of these so-called snubs deserve to be a 2024-25 Western Conference All-Star more than Sengun?
Luka Doncic was taken out of All-Star consideration by the injury that has sidelined him for 18 games. It breaks a streak of five consecutive appearances for him. Someone got in this year specifically because Doncic wasn’t available. But Doncic can hardly be considered a snub since he was hurt. Instead, the relevant Dallas Mavericks player would be Kyrie Irving. Irving has achieved 60% TS this season as Dallas’ primary creator (except against the Oklahoma City Thunder when P.J. Washington has been a one-man-wrecking-crew).
Devin Booker and Ja Morant both looked like prime candidates to be “snubbed” in favor of Sengun even before the starters had been announced. In Morant’s case (55.5% TS), he may have simply missed too many games. His standing within the league may not have fully recovered since his suspension either.
But crucially, both Booker and Morant will have teammates at the event. Coaches took the record of Morant’s Memphis Grizzlies into consideration in awarding a spot to former DPOY Jaren Jackson Jr. As for Booker (58.3% TS), the selection of Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant was out of the coaches’ hands as he’d already been made a starter. The Suns 24-22 record certainly worked against him.
The Big One
Then there’s Domantas Sabonis. Trae Young has already coined his own verbiage in recognition of the coaches’ disdain for him. Maybe being “Snubonised” will compete with “getting Traed” down the line. Sabonis has a whopping 68% TS this season, fuelled in part by a blistering 48.1% three-point percentage that he and Nikola Jokic apparently discovered some alchemy for over the offseason.
How Important Is All-Star Sengun To Houston?
Sengun missed the Rockets’ last game against the Grizzlies with a calf strain. He still participated in team shoot-around since picking up the injury so it’s not likely to be serious. His absence didn’t even doom Houston’s chances of winning, considering they led for most of the fourth quarter. But win they did not, and as usual, it was their execution on offense late that did them in. People may speak illy of Sengun’s 49% shooting as a center, but the Rockets shot 28.6% as a team in the fourth quarter without him in a recent game against the Grizzlies.
Why Is Sengun Less Efficient In His First All-Star Season?
The only player listed above who is the number one option for their team is Morant. If Morant had been healthy, he probably would have made it over Jackson. Even Sabonis, with his incredible numbers that only want the praise they deserve because Jokic exists, isn’t a number one option. The Kings’ number one option is Fox. It’s fair to observe that, similar to Fox, Jalen Green is actually the Rockets’ leading scorer. However, the difference in how Sengun and Sabonis are used is significant. Sengun is second in the league in post touches per game at 5.5. Sabonis is 18th at 2.8, behind Bam Adebayo. Sengun is also third among centers in drives. Sabonis is 17th with fewer than half as many per game.
In short, Sengun is asked to create more of his own offense. Not just his own either, but for his entire team. Of course, Sabonis has to do that as well, and his 6.6 assists per game attest to him doing a good of it. But there is no De’Aaron Fox or DeMar DeRozan on the 2024-25 Houston Rockets. Sengun is the recipient of constant double teams and game planning and has been crucial to allowing Houston’s offense to barely scrape by. Sabonis is the hub around which the gleaming spokes of a smooth-turning offense spin freely. Sengun is the crankshaft that struggles desperately to propel the clumsy machinery around it into motion.
Bear in mind also that Sengun’s offensive regression this season (he went from 21.1 points per game on 58.5% TS to 19.8 on the aforementioned 54%) is likely in part because of his defensive improvement. That improvement has been key to Houston’s remarkable season. As a result, though, Sengun often looks gassed in the post, especially late in games. Hopefully, as he develops, he’ll rediscover his prior efficiency whilst maintaining his current defensive activity.
The Last Word
Ultimately, people apply their own standards to what ought to make an All-Star. Evidence strongly suggests that what makes an All-Star is a winning record, the more wins the better. The Rockets and Grizzlies have managed to carve out a little den in the standings just below the Thunder and just above the scrum. Both teams were rewarded for that. It probably is that simple from the coaches’ perspective. But the idea that Sabonis does more for his team because he has better numbers is going too far the other way. At the end of the day, Alperen Sengun is a 2024-25 All-Star. Rockets fans are pleased about that. They also hope he’ll be a more efficient All-Star next year.
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