i really enjoy watching alperen sengun play - his game is incredibly fascinating and strangely aesthetically pleasing.
my favorite signature move of his is this push floater:
it's like a shot put:
the "ground hook":
here he is practicing them before a game.
it's still yet to be determined if sengun will develop enough as a defensive player - or be efficient enough on offense like nikola jokic where it won't really matter - to be a star-level nba player. regardless, i will enjoy watching every minute he plays.
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random thoughts:
donovan mitchell and damian lillard have both scored 71 points in a game this season...
nic claxton is a tremendous defender. elite rim protector and somehow maybe more elite (relative to his peers at his position) defending perimeter isos. i read somewhere the other week that he's only allowing less than 0.8 points per possession guarding isos, which is like the best defense in nba history. the brooklyn nets have him on an absurd 2-year $17.25 million contract too.
kevin durant joining phoenix means the suns now have three elite midrange marksmen. kd, devin booker, and chris paul average 19.6 midrange jumpers per game, second only to the atlanta hawks (as an entire team).
i swear every time i watch the miami heat they're running a zone defense. so i looked at the numbers: miami has run a zone in over 25% of their possessions - which is wildly high. to provide some context, the heat previously held the record for most zone defense usage in the 2018-2019 season, when 13.9% of their halfcourt possessions were in zone. only four teams in the nba run zone above 5% of the time this year.
i don't think most people appreciate how good kelly olynyk is. he's not exceptional at any one thing, but good at nearly everything, and has contributed to teams scoring more points with him on the floor than off for the last six seasons (!).
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