申京能否成为西部前二中锋？火箭队记与专栏作者激辩

Alperen Sengun and the Houston Rockets are off to a nice start this season. Sengun is in his 6th NBA season, and he has quickly developed into one of the NBA's best young centers; his growth has been a huge reason the Houston Rockets have become such a dangerous team in the Western Conference.

The two-time NBA All-Star is averaging a career-high 22.4 points per game along with a career-high 8.1 assists. He has been one of the main reasons why the Rockets are a top-3 seed in the Western Conference.  He's only 24 years old and has developed  his skills each season. His defense has improved drastically, and so far in 9 games, his 3-point shooting has been incredible, and he's shooting 50% from deep.

He is one of the league's most versatile players. The Western Conference has a ton of great centers, and we asked the Rockets On SI writers whether Sengun can become a top-two center in the Western Conference.

Eric Jay Santos

With 22.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 8.1 assists per game, Alperen Sengun is arguably the Houston Rockets’ most valuable player on offense at the moment. His ability to facilitate as a playmaking center has drawn comparisons to three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. This serves as a blueprint of his potential development, rather than reducing the 24-year-old center to a brand-rate version.

With that being said, Sengun is well within reach of making an All-NBA leap this season, though it will be a daunting task to eclipse Jokic and Victor Wembanyama as the Western Conference’s top centers. Both players finished top three in MVP voting last season. Sengun is showing growth in the early stages of the season, but more work needs to be done to close the gap.

Matt Hanifan

While Sengun is off to a dominant start, he’s not on the level of Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama. He’s still at least one tier below both. Wembanyama is obviously the superior defender and shooter, while Jokic is the better passer and is much stronger.

That’s not to diminish Sengun’s early impact, though. We’re still very early into the season, but only Jokic and Luka Doncic have averaged 22-9-8 over a full season since 2020-21. We’ll see what happens once Steven Adams returns, too. If he keeps this up, he’d be well on his way to not only making his third All-Star team, but his first All-NBA team.

Ethan J. Skolnick

Those who say it can never happen, because Jokic is Jokic may be forgetting that Jokic wasn't always Jokic, at least not in the sense of being a dominant and destructive offensive force that no one else could touch. He was a second-round pick that was in a competition with Jusuf Nurkic for playing time, before the Nuggets chose to move Nurkic to Portland.

Now Jokic is an 8-time All-Star and 3-time MVP, but he's also nearly 32, and some decline is inevitable. So it will require Jokic coming back to Earth a bit while Sengun continues his ascent.

But if Sengun is going to earn equal or greater status at any time, it won't come with regular season statistics. Sengun will need to help the Rockets win a round or two, something that hasn't happened yet. And ideally, while eliminating Jokic's Nuggets in the process.

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