Alperen Sengun says the quiet part out loud about Steven Adams' role for Rockets

As the Houston Rockets have quickly become one of the winningest teams in the NBA this season, their formidable center duo of Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams has also quickly re-established themselves as one of the most dominant tandems in the league.

Adams, particularly, has been hyper-impactful for the Rockets in his minutes on the court this season, and Sengun, in his press appearance following the team's blowout victory over the Sacramento Kings, made his teammate's importance crystal clear.

""Playing with him and bringing that toughness on this team, talking, everything. He's such a funny guy, talks to everybody, leading us, been fighting under that ring... He's huge for us, and he's healthy now. ”"

Alperen Sengun via Michael Shapiro

Steven Adams' importance extends beyond just his daunting physical presence

Although Houston has largely gone away from starting their double-big lineup outside of certain matchup situations, Adams has still been massively impactful for the team this season.

Per 36 minutes on the court, he's averaging 11.4 points, 15.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists. He's the reason the Rockets are far and away the best offensive rebounding team in the league, and he has provided the team with an 8.5-point boost in their net rating when he's gotten on the floor.

Yet, Adams' leadership, which may go relatively unnoticed by fans that have followed Adams only casually throughout his career, may prove to have the greatest impact upon this Rockets team.

As good as they have been this season, Houston is still overwhelmingly young. Outside of Durant, their best players are Sengun, who is 23, as well as Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr., both of whom are just 22.

While all three of these players look to have taken a major leap in their confidence since last season, they will still need to look toward their veterans on the court in Adams and Durant in order to lead them through the grueling portions of the season and, later, the grind that the playoffs represent.

While the Rockets have largely been an unstoppable force this season, there have been stretches of games in which they have fallen flat on both ends of the court. As the season goes on, they will need to learn to minimize, if not completely erase, these moments if they want to become serious championship contenders.

Adams performed that function for the Rockets against the Kings on Wednesday night, and he veteran leadership of players like Adams will be absolutely integral in this task as the season goes on.

Sengun's comments are just the latest indication of how important he is, and will be, to this team.