Draft guru thinks development all but confirms Alperen Sengun earns coveted honor

As Alperen Sengun stormed into the Houston Rockets' regular season with a monstrous, 39-point performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the season opener, it quickly became clear that the team's franchise center is playing with a new sort of swagger, buoyed by the massive strides he has taken over the past two seasons toward becoming one of the NBA's elite centers.

Moreover, according to Sam Vecenie, on the latest episode of his Game Theory Podcast, Sengun's confidence in his shot is the major factor that could drive him toward being an All-NBA caliber player.

If he can knock down shots this year from outside of the paint, and even on the perimeter, the league could be in serious trouble.

Sam Vecenie believes Sengun is looking more confident than ever

With starting point guard Fred VanVleet likely out for the season, and a superstar-caliber scorer now on the roster in the form of Kevin Durant, Sengun will need to take on a variety of new roles and responsibilities as the roster changes around him.

Yet, in his first game of the regular season, Sengun showed his ability to dominate no matter the circumstances, putting up 39 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists throughout the 48 minutes he played in the double-overtime thriller.

Moreover, Sengun shot an absurd 5-of-8 from 3-point range. For a player that is a career 27.9% shooter from beyond the arc, he looked exceedingly comfortable getting up his shots from outside, and, according to Vecenie, this could make the difference for Sengun this season: "If [Sengun] shoots the ball with this degree of confidence from three... he's making All-NBA and it's not even going to be a question."

Last season, as Sengun earned his first nod to the All-Star Game, he took a major leap forward, becoming a dominant scorer in the paint and a capable defender while averaging 19.1 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists through 76 games.

Yet, throughout his career, the primary knock against him has been his inconsistent shooting outside of the paint. While there were defensive concerns early on in his career, he has largely alleviated these by becoming a more capable rim-protector, leaving his ability to knock down mid-range and perimeter shots as the most glaring critique one could make of his game.

However, as Vecenie points out, we could be seeing a whole new version of Sengun if he looks confident shooting the ball.

In addition to being a threat around the basket and an excellent offensive facilitator from the top of the paint, Sengun becoming even a viable outside shooter would force opposing defenses to spread themselves thin attempting to counter the Rockets' versatile offensive looks.

Therefore, while it remains to be seen whether the numbers remain viable for Sengun, just the confidence he has shown alone is highly promising for his chances at taking another leap this season and lifting the Rockets back into championship contention in the process.