Alperen Sengun has become a post up king, will the Rockets capitalize?

It’s still early in the season, but Alperen Sengun is making his case for the title of the Houston Rockets’ MVP. Sengun leads the team in win shares per 48 minutes, win shares, offensive box plus/minus, box plus/minus, and VORP. FiveThirtyEight’s Raptor WAR sees Sengun as the Rockets’ best offensive and overall player, and he is second in their per-minute overall Raptor behind Garrison Mathews (Mathews is a Raptor star, he comfortably led the Rockets last season in the metric as well). 

The advanced metrics peg Sengun as a rising star, and your regular old box score tends to agree. He’s averaging 16.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 27.1 minutes per game. His stellar counting stats are backed by impressive efficiency as well. His 58.8% effective field goal percentage is 11% better than league average, his free throw attempt rate of .514 is a massive 94% better than the league average of .265, and his 3.7 offensive rebounds per game rank 7th in the league. 

For a player who turned 20 a mere 102 days ago, Sengun is bruising defenses with the ferocity of a berserker while simultaneously shredding them with the precision of a katana. His turn as the ultimate frontcourt warrior has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise destitute season for the Rockets, but amazingly, there is still so much more for him to give.