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

The Rockets need to lean into more Alperen Sengun post ups

Stephen Curry ushered in the 3-point revolution and killed the post up when he decided to see at what point an increase in 3-point attempts would drop his efficiency to the point where it wasn’t a valuable shot anymore. Years later, we still don’t know. Curry is at 12.3 3-point attempts per game and is still shooting 41.4%. 

The Rockets should take a similar route with Sengun post ups. Efficiency is great, but when it’s not at volume, it hardly makes a sound. The Suns lead the league in offensive rating at 119.8 points per 100 possessions. At 1.32 points per possession, a Sengun post up is instant elite offense.

The Rockets have no reason not to feed Sengun post ups until his points per possessions slides beneath 1.2. Joel Embiid leads the NBA in post ups per game at 6.3, but Sengun’s 3.6 is miles off that mark. 

Why the Rockets have no reason not to increase their post ups

When the Rockets hired Stephen Silas, traded for Kevin Porter Jr., and drafted Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr., they told the world that they believed the post up was dead. The way of the future was a perimeter oriented attack built around dynamic guards and 3-point shooting, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a heaping helping, by today’s standards, of post ups. 

The Rockets play at a 100.7 possession pace. Sengun is getting 3.6 post up possessions per game. Only 3.6% of the Rockets' possessions are going to Sengun post ups. Increasing Sengun post ups to 5% or 6% of the overall offense won’t completely change the offense, and it’s not like the Rockets’ offense is any good to begin with, as they’re generating 1.06 points per possession.  

It remains unclear if Alperen Sengun is a player you can build a championship team around. He has significant defensive limitations that he may never be able to overcome. However, at 20 years old he has already shown that he has an elite skill. The Rockets are abjectly awful. There’s no reason not to see how far the Alperen Sengun post up game can take them.