Alperen Sengun is the best young player on the Houston Rockets.
It’s an extremely positive development that we’re long past the point of this being a debate. Unless someone comes and takes that title from him, Sengun looks poised to be Houston’s long-term franchise centerpiece. Few people saw this coming when Sengun was drafted, but that’s kind of the point of having as many first round picks as the Rockets have had these past three years. They wanted to collect as many scratch off tickets as they could until they struck gold on a player of his caliber.
Now that they have Sengun, the next logical move for the Rockets is to look for a co-star will help him shepherd this team into true championship contention whenever he enter his prime. Fortunately for the Rockets, five of their other scratch-off tickets remain extremely promising. This means Houston may not have to venture outside the roster to find that eventual co-star. And that’s kind of what we’re going to explore today.
Today, I’m ranking and analyzing all the possible Sengun co-star options available to the Rockets from this point forward.
Tier 1: The most logical
Jalen Green
Given Alperen Sengun’s strengths and weaknesses as a player, his co-star would require two things: scoring on the perimeter and three-point shooting. Jalen Green is still developing in both areas, but his already near average as a three-point shooter (34.1% for his career). This, combined with his nuclear ability to change gears gives him a clear advantage over his peers on the roster. To be clear, Green has a ways to go from a ball handling, playmaking, and efficiency perspective. However, I’m confident he will make the necessary strides to reach second-star level.
I wrote about this two weeks ago and podcasted about it recently with
of : I believe people are rushing to judgement about Green and it’s partly due to their own sky-high expectations for him coming into the NBA. If you had a measured opinion about Green on draft night (meaning you didn’t expect him to be a franchise-caliber player), the early returns on Green shouldn’t be disappointing. Green, given continued steady improvement, is still on-pace to be a Zach LaVine caliber All-Star.And in today’s NBA, LaVine should be good enough to be the second best player on a championship team. The question is:
Will someone on the roster surpass a Zach LaVine level of stardom?
Tier 2: There’s something missing…
Amen Thompson
Amen Thompson has a clear flaw that prevents him from overtaking Jalen Green for the top spot on this list: three-point shooting. If not for the shooting, Thompson has a clear edge over Green as a prospect. However, without the shooting, not only is Green a safer NBA prospect than Thompson, he fits better alongside Alperen Sengun. It’s just going to be incredibly difficult for him to be effective when he doesn’t have the basketball in his hands.
And unless Thompson overtakes Sengun as the franchise centerpiece, he’s going to be without the ball on most possessions.
Jabari Smith
Originally, I had not considered Jabari Smith to be an actual co-star candidate. In fact, Smith was slated to be in Tier 3 of this list. However, his scoring efficiency the season is kind of insane (60.2% true shooting) after a rough rookie campaign (51.4% true shooting). And to be completely upfront: I sold some of my Jabari stock too early last year. My skepticism about his self-creation ability along with Jabari’s troublesome shooting season led me to believe his ceiling in the NBA wasn’t more than one of a role player.
And while that still may be the case, it’s possible the kind of supporting he’s doing is one of co-star caliber. Along with regaining his confidence as a player, Smith has improved drastically taking contact at the basket and as an overall ball hander. This was first on display at NBA Summer League, but it’s carried over to the regular season. If Smith is the kind of player that’s capable of making drastic improvements year-over-year like this, perhaps we shouldn’t dismiss the possibility that he can co-star alongside Sengun.
After all, he’s probably the strongest shooter on this list.
Tier 3: If all else fails:
Outside the roster
Houston is sitting on a pile of first round picks and swaps from the Brooklyn Nets. They also have the contracts of Jock Landale, Jeff Green, Jae’Sean Tate, and Victor Oladipo (or whatever that eventually turns into). This list is a perfect example of the amount of blue chip talents on this roster. If they fail to turn one of those into a co-star, they’re in a very nice position to trade for one.
Names to keep an eye on: Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Jaylen Brown, Donavan Mitchell, De’Aaron Fox, Ja Morant, and LaMelo Ball.
It’s just some food for thought.
Cam Whitmore
As someone who had Cam Whitmore ranked as the 5th best prospect in the 2023 NBA Draft, this spot on the list is not meant to disparage him. I really like Whitmore, but the reason it was tough to rank him above someone like Amen Thompson in the draft was due to his low passing feel. Whitmore was sort of a blackhole offensively at Villanova.
Once you gave him the ball, you’re weren’t likely to get it back. Whitmore’s dribbling is also fairly rudimentary and will need a lot of work before he can be a dynamic guy with the ball in his hands. He can also be a bit of a slow reactor when catching the ball on the move. These are just not great qualities to have next to Sengun as a co-star.
Again, Whitmore is awesome, but he presents obvious challenges as the second best player on a title team projecting forward.
Tari Eason
I’ll be the first to admit: I was way too low on Tari Eason coming into the 2022 NBA Draft. I had him ranked right where he was selected: 17th. He was an older player coming out and I didn’t see an upside for him outside of "3-and-D wing”. That appears to be his floor right now.
He’s clearly a starting caliber wing already. The only reason he’s not starting on the Rockets right now is their loaded frontcourt of Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith, and Alperen Sengun. However, Eason might have the best defensive instincts on the roster outside of Jae’Sean Tate. His giant hands give him an advantage in passing lanes and his athleticism makes him a locomotive engine in transition.
Could I see a world in which Eason plays a Jerami Grant or Harrison Barnes type role for some team one day? It’s certainly on the table. Is that player good enough offensively to be the second best player on a title team? Probably not.
Eason will have to lift his offensive ceiling to heights previously not considered to really be in this conversation.