Alperen Sengun just had a stellar season with the Houston Rockets. But can he become the best since the best for a franchise known for its centers? Despite James Harden’s scoring heroics, Hakeem Olajuwon, aka The Dream, is arguably Houston’s greatest player of all time. That pretty obviously makes him the franchise’s best center. So how does Sengun’s 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game stack up against the rest in the 2023-24 season?
Is Sengun Houston’s best center since Olajuwon?
The good news for Sengun in this exercise is that most of Houston’s other notable big men actually played in the league before Hakeem. Historical performers like multiple MVP Moses Malone and former San Diego Rocket star Elvin Hayes are both no longer in contention. As is Hakeem’s former Finals partner Ralph Sampson, who unfortunately peaked in his fourth year before injuries took a toll on his 7-foot-4 frame.
So the pool of centers since Olajuwon is so large that Sengun has a better chance of competing against others. But that doesn’t mean that Houston’s center has been filled with a bunch of slackers in the meantime. In fact, there was even an all-time best.
The rare coup of Houston Free Agency
Dwight Howard made a big splash when he joined the Rockets in 2013. Of course, he was just coming off the most turbulent year of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers. But he had plenty left in the tank for his first year in Houston. Howard scored 18.3 points and grabbed 12.2 rebounds. He wasn’t the three-time Defensive Player of the Year who once dominated in Orlando. That probably had something to do with the team’s defensive rating barely changing after his arrival. Crucially, Howard was named to the All-NBA second team, making him, at least nominally, the league’s second-best center that season. But by that metric, the third-best was Al Jefferson, who played like Sengun when he never fit.
The rebounding advantage is marginal. Point inflation is so high that the points probably go in Howard’s favor. The discussion is mostly about defense versus playmaking. Howard had James Harden this season. Sengun had Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet. Green might be better suited long-term to play with a basket-scoring dunker like Howard. But it could also be that a center like Howard works better with a playmaking maestro like Harden, while a center like Sengun works better with players who are less productive offensively but more willing defensively.
The 77th best player of all time?
Dwight Howard’s absence from the 75th Anniversary Team was the second biggest problem with this list, which had 76 members. Sengun still has a long way to go to match his career accomplishments, which include a late Gary Payton-style championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. But Howard’s accomplishments in Houston are well within Sengun’s reach. Howard was a key part of a Conference Finals team for Houston in 2015, but his role had already shrunk by then. That leads us directly to Howard’s successor.
Sengun’s recent predecessor in Houston
Clint Capela started out as Howard’s backup. He developed into a legitimate starting center once the future Hall of Famer left town. However, he resumed Howard’s more minimalist role, setting blocks and rushing hard to the basket. He stayed under the basket to catch lobs, not to look for post-ups. In fact, Capela has been doing the same thing lately for the Atlanta Hawks, playing alongside Trae Young. He’s had a nice career so far and is far from done. But Sengun’s last season may have already surpassed Capela’s best. In terms of potential, it certainly looks like Sengun has a more productive career ahead of him. But speaking of potential, one particular Houston center since Olajuwon comes to mind.
The center may have to beat Sengun
Yao Ming was a 7-foot-1 behemoth with an enigmatic touch. The No. 1 pick in 2002, his potential was as immense as his physique. And it wasn’t just potential. Yao was a three-time All-Star in his third season. There’s a catch, though, in that he was a starter every year. That sounds even more impressive at first. But he was put in those spots by a tremendous number of fan votes. From a purely basketball perspective, there was no real justification for Yao starting ahead of Shaquille O’Neal in the years before Shaq went East. Would the coaches or the media have given Yao the nod so early if the fans hadn’t pushed him across the finish line?
Sengun just experienced something similar himself. Turkey couldn’t quite muster the momentum that China did for Yao. When the fan vote wasn’t enough, coaches weren’t inclined to select Sengun from the group of similarly deserving players. That’s not to say there aren’t other, perfectly reasonable arguments for Yao over Sengun, but the All-Star spots are lackluster. If injuries hadn’t derailed and abruptly ended Yao’s career, his recognition would likely be hard to catch up with. As it is, Sengun may have a chance, and he can start to narrow Yao’s lead next season.
No, no, no, I must not forget that…
It would be a mistake not to give an honorable mention to Dikembe Mutombo. The Hall of Famer ended his stellar career as a backup for Houston. He also took on additional responsibilities during Houston’s 22-game winning streak in 2008. He even made the tremendous sacrifice of accelerating his iconic finger motion after a block to allow Houston to create fast breaks.
The last word
Howard and Capela both played as starters for Houston in the Western Conference Finals. Yao Ming’s career is one of the great “what ifs” in basketball. Even taking all of that into account, Sengun seems poised to overtake her as Houston’s best center since Olajuwon. Of course, the current delay in his contract extension talks undermines that prospect somewhat. But Sengun is the best player on the Rockets’ roster. That they would trade him or risk losing him seems unlikely. Moreover, he can make that seem even more unlikely by putting together a monster season in 2024-25 that would put him another step closer to the indisputable title of Houston’s best center since the Dream.
