With the NBA postseason around the corner, there might not be a better player than the Houston Rockets’ Jalen Green right now.
The former No. 2 overall pick has scored at least 26 points in 11 of his last 14 games. He’s playing easily the best basketball of his young career, which not by coincidence, has merged with a 10-game Rockets winning streak. For all intents and purposes, he’s starting to resemble a franchise superstar.
But some have suggested that Green’s rise has only occurred in the absence of Rockets center Alperen Sengun, who suffered a severe ankle sprain in early March.
In a recent episode of The Matt Thomas Show, Houston head coach Ime Udoka heartily rejected this sentiment, saying there was no “direct correlation” between Green’s resurgence and Sengun’s absence.
Ime Udoka on why Alperen Sengun being out is not the reason for Jalen Green’s resurgence:
“We wanted to really increase the pace and get the threes up and all those things don’t have anything to do with Alpi – When Jalen was struggling earlier in the year he had the same quality… pic.twitter.com/G4o33bcDxl
— Mitty (@MittyNBA) March 28, 2024
To piggyback on Udoka, Green already started to score the ball well before Sengun got hurt. The same plays have been made available to the guard all year. It’s more that of late, with appropriate growth, he’s started to take better advantage of his reads and the way teams are defending him. Sure, Green is probably touching the ball more without Sengun in the fold, but Sengun’s profile is more that of a facilitator than a ball-dominant scorer anyway.
In that respect, he wouldn’t detract much from Green’s more assertive play, regardless.
What should excite the Rockets and their fans is pairing this version of Green with a healthy Sengun. Heck, if all goes well with Sengun’s recovery, we might even see this duo again by the end of the regular season.