For rookie center Alperen Sengun, who was selected at No. 16 overall in the first round of the 2021 NBA draft, his media interviews to date with the Houston Rockets have been relatively short.
There’s a very good reason for that, though: English is not Sengun’s first language. The 19-year-old is a native of Turkey, where he won MVP of the Turkish Basketball Super League last season, and he’s still in only his first few months of living in the United States.
Sengun averages 9.0 points (50.0% FG, 30.8% on 3-pointers), 4.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 18.4 minutes per game in Houston, though he is temporarily sidelined at the moment by a right ankle sprain.
Sengun’s English is clearly getting better, but his media interviews are still handled using a translator. This often leads to shorter answers and exchanges, since they lack the usual conversational flow.
By contrast, Sengun’s interviews with Turkish outlets can be far more revealing, since they speak the same language. With translations by Rockets fan and Twitter user @ProdiGNBA, here’s what Sengun tells Turkish media outlet Socrates Dergi about the start to his NBA career.