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Alperen Şengün named All-Star, Houston’s first selection since 2020

The 32-14 Houston Rockets get an All-Star selection as NBA coaches pick Alperen Şengün over Domantas Sabonis

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3 hours ago

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Alperen Şengün is officially an NBA All-Star after the 22-year-old big man was named by the league’s coaches as a Western Conference reserve Thursday night.

This is Şengün’s first selection and the Rockets’ first All-Star since James Harden and Russell Westbrook in 2020. Şengün joins Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Yao Ming as the only Rockets players 22 or younger to receive the honor.

“He’s obviously a very skilled player but he’s a matchup nightmare for guys,” said Rockets coach Ime Udoka after the selection. “He can kind of score and play everywhere all over the court. Just his competitiveness in general has been really good. But he’s an unselfish guy as well. Understanding it’s not going to be his night every night, teams try to take him out and (he) kind of (becomes) an initiator and hub down there to get everybody else involved. That’s the beauty of him. He can make you pay in more than one way.”

Going into the night, it was touch and go whether Şengün would make it and when you broke it down, you knew it would come down to Şengün or Domantas Sabonis. Truthfully, there was going to be a snub either way. Sabonis has better and more efficient stats but the Rockets are 32-14, the third-best record in the league. The Rockets not having an All-Star would have been a crime, so there was going to be criticism either way.

Sengun isn’t having his most efficient offensive season (54.0% true shooting), which is a surprise, but he has put in a lot of work to fit into a top-tier defense and been very key on the boards, leading the team with 10.4 caroms a night. Rebounding has been an underappreciated part of Houston’s success. To highlight that, he had 29 double-doubles last season in 63 games and he already has 28 of them in 46 games this season.

Alpi and Jalen Green are both top-25 in the NBA in drawing double teams this season, which also is a big part of how the Rockets rack up wins. Şengün’s vision, finding cutters and three-point shooters, has been instrumental as well.

So enjoy it, Houston. It’s a huge honor and hopefully it’s a sign of bigger things to come for Sengun and the Rockets.

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Armed with a bizarre fascination for Mario Elie and a deep love of the Houston Rockets, Dave Hardisty started ClutchFans in 1996 under the pen name “Clutch”.

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Don’t Blame Me, I Didn’t Vote For Yao

“Don’t blame me, I voted for ” is a common phrase uttered after elections to describe a feeling of helplessness at your candidate not being elected. You might similarly bring it out when the elected official does something particularly stupid.

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14 years ago

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November 19, 2010

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Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.

“Don’t blame me, I voted for [insert name here]” is a common phrase uttered after elections to describe a feeling of helplessness at your candidate not being elected. You might similarly bring it out when the elected official does something particularly stupid.

The NBA All-Star ballots came out this week and I’m hoping you’ll all follow my lead in just saying “no” to voting for Yao Ming as the starting center of the Western Conference All-Star squad.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “Jeff, what the hell is wrong with you?” or “You are a moron” or, for fans of the movie Airplane, “Did I leave the iron on?” Well, before you wish me waterboarded into oblivion, try to understand why I feel this way.

With all due respect to the big fella, there is no way a guy who is playing 18 minutes per game (with a team-imposed cap at 24), skipping back-to-backs and averaging 10 points and 5 rebounds should be a starter on the All-Star team. In a city like Houston, always so desperate for recognition and respect, it probably sounds bizarre to complain about our guys getting noticed, but respect is exactly why we need to vote for someone else.
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