Alperen Sengun’s Defense Has Become a Major Issue for the Rockets

Alperen Sengun’s defense has been a big topic of discussion throughout his NBA career. It's easily the worst facet of his game.

Granted, at times, it's looked much better than other times. For example, last season Sengun took a defensive leap.

By his own standards, at least. Sure, he'll never be the second coming of Ben Wallace or David Robinson. Or Rudy Gobert.

He'll never be anything close to that level of a defender. But then again, Gobert and Wallace can't do what he does on the offensive end, either.

Although that's also been slipping lately. At times, however, Sengun hasn't been nearly as much of a liability on the defensive end of the floor as we've seen lately.

Because it has been horrid lately. Downright awful. And it feels like that's still not putting enough emphasis on the severity of Sengun's defensive woes and/or lapses.

Well, Kendrick Perkins broke it down, adding the perfect amount of color to it on ESPN's NBA Countdown.

The NBA champion big man and 14-year vet didn't hold back.

"When a coach calls out the dog mentality and calls out the defense, the first thing that comes to mind, for me, is the big man. And I know Alperen Sengun doesn't like the nickname Baby Jokic so I gave him one. Zero Interest.

Because he has zero interest in playing defense.

Have y'all seen him lately?"

The defensive-minded big man continued to unload.

"This is not a guy that is fired up about defending at any kind of level. Look at his body language, the flopping, not being able to hold his own.

Not being able to be engaged. Not denying the ball.

I'm not picking on him. If I see a queen of hearts, damn it, I'm gonna call a queen of hearts. The film doesn't lie. The film doesn't lie."

Sengun’s poor defense is something that's come up publicly earlier in the season by Rockets coach Ime Udoka. Even recently.

Udoka stated that teams have been hunting Sengun in pick-and-roll actions since he took over as the Rockets' head coach in 2023. And he's right.

Teams hunt Sengun defensively, waiting for Sengun to be switched on to them. Joe Johnson even pointed it out also, stating that Sengun can't keep up with a faster pace and tempo.

And he wasn't even known for his defense.

And although Udoka probably should have (and definitely could have) kept that in house, it was an accurate assessment. As was Perkins'.