In an appearance on The Old Man and the Three podcast — hosted by former NBA player and current league analyst JJ Redick — third-year Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun sat down to discuss his personal growth and that of the team in the 2023-24 season.
Just 21 years old, the Turkish sensation is averaging 22.1 points (54.1% FG), 9.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.2 steals in 32.8 minutes per game. He’s a clear All-Star candidate, and his success has helped the Rockets (20-23) remain competitive in a close race for one of the four play-in tournament spots in the Western Conference.
Here’s the episode summary from The Old Man and the Three, with the complete podcast and select clips available below.
This week we welcome Alperen Şengün, the young Turkish NBA star and center of the Houston Rockets. Alperen discusses his experience growing up playing basketball is Turkey and his relationship with past and present Turkish players in the league.
He also shares what it means to him as being labeled as “Baby Nikola Jokic,” how he eventually want to move on from being compared to the Denver Nuggets superstar, and his mindset going into matchups against Jokic and 76ers center Joel Embiid.
He then discusses the 2023-24 Houston Rockets, including what the addition of point guard Fred VanVleet has meant to the the young team, what’s he’s learned about Dillon Brooks from being his teammate, and how much he enjoys the coaching style of Ime Udoka. He also breaks down his famous one-legged shot.
The complete episode was published on Friday, Jan. 26.
Alperen Sengun with JJ Redick
Alperen Şengün on Dillon Brooks, via @OldManAndThree:
“It surprised me he was such a good dude outside of the court… You can do anything with him he’s open to everything.
He wants to come to Türkiye so bad, he said “I’m gonna come for sure” pic.twitter.com/25BGB9MJaE
— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) January 26, 2024
Alperen Şengün describing what Ime Udoka means to the #Rockets :
JJ Redick — “do you feel like he’s hard on you?”
Şengün — “yeah but I love it, where I grew up that’s normal.”(https://t.co/sNNGQzBKZc) pic.twitter.com/f0muQk6Atc
— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) January 26, 2024
.@alperennsengun talks about being called “Baby Jokić” and going up against top bigs like Embiid and Sabonis.
Full episode with @jj_redick drops 1/26: https://t.co/4OVLbWJYoC pic.twitter.com/oBjJKbdvIC
— TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) January 25, 2024
Pretty cool stuff from Alperen Sengun talking about FVV’s impact on the Rockets with @OldManAndThree pic.twitter.com/n6kMMYQEiX
— Esfandiar Baraheni (@JustEsBaraheni) January 26, 2024
Alperen Şengün loves being coached hard. Says Udoka is tough, but it's "nothing."
JJ Redick: "Even when you were a kid, you never took any of that personally?"
Alpi: "No, never – if you are a good player on your team, you have to take it all" #Rockets
(🔗@OldManAndThree) pic.twitter.com/nq0ojgxeiK
— 28🐐 (@iamsohappy28) January 26, 2024
