The Greatest YMCA player in NBA history | Alperen Şengün

We've all known that local YMCA legend who schools people with bobbing post-up moves and hangs out in the middle of the floor to dime up springier younglings. That's basically Alperin Schengen, a 20-year-old whirling dervish who looks like a bizarro version of Nikola Jokic. Like Jokic, Schengen sort of grinds his way toward the basket and whirls into soft push shots. And when I say push shots, I mean a literal shot put from short range. And if this isn't the most hipster move in the league right now, I don't know what is. It's purest form comes in catch-and-shoot situations, when he can really load up, square himself, and just flick it into the net. And I don't know what I love more, his little 8-inch hop off the floor, or that he doesn't really ever extend his arm like he's shooting it at a Nerf hoop. Unfortunately, this thing doesn't have much range, which limits Schengen's scoring outside the paint. So every once in a while he'll use a more traditional set shot, and of course Schengen gets that bounce. These are 1950s moves that Alperin is using to school players today. And he has that old man game that's unstoppable in pickup, just hopping around at his own speed into some unorthodox shot. I mean, look at everything happening on this play. He catches it and shimmies the shoulders to rev the engines, then starts corkscrewing his way into the paint, gets stuck, then makes the eyes emoji at a teammate, only to fake a behind-the-back pass to absolutely no one, all just to miss a short hook. Schengen is not the complete scorer that Jokic is. If he's not shot-putting, he doesn't really have any mid-range game, so he's not a dangerous pick-and-pop weapon and doesn't punish sagging defenders. But he's really hard to guard in space because of all those schoolyard moves around the basket. His game is mostly ground-bound, with his center of gravity over the middle of his body, and he'll use little ball fakes like this to manipulate more vertical defenders. He'll even up-fake the push shot, although it's slow and deliberate, so the defense goes nowhere, but Alpi just turns his back and goes to work with some more old-man moves. And notice how he bounces into the defender's outside shoulder to create space to jump eight inches off the ground. Since he's broad across the chest with a lower center of gravity, he can power through players at angles like this, and he's strong enough to kind of chisel his way closer to the rim, where he can protect the ball and finish. When he can grind his way closer to the hoop, he's already a good scorer, finishing with either hand and dizzying opponents with his endless spin moves to set up little push shots. And look at how light and bouncy those feet are when he starts twirling around. On some of these, he basically twists and bends his ankles in every possible direction, this time shielding the ball with his arm to protect it. Because he's an ambidextrous finisher, he overcomes a lack of verticality by almost always finishing with his outside hand, and when he needs to, he throws up that off-arm to keep shot blockers away from those one-handed flicks. But the real Jokic parallels come from Shungun's passing. If you're sitting far enough away, you might actually mistake him for Jokic on some of these passes. The similarities in their vision, creativity, and even the delivery angles are uncanny at times. And some of these passes are probably so similar because Shungun has called Jokic his idol. Since Joker came into the league when Alperin was just 14, he's had plenty of years to study his ball fakes, no-look deliveries, and he's even busted out the Joker's no-look skip pass, where you look straight ahead to draw a defender, and then snap it to the corner when it's open. Some of these feel like a great cover band paying tribute to an artist, where some of the songs are pretty close to the original. And I've always loved Jokic's shot pass, where he uses his shooting form to actually hit a teammate, and Shungun's version of this is a shot-put pass, where he's loaded up for his little push shot, and that freezes Anthony Edwards for a moment. Alpi isn't as unrelenting as Jokic on offense, he misses the cutter, then doesn't realize the defense switched out to the wing, but he'll carve up defenses who send extra help at him and aren't buttoned up on their rotations. He's also insanely creative out there, dropping it through his legs on this handoff, and he'll go through the opponent's legs if needed as well, sending it five-hole on this one to connect with a cutting teammate. My favorite Shungun dimes are probably his behind the backers, where he hits teammates at maniacal angles, and opposing defenders lose the ball like it's a magic act. Kenrich Williams just jumps at air before realizing what happened here, and this one freezes a ton of Timberwolves, because who on earth could think that was coming? Now, he doesn't quite have Jokic's consistent vision, perhaps overthinking an easy pass here before hitting the second cutter, and he's a few inches shorter than Jokic, so he misses this little pass over the top that Jokic makes in his sleep before finding an open shooter. Not all of his bold ideas come to fruition either. He's patiently waiting for a double here, and with two cutters on the move, he's just staring at the baseline to trick the defense, but he stares so long it tips off Kevin Herter, who jumps back to the other cutter for the deflection. Here's a play where he tries to fit one into traffic, and I like that he's constantly trying really tight windows, but some of these are just too aggressive, and sometimes it's an adventure out there, galloping down the court in transition for a lob before it flies right into the stands. Schengen in transition can be a bit of a roller coaster, one-minute Euro stepping into a no-look behind the back pass, then two minutes later, nearly losing the dribble in the backcourt. On this play, he goes to whip an outlet, loses it, wasn't sure if that was illegal, then just rumbles downhill all the way to the basket to score. He's definitely one of the slowest players in the league in a straight line, sprinting down the court like he has a parachute on his back, which makes for some wildly entertaining foot races in transition. Also, how many players end up bent over with the ball hiked between their legs playing keep away, only to stand up and spin into a push shot? I've also seen him grab a rebound and pin the ball to the floor, so he likes hinging at the hips, but he'll also do stuff like spin it around his back only to pass it right back to himself. Unsurprisingly, he has a free throw routine where he whispers sweet nothings to the ball while spinning it like a magic orb. In all seriousness, there are real questions about his defense. Because he's not an explosive vertical athlete, he's often pretty soft protecting the rim. According to Second Spectrum, the shooting data against him isn't terrible because he's a big body that can offer some resistance, but he's going to have to be better to survive in the playoffs. He's a little late here, mistimes his jump, and barely gets off the ground. When he's able to load up on the move, he can actually play above the rim a little, but this is closer to the verticality of a good wing versus a traditional big man. He's a bit non-committal on this help because he wanted a teammate to help, and there's a lot of pointing and yelling like it's a pickup game out there. He's sort of stuck in the post on this one, wants Jalen Green or Jabari Smith to cut into this open space. They don't, and after the miss, Shengun is visibly baffled. Houston is also running this incredibly bizarre pick and roll coverage where Alperin drops way off, and a third defender slides over to help on the ball, which is an interesting way to play the drop. So you'll often see possessions where Shengun is calling for the wing defender to slide in front of the ball, but then he ends up in front of it anyway. I'm not sure that's ideal. He's been measured at around 6'10", but I don't think he has a huge standing reach, so the result is a big man who struggles with agility while providing little as a rim protector. He's still learning to guard NBA-quality bigs in the post, how to fight for position, how to take contact and contest, and so on, and in their first meeting in Sacramento, Damanis Sabonis schooled him repeatedly down on the block. So, can he develop into a neutral defender? Heck, I think the bigger question for his career arc is whether he can stay on the court in the playoffs without being a complete liability on defense. Because the idea of Shengun is clear, an offensive hub who can play off cutters and shooters who orbit around his high-level playmaking. I'd say on offense, he's already like a less polished version of Sabonis. According to Second Spectrum, Houston actions with Shengun directly involved are some of the most efficient in the league, they just haven't really centralized their offense around him. Another big question is whether he can add an outside shooting dimension to jump his offensive potency to the next level. But either way, I think he's already a good offensive player, and if nothing changes, Albert Shengun is already one of the most creative and entertaining players to come along in a long. To support this channel, check out patreon.com slash Thinking Basketball. That's where we have our daily player and team stats boards that update throughout the season. We also have a Discord community with a monthly Q&A and more. Thanks as always for watching. I really hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know your thoughts down below on Shengun. And of course, I do hope you're having a great day.