00:00an honest player pool. I love that The Athletic does this. They get to
00:03players, coaches, general managers, ask them things and tell them, hey, we won't tell them
00:07y'all said this. But it allows them to speak freely and allows us to get some level
00:11of insight into the way that the people close to these things think. And in this instance, they asked
00:15NBA players about who was the most overrated player in the National
00:19Basketball Association. And they picked
00:23a rocket, to be completely honest. What, fourth, fifth? Nope.
00:26The highest vote getter when it comes to who is the most overrated
00:31player in the National Basketball Association, according
00:35to NBA players, was none other than Alperen Shang-Goon. He received
00:3910 of the 81. Numero uno. That's right. That's right. Number one, baby.
00:43Alperen Shang-Goon, who is supposed to be your young star player
00:46on the scene, received 10 votes of 81 cast
00:50as the most overrated player. How did that hit you when you first saw
00:54that Alperen Shang-Goon is that guy? Does it seem like it fits?
00:58Well, I think it fits certainly this year.
01:00You know, some of the things that we talked about. You know, some things that
01:03fans and others have talked about
01:05just didn't seem to be as assertive, as comfortable,
01:09you know, especially offensively. And I
01:11often feel that these
01:13polls about overrated
01:15players has to do with their offense.
01:18Now, in the
01:19case of, you know, Rudy Gobert
01:21who finished second, maybe, you know, maybe, I don't know.
01:24But, but, because I think it's like,
01:27yeah, he gets a lot of pub and he scores some points, but
01:30you know, that, that was, he's not what we, what people say he is.
01:34And actually, in the playoffs, we talked about that as well.
01:36Yeah, I think it was in game,
01:38was it in game four or five?
01:41You know, he had 17 points.
01:42And I think I said right here, I said, it just felt like an empty 17 points.
01:45You know, it just felt like
01:46it was kind of cheap stuff and free throws and
01:49that type of stuff. But like a force to be reckoned
01:51with, I always think on the defensive
01:53side first. Yeah, and it feels like
01:55that, that feeling is necessary, right?
01:57There's, it seems nonsensical to say,
01:59hey man, you look at his stats
02:02of 29
02:03and 6
02:05and four triple doubles this year. And you go,
02:07hey man, that's, that's impactful numbers. And I'm not
02:09here to tell you that objectively they're not.
02:11But also the, the
02:13feeling, that impending doom that is
02:15necessary when you're facing off against a team.
02:17I think that, that matters, right?
02:19It impacts the way that other teams play.
02:21And that's not insignificant.
02:23I do wonder how much Alpern Sengun brings that
02:25to other teams where they go, all right, we need to change the way we play.
02:27Now, it is worth noting that
02:29first and foremost, the thing that, the
02:31quote that I actually see from one
02:33of the players when it comes to answering
02:35why this is the selection,
02:37quote, he's crying every play, he's
02:39talented dude, he's talented, but dude, just
02:41play hard. And I think that's a, that's a thing
02:43that a lot of Rockets fans have, have levied
02:45at him in addition to NBA fans in general.
02:47So how much of this maybe is just
02:49the style in which you play and
02:51whether or not you would be better
02:53if you, you know, kind of committed a little
02:55bit further into just being,
02:57you know, nose to the grindstone type dude.
02:59Let me ask you about this.
03:00You know, let's be honest here.
03:02Do you think that's unfair to call him the most
03:04overrated player?
03:09I'll, I'll answer first.
03:10I don't think it's unfair.
03:11I think it is.
03:12You do?
03:14I think it, well, okay.
03:15When we start, maybe not because
03:17when you get to him to all-star level
03:18and I know for me, I was like, all right,
03:20is he going to push into all NBA categories?
03:22And it did not feel like that was close
03:24to what the, you know, representation
03:26of his play was this year.
03:28So I can see that.
03:29I actually think it's fair.
03:31Yeah.
03:32I think it's a little bit fair,
03:33especially the last couple of seasons.
03:35We were calling a baby Jokic.
03:37And I think now after this season
03:39where you kind of see some of his,
03:42I guess it's bad play.
03:44Yeah.
03:44To me, I feel like it's kind of fair
03:46to put him in that category
03:47because he was good.
03:48He did go to all-star game
03:50and all that stuff.
03:50Right.
03:51So I think he fits in that overrated.
03:54And even if you don't want to go to overrated,
03:56if you, or, you know, unfair, fair, unfair,
03:59it's understandable.
04:01I think it's, I think it's understandable.
04:02I could probably find somebody else
04:04that's more overrated,
04:06but I'm not mad at this.
04:07Yeah, I think it's understandable
04:08because, and we can go back
04:10to last year's playoffs
04:11when he's missing all those bunnies
04:12and really, you know,
04:13not really fulfilling
04:15what we thought he would do.
04:17The way I look at it,
04:19does he scare you
04:20when the ball's in his hands?
04:21That was the question I have.
04:22Yeah.
04:22And that's what we mentioned earlier
04:24is what is that,
04:25what is that kind of presence?
04:26And that doesn't feel like
04:27it's quite there.
04:28Now, it's worth noting again
04:29that when they ask,
04:31they ask a lot of players
04:32some of these questions.
04:33Like, let's talk about
04:34the league's most underrated player.
04:36151 votes were cast there.
04:38Only 81 votes were cast here.
04:39So I think first and foremost,
04:41we have to acknowledge,
04:41we're talking about a smaller pool
04:43of guys talking in this.
04:44And they even acknowledge that
04:45in some of the responses
04:46because somebody said,
04:47hey, let's not forget that,
04:48what was it, last year,
04:50that the most underrated player
04:51that they picked ultimately
04:52was Tyrese Halliburton.
04:54Remember how that looked, right?
04:55So this is a very inexact science
04:57and not a lot of guys
04:58want to jump in and mention this.
05:00But yeah, it seems like
05:01there's a lot of style
05:02that comes into this.
05:03Like, I think people don't love
05:04his style of play
05:05when we talk about the complaining,
05:06but then also the herky-jerky movements
05:08and all that.
05:09There could be some hateration.
05:10Some of the other high vote-getters
05:11when it came to this,
05:12Rudy Gobert and Trae Young.
05:14And Trae Young is an easy answer here
05:16because you talk about sometimes
05:19empty calorie numbers sometimes.
05:21Trae Young can be that
05:22while also at times
05:23being the single worst defender
05:24in all the league.
05:25Carl Anthony Towns comes up here,
05:27Paolo Bancaro and John Morant
05:29also vote-getters.
05:30So there's some other guys in here
05:31that are of statures
05:33that you go,
05:33okay, no,
05:34there's still really good players.
05:35And I think that's ultimately still
05:36the case with Alper Schengen
05:37and I just found that interesting.
05:39A Rocket came up in another place
05:41in this poll.
05:42As there were other questions
05:42I mentioned,
05:43most underrated player
05:45was one of those things.
05:46And I think the answer there
05:48ultimately was Jalen Johnson
05:49and Derek White.
05:51No Rockets come up
05:52in that conversation,
05:54which are you surprised
05:55by that by any means?
05:57Are you surprised at all
05:58that the idea
05:59that no Rockets are underrated?
06:00I am not surprised by that.
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