Convenience Big Store: Alperen Şengün's wake-up call and Ime Udoka on accountability

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A pleasant All-Star surprise for Alperen Şengün

Alperen Şengün wanted to sleep in. The Rockets had gotten in late after a win in Oklahoma City and had a rare off day — he wanted to take advantage of it. Then his girlfriend called.

"I was like, 'Don't call me, please,' " Şengün recalled. "I don't want to wake up."

He opened one eye and peered at his phone. She, among many others, had texted him some variation of the following: "You're an All-Star."

That's how the Houston center found out that he'd be playing in the midseason showcase for the second straight season, as an injury replacement for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He will join Kevin Durant, who earned his 16th selection.

It has been hard to get a good read on Şengün's season. He has been inefficient for a big man, ranking in just the 25th percentile at the position in Cleaning the Glass' points per shot attempt metric. But he also shoulders a heavier offensive burden than most big men, a function of Houston's roster construction.

Şengün augments his scoring with top-tier passing and above-average rebounding, making him a valuable player who deserved to be on the border of All-Star consideration.

Notable

When I started the job, I called a few people around the NBA and asked them about Rockets coach Ime Udoka. One word kept coming up in every conversation: Accountability.

Udoka holds his players accountable for mistakes. You can hear it in postgame press conferences and see it as he often critiques and corrects players in-game. I asked Udoka if that accountability extends into the coaching staff

"It's everybody in the building," he said. "We encourage debate and discussion and speaking freely. It's not just us saying things to players. We really want them to talk amongst each other and … it goes our way as well

"If there's something they see they like, don't like, obviously they have the license to speak on it and they're the ones out there playing. … If they see advantages on either end, we encourage them to speak up about it."
It seemed like every time Durant earned boos from the Oklahoma City crowd every time he touched the ball. Did he get any satisfaction for beating the Thunder in its home arena?

"None … that s--- is 10 years ago," he said, contrasting it with his emphatic reaction after winning in Phoenix early this season. " … That's fresh."

Durant also felt the Thunder crowd's boos weren't representative of their true feelings for him but rather a performance for the cameras. A point in his favor: As he exited the court, he had to pause and sign many jerseys — including some Thunder Blue No. 35s.

"They perform when the lights are on," he said. " … Specifically people in the stands, they want to show how much loyalty they got to their organization. … Right after the game, the performance is over for the fans and they show love. They appreciate what I brought."

Varun Shankar, Rockets Beat Reporter

varun.shankar@houstonchronicle.com

Worth a read

As Houston hits the break, I looked at their recent performance and concluded: The Rockets probably can't win the NBA title. That's okay.
Kevin Durant, asked about effort in the All-Star game, turned that around on two other Western Conference stars.
Fred VanVleet on the Rockets' TV broadcast: "Everybody needs to chill out."
Şengün stars, Durant steps up late and more observations from the win at Oklahoma City (also a video!)
Durant and Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon sat down for an interview. Here are the most interesting things they said.

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I just think it's neat!

YouTube screengrab from Rockets-Clippers game

How often do you think Kevin Durant sees something new in a basketball game? It's rare, but it happened Wednesday against the Clippers. I'll let him explain.

"I feel like they're selling out to stop some of my actions when I get, especially the pick and roll. I've never seen this. … They (are) leaving their guys in the corner, basically an extra man guarding the pick and roll. … It just felt like from the corners, they were trying to steal those pocket passes … they trapped me so heavy on top, so sometimes I'm not seeing this third guy coming over there and getting a steal. Usually that pass is open and then boom, steal."

Durant gave credit to Los Angeles coach Tyronn Lue and his assistant Jeff Van Gundy for the scheme, noting that they both knew him well from his time with Team USA and would never give him base coverages.

This isn't the exact play he referenced but you can see how far up Clippers wing Benedict Mathurin (No. 9) is, leaving Tari Eason alone in the corner.