{"id":73065,"date":"2024-04-13T10:13:09","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T14:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=73065"},"modified":"2024-04-13T11:11:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T15:11:31","slug":"rockets-alperen-sengun-eligible-nba-award-games-requirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/13\/rockets-alperen-sengun-eligible-nba-award-games-requirement\/","title":{"rendered":"MIP Candidate Eligible for Award Without Games Requirement?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to The Athletic\u2019s Kelly Iko, Houston Rockets center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Sengun<\/a> has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"ro\">Rockets center Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn will not return for either of Houston\u2019s final 2 games of the regular season, sources tell <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheAthletic<\/a>. \u015eeng\u00fcn, a candidate for Most Improved, appeared in 63 games. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AYp7jbVetF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/AYp7jbVetF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kelly Iko (@KellyIko) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KellyIko\/status\/1778833122529865853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 12, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Had the Rockets remained in playoff contention, the breakout star may have returned in the postseason, if not before. However, they were effectively eliminated from postseason contention after they lost to the Golden State Warriors last week. Subsequently, there\u2019s no longer a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/05\/rockets-alperen-sengun-hands-out-injury-progress-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">desire to rush him back<\/a> because the risk of re-injury outweighs the reward of him coming back at full strength next season.<\/p>\n<h2>Alperen Sengun Eligible for NBA Award Without Games Requirement?<\/h2>\n<p>There was one other reason for having Sengun return early. Sengun, just 21 years old, was a candidate for the 2023-24 Most Improved Player Award.<\/p>\n<p>In his third season, he\u2019s averaged career-highs of 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. A three-level scorer with a masseuse\u2019s touch and a ballerina\u2019s footwork, he emerged as the Rockets\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/15\/rockets-ime-udoka-heaps-praise-gifted-alperen-sengun\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">most pivotal player<\/a> early in the season. Indeed, he and Philadelphia 76ers guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maxeyty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Maxey<\/a> were early frontrunner for Most Improved Player. When comparing Sengun\u2019s performance to the other presumed candidates, he has the largest all-around impact.<\/p>\n<p>Because he only appeared in 63 games, Sengun seems as if he\u2019d be ineligible for the Most Improved Player Award. However, per ESPN\u2019s Kevin Pelton, Sengun \u201cwill only be eligible if an independent doctor rules<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/39916984\/nba-roundtable-expert-picks-nba-regular-season-awards\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">if an independent doctor rules<\/a> he will be unable to play through May 31 due to the injury that ended his regular season two games shy of the 65-game minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Again, Sengun might have returned to the court before the regular season ends on Apr. 14. Nonetheless, it\u2019s also plausible that he wouldn\u2019t have been healthy enough to play again this season. His best chance to return always appeared to be if the Rockets made a deep run in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. For the record, the Conference Finals begin on May 21 and the Finals begin on Jun. 6.<\/p>\n<h3>Should Alperen Sengun win?<\/h3>\n<p>As mentioned, Sengun arguably has the largest all-around impact in the Most Improved Player field. The only projected candidates with higher scoring averages than Sengun are Maxey and Brooklyn Nets guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thomaca02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Thomas<\/a>. Sengun doled out more assists, pulled down more rebounds, and racked up more steals per game than Thomas. He outproduced Maxey in rebounds and steals per game as well.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the Sixers were in legitimate danger of falling out of the playoffs when Joel Embiid was sidelined. They went 15-27 without the reigning MVP. As a result, it\u2019s impossible to use Philadelphia\u2019s team record as a factor in why Maxey should win the award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to The Athletic\u2019s Kelly Iko, Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun has been ruled out for the remainder of the season. Rockets center Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn will not return for either of Houston\u2019s final 2 games of the regular season, sources tell @TheAthletic. \u015eeng\u00fcn, a candidate for Most Improved, appeared in 63 games. https:\/\/t.co\/AYp7jbVetF \u2014 Kelly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":73103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1608,6,62,13],"tags":[4293,4069,1143,2478],"class_list":["post-73065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockets","category-basketball","category-nets","category-nba","category-76ers","tag-alperen-sengun","tag-cam-thomas","tag-nba-awards","tag-tyrese-maxey"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}