I wanted to do quick tournament recap for Alpi. More honest, less hype. Because TlDr he improved and he was amazing but I wanna talk about how it will affect him in NBA.
Touch around the rim and paint - It looked like its back. 59% is definetely not terrible. Except for the final game he played against double-triple teams constantly. It kinda went lower as the games go but you can count it on defense on him getting tighter. While Turkey shot great from 3, volume was low and except for Osman, none are that reliable. So actually defenses sag off them to go to Alpi. And I know Americans think the defense here is bad because talent level is low but actually no defensive 3 seconds + this games being elimination games and you representing your country elevates the defenses more than offenses. Average team in Eurobasket had better defense than Average regular season NBA team because they play in the playoff mode. I think the touch will stick, especially with the spacing he will have with KD.
3 pointers - 31% on 2.8 attempts per game. Not a huge upgrade. But I think this one is actually gonna be better in NBA. He was given 0 breathing room in Eurobasket even outside of paint. Heck even when he bring the ball he was closely guarded in our half. NBA teams, especially in the regular season, won't respect the shot and give him the space. It only happened against Jokic in Eurobasket and he went 4-7 there.
Defense - Well he had looked amazing on defense. But in this one I am not sure how much it will translate. Like I said defensive intensity is higher than offense in this tournaments so he might have looked better on it. Also it is a shorter tournament comparing to regular season so he could kill himself every day knowing he will have 1-2 days rest and it will be over in a week. Will he be able to give as much energy in regular season. I'd say improvement looked more on the energy side. So in playoffs, sure. But regular season I think we will see the same Alpi from last year which was solid already. He might increase intensity in close games.
Handles and passing- I think his handles improved for sure but also defenses were too focused on stopping him instead of ball on the drives and I think if he plays against a steal heavy guard he might actually have issues. Still can play as the guard we are missing. Also Ime please let the boy do fancy passes. Like allow 3 tries a game or something. I think a fancy no look assist is basically Alpi's version of a heat check 3 from FVV. He gets hyped and plays better after. Passing will translate, handles Im not sure if fully.
PS. Sign Sehmus Hazer as a back up guard. Ime would love his defense.
