Turkey has made the EuroBasket Finals. They will play Germany on Sunday for the chance to take home the Gold. The semifinal superstar showdown between Turkey’s Alperen Sengun and Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t exactly showcase the best of either player, but it did showcase the potential of Sengun’s Houston Rockets in 2025-26.
Turkey’s Finals Run Showcases Rockets’ 2025-26 Potential
Statistically, Sengun had his worst game of the tournament in Friday’s Semifinal. He went 5 of 15 from the field. His 6 assists were marred by 5 turnovers.
Yet, Turkey would prevail despite that. Partly, it was down to an excellent all-round defensive effort against the Greek Freak. Turkey held Giannis to 12 points on 6 of 13 shooting. Sengun’s improved defense from his last NBA season has paid dividends for Turkey throughout their finals run.
However, the Turks also benefited from a marksmanship demonstration by the unheralded Ercan Osmani. Osmani went 5 of 7 from two and 6 of 8 from three in this game. He led all scorers by a large margin with 28 points.
Osmani is not an NBA player. He’s not even been a consistent Euroleague presence, instead playing primarily in the top league in Turkey. What he is, though, is a six-foot-eleven three-point deadeye, averaging 39.5% from distance for his professional career. Essentially, for the Turkish national team’s purposes, he’s budget Kevin Durant.
This Turkish EuroBasket team gives Houston Rockets fans a glimpse of how their team could function next season. Moreover, it’s a perfect reflection of Houston coach Ime Udoka‘s own recent comments.
Deus Ex Durantula
Of course, the Rockets are a defensively oriented team. Unsurprisingly, Turkey isn’t close to having the kind of size and athleticism of one of the biggest, most athletic NBA teams. But on the offensive side of the ball, expect Sengun to play the main character in both franchises. And whenever the Rockets hit a lull, they can always call on Deus Ex Durantula.
Osmani had such a hot shooting night against Greece that even Durant won’t scorch the nets like that every time Sengun goes cold. Opponents probably won’t ever be willing to leave him that wide open, either—not that Osmani didn’t make some tough ones. Still, the fundamental premise is sound. Sengun will handle the bulk of the scoring and playmaking load for Houston next year. That is, whatever isn’t picked up by Houston’s offensive wildcard, Amen Thompson.
Durant can capitalize as a play finisher rather than a play creator. In Phoenix, Durant had only a “your turn, my turn” partnership with Devin Booker, and an “everybody knows I just want to pass the ball back to you” gimmick with 37-year-old Chris Paul. It was with James Harden in Brooklyn that he last played alongside a true scorer/facilitator hybrid. In Houston’s 23-year-old center, he will have another. We’ve seen what the budget version is capable of. It won’t be too long now before we get to see the real thing.
The Last Word
Greece was not expected to climb as high as they did in this competition. Outside of Giannis, the team flounders for top-shelf contributors. Nonetheless, it’s a team that has a chance to medal and is led by a top-two player in the world. They did an excellent job of slowing down Sengun. However, we’ve seen that Sengun paired with elite outside shooting is an extremely challenging prospect to overcome. Even so, a much deeper German team, led by Sengun’s former teammate, Dennis Schroder, will be a far greater test in the finals. The only passing grade, as far as Sengun’s concerned, will be the gold. Rockets fans will be cheering him on… but also picturing him passing to Kevin Durant instead.
© Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
The post Turkey’s Finals Run Showcases Rockets’ 2025-26 Potential appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.