Top Brooklyn Nets Players Dish on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Greatness
It's no secret that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has taken the jump to one of the best players in the world. He's squarely in the MVP discussion and is set to make his first start in NBA All Star game. He was All-NBA First Team a season ago and has only gotten better.
Oklahoma City isn't surprising anyone anymore, heading into the break as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference with top ten Finals odds. The NBA community has been able to witness both Gilgeous-Alexander's greatness and the team's success.
Not only is Gilgeous-Alexander demanding respect throughout the media, but he's catching the eyes of his peers too. On SorareNBA, Nets teammates Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges gave valuable insight into what makes the Thunder star so hard to guard.
"I think the main thing that he's continuing to improve upon is his angles," Johnson said. "Like he's putting you in jail and he's able to attack in positions where you either have to foul him or get out of the way. He understands how to pick and choose these angles. He can get low, he can accelerate, he can handle the ball, he can stop on a dime."
Gilgeous-Alexander is first in the NBA in total points and third in points per game. This season, he's averaging 31.1 points, 6.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds on 54.6% shooting and 37.1% from 3-point range. It's nearly impossible to beat him to the spot or stay in front of his shifty dribble combinations, so fouling is the only other option.
He's shooting 9.1 free throws per game, which is down from last season's 10.9 mark. He's a lethal charity stripe shooter too, which makes it even tougher. On the year, he's shooting 88.3% from the free throw line.
"He has a lot of counters," Bridges added. "He's got counters to his counters. You don't want to give him a little pull-up in the paint because he's going to make it, so if you try to beat him there he's going to counter that. And if you try to beat him there, he has a counter for that, so it's very difficult."
His counter moves have been widely talked about and broken down, yet even the best defenders still don't know how to handle them. His offensive bag continues to grow, and nobody has figured out how to slow him down yet. His 3-point improvement and volume increase has been impressive too.
Gilgeous-Alexander is still a headache to deal with for opposing NBA teams and his dominance makes the Thunder tricky to guard.
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