Five Thunder Takeaways from the Christmas Day Dub
By Tony Heim
4. The more Alex Abrines plays, the better his defense gets
If you read Thunderous Intentions even remotely, you know I love Alex Abrines. I recognize it is an irrational love, but the Spaniard Sharpshooter reminds me of…well a much much much much more talented/athletic me back in the day.
Abrines is starting to show his potential as a knockdown shooter, hitting 9-19 from deep in his last three games. The Thunder desperately need shooting, but the Spaniard Sharpshooter hasn’t been able to find consistent minutes because he was atrocious on the defensive end to start the season.
Watch this clip against Tyler Johnson of the Miami Heat.
He’s a second too slow on Johnson’s initial move, and from there it gets worse. Abrines jumps wayyyy too early trying to block the layup attempt, resulting in a petty foul. He’s lucky Johnson missed the and-one opportunity.
A few games later and Abrines found himself in a seven-game stretch where he only played one minute. Since the Victor Oladipo injury though, the rookie has made the most of his opportunity.
Watch now as he guards Tyreke Evans (a better player than Johnson).
This time Abrines steps with Evans as he makes the first move. Eventually Evans has nowhere to go and Abrines smartly swipes through to create the turnover. A lot of this improvement has to do with pure confidence.
At the beginning of the season the 23-year old looked afraid of the moment. He wasn’t used to the athletes of the NBA nor the physicality compared to the Euroleague. But the more he gets playing time, the less apprehensive he looks.
Look, Abrines is still a pretty terrible defender. But at least he isn’t allowing penetration every time his man touches the ball. Go back and watch him defend Zach Lavine tonight. Lavine is one of the most athletic players in the league, but Abrines was able to stay in front most of the time tonight. He even locked down Andrew Wiggins on a possession.
The way he’s shooting, Billy Donovan can’t keep him off the court. If the Thunder have so much hope for Domantas Sabonis and are willing to put up with his deficiencies, they should do the same with Abrines. Alex doesn’t have the ceiling of Domas, but he can be a darn good side piece for this team in the future.