OKC Thunder: Gilgeous-Alexander stat comparison adds sting to All-Star snub

The NBA All-Star Game finalized the participants Tuesday with the announcement of the seven reserves for each conference. Notably, OKC Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was left off the list.

Typically the reserves who are selected by coaches follow a specific pattern. Team records have historically been given high priority with coaches often sending multiple players from top teams.

Players who put up big stats but play for lottery teams seldom get the nod ahead of a player with decent production on a seeded team. And certainly, a player with comparable or better stats on a seeded team has typically been selected.

Another historical pattern of coaches’ votes is the tendency to reward two-way players over a star who puts up strong offensive numbers but doesn’t hit the mark defensively.

Coaches snub OKC Thunder, star Gilgeous-Alexander as All-Star Game reserve

Well, that pattern (particularly in the East) changed this year. Three seeded teams with multiple All-Star-worthy players were snubbed. That fact gives extra credence to arguments for why others didn’t get selected such as SGA.

Below you’ll find the list of seven reserves for each conference and the biggest snub from each conference. Coaches selected two backcourt players, three frontcourt players, and two wild card picks for each conference. The team seeding is noted in brackets.

Western Conference All-Star reserves:

• Damian Lillard, point guard, Portland Trail Blazers (5th)
• Donovan Mitchell, point guard, Utah Jazz (1st)
• Chris Paul, point guard, Phoenix Suns (4th)
• Anthony Davis, forward, Los Angeles Lakers (3rd)
• Rudy Gobert, center, Utah Jazz (1st)
• Paul George, guard/forward, LA Clippers (2nd)
• Zion Williamson, forward, New Orleans Pelicans (11th)

These seven players join LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and Kawhi Leonard who were voted in as starters.

Of the current playoff seeds, the Jazz, Clippers, and Lakers have two representatives. Each of the teams ranked fourth through ninth have one representative except the Spurs.

Eastern Conference All-Star reserves:

• James Harden, guard, Brooklyn Nets (2nd)
• Ben Simmons, guard, Philadephia 76ers (1st)
• Julius Randle, forward, New York Knicks (7th)
• Jayson Tatum, forward, Boston Celtics (6th)
• Jaylen Brown, wing, Boston Celtics (6th)
• Nicola Vucevic, center, Orlando Magic (12th)
• Zach LaVine, guard, Chicago Bulls (as of one day ago -8th)

These seven players join the fan/player/media-voted starters including Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Of the eight current playoff seeds the 76ers (2), Nets (3), and  Celtics (2) each have multiple players on the squad. The two seeded teams snubbed were the Pacers and Raptors who are fourth and fifth.

Did OKC Thunder star Gilgeous-Alexander deserve nod over CP3 or Mitchell?

It was always going to be a long shot Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would make the team but Intentions held out hope.

The fact so many players on unseeded teams made the All-Star team this season via coaches selections is surprising.

As for the players who did make the cut in the West it’s an easy assumption Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell filled the two backcourt picks. Lillard was the most debated player not voted in as a starter.

Mitchell plays for the top-ranked team in the association and is the face of the franchise although there is fodder for Mike Conley to have received the nod over his younger counterpart.

Likewise, it’s understandable why the Point God got tapped as a wild card selection. His argument is pretty easy to make. Chris Paul pushed for the All-Star Game to occur and is championing the league to promote HBCUs at the event.

The work he did to help make the Orlando bubble happen is respected as is his constant work as NBPA president. More importantly, he’s doing for the Suns what he did for the OKC Thunder last season. As a result, Phoenix sits fourth in the West and has won 12 of their last 14 games.

That Zion Williamson got the nod for a wild card slot can be debated. Those who love his big dunks and are part of his popular fanbase are thrilled. The narrator would’ve picked Ingram over Zion but that’s a personal preference.

Putting aside the seeding, SGA’s importance to the Thunder is equally if not more important than Mitchell. Plus the Jazz has more talent which means Mitchell gets easier shots given players like Gobert, Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Jordan Clarkson open up the court for him.

Provided by Stathead.com: View Stathead Tool Used
Generated 2/24/2021.

Looking at a direct comparison, Mitchell scores 1.7 points more but he takes 4.1 extra shots to that of SGA.

Moreover, SGA has more assists, rebounds, and steals. Yet it’s the efficiency that offers the best argument. I included CP3 in the mix to offer further perspective on the efficiency statistics …

Provided by Stathead.com: View Stathead Tool Used
Generated 2/24/2021.

Other than free throw percentage/rate and 3-point attempt rate Gilgeous-Alexander is tops in every other statistical category.  The eye-opener is the last two columns of FG Add and TS Add. Those stats represent the value of added points above the league averages. The specific basketball reference glossary definition is noted below:

FG Add — Points added by FG shooting The number of extra points added by Field Goals Attempts made above league average

"TS Add — Points added by overall shooting The number of extra points added by True Shot Attempts made above league average"

That SGA performs better in these areas isn’t as surprising as the fact Mitchell registers a negative mark in both of those columns. The simple read on this is when SGA and Mitchell are on the floor Shai is the more valuable offensive player who performs well above league averages.

Next, Intentions looks at the biggest East snub who happens to be a former OKC Thunder player, and is arguably the biggest snub of all.

Former OKC Thunder big man Sabonis arguably greatest coaches snub

While I could make a very strong argument for Fred VanVleet the bigger snub is Domantas Sabonis who is averaging 21.5 points, 11.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and even improved his 3-point stroke to 35.8 percent.

He’s the first player in NBA history to average minimums of 20 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists not to make an All-Star team.

Sabonis has collected three triple-doubles, and 21 double-doubles in his 29 games this season missing those marks on only five occasions including one game when he had to leave early due to injury.

In contrast, Nikola Vucevic is averaging 24.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.1 steals and shooting 40.5 percent from deep. Vuc has one triple-double and -21 double-double through 31 games.

While those are brilliant numbers it’s hard to get past the comparison and why the coaches afforded him the spot over Sabonis.

It’s inconceivable to me how Sabonis doesn’t get the nod over Vucevic. Firstly, the Pacers (4th) are eight seeds higher than the Magic. And while Orlando is missing Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz, Indiana is missing TJ Warren and Caris LeVert plus Jeremy Lamb was out 13 of the Pacers 29 games.

More from Thunderous Intentions

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• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

More importantly, other than 3-point shooting Sabonis has better stats particularly his assists and he’s pretty much a nightly guaranteed double-double machine.

If Sabonis hadn’t been selected in favor of a player from a top-eight seed this would make more sense.  Zach LaVine would’ve garnered one of the wild card spots presumably, but he’s putting up major statistics that helped push the Bulls ahead of the Hornets into the eighth seed just in the last day.

That means three players (including Beal who was voted in by fans/media/players) make the squad and the middle two teams get the shaft.

Later today, Intentions takes a deeper dive into SGA’s biggest competition to get tapped as the player to fill the opening created by Anthony Davis’ injury.

Already there are teams jockeying to get their guy in and it’s a good bet Adam Silver will get a few calls from team GMs in the coming days.

To that end, make sure to hit social media with some polite reminders on why OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the worthy choice!