OKC Thunder: Early red flags for Gilgeous-Alexander

To start the season OKC Thunder cornerstone Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was struggling a bit with his shot. Intentions felt positive he’d adapt to being constantly double-teamed and find his range. That turned out to be an accurate assessment as SGA is just too talented not to make his mark regardless of how many players are draped all over him.

It’s part and parcel of what he can expect given how young the OKC Thunder are and the fact so many of his teammates aren’t offensive beasts. Although a steady diet of Lakers games could quell every problem.

The truth is this is partially on the back of Mark Daigneault to come up with creative ways to free up SGA. However, the reality is the Thunder are intent on tanking this season so it’s not like Daigneault wants to resolve this situation immediately.

If he does then the team could find themselves replicating the issue they suffered last season when they won too much, too early. That led to the OKC Thunder losing out on a bottom three seed and needing to rest healthy players the majority of the second half.

Still, SGA is the franchise cornerstone and while tanking is the mission it’s also important to keep your star happy. Having him be beaten up by overly aggressive double or triple-teams doesn’t sound like a viable option either. No doubt, the Canadian will reap the long-term benefits of this attention as he develops the means of how to overcome the obstacles.

OKC Thunder get red flag alert on creating offense for SGA

Still, there are concerning numbers to this point in the season. Specifically, how often he’s being assisted on his offense.

Consider his three previous seasons and the percentage of shots SGA was assisted on:

Year one in LA he was assisted on 31 percent of his two-point shots and 90.2 percent of his 3-point shots.

His first season with the Thunder in a backcourt with Chris Paul and in clutch time with Dennis Schroder when Billy Donovan employed the three point guard line up he was assisted on 23.5
percent of his two-point shots and 54 percent of his perimeter shots.

Last season as the Thunder began the rebuild in earnest SGA spent most of his minutes on the court as the primary playmaker. This resulted in the young star being assisted on 0.74 percent of his two-point shots and 29.6 percent of his triples.

Because he was initiating the majority of the play it made sense that he was creating his own shots since he was pulling up in the mid-range or driving the basket but his teammates were finding him for catch and shoot opportunities particularly on the perimeter.

Cut to this season and the numbers are pretty startling. With Giddey now the starting point guard he’s handling the ball a lot which means when SGA plays with him he is the secondary ball handler. Still, he’s only getting assisted on15.6 percent of his two-pointers and an anemic 14.3 percent of his perimeter shots.

To reiterate it’s partially understandable since Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t just taking one guy down off the dribble– most night’s he’s facing double teams. Perhaps the perimeter assists make a bit of sense in that regard as well because he can’t simply park in a corner or at the top of the key awaiting a pass.

Still, it’s concerning when you have such a great ball distributor in Giddey and a multi-faceted offensive player like Shai.

Moving forward, while I understand the goal is to tank it sure feels like this could be addressed via double screens and more player movement. If the results are positive and the team starts winning too much then Daigneault can address that by cutting the playing time.

We’ve always said this year would be for development and that Daigneault had to find the balance between growth, competitiveness, and tanking. Clearly, the other key will be ensuring the system helps its cornerstone star to be at his best without sacrificing any of the other objectives.