What Do The Thunder Have In SGA? - A Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Breakdown, Part 1
[Hi! I wasn’t planning on releasing this in broken-up parts, but I also didn’t want to drag out my “I have a Shai piece coming” shtick for too long, so here I am. I originally planned for this to be a single article, which is why the intro may seem a bit off-kilter. Part 1, what you’re about to read, is on Shai’s ballhandling and unique athleticism, aka his ability to create space. Still to come is detailed analysis of each of his 3 scoring levels, playmaking, off-ball offense, and on-/off-ball defense. I don’t exactly have a timeline for the rest of those sections, but they’re being worked on right now. As always, if you like what you read, a share on Twitter or something of the sort would be much appreciated. Enjoy!]
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is easily one of my favorite players. He has one of the NBA’s best names, is one of the league’s best-dressed, and also happens to be a joy to watch. So rest assured, I had a very fun time doing this. Let the deep-dive begin!
How can we capture the player, SGA? A physical profile would be a good place to start. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander embodies the name ‘Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’ like no one else can; it’s very long, much like he is, which brings us to his standout features. Shai stands at 6’6” and carries around two prolonged tentacles that contribute to a snaky 6’11” wingspan. He’s not the best traditional athlete (running and jumping), lacking off-the-dribble burst and explosion at the rim, although he more than compensates for those deficiencies in other ways (more on that later). Got a picture in your mind? Good. Let’s check in on his young career:
Shipped from LA to OKC after his rookie year as a part of the Paul George trade, SGA took a sizable leap in 19-20 under the tutelage of Chris Paul, turning into one of the league’s bright young spots. Now, after two seasons as a key contributor to Playoff-bounds teams, Shai finds himself in a unique situation - OKC’s lead man. What did that leap look like, though? Take a peek:
His per-75 splits went from 14.5/3.8/4.4 to 20/6.1/3.5, sustained across an extra 8 minutes of play each night, alongside a 5.4 point jump (18.3% -> 23.7%) in usage while also increasing his efficiency, from 55.4% TS% to 56.8% (and in doing crossed over the arbitrary league-average cut-off). Yes, his assist numbers dropped, but A. despite finishing more plays, Shai spent a bit less time on the ball last year (he was on-ball 29% of the time during the 18-19 season as opposed to 24% during 19-20), and B. the Thunder relied heavily on their trio of ballhandlers (plus Gallo), hence ending up with the 28th highest AST% in the league; it’s logical that SGA’s assists dropped as a by-product of their system (spoiler alert: he’s not a team-altering playmaker). Also notable is that the new surroundings forced SGA to shift from point guard to shooting guard, which explains his inverted usage+on-ball% shifts, and likely in addition his 4.7 points TOV% drop (from 15% -> 10.3%). OKC surprised many last season, with Gilgeous-Alexander manning one-third of OKC’s three-headed clutch-time monster (not to mention leading them in scoring). Ok, nice little intro. Now it’s time to dive deep into the player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
(Disclaimer: SGA is currently getting better and better as I’m in the process of writing this, growing more comfortable with his new responsibilities by the day. I’ll try to present the before/after of his growth, assigning his current state a confidence interval of sorts.)
What Makes Him Good?
As you might imagine, this isn’t the most straightforward question and hence will need a long, winding answer. If you like those types of articles, you’re in luck. If you don’t, then maybe it’s time to try something new. I’d like to go through this intuitively though, by “why?” -ing our way to the bottom of it. So, the short answer?
Offense
If you’ve ever watched SGA, or even glanced at his stats, you are probably correct in thinking that he adds value on the offensive end of the court. To back it up, literally every metric viewed him as a positive on offense during the 19-20 campaign, something that you should put real weight into especially given how OKC liberally staggered their trio of guards. And, as you could probably tell from the intro above, that offensive value comes mainly via scoring.
Sooooo, Shai’s a scorer, right? There are multiple angles through which the same scoring diet can be approached, with unique insights to be gleaned from each one. The ‘numbers’ are always a good place to start, so let’s take a look at some basic questions (everything via 2019-20 data, a full-ish season):
How?
SGA is a self-sufficient scorer who can get his own; only 17.5% of his shot attempts came with <2 seconds of touch time, which ranked 11th in the league. The 10 players above him are either point guards (with the exception of Luka and Harden), an interesting little nugget considering that SGA is neither a pure 1 nor a heliocentric wing. To add on, 29% of his made shots were assisted, towards the very top of the league overall, and second(!!) among wings (as classified by CTG). Amid closer inspection, those ASTD% numbers are as follows:
(each of which ranked in the 94th+ percentile; very solid all-around)
Elite numbers. As we all know, creation is perhaps the most important skill in the NBA. Having a player (or two), who is able to create good shots for himself and others is the backbone of every championship team; right now, we’re evaluating how well SGA performs the former duty. We already know that a lot of his offense falls under the ‘on-ball creation’ category, so it makes sense to check out the actions he likes to run (visualization via arjb10.shinyapps.io/radialplots):
As you might have imagined, the largest chunk of his scoring comes from having the ball in his hands (P&R, Isolation), followed by standing around on the perimeter (Spot Up), and finally rounded out with some good old transition, all with good-but-not-great percentiles. However, those numbers, in one particular case, sells him short. Unless you have some distinctive memory of noted iso assassin Courtney Lee lighting up defenders last season to the tune of 1.73 Isolation PPP (which I’m willing to bet you do not), filtering out some noise makes SGA’s iso numbers look much, much better.
I would hope that I have, up to this point, been successful in hammering one specific point into your head - that Shai is a very good creator off-the-dribble (OTD). There are, in my opinion, two components to OTD scoring - space creation and shotmaking. Let’s start with the former:
Space Creation
Part of what gives Shai such an endearing aesthetic is his advantage creation. He’s not a great Olympic athlete (which is my name for ‘traditional’ athleticism, aka running and jumping); rather, Shai pulls his tricks from another toolbox entirely. Because he (prior to 20-21) wasn’t really a pull-up shooter, Shai created gaps and angles for the sole purpose of getting inside the arc, driving the ball 16.4 times a game (good for 10th in the league) and scoring over half of his points (10) while there (also, he’s currently a close second in drives per game this season). SGA does a lot of things well, so let’s look at a couple of blow-by’s and take a good look at what’s going on.
It all starts with his ball-handling, Shai’s weapon of choice. One could safely assume that he’s a good ballhandler, given how much dribbling his playstyle requires; in reality, he’s elite. To start, Shai has one of the best off-hands in the NBA, able to interchangeably dribble and finish with either hand. On top of that, he seems to possess proprioception, which is (according to google) “perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body”. This was put on my radar thanks to this fantastic piece from Henry Ward via thekickahead. What does that actually mean though? And while you should definitely check out Henry’s article (after this one, of course), allow me to tell you why we care about proprioception: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t have a bag of moves that he needs to use, per se; rather, because he’s totally aware of all 4 dimensions of his body, he can reactively chain moves together with flawless execution. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, so let’s roll the tape:
We’ll start with something simple. Here, SGA blows by Jimmy Butler using only his left hand. His perfectly timed hesitation freezes Jimmy in place (thanks to his newfound OTD shooting, which will be discussed later), and once Shai gets even with Jimmy, those long, long strides take it home, effectively getting in front of Jimmy. Tools used: tight handle + stride length.
This clip right here truly fascinating to me, and starts to dig into why SGA is such a dangerous ballhandler. Although nothing came out of this particular drive, he still got to the rim and forced a help rotation; Shai held up his side of the bargain. Why does this work? Shai catches the ball in the corner with Butler on him. Now, pay close attention to everyone’s feet, starting with Shai’s. He catches the ball with a little hop, allowing him to choose his pivot foot based on how the defense decides to guard him. The defense, Jimmy Butler, is trying to force Shai baseline, and therefore angles his body in a way that would allow him to mirror a typical righty ballhandler’s movements. However, Shai is no typical righty ballhandler. He chooses his right foot as his pivot foot, moving his left foot forward so that Butler is now on Shai’s back (where a defender doesn’t want to be). Finally, he takes advantage of this angle by dribbling forward with his right hand, with his body is shielding the ball from Butler. As much as this required quick thinking, the execution was the hardest part. If you’ve ever played basketball, you know that it’s natural to dribble out of a triple-threat with the hand opposite your pivot foot. A same-hand, same-foot triple-threat is incredibly hard to pull off without committing a travel. If you’re not convinced, get up and try it yourself - it’s really hard. Oh, and those loooong strides came in handy again. So this time, SGA used: a strong off-hand and elite coordination with some long strides sprinkled in.
Here is yet another of my personal favorites. It introduces SGA’s elite mobility, the fundamental building block behind his space creation (beyond tight ballhandling). Why was what appears to be a simply crossover so effective? Let’s break it down. The tip of the iceberg is Shai’s ability to go from high to low very quickly, aka his incredible lower-body strength/balance. Look at this side-by-side:
In a split-second, Shai goes from being slack and upright (especially compared to the stance of Harris, a good defender by the way) to getting much, much lower than Harris, allowing him to close a lot of ground between the two, eventually getting even with Harris - all SGA needs to do, as his gargantuan stride length can overtake most defenders at the end of his drives. However, what goes on in even between the two frames is the real magic.
Usually, a player’s feet can give some indication of where they intend to go. Feet are, after all, how we move around, so it makes sense that defenders try to contain their man by adjusting their feet (or stance, whatever you want to call it) based on those of the player with the ball. Moreover, if someone plants a shoe right in front of you, it’s hard not to react. Agreed? Good, let’s continue. Looking at this side-by-side, despite Shai’s body facing distinctly different angles in each picture, the one constant is his left foot, which in both cases is pointing towards where he wants to go. Why couldn’t Harris pick up on that? Well, the problem is that SGA has two feet, and each one tells a different story. If you watch the clip again, he plants his right foot hard, freezing Harris in place before finally crossing left and getting by Harris. This may be textbook basketball, but very few players can change angles that wide, that quickly, all while getting low and maintaining their balance. It is a terrific feat, and SGA manages to pack it all into a half-second or so. In fact, by the time SGA changes his angle/trajectory, Harris still hasn’t moved:
The key to all of this - Shai’s ankles (anchored by great lower-body strength and balance, of course). They can do this,
which most other players simply cannot (if you find yourself doubting how hard this is, get out of your chair and try re-creating what Shai did in that clip). Beyond the display of flexibility, Shai is balancing himself on a single outstretched leg making a 45 degree angle with the ground; you probably can’t do that, either. Let’s take a look at one more of SGA’s unique athletic traits before taking a look at how Shai likes to package them:
The title kind of gives it away. While you watch the rest of these clips, just keep in mind that with virtually every move, Shai reserves the ability to bring himself to a complete stop; he possesses the functional strength to halt his momentum off of any planted foot. This is, of course, the same strength that helps him out with tasks like getting low and balancing off of one foot. An athletic trait, if you will. Now, with a better understanding of his physical traits, let’s see why his handle is so lethal:
Let’s kick off with Shai’s bread-and-butter dribble move. It uses his ankle flexibility, tight handle, stopping power, and length (he’s able to keep the ball on a much longer string than most, thanks to those long arms) all in one smooth motion. He plants his right foot right in front of Patty Mills, which, combined which the synchronous in-and-out dribble, sends Mills flying backward like someone pulled the chair on him. This move also works for Shai when he’s going downhill, where he can remove defenders from his path without touching them, almost like a Jedi:
In the clip above, SGA’s move sends Thaddeus Young chasing his shadow, which lasts just long enough for Shai to get a decent look at the rim. Furthermore, this move is very effective in the P&R, where SGA can use his in & out move to send his defender right into the screen:
Here, Shai doesn’t lay a finger on Lavine, but that doesn’t stop him from zigging when Shai zags, giving SGA room to build up steam. But what if SGA was facing off against a better defender, perhaps one that was anticipating his first move?
This play sees SGA bringing up the ball against Ball. It starts with Shai pulling out the same move he put on Mills, pairing a right foot plant with his lefty in-and-out dribble. Lonzo doesn’t fall for it, so Shai flows right into the next move, planting his left foot and bringing the ball up to his left before quickly crossing right. If you carefully watch it again, you’ll see that right after SGA plants his left foot, Lonzo cocks his head in the direction of the planted foot (technically; what really caught Zo’s attention was the quick movement that intruded his space, and the catalyst for it just happened to be Shai’s foot), taking the bait; pause the video, and you’ll see that as Lonzo shifts his gaze, Shai’s focus is already back to his right, resulting in a trip to the rim. Time to take a look at how SGA’s dribble counters adapt to different scenarios:
First up is a P&R vs the Jazz. Mitchell ever-so-slightly falls for SGA’s in & out dribble, but he recovers quickly, eating up the lost ground. Unfortunately, by that time, Shai has already adjusted to Mitchell’s adjustment - he plants his left foot and wraps the ball around his back, leaving Mitchell in the dust.
Next, we have SGA driving against a dropping WCJ. Wendell overplays his anticipation of the in & out dribble, lurching toward SGA’s left hand, and Shai has no problem promptly crossing over, getting to the basket. To wrap up, let’s observe it in a setting with no previous advantage in the slightest:
Here, SGA starts off with (as he almost always does) his in & out, which shakes Mitchell a bit, albeit not enough. Mitchell quickly steps back up to Shai, which Shai promptly uses against him, attacking the forward momentum of Mitchell’s recovery and getting to the rim.
And finally: while SGA doesn’t have the explosion to rocket through these gaps in the defense, his low center of gravity + ridiculous stride length work just fine. Take this play, where both his wingspan and stride length compensate for his lack of burst:
(Side Note: It isn’t important enough to receive its own feature, but Shai is great at not getting stripped. Two traits are responsible for this: his acute ‘feel’ for where the swiping defenders are, and those long arms that allow him to hold the ball out of a given defender’s reach.)
Watch a one-on-one example here:
Before we go too deep, just know that Evan Fournier is actually taller than SGA, according to the NBA. Anyway - this play sees SGA rejecting the screen, which means it’s a race to the hoop between him and Fournier, with Fournier in a pretty solid position. However, due to the nature (rules) of the game, Shai has the advantage here. Fournier can’t slide into his path, potentially tripping him - that would be a foul. Rather, Fournier has to slide backward while also gaining ground on Shai so that he can eventually slide between SGA and the basket, aka going around Shai rather than through him. In looking at the physical tools Fournier needs to call upon to stifle this drive, we have now left the realm of 40-yard dash speed and pivoted towards how fast you can slide your feet - so naturally, a different set of physical traits will prevail in SGA and Fournier’s race to the basket. A more explosive driver may seem, in theory, harder for his defender to catch up with and get in front of, but Shai’s massive strides require his defender to get in front of him and then some before they can legally round the corner and reposition themselves between Shai and the basket, an equally demanding task. It’s why SGA’s drives never get cut off, but don’t exactly blow defenders out of the water, either. A good way to describe his drives: slippery. Coordination, stride length, and a low center of gravity help Shai smoothly make his way to the rim; that body contortion also comes in handy when facing little gaps, where his 6’6” frame quickly folds up, helping him slide through. Whether it requires a change of direction:
Or some general contraction:
Shai has an acute understanding not only of his athletic strengths and weaknesses but also how to use them. His straight line speed is unimpressive - catch an OKC fastbreak, and nothing pops. On the other hand, what SGA can do better than most other players is go from a lax, upright stance to a low one; accelerating earlier rather than accelerating faster. I briefly touched on this above, but we’re revisiting it to point out that Shai is aware of his quick high-to-low transition, and does well in setting the stage for that unique burst to shine.
Great manipulation of pace (with a nice side of patiently waiting for Horford’s gravity to win over Ayton). And against Mikal Bridges, no less.
Pretty simple, right? Throughout this first section, I hope I was able to highlight the simplistic-yet-highly-effective ball-handling of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Despite lacking burst and quickness, Shai still finds himself among the league’s top crop when it comes to making something out of nothing, through carefully curated ballhandling sequences where he seamlessly flows through options like a quarterback, attacking at the first sign of an opening. THAT is how Shai slices through defenses like butter, putting constant pressure on the defense/paint. Take another look at his numbers off drives here. They’re always changing (so it’s pointless to put some #’s here), but whatever you just looked at was elite - especially given OKC’s serious lack of spacing/respectable 3-point shooting. A dribble-drive threat is incredibly valuable, undertaking the all-important task of knocking down that first domino, putting the defense in rotation, eventually making something happen. This is not just ‘another’ skill; it creates space, which benefits all 5 members of the offense - an additive skill, if you will. Paired with the right amount of passing ability (more on that later)? Now we’re talking. That is good. Shai is good. Time for the next section.
That’s all for Part 1! If you enjoyed it, then please consider forking over a retweet on Twitter - it helps a ton. If you want to find out when Part 2 is coming (update: it’s right here!), then I’d recommend that you follow me on Twitter, which is where you’ll know what’s coming out and when.