The Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren Thread

[TroubleS0me]

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[tsherkin]

Hell of a night, that.

[Texas Chuck]

Hell of a night, that.

Nights like this are always so interesting when its happening against the team you root for. On one hand you are dying inside as this guy is just delivering over and over. On the other, as just a basketball fan, you realize what a special performance you are watching and just sorta smile. Brandon Roy's career had effectively been over because of his health and then he scores like 20 points in the 4th quarter against Dallas in game 4 of round 1(in a game where both teams struggled to get to 80) to overcome a 20 point 4th quarter deficit to tie the series in the championship year. It was incredible and also painful.

[tsherkin]

Hell of a night, that.

Nights like this are always so interesting when its happening against the team you root for. On one hand you are dying inside as this guy is just delivering over and over. On the other, as just a basketball fan, you realize what a special performance you are watching and just sorta smile. Brandon Roy's career had effectively been over because of his health and then he scores like 20 points in the 4th quarter against Dallas in game 4 of round 1(in a game where both teams struggled to get to 80) to overcome a 20 point 4th quarter deficit to tie the series in the championship year. It was incredible and also painful.

Oh man, I miss Brandon Roy. I was hoping he'd stay healthy, he was just a treasure to watch. He HAD athleticism, but played this chill, mostly ground-bound game. And then he'd bust out some mid-air, acrobatic horsecrap and you're like "DUHWUT."

It was good stuff.

Shai there, barely getting 14" off the ground but SCHOOLING everyone with change of pace, fakes and footwork was gorgeous stuff.

[GSP]

Hell of a season. Hes def a top 5 player if not top 3. He was the best player of the series by far but his teammates let him down specially the 3pt shooting. Felt like he was their most reliable 3pt shooter which shouldnt be happening.

Chet will only get better. Jdubb made a leap but theyll have to see if he can make another one or consider trading him.

[TroubleS0me]

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[ShotCreator]

Chet needs to be invested in a confidence and gameplanning level. He didn't grow at all throughout the season as a shot creator and overall offensive player. His confidence is so low. Nothing is ran for him. He's not featured for long periods.

He has a legitimately great catch and finish game, a pure shot from all over the floor, a real handle enough to create off the fly and good vision and passing. And his offensive role is no different than DeAndre Ayton's. It has to stop.

As far as the rest of the core, they seem expendable to some degree. Especially Giddey. Presti is an amazing scout with probably the best drafting track record in the sport but he has some decisions to make. Too many chuckers. Not enough structure. No big men and their second most talented player's growth is seemingly stunted.

Shai is probably peaking right now. But then again I thought Jokic was peaking 2021 and he leveled it up. Shai has leveled it up the past 4 seasons up to this point. Taking huge leaps the past 2 years. Maybe OKC should make a win-sooner, not necessarily win-now, win-now is getting a 33 year old CP3 or Dame in a trade that gives all your picks away. But just a win-sooner trade. Maybe AD? Maybe somebody younger than that.

[tsherkin]

Chet needs to be invested in a confidence and gameplanning level. He didn't grow at all throughout the season as a shot creator and overall offensive player. His confidence is so low. Nothing is ran for him. He's not featured for long periods.

He's a rookie. You don't always see that happening over the first year, especially since it was after recovering from the Lisfranc injury.

He has a legitimately great catch and finish game, a pure shot from all over the floor, a real handle enough to create off the fly and good vision and passing. And his offensive role is no different than DeAndre Ayton's. It has to stop.

Why? OKC was the 3rd-best offense in the league and took Dallas to a close game 7 in the second round. There was no need to force it this early in his career. He was getting the 3rd-most shots per game on the team and would have looked better in the PS if he hadn't sucked ass from 3 to the tune of 11% worse than his RS performance (and in particular shooting 6/27 from 3 vs OKC).

OKC can work on developing Chet a little more in the off-season and next year; there wasn't a good reason to really force it as a rookie, and especially once they had performed so well doing things one way and made the playoffs. There would be a very different conversation if Chet had just hit a RS-level percentage on his 3s. *shrug*

[ShotCreator]

Chet needs to be invested in a confidence and gameplanning level. He didn't grow at all throughout the season as a shot creator and overall offensive player. His confidence is so low. Nothing is ran for him. He's not featured for long periods.

He's a rookie. You don't always see that happening over the first year, especially since it was after recovering from the Lisfranc injury.

He has a legitimately great catch and finish game, a pure shot from all over the floor, a real handle enough to create off the fly and good vision and passing. And his offensive role is no different than DeAndre Ayton's. It has to stop.

Why? OKC was the 3rd-best offense in the league and took Dallas to a close game 7 in the second round. There was no need to force it this early in his career. He was getting the 3rd-most shots per game on the team and would have looked better in the PS if he hadn't sucked ass from 3 to the tune of 11% worse than his RS performance (and in particular shooting 6/27 from 3 vs OKC).

OKC can work on developing Chet a little more in the off-season and next year; there wasn't a good reason to really force it as a rookie, and especially once they had performed so well doing things one way and made the playoffs. There would be a very different conversation if Chet had just hit a RS-level percentage on his 3s. *shrug*

Then I don't understand when you should force it. I don't believe in time being on anyone's side in this league. I mentioned Shai peaking right now because, the Suns, the Grizzlies, the Hawks, the Kings, and even the Gobert/Mitchell Jazz did not last long. 1 or 2 good playoff runs and then complete degradation. It's hard to stay at the top of the league.

Watching Carson Wallace and Lu Dort throw shots at the rim is not helping them develop as a team. I'd rather see Chet force some bad shots(that'd he'd make sometimes) than those guys even shooting average ones.

I think a Chet with some spots on the floor he's super confident and aggressive in, forcing the defense to adjust to that is the difference between a 2nd round knock out and possibly a finals berth and who knows what would happen once they got there.

Don't ever take things for granted.


He will improve on his own but without guidance guys can just stay the same for long periods. Luka had an Amazing second year. Started getting fat and just stayed the same until like 2023. And still takes bad shots and hasn't added anything to hhis mind
defensively.

I just want OKC to know the years of experimenting are still key and worth it even while really good. Cause someone is still gonna fill big shot taking roles anyway. May as well be your second most talented guy.

[tsherkin]

Then I don't understand when you should force it.

Second season seems the answer here, since there was no reason to really push it while they were showcasing the effectiveness they did this season. They didn't need him to be more of a scoring threat, they just needed him to hit his average level from downtown, is sort of the point. It's not necessary to force scoring volume and responsibility onto him over that first season when everything is clicking and he's already showcasing contribution on offense and certainly on D.

[VeggieBurger]

Chet is good, but he absolutely has to work on 4 particular things:

1- Slow release: This absolute kills him and allows even smaller athletic players to challenge his shot. Time and time again he either has no time to release because he is challenged too quick or he gets blocked.

2- No arc: His jump shot is like a line drive. This is mainly attributable to not putting enough legs into your shot. Makes sense as he's never played this long a season and it progressively got flatter

3- Handles/crossover: While his handles are fairly ok for a 7fter, he is extremely deliberate and slow and exposed himself for a lot of steals. He will try to crossover a lot but because his handle is so slow and not tight enough, it will get stolen or knocked out of his dribble a lot. He has to tighten up his handle - KD went through similar albeit at younger age.

4- Core/lower body strength: The reality is that the guy will always be slim. You can be slim but still have decent core/lower body strength so as to not make it so easy to get backed down. He made guys like Daniel Gafford look like a superstar at times just from simple backing down to layup moves. I wouldn't have him try to become too bulky anyways as that would take away from his uniqueness on the perimeter and mess up his shot.