In this new series, Thunder Wire will assign three goals to each of the 21 players, per Spotrac, that make up the Oklahoma City Thunder roster.
The Thunder’s season kicks off on Oct. 25 against the Chicago Bulls. After a surprising 40-42 campaign that ended with them one win shy of the playoffs, OKC enters this year with playoff aspirations.
Buy Thunder TicketsLet’s assign three goals for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for his upcoming season. After a career year in which he earned All-NBA first-team honors and finished fifth in MVP voting, his ascension will likely continue this season.
Make another All-Star appearance
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enjoyed his best season yet last year when he averaged 31.4 points on 51% shooting and 5.5 assists. The historically highly efficient scoring numbers helped put him in his first All-Star game last year.
The question now will be can Gilgeous-Alexander do it again and have a similar/better season? At the prime age of 25 years old, it’s hard not to see it happen barring health.
The first sign of Gilgeous-Alexander playing up to or higher than the level he did last season will be if he gets invited once again to All-Star weekend. If that happens, it’s fair to say he’ll help his reputation and be a perennial All-Star who gets invited frequently for the foreseeable future.
Bring back the 3-point shot
A huge reason Gilgeous-Alexander was such an efficient scorer last season was his elimination of the 3-point shot. After averaging 5.1 3-pointers the previous two seasons, that was chiseled to just 2.5 attempts last season. Instead, he did most of his scoring damage off his drives, at the free-throw line or on self-created midrange shots.
If Gilgeous-Alexander can reintroduce the 3-point shot to his diet this season, that could raise his scoring numbers — even if it means his efficiency dips down a bit.
Continue to get a friendly whistle
Gilgeous-Alexander blossomed into a superstar last season in large part due to getting a superstar whistle. After averaging just 4.9 free-throw attempts in his first four seasons, that ballooned to 10.9 attempts on extremely efficient 90.5% shooting. The 10.9 attempts ranked third in the league last year — only behind MVP winners Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid.
Leading the league in drives per game by a wide margin definitely helps in getting to the free-throw line on a regular basis. If he can continue to put up similar free-throw numbers, that’ll guarantee big-scoring games on a consistent basis — even on nights his shot isn’t falling.
