In Focus: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's offensive output
Right off the bat, I love SGA and I fully went aboard the train last season. For as fun as the Poku experience is and how much we can appreciate Giddey missing a lay up only to get a rebound and hit a perfectly placed no-look bounce pass, Gilgeous-Alexander has been the only guarantee of true competency as an engine for their offense - and he's been achieved far beyond that baseline. Playing in isolation, Shai specialises in blowing by opponents. Employing a mix of a super explosive first step, which he uses seemingly out of a pure standstill position, and delightfully unorthodox timings to take off, the fact he goes off in between the usual beats means he catches defenders off-guard and mid-shifting their feet, as beautifully pointed out on a By Any Means Basketball video. He’s used his technique to leave even elite defensive pests like Thybulle behind him and beyond reach of recovery with considerable consistency. It’s small-guard like agility and feet swiftness but in a l