The Athletic prospect list: SGA ranked above Trae Young, LaMelo Ball
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is rising rapidly on list of the best young players in the NBA.
The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie published his annual NBA prospect rankings, a list he puts together of the best 50 NBA players who are either first-round picks on rookie-scale contracts or second-round picks on their first deals.
After displaying dominance so far in his third season, Gilgeous-Alexander moved up five spots into the top 10. He was ranked No. 6, ahead of guards including Trae Young, LaMelo Ball and Ja Morant.
Vecenie wrote:
“He’s the biggest part of why the Thunder are too good to tank despite trades this past offseason that depleted the roster’s talent. If Gilgeous-Alexander keeps up the current pace he’s on, he’d become the youngest player in league history to average 22 points, six assists and five rebounds with at least a 60 true-shooting percentage.”
Gilgeous-Alexander has improved around the board. His stats and efficiency are up despite the additional defensive pressure on him; he is showing real ability to drive and finish at the rim; he’s taking loads of free throws.
Listed at 6-foot-6, he has learned how to use his size to his advantage when being defended by smaller guards.
“He’s an unstoppable force of efficiency. Few guys use their size, length and extension to such devastating effect.”
He’s quick and crafty enough to drive by bigs.
“If he can pull the center away from the rim, he’s almost always going to get past that guy and finish with little back-side rim protection to stop him. He’s about as good as any guard I’ve seen at recognizing when the big has vacated the rim area (or is too flat-footed to help), allowing him nearly unfettered access to the basket due to his ability to beat his defender while extending and finishing.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was seen as an exciting and promising young piece of the Paul George trade, but he was secondary to the pure haul of draft picks received from the Los Angeles Clippers over the next half-decade.
It’s clear now that he’s the real prize and any other rotation players (or better) who the Thunder get from it is gravy.
The only players ranked above Gilgeous-Alexander are Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, Zion Williamson, Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic, all of whom are All-Stars and most of whom have playoff experience.
“Basically, there just isn’t an easy way to stop Gilgeous-Alexander now.”
Oklahoma City knows this quite well already.
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