Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s three-point shooting struggles have been a recent talking point among fans. The fourth-year guard is shooting 28.1 percent from three on 6.2 attempts. This is not a good mark to have as Gilgeous-Alexander is the only player in the entire league who is attempting at least six threes a game while shooting less than 30%. Just for context, there are currently 58 players who are shooting at least six threes a game. The percentage is pretty low, especially when compared to how he shot 37.3 percent from three in his first three seasons in the NBA.
It seems like Gilgeous-Alexander is specifically struggling the most from pull-up threes as he is shooting just 25.6% on 5.3 attempts a game. Last season, that number was 40.9% on 3.8 attempts. The increase in volume usually means a decrease in efficiency, but a 15 point percentage dip is still alarming
To further drive home the point that Gilgeous-Alexnader’s outside shooting struggles are coming from pull-up shots, his catch and shoot numbers are actually pretty good. Gilgeous-Alexander shoots 44.4% on a very limited 0.8 attempts. Last season was a similar case as he shot 43.2% on 1.1 attempts.
So all this data basically means that Gilgeous-Alexander has an easier time making his threes off of passes than he does when he self creates shots. This isn’t a difficult concept to understand — catch and shoot threes are usually more open and less contested than pullup threes.
But with all that said, both Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and Gilgeous-Alexander iterated that the poor shooting numbers is something that they will not make them feel discouraged.
After practice on Saturday, Daigneault mentioned that the biggest thing about Gilgeous-Alexander’s three point shot is that teams respect it and that the raw percentages of it is hard to judge at face value due to the high variance that statistic usually provides year-to-year.
Gilgeous-Alexander said that his stepback three is something that he has worked on a lot and categorizes it as a shot he is comfortable shooting in the flow of the offense but also acknowledges that the low percentages does bother him.
“It bothers me for sure; I don’t like shooting bad. The only way they’re ever gonna go in is if I shoot them, so I’ll continue to shoot them,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s outside shooting woes can be explained away as him playing on a rebuilding team with arguably the worst spacing in the entire NBA where he is the only legit isolation scoring threat on the roster. Another fair conclusion that can be drawn is the fact that this is a rebuilding season for the Thunder, so if players like Gilgeous-Alexander were ever going to experiment and develop a signature shot like the stepback/sidestep three, this is the season to do so as the results of the games do not matter. And finally, like Daigneault mentioned, raw three point percentage numbers can be misinterpreted fairly easily if looked in a vacuum. As contrary as it might sound, sometimes great three point shooters have low percentages that do not reflect the talent or how much the opposition respects their shot.
All of these explanations for the poor shooting numbers are valid and make sense. But regardless, it’s hard to not be somewhat concerned with the poor shooting numbers as Gilgeous-Alexander has been one of the worst high volume three point shooters so far this season. But even with that being the case, it might not matter or be a concerned when the Thunder draft/trade for more high end quality talent and the spacing improves tremendously for Gilgeous-Alexander to work with. By the time the Thunder are back in contention and are on the other side of this rebuild, Gilgeous-Alexander’s 2021-22 three point shooting struggles might be viewed as broccoli he had to stomach.
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