Denver Nuggets: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s potential fit
By Max Carlin
A way to compensate?
With the Nuggets, Gilgeous-Alexander would not be able to check guards; he’d have to guard wings. Looking at his measurables, you might assume that’s a viable option. Looking at the above section, you might assume hiding him on bigger, slower players would mitigate his mobility issues.
How does that thing about assuming that every sixth grader in America finds unbelievably amusing go?
Gilgeous-Alexander is an extremely spacey off-ball defender. He tends to focus on the ball and forget about his man, which results in possessions like the one above, in which he gifts Tennessee a great look when their offense is floundering and in danger of a shot clock violation.
When he does stick with his man, Gilgeous-Alexander is liable to bite on pump fakes:
His willingness to bite on fakes coupled with his tendency to close out without discipline translates to Gilgeous-Alexander both conceding unguarded shots and taking himself out of plays.
His issues extend to team defense, as well:
Gilgeous-Alexander routinely misses or is late on rotations. What’s worse is that he often compounds mistakes with poor decisions. Here he’s late to rotate as Robert Williams darts to the rim. Because he’s late, Gilgeous-Alexander’s out of position. However, he attempts to block Williams’ shot anyway and picks up an obvious foul.
Defensively, there’s not a lot to love in Gilgeous-Alexander’s tape, especially for a guy whose main selling point is defense, according to outlets like The Ringer. I’ll give him credit for legitimately using his length well. He made a habit of disrupting passing lanes, even on simple exchanges:
Opponents often seem unprepared for a guard with such long reach, and Gilgeous-Alexander is extremely active, flailing his arms in really unideal locations for the offense.
It’s this type of activity that makes SGA a pretty good defensive playmaker, capable of poking the ball lose at many moment, maybe even picking up a block or two (it’s also why his box score numbers are always going to overstate his defensive ability).