Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hoisted his second consecutive NBA MVP trophy less than two weeks ago, and that accomplishment didn’t happen by accident.
Gilgeous-Alexander has become one of the most dominant players the NBA has seen in recent memory, as he has averaged at least 30.1 points in each of the last four seasons.
The 27-year-old former first-round draft pick is just the 14th player in NBA history to win back-to-back MVPs.
But as the Thunder’s Western Conference finals series with the San Antonio Spurs has progressed, Gilgeous-Alexander is receiving criticism from national NBA pundits for the amount of fouls he draws and all the times he falls to the court after taking a shot.
That criticism of Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t sit well with Warriors forward Draymond Green, who went on a long-winded rant about the national storylines on the latest episode of “The Draymond Green Show,” which was published Saturday, hours before Game 7 between the Thunder and Spurs.
“This series has been interesting because the storylines from this series has been, ‘Oh man, they’re pushing [Victor Wembanyama] too much,’ to ‘Oh man, Shai’s flopping too much,’ to ‘Oh man, the referees are calling too many fouls for Shai.’ ‘Oh man, Shai’s falling too much.’ And what has not really been appreciated is the level of play on the floor, the elite level of play that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander brings to the court, the elite level Steph Curry-like play that Victor Wembanyama or Steph Curry-like excitement that Victor Wembanyama brings to the floor, where you’re watching the game and at any moment when you’re not watching that game, you can miss one of the most insane things that you’ve ever seen a player do ala Steph Curry when you’re watching Victor Wembanyama.
“And it’s ironic that none of the conversation has been about that or the play of Dylan Harper, who’s a rookie and just keep finding a way and yeah, he’s had a couple bad games but he keep finding a way. Or the elite-level defense of Stephon Castle. Elite level defense, I say it again, of Stephon Castle. The ‘Stephon Castle’s turning the ball over too much [storyline]’ to two games in a row of one turnover. Why are we not talking about these things? Because sports media f—ing sucks. It’s awful. No one talks basketball anymore. But no one knows basketball anymore because the s—t is just moving too fast, huh?
“Everything’s moving too fast. And so we want to pinpoint the thing that we can slow down. Shai’s falling. Shai’s at the free-throw line. Everybody’s complaining about Shai getting too many foul calls. And going into Game 6, Shai had shot five more free throws in the series than Wemby. But the whole complaint is Shai’s getting too many foul calls. I don’t understand it.
“‘Ah man, he’s foul baiting.’ Shai, what I will say is, you’ve reached a new level of greatness, my man. Congratulations. Your hard work has paid off. You’ve reached a new level of greatness because you have sports media heads coming out and talking about what they don’t like about your greatness. Imagine that. You got people coming out talking about what they don’t like about your greatness. That’s incredible. As if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is running up and down the court with the whistle in his mouth calling the foul for himself.
“That’s what we going to act like. We going to act like this man has on a zebra shirt and he’s blowing the whistle for himself. Or we can just act like the the the complete integrity of the NBA is all off and they just calling fouls for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The NBA ain’t got no integrity. They just calling fouls for one guy. Fortunately, that theory doesn’t work because the main guy on the other side going into Game 6 has shot five less free throws when all the complaint was happen. That’s why I’m saying before Game 6. Imagine that. So that theory don’t work.
“So, maybe we can just appreciate greatness and what Shai is showing and what he’s doing and what he’s capable of. Maybe we can just appreciate the greatness. And if we’re going to appreciate the greatness for what it is, then we got to appreciate what Stephon Castle is showing us. Then we got to really appreciate what that young man is showing us, which is elite-level defense on the back-to-back MVP of the NBA.
“Now, yes, it’s a little bit tougher. [Jalen Williams] ain’t out there. Even Jay Dub was just out there. Jay Dub wasn’t out there. Ajay Mitchell ain’t out there. It makes things a little tougher on Shai. So, give Stephon Castle his credit. Also, let’s sit back and identify what’s not there, what is there, why this isn’t happening, why this is happening.
“Man, when you take your secondary ballhandler like Jalen Williams off the floor against a great team, yes, they’ve been able to do it all regular season. Yes, they’ve been able to do it through the playoffs, but now they are playing the second-best team in the Western Conference, it catches up to them at times. Then you take your third-best ballhandler, Ajay Mitchell, off the floor, catches up to you.
“So now all of a sudden, Jared McCain has to handle a little bit more, right? I don’t know that he’s best suited handling and creating for himself. Yeah, he get to it at times, but I don’t know that he’s best suited, especially not on the road. At home, a little bit more comfortable, little bit you they got they’re going to bump you a little bit less because you get the home whistle. That’s just how things go because referees are human, right? Like so that’s just how things go. You get the home whistle, you’re gonna get a better little better whistle at home, right? So they ain’t going to bump you as much. So it’s easier for a Jared McCain at home. Struggles a little bit more on the road to get to different things, right? So now you take those two secondary ball handlers off and you got more of that. It’s tougher, right? Just a little bit tougher.
“And so, but again, give Stephon Castle his credit. I don’t know why we just can’t appreciate what these guys are doing. Everybody got an opinion, but they ain’t never did it. Everybody. HOV said it. Everybody wants to tell you how to do it. They never did it. Everybody got an opinion, though. I mean, I’ve been baffled watching people talk about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Like, he just not him, like he didn’t just win back-to-back MVPs in the NBA, which is the best basketball league in the world by a long shot.
“There’s not a close second basketball league in the world to the NBA. There’s not a close second. That’s no disrespect to anyone. That’s just a fact from a money-value standpoint, talent, just not a close second. And this guy who’s been number one hands down the last two years, we really going to try to discredit him and act like it’s all because he flopped. It’s all because he drew some fouls. That’s what we really going? You all think the NBA is that easy to where this guy just flops and go to the free throw line and he becomes like the back-to-back MVP? In this league? We’re gonna really dumb the NBA down to that. That’s a shame. It’s actually sickening. It’s sickening.
“I have a fond appreciation for the work Shai Gilgeous-Alexander puts in. And I don’t know the work he put in because I don’t see him work every day. But I do know the work he put in because I know to do that again, to be the defending champ, come back, run the MVP back again. I know the work Steph Curry put in. I’ve seen that for 14 years. And the guy that I seen do that, win a championship, and then come back and run it back and win MVP. I know the work I saw him put in.
“So, I got an idea the work Shai puts in and we just going to dumb that down to a flop and drawing a foul. Man, stop it. Really? We really not going to act like this dude can’t get a bucket any which way? We really going to do that? We really going to act like the NBA is that easy of a place to succeed that he can just fall or flop and get a foul call and go to the free throw line and he going to be the back-to-back best player in that league two years in a row and we going to act like it’s just that? I’m sick of it. I am sick of it. Why we just can’t appreciate these players, man? They doing it at a high level. I’m enjoying watching it.”
Among the national analysts to criticize Gilgeous-Alexander recently are former NFL player Chris Canty and former NBA player Jay Williams.
While some might be growing tired of how Gilgeous-Alexander plays, Green is not among them, coming to the defense of the two-time NBA MVP.
Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will have a chance to advance to their second consecutive NBA Finals on Saturday night as they host the Spurs in a winner-take-all Game 7 at Paycom Center.
Green and all of SGA’s detractors will be watching.
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