The OKC Thunder Have the Most Overqualified 2nd Option in the NBA
When the game is on the line nine times out of 10 you could expect the OKC Thunder to put the ball in the hands of Shay Giles Alexander but despite Shay being a 31 Point per game scorer and a top MVP Contender is not the player
Leading OKC in terms of scoring in the fourth quarter this season and it’s not rookie Chad hren either who’s been torching defenses with a solid stroke off the pick and pop and a strong face up game instead the player who scored the most points for the Thunder during
Fourth quarters this season has been seconde Wing Jaylen Williams or J well consider this this season only eight players have scored more fourth quarter points than Jay dub four of them are MVPs in Yannis Steph Curry Kevin Durant and LeBron James while the other four are all NBA talents such as de
Aaron Fox Trey young demard de R roen and Luca donic then there’s Jaylen Williams right below them overall the 6’5 second-year Wing has been at his best during clutch time which the NBA defines as situations in which the score is within five points during the final 5
Minutes of game games in fact in those situations Jay dub is shooting a scorching 66.7% from the field which is the best shooting percentage among all players with at least 25 shot attempts in the clutch this season but what’s even crazier is that Jay Dub’s overall raw numbers also point to him having
Elite production for someone’s age as before this season only four players age 22 or younger have average at least 19 4 and four while making at least half of their shots in a single season and these guys are Kareem Michael Jordan Kevin Johnson and most recently Yannis and TMO
But Jay dub is currently on Pace to become the fifth player on that list as is currently averaging 19 points four rebounds and four and a half assists while shooting almost 54% from the field but aside from that a handful of all-in-one Advanced metrics including the estimated plus minus rating the
Bucks plus minus rating and the player efficiency rating or PR also peegs job but somewhere between a top 30 to top 50 player in his second season which puts him into a kind of trajectory that lends him into at least future All-Star territory well sure there’s no guarantee
That jdub’s game will keep rising or that he’ll grow into an all NBA type of player but still combining the film together with all those numbers is put up as a 22-year-old strongly suggests that he will so what’s good everyone it’s R balls here and today let’s dive
Into the scary ceiling of jayen Williams and why he could actually develop into potentially the most overqualified second option in the entire NBA let’s get to It the OKC Thunders offense with all the inverted screening actions and guard to guard pick and rolls they deploy is designed to spread opponents out on the floor to open up driving lanes for the Thunders play makers it’s a system built to maximize the driving game of SGA who
Leads the NBA in drives for the fourth straight season as well as this OKC team as a whole who leads the NBA and drives by a pretty wide margin but as defenses start to throw more aggressive coverages on the Thunder coach Mark dagal has sought out different options to counter
Opponents locking in and trying to slow down Shay Gil’s Alexander’s driving attack luckily for OKC they have a really strong second option in jayen Williams a walking offs speed attacker who’s comfortable moving at his own pace with the ball while using his handle to L Defenders to sleep before he hits the
Pedal on his way to the basket this season Jay dub has completely been looking like a light version of Shay on the floor as he currently ranks 25th in the NBA both in drives per game and in points scored off drives per game all while shooting almost 56% on off the
Dribble shots in the paint and 69% in the restricted area both of which are really strong marks for a sub 6’6 Wing like him once job gains that first step on his Drive he’s got the frame to hold off Defenders the handle to maneuver through tight spaces the strength to go
Up against contact and the bounce to finish right at The Rim in this possession you can see Jay duub one one against Jamal Murray but Shay approaches with a ghost screen enabling job to start his driving attack now entering the paint you can see how Denver tries
To make life hard for him by surrounding him with four Defenders but just watch jdub take off go for some Hang Time and absorb contact from two Defenders as he finishes the shot off the glass then in this play you can see Shay driving and collapsing the defense in the paint
Leaving jdub open as a kick out option in the corner JB exposes the lazy close out by Zion Williamson however Valen chunes is waiting on the paint still JB just goes straight up and contorts his body as he finishes the tough end one against contact also the beauty about
JB’s game is that even if help Defenders or Shar blockers try to stop him on his tracks he can easily deploy his ridiculous 7 foot2 wingspan which affords him more released angles on shots near the basket in this possession you can see jaub on the wing being
Guarded by a solid lengthy defender in kada bits deop Chad homr sets him up on the handoff giving JB some advantage against his man baits deop and initially Cuts him off but watch jdub with a change of face which gives him an open Lane before he uses his length on this
Tough left-handed finish then again here with jdub on the ball you can see another screen from Shay which triggers jdub to get switched on the slower Nick Claxton he’s facing a much bigger player along the Baseline but watch him smartly use a shoulder fake before he pivots and
Uses that 7 foot2 wingspan as he finishes the semi hook against his big Defender but the good thing is even when the lane is much more crowded than usual Jay dub has a plan B which often comes in the form of his pull-up jumper which is a product of combined Brute Force
Polished footwork and a solid touch from the perimeter when his driving lane is cut off JB comfortably lowers his shoulder and dislodges his Defender to create space before rising up for a tough mid-range jumper which he has collectively drained at a really high clip this season as jdub is currently
Shooting a scorching 56.6% on pullup two-point jump shots and just under 50% overall from the mid-range and it’s worth noting that there are only eight players who have both made more mid-range shots and who have shot those attempts at a higher clip than Jay dub this season and the list includes some
Of the best mid-range scorers in the entire NBA with Kevin Durant Shay gilis Alexander Joel embiid Donovan Mitchell Chris midleton Michael Porter Jr Brandon Miller and Tyrese halberton plus watching the film you could definitely see that the skill and shot difficulty level that jdub employs to create his
Mid-range shots are easily at par with those aformentioned players in this play in early possession you can see Jay dub immediately attacking the defense of Kevin herder after losing herder with a smoth behind the back his seemingly out of options in the middle of Sacramento Zone but watch him leverage that tight
Space together with his length to launch the smooth one-legged fadeaway against the tight contest then in this play once again you see Chad hren setting up Jay dub on a side pick and rle play which triggers the switch on the slower Marvin Begley job drives to cross him up and
While Begley is able to hold up job continues with a turn around move which sets up the high arcing mid-range shot which Bagley defends quite well but goes in anyway overall the downhill attacking and the stop and pop mid-range game already makes Jay dub a really tough cover for defenses but what’s even
Crazier is that he’s also experiencing a deep shooting stroke development that has seen jdub go from shooting 35% from the three-point line as a rookie to now shooting an insane 44.6% from Deep which is the fourth best Mark in the entire NBA this season with nearly equal
Accuracy off the dribble and off the catch combine all of that with his steady playmaking ability and decision making with the ball that has enabled him to produce a 2.66 assist to turnover ratio this season which is also the 20th best in the entire league and it becomes
Quite clear that Jaylen Williams is indeed a total problem for opposing defenses however what helps make JB a much bigger part of OKC’s identity is how he also neatly fits with what coach deal is trying to accomplish on the other end of the floor Jay dub is a
Smart Defender who’s got quick hands who’s posting solid shot blocking and steel rates for a wing and who’s averaging the 14th most deflections per game in the entire NBA this season his quick enough to navigate screens and to stick with ball handlers while also being able to track players away from
The ball while also being a suffocating Defender from the point of attack and while Jay dub doesn’t have to take the heaviest defensive assignments every single night which is of course a benefit of playing for a top five defensive team with a ton of multi-positional defensive Stoppers like
OKC this doesn’t mean that jdb has it easy on defense because of the fact that he plays power forward in the Thunder starting lineup and the fact that he frequently plays with a frail big man in Chad hren Jay dub is still mostly asked to switch and battle much bigger players
Case in point this season his three most frequent defensive assignments in terms of matchup minutes have been much bigger guys in Carl Anthony towns Jeremy Grant and yes Victor wanyama but interestingly enough when Jay dub has guarded them no one has shot better than 46% from the
Field but of course as part of an ideal OKC roster you wouldn’t want Jay dub to consistently be guarding bigs because at the end of the day he’s still definitely at his best when defending guards or Wings in fact watching him you can see how he’s been able to make life
Uncomfortable even for bigger and stronger forwards who try to outmuscle him in this possession you can see Jay duub initially defending Draymond Green on the post before kaminga is actually switched onto him and you can see how JB’s wide frame comes into play as he contains his man kaminga tries to over
Power him on the paint but just watch jdb stifle him with a block then here Jay dub starts The Possession guarding kawh Leonard off the ball the pin down screen from Paul George slightly freeze up Kawai but you can see jdub fight through the screen and continue to Trail
His man on the paint Kawai tries to use his shoulder to back JB down but JB smartly uses his hands to send the ball out of bounds well there definitely aren’t a lot of players in the NBA right now like Jay dub who averages 30 plus minutes per game who can be great
Offensively in many different roles but who can also be a net positive Defender at the same time but what’s even crazier is that Jay dub also gives OKC the luxury of having a 22-year-old guy who produces All-Star level numbers as their number two option which is most evident
During the start of the second and fourth quarters which is when Shay takes a breather on the bench cuz looking at it when Shay is off the floor Jay dub is averaging a ridiculous 34.6 points and 8.3 assists per 100 possessions while posting an insane 61.3 true shooting percentage which are basically numbers
That we only see from MVPs and all NBA type players over the course of a full season which just makes you wonder what could jdub’s numbers actually look like if he had the keys to a team fulltime but whether or not he actually outgrows his projections as OKC’s long-term
Number two option or even potential number three option the good thing is Jay dub won’t be extension eligible until the summer of 20125 meaning GM Sam pry still has time left to fix his balance sheet in order to keep all this t in Oklahoma City for the foreseeable
Future but for now I think it’s becoming quite clear that if this iteration of the Thunder is going to surpass what those OKC teams from The Big Three era have accomplished it’s not just because SGA has become the best guard in the NBA or Chad hren has evolved into the
Monster two-way unicorn that everyone expected him to become but it’s also going to be because of the fact that a couple of drafts ago Sam pry was able to identify a potential star and a huge two-way differen maker in jayen Williams when not a lot of Lottery teams were able
To but what do you guys think do you actually see Jaylen Williams evolving into the most overqualified number two option in the entire NBA in the near future feel free to drop your thoughts in the comment section below and again if you’re new to the Channel please consider subscribing as well again this
Has been R balls and I’ll see you on the next one peace
#NBA #OklahomaCityThunder #NBAhighlights
The OKC Thunder have been one of the best teams in the NBA this season. The Thunder rebuild that Sam Presti has created is now officially over as this young Oklahoma City team is looking like legitimate NBA championship contenders who can take over the Western Conference over veteran teams like the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, or LA Clippers. The Thunder have an MVP contender in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a rookie of the year candidate in Chet Holmgren, and young talented cornerstones in Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, and Cason Wallace. But sophomore wing player Jalen Williams or Jdub is evolving into one of the best 2nd options in the NBA.
What made this Okc Thunder team become instant contenders has not only been the rise of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander alongside the likes of NIkola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Giannis, and Kevin Durant as an elite All-NBA player. However, coach Mark Daigneault’s system in Okc has also allowed other young core pieces to shine in Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, together with veterans like newly acquired forward Gordon Hayward, big man acquisition Bismack Biyombo and returning Mike Muscala. The NBA playoffs will be a battleground for OKC but they have the talent to make a deep run in the NBA postseason. But can a young team like OKC win an NBA championship and beat teams like the Cletics, Bucks, Nuggets, Clippers, Mavs or Suns?
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Okc Thunder, Mavericks at Thunder full game highlights, NBA highlights today, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Pacers at Thunder full game highlights, Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Can OKC win the NBA championship, Oklahoma City Thunder rebuild, Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns, OKC Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA on Espn, Nikola Jokic, Giannis, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama
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11 Comments
J-Dub for Most Improved Player? 🤔
Great in-depth video.. would not be surprised to see this kid on the all-star team next season
thunderUP
Don’t be confused. It’s Jdub 😅
It’s the way the Thunder do their rotations. They play SGA the whole 3rd, and they rest him the 1st 6 minutes or so of the 4th. JDub gets his rest the 2nd part of the 3rd and starts the 4th as the main option. He plays more 4 qtr minutes than SGA, but that’s not meant to put down how good he is, it’s just why he’s scoring more than SGA in the 4th.
JDub’s evolution has made Giddey redundant which is why his numbers have dropped and he seems to be having a worse year. I don’t see how Giddey fits in there anymore, and JT would be better for his career to find a place he can be the primary playmaker.
Lakers need to capitalise on how good the young thunder are move off AD for
Cason wallace
Ousman dieng
Lu Dort
Kenrich Williams
Isiaha Joe
3 firsts.
The team keeps depth with Aaron Wiggins Josh Giddey and their three stars they also would still be able to at max have three firsts this year alone depending on what picks given up the biggest weaknesses of the thunder are immediatly addressed by AD and that happens very rarely
Man sucks J Dub sprained his ankle and could be out for a week
Shai for mvp
Chet for roty
Jdub for mip
A 6moy for Joe in a he future.
A dpoy for Chet.
All of this is more than “possible”
This team is scawwwy😢
Do yo thang Riro! Good looking out for my Thunder.
OKC has a practical young All-Star team on their hands