Why Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is NEW STANDARD for NBA SUPERSTARS | THE HERD w/ Colin Cowherd

Why Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is NEW STANDARD for NBA SUPERSTARS | THE HERD w/ Colin Cowherd

uh last night in a laugher Um not not much of a game And I and I understand this I have said during the Pacers Knicks series Stop beating up on the Knicks It’s about the Pacers They have the best point guard and the best offense and the best pace in the league And I feel like this with Minnesota Like they’re not as good as OKC They they don’t have they don’t have the depth They don’t have the youth They don’t have multiple guys who can score like that Um and so I just I I feel like we should kind of honor OKC and SGA more than hammer Minnesota Wow A reasonable take to start the show Colin I like it I like it So let’s start with that Obviously OKC that game was over in about seven minutes The great thing about SGA of the many great things what I really like is he is delivering and fulfilling everything I’ve been told Jason Tatum does but doesn’t really Last year the Celtics go on their championship run Jaylen Brown’s the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals Jaylen Brown’s the finals MVP and Jaylen Brown’s the aggressor and often the initiator SGA wants the ball is always the aggressor and he plays Williams homegr He’s got multiple great players around him but he is clearly the alpha And that’s all I ever asked with Tatum and got push back You know I I that’s I’m holding Jason Tatum to the standard you guys all lectured me on for years on LeBron when LeBron didn’t take the shot He’s the alpha He’s the one If he wants to be MJ he’s got to always take the shot Okay Well um that’s the standard of SGA and Joic right now like like I think both Joic and SGA can elevate teammates and clearly do elevate teammates but there is no question in this Oklahoma City room or that Denver locker room or in the huddle or anytime there’s a late possession who’s the man and I mean we could crush the T-wolves right they were awful Their effort was weak But this series is not about the T- Wolves and the Knicks Pacers which I think will end soon It’s not really about the Knicks failures Indiana is the best offense in the league with the best pace OKC is easily the best defense and the greatest score I mean SGA is only the fourth player in 20 years to win the MVP and reach the finals The other three Steph Kobe and LeBron I don’t know That feels historic to me So I just I look at them and between SGA and OKC’s defense this is going to be a great final I get the best offense I get the best defense I get the best point guard And I get the best score And I know it’s not catchy And I know it doesn’t sound you know dynamic but I think SGA’s nickname should be the standard This is the standard for a true number one In the locker room in the huddle every big possession he is a a number one Has to be dominating offensively understood by all even his talented teammates debilitating to your defense An adult consistent number one on the bus on the plane in the room SG Alpha the Western Conference Finals undisputed MVP This is not about Minnesota’s failures It’s about a historic player He’s one of three guys in league history to have 30 points five plus assists at least 10 times in the playoffs MJ and LeBron are the other two This kid is special Every time he talks every time he leads you just see what a one should be And here he is after winning the conference finals MVP Yeah it’s a really good feeling Think stuff you dream about as a kid And then of course I want to thank my teammates Without them I’m nothing Clear as day I don’t have 124 points by myself I love these guys to death Now with all that being said this is a step in the right direction but we have a lot more work to do and we know that and that’s what we’re focused on So let’s buckle up and get ready Listen they won by an average margin of 12.9 points per game And I understand like veteran teams in the regular season don’t give it you know LeBron’s going to take some night offs and the older players you know they’re dinged up a little bit I understand their youth is a big component to it but here’s what else is This is as good a defensive team as I remember Now Detroit Pistons were great but you could tackle back then That was a little different But given what you can do now you can’t really you can’t hand check You can’t use that forearm on your back Given what you’re allowed to do by NBA protocol and rules this is the best defense I’ve ever seen They hound They confound They’re aggressive Two rim protectors on the back end Even SGA plays defense and is long Like this is as good as defense gets So we can bang on Minnesota but they’re not they’re not built to beat this team Julius Randle’s probably a three not a two Go Bear’s got no offense Connley great veteran presence not an offensive threat and Ant just isn’t there yet to single-handedly beat this offense I really believe there’s two things uh that I took from Minnesota getting rolled in this series beyond the obvious that OKC is a much better team But um number one I said earlier is that Minnesota rolled the Lakers They could not compete against this team And this idea that the Lakers next year can keep Austin Reeves LeBron and Luca who they are what they are They’re not improving ascending players They’re just they are what they are Whereas OKC is younger Their players are all ascending They’re better now consistently They’ve got two first round picks next year Um and and again I LeBron is what he is at 41 Luca is what he is defensively and Austin Reeves is what he is athletically Um I I think it’s been established what the Lakers players are That’s why I think you have to move Austin Reeves and get a big and get a wing and do the do the best you can My second take is uh the T-wolves getting rolled really shows you uh and that’s okay He’s only 23 It shows you the gap between SGA Jokic and Ant and it is a Grand Canyon gap at this point And I’m a big Ant fan but I mean Joic took a beat up Denver team to seven games You know they just ran out of gas and bodies or they could have won game seven I mean Ant had one great game in this series game three one Um Ant shot only 28% from threes He had no double doubles Forget triple doubles He had no double doubles He shot 69% from the free throw line So you can you can’t take SGA Steph Joic or LeBron in his prime You can’t take them out of their game Can’t you can take Ant out of his game Not everybody but a good defensive team Trap him double him throw bodies at him make him make quick decisive reads He’s not great at that yet Um and I always said what really makes the greats great what really makes LeBron Mahomes Tom Brady great their entire careers in their prime those 10 12 years of prime basketball maybe it’s 14 football maybe it’s 10 Everybody’s trying to disrupt Brady disrupt Mahomes disrupt LeBron and they can’t The entire game plan stop that guy Can’t I mean LeBron was even out of high school by year two 30 plus 10 assists tireless both ends and everybody was trying to stop him throwing their best defenders at him doubles traps pressure didn’t matter Um everybody is designing their defenses to stop the greats OKC did it and really shut Ant down They couldn’t shut Joic down Joic ran out of gas He didn’t run out of brain power He didn’t run out of distribution or scoring He He just got tired Ant needs more layers He needs more time He needs more experience You can double him And he’s just he’s just I’ve said this it’s a little bit like a quarterback in year two instead of year five Mahomes admits year three the lights went on Ants just not he he’s not good at pre- snap quarterback play yet He you can double him pressure him He can’t make those quick reads yet My guess is you could be trade deadline next year He may have it but he’s just not quite there And it shows the gap with with a Jokic and an SGA I said this yesterday SGA’s 26 and Ants 23 Like if you’re 46 and 43 there’s no difference But at 26 to 23 in the NBA it’s a different player I mean SGA’s decisionmakings his ability to manipulate defenders and the officials like SGA 26 with all his experience like oh that’s an adult He is now starting a prime Ant’s not in his prime yet He’ll probably get there end of next year He’ll probably sometime in May for about a 9-year period he’ll be in his prime So what you’re seeing is what what the NBA is It’s hard And because these guys like Ant come out after one year of college you know I always said they can’t even drink at the hotel bar their first several years in the league So he just needs he needs more snaps to be able to read that too deep and zone and that man-to-man coverage and rolling over cornerbacks He just needs more snaps at the line of scrimmage That’s what he needs Here’s Ant after They was the better team They came out and and beat us punched us in the face and we lost the game We lost the series Yeah Yeah I’m going to work my butt off this summer Nobody’s going to work harder than me this summer I tell you that much And remember Shay at 23 had never been an all-star So you start stacking these years and these experiences young quarterbacks and aunt they grow up really fast We’re probably we’re probably the all-star break next year an off season and 30 more games of him graduating to the things we’re missing Now

Colin Cowherd reacts to the Oklahoma City Thunder beating the Minnesota Timberwolves and moving on to the NBA Finals. He explains why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the new standard for NBA superstars. He also discusses what Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves need to do to contend next season.

#shaigilgeousalexander #oklahomacitythunder #nbaplayoffs