From opposite sides of the gym, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams hoisted variations of the same shot.
Williams, with colorful shoes and a propensity to shoutout his teammates mid-workout, side stepped over and over Sunday afternoon. Gilgeous-Alexander, silent sans the times he’d clap on a miss, stepped into 3 after 3.
This was the shot that would change their games. The money maker. The ceiling raiser. The shot coach Mark Daigneault begged for more of from Williams. The shot that froze anyone who watched Gilgeous-Alexander’s pair of nonchalant attempts in last week’s game against the Rockets.
The education on the pull-up 3 is well underway in Oklahoma City.
“You can’t be afraid to try and see if it works,” said Williams, whose shot selection has rarely ever come with reluctance. “That’s the great thing about the preseason; you can go 0 for 100 or 100 for 100. Just get those reps.
“As players, everybody on the team — not just me — wants to evolve.”
That includes Gilgeous-Alexander. Yes, there’s still somehow room for him to improve. To render the help defense and walls built for him useless.
Diagonal to where Williams stood before the media, Gilgeous-Alexander was working out with Isaiah Joe, shooting the same shots for what seemed like the duration of the session the Thunder allowed the media to view. Hoping to evolve.
“I mean, he's shooting it, like, literally right now,” Williams said. “He shoots it every day, something he probably shot all summer. You can even tell in the Olympics, it was something that he was working on.
“I think that's the lost aspect that people don't really pay attention to: You also work on your game in the game.”
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Daigneault on shooting gravity and reputations in the NBA
Remember when longtime NBA guard Rajon Rondo shot above 35% in five of his last seven seasons? Probably not. His prime seasons as a master facilitator with an elite ball fake defined who he was forever.
That was Daigneault’s point Sunday when asked how much shot volume goes hand in hand with shooting gravity.
“There's guys that shot it well in one game, and everybody closes to ‘em for the rest of their lives,” Daigneault said of offensive reputations. “I remember — and I say this as a compliment to Rondo — Rondo, people would still go a mile under him, and he was shooting 40% from 3 forever.”
Daigneault acknowledges that and any other trend that he comes across. But for the Thunder, it’s warped. It can’t control narratives. It might even benefit from them. But to the team, Aaron Wiggins is an efficient shooter. It matters not if more attempts might keep from replicating his precious 49.2% mark on 1.6 attempts from a season ago.
Wiggins’ reputation, even on relatively low volume, could already be set. Perhaps it’ll even carry him for a chunk of his career. But Daigneault doesn’t want more 3s from Wiggins — or Williams, or anyone else — for the sake of gravity. The prevailing unit of measurement in the building is good shots and bad shots.
“If he’s gonna shoot it at 38, 39% instead of 50%, but it's going to create more space for our team, then it'll net more positive than him shooting 50% on low volume," Daigneault said.
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Player availability through final week of preseason
With a back-to-back that concluded in Tulsa on Thursday, the Thunder’s lineup flipped late last week; The visiting New Zealand Breakers played something closer to the Oklahoma City Blue.
Tuesday’s preseason matchup in Denver might not look like last Wednesday’s game against the Houston Rockets, but it certainly won’t mirror the group in Tulsa.
“Not quite regular season-ish,” Daigneault said when asked about any expectations in minutes and rotations. “But we’ll get everybody out there. We haven’t played in a couple days. The guys that played against Houston haven’t played, even since the New Zealand game. So we’ll get a good little run here.”
In an overtime win over the Rockets last Wednesday, the Thunder played all of its projected starters, with a starting lineup of Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, Williams and Chet Holmgren. The following night, that unit, plus the next four on the bench, all sat.
As of the weekend, all are available — including rookie Ajay Mitchell, who missed the matchup with the Breakers with a sprained ankle.
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Thunder at Nuggets
NBA PRESEASON: 8 p.m. Tuesday at Ball Arena in Denver (Bally Sports Oklahoma)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: One key area Jalen Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are focusing on in OKC Thunder camp
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