On February 17, Beijing time, due to the imminent arrival of the All-Star, there is no game scheduled today, we might as well take a look at the rankings, the current leader in the East is the Celtics, leading the Cavaliers behind them by up to 60 wins, can't catch up at all. The West is more complicated, the Timberwolves, Thunder, Clippers and Nuggets all have the possibility of getting the top spot, if we compare these four teams, we find that only the Thunder is a big dark horse, because the Timberwolves entered the playoffs last season, and there are many veterans in the lineup, such as Towns, Gobert and Conley, etc., Edwards is young, but he is the top pick, and his outstanding performance is in our expectation.
The Timberwolves have a balanced lineup, and they can't find a short one, and I'm afraid no team wants to touch them in the playoffs. Looking at the Clippers again, they are already a strong team, plus the addition of Harden, the current Clippers are sitting on the Big Four, and they are undoubtedly the favorites to win the championship. Not to mention the Nuggets, Jokic's dominance is inexplicable, Murray is seriously underestimated, and he can cut 30+ at every turn, plus Gordon, Pope and Porter, who can attack and defend, in terms of starting strength, the Nuggets are basically the strongest in the league. But the Thunder are different, their sudden rise this season is beyond the expectations of the outside world, because looking back at the various rankings of last offseason, we can't see the Thunder's name at all.
The Thunder and the Rockets are both young teams, full of talent, but unfortunately the gap between the two teams has been fully opened, the Rockets have a lot of potential young people, and the embarrassment is that there are more or less shortcomings, such as Jalen Green and Jabari are unstable, Shen Jing's data is good but there is no defense, the White Devils' defensive awareness needs to be improved, Amen is too poor shooting ability, the only one who can say it is Ethan, the Rockets have no playoffs this season, and the play-off hopes are slim. Looking at the Thunder again, their accumulated talent has been fully transformed into strength, and the important thing is that the young people are all very powerful, more reliable than the Rockets, especially Alexander's growth rate can be called a miracle.
Alexander is the 11th pick in 18 years, if you want to talk about talent, he doesn't seem to be particularly outstanding, and there are Ayton, Doncic and Trae Young in the same class, so Alexander was not favored after entering the league, when he was first drafted by the Clippers, Alexander could only be regarded as an ordinary player, and his rookie season averaged 10 per game8 points 28 rebounds 33 assists, not much possession. And then in the offseason of 19, the Clippers and the Thunder made a 9-for-1 deal, the specific content was George single exchange for Alexander + Gallinari + 5 first-round picks + 2 first-round swaps, which unexpectedly became the key to Alexander's rise.
In the 19-20 season, Alexander's stats began to skyrocket, but at that time he could only be regarded as a good scorer, and that season the Thunder also had Paul, and Alexander learned a lot of game experience by his side. In the 20-21 season, Alexander only played 35 games due to injury, and there was no Paul by his side at this time. After Alexander's return in the 21-22 season, he immediately became the leader of the Thunder, averaging 24. per game that season5 points. In the 22-23 season, Alexander's stats continued to improve, averaging 31 per game4 points 48 rebounds 5With 5 assists, he is already one of the top scorers in the league. Finally, this season, Alexander is still averaging 311 point 55 rebounds and 65 assists and he is shooting 54% from the field per game.
Maybe Alexander's scoring explosiveness is not as explosive as Doncic, but in terms of efficiency, Alexander is much higher. On the offensive end, Alexander's specialty is mid-range shooting, and he is also good at making fouls, and Alexander's ball intelligence is extremely high, and he can always seize the opponent's defensive gap to score, which is completely different from Jalen Green, who only knows how to bury his head and rush hard. So far this season, Alexander has scored high points in many games, such as 43 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists against the Cavaliers, 40 points, 5 rebounds and 12 assists against the Bulls, 43 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists against the Kings, 40 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists against the Nuggets, and in the scoring average per game, Alexander is ranked second, second only to Doncic, Embiid is not included in the ranking due to insufficient attendance.
Not only that, Alexander was also selected for this year's All-Star starting lineup, it can be said that he can have today's height, Alexander really has to thank the Clippers for the original transaction, in fact, from another point of view, the current George is not to say 1 for 9, I'm afraid that Alexander alone is not qualified, after all, no matter the comparison of data, or stability, George is now incomparable with Alexander. I have to sigh that the Thunder really have unlimited potential, and many of their statistics are among the top in the league, such as the average number of blocks per game is 67, first in the league, offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency are fourth in the league, the Thunder is not simple, Alexander, Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Keady form a new version of the Thunder four less, this dark horse to go all out to hit the championship.