Title: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Has Been The Best Point Guard At Summer League
Date: July 11, 2018
Original Source: Dime Magazine (Uproxx Sports)
Synopsis: In my latest for Dime Magazine at Uproxx Sports, I wrote about Los Angeles Clippers rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the best rookie guard at Las Vegas Summer League.
It took a dose of The Starters to help bring Shai Gilgeous-Alexander back down. Minutes earlier, Gilgeous-Alexander had wrapped up a tremendous individual performance on his side of a fun tete-a-tete with Houston Rockets rookie De’Anthony Melton at Thomas & Mack Center at Las Vegas Summer League. It was one of the best head-to-heads of the tournament so far, and while Gilgeous-Alexander came out looking great — 25 points and a well-stuffed stat sheet around them — he was perturbed by a 104-90 loss.
“I don’t even care about my good game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on the walk back from The Starters set on the upper concourse to the parking garage. “It wasn’t worth it in the end, I guess you could say. I’d rather have a bad game and win than have a good game and lose. The ultimate goal is to win, and if I don’t do that, I don’t feel satisfied.”
As they are wont to do, The Starters brought the necessary levity to allow Gilgeous-Alexander to put the loss behind him, at least momentarily. His fellow Canadians presented him with an ice cream cake for his upcoming 20th birthday, baited him to pander to his home country by choosing Tim Hortons over Starbucks (despite not being a coffee drinker), and opened him up about his trend-setting draft-night floral pattern.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 