NBA Notes: Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Warriors, Stephen Curry, Bulls

Thunder

The Thunder may be better off asking a little less of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the regular season.

That’s the argument from Cody Burton of Thunder On SI, who believes Oklahoma City should reduce some of the back-to-back MVP’s on-ball workload after injuries forced him into a heavy burden the past two seasons.

The idea isn’t exactly to make Gilgeous-Alexander less important. It’s to make sure he has more left when the games matter most.

Burton points to Ajay Mitchell and Jalen Williams as players who can absorb more creation duties while allowing Gilgeous-Alexander to work off the ball more often.

Interestingly, Gilgeous-Alexander has apparently been thinking along those lines himself.

Canada coach Geordie Herbert said Gilgeous-Alexander recently asked to play more away from the ball during national-team work.

“I think he’s actually tougher to guard off the ball,” Herbert said.

If that means slightly smaller regular-season numbers but a fresher Gilgeous-Alexander in April and May, Oklahoma City probably won’t complain.

Warriors

Jeff Teague believes the Warriors might have won the same four championships if Damian Lillard had replaced Stephen Curry.

Joey Akeley of Warriors On SI isn’t buying it.

Teague made the comment while pushing back on an even more aggressive hypothetical from Monta Ellis, who recently suggested Golden State still would have won its four titles if Ellis had been in Curry’s place.

Teague said Lillard was at least a player he could envision producing similar results. Akeley’s counterargument is that Curry’s importance went well beyond simply putting up point-guard numbers.

Curry’s movement, shooting, unselfishness and ability to play alongside other stars helped shape the entire Warriors system. In Akeley’s view, Golden State may well have won something with Lillard, but assuming all four championships transfer cleanly ignores Curry’s role in building the dynasty in the first place.

That seems like the larger point. Replacing Curry in a box score is one thing. Replacing everything the Warriors became around him is something else.

Bulls

The Bulls enter next season with a new front office, new coach and a starting lineup being asked to establish an entirely different identity.

Elias Schuster of Bulls On SI broke down one thing he believes each projected starter needs to provide.

For Josh Giddey, the word is composure. Schuster believes Giddey needs to become the steady organizer of a young roster, limit turnovers and keep creating opportunities for Matas Buzelis and rookie Caleb Wilson.

Norman Powell’s job is leadership, both on the floor and behind the scenes, while Buzelis needs to continue developing into a more aggressive scorer.

For Wilson, Schuster emphasizes effort and consistency through the inevitable ups and downs of a rookie season.

And Nic Claxton? Efficiency.

His field-goal percentage dropped to 57.1 percent last season after once finishing above 70 percent, and Schuster believes getting him back above 60 percent as a finisher would make a meaningful difference for a Chicago team that may struggle to generate easy offense.

None of those things guarantee the Bulls will be good. But they at least provide a reasonable checklist for a team trying to figure out what it wants to become.