Okay, so today I decided to dive into some NBA stats and compare Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) and Anthony Edwards. It’s something I’ve been curious about, seeing as they’re both young, explosive guards.
Getting Started
First, I opened up a couple of browser tabs. One for each player’s stats page. I usually just use the official NBA site or sometimes Basketball-Reference because they are reliable. I wanted to see their basic season averages first.
Digging into the Numbers
I started jotting down some key stats in my notebook: points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks… you know, the usual stuff. I also made a note of their shooting percentages – field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and free throw * is important to know what they do.
- Points: I quickly saw that SGA was averaging more points per game. No surprise there, he’s been on a scoring tear.
- Assists: I compared notes and start to see how they did.
- Rebounds: This one was closer than I thought. Both guys are pretty active on the boards for guards.
- Shooting Percentages: SGA was more efficient overall, but Edwards had a slight edge in three-point percentage (at least at the time I was looking).
Advanced Stats!
Then, I decided to get a little fancier. I looked at some advanced stats like Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and usage rate. I’m still kind of a newbie with advanced stats, but I’m trying to learn!
It seems like the data show that both players own great data.
Watching Some Highlights
Of course, stats only tell part of the story. So, I pulled up some highlight reels on YouTube. Just to get a visual sense of how they play. I watched SGA’s smooth drives to the basket and Edwards’ explosive dunks. It’s just more fun to add some visuals to the numbers!
My Conclusion(for now!)
After spending a good amount of time looking at the numbers and watching some clips, I haven’t come to any earth-shattering conclusions, and maybe it is just my feeling.
Both guys are incredibly talented. SGA is probably the more polished, efficient scorer right now, while Edwards has that raw, explosive potential that’s just waiting to fully explode. It’s going to be fun to watch them both develop over the next few years!
This was just a quick and simple comparison, I should do something like this again!
