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Josh Giddey Thread 2.0

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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#641 » by jnrjr79 » Wed Jul 9, 2025 3:36 pm

dougthonus wrote:
jnrjr79 wrote:Re: the bolded, is this because you think no moves are better or worse due to fit? That seems pretty obviously wrong to me. You could have the best 10 centers in the NBA on your team, but at some point, those moves would become ill-advised. Each individual deal might have its own merit, but they aren't good for your basketball team.

It seems everyone agrees you'll need specific types of players next to Giddey to make Giddey work as a long-term piece. That's a knock on Giddey's value to some extent, but it seems uncontroversially true.



Sorry, I meant none of the moves we have made after trading for Giddey are specifically better or worse because we traded for Giddey. Those moves are generally:
S&T DDR
Trade Zach
Trade for Okoro
Sign Jalen Smith
Draft Matas, Noa
Resigning Pat

(unless I'm forgetting something)

None of these moves do I like more or less with Giddey on the roster or not on the roster, nor do I think any of them are particularly made vs an alternative move because Giddey is expected to be on the roster. I would expect if we did not have Giddey that we'd have still done all of these things.


Yeah, I agree with this. The only one that seems specifically compatible with Giddey where it could enhance the move is Okoro, but even that is a little moot given he's not better a fit than Lonzo, IMO. Hopefully he's just more durable.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#642 » by MGB8 » Wed Jul 9, 2025 3:38 pm

League Circles wrote:
Infinity2152 wrote:
MGB8 wrote:

Giddey is big enough to defend the 3 without a size disadvantage and can hold his own physically with most. Coby, when playing, defaults at defending the opposing 1, though is big enough to man up many opposing 2s. So all you need is a 2 who can primarily defend most 2, ideally being both big and fast enough to enable matchup cross-switches when warranted - and play the SF role on offense - where, with Giddey and Coby being your primary ball handlers and creators, and Matas being the 3rd guy, means likely 3&D, maybe a bit more… meaning a guy like Okoro, or Lonzo when healthy with his off ball play, or Terry if that shot improves and stabilizes another step or so… would be perfectly fine.


We're playing semantics. it appears Giddey will be playing PG and Coby will be playing SG. So the only way to have POA defense on a PG effectively is to play a SF that can do that. We can make up whatever lineups we want, but in all likelihood the lineup is Giddey, Coby, Okoro, Matas, Vucevic. It works with Okoro at SF. It does not work with Matas or Noa at SF. It can work with Tre Jones at PG and Giddey and Coby on the floor, but now both your PG's are in, so who's replacing them? Not saying it can't work. It requires conditions to work. The Giddey/White combination is a tough combination defensively. If either were a great defender at guarding EITHER guard position, it would not be so bad. I can't understand how it makes sense to ignore defense after that Finals. Our 2's are Coby White and Kevin Huerter. We don't have a 2 who can primarily defend most 2's because we have White. :)

That's ignoring the fact that counting on re-signing a non-elite UFA is never ideal. If you know a guy is a max player, you don't care if you have to max him in the summer. This team could look surprisingly good this year. Or if Vucevic is gone, we lose more games but Coby averages 25-27 pts with all the extra available shots.

Let's be real. Coby's really a scoring PG who doesn't pass more than a SG. He likes to be on-ball, initiate the offense, lot of ballhandling, doesn't look for screens. If you had to compare his game to Steph or Klay, which would be closer? So I see where the defensive 2 could play. Thinking long term success, just want stronger defenders. Defense wins championships.

It's simple to me, this is our likely and wise starting lineup projection:

5: Smith (though I admit it may be Collins or even Vuc again)
4: Matas
3: Giddey
2: Okoro
1: Coby

Sure like MG88 says there will be some switching as all teams do, but this is the basic outlook.

Although long term I wouldn't be shocked to see Essengue replace Okoro as the defensive 2, or have him be the 4 and Matas be the 2.

I don't really think Giddey has ever, will ever, or should ever be an nba guard. Maybe if you define positions by offensive skillset/role, but I don't do that. To me position is nothing more than a relative score of where a guy fits in 5 man lineups on the quick/small to slow/long scale of 1 to 5. Any 5 man lineup where Josh Giddey is legitimately the second quickest guy is doomed to failure IMO. He's more of a 4 than a 1 or 2.



This. All of it. To include the intriguing nature of Essengue and his guard like lateral quickness - could he be a perimeter chase guy like they use Thompson in Houston? Or to use Matas like that (not ideal but he is also very laterally quickness for his size).

Or is the notion that maybe Noa eventually bulks up to a small ball 5?

And/or, between Matas and Essengue, do you have so much length and help / paint protection at the 3/4 that you choose to generally sacrifice 1 perimeter defender by having Giddey or Coby there, with another guy on the perimeter who is a much better defender - because the help defense will make up for the disadvantage on 1 of the opponent’s guards? Will probably be a couple of years before we know, given how raw Essengue is.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#643 » by dougthonus » Wed Jul 9, 2025 3:44 pm

MGB8 wrote:Giddey did a good job on Luka and has done a good job on a number of players. The difference with him on whether he does a good job or not is whether (a) he can “keep up” with the player, impacted both by the player’s short area speed, acceleration ability - both straight line and when turning - and how much movement they are involved with on the perimeter, plus (b) is he really out-sized (by a guy who knows how to use his size.

Item (b) is self explanatory (he ain’t effectively defending Mobley / Giannis).

Item (a) kind of boils down to whether the opposing player’s attributes and playing style take advantage of Giddey’s meh lateral quickness (and non-unique length). You out him on Tatum and he will do a credible job. Ditto DDR. They aren’t going to be forcing him to chase much, so it will be keeping decent position to stop driving lanes and such. White may well force him to chase - and he is going to have a hard time navigating to keep up with the faster player - opening up good looks from 3, driving lanes, and passing lanes. Brown is a closer call because of his explosion - but still likely a better matchup - an “ok” defended Brown + a well defended White is probably a better bet than a better defended Brown but White going off because he can exploit.

Here’s a tangential sort of situation that illustrate the impact of matchups - WCJ is, in general, better on D than Vuc. But Vuc does a much better job on bulky power centers than WCJ did (and seemingly still does). Now that is more substitution rather than assigning primary defensive assignment, but it is a similar sort of dynamic where need to factor players’ and opponents’ relative strengths and weaknesses.

Few teams have 2 really bad offensive players, generally only dealing with one. Depending on relative strengths / traits of that player, you would decide whether to put Giddey or Coby on him - which will do the better job, both individually and when thinking overall team defense impact.


I'm not a huge Celtics guy, I wouldn't view Derrick White as more explosive than Brown or Tatum, and certainly not as dangerous as a scorer. I agree generally speaking you don't want Giddey on explosive guy, just that I also don't want him on the guy who is going to take the most shots. Like if a team had a dude like Okoro whom is a great athlete but really not a great offensive player, I'd stick Giddey on him and see if they really want Okoro to take 20 shots a game to make a run at Giddey and take the ball out of the hands of their better player.

This analogy worked better before Okoro was on the Bulls :lol:
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#644 » by Red8911 » Wed Jul 9, 2025 7:46 pm

Tetlak wrote:People are getting too caught up on individual defense and having guys being able to check superstars.

That's not how basketball works. Stars are gonna cook!

The way you play defense with this roster is with motor and intelligence and high level HELP defense, which theoretically we have with Matas and a developed Noa down the line. Obviously we don't know who our longterm center is, but we do know he ain't here yet.

Not every player on your roster needs to be a lockdown. I mean look at the two teams we just watched in the finals. Each side really only had one high level POA defender on the court, with a supporting cast of high motor, high IQ, high level help defenders.

This was the most logical post regarding the whole defense discussion. Others here writing essays and it’s complete BS takes lol.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#645 » by Red8911 » Wed Jul 9, 2025 8:10 pm

This Giddey contract situation is dragging way too long and could easily cause their relationship to go south.

If both sides don’t fold then we are probably looking at the QO. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but at this point the more it drags the more chances of that happening.

It’s a bit tough to not be able to agree on a new contract especially with someone who is considered to be the future of this team.

Hopefully it works out in the end, I still think both sides want the same thing. For now at least…
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#646 » by MGB8 » Wed Jul 9, 2025 9:18 pm

dougthonus wrote:
MGB8 wrote:Giddey did a good job on Luka and has done a good job on a number of players. The difference with him on whether he does a good job or not is whether (a) he can “keep up” with the player, impacted both by the player’s short area speed, acceleration ability - both straight line and when turning - and how much movement they are involved with on the perimeter, plus (b) is he really out-sized (by a guy who knows how to use his size.

Item (b) is self explanatory (he ain’t effectively defending Mobley / Giannis).

Item (a) kind of boils down to whether the opposing player’s attributes and playing style take advantage of Giddey’s meh lateral quickness (and non-unique length). You out him on Tatum and he will do a credible job. Ditto DDR. They aren’t going to be forcing him to chase much, so it will be keeping decent position to stop driving lanes and such. White may well force him to chase - and he is going to have a hard time navigating to keep up with the faster player - opening up good looks from 3, driving lanes, and passing lanes. Brown is a closer call because of his explosion - but still likely a better matchup - an “ok” defended Brown + a well defended White is probably a better bet than a better defended Brown but White going off because he can exploit.

Here’s a tangential sort of situation that illustrate the impact of matchups - WCJ is, in general, better on D than Vuc. But Vuc does a much better job on bulky power centers than WCJ did (and seemingly still does). Now that is more substitution rather than assigning primary defensive assignment, but it is a similar sort of dynamic where need to factor players’ and opponents’ relative strengths and weaknesses.

Few teams have 2 really bad offensive players, generally only dealing with one. Depending on relative strengths / traits of that player, you would decide whether to put Giddey or Coby on him - which will do the better job, both individually and when thinking overall team defense impact.


I'm not a huge Celtics guy, I wouldn't view Derrick White as more explosive than Brown or Tatum, and certainly not as dangerous as a scorer. I agree generally speaking you don't want Giddey on explosive guy, just that I also don't want him on the guy who is going to take the most shots. Like if a team had a dude like Okoro whom is a great athlete but really not a great offensive player, I'd stick Giddey on him and see if they really want Okoro to take 20 shots a game to make a run at Giddey and take the ball out of the hands of their better player.

This analogy worked better before Okoro was on the Bulls :lol:


Less about pure explosion and more about whether it is a player that Giddey has to “chase”, if that makes sense.

Okoro not a great example because Giddey would be guarding him by default on Cleveland - or LeVert or Hunter - not Mitchell or Garland.

Orlando or last year’s Denver probably better for analyzing. Would you have Giddey chase Bane or Suggs as opposed to defending Wagner or even Banchero? Because I wouldn’t. On last year’s Denver team, are you better off with Giddey primarily matching on Porter Jr., vs. a Christian Braun or Russ (when Russ playing the 2 next to Murray)? I would say let him guard Porter Jr. - he won’t really be a liability there, vs. the other 2 who are faster and whose offensive roles are more suited to exploiting Giddey’s limitations. (At least to start)
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#647 » by DuckIII » Wed Jul 9, 2025 9:33 pm

Red8911 wrote:This Giddey contract situation is dragging way too long and could easily cause their relationship to go south.

If both sides don’t fold then we are probably looking at the QO. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but at this point the more it drags the more chances of that happening.

It’s a bit tough to not be able to agree on a new contract especially with someone who is considered to be the future of this team.

Hopefully it works out in the end, I still think both sides want the same thing. For now at least…


I wouldn't worry about it. It would be shocking if they don't reach a deal. Both Giddey and the FO have way too many motivations to do a deal for it to breakdown. The only way I can see that is if one side is just being absolutely ridiculous, which is hard to believe.

The Bulls have embraced Giddey and held him out to the fans as a critical young piece. A high quality get after years of being ripped relentlessly by Bulls fans and the NBA media community at large.

And Giddey landed on a team that wants him to play exactly the way he wants to play, and the position he wants to play, the amount of minutes he wants to play, and presumably pay him quite well within a reasonable market range to do so. Since being drafted, the Bulls are the best thing to ever happen to Josh Giddey's career.

It'll get done and be fine.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#648 » by MissileMike » Wed Jul 9, 2025 9:44 pm

DuckIII wrote:
Red8911 wrote:This Giddey contract situation is dragging way too long and could easily cause their relationship to go south.

If both sides don’t fold then we are probably looking at the QO. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but at this point the more it drags the more chances of that happening.

It’s a bit tough to not be able to agree on a new contract especially with someone who is considered to be the future of this team.

Hopefully it works out in the end, I still think both sides want the same thing. For now at least…


I wouldn't worry about it. It would be shocking if they don't reach a deal. Both Giddey and the FO have way too many motivations to do a deal for it to breakdown. The only way I can see that is if one side is just being absolutely ridiculous, which is hard to believe.

The Bulls have embraced Giddey and held him out to the fans as a critical young piece. A high quality get after years of being ripped relentlessly by Bulls fans and the NBA media community at large.

And Giddey landed on a team that wants him to play exactly the way he wants to play, and the position he wants to play, the amount of minutes he wants to play, and presumably pay him quite well within a reasonable market range to do so. Since being drafted, the Bulls are the best thing to ever happen to Josh Giddey's career.

It'll get done and be fine.


Additionally, it doesn't seem like any of the other RFAs in the same price range have signed either. It'll happen.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#649 » by Axl Rose » Wed Jul 9, 2025 10:20 pm

and truthfully It'll be okay if it doesn't.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#650 » by BullChit » Wed Jul 9, 2025 10:21 pm

MissileMike wrote:
DuckIII wrote:
Red8911 wrote:This Giddey contract situation is dragging way too long and could easily cause their relationship to go south.

If both sides don’t fold then we are probably looking at the QO. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but at this point the more it drags the more chances of that happening.

It’s a bit tough to not be able to agree on a new contract especially with someone who is considered to be the future of this team.

Hopefully it works out in the end, I still think both sides want the same thing. For now at least…


I wouldn't worry about it. It would be shocking if they don't reach a deal. Both Giddey and the FO have way too many motivations to do a deal for it to breakdown. The only way I can see that is if one side is just being absolutely ridiculous, which is hard to believe.

The Bulls have embraced Giddey and held him out to the fans as a critical young piece. A high quality get after years of being ripped relentlessly by Bulls fans and the NBA media community at large.

And Giddey landed on a team that wants him to play exactly the way he wants to play, and the position he wants to play, the amount of minutes he wants to play, and presumably pay him quite well within a reasonable market range to do so. Since being drafted, the Bulls are the best thing to ever happen to Josh Giddey's career.

It'll get done and be fine.


Additionally, it doesn't seem like any of the other RFAs in the same price range have signed either. It'll happen.


Yeah Bulls Central pointed this out this morning.

None of the UFA have signed so I'd say it's more the agents who are sitting and waiting to see what domino falls first.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#651 » by jnrjr79 » Wed Jul 9, 2025 10:47 pm

DuckIII wrote:
Red8911 wrote:This Giddey contract situation is dragging way too long and could easily cause their relationship to go south.

If both sides don’t fold then we are probably looking at the QO. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but at this point the more it drags the more chances of that happening.

It’s a bit tough to not be able to agree on a new contract especially with someone who is considered to be the future of this team.

Hopefully it works out in the end, I still think both sides want the same thing. For now at least…


I wouldn't worry about it. It would be shocking if they don't reach a deal. Both Giddey and the FO have way too many motivations to do a deal for it to breakdown. The only way I can see that is if one side is just being absolutely ridiculous, which is hard to believe.

The Bulls have embraced Giddey and held him out to the fans as a critical young piece. A high quality get after years of being ripped relentlessly by Bulls fans and the NBA media community at large.

And Giddey landed on a team that wants him to play exactly the way he wants to play, and the position he wants to play, the amount of minutes he wants to play, and presumably pay him quite well within a reasonable market range to do so. Since being drafted, the Bulls are the best thing to ever happen to Josh Giddey's career.

It'll get done and be fine.


Yeah, I’m not freaking out here at all. It’s in the Bulls’ interest to use their leverage. It’s in Giddey’s to drag it out and see if something in the market changes such that there’s a suitor that could up his value. The latter is unlikely.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#652 » by Chi town » Wed Jul 9, 2025 10:56 pm

Red8911 wrote:
Tetlak wrote:People are getting too caught up on individual defense and having guys being able to check superstars.

That's not how basketball works. Stars are gonna cook!

The way you play defense with this roster is with motor and intelligence and high level HELP defense, which theoretically we have with Matas and a developed Noa down the line. Obviously we don't know who our longterm center is, but we do know he ain't here yet.

Not every player on your roster needs to be a lockdown. I mean look at the two teams we just watched in the finals. Each side really only had one high level POA defender on the court, with a supporting cast of high motor, high IQ, high level help defenders.

This was the most logical post regarding the whole defense discussion. Others here writing essays and it’s complete BS takes lol.


We have…

Tre and Okoro as our G POA defenders

Okoro and Pat as our muscle body up defenders

Buz and Noa as our length defenders that help at the rim.

We need a stud C rim protector. Good news is AK knows this as evidenced by his desire to draft Beringer. Think he understands and wants vertical gravity with a rim running and protecting C.

Noa and Buz enable us to play some zone with that length and blitz in PNR coverages.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#653 » by sco » Thu Jul 10, 2025 1:02 am

DuckIII wrote:
Red8911 wrote:This Giddey contract situation is dragging way too long and could easily cause their relationship to go south.

If both sides don’t fold then we are probably looking at the QO. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but at this point the more it drags the more chances of that happening.

It’s a bit tough to not be able to agree on a new contract especially with someone who is considered to be the future of this team.

Hopefully it works out in the end, I still think both sides want the same thing. For now at least…


I wouldn't worry about it. It would be shocking if they don't reach a deal. Both Giddey and the FO have way too many motivations to do a deal for it to breakdown. The only way I can see that is if one side is just being absolutely ridiculous, which is hard to believe.

The Bulls have embraced Giddey and held him out to the fans as a critical young piece. A high quality get after years of being ripped relentlessly by Bulls fans and the NBA media community at large.

And Giddey landed on a team that wants him to play exactly the way he wants to play, and the position he wants to play, the amount of minutes he wants to play, and presumably pay him quite well within a reasonable market range to do so. Since being drafted, the Bulls are the best thing to ever happen to Josh Giddey's career.

It'll get done and be fine.

I think there was some communication saying "We like you. We think $X is market for you. If you can prove us wrong and get someone to sign you for more, we'll likely match it. Giddey's agent is doing the right thing to give his client a chance for more until it's clear that there will be no bidders.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#654 » by burlydee » Thu Jul 10, 2025 1:09 am

MGB8 wrote:
dougthonus wrote:
MGB8 wrote:Giddey did a good job on Luka and has done a good job on a number of players. The difference with him on whether he does a good job or not is whether (a) he can “keep up” with the player, impacted both by the player’s short area speed, acceleration ability - both straight line and when turning - and how much movement they are involved with on the perimeter, plus (b) is he really out-sized (by a guy who knows how to use his size.

Item (b) is self explanatory (he ain’t effectively defending Mobley / Giannis).

Item (a) kind of boils down to whether the opposing player’s attributes and playing style take advantage of Giddey’s meh lateral quickness (and non-unique length). You out him on Tatum and he will do a credible job. Ditto DDR. They aren’t going to be forcing him to chase much, so it will be keeping decent position to stop driving lanes and such. White may well force him to chase - and he is going to have a hard time navigating to keep up with the faster player - opening up good looks from 3, driving lanes, and passing lanes. Brown is a closer call because of his explosion - but still likely a better matchup - an “ok” defended Brown + a well defended White is probably a better bet than a better defended Brown but White going off because he can exploit.

Here’s a tangential sort of situation that illustrate the impact of matchups - WCJ is, in general, better on D than Vuc. But Vuc does a much better job on bulky power centers than WCJ did (and seemingly still does). Now that is more substitution rather than assigning primary defensive assignment, but it is a similar sort of dynamic where need to factor players’ and opponents’ relative strengths and weaknesses.

Few teams have 2 really bad offensive players, generally only dealing with one. Depending on relative strengths / traits of that player, you would decide whether to put Giddey or Coby on him - which will do the better job, both individually and when thinking overall team defense impact.


I'm not a huge Celtics guy, I wouldn't view Derrick White as more explosive than Brown or Tatum, and certainly not as dangerous as a scorer. I agree generally speaking you don't want Giddey on explosive guy, just that I also don't want him on the guy who is going to take the most shots. Like if a team had a dude like Okoro whom is a great athlete but really not a great offensive player, I'd stick Giddey on him and see if they really want Okoro to take 20 shots a game to make a run at Giddey and take the ball out of the hands of their better player.

This analogy worked better before Okoro was on the Bulls :lol:


Less about pure explosion and more about whether it is a player that Giddey has to “chase”, if that makes sense.

Okoro not a great example because Giddey would be guarding him by default on Cleveland - or LeVert or Hunter - not Mitchell or Garland.

Orlando or last year’s Denver probably better for analyzing. Would you have Giddey chase Bane or Suggs as opposed to defending Wagner or even Banchero? Because I wouldn’t. On last year’s Denver team, are you better off with Giddey primarily matching on Porter Jr., vs. a Christian Braun or Russ (when Russ playing the 2 next to Murray)? I wouldn’t say let him guard Porter Jr. - he won’t really be a liability there, vs. the other 2 who are faster and whose offensive roles are more suited to exploiting Giddey’s limitations.


I would absolutely let Giddey guard Suggs. He can obviously guard Braun. He could guard Dort or Caruso.

This all seems moot. Teams typically don't attack guys by giving their man the ball. They are hunting for switches.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#655 » by kodo » Thu Jul 10, 2025 1:32 am

Tetlak wrote:People are getting too caught up on individual defense and having guys being able to check superstars.

That's not how basketball works. Stars are gonna cook!

The way you play defense with this roster is with motor and intelligence and high level HELP defense, which theoretically we have with Matas and a developed Noa down the line. Obviously we don't know who our longterm center is, but we do know he ain't here yet.

Not every player on your roster needs to be a lockdown. I mean look at the two teams we just watched in the finals. Each side really only had one high level POA defender on the court, with a supporting cast of high motor, high IQ, high level help defenders.


The best defensive rating in the Finals (from either team) belonged to...TJ McConnell. A short unathletic dude with a tiny wingspan. But he has a high motor and high IQ and can always be in position.

But I'd imagine if TJ was a RFA on the Bulls we'd be having a similar discussion about how TJ can't defend anybody so you can't play successfully with him.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#656 » by darbstar » Thu Jul 10, 2025 12:25 pm

I know Chet is better than Giddey but he just signed for 50k per season - can bulls just sign Giddey already and then start looking for a rim protector!
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#657 » by Indomitable » Thu Jul 10, 2025 12:33 pm

dougthonus wrote:
MGB8 wrote:Giddey did a good job on Luka and has done a good job on a number of players. The difference with him on whether he does a good job or not is whether (a) he can “keep up” with the player, impacted both by the player’s short area speed, acceleration ability - both straight line and when turning - and how much movement they are involved with on the perimeter, plus (b) is he really out-sized (by a guy who knows how to use his size.

Item (b) is self explanatory (he ain’t effectively defending Mobley / Giannis).

Item (a) kind of boils down to whether the opposing player’s attributes and playing style take advantage of Giddey’s meh lateral quickness (and non-unique length). You out him on Tatum and he will do a credible job. Ditto DDR. They aren’t going to be forcing him to chase much, so it will be keeping decent position to stop driving lanes and such. White may well force him to chase - and he is going to have a hard time navigating to keep up with the faster player - opening up good looks from 3, driving lanes, and passing lanes. Brown is a closer call because of his explosion - but still likely a better matchup - an “ok” defended Brown + a well defended White is probably a better bet than a better defended Brown but White going off because he can exploit.

Here’s a tangential sort of situation that illustrate the impact of matchups - WCJ is, in general, better on D than Vuc. But Vuc does a much better job on bulky power centers than WCJ did (and seemingly still does). Now that is more substitution rather than assigning primary defensive assignment, but it is a similar sort of dynamic where need to factor players’ and opponents’ relative strengths and weaknesses.

Few teams have 2 really bad offensive players, generally only dealing with one. Depending on relative strengths / traits of that player, you would decide whether to put Giddey or Coby on him - which will do the better job, both individually and when thinking overall team defense impact.


I'm not a huge Celtics guy, I wouldn't view Derrick White as more explosive than Brown or Tatum, and certainly not as dangerous as a scorer. I agree generally speaking you don't want Giddey on explosive guy, just that I also don't want him on the guy who is going to take the most shots. Like if a team had a dude like Okoro whom is a great athlete but really not a great offensive player, I'd stick Giddey on him and see if they really want Okoro to take 20 shots a game to make a run at Giddey and take the ball out of the hands of their better player.

This analogy worked better before Okoro was on the Bulls :lol:


You are describing the Lu Dort situation.
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#658 » by Indomitable » Thu Jul 10, 2025 12:35 pm

darbstar wrote:I know Chet is better than Giddey but he just signed for 50k per season - can bulls just sign Giddey already and then start looking for a rim protector!

Who is this mysterious rim protector?
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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#659 » by drosestruts » Thu Jul 10, 2025 1:15 pm

Indomitable wrote:
darbstar wrote:I know Chet is better than Giddey but he just signed for 50k per season - can bulls just sign Giddey already and then start looking for a rim protector!

Who is this mysterious rim protector?


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Re: Josh Giddey Thread 2.0 

Post#660 » by Stratmaster » Thu Jul 10, 2025 1:27 pm

Tetlak wrote:People are getting too caught up on individual defense and having guys being able to check superstars.

That's not how basketball works. Stars are gonna cook!

The way you play defense with this roster is with motor and intelligence and high level HELP defense, which theoretically we have with Matas and a developed Noa down the line. Obviously we don't know who our longterm center is, but we do know he ain't here yet.

Not every player on your roster needs to be a lockdown. I mean look at the two teams we just watched in the finals. Each side really only had one high level POA defender on the court, with a supporting cast of high motor, high IQ, high level help defenders.


Agree. Giddey had the most combined steals/blocks per game on the team for the season (technically, a virtual tie with Lonzo). If you look at post all-star break he had the most combined steals and blocks per game on the team, and no one else was even close. He was able to be disruptive defensively even though his man on man defensive skills may be lacking. I think his defensive weakness is generally overstated. His team defense should continue to improve as he is still very young.

The Bulls are going to do what most weak teams try to do. Up the pace and turn games into street ball. As you mentioned, for the Bulls to progress they are going to need an inside presence. When (if?) that day comes, and the pace slows down it will be important that player can protect the rim and that there is a guard in the lineup who can slow players down at the point of attack.

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