Josh Giddey - 6'8 Aussie PG

[DCasey91]

Lamelo is a Ball brother and the youngest one too. And he’s a stud.

His instincts are off the chain (hence why his defense translated). Even in the NBL he’s just too aware of what’s going on not to be a two way player.

Has zero conscious too, plays free, his mental makeup is Stardom.

Floater game, handles for days and twitchy.

Also he does play alongside scorers in Hayward/Graham/Rozier and it was easy. Playoffs Lamelo will be awesome because he has so many strings to his bow that keeps him on the floor.

Giddey has a ways to go imo but I can see a good player at the next level.

[Bensational]

I feel like Giddey’s scoring on the attack will come down to him learning to use the backboard more. He can’t beat his man and get right to the rim every time, but he can get enough separation from his defender using his length and going off the backboard instead of straight at the rim. They’re tougher to hit because you’re playing the bounce angle, but I’ve seen him do it a few times already from what I’ve seen of his games. Bit of an old school move, but he’s unorthodox in general so why not. I feel like his pass accuracy could help him become effective on tough bank shots, too, like he’s already got the mind for it.

[retrobro90]

Watch on YouTube

Awesome preseason debut for ol' mate. Ended with only 3 assists but had somewhere in the neighborhood of 85 potential assists.

[whitehops]

that left handed pass to the weakside corner was seriously impressive.

[DCasey91]

1/3 ticked off for me (weight it’s fine now)

Next is defense, scoring. I may have underrated Giddey (had him as a top 10 talent) but his concerns were legit.

Also I should have realized scoring is pretty easy if you know how to handle the rock which he can do in is sleep. So instead of 8-12 ppg maybe it’s more in the 13-18 range.

Giddey is more ceberal and more composed than Ball but Ball’s a better athlete and flashed bigger games (more special to me). 50% of the time or higher it’s a carbon copy you’re watching.
Extremely high level passers and readers of the game.

I think taking it apart and actually looking at it instead of comparing a wonderful prospect in Ball was the mistake on my part.

At the end of the day a prodigious passing 6”8” arguably (he’s the best PG in this class) best PG still should go very highly. Pick 6 was in that uncomfortable territory but anything from 8 onwards was fine personally.

High end outcome 15-5-8. He’s going to be very good

[peZt]

And the next overly productive overseas 18 year old who was underrated (not necessaril underdrafted thanks to OKC). I'll stay with my prediction that Giddey > Cunningham. The only thing Cunningham has over him is the shot, but Giddey will be the better on-ball contributor

If someone is producing at a pro level at age 18, just **** draft him

[Slim Charlez]

And the next overly productive overseas 18 year old who was underrated (not necessaril underdrafted thanks to OKC). I'll stay with my prediction that Giddey > Cunningham. The only thing Cunningham has over him is the shot, but Giddey will be the better on-ball contributor

If someone is producing at a pro level at age 18, just **** draft him

Cade is also a far better defender.

[K_chile22]

And the next overly productive overseas 18 year old who was underrated (not necessaril underdrafted thanks to OKC). I'll stay with my prediction that Giddey > Cunningham. The only thing Cunningham has over him is the shot, but Giddey will be the better on-ball contributor

If someone is producing at a pro level at age 18, just **** draft him

Cade is also a far better defender.

Also just a better scorer at all three levels

[DCasey91]

And the next overly productive overseas 18 year old who was underrated (not necessaril underdrafted thanks to OKC). I'll stay with my prediction that Giddey > Cunningham. The only thing Cunningham has over him is the shot, but Giddey will be the better on-ball contributor

If someone is producing at a pro level at age 18, just **** draft him

I think Giddey is a better PG than Cade is. I think Cade will tank as a PG and be better suited as a shooting guard.

Don’t see a franchise All NBA PG but that’s just me.

[BlazersBroncos]

1/3 ticked off for me (weight it’s fine now)

Next is defense, scoring. I may have underrated Giddey (had him as a top 10 talent) but his concerns were legit.

Also I should have realized scoring is pretty easy if you know how to handle the rock which he can do in is sleep. So instead of 8-12 ppg maybe it’s more in the 13-18 range.

Giddey is more ceberal and more composed than Ball but Ball’s a better athlete and flashed bigger games (more special to me). 50% of the time or higher it’s a carbon copy you’re watching.
Extremely high level passers and readers of the game.

I think taking it apart and actually looking at it instead of comparing a wonderful prospect in Ball was the mistake on my part.

At the end of the day a prodigious passing 6”8” arguably (he’s the best PG in this class) best PG still should go very highly. Pick 6 was in that uncomfortable territory but anything from 8 onwards was fine personally.

High end outcome 15-5-8. He’s going to be very good

I think he can get 14/5/5 this season. His ceiling, to me, is closer to 20/6/7.

[DCasey91]

1/3 ticked off for me (weight it’s fine now)

Next is defense, scoring. I may have underrated Giddey (had him as a top 10 talent) but his concerns were legit.

Also I should have realized scoring is pretty easy if you know how to handle the rock which he can do in is sleep. So instead of 8-12 ppg maybe it’s more in the 13-18 range.

Giddey is more ceberal and more composed than Ball but Ball’s a better athlete and flashed bigger games (more special to me). 50% of the time or higher it’s a carbon copy you’re watching.
Extremely high level passers and readers of the game.

I think taking it apart and actually looking at it instead of comparing a wonderful prospect in Ball was the mistake on my part.

At the end of the day a prodigious passing 6”8” arguably (he’s the best PG in this class) best PG still should go very highly. Pick 6 was in that uncomfortable territory but anything from 8 onwards was fine personally.

High end outcome 15-5-8. He’s going to be very good

I think he can get 14/5/5 this season. His ceiling, to me, is closer to 20/6/7.

You may be right there. (Aussie) watched most of their NBL games and Lamelo had more min/maxed games. Means to say when he went off he went off. My favorite move from Ball (funnily enough hasn’t been in the NBA) was when he did a reverse figure nine from the elbow dribbling between the legs dancing backwards into a attacking crossover layup it’s was pure filth lol.

I didn’t really see a poor game from Giddey, I just didn’t see the scoring potential. But the NBA really is score friendly to guards so 20ppg could be the go here. If that’s the case he’s an All Star talent. Highly highly skilled and very much advanced for his age demos.

[tundraknight]

Giddey, SGA, and Maledon seems like a very good, young guard rotation.

The Thunder will probably be bad again this season while being in player development mode. But if they can turn their draft luck around and finally have the opportunity to upgrade their front court with Chet Holmgren, they’d be in great shape for the future and an incredibly fun team to watch.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Ngl, looks way better than he did in the predraft videos. A lot more aggressive offensively, quicker shot (although still set), and the passing is still there

[zimpy27]

I think people kept missing that LaMelo had the team to himself, his deal was that he could raise the profile of the team and get to run whatever.

Giddey went to a better team, a team with guys that he had to adjust to and play with. I felt Giddey had less chance to score and was more in a similar position to RJ Hampton.

[clyde21]

Ngl, looks way better than he did in the predraft videos. A lot more aggressive offensively, quicker shot (although still set), and the passing is still there

the passing wasn't gonna go away, that was his most translatable skill set @ 6-8

[GimmeDat]

Looks pretty much on par with how he looked in the NBL. Will have some games as a positive scorer (like preseason game 1), and some games where his scoring will be more limited (like G2), but the size/feel/passing will be consistent game to game. He knows how to play ball.

The defensive side of the ball will be very interesting to monitor. He's got good instincts, but what positions he'll be able to defend will be interesting. From what I've seen, struggling with ball screen navigation in particular so far.

As for his NBL situation, I guess you could argue it was somewhere in between RJ and LaMelo's. Ball got the green light with a historically bad NBL supporting cast.. one of the worst rosters ever assembled the year before the team went into liquidation. RJ was in a situation where his play just simply wasn't going to be as good as the other guards they had signed at the time, they'd sort of devised the team with some contingencies for if RJ wasn't going to be that good, so they had an import in Sek Henry at the same position.

Giddey's team was solid, but not great. They had great bigs that highlighted his passing ability, they had role playing wings but no other real initiatiors, so in a sense he was really handed the keys to display himself and feature. Things were certainly catered to him quite a lot in that regard once he proved himself. He didn't need to score on the volume LaMelo did, but he also wouldn't have been capable of scoring on the volume LaMelo did if he was asked to.. he doesn't have that dynamism to be a volume self-creator like Ball does, he's more a balanced/pass 1st floor game. They were actually a genuinely solid team that won games with Giddey playing massive minutes, and very well could've/should've been a playoff team if not for Humphries being out injured for a good part of the season and the time before they got a replacement import for Sloan. Simply, Giddey was a big part of the teams success.

[Upperclass]

He looks like he's going to grow to like 6'10.. dude looks huge on the court

[zimpy27]

Giddey with another great display of his skills.

I think he's better offensively than advertised.

And yeah, he looks big. Maybe he could get to 6'10

[retrobro90]

Watch on YouTube

Highlights from tonight. That dribble move to shake Morris into the turnaround J at the extended elbow made me get up from my couch.

[DCasey91]

Giddey with another great display of his skills.

I think he's better offensively than advertised.

And yeah, he looks big. Maybe he could get to 6'10

He should be better offensively I mean it is the NBA . One thing that everyone can be critical is, is that ppg per player is suspect at best nowadays.

On a real positive note he’s grown a bit (height and width). Instead of a concern now it’s a downright huge advantage. Going to be handful down the road.

He looks to have put on 10 pounds of solid mass (legs, torso different) and grown a couple of cms, which isn’t unusual for a kid that’s still physically growing (and hitting the weight room).