Josh Giddey - Conundrum Killer

[Infinity2152]

I actually think that Coby can complement Giddey pretty well, so I'm not so sure I'd want to dump him this summer if Giddey is re-signed, which I suspect he will be. Yes, keeping Coby would hurt our 2026 draft position, but IMO that may be outweighed by how difficult it will be to find another scorer to play the 1 position while Giddey is playing point from the 3/4 spot.

I basically want Ayo traded regardless now that we have Ball under contract, as I feel they are redundant quality utility men, and Ball has more upside due to talent and contract status, even though he's older. Unfortunately I don't think we can get much for Ayo.

Have to admit, I'm back and forth on trading Coby if we keep Giddey too, lol. They do compliment each other well and Coby is still young and cheap.

Don't know how much we have to be worried about our draft status next year. We're losing almost every game with this same team, and we're looking at losing Vuc and adding a rookie and spare parts we get in the Vuc trade perhaps. If we win, that means our young guys are playing great. That beats draft positioning, let's focus on all the young guys we'll already have.

It wouldn't be great if our new rookie, Ball, Giddey, Coby, Matas, Smith were good enough to make it to the playoffs? Wouldn't that mean we probably got a star/superstar?

[ValvPiti]

What conundrum? Made me sick when people acted like it was the biggest robbery in the last 10 years that OKC was getting a bit past his prime, injury-prone and one dimensional Caruso for Josh. If I didn't know any better, podcasters and real GMers would lead you to believe that Bulls just pulled a Nico Harrison when in reality, they took a shot at a young, do-it-all playmaker with upside such as Giddey.

Funny thing is that its really only now that he gets to play more with the ball and get the proper minutes to actually evaluate his game. Why not before?

[Infinity2152]

What conundrum? Made me sick when people acted like it was the biggest robbery in the last 10 years that OKC was getting a bit past his prime, injury-prone and one dimensional Caruso for Josh. If I didn't know any better, podcasters and real GMers would lead you to believe that Bulls just pulled a Nico Harrison when in reality, they took a shot at a young, do-it-all playmaker with upside such as Giddey.

Funny thing is that its really only now that he gets to play more with the ball and get the proper minutes to actually evaluate his game. Why not before?

Lavine was here and Giddey's the new guy. He's a 21 year old coming in trying to fit in with two vet All-Stars, plus Ball's return and where and how many minutes he's going to play changes everything. Think Giddey kind of automatically deferred to Coby, who's also older than him, Zach and Vuc. Playing on the court with Ball, Coby and Zach, what position is he even playing? Plus Coby wants the ball first. He had the same problem in OKC, starting with three players 6'6 and under. They all want to be on ball.

Zach was around 17 field goal attempts per game. A lot of shots just opened up for the starters.

[League Circles]

I actually think that Coby can complement Giddey pretty well, so I'm not so sure I'd want to dump him this summer if Giddey is re-signed, which I suspect he will be. Yes, keeping Coby would hurt our 2026 draft position, but IMO that may be outweighed by how difficult it will be to find another scorer to play the 1 position while Giddey is playing point from the 3/4 spot.

I basically want Ayo traded regardless now that we have Ball under contract, as I feel they are redundant quality utility men, and Ball has more upside due to talent and contract status, even though he's older. Unfortunately I don't think we can get much for Ayo.

Have to admit, I'm back and forth on trading Coby if we keep Giddey too, lol. They do compliment each other well and Coby is still young and cheap.

Don't know how much we have to be worried about our draft status next year. We're losing almost every game with this same team, and we're looking at losing Vuc and adding a rookie and spare parts we get in the Vuc trade perhaps.

IMO it's very plausible that losing Vuc ends up being addition by subtraction. I honestly think a guy like Tony Bradley might be just as "good".

Coby is a good offensive complement to Giddey, but because he's also not a plus defender, it absolutely mandates that we get another guard who is all of these things (if we re-sign both Coby and Giddey long term):

1. A high level defender (better than Ayo)
2. At least a genuine good 3pt shooter (like Coby-esque or hopefully even better)
3. Good at attacking the basket (cuts, lob recipient, etc), cause neither Coby nor Giddey will ever be high level at that.

It also probably means that we need a good 3 and D center, which MIIIGGHT be Smith, but probably not.

[jnrjr79]

If Giddey can raise our weak ass roster to the play-in next year he’s a damn franchise player. But he’s not. So that’s not going to happen. Look at Cunningham in Detroit and hundreds of other examples of better players on bad young teams.

Hell, we are 1-6 since the Lavine trade with Giddey playing like a maniac.

Detroit is pretty good!

No doubt. What I meant was he was good before this year, running the team, and the team still could not win. And this has been true of many outstanding players who could not make a bad young team win. I doubt Giddey is an exception to that next year unless something significant changes with the roster.

Oh, yeah, I actually got your point and was just snarkily noting that Detroit is no longer a "bad young team." But overall, even if this newer version of Giddey is good, he's not good enough to make the Bulls good, though perhaps if Matas really breaks out next year, there is enough talent that the Bulls aren't bottom-5-in-the-league bad.

[jnrjr79]

Detroit is pretty good!

Detroit wins since Cunningham was drafted: 23, 17, 14 & currently 32-26.

Right. That was the point I was trying to make, though I wasn’t very clear. And I realize those Detroit rosters and our roster, which though young will have more experience, are not an apples to apples comparison.

I don't think Giddey is good enough that this will matter, but looking at Cunningham in his 4th year is the more apples-to-apples comparison in terms of where Giddey is on his development timeline. I think it's generally true that even guys who are "good" often don't lead to wins in their first couple of seasons. The Detroit example is sort of inapplicable in the sense that the Bulls didn't just draft Giddey - they acquired a player who has been in the league for several years.

[Infinity2152]

I actually think that Coby can complement Giddey pretty well, so I'm not so sure I'd want to dump him this summer if Giddey is re-signed, which I suspect he will be. Yes, keeping Coby would hurt our 2026 draft position, but IMO that may be outweighed by how difficult it will be to find another scorer to play the 1 position while Giddey is playing point from the 3/4 spot.

I basically want Ayo traded regardless now that we have Ball under contract, as I feel they are redundant quality utility men, and Ball has more upside due to talent and contract status, even though he's older. Unfortunately I don't think we can get much for Ayo.

Have to admit, I'm back and forth on trading Coby if we keep Giddey too, lol. They do compliment each other well and Coby is still young and cheap.

Don't know how much we have to be worried about our draft status next year. We're losing almost every game with this same team, and we're looking at losing Vuc and adding a rookie and spare parts we get in the Vuc trade perhaps.

IMO it's very plausible that losing Vuc ends up being addition by subtraction. I honestly think a guy like Tony Bradley might be just as "good".

Coby is a good offensive complement to Giddey, but because he's also not a plus defender, it absolutely mandates that we get another guard who is all of these things (if we re-sign both Coby and Giddey long term):

1. A high level defender (better than Ayo)
2. At least a genuine good 3pt shooter (like Coby-esque or hopefully even better)
3. Good at attacking the basket (cuts, lob recipient, etc), cause neither Coby nor Giddey will ever be high level at that.

It also probably means that we need a good 3 and D center, which MIIIGGHT be Smith, but probably not.

We're looking at a very good pick in a loaded draft so hopefully we get a player who fits some of that. I would love to see a lockdown 3 and D PG or SG, doesn't even have to be a great scorer. Would be great if he's physical and an attacker. Giddey runs the offense from the forward position. Matas is the forward defender. Then get a good defensive center. Don't see too many centers projected near the top, if we draft high, we're getting another guard or wing to add to the rotation.

And honestly, as good as he is, I don't think we owe Coby the starting spot. If we draft Harper, Bailey, Edgecombe and they look better than Coby, he can play sixth man. We always have injuries, he can still get plenty of minutes. Coby starts to start the season, but like Matas, rookie gets to earn a starting spot.

If Ball is healthy, it changes everything. You can run Ball, White, Matas, Giddey, defensive center all day long.

[League Circles]

Since people think I hate Giddey (I don't, liked the trade to get him and still like it), I will say a couple of underrated things about him:

1. He has been a durable nba player. That's saying a lot these days, especially with this orgs history.
2. He's tough enough to be successful. Not a stereotypical "soft" guy which is common for guys with his skill set (cerebral passers)
3. He actually plays relatively fundamentally sound defense with reasonable aggression/effort. His problem, especially since he's still young, is purely foot speed, which could be pretty well negated by improved strength/conditioning and accepting that he's always going to fit best as a 3/4, not a 1/2.

[DuckIII]

It wouldn't be great if our new rookie, Ball, Giddey, Coby, Matas, Smith were good enough to make it to the playoffs? Wouldn't that mean we probably got a star/superstar?

Not in the East. It would depend very much on how it plays out. It could mean we have an identified franchise player, which would almost by default have to be Matas or the rookie. Or it could be the result of across the roster improvement, team chemistry, and another historically awful Eastern Conference. Which would be very different.

[League Circles]

Making the playoffs would be a good sign of what we have, but would also mean that we're probably done adding any significant talent via the draft, which is a risky situation to be in. Could very easily cause us to rebuild again in 3 years when it's clear we're mediocre. Now if we can somehow move Patrick's contract and basically we're only committed to Giddey, Matas and our 2025 FRP, then it's a lot more palatable cause we can be a threat in free agency and/or trade absorption into cap space.

[Infinity2152]

Since people think I hate Giddey (I don't, liked the trade to get him and still like it), I will say a couple of underrated things about him:

1. He has been a durable nba player. That's saying a lot these days, especially with this orgs history.
2. He's tough enough to be successful. Not a stereotypical "soft" guy which is common for guys with his skill set (cerebral passers)
3. He actually plays relatively fundamentally sound defense with reasonable aggression/effort. His problem, especially since he's still young, is purely foot speed, which could be pretty well negated by improved strength/conditioning and accepting that he's always going to fit best as a 3/4, not a 1/2.

Th transition to people thinking of him as a forward changes a lot. He's really never played guard. On OKC, he played with three smaller guards who like to ball handle, and he was the second-best rebounder behind the center. I've said before, much easier to add strength than quickness. 6'2 guys in the league will usually burn 6'8 guys. They have to be able to do that to make it in the league. If you look at him as PF instead of PG, he turns from above average passer, average shooter (this season), outstanding rebounder to outstanding passer, great shooter, outstanding rebounder. His per 36 9.1 rebounds, he's still an elite rebounder at PF. And he gets to guard much slower players. Usually with far worse ballhandling.

[League Circles]

Since people think I hate Giddey (I don't, liked the trade to get him and still like it), I will say a couple of underrated things about him:

1. He has been a durable nba player. That's saying a lot these days, especially with this orgs history.
2. He's tough enough to be successful. Not a stereotypical "soft" guy which is common for guys with his skill set (cerebral passers)
3. He actually plays relatively fundamentally sound defense with reasonable aggression/effort. His problem, especially since he's still young, is purely foot speed, which could be pretty well negated by improved strength/conditioning and accepting that he's always going to fit best as a 3/4, not a 1/2.

Th transition to people thinking of him as a forward changes a lot. He's really never played guard. On OKC, he played with three smaller guards who like to ball handle, and he was the second-best rebounder behind the center. I've said before, much easier to add strength than quickness. 6'2 guys in the league will usually burn 6'8 guys. They have to be able to do that to make it in the league. If you look at him as PF instead of PG, he turns from above average passer, average shooter (this season), outstanding rebounder to outstanding passer, great shooter, outstanding rebounder. His per 36 9.1 rebounds, he's still an elite rebounder at PF. And he gets to guard much slower players. Usually with far worse ballhandling.

I think if we find the right guard (maybe VJ Edgecomb???), then Giddey is nominally a 3, but any time he had a super tough guy to guard, either he can switch with Matas or VJ on defense and we should be OK. But if Coby is here with Giddey and both are starting, Coby needs to be the 1 IMO defensively, cause if it's an even smaller guy at the 1 with Coby at the 2, we can't cover as easily for Giddey.

[sco]

Since people think I hate Giddey (I don't, liked the trade to get him and still like it), I will say a couple of underrated things about him:

1. He has been a durable nba player. That's saying a lot these days, especially with this orgs history.
2. He's tough enough to be successful. Not a stereotypical "soft" guy which is common for guys with his skill set (cerebral passers)
3. He actually plays relatively fundamentally sound defense with reasonable aggression/effort. His problem, especially since he's still young, is purely foot speed, which could be pretty well negated by improved strength/conditioning and accepting that he's always going to fit best as a 3/4, not a 1/2.

Th transition to people thinking of him as a forward changes a lot. He's really never played guard. On OKC, he played with three smaller guards who like to ball handle, and he was the second-best rebounder behind the center. I've said before, much easier to add strength than quickness. 6'2 guys in the league will usually burn 6'8 guys. They have to be able to do that to make it in the league. If you look at him as PF instead of PG, he turns from above average passer, average shooter (this season), outstanding rebounder to outstanding passer, great shooter, outstanding rebounder. His per 36 9.1 rebounds, he's still an elite rebounder at PF. And he gets to guard much slower players. Usually with far worse ballhandling.

I think if we find the right guard (maybe VJ Edgecomb???), then Giddey is nominally a 3, but any time he had a super tough guy to guard, either he can switch with Matas or VJ on defense and we should be OK. But if Coby is here with Giddey and both are starting, Coby needs to be the 1 IMO defensively, cause if it's an even smaller guy at the 1 with Coby at the 2, we can't cover as easily for Giddey.

Speaking of Coby, I have to laugh because this board went through a similar discussion when Coby was about to become a RFA and the rumors were that he was going to expect probably 2x what he ultimately got.

Also on the Coby topic, I think that Giddey would really benefit from a summer of Johnny-Dribbles-A-Lot. Coby's handles really improved (so did Terry's) from the experience.

[PJSteven22]

All of which guards? You mean the max contract players showed more promise than Giddey? Who's not looking at a max? Some of those guys are number 1 picks. They're supposed to be better.

Giddey was a sixth pick. Expectations should be closer to Coby White, maybe average level starter. I'm keeping Giddey over White every day.

All of the Guards that were listed. If his expectations should be where Coby White is then the contract should match it. Also Coby is not good enough as a primary ball handler. I want greatness not mediocrity. My standards are higher than AKs.

Two things:
Coby is generally considered a value contract. That's what it's called everywhere. His actual market value in a free agency right now is probably somewhere between $18 mill and $25 mill.

Coby's contract year, year 4, he put up 9.7pts, 2.8 assists, 2.9 rebounds. .7 steals in 23 minutes. 37.2% from three
Giddey's contract year: 12.9 pts, 6.4 assists, 7.4 rebounds in 29 minutes. 1.1 steals. 37% from three.

Giddey's having a better contract year than Coby. He's also younger than Coby was in year 4.

The thing about wanting greatness is you have to be willing to pay for greatness. No team's going to have 5 All-Star two-way players starting. Usually teams will have two max players at most. You need three other starters. You're going to have some mediocrity. If all your players are all that good, you won't be able to afford to keep them all anyway. There are maybe 5-6 teams where you would say every starter is above NBA average. Then they have $25-$40 mill players who are very good, but have flaws. $10-$25 mill players that are average starters/role players. You can't afford Curry, Booker, Lebron, KD, Jokic for any sustainable time.

Let's just be honest. Is it really you don't like Giddey at all, and don't want him at any price? Or do you actually think he's a bad NBA player that teams want to pay a lot of money to for some reason?

No you continue to misrepresent my points. He is a player with some good strengths and some debilitating weaknesses. Yes he’s a good playmaker and rebounder but he plays his best when the offense revolves around him. That’s not good. He played his best without Shai in OKC and he’s playing his best his best here since Zach got traded. If he wants to reach his full potential and the Bulls want the best for his franchise he’s has to learn on how to play with great players. What if the Bulls land the 1st or 2nd overall pick? Cooper or Dylan is going to need on ball reps. Does he revert back to what he was last month? It’s a legitimate concern.

You also misrepresent my greatness comment. If your primary ball handler is on the level of Coby or Josh. You’re in trouble as a franchise. Coby doesn’t have the talent or the decision making to be a primary ball handler. The Mountain is steep for Giddey to climb. The only guy that’s a primary ball handler but not the leading scorer on a top 6 team is Haliburton. Hali is not a good athlete like Giddey but Hali is an elite pull up shooter. Also Haliburton is great at taking care of the ball and is a better playmaker than Giddey. I’d doubt he becomes the level of shooter that Haliburton has been. That’s a pretty lofty goal for him to reach. He can be a better driver than Hali.

I I just want the Bulls to do the smart thing for once and let market decide what he’s worth.

[dougthonus]

What conundrum? Made me sick when people acted like it was the biggest robbery in the last 10 years that OKC was getting a bit past his prime, injury-prone and one dimensional Caruso for Josh. If I didn't know any better, podcasters and real GMers would lead you to believe that Bulls just pulled a Nico Harrison when in reality, they took a shot at a young, do-it-all playmaker with upside such as Giddey.

Funny thing is that its really only now that he gets to play more with the ball and get the proper minutes to actually evaluate his game. Why not before?

I agree with you in the sense that I was in favor of this trade.

On the flip side, I'm not in favor of overpaying Josh and would make him find an offer sheet or play hard ball.

In terms of only seeing what he can do now and not before, I think that is the problem. On a team with more options, where he isn't the primary option, he has a lot of problems, and as we see with him as the primary option, he's no where near good enough to be the primary option.

That is in fact the conundrum, but the reality is the conundrum is really only about how much would you pay for Josh. He's clearly an NBA level talent, elite at some things, lousy at some other things, definitely not a max guy, and definitely over an MLE guy, so the question just becomes what is the price you are willing to pay?

Whether this trade works or doesn't work for us will be more based on Josh's next contract than anything else. If we are stupid and are irrationally the top bidder without a threat of another offer (as AK has done a lot of times) then we probably lose this trade because we sign Josh on a contract that isn't valuable to the league. If we negotiate hard and get Josh on a better deal, then the trade probably works out just fine for us.

[jnrjr79]

What conundrum? Made me sick when people acted like it was the biggest robbery in the last 10 years that OKC was getting a bit past his prime, injury-prone and one dimensional Caruso for Josh. If I didn't know any better, podcasters and real GMers would lead you to believe that Bulls just pulled a Nico Harrison when in reality, they took a shot at a young, do-it-all playmaker with upside such as Giddey.

Funny thing is that its really only now that he gets to play more with the ball and get the proper minutes to actually evaluate his game. Why not before?

I agree with you in the sense that I was in favor of this trade.

On the flip side, I'm not in favor of overpaying Josh and would make him find an offer sheet or play hard ball.

In terms of only seeing what he can do now and not before, I think that is the problem. On a team with more options, where he isn't the primary option, he has a lot of problems, and as we see with him as the primary option, he's no where near good enough to be the primary option.

That is in fact the conundrum, but the reality is the conundrum is really only about how much would you pay for Josh. He's clearly an NBA level talent, elite at some things, lousy at some other things, definitely not a max guy, and definitely over an MLE guy, so the question just becomes what is the price you are willing to pay?

I think before I was not convinced he was an over-MLE guy, but if he keeps up anything like this recent stretch, then he absolutely is, but unless Brooklyn is inclined to offer it, it's going to require a S&T. It could be a situation where the Bulls luck out and get him cheaper than market price due to the anticipated lack of cap space teams this offseason or that they get something useful in return if a S&T option appears. I was a little worried early in the season it was going to be an "overpay or let him walk and effectively get nothing from the Caruso trade" scenario, but it would seem a good GM (and here's where I'm worried!) may actually have some decent cards to play with him this offseason.

[dougthonus]

I think before I was not convinced he was an over-MLE guy, but if he keeps up anything like this recent stretch, then he absolutely is, but unless Brooklyn is inclined to offer it, it's going to require a S&T. It could be a situation where the Bulls luck out and get him cheaper than market price due to the anticipated lack of cap space teams this offseason or that they get something useful in return if a S&T option appears. I was a little worried early in the season it was going to be an "overpay or let him walk and effectively get nothing from the Caruso trade" scenario, but it would seem a good GM (and here's where I'm worried!) may actually have some decent cards to play with him this offseason.

Agree with all of this.

Especially the part about being scared we won't use any of the leverage we have.

[Infinity2152]

All of the Guards that were listed. If his expectations should be where Coby White is then the contract should match it. Also Coby is not good enough as a primary ball handler. I want greatness not mediocrity. My standards are higher than AKs.

Two things:
Coby is generally considered a value contract. That's what it's called everywhere. His actual market value in a free agency right now is probably somewhere between $18 mill and $25 mill.

Coby's contract year, year 4, he put up 9.7pts, 2.8 assists, 2.9 rebounds. .7 steals in 23 minutes. 37.2% from three
Giddey's contract year: 12.9 pts, 6.4 assists, 7.4 rebounds in 29 minutes. 1.1 steals. 37% from three.

Giddey's having a better contract year than Coby. He's also younger than Coby was in year 4.

The thing about wanting greatness is you have to be willing to pay for greatness. No team's going to have 5 All-Star two-way players starting. Usually teams will have two max players at most. You need three other starters. You're going to have some mediocrity. If all your players are all that good, you won't be able to afford to keep them all anyway. There are maybe 5-6 teams where you would say every starter is above NBA average. Then they have $25-$40 mill players who are very good, but have flaws. $10-$25 mill players that are average starters/role players. You can't afford Curry, Booker, Lebron, KD, Jokic for any sustainable time.

Let's just be honest. Is it really you don't like Giddey at all, and don't want him at any price? Or do you actually think he's a bad NBA player that teams want to pay a lot of money to for some reason?

No you continue to misrepresent my points. He is a player with some good strengths and some debilitating weaknesses. Yes he’s a good playmaker and rebounder but he plays his best when the offense revolves around him. That’s not good. He played his best without Shai in OKC and he’s playing his best his best here since Zach got traded. If he wants to reach his full potential and the Bulls want the best for his franchise he’s has to learn on how to play with great players. What if the Bulls land the 1st or 2nd overall pick? Cooper or Dylan is going to need on ball reps. Does he revert back to what he was last month? It’s a legitimate concern.

You also misrepresent my greatness comment. If your primary ball handler is on the level of Coby or Josh. You’re in trouble as a franchise. Coby doesn’t have the talent or the decision making to be a primary ball handler. The Mountain is steep for Giddey to climb. The only guy that’s a primary ball handler but not the leading scorer on a top 6 team is Haliburton. Hali is not a good athlete like Giddey but Hali is an elite pull up shooter. Also Haliburton is great at taking care of the ball and is a better playmaker than Giddey. I’d doubt he becomes the level of shooter that Haliburton has been. That’s a pretty lofty goal for him to reach. He can be a better driver than Hali.

I I just want the Bulls to do the smart thing for once and let market decide what he’s worth.

Genuinely not trying to misrepresent you. I asked if you don't like Giddey, because some people just won't like some players or player types.

The arguments you're making would make more sense to me if he wasn't pretty clearly playing better defensively and shooting 37% from three. So those debilitating weaknesses as you call them don't really appear to be present. At least not to the extent that they would make him unplayable.

You saying you just want the market to decide his value, I can agree with that 100%. Think maybe our view of $30 mill player is a little different too. I don't need him to be prime Chris Paul or Haliburton to pay him $30 mill. Think Giddey could average a consistent 16pts and 8 rebounds as a starting forward. If he scored a few more, great. But if he's getting 6 or more assists from that forward position, that makes up for 2-4 extra points. He maintains this shooting, or close to it, that's fine for a forward. I think a 16, 8 and 6 forward gets at least $30 mill at 22 if teams have cap space. Few teams have space, so we could end up with a real deal.

Hopefully we're drafting a great scorer. we're hoping Matas will be one. A set-up guy like Giddey is not that easy to find, and he's the right age to grow with them and them to get chemistry. Might be able to throw Coby and Pat in there too as guys Giddey could make better.

[WindyCityBorn]

I think before I was not convinced he was an over-MLE guy, but if he keeps up anything like this recent stretch, then he absolutely is, but unless Brooklyn is inclined to offer it, it's going to require a S&T. It could be a situation where the Bulls luck out and get him cheaper than market price due to the anticipated lack of cap space teams this offseason or that they get something useful in return if a S&T option appears. I was a little worried early in the season it was going to be an "overpay or let him walk and effectively get nothing from the Caruso trade" scenario, but it would seem a good GM (and here's where I'm worried!) may actually have some decent cards to play with him this offseason.

Agree with all of this.

Especially the part about being scared we won't use any of the leverage we have.

If you “lowball” him because no team that would want him has the cap space he does have option to just take qualifying offer. Then you’re in the same situation again next season except you have no control over him. Best scenario is give him a fair contract now. Not go as cheap as possible.

[Infinity2152]

I think before I was not convinced he was an over-MLE guy, but if he keeps up anything like this recent stretch, then he absolutely is, but unless Brooklyn is inclined to offer it, it's going to require a S&T. It could be a situation where the Bulls luck out and get him cheaper than market price due to the anticipated lack of cap space teams this offseason or that they get something useful in return if a S&T option appears. I was a little worried early in the season it was going to be an "overpay or let him walk and effectively get nothing from the Caruso trade" scenario, but it would seem a good GM (and here's where I'm worried!) may actually have some decent cards to play with him this offseason.

Agree with all of this.

Especially the part about being scared we won't use any of the leverage we have.

If you “lowball” him because no team that would want him has the cap space he does have option to just take qualifying offer. Then you’re in the same situation again next season except you have no control over him. Best scenario is give him a fair contract now. Not go as cheap as possible.

This right here. His QO is over 11 mill, so if the Bulls lowball, he's smarter to take the 11 mill for one year and bet on a huge contract in 2026 when a lot of teams will have money.

Here's a recent interview with Giddey. He talks a little about his contract and defense.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bulls/2025/02/25/bulls-guard-josh-giddey-worth-open-market-lets-ask-him