I have no idea what Giddey will be in five years. He’s 20. It will be hard for him to become the primary creator on a good team without a bankable jumper; Giddey is shooting 33.7% on 3s and 38% on midrangers. He rarely attempts long 2s.
But there is a huge middle ground for so-so shooters between “No. 1 ball handler” and “stand-still spot-up guy” — a gray area where tall passers who rebound, cut, and defend can thrive as connectors.
Giddey is 6-8, and he sees every pass from every spot. He’s an elite rebounder and a solid defender already. (Keep an eye on the Thunder collecting similarly sized big wing players who can switch on defense and flip-flop roles on offense.) He’s at 34.5% on catch-and-shoot 3s; if he can get into the high 30s on more volume, that’s a career-changer.
Giddey knows defenders will go under screens against him, walling off the paint. He has already mastered several antidotes:
Instead of a rote pick-and-roll, Giddey pitches the ball ahead to his screener and sprints into a handoff. That gives him a chance to beat his defender to the spot if that defender — Jaden McDaniels here — slides under the pick. McDaniels wins that race, but he’s backpedaling fast — vulnerable to the change-of-direction move Giddey busts out.
Giddey is a muscly one-on-one player in tight confines — cagey using his size to shoot over defenders. He fools defenders with nifty “Smitty” fake half-spins and other ploys. On pick-and-rolls, Giddey is smart about having screeners set two or three picks — flipping the angle each time, moving one step lower — until his defender gets hung up or he’s chiseled into floater range.
There’s a long way to go: Giddey ranks below average in pick-and-roll efficiency, per Second Spectrum data. But I can’t wait to watch how Giddey and his teammates grow together.
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4. Josh Giddey, getting what he wants
I have no idea what Giddey will be in five years. He’s 20. It will be hard for him to become the primary creator on a good team without a bankable jumper; Giddey is shooting 33.7% on 3s and 38% on midrangers. He rarely attempts long 2s.
But there is a huge middle ground for so-so shooters between “No. 1 ball handler” and “stand-still spot-up guy” — a gray area where tall passers who rebound, cut, and defend can thrive as connectors.
Giddey is 6-8, and he sees every pass from every spot. He’s an elite rebounder and a solid defender already. (Keep an eye on the Thunder collecting similarly sized big wing players who can switch on defense and flip-flop roles on offense.) He’s at 34.5% on catch-and-shoot 3s; if he can get into the high 30s on more volume, that’s a career-changer.
Giddey knows defenders will go under screens against him, walling off the paint. He has already mastered several antidotes:
Instead of a rote pick-and-roll, Giddey pitches the ball ahead to his screener and sprints into a handoff. That gives him a chance to beat his defender to the spot if that defender — Jaden McDaniels here — slides under the pick. McDaniels wins that race, but he’s backpedaling fast — vulnerable to the change-of-direction move Giddey busts out.
Giddey is a muscly one-on-one player in tight confines — cagey using his size to shoot over defenders. He fools defenders with nifty “Smitty” fake half-spins and other ploys. On pick-and-rolls, Giddey is smart about having screeners set two or three picks — flipping the angle each time, moving one step lower — until his defender gets hung up or he’s chiseled into floater range.
There’s a long way to go: Giddey ranks below average in pick-and-roll efficiency, per Second Spectrum data. But I can’t wait to watch how Giddey and his teammates grow together.