Beyond the Box: NBL Alumni Have Blazed a Path for Josh Giddey in OKC
Josh Giddey is far from the first player to make the trip across the pond from Australia to the NBA.
A year before him, LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton both made the jump from Australia’s NBL to the professional ranks in the United States, and both Ball and Hampton adjusted nicely to life in the NBA.
On top of already being somewhat used to life as a professional basketball player, the extra physicality allowed by the officials on defense in the NBL meant that both Ball and Hampton’s shooting splits actually improved as they made the jump to the USA.
Hampton shot 40.7 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from 3-point range in 15 NBL games across the 2019-2020 season, but during his rookie campaign with both Denver and Orlando, he combined to shoot 43.5 percent from the field and 31.0 percent from down town.
Ball had a similar experience, surprising some with his shooting stroke during his NBA Rookie of the Year Campaign.
Shooting was a perceived concern from some coming into last year’s draft after Ball shot 37.5 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from deep overseas, but he immediately squashed those worries.
When healthy for Charlotte, Ball not only orchestrated the Hornets offense, but he shot an efficient 43.6 percent from the field and knocked down 35.2 percent of his 3’s, a staggering 10.2 percent improvement from his shooting beyond the ark in Australia.
David Patrick, newly minted associate head coach for Oklahoma in the college ranks and an assistant for the Australia National Team, explained why there are impressive shooting jumps when players transition from Australia to the NBA.
“It’s a physical, physical league, and you can’t cut freely,” Patrick told SI Thunder in August. “The word freedom of movement probably doesn’t exist in the NBL. What probably makes the national team so good is that you do play with that physicality.”
Giddey obviously didn’t see much action in Summer League to help him get acclimated to the NBA, but neither did Ball or Hampton, who had Summer League scrapped ahead of their rookie year due to the raging pandemic.
But Giddey was invited to Team Australia’s camp ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where Patrick said he impressed and was a quick study playing alongside established NBA stars.
Last year in action for the Adelaide 36ers, Giddey finished the season shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 29.3 percent from beyond the arc.
If he even makes conservative improvements based on Ball and Hampton’s rookie seasons, the Thunder could be looking at their No. 6-overall pick coming in and shooting 45 percent or better from the floor and hovering at 30 percent from 3-point range, a fantastic base to start at when Giddey’s elite size and playmaking ability is factored into the equation.
The biggest cause for concern about Giddey’s shooting could be his free throw percentage.
Widely considered an indicator of a player’s ability to purely shoot the basketball, free throw shooting tends to translate from college to the professional ranks, and Ball and Hampton’s experience was no different.
Ball was a 72.3 percent free throw shooter in Australia, and he converted 75.8 percent of his attempts from the charity stripe in Charlotte. For Hampton’s money, he shot virtually the same from the line in Australia (67.9 percent) as he did last season in the NBA (67.1 percent).
Giddey was only a 69.1 percent shooter from the line, and while that’s not an awful percentage, it’s an area that shows his shot could use a bit more work as he develops with the Thunder.
The NBL is quickly becoming a great option for American high school talent to develop before heading to the NBA, but there are high hopes for one of Australia’s own to make the transition in Oklahoma City.
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