Giddey’s Shooting Becoming the key to new Potential
Oklahoma City’s resident gunslinger has already made a name for himself just 32 games into his NBA career.
Josh Giddey, winner of both Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards to this Points, has shown over and over that he has the ability — and lack of fear — that it takes to attempt passes most consider unimaginable.
Giddey is already the best passer of his rookie class — totalling 203 assists at the time of writing — 59 more than No. 2 Cade Cunningham. And is tied for second among rookies in rebounds with 242 — just three behind Cleveland’s Evan Mobley.
But it’s his willingness to shoot — and keep shooting — that has come as somewhat of a surprise.
Giddey shot 29.3% from behind the arc on 3.5 attempts a game last season with the Adelaide 36ers, so high-volume shooting is nothing new to him. He’s putting up similar numbers in his rookie campaign, shooting 26.9% on 3.7 attempts per game.
A new year and a short bout with COVID-19 have seen Giddey come out with two of his best games of the season. Over the pair he has averaged 15.5 points 14 rebounds and 11 assists, but it's his numbers from deep that are eye-popping.
In those two games Giddey went 5-for-9 from deep at a 56% clip, showing both his ability to catch-and-shoot and to hit shots in transition via the pull-up.
The Thunder are exactly built to win as it stands, so letting players like Giddey push their games to the extreme each night is not only doable, but something that should be done as the season goes along.
Giddey could easily sit back, rely on his passing and put up games like he did Dec. 26 with zero points, but 10 assists and 10 rebounds. But that’s just not in his DNA — Giddey plays at 100% each play and that’s what makes him as good as he is.
Becoming a consistent scoring option, and threat from deep, is a layer Giddey hasn’t consistently had thus far. It is, however, something that he is trending toward — and might just be what takes him from the “very good player” tier in the NBA to a future All-Star.
On Jan. 2 Giddey became the youngest player ever to record a triple-double, and finished it off with a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer.
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