What Josh Giddey can Learn From Luka Doncic's Game in the NBA
The jumbo guard is taking over.
Luka Doncic’s immediate success for the Dallas Mavericks has fans across the league hoping they can find a player to fit his mold.
Next up in the line of lengthy international ball handlers? Australian Josh Giddey.
While the Oklahoma City Thunder certainly aren’t getting a Doncic 2.0 in Giddey, there are still lessons from the Slovenian’s game that Giddey can learn from in OKC.
Doncic’s 6-foot-7 frame allows him to manipulate passing lanes in a way “normal” point guards can’t achieve. His length and wingspan creates massively different angles, which Doncic exploits — especially in the pick and roll.
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Passing is one of Giddey’s best attributes, as the 6-8 guard is gifted with excellent floor vision and the knack for perfectly weighting passes over the top. As Giddey settles into life in the half court, he’ll have more space to work with than he was used to in the NBL. Pair that with the NBA’s freedom of movement rules, and he’ll have plenty of time to learn how to play with the new angles he and his Thunder teammates can create on offense.
Doncic also has a great feel for how to use his length to create space to get his own shot off. The restrictions placed on the defense in the NBA allowed Doncic to immediately become a scoring threat for the Mavericks, noting at one point how it’s easier to score in the NBA than it was across the pond in the EuroLeague and in international play.
Giddey already has a nice step-back, and not only will he have the example of Doncic on how to best create space to get of this shot, but he’ll be able to look up to his new teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as well.
On the defensive end of the floor, Doncic is by no means a lock-down defender. But he still is able to have a positive impact by using his wingspan to close down passing lanes and be a nuisance defensively for Dallas.
Giddey will have to take a similar approach at first as he learns Mark Daigneault’s defensive system.
In the NBL, Giddey struggled to move laterally when he was attacked on the defensive end of the floor. Though he’ll have plenty of help on defense, Giddey will immediately add to OKC’s length, allowing them to have greater matchup flexibility when he is on the floor as the young Australian continues to develop as a defender.
If Giddey can work any of those aspects into his game alongside his own personal flair, Sam Presti will likely be very excited by the development of his No. 6-overall pick over the next few years, as Giddey has all the physical tools to be one of the next great jumbo guards in the NBA.
