Josh Giddey Remains Aggressive For Australia

Josh Giddey and the Australian national team played their second game of group stage play, this time losing 85-82 to Germany.

It was a close game against tight competition, and Australia is going to come away from the loss even better than when they went into it.

In the close loss, Giddey led the team in minutes. He played 30 minutes, scoring 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field. He stuffed the box score as normal, tacking on five rebounds and six assists.

Germany is easily the best competition Australia has seen so far, and, despite them playing without one of their better players, Dennis Schroeder was too much for Australia to handle, as the fourth quarter saw Germany overtake Australia.

The most impressive takeaway here is Giddey's continued improvement and development. From a skill standpoint, the 6-foot-8 guard is going to be able to continue developing and honing his craft. What isn't exactly measured in the box score, though, is his aggression and mindset, and that has been noticeably different.

Giddey is continuing to use his solid frame to make the game easier for himself. He's taking more and more shots and doing so in ways that maximize both his size and skill set.

Giddey has no issue playing aggressively. If he starts doing stuff like this is the NBA, the Thunder are going to be that much more of a problem this season. pic.twitter.com/I4IGWLEPqd
— Kade Kimble (@kadekimble) August 27, 2023

Evidently, the Thunder players in the FIBA World Cup are playing both to come away with a trophy and represent their country, but also to develop their games in ways that might not happen with the Thunder.

Giddey is showing signs of improvement now that could benefit the team come night one of the NBA season. If he remains aggressive and makes defenses pay for focusing on other players, as they will with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the team will be able to get even more efficient on the offensive end.

The way he plays on the court allows him to be a natural leader, and doing so with a level of aggression and fearlessness will raise the ceiling of the young Thunder team.

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