2021 NBA draft profile: International prospect Josh Giddey
NBA draft prospect Josh Giddey’s improvement area: Scoring
Giddey fits within the category of deceivingly athletic players. Guys who play at a slow pace but can change their speed rapidly and finish with a dunk or flexible release – like an Alex Caruso or Chris Paul for example.
Giddey is unafraid to go up for a dunk or to finish around contact, his length allows him to slithery around vertical contests at the ring. At this stage, Giddey is still average to below-average statistically as a finisher, only averaging 42 percent from the field — that can be chalked up to inexperience and lack of weight.
Giddey’s change of speed allows him to hypnotize defenders into a lull and exploiting that into an aggressive drive and finish. This hasn’t translated free-throw-wise as Giddey only averaged 2.4 attempts shooting a cool 69 percent. His thinner frame meant he has knocked around in the paint so it’s one small area to improve, but considering his height and length he should be a consistent 4-6 attempts in his career at a minimum.
Handles
Darryl ‘D-Mac’ McDonald is an NBL legend, his playstyle was born from his play at Rucker Park and had some of the smoothest handles in NBL history. Giddey’s agent enlisted the help of D-Mac to work on Giddey’s handles and scoring, especially to work on his stance and pick and roll abilities. McDonald told Hoops Habit what they worked on:
"“A lot of it was pick and roll, being able to shoot the mid-range jump shot. We put a fair bit of time into him staying low, like being able to get down and play low because he’s 6’9” and plays standing straight up. And when you get to that next level, because he’s a point guard he will have a lot of small guards defending him, he’s got to be able to get down and play lower.”"
Giddey is very similar to a Kyle Anderson-type in this aspect, an upright stance with maybe a slow-paced dribble that leads into a quick move or two to get to his spot and uses his height and flexibility to finish. Giddey still lacks some lift in floaters or layups from a standstill, but with a head of steam, it’s less of an issue. But it still requires some practice in accuracy while at that pace.
Strength: Rebounding
One aspect with the playmaking that wasn’t mentioned was Giddey’s full-court passes. It was left until now to highlight his impressive rebounding. “The number one thing I could count on night in and night out,” coach Henry told Hoopshabit.
Being the point guard, Giddey would often lurk for a board and push the pace like Ben Simmons or Russell Westbrook. That’s not saying he’s “stealing” rebounds, as Giddey is great at reading where the ball will land.
Giddey was able to grab 1.1 offensive boards per game and a total of 7.4 rebounds per game in his NBL season. As seen in the clip above, Giddey not only creates another offensive possession with his offensive boards, he often makes the right pass leading straight into points for the 36ers.
Where the rebounding really is exciting is when Giddey grabs the board and pushes the full court to create opportunities. Giddey’s change of speed is a part of the aforementioned deceptive athleticism, my favorite example is this clip against the Illawarra Hawks.
Giddey secures the loose rebound and looks for the trailing guard and forward three times before making a no-look bounce pass on the money to Daniel Johnson. The rebounding is impressive alone, but how Giddey turns them into offensive possessions is another reason why Giddey is so highly projected.