Ready to help: Giddey says his plan is to make everything easier for Bulls
Josh Giddey, a player known for his versatile skills, couldn't find a role that worked with Oklahoma City, a team that finished first in the NBA's Western Conference.
He and Thunder general manager Sam Presti agreed it would be best to move on, so now Giddey will try to turn the Bulls into a playoff team.
“The player I am, my job is just to make the game easy for everybody else,” Giddey said on a Zoom call with reporters Tuesday. “That's kind of what I want to do, come in and make sure guys are getting easy looks, guys are getting confident on the floor.”
The 6-foot-8 Australia native said he hasn't talked about role or scheme with the Bulls, though he did meet with coach Billy Donovan. Giddey was planning to catch a flight home to join his national team, prepare for the Olympics and will return to Chicago in September.
When it comes to Giddey's new NBA home, the most obvious question is how will he blend with Coby White. After a couple of quiet years playing off the ball, White blossomed last season when he went back to playing the point.
Obviously, it's possible to have multiple ballhandlers on a team, but that's something Donovan and the Bulls need to figure out.
“I understand the team that's here, there's a lot of good guards,” Giddey said. “Ayo (Dosunmu), Coby, Dalen (Terry) — they've got a lot of guys that can handle the rock. I think the competition we'll have throughout training camp and things like that to push ourselves and be better is going to be great. We'll see what happens when the season rolls around.”
Giddey stressed that he's excited about joining the Bulls. He was traded last week for all-defensive team selection Alex Caruso. Caruso is 30, Giddey is 21, so the Bulls got someone who can grow with a younger group.
“One of my favorite things that I'm most excited about is playing in the United Center,” Giddey said. “Every time I've been to Chicago to play here, the fans have been unbelievable. It's a packed house every time, regardless of what day of the week it is.”
There was plenty of social media grumbling when the trade was announced, but Giddey seemed to be following the path of budding star in OKC. He averaged 16.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists during his sophomore season in 2022-23, quickly building a reputation as a player who can fill the stat sheet.
But as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander grew into an MVP candidate, Jalen Williams became a high-level scorer and Chet Holmgren arrived on the scene, Giddey got left behind in some ways. He barely played in the fourth quarters of the Thunder's second-round playoff loss to Dallas.
“It was tough because as a player, first you want to get to the NBA, then when you're in the NBA, you want to be a part of big games in the playoffs,” Giddey said. “I've dreamt of that moment for so long. For it to end the way it did, it kind of left a sour taste in my mouth.”
At the same time, Giddey claimed he understood why he lost playing time and will learn from the negative experience. One issue is his 3-point shooting, which was 35.3% last season — not awful, but not great, either.
“It was probably a blessing in disguise for me,” he said. “It really taught me what I need to work on, how I need to get better. Obviously shooting's a big one, but also the defensive end is something, a switch just flipped in my mind and I realized to be at the highest level, you've got to really compete at that end.
“It was going to be hard to tap into my full potential, in my opinion on a team like that where there were so many talented guys who needed the ball in their hands, who were great with the ball in their hands. A change of scenery is maybe going to unlock more of that for me.”
The Bulls don't have the same level of talent as Oklahoma City's, but they have guys who like the ball in their hands. This is basketball, after all. While the Bulls have clearly added a talented player, the transition won't be seamless.
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