The Warriors were planning to take Josh Giddey with the seventh pick in this year’s draft if the Thunder hadn’t scooped him up at No. 6, Giddey’s father tells Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Warrick Giddey says the Warriors told his son’s agent, Daniel Moldovan, that Josh would be their target if he was still on the board.
The Thunder and the Warriors were the only teams to hold private pre-draft workouts with the Australian guard, and both came away impressed. Giddey is averaging 10.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists through his first five NBA games and appears ready for the league at age 19.
“We’re not overly surprised by what we’ve seen,” coach Mark Daigneault said, “but obviously there’s a lot of work to do and we’re excited to continue to work with him. He’s gotta get a lot better as well.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Nuggets center Nikola Jokic didn’t consider sitting out Friday’s game after suffering a bruised knee earlier in the week, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Jokic underwent an MRI that showed no structural damage and said he plans to keep going as long as the knee doesn’t feel weak. “They’ve been making him go through the protocols, the testing, different drills and they felt that he was more than capable of getting out there and playing,” coach Michael Malone said.
- The Nuggets have one of the lowest-scoring benches in the league and may turn to rookie guard Bones Hyland for a spark, Singer adds in a separate story. Hyland saw his first game action this week and scored seven points in 10 minutes. “I keep on saying it, but Bones Hyland,” Malone said. “That second unit’s struggling to score, make shots. Well Bones has shown he can do that.”
- His Timberwolves teammates love playing alongside Jarred Vanderbilt, who got his first start of the season this week so he could guard Giannis Antetokounmpo, per Megan Ryan of The Star Tribune. The fourth-year power forward is known for an aggressive, unselfish approach to the game. “He’s a contagious person,” Anthony Edwards said. “Anytime he’s on the floor, we’re playing better, we’re playing harder. We’re making the extra pass, making the extra closeout. We’re one step faster.”
Give Giddy a year to get experience. Thunder tank and get a top 4 pick. They also own Phoenix and Clippers first rounders in 22 draft. SGA is only getting better and is signed long term.
Future looking bright in OKC. Presti is putting together another awesome group of talent that will compete for the west crown and more.
They still need a star player to build around in OKC before they will be competing for anything. Just because SGA will be making $35M/year doesn’t mean that he’s actually worth that much. He has averaged just 16.5 PPG in his career and there’s no guarantee he will get any better than he is right now. Unless the Thunder find another Kevin Durant or James Harden with all of the draft picks they are stockpiling, they will remain in the lottery at least until the end of the decade. Presti hasn’t put together anything yet.
Lol….yeah no. But please stay delusional as always. Like the rockets have done anything themselves besides get lucky they didn’t send their pick to okc last draft.
Do you ever say anything nice?
What a drag it must be to be……..
Warriors lottery
Wiggins 1
Wiseman 2
Porter 3
Curry 7
Kuminga 7
Iguodala 9
Klay 11
Moody 14
8 players
Don’t particularly like Giddey but of all the places in the league I think GSW would’ve been the best for him. Would really improve his shooting and playmaking. Would thrive in a bench role and playing with Curry aswell.
He’s done well in OKC so far which is a surprise to me, hopefully he proves me wrong and has a great career. I just think think he would
Always liked Giddey. I said he had a better career in Australia than Ball. But no hype in USA. He wasn’t really a shooter. Cause he chose not to be. He has good form and size. He’s progressing quicker than I thought. I’m surprised he went top 10. But thought he could. Cause he’s a real PG. Kind of surprised to hear GS would of taken him. Maybe before Kuminga dropped. Cause for them Kuminga is a better pick imo. OKC is a good place for Giddey. He can learn and get better without the pressure to succeed right away. That’s never good for a 19 yr old. Glad he’s doing well. Has a big future. Well done
Ball in Australia, averaged 7 more points per game and shot a little less efficiently.
He contributed to a lot of losses but he didn’t exactly give it his all. He treated Australia like an allstar game with alot of flashy no look passes, dunks, poor shooting decisions just a kid having fun. He was a star and his personality was great.
Giddey on the other hand tried a lot harder every game and his team won more often. However he struggled to score a lot of the time.
That was my biggest knock on him too. Thought he was going to be the next Micheal Carter-Williams. Time will tell, MCW was solid in his first couple years but got worse and worse every season.
Giddey is a real PG. Ball isn’t or isn’t yet. Certainly wasn’t one in Australia. That’s the difference. And Giddey wasn’t trying to score. He played to win. My point is Ball was hyped to get top 3 pick in weak draft. Giddey was not and went top 6 in strong draft. Imo Giddey will be a better player. Although Ball has impressed me with his progress too. I’m just big on true PGs.
Ball will 100% be a better player, he’s got that xfactor, is a big part the Hornets are looking good again and he’s improving.
He will be an all star very shortly
Ball is leaps and bounds above giddey as a player right now, and likely into the future too. Ball almost led his team to the playoffs as a rookie, Giddey is getting a ton of usage for an incredibly poor team, this is getting crazy!
Of course Giddey is ready at 19 for the NBA, he was playing against fully grown ass men in down under, & that like playing any pro ball in Europe or elsewhere it is an advantage for the kids, playing older more experienced & stronger men, does that to you, gets you ready!
Unlike playing collegiate ball, where you play against kids, usually most kids you play against are as well much worst than you are, it just isn’t competitive & doesn’t give them the experience you get playing against men!
Probably a tough choice for a kid.
Leave your family and friends and move to the other side of the world for a season of ball then come back more NBA ready. Not going to put up amazing stat lines and not get a huge media following.
Or stay and go to college, play with your mates, have a fun time, walk around school like a star and travel around the country. Put up great stat lines and win plenty of games. However come to the NBA and your less ready and maybe have a slower start.
Different for every player. RJ Hampton was regarded a top 10 PG, went to Australia and then fell down the draft and as a rookie wasn’t exactly making a huge impact. Still adjusting now too
I’m honestly surprised at Giddey’s fast development. I was surprised he got picked so high, and surprised he’s doing so well so soon.
I honestly thought he’d be a project that would show some flashes, but mostly in garbage time for the first couple seasons.
Glad I’m wrong, and good for him and OKC. Maybe I was wrong, but I thought they should have went with Kuminga..
I guess only time will tell the tale, but so far so good for Giddey and OKC. Either way, I’m still really excited for Kuminga’s future in Golden State..
The Nugget second unit no longer has Monte Morris, who has a plus29 on-off on the first unit. Nuggets are winning so that may not change… anyway playing Hyland more should help them out. Campazzo is there too, but for Austin Rivers to have more minutes than Hyland is surprising, after “Bones'” great summer league, and 2G ability. Rivers did step in well late last year.
damnit jim, i’m a scorer, not a bricklayer.
If Murray comes back healthy, Monte can solidify the Nuggets bench. If Bones becomes a consistent contributor while Murray is out, that’ll strengthen the bench unit once Murray comes back. Hopefully Murray comes back by playoffs and we get to see starters: Jokic/Gordon/Porter/Barton/Murray…bench: Green/Green/Dozier/Bones/Monte
Giddey is young and may well improve over the next few years, but he’s shot terribly so far. He’s putting up decent ‘counting stats’ because he’s playing for the always tanking thunder. Most rookies if they were given a 20% usage rate and allowed to run the point for a team with like two nba level players would put up similar numbers.
Again, he’s extremely young and it’s been a handful of games, but to act like he’s already become a good player is bizarre.