TI’s week 6 rookie ladder: OKC Thunder Giddey cements his place
No. 3 – Josh Giddey, OKC Thunder
From the moment he stepped on the Summer League court, it’s been clear Josh Giddey was the right pick at sixth. In retrospect, it’s funny now to think of how many shooters and 3-point snipers we scouted. Sam Presti was always going to take the top talent and Giddey was definitely that. In fact, based on the early return, he was very likely a steal at six.
Rookie category rankings:
- Assists: 5.8 – first
- Offensive rebounds: 1.6 – tied second
- Double-Doubles: three
- Rebounds: 7.2 – third
- Turnovers: 2.8 – third
- Blocks: 0.7 – third
- Steals: 1.0 – tied sixth
- Field Goals Made: 4.3 – seventh
- Minutes per game: 29.4 – sixth
- Points: 10.4 – eighth
- Field Goal Percent: 39.1%
- 3-point field goal percent: 25.7%
🇦🇺 @joshgiddey joins LaMelo Ball and LeBron James as the only teenagers in NBA history to reach 100 assists and 100 rebounds in their first 20 games! #NBA75 #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/yRM8XTlM21
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) November 25, 2021
Unlike some analysts, TI was happy with the selection. We’d heard whispers (as we noted in our mock draft and profile pieces) that Giddey was garnering attention with even the fourth pick. Like Alperen Sengun less was known about him and Giddey because they played overseas and there simply isn’t the same quantity of film available for international prospects as there is for NCAA players.
It’s impossible to imagine the future of the OKC Thunder without Giddey being a part of it. Or ignore the perfect pairing of him with cornerstone Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Like week five his personal production took another step in week six with games versus the Hawks, Jazz, and Wizards.
In those three games, he averaged 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 3.3 turnovers.
His efficiency took another slight uptick from the previous week as he shot 45.0 from the field and 27.3 percent from the perimeter. Although this is the area of his game that needs the most improvement it’s a positive sign he appears to be making constant improvements.
More national writers jumped on the Giddey bandwagon after he became just the third teenager (LeBron James, LaMelo Ball) to dish 100 assists, and grab 100 rebounds in his first 20 games. The scary part is if Giddey had more scoring talent around him he might have achieved that marker in his first 10 games.
With Josh getting the flu next week he’ll slide down from third given he only played in one week seven match but like Mobley, before him, it won’t justify dropping him from the top five.