3 Things Australia’s FIBA World Cup stint reveals about Thunder players

After finishing fourth in 2019’s FIBA World Cup and taking home bronze in the Summer Olympics of 2021 in Tokyo, Australia underperformed in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, not reaching the top eight of the tournament with a young crew that heavily relied on their small-ball schemes and have made OKC Thunder star Josh Giddey as their focal point on offense.

Australia finished the tournament with three wins and two losses, but it was not enough to advance as the Luka Doncic-led Slovenia and former OKC Thunder guard Dennis Schroder Germany dominated their competition to top their group; both Slovenia and Germany dealt Australia their losses in the World Cup.

The OKC Thunder have seen two players take the floor for the Australia Boomers; what are the three biggest takeaways from their performance?

The Boomers ended their World Cup campaign against Georgia, winning 100-84 in a virtually meaningless game for both squads. Australia led the entire outing and displayed the brilliance that made them one of the favorites to win the tournament. But it just was not meant to be for the guys down under.

Josh Giddey had 15 points, four assists, and three rebounds in that game. He shot 7-for-9 from the field and only missed one two-point shot and one three-pointer. It was an efficient ending for Giddey, who has become Australia’s golden boy in the tournament, having all the keys of the offense for them.

For most, though, their World Cup results were a disappointment. Blame has been thrown across the team, including Josh Giddey and fellow OKC Thunder Jack White.

Nevertheless, they focus now on the Paris Olympics next year, where they will try to top their podium finish in Tokyo.

The World Cup has been a great off-season platform to assess Giddey and White’s game. They have been fixtures in every Australian game in the tournament and have revealed tremendous and not-so-great things for the Thunder for the upcoming season.

Josh Giddey has bulked up, and that was clear as the OKC Thunder guard participated in the FIBA World Cup.

The evolution of Josh Giddey’s drives has been staggering. He used to shy away from contacts when driving to the baskets as his relatively young body could not hold up to the physicality of the NBA.

This has been a welcomed development for the OKC Thunder, broadening the layers of Mark Daigneault’s offense.

In the five games at the FIBA World Cup, Josh Giddey averaged a team-high 19 points, six assists, and five rebounds per outing.

His strength, aided by his six-foot-eight, 215-pound frame, often overpowered defenders and allowed him to score quickly in the paint or dish out to his teammates.

This was especially evident in his body bumps when he drove. Few defenders stayed in front of him when he did this, and the scoring magnitude in which the Australian squad gravitated off in these drives and scoring opportunities proved to be a pivotal part of their offense throughout the tournament.

His reps in the World Cup should help the OKC Thunder scale an offensive system around their young core. It is just a matter of time before we see Giddey play like he did in the World Cup in the NBA. That means all the good news for the OKC Thunder.

OKC Thunder guard Josh Giddey still has some work to do on his jump shot

With his drives and strength getting an evident boost in the FIBA World Cup, Josh Giddey’s touch from long range is still not there.

Josh Giddey shot 12 threes in the five games of the tournament and only made two of them. While his shooting slump spanned the entire tournament, the quality of looks were not what you can expect him to take once he is surrounded by the OKC Thunder core.

It is one thing to be a solid driver and another to be a respectable shooter. Having a shooting threat opens the game, not just for Giddey but also for his team. This can go past just three point shooting, even adding a mid-range jumper, Josh Giddey can overhaul his scoring profile.

In their game versus Luka Doncic’s Slovenia, Giddey’s defenders never respected his shot, sagging off every time he touched the ball, thus forcing him to shoot an image that the defense deemed the best possible picture they could allow.

Overall, Giddey shot 17 percent from the three-point line — a disappointing mark considering that the FIBA range for three-pointers is much closer than in the NBA.

However, there is no need to worry about overreacting to this. Five games is too small of a sample size to evaluate Giddey’s strides, and he has continuously reached a level of shooting respect that would open up his game.

Giddey’s three-point percentage jumped from 27 percent to close to 33 percent in his first two years in the NBA. There is a lot to be optimistic about with that improvement alone, and one can tell that his shooting stroke could even be better come the following season.

The OKC Thunder will continue to evaluate Jack White after a hit-and-miss World Cup run

OKC Thunder signed Jack White last July to a two-year veteran minimum contract, adding depth to the forward position and providing additional body for small-ball lineups.

White averaged 21 points, close to ten rebounds, and two assists in 14 G-League games for the Grand Rapids Gold last year.

In the FIBA World Cup, White’s numbers are pretty much the same as his Nuggets stats. In about eight minutes per game, he averaged two points, two rebounds, and less than one assist per game as one of the second-stringers for the Boomers.

His impact, however, must be considered, primarily through the eye test. Having the frame to battle for boards and guard the paint, White showed his toughness to deter shots, grab rebounds, and man the color for the Boomers, albeit on minimal minutes throughout the tournament.

However, his worst game was a huge downer. Against Germany, White committed four turnovers and snagged two rebounds in just nine minutes of action.

That minutes-to-turnovers ratio made the OKC Thunder faithful question, at least for a matter of days, his value as a potential player for the OKC Thunder.

It was the worst game of the World Cup for White. But evaluating him for just one game would be an injustice. He only missed one shot in the entire tournament. Though, on top of a low sample size, Jack White was often spoon fed chances. While he took advantage of the opportunity, he was mainly a play finisher, not a play creator.

Perhaps the biggest standout from Jack White’s FIBA tournament run was the energy and effort he brought to the Boomers each game. For the OKC Thunder, who could enter the season with him as their 15th man, getting a player that you know you can expect to be prepared to play in games and bring juice could be enough to sway things.

The expectations for him are still tamed. White’s future remains uncertain for the OKC Thunder. All that we can wait for now are his training camp performances, which could indicate his place in the OKC Thunder’s roster for next season. For now, he remains a valuable body worth a roster spot.