Player Grades: Giddey’s Up

The Thunder have played 26 games and sit 1.5 from the bottom of the western conference standings with a less than appealing record of 8-16. But despite their lackluster win total, Oklahoma City hasn’t been as bad as you may think. Yes, I understand that might be a weird thing to say coming off a recent 73-point loss, but this season OKC has beaten the Lakers twice and maintained a competitive game against the Sixers, Warriors, Hawks and Jazz. The Thunder are not a team you can play without facing a challenge. We’ll be looking at how every Thunder player has performed thus far.

Josh Giddey: B+

Whether or not they will admit it, a large portion of Thunder faithful were disappointed when the team selected Josh Giddey with the 6th overall pick in the draft. Many voiced their concerns around his shooting ability and lack of athleticism as to why it was not a good pick.

But so far, Giddey has been very impressive. At 6’9″, he’s already among some of the best in the game as a passer and his scoring arsenal, while not quite there yet, is further ahead than previously expected.

He’s shown an ability to use his shifty crossover to get past defenders and hit his trademark floater. Shooting-wise, it’s been highly inconsistent but not all terrible. At first glance, 24.7% might seem like nothing to write home about, but his willingness to take them with confidence and the improvements made in his shooting form since the NBL have been encouraging.

He still has a long way to go on the road to reaching his full potential, but this is a promising start.

Other grades: Lu Dort: A-