I don't buy that criticism at all. Judge the player on what they are and what they deliver.
Giddey is proof of what an NS can deliver in this league, Adelaides problems weren’t Giddey and they didn’t have a hole at PG.
Looking at the talent of Ball and Giddey - they didn’t play like they lacked experience and they didn’t produce a talent hole in the starting PG spot. They could have been great in good teams.
Reality is the Hawks overall team were rather talentless last year which wasn’t assisted by injuries including Aaron Brooks. NBA is easier for Ball on the sheer basis that he has guys that can sink the damn shot when he gets them the ball.
Adelaide doesn’t have the greatest talent either, but to the extent they did, the amount of injury time to IH really put Adelaide in a spiral. What Giddey and IH did achieve together when they weren’t injured was elite.
So it seems arbitrary to declare a team having an NS not interested in finals when the issues weren’t the NS, they didn’t produce a hole in the spot and they didn’t display a lack of experience which was the expected trade off and what made it so surprising that they achieved the level they did.