We need a permanent pinned thread- Giddey BEAST MODE alert!

He had a great game. Did almost throw it away in the last 11 seconds though with that inbound pass.

His transition to NBA at his age has been nothing short of remarkable. Can't wait to see him in the Green & Gold.

Dad's Army are struggling.

Shocked to be sitting here.

I know ESPN analysts have him ranked 7th among rookies but I see that changing soon enough. The kid can flat out play and makes the game look easy. Loving the nickname too - The Wizard of Oz.

I'm lovin' it.
Even sweeter because it was the Lakers they broke the duck against.

Going OK the kid. His defense is woeful currently, like properly bad. Thankfully his performances at the other end of the court are making up for it. He seems pretty switched on, I am sure he will osrt it out over the course of the season.

Me, "Loving the nickname too - The Wizard of Oz.", me too!

Nothing is a shame with Josh Giddey except that he wasn't named Warrick Giddey Jr. or "Waz", as all Warricks get called.

Anyone for "Wazard of Oz"?

He could even copywrite/trade-mark that!

Thank God we took Nathan Sobey to the Olympics.....imagine the scrutiny that decision would be getting if we'd lost to someone other than USA in the semis or to Slovenia in the Bronze game!

Just read Giddey the 3rd youngest player ever in NBA to have 10 assists.

The 2 ahead of him is LeBron twice.

www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/josh-giddey-history-double-double-oklahoma-city-win-lakers/100576852

Vic Law said last year it's harder to score in the NBL than in the NBA. All the rules in the NBA are geared towards offence, the lack of defence, faster pace and the 20% extra game time is why all the stats in the NBA are heavily inflated.

Jae'Sean Tate had a 16 point + 14 rebound game the other day I don't remember him having a game that good in the NBL. Giddey's already playing better in the NBA than he did in the NBL too.

" It's the regular season there is no defense in the NBA besides the end of a tight game in the 4th quarter."

In the absence of the Spurs being any good - I can only really watch regular season NBA games in the context of wanting to watch Giddey and Mills score - everything else is straight up boring.

At least we are lucky enough to be a country where our local league has a good balance of offence and defence.

Euros are stuck with all O no D NBA or no O all D local leagues!

"Did almost throw it away in the last 11 seconds though with that inbound pass."

Looking at the slowmo replay of that and it was actually a reasonable pass. The player he was targeting made an inexplicable cut away from the open area at the exact moment Giddey passed it.

Hopefully his game transitions well into FIBA ball leading the Boomers to gold.

"Vic Law said last year it's harder to score in the NBL than in the NBA."

This is just PR.

He played 62 minutes of NBA basketball and went 6/18 from the field. I'm pretty sure he found it easier to score in the NBL.

The real reason defenses look bad in the NBA is that offensive ability is streets ahead of the rest of the world's leagues.

Individual offensive ability might be superior, but offensive schemes are not. The schedule appears to be too demanding for sophisticated motion offensive schemes. Teams will expend a lot less effort to have a bit of ball movement and a couple screens or a penetrating player to create 3PAs or take turns going iso or let a superstar work their magic.

Defense in the NBA appears inferior due to lack of intensity, spacing allowed and rule interpretations which restrict help defense and defense generally. It's obviously not fair to label individual players as weaker defensively, but it's still fair to say NBA defense is inferior. The rules restrict the top defenders more than FIBA.

These changes fit Giddey's game so well as he can more easily penetrate, there's less help defense when he does and there is more spacing to whip his passes across the floor. Plus his PnR game is a strength which suits the NBA game.

He played 62 minutes of NBA basketball and went 6/18 from the field. I'm pretty sure he found it easier to score in the NBL.

The real reason defenses look bad in the NBA is that offensive ability is streets ahead of the rest of the world's leagues.

I think the key phrase there is the NBA defence "appears" inferior. Again this is due to far superior offensive talent. Yes the spacing is a big issue that makes it harder to defend, but this doesnt mean the defense is inferior, it means they've got more obstacles to defend.

We end up getting some really good offensive players in the NBL who couldnt make the NBA and almost always the reason they cant stick as they cant defend there.

Zodiac "He didn't get the opportunity to play in the NBA, in part due to the better talent."

when he did get the opportunity he only shot at 33%. Surely if it were easier to score in the NBA he would have done it more times?

"Why would Law need to say that?"

Because literally every person I know says nice things about their new gig when they start a new job even if they dont mean it

"Giddey's finding it much easier to score in the NBA than the NBL."

Yep, the spacing does help him, so too doe natural development going from being 18 to 19.

"Oh yeah of course that's what the NBA media machine wants you to think."

Or ya know, just watching it

No, the NBA defence is trash.

For their superior offensive players compared to the NBL, their defensive superiority doesn't go up a notch because the effort simply isn’t put in until playoffs.

They play isolationist style - that’s not what you do to challenge defence structures.

For a long time Spurs were a defensive force because they focused on that - and were overwhelmingly criticised as boring. Other teams didn’t replicate it.