OKC Thunder's Josh Giddey adjusting to new role: 'I've never really done this before'

It looked like one of his post-practice sessions with Chip Engelland. Where Josh Giddey would go around the world, honing his form, perfecting his touch in a halfcourt to himself.

With under nine minutes to go in the third quarter of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win over the Mavericks on Thursday, Dallas left him that much room. As Jalen Williams turned the corner on a screen, he ventured downhill with two defenders near each hip. A third attached himself to rookie center Chet Holmgren, leaving the right wing to look like an open gym. There stood Giddey.

Shot clock dwindling, no defender even inching toward him. He found the time to look down at the ball, bounce it once and slowly rise into his jumpshot. That time, it fell. Those are the shots he’s been given. Everything else — any rhythm or  flow, anything to keep him from clogging the vibrant Thunder’s arteries — has been earned in ways he’s never known.

The league’s Giddey experiment is no secret. Born because Holmgren’s fluidity makes for tough choices and Giddey’s shot is a safer bet on the NBA’s best shooting team. It’s grown widespread since the early season. Giddey’s response is just different since then.

The screening, the cutting, the short-roll playmaking. All far from perfect, but all ways OKC has hoped to be innovative in making an on-ball lifer a player that can fit within any scenario. As of Saturday afternoon, Giddey has averaged 14.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists while shooting 55.6% from the field and 37.5% from 3 in the Thunder’s past seven games.

“I've never really done this before my career,” Giddey told The Oklahoman in early March. “I think coach has done a good job of trying to put us in positions to exploit teams when they throw different looks at us. It's a learning experience for me … but I'm trying to buy into it as much as I can, and then play my part in helping this team win as many games as we can.”

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Giddey’s fit with the ascending Thunder hasn’t exactly been clear through the duration of this season, especially in the early stages of teams aggressively loading up in hopes of deeming him ineffective. Teams already rip enough of their hair out trying to plug the lanes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams roam. They question reality with the way Holmgren stretches the floor.

Targeting Giddey has been the obvious choice. The way many teams have defended him while trying to cut off OKC’s other strengths has led to rough shooting stretches and notably out-of-place sequences for the third-year guard. No one’s felt that more than him.

“It ain’t a secret,” Giddey said. “It certainly takes its toll. You start to question yourself and you see things on social media. As much as I try to stay off of it, it’s hard to ignore and you start to buy into it a little bit. When you see enough of that s---, you start to believe it, and that's a tough thing to deal with. And I've tried to avoid it as much as I can, but (it) kind of naturally just finds its way back to me.

“Sometimes it can be a confidence killer. Seeing a big guard gap you and daring you to shoot the ball. But you have to stay confident. You have to trust it because the second you don't, they win and it falls into their hands.”

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has done everything in his power to keep teams from corrupting Giddey. He's used every ounce of creative juice to squeeze life from Giddey. They've let him and Holmgren work in actions from the elbow. They've let him set screens for SGA. Anything OKC can do to engage the centers that are assigned to Giddey. He's found himself on the opposite end of more actions than ever, still forced into a considerable level of usage as a result.

“It's not about me, I've got to find a way to play my role and do what I can,” Giddey said. “We've got a talented group, we're winning a lot of games. We're in a good spot right now.”

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Before teams approached Giddey differently he was right; It wasn’t about him. But good teams all get exploited eventually in a league so talented that defenses shift to what they're willing to give up. While Thunder personnel might not have necessarily imagined Giddey would be dissected by defenses this way entering the year, Daigneault underscored the necessity in this process. Both in OKC's and in Giddey's personal development.

A couple seasons back, when Gilgeous-Alexander began seeing double teams while emerging as a star, the team and young stud had to navigate it. Daigneault linked the two stretches. The Thunder admittedly hadn’t really used Giddey as a screener before this season. He noted that the things Giddey is forced to emphasize now are system skills that any player is working on, but they just become more imperative when he's being guarded by centers. When he isn’t, he’ll screen less. It’s simple recognition, the ability to mold to what the game calls for.

The Thunder's rapid success has called for Giddey to become an entirely different player. Perhaps there's a ceiling for the fit. Perhaps OKC, with a month before the postseason, has yet to fully uncover his potential in the role. At the very least, Giddey has seemingly been convinced what he has to be for the Thunder to play past April.

“He's doing a great job with that,” Daigneault said. “And being open to that and understanding that that's his path forward when he gets played like that, and that's what's best for the group when he's on the court getting guarded like that.”

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder's Josh Giddey adjusting to new on-court role in NBA