Bulls guard Josh Giddey earns this grade for his debut: Breaking down Aussie's stats, highlights vs. Pelicans

Expectations were set high for Josh Giddey after the Bulls parted ways with prized guard Alex Caruso in a surprising 1-for-1 offseason swap with the Thunder. The 22-year-old guard was immediately placed in Chicago’s starting lineup, and he had some good and bad moments in his first performance as a Bull.In 30 minutes of action, Giddey finished with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, five rebounds and three assists. Single game plus/minus isn’t a great stat, but he was a game-worst minus-22 in the Bulls’ 123-111 loss. He was booed every time he touched the ball by the New Orleans crowd.

Giddey is expected to be a cornerstone of the Bulls’ rebuild. The whole team showed that they have a lot of work to do, including him. Here’s how he looked.

Grading Josh Giddey’s Bulls debut

Let’s start with the good.

One of Giddey’s problems in Oklahoma City was that he didn’t put enough pressure on the rim, settling for floaters too often and not getting to the line.

Giddey was aggressive in putting his head down and trying to get right to the basket on Wednesday. He shot seven free throws, which he topped only once all of last season. He also showed off his trademark court vision, throwing nice passes to set up his teammates.

Great find by Giddey to Vooch 🤝@CHSN__ | @joshgiddey pic.twitter.com/SnlsypZsqs

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 24, 2024

The Giddey-Vucevic pick-and-roll showed some legs. The Bulls opened both halves scoring off it, including getting an and-one dunk out of it to open the third quarter.

Now for the bad.

While Giddey got to the rim, he struggled to finish over the length of New Orleans. He was blocked several times, leading to runouts for the Pelicans. Giddey’s jump shot has been a concern throughout his career. He missed the only 3 he took. All of his other shot attempts were inside the paint.

The Pelicans left Giddey wide open when he didn’t have the ball. He looks like he will be mostly ineffective as an off-ball player.

Watch CJ McCollum parked at the nail, completely ignoring Giddey. pic.twitter.com/RGEZzPqeDx

— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) October 24, 2024

The fact that Giddey took only one 3 is problematic. He was open for several more. His confidence in that jumper may have affected him at the line, where his normally reliable stroke abandoned him — he was just 4-of-7 on free throws.

Giddey’s performance on defense was a similar mixed bag. He did have some nice stops on Brandon Ingram, but he also struggled to stay in front of the ball.

Giddey’s stat line sounds OK, but he didn’t really have a huge impact on the game. The entire Bulls team seemed somewhat discombobulated, which is understandable given the changes in their roster. Giddey was a part of that. He had the ball a lot, but he didn’t get everyone quite on the same page as the team might have hoped.

It wasn’t a bad performance overall, but the Bulls need more from him if they want to win.

Grade: C