Hello Razzball Nation! Welcome to the last player spotlight before we flip the calendar into December, when things may begin to loosen up in your respective leagues.
All leagues are different when it comes to assessing value and trading. Some leagues have little to no trades while others whereby may have already consummated dozens. Alternatively, maybe you are in a league that floats somewhere in the middle where everyone is a seasoned vet and most have the patience to wait out a player’s production if it has not come to fruition yet.
No matter the format, it is around this time when you will be able to provide enough of a sample size for a player you may be targeting from another GM and lean into their frustrations with said player in order to broker a deal.
OKC what I am talking about.
Josh Giddey
The preseason hype machine was dialed all the way up to 10 when it came to expectations for Giddey. Managers were frothing at the opportunity to secure the services of the second-year Aussie, as he seemed to be on the verge of being a nightly triple-double threat.
At the end of last season, Giddey had three of them before getting shut down. He also had an impressive showing for his national team over the summer, and you could see why the anticipation was brimming over.
Then the season began, and little notches of disappointment began chipping away.
While Giddey has shown flashes of what we hoped to see on a regular basis, overall, it has been an underwhelming fantasy season for those who used a top 50-60 pick on him. To put some context to the disappointment is that his backcourt mate has been an absolute beast to begin the season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been out of this world, and no one saw this coming. I believe, while Shai will still be very good, he will slow down some and that provides opportunity for Giddey.
Last season, Giddey played many games without Shai on the court and was clearly the best player the Thunder had on their roster at the time. This elevated the numbers we saw from Giddey, so there is a chance we do not see him at quite that level this year.
Still, Giddey is the 200th ranked player over the last week and 168th over the last two weeks. He finished top 60 last season. Giddey is not going to finish top 60 this season, but he certainly has scope to be inside the top 100 and possibly top 75 if everything breaks right.
Looking at the numbers, the FG percentage is up this season to 45.7% from 41.9%, which has also brought his scoring up to 14.4 points per game from 12.5 last season. While the rebounds, assists, steals, threes and FT% are all down from a year ago, there remains a pathway for Giddey to improve, as he can hopefully find himself playing over thirty minutes a game on a nightly basis and becomes more comfortable co-existing with Shai.
This is a low water mark for Giddey and the opportunity to get him relatively cheap may not be at this bargain level again. The next time he hands out double-digit assists will add four more weeks of holding out by his current manager, so now is the time to make your move.
Send out some offers with some players who are performing well at the moment such as Killian Hayes, Shake Milton, D’Anthony Melton or a Cameron Payne. I would also be targeting any GM who has Giddey and Harden, Maxey, Cade or Paul, as you can offer their immediate back up and, in Cade’s case, likely the rest of season starter.
As always, hit me up in the comments section let me know what your thoughts are, and we can chop it up.
Until next time, good luck out there.
Peace.
