Giddey said he hoped to take parts of both his parents’ basketball games into the NBA. He has also been coached extensively by Andrew Gaze during his junior years.
“My parents had completely different games,” Giddey told NBA TV.
“My dad was a rebounder,defender and hustler and my mum was a shooter/scorer. I hope I can take some of that[defensive] tightness from dad and hopefully my shooting can continue to improve from mum.”
Giddey was the Thunder’s highest draft pick since Thunder general manager Sam Presti took James Harden with the third overall pick in 2009 and he will join a young but promising roster following the departures of established stars like Kevin Durant,Russell Westbrook,Steven Adams and Harden in past seasons.
The Victorian playmaker won plenty of admirers with his rookie-of-the-year season in the NBL with Adelaide,where he led the NBL in assists and held his own against older,grizzled veterans.
Among those admirers were the Thunder,who reportedly arranged a private meeting and workout with Giddey and he was won over by the chance to grow with his team from the ground up.
“They were straight up from day one,” Giddey said post-draft.
“I met with Sam[Presti] and the rest of the staff and coaches and stuff like that and just the way they talked and told me about how they want to lift their program and the direction they’re headed in,it was something I wanted to be a part of.
“It’s a young team and I think it can be something really special and I wanted to be a part of that.”
Presti said he was won over by the 200-centimetre guard’s passing and ability to influence NBL games despite being a teenager.
“He makes other people better,” Presti said. “I think he’s someone that can amplify his teammates,present and future. He’s got good size as everybody knows and everybody understands the way he sees the floor and the way that he processes the game.
“With the way that the game has developed over time,people that can recognise patterns and read situations in advance and really anticipate things are of great value.”
The Thunder plan to test Giddey in some positions aside from point guard.
“I would say he’s a basketball player and the fact that he’s 6′9 allows him to impact the game in so many different ways,” Presti said.
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“He plays point guard,he plays as a front-court facilitator. We’re talking about a guy that’s not 19 years old yet,so we don’t know ultimately how things are going to unfold for him.
“It’s going to take time,experience and it’s going to take some adversities but he makes his team function at a high level.”
He has become the poster boy for both the NBA Global Academy in Canberra and the NBL’s Next Stars program as he is the first global academy player to be a first-round pick and he is the NBL’s latest NBA pick,following LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton last year.
Giddey will have to earn his minutes,with the Thunder trading for veteran point guard Kemba Walker during the off-season,although Walker could still be traded on.
“Hopefully in the coming years we can have a lot of success in Oklahoma,” Giddey said.
“It was really something I wanted to be a part of and kind of start from the bottom and move our way up in the league. It’s a great young team and I can’t wait to get down there and get started.”
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