Think it was 19 points anon.

Josh certainly comfortable at that level and should continue to go ok with more space and better athletes to pass to in NBA.

Looking forward to seeing his development and see how far he goes as he has good IQ, is very level headed and just keeps improving.

Good role model and can see why Ingles, Mills and the other Aussies over there will take him under their wing

Good on him.

Hope to see more.

Anyone know how much the Sixers or the NBL get paid for giving him up?

Where's the absolute derp merchant that was whining about Giddey being pencilled in to the 2024 Olympic team

Peter,
"Josh certainly comfortable at that level and should continue to go ok with more space and better athletes to pass to in NBA."

Think of the shooters he must have around him, too. When he gets to know their systems and his team-mates better, who wants the ball when and where, he'll be racking up the assists. Already he's shown that he can, just need to do that every game and, if anything, let his boards, which have been unexpectedly good (as you already said, better athletes everywhere), bobble up and down.

I am not sure if I am the 'derp merchant' in question but I did want experience over potential at the Olympics. But I think with 20/20 hindsight, it's fair to say Giddey would've provided more than Sobey, Green at those games. Delly was always a lock for me with his experience. But I think we can say that yes, Giddey should have made that Boomers team, and he was very capable of contributing from the get-go.

" Think of the shooters he must have around him, too"

OKC sucks tbh - Giddey will lose a lot of assists out of his team mates being no good

Rob T, you have a good point, with the extra space he will find the shooters in good spots easily, but they need to drop the shots.

They can get more shooters around him if needed and having good shooters around will make it easier for Josh to drive to the bucket where you would back him in to make good decisions.

I mean...did anyone say he would?

It's fortunate that Giddey was drafted on a team that was willing to provide him with minutes, but it's not like they are being especially generous to Giddey given the talent on the rest of the team, or lack thereof. If anything, he is being underplayed as OKC want to offer other players minutes for an opportunity to develop, raise their trade stock, or consolidate their tanking strategy.

Almost the perfect scenario for him, really.
Plenty of opportunity without being so much that they burn him out.

Anon - Even as a 36ers fan who isn't surprised by what we are seeing from him at OKC, still didn’t expect him to make the Olympic team over Sobey.

They already had a youngster in Green in the team, but in major tournaments experience and the fit counts: Sobey was there for trap defence, shoot, fill in a few mins.

Giddey will be a starter on the next Boomers team that he plays for - dont worry about that!

I agree, completely, Ket. This was a genuine chance for a 1st ever (men's)international, senior medal. Not, a chance to blood another potential Boomer. Had a guard gone down instead of Baynes, I would have had "more" faith in Sobey as the back-up than Giddey. Had we still been in "building", Giddey without a doubt.

IMO, the right call was made under the circumstances. With hindsight, dumb, dumb, dumb!

Where are all the people on here saying he wouldn't get drafted in first round , and all the haters saying he will fail from game one ????

Its simply a question of insurance vs development. They went with insurance in Sobey. We didn't need him, fortunately, but not needing your insurance is not the same as not needing it.

Wow what a terrible sentence.

Should read more

"not needing to use your insurance is not the same as not needing to buy it"

Agreed with Cram - Insurance and fit - I think Goorj made it clear it wasn't Sobey or Giddey, it was Green or Giddey.

It’s easy to look with hindsight. Giddey will be fine - he’ll slot into the Boomers without trouble with or without Tokyo experience which addresses your main point. With him we wouldn’t have beaten USA, so it wouldn’t have furthered our cause anyway.

Very much a safe decision and the consequences of not taking the risk was a no harm no foul.

I think you're living in a binary world with the benefit of hindsight haha

Nothing farcical about the decision especially at the time.

To answer the question "did I really think we needed an experienced player for 3rd string point guard". Well.. yes, I did. I take Olympic and World Cup seriously and I don't believe in "blooding" players during major tournaments.

HOWEVER I think we can see Giddey is better than Sobey as of right now, and it stands to reason he also would have been three months ago during the Olympics. I couldn't necessarily see that at the time but I see it now. Rather than being a project, Giddey could have provided something tangible and immediate, whereas Sobey looked mostly scared to do anything.

But it's hindsight. You dont know what you don't know. Sobey looked like a safer bet at that point, so that's what Goorjian went with, and they weren't penalized in any way for it.

As for Green vs. Giddey, well.. if we're talking about being ready 'right now', you'd lean towards Giddey again. But I think what Goorjian might have been doing is locking Green in as a sure thing for the future. Green may have been more disenfranchised if he was left out, ala Ben Simmons. Maybe Giddey's maturity was his undoing at that spot? Just spitballing here. But I struggle to see how Green could be more ready than Giddey if that is what the choice was. Green still seems especially raw to me.

I don't mind Sobey getting the guernsey. Whilst I think Giddey would have been fine (but not significantly better), I reckon we needed to reward the hard yards that Sobey had put in over years to get there. I'll never forget the image of him being belted by that coward in the Phillipines, nor how shaken up he was by that.

Answering the call over a period of years has to be factored in when picking team, if only from a culture point of view. YMMV.