Josh Giddey is now locked in as the Bulls’ point guard of the future after signing his 4-year, $100-million contract extension. He showed great improvement last season, both in his production on the court and, more importantly, his overall approach to the game. He needs to maintain his new mentality and aggression on the court to avoid falling into the career trajectory of former top pick Ben Simmons.
There are some similarities between Simmons and Giddey in the early years of their careers, particularly on the offensive end. Simmons was actually a much superior defender (and still probably is), but his lack of offense ultimately cost him his spot in the 76ers’ future. Simmons himself once signed a max contract extension in 2020, but is now struggling to find any team that will give him a roster spot for next season.
Ben Simmons was once on a similar trajectory as Josh Giddey
Both Simmons and Giddey played similar roles as tall playmakers to start their professional careers. Neither were very aggressive in looking for their own shot, and instead preferred to create plays for others. In Oklahoma City, Giddey’s lack of aggression became a major problem and eventually led to his departure.
In the 2024 playoffs, Giddey often passed up open threes and eventually saw his minutes reduced as the Dallas Mavericks ignored him as an offensive threat. They took advantage of the fact that he was looking to set up teammates rather than seeking out his own shot, a tactic that teams often used against Simmons years earlier.
Thankfully for the Bulls, Giddey reversed this trend last season and showed more confidence with the ball. It only got better as the season went along, but Giddey will now have to keep that momentum going. He actually took a similar amount of shots last season as he did during his OKC years, but shot a much better percentage from three.
Even without accounting for Giddey’s late surge from three last season, he’s still miles better as an outside threat than Simmons ever was. After all, Simmons was such a non-shooter that Philly fans celebrated his first career three-pointer like they just won a championship. But ultimately, it wasn’t his lack of outside shooting but rather his lack of scoring aggression that led to his downfall. The best representation will always be Simmons passing out of a layup in a playoff game due to a contest from 6-foot Trae Young.
Giddey doesn’t necessarily need to be a sniper from downtown to succeed as a jumbo-sized playmaker. But he does need to be a scoring threat in some manner, whether it is from the outside or all the way at the rim, to keep defenses honest and open up opportunities for his teammates. He made good strides in this direction and will need to keep them up, or else he could find himself in the same position as Ben Simmons in just a few years.