Josh Giddey's Honest Statement After First Chicago Bulls Game

Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey played his first game with his new team.

Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey (3) and Cleveland Cavaliers forward Georges Niang (20) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. / David Richard-Imagn Images

Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey was acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder this offseason in a one-for-one player swap. It was two-time All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso who went to Oklahoma City in the deal, which made this a bit of a head scratcher for Chicago.

While Giddey has potentially untapped upside, several reports indicated Caruso could have landed Chicago multiple first round picks. That said, the Bulls are intrigued with what Giddey can do in a role where he has the ball in his hands more than he did in Oklahoma City.

Giddey played his first preseason game for the Bulls on Wednesday, tallying 11 points, seven rebounds, and three assists in 22 minutes of play.

Josh Giddey takes it coast-to-coast.@CHSN__ | @joshgiddey pic.twitter.com/YRQAgtzTwJ

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 9, 2024

Speaking after the game via Joe Cowley of Chicago Sun-Times, Giddey said, “First problem was the defense. [The Cavaliers] got easy looks, started making them. But the second problem was we’re trying to emphasize getting the ball up quick, get it up the floor, and didn’t do that the first 90 seconds of the game.”

Giddey added per Cowley, “I felt like after that timeout, we got back to who we are, what our identity is, what we’re trying to do, so slow start kind of happened. You can’t come out of the gates playing like that.”

Chicago pulled out a 116-112 win over Cleveland in this game. 

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