At Chicago Bulls' practices over the course of this season, Josh Giddey himself has discussed how players "are who they are" as players at some point in their careers, although improvement is, of course, still possible. The 6-foot-7, Australian guard had  arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle during this NBA postseason, but the Bulls expect him to be ready for the start of training camp. 

If Giddey--who is likely inching closer to his ceiling--wants to be the best version of himself next to the Bulls 2026 1st round picks, there are a few tweaks and areas of improvement I think he can focus on that would allow the Bulls to truly hit the ground running next season. 

For the 2025-26 season, Giddey had a 28.5% usage rate per Cleaning The Glass, a high mark but expected for a point guard and lead ballhandler.

Giddey is always going to be--and should be--one of the top players on the Bulls in terms of usage rate, but I'm not sure he should be the top player. He was functionally tied with Coby White (28.8%) for the team lead. 

Matas Buzelis ranked 6th on the Bulls in usage rate (21.5%) and I think the true best thing for his development would be allowing him more possessions as the pick-and-roll ballhandler. 

On top of developing Buzelis, the Bulls will be trying to thread the needle while developing the 4th overall pick--likely Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson--and the 15th, 38th and 56th overall picks next season.

Giddey still can be one of top usage rate guys on the Bulls regardless of my concerns, but it would speed up the development of the others if he became even more comfortable spotting up and working off of screens and cuts to the basket. 

According to NBA.com's tracking numbers, Josh Giddey scored 1.73 PPP on offensive rebounds over the 2025-26 season. That figure puts him in the 99th percentile. He scored 80% of the time when he got an offensive rebound, a figure that would put him ahead of the likes of LeBron James and Jarrett Allen. All of this not to say Giddey is the best offensive rebounder in the league, or some juggernaut in the paint.

We know that Giddey isn't as effective as LeBron or Jarrett Allen in the paint. What those numbers do show, is that grabbinh an offensive board, and catching the defense off-guard with a quick putback is one of the simpler and effective ways for the 6-foot-7-inch guard to score inside, which brings me to my next point....

Giddey was one of the top players in the league in terms of pure volume of drives. He passed 49% of the time on his drives, was a decent creator, but shot a less-than-impressive 45% on those same drives. 

The main issue for Giddey as a driver is despite being 6-foot-7-inches, he doesn't possess the athleticism to get off the ground when hassled by athletic wing defenders. Despite this disadvantage, he can't be discouraged. He has to continue to get in the paint to create advantages for his team. 

Giddey is at his best when he is able to get a smaller defender on him--and those are rarer and rarer these days--and drive to the basket. He is usually looking to pass, but when guarded by Jalen Brunson in an early season, NBA Cup game, he exploded for 32-points, his season-high. It was clear as day how comfortable Giddey was going at Brunson, a matchup where his size was a big factor despite the fact that he doesn't possess incredible length. 

The Bulls next head coach will have to be creative about finding mismatches for Giddey to attack, but seeing as there aren't many, simply allowing others the chance to attack could be a simple adjustment. This will be much easier to do with Caleb Wilson or Cam Boozer on the roster. 

Giddey isn't a great scorer out of the pick-and-roll despite handling a ton of pick-and-roll possessions as a ball-handler. The reason? NBA defenses have collectively decided they will always go under the screen on Giddey, choosing to clog the paint and give up--a usually wide open--off-the-dribble 3-point shot. 

You don't have to be a great basketball mind to see where the adjustment needs to come from here. Giddey is simply going to have to take those pull-up 3-pointers until either defenses respect him, or he is making them at a high enough rate to make him an improved scoring threat. This season he shot 32.6% on pull-up 3-point attempts, taking 1.6 per game per NBA.com.

The volume or accuracy is going to have to increase, while both rising would, of course, be perfect albeit unlikely. If Giddey continues to be a non-threat as a scorer once defenses go under the screen, the earlier point about him moving off the ball often will come back to the forefront with all the talent slated to be on deck in Chicago.