Josh Giddey's Aggressiveness Spurs Improving Chicago Bulls Offense

The start of the 2026-27 season has been brutal for the Chicago Bulls, headlined by a gauntlet of an opening schedule and disappointing performances by projected cornerstones Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey.

But Giddey seems to be turning the corner lately. His numbers haven't quite matched his highs from a year ago, when he nearly averaged a triple-double prior to suffering a hamstring injury, but his play more closely resembles what head coach Tiago Splitter is looking for out of his lead guard.

In Sunday's 127-121 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Giddey put up a season-best 19 points and 15 assists, along with seven rebounds (three offensive) and a steal. Splitter said the 24-year-old guard was "the Josh that we know."

"Overall, I think we're making quicker decisions," Splitter said following the game. "That's a big emphasis in what we're doing. It's not just leaving a guy on an island and go on an iso situation. It's gonna happen here and there, but way less this game. We played way less iso game. We shared the ball. We moved the ball side-to-side. We got 30 assists. Of course, Josh was a big part of it, but he was driving downhill, getting teammates, and that's how we see the game. We've got to touch the paint and find options out there."

Chicago ranked 25th in offensive rating over the first six games. The Bulls are 17th in the three games since then and nearly five points per 100 possessions better, which is still below league average, but a noticable improvement for the young 1-8 team.

The change coincides with a greater emphasis on Giddey's aggression. After logging just 13.6 drives per game over the first six contests, the 6-foot-8 point guard has taken 66 drives in the last three games (22 per game).

And the Bulls have benefited from their primary ball-handler attacking the rim more frequently. In those same stretches, Chicago has climbed from No. 20 to No. 2 in points in the paint and from No. 20 to No. 6 in points per paint touch. Giddey is getting the ball out of his hands and to his teammates nearly 1.5 seconds quicker.

"My job's easy; I've just got to get into the paint, draw a crowd," Giddey said. "The guys did a good job finishing plays, making shots. When we touch the paint, we look good. I think our points per possession is way higher when we touch the paint versus when we don't. Just trying to make an emphasis of that. Tonight, guys made shots and finished off looks, so it makes my job easy."

Before his injury last season, Giddey was a borderline All-Star candidate while averaging 19.2 points, 9.0 assists and 8.9 rebounds and shooting 38.6% from deep. That strong shooting has yet to bounce back since then, but the rest of his game is looking closer to normal after the increase in downhill driving three games ago.

Giddey averaged 8.5 points, 7.5 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game while making just 45.2% of his two-point shots in his first six games of this year. He has made 57.1% of his twos over the past three games with averages of 14.0 points, 10.3 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game.

Three games is far too small of a sample size to say that Giddey is definitively "back," or as Splitter said, "the Josh that we know." But it does mark a bright spot in the Bulls' tough start to the season and offers some hope that there could be light at the end of the tunnel for the talented point guard.