Q. First off, how is the ankle, and how frustrating was it for you in Summer League to get hurt that soon and not be able to play there?
JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, well, the ankle is good, healthy, back to normal, but it was frustrating. Obviously I was really excited to play in the Summer League. We had a good pre-training camp with the guys that were going to Vegas, but I got about two minutes in and then did my ankle. It was obviously really frustrating, but the medical team and me, we took the right kind of steps and make sure I got healthy and didn't rush the rehab process. Healthy now, but made the right decision not going back out there.
Q. Obviously it's a pretty short window so far being around the veteran guys on this team, but what have you started to learn about some of these veteran young guys, Shai, Lu, Darius? What's been your early impressions of playing alongside them?
JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, they've been great. Obviously as you say we have a young team, so the vets like Mike Muscala, Derrick Favors and then it goes to Shai, Lu, Darius, but it's been good. They've been really good at kind of helping me make a smooth transition into the team.
At practice, in the weight room they've been good kind of showing me the ropes, helping me out with the offense, stuff like that. Those guys have been great for me in terms of just learning the system, getting to know everybody, getting comfortable with the team.
You can call them vets, but those older guys have been really good for me.
Q. Speaking of Shai, I asked him about playing with you and Theo, and there's a lot of ball handlers on this team, but he mentioned a couple years ago when Chris was here, they played three point guards pretty regularly. What's your sense of potentially being on the floor with him, maybe even Theo being out there? What could that be like for you three?
JOSH GIDDEY: I'm really excited about that, and obviously playing with Shai, it's something I'm going to have to get used to and kind of learn how to do so. Obviously we're both ball handlers, but as you said, there's a lot of those on this team, and we're going to all have to figure out how to play with each other, learn how to play off the ball, as well. It's exciting and I'm really looking forward to it. It's a really young group of guys, and we're still figuring each other out, but come opening night I'm sure we're going to have it pretty well figured out, but it's not going to be perfect and it's going to take a little while to adjust to each other and get used to that.
Q. A lot of rookies use the Summer League as their warmup into the NBA, but unfortunately you had that injury so now you're kind of being thrust into the season. What are your expectations for yourself for your first game?
JOSH GIDDEY: Look, I mean, that's correct. A lot of rookies use the Summer League to kind of get warm and get this under their belt, but obviously I didn't get to have that. It's just using practice as kind of that stepping-stone for me. We're playing pickup right now, so being able to compete against the guys, get used to the flow of an NBA game. And I know it's hard to simulate that in practice but we're doing what we can to get up-and-down and get after it.
I'm putting no expectations on myself come opening night. I'm just doing my thing to help the team be as successful as we can, playing my role. I'm sure opening night there'll be some nerves, but once that ball is thrown up, I think that will all be out the window and it will just be basketball as normal. I'm not trying to put expectations on myself play hard do what I have to do to win.
Q. It is just pickup, but what do you think when you get into training camp the bigger adjustment, offense or playing defense against NBA guys?
JOSH GIDDEY: I mean, both sides are going to be different for me. Obviously I've never played besides the last two weeks, never really played against NBA athletes. Last year the NBA was good, you play against bigger guys, but coming into this league it's another step up, so I think both ends of the floor are going to be different for me and it's going to be an adjustment period, but I'm really looking forward to it. The guys are making it easy for me, they're helping me on both ends of the floor. I'm looking forward to training camp starting and figuring out those things and how to adjust from last season in the NBL to this season in the NBA.
Q. Everything is new, even this; how are you sleeping? Are you excited?
JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited. Sleeping good. I'm healthy, I'm excited. I'm living my dream of being an NBA player, so there's not many things I can complain about right now. So the season is coming really fast, so yeah, I'm just trying to take it day by day, and I'm looking forward to our first game, which is in I think a week in Charlotte, so I'm excited for it.
Q. A few people I talked to said they think that your game might be better suited for the NBA than even the NBL, given the extra spacing in the NBA. I wanted to get your thoughts on that and how that might impact your game and style of play.
JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, I can't really say if it's going to be better or not. I haven't played an NBA game yet. The spacing on the floor, a lot have said to me, that's the main difference from that league to this league, and that's kind of passing the ball is what I do the best in my game, and the space is going to help me, I guess. It's not going to be a negative at all being able to play with such a bigger floor and then obviously having the shooters that we do and that the NBA does, it kind of makes defense stay closer to guys. So there's a lot more room on the floor to operate for me to make plays, whether for myself or for my teammates, so definitely looking forward to getting out there and kind of seeing how that is. I can't say too much yet because I haven't really played in a game.
Q. I wanted to ask about your relationship with Andrew Gaze and what he's meant to you and your family and really the Australian basketball community.
JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, we've been really close from a young age. He coached me all through my junior careers. Him and my dad played together for a lot of -- a long time in the NBL. I don't know how many years it was but it was a lot. They've been best friends for a while. Our family has been really close. His impact has been good on me. He's obviously an Australian legend. He was a flag bearer at the Olympics, five Olympic Games. To have him kind of in my corner throughout my junior career, then I was working out with him this off-season back home in Australia. He's been big for me. We still talk to this day.
He understands the pressure that comes with kind of being from Australia. The whole country is kind of behind you. He's been good helping me through this whole process. He's been big for me in my life and still is to this day.
Q. What's some of the advice he's given you about making that transition, and also when you're working out with him is there a certain thing you focus on, something he's especially good at getting out of you?
JOSH GIDDEY: I mean, shooting. That was kind of his thing when he played. He was like an elite world-class shooter, so whenever we're in the gym together, that's what we focus a lot on.
But you know, advice-wise, he played a lot of his career in the NBL. I mean, he won a championship with the Spurs. He had a brief stint in the NBA. But advice-wise it's just been kind of to soak everything up, take it day by day never get too high, too low was his emphasis to me. That's the thing I'll carry through the season.
Q. Can you maybe give me kind of your experience as far as you being a kid from Australia and then all of a sudden fast forward to where you are now, basically your family's home base now is in the state of Oklahoma, so maybe can you give me -- tell me about your experience in that process of going from Australia to basically your family's home base with your sister being at ORU, you being with the Thunder being in Oklahoma?
JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, this was like a dream. We always used to joke about this like a year ago, like imagine I go to Oklahoma and end up here and we're all kind of close together, but it actually happened. Hannah is like an hour down the road in Oral Roberts. It's great to have the family close. We're on opposite sides of the world now, but hopefully throughout the season they can get back over here, if the border restrictions allow that, and then we're kind of all together.
So it's a perfect situation for us. It's not like I'm in another state, then Hannah has to fly to me or I have to fly to her. It's like we're all here already. It's perfect for the family. We can all be together at once. So yeah, this was like a perfect situation for us.
Q. Kind of the same way that was just asked, but typically guys your age are just preparing to leave home and go to college. You're literally moving continents. What's the biggest struggle that you've gone through during this time, and then what is your favorite part about Oklahoma City, not basketball-related?
JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, well, I moved out of home when I was like 15, so I'm used to it now. Obviously coming to the other side of the world is a pretty big adjustment, but my family was here, they helped me settle in. My agent is Australian, so he's over here with me now, but he's in LA but he travels back and forth between here and LA. I've got people here with me kind of most of the time.
The transition hasn't been hard. I mean, in terms of being away from family, I've been used to it for three, four years now. It's kind of been the normal.
Outside of basketball, Oklahoma, I haven't really done a whole lot of exploring or anything yet. I've just been so busy kind of moving into my house, training, doing all that stuff, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to explore the city, but I've heard all about the restaurants and the food. That's what a lot of people are asking me about, but I haven't been out to eat a whole lot yet, so I'm going to have to do that soon.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports