As a Celtics fan, I’m rather unmoved by last week’s assignment of J.R. Giddens to the Maine Red Claws. Through a season and a half marred by injuries across the Celtics’ roster, Giddens has failed to crack Doc Rivers’ rotation with any regularity, totaling 107 NBA minutes in 27 appearances. That the Celtics sent him down despite a recent spate of injuries (mostly healed, but reducing Paul Pierce and Ray Allen’s minutes is supposedly still a priority) and the continuing absence of Marquis Daniels, the team’s top backup swingman, doesn’t demonstrate a lot of interest in the New Mexico product, even as last-resort insurance. As RU‘s Scott Schroeder noted last week, the Celts have already declined his third-year option. I wouldn’t hold my breath for his return in 2010-11.
But as a hoops fan and D-League scribe, I’m intrigued by what the future holds for a guy who clearly has an NBA body and of whom outside observers haven’t seen enough at the pro level to draw many conclusions with any level of certainty.
In spite of the claims of the occasional intrepid pseudo-visionary Celtics fan (this refers to the sort who is also most likely a Doc Rivers basher who believes Giddens and Bill Walker should be playing 40 minutes a night and leading the C’s to win after win), Giddens’ NBA tenure has taught us little to nothing one way or the other. It’s hard to get much of a read on a guy who plays mostly in the garbage time of garbage time in blowouts. He had two acrobatic dunks in the waning moments when I saw the Celtics obliterate the Nets in Jersey two weeks ago. Cool. He looked a bit tentative about shooting the ball during his one career start earlier this month against Toronto. Understandable. He won the team dunk contest a couple of weekends ago. On the list of Celtics-related things that mean close to zero to me as a Celtics fan, this ranks pretty high. That’s it. Ground-breaking stuff indeed.
While Giddens arrived in the D-League and immediately posted back-to-back 23-point games before playing just seven minutes yesterday in Bakersfield (presumably as a precautionary measure after an early injury), I’m particularly interested in how he performs in two facets of the game with the Red Claws: rebounding and defense.
Rebounding marked the most eye-popping figure of Giddens’ college resume as he averaged 6.5 per game as a junior at New Mexico and then a stunning 8.8 the following year. According to Ken Pomeroy’s figures, Giddens’ 27.6 percent defensive rebound rate as a senior ranked 12th in the country. The man is a 6-foot-5 guard! While it would be a bit lofty to expect Giddens to reproduce those sorts of figures at the next level, the guy is an explosive leaper, and if he can crash the boards with anywhere near the tenacity he demonstrated in college, it would be a major asset for him, a la Gerald Wallace, albeit to a lesser extent. In 26 games with the Utah Flash last year, Giddens posted a rebound rate of 10.2 percent, which is solid but not earth-shattering. I would like to see him make a point of pounding the glass during his time with the Claws.
At the defensive end, Giddens needs to show that he can blend his considerable strength, quickness and size (at the two, at least) with focus and footwork to make himself a strong presence. Giddens is going to get his points in the D-League simply because he is long, strong and a great leaper, and he’ll do plenty of finishing around the rim. Save for his freshman year at Kansas, he has never been much of an outside shooter (35 percent from three over four seasons split between Kansas and New Mexico) or foul shooter (60 percent in college, 68.1 percent in the D-League last year). While it would be nice to see him put some time in on his shooting, that may not change too quickly. If he commits to working defensively, he has the physique to be successful, and he could find himself a niche in the Association as a defender-rebounder for the back of a rotation somewhere.
So long as whatever happened early Sunday in Bakersfield isn’t severe, J.R. Giddens will add plenty of scoring punch to a Red Claws team likely to remain near the top of the Eastern Conference standings with his addition. But his work against opposing scorers and on the caroms will likely be far more significant in determining his future prospects at the next level.
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i agree with your prediction about giddens’ fate with the c’s. he’s probably done unless the injury bug continues. he could be a serviceable nba backup at best. on another note, how about the season our boy montae ellis is having. on another team i think he’d score less and play more d.
Giddens is without a doubt the quintessential late first round/second round gamble based on body and not on game. he has all the physical attributes to be an NBA starter but just doesn’t have the NBA brain or talent to add to his considerable physical gifts.
He will either be a leader in many NBADL stats categories for years to come or playing in Europe starting next season. He just doesn’t seem to be able to grasp some of the basic defensive schemes or offensive processes that will make him a viable NBA player.
Add to that the fact that he will be 25 years old in 3 weeks and it’s pretty obvious his window to impress NBA general managers might be running out. His only hope might be being thrown into a trade to a really bad team where he could get some run to shake off his inhibitions and fears and let the game finally come to him. New Jersey, Golden State, Minnesota and Washington come to mind
Great article as always Steve!!!
I empathize with Giddens – I, too, once had an NBA body but not necessarily the game. Never did get drafted, though….:-)