Josh Giddey adds the lob to his game as the Bulls go airborne

Josh Giddey says the lob has never been much of a weapon in his passing game, and he expects that to change now that the Chicago Bulls have surrounded him with players who finish above the rim.

The 24-year-old point guard made the point once Chicago had closed out its preseason by beating Minnesota 133-116 on Friday night, telling Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times that he had “never played with those guys that are like high-flyers above the rim.” For a passer who averaged 9.1 assists last season, it is an unusual admission, and it explains why Chicago’s offense could look very different in 2026-27.

A new kind of target

Giddey’s earlier stops did not ask him to throw the ball high. He came through the Adelaide 36ers in Australia, where he said athletes were scarce, and then spent his first NBA seasons in Oklahoma City. In Chicago he spent much of last season feeding Nikola Vucevic, a skilled center who works below the rim rather than above it. Giddey described the change as a welcome new look: he can now put the ball near the basket and let teammates go and get it.

The Bulls built this roster with length in mind. Rookie Caleb Wilson and Leonard Miller are both listed at 6-foot-10, Nic Claxton at 6-foot-11, and Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue at 6-foot-8. Chicago also added Norman Powell and Buddy Hield for spacing, which should leave more room at the rim for those cutters.

Friday’s finale offered a preview. Wilson opened the scoring run with a two-handed dunk and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in under 23 minutes. Buzelis added 14 points and Miller had 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks off the bench. Giddey himself played 19 and a half minutes and posted 12 points, four rebounds and four assists on 4-of-10 shooting, a plus-8 night in a game Chicago controlled from the first quarter.

Same job, different passes

Giddey framed the shift as a change of tools rather than of role. “My job is the same every night, which is to try and make players around me better,” he said. Coach Tiago Splitter made a similar point, noting that Giddey knows he has plenty of scorers around him and saying the guard thinks the game well.

The numbers he brings into the season are already strong. In 54 games last season Giddey averaged 17.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 9.1 assists, and the Bulls highlighted his vision again during the preseason with this clip:

The lob game may need a little time to reach full strength. Claxton, the most natural lob target on the roster, has not played in the preseason because of a hamstring strain and faces a re-check on Monday, with his availability for the opener still in doubt.

What comes next

The Bulls open the regular season at the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, October 21, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Follow it live in the Game Center.