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When Josh Giddey averaged better than 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists on 45% 3-point shooting over the final 25 games of last season, nobody knew quite what to make of it. 

On the one hand, his shooting had improved every year in the league, especially with time to take aim, and his creative talents were never really in question as long as he had control of an offense, an opportunity the Bulls were able to give him that he was never going to get in Oklahoma City.

On the other hand, the last six weeks of the NBA regular-season calendar often produces some dicey data. Not every team is, shall we say, fully committed to putting its best product on the floor at this point, though it should be noted that pretty much every team Chicago faced down the stretch was still battling for playoff positioning. 

Still, even the Bulls didn't know how much to trust what they'd seen from Giddey, who was a restricted free agent entering the summer and didn't get a deal closed until the second week of September -- a four-year, $100 million swing that, at this moment, looks like a home run for a Chicago team that is off to a 5-0 start for the first time since 1996. 

Giddey is not an NBA alpha in any sort of traditional sense. He's not particularly athletic or fast; he can, at times, look like he's about one step from turning clumsy. He doesn't generate one-on-one advantages if a blow-by or in-your-bag step-back is the standard. But he's bigger than just about any guard he faces at 6-foot-7 and knows how to bump his way into the paint and continue downhill as a scorer or passer through contact. 

Until the end of last season, that was always the problem with Giddey. If he wasn't pushing in the open floor, his lack of shooting allowed defenses to sag on him, negating the physical advantages he can create in tighter quarters with a shoulder here or a hip there. It was particularly a problem off ball, where he could basically be ignored. 

But this shooting has been going on long enough -- 61 for his last 135 from 3 dating back to Feb. 1 of last season -- that we have to consider the possibility that it's real (he also shot the 3 well at the Olympics; a shorter international line, but still). 

And if that's the case, Giddey, as the only player in the league putting up at least 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on 40% 3-point shooting so far, becomes a perfect captain for an inclusive offense that is designed around his strengths. It was all on display in a career-best scoring night against the Knicks on Friday. 

Long mired in play-in perpetuity, the Bulls might really be on to something here. Giddey (who, let's be honest, felt like an almost laughable return for what was long one of the league's most valuable trade assets in Alex Caruso) is only 23 years old. And he's not alone. 

The Bulls play nine guys double-digit minutes, and seven of them are 25 or younger. When 20-point scorer Coby White comes back, it'll be 10. Six of them are scoring at least 11 PPG, and Patrick Williams is at 9.2. Nikola Vučević is on a tear to start the year. Matas Buzelis is a walking highlight. Pretty much everyone can shoot, pass and dribble, allowing for a flow that has produced a league-high 30.6 assists per game. 

Again, this is the perfect setup for Giddey, who isn't suited to stationary offense. Nobody on the Bulls, in fact, is going to take over a game, or even a possession, on his own. They rely on pace and hot potato passing to expose defenses in rotation little by little until an advantage attained by committee emerges. 

It sometimes takes a while. The Bulls score 10.2 PPG in the final four seconds of the shot clock, third most in the league. When it's working, it looks like this. 

That's not a shot Giddey has traditionally had, but he's 7 for 14 on catch-and-shoot 3s this year after sitting just under 39% on such shots last season. That changes everything as it weaponizes him off ball, where he is already a solid cutter and catch-and-go driver. If now you have to stay spaced to account for him in the half court and close out honestly to him in rotation, he's going to continue getting into the teeth of defenses en route, potentially, to his first All-Star selection. 

"I'm in a place where I'm wanted," Giddey said Friday of his situation with the Bulls. "I love being here. I'm happy here. I think having confidence from your teammates and coaches to trust me to go out there and make plays, that's what you kind of need as a player. When you have the belief of everyone around you, it propels you in the right direction."