NBA talk bothers Giddens

Kansas University’s J.R. Giddens doesn’t know who started the speculation about his going to the NBA last season, but said he wished that “big mouth” would have kept his mouth shut until Giddens was ready to talk about playing pro ball.

“I think some big-mouth dude just ran his mouth a little bit,” Giddens said at Thursday’s media day at Allen Fieldhouse. “I wasn’t ready then, and I’m not too worried about the NBA now.

KU's J.R. Giddens conducts a group interview on the Allen Fieldhouse floor.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it then. I was just trying to win some games and hit some shots and hopefully get to the national championship.”

Ditto for this season, said Giddens, a 6-foot-5 Oklahoma City sophomore who averaged 11.3 points per game as a freshman while shooting over 40 percent from three-point range.

“It’s not a distraction to me at all, because I can’t think about that. Right now I’m focused on being a sophomore here at Kansas trying to lead and help this team in any way possible,” he said.

Kansas coach Bill Self said he had talked to Giddens about the NBA. The pro-ball talk last season started because of blather on radio talk shows.

“J.R. and I talk, probably more than anybody as far as players. We talk about a lot of things, and that’s one of them,” Self said. “I will not stand in J.R.’s way at all. I want J.R. and all our players to accomplish their dreams and goals.

“The whole thing in coaching is to see a ‘we’ standpoint, instead of ‘me.’ J.R. does a great job there. J.R. is not worried about what happens in the future, he’s worried about being as good as he can be here. If he does that, he has a pretty bright future.”

Kansas sophomore J.R. Giddens, left, talks to Kid Sports News correspondent Logan Heley, an East Antioch sixth grader from Shawnee Mission, during media day. The meet-the-media session was Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse.