SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly a yr in the past on the dot, Mike Dunleavy, the Golden State Warriors’ future common supervisor, and Kent Lacob, an ascending entrance workplace personnel voice, hopped in a automobile and made the fast 50 mile journey south to Santa Clara’s campus.
They had been primarily there to see Maxwell Lewis, the potential lottery pick of Pepperdine. Lewis performed tremendous. He’d ultimately get chosen fortieth in the 2023 NBA Draft. But he wasn’t the greatest participant on the ground. Brandin Podziemski, a 6-foot-4 guard who was solely starting to creep onto the draft radar, made each vital play to lead Santa Clara to victory. His 23 factors mattered. But it was the 18 rebounds that had Dunleavy’s and Lacob’s antennas up.
“Mike and I walked out of the recreation like, ‘Um, that guy might be a first-round pick,’” Lacob said.
Podziemski competed in the NBA Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend last Friday. He leads all NBA rookies with 14 games of at least 10 points, five rebounds and five assists, making him a clear candidate to finish on the All-Rookie first team.
He turns 21 this week, but has already pushed his way past Klay Thompson into the Warriors’ beginning and shutting lineups, a important glue piece of head coach Steve Kerr’s favourite five-man group, which has outscored opponents by 57 factors in 107 minutes.
The relationship between Podziemski and the Warriors may be traced to that February evening. That’s once they first started to take Podziemski severely as a prospect. In the ensuing 12 months — with a bunch of necessary inflection factors alongside the method — he has gained over each degree of the group, most crucially his veteran teammates.
Podziemski’s future surfaced lately in the visiting locker room in Salt Lake City. He’s a prototype position participant proper now, however has goals of turning into an All-Star. There are roadblocks forward and limitations to overcome. But anybody who has doubted Podziemski to this level has frequently been confirmed incorrect.
“The ceiling is high,” Draymond Green stated. “He’s still learning. Still figuring s— out. But when you start looking at people who are going to succeed him…”
Green factors three lockers down. Stephen Curry is getting dressed after torching the Jazz. Curry’s prime could prolong till 40. But he turns 36 subsequent month. When Curry is 40, Podziemski shall be 25.
“It won’t look the same,” Green stated. “Totally different. But you’re very comfortable when he’s out there on the court. That says a lot for a rookie on this team — that you feel the amount of comfort you do when he’s out there running the show.”
The Warriors’ entrance workplace reconnected with Podziemski at the draft mix in Chicago in May. Most prime prospects don’t do a lot courtroom work. He examined out higher than anticipated athletically and was already rising on boards, getting first-round buzz. Some in his place could have skipped the scrimmages. Podziemski didn’t.
“I got nothing to hide,” he advised the Warriors brass, led by scouting director Larry Harris.
Podziemski then went out and crushed the scrimmage portion. His inventory spiked once more. In-person exercises cranked up. Podziemski traveled the nation, intent on impressing. He went to Houston. Chuck Hayes, at the moment in the Warriors entrance workplace, was working for the Rockets at the time. He remembers Podziemski killing the exercise whereas letting the fitness center learn about it.
“BP,” Hayes known as out earlier than a current recreation. “You remember talking trash to John Lucas in the Rockets workout?”
“Oh, yeah,” Podziemski replied.
Podziemski and Lucas, the former NBA level guard and legendary growth coach, had been arguing about who was the biggest lefty guard in the constructing. It was an early peek into the mindset that has earned Podziemski a lot respect.
“He talk s— all day,” Green stated. “That’s all he do.”
Podziemski thought he crushed his exercise in Miami. He figured the Heat may draft him 18th. They went with Jaime Jaquez Jr., additionally a Warriors’ favourite. Golden State was up at No. 19. Podziemski thought he match, however didn’t really feel fairly as optimistic about how he carried out at his group exercise in San Francisco. The Warriors had been positive.
“He was great on the court,” Lacob stated. “Like, really good. Clearly the best player in the workout.”
The Warriors then introduced him into the movie room and had him break down two video games of tape. They don’t typically be taught a lot in these classes. Podziemski was completely different. They slowed down some of his pick-and-roll decision-making towards Gonzaga and defensive possessions.
“He could reference personnel on the other team,” Lacob stated. “Names, tendencies, opponent actions. His memory recall was super impressive.”
Podziemski popped in the Warriors’ analytics mannequin, put collectively by their vice chairman of analytics Pabail Sidhu. They worth it with elevated frequency. Podziemski’s 8.8 rebounds per recreation led his convention. That juiced the analytics mannequin. When it was all wrapped collectively, Podziemski completed top-10 on the entrance workplace’s consensus last draft board.
“There was a belief that he was clearly a Steve Kerr system fit, but also a consensus belief it was more than that,” Lacob stated. “The talent combined with the IQ and the personality was something to bet on.”
Cam Whitmore, thought of a pre-draft top-five prospect, was nonetheless out there at 19. So had been lots of different valued gamers. But the Warriors didn’t flinch. They took Podziemski. It was Dunleavy’s first draft choice as common supervisor. The room agreed on Podziemski.
Green sprained his left ankle simply earlier than coaching camp. He missed about a month. In his ramp-up to return, the Warriors arrange a scrimmage in Sacramento the morning of their second recreation. Podziemski was out of the rotation, so they’d him play on Green’s crew. They misplaced the first scrimmage after Green turned it over.
“We can’t have a turnover for game!” Podziemski advised Green. “You cannot turn the ball over for game.”
Green was shocked. They’ve had rookies who barely say a phrase to him the complete season.
“I was like, ‘OK, cool, you got it. No problem,’” Green stated. “Here we are playing a pick-up game, a game to get me ready and he’s yelling at me. That to me said a whole lot. I was like, ‘You know what? No problem. But make sure you speak up like that all the time.’”
Green and Podziemski high-five throughout a recreation towards the Oklahoma City Thunder. (Alonzo Adams / USA Today)
The Warriors had an prolonged keep in Los Angeles throughout the preseason. They had some exercises on UCLA’s campus. After one follow, the guards arrange a King of the Court model one-on-one. Score and keep. Podziemski was up towards a group that included Curry and Chris Paul.
“We were at UCLA, right?” Paul requested Moses Moody. “When BP beat us in ones.”
“Yes,” Moody responded, grinning at the reminiscence. The rookie was giving it to two of the biggest to ever do it at the level guard place and alerting anybody inside earshot of the harm.
“He did the Tiger (Woods) fist-pump,” Paul stated, shaking his head.
“‘Let’s f—g go!’” Curry remembers him taunting. “That was hilarious.”
Podziemski’s first NBA style was bitter. He struggled in summer time league, largely together with his jumper and floater. The extra he stewed, the extra it snowballed.
“I had a little bit of doubt after summer league,” Podziemski admitted. “But the rest of that July period and August and September, I just attacked. I focused on what I needed to work on to be a role player on this team.”
Podziemski attended each crew exercise that Curry, Paul and Green organized throughout the summer time. He was in the crew facility on Aug. 1 and a mainstay nearly day-after-day after. He entered camp assured he may make some noise, even when most figured he’d spend the majority of the season in Santa Cruz with the Warriors G League affiliate.
Kevon Looney remembers the new rookie guard bashing into him and clawing over rebounds. He initially advised Podziemski to give up stealing them away. Then he realized it was half of his recreation and perspective.
“I remember in those mini-camps, he’d be grumbling after scrimmages like, ‘Oh, I’m tired of losing,’” Looney stated. “I was like, ‘You should just be happy you’re on the court.’ He’s like, ‘Nah, we gotta figure out a way to win. They need to pass me the ball.’ I’m like, ‘Uhh, I don’t know about that.’”
Looney noticed a quote from Podziemski quickly after the draft that stated he needed to be a triple-double man.
“That’s pretty bold,” Looney stated and laughed. “But I know most Wisconsin guards have this crazy confidence to them. (Jordan) Poole. Tyler Herro. He’s got a delusion to him that makes him good.”
Podziemski grew up in Milwaukee in what he describes as a “competitive” household the place his father, John, and his mom, Barbara West, didn’t enable him to win at something. He wanted to earn it.
“From that competitiveness comes confidence,” Podziemski stated. “Knowing how much you put into the game, why would you come in here nervous or timid?”
Podziemski stays extraordinarily late after video games. He strolls round the locker room and converses with anybody in his orbit. He tried to arrange an NBA-related quiz after a recreation early in the season to get some spending cash off Thompson after which in contrast their salaries when Thompson was hesitant. Thompson advised him to cease “pocket-watching.”
“It’s easier to tame a lion than get a sheep to show some oomph,” Curry stated. “The most annoying parts about him are the greatest parts about him. He’s still coachable. That’s a big part of it. You can say all that stuff but if you can’t accept coaching, that’s where it turns into being counterproductive.”
Podziemski trails Curry for postgame exercises and research what makes him nice. He is likely to be the most lively member of the crew’s group chat, in accordance to Green, and advised Green he was coming for him through textual content messages.
“I wouldn’t do this if I were you,” Green warned. “I don’t play fair.”
Podziemski then despatched a bunch of outdated images of Green to the crew, the funniest he may discover.
“He was like: ‘Wham. Wham. Wham,’” Green said of the flood of texts and then remembered he hadn’t retaliated. “I still gotta popcorn his car.”
After a low-energy loss to the Heat in late December, a distraught Podziemski went to the podium and blamed himself as the greatest motive for the loss. Anyone who watched the recreation would’ve positioned his first rate efficiency far down the record. Curry went 3 of 15 taking pictures. Andrew Wiggins was in a droop. Defensive breakdowns had been in all places. But there he was pinning himself as the evening’s wrongdoer.
“Geez,” Thompson stated when he heard about it. “Dramatic, rookie.”
Kerr has been most impressed with Podziemski defensively. In camp, they monitor deflections throughout scrimmages. Podziemski led the crew. That was an early signal.
His rebounding numbers translated, which was notably necessary for a crew that leaned small. The Warriors are the third-best rebounding crew in the NBA and Podziemski’s 5.8 rebounds per recreation in 26 minutes per recreation rank behind solely Green and Looney. He will get on the glass extra relentlessly than Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga, their greater wings.
“What this team has lacked, what it lacked last year, he gave us,” Kerr stated. “The connection. The connector. The ball-mover. The cutter. There’s a feel and a recognition of what’s happening on the floor that makes him playable in any lineup. He enhances every lineup.”
The Warriors almost blew a large lead to the Spurs in late November. They gained, however it was a unhealthy total efficiency and Podziemski’s first actual stinker. He missed all 5 of his photographs. Kerr entered the locker room postgame anticipating the crew to be down and Podziemski to be in hiding.
“I would have been holed up in my apartment for three days wondering if I’d ever make a shot again,” Kerr stated of his youthful self. “But I went in there and he was the most upbeat guy. I loved it. Because when you play poorly and still can bring team energy and maintain confidence and swagger, that’s a great sign.”
One of the extra consequential performs of the Warriors’ season to this point got here in Portland in mid-December. They entered a wobbly 11-14, needing desperately to beat a unhealthy Trail Blazers crew. But Curry struggled and so they had been having a powerful time placing the win away.
Curry missed a free throw with 4 seconds left. The Blazers, down two, didn’t name timeout. Shaedon Sharpe pushed the ball upcourt in a scramble drill. He had what appeared to be a path to the rim to tie it. But Podziemski stepped in entrance and took a game-winning cost. Here’s the possession:
Podz saves the day with a heads-up play ‼️ pic.twitter.com/hsBjStzdye
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) December 18, 2023
That was Podziemski’s eleventh cost drawn. It has develop into his signature defensive transfer. He has drawn 27 this season, which leads the NBA. He tracks the leaderboard, knew who led the NBA in that class final season (Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams) and even mentions some of the biggest charge-takers in current historical past when discussing it.
When discussing Podziemski’s defensive upside, Kerr in contrast him to Austin Reaves of the Lakers.
“Like when I coached Austin this past summer, what stood out to me most is just that there’s zero fear defensively. And he’s strong as s—. That’s what they have in common. They’re very similar (in) size. Six-four and really physically strong. That’s what you need, I think, in today’s game. The guys who struggle defensively are the guys who aren’t physically strong. If you’re going to be on the small side, you’ve got to be strong,” Kerr stated.
Podziemski has, in a roundabout method, in contrast himself to Gary Payton II and Draymond Green this season, overly formidable on its face however Payton and Green appear to perceive the common level. He sees the ground and the patterns and has an urge for food for disruption like each of them. But that comes with a draw back. He roams.
“He gambles way too much,” Kerr stated. “That’s great except we really only need one guy (Draymond) doing that. If you have two guys doing that, the defense will be screwed up. But I’ll take that any day over the guy who isn’t aware. The guy who isn’t aware is standing on the weak side while the guy is laying it in. He’s the opposite. He sees every cutter. He’s trying to help on everything. We just have to help him streamline and help him understand his job isn’t to do everyone else’s job.”
Adds Green: “He gets lost sometimes. But the reality is I used to get lost all the time. People may not remember, but they couldn’t play me on shooters for a long time. It’d be like we’re playing the Pelicans, I’d guard Anthony Davis. Then they’d switch Ryan Anderson or Nikola Mirotić and they’d be like: ‘We got to get Draymond out of the game.’”
Podziemski strayed too far off Jordan Clarkson throughout a current recreation towards the Jazz and discovered the lesson on the bench from Payton, one other high-risk gambler.
“He sees what Draymond does and tries to mimic it,” Payton stated. “But I told him when you’re guarding a problem like Clarkson, you can’t roam as much as you’d like. Because it’s a swing, swing, high percentage catch-and-shoot. It’s all a feel.”
On the different finish of the ground, Podziemski is a low-risk playmaker. In February, he has 52 assists and 9 turnovers. In January, he had 41 assists and 12 turnovers. He had a 27-assist, 0-turnover four-game stretch lately that broke rookie information.
But his final upside shall be decided as a scorer. Podziemski’s shot weight loss plan is proscribed to 3s, floaters, sweeping hooks and sneaky layups. He stays out of the midrange and doesn’t reside above the rim. He struggled together with his 3 for some of the season however has made 12 of his final 19 to up his season proportion to 38.5 %. He has scored in double-figures in 28 video games this season, sixth-most amongst rookies, and hit 20 4 occasions. If that may develop into a common benchmark as he nears his prime, the ceiling will proceed to rise.
“I want to be an All-Star,” Podziemski stated. “You know, Jonathan has taken that subsequent step of actually being in that dialog. To see his development simply this yr has been fairly particular. So going into the summer time after this yr elevating my recreation to one other degree, doing the issues that I’m poor in now and making them as environment friendly as potential, I feel I can get there. I’m by no means gonna simply accept being a position participant, particularly after my first yr. I got a lengthy profession forward of me.“
(Photo illustration: Rachel Orr / The Athletic; picture: Brian Babineau / NBAE through Getty Images)
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