Has the Podziemski pendulum settled?
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Numbers can be deceiving. Yes, Brandin Podziemski just led the Warriors in games, minutes, points, shots made, three-pointers made, free throws made and rebounds while ranking third in assists and fourth in steals for the month of March, but it was also a month riddled with turnovers, bad shots, selfish early shot clock pulls, bricks, two-for-ones to end quarters where in hindsight you wished they could’ve been just one-for-ones, and on two occasions an open Kristaps Porzingis throwing his hands up in disbelief of what he just saw.
The same numbers mirage can be said of De’Anthony Melton, who is at 20 points-per-36, if you round up. With Nickeil Alexander-Walker at 22 points-per-36, you can be sure Melton’s agent will throw that number out in round one of free agent talks coming up — more on this, later, as we delve more and more int salary cap sheet possibilities.
But look closer and you’ll see an alarming 40% field goal rate and 28% three-point percentage, both categories of which directly contributed to the loss to the Cavs the other night.
Granted, the absence of one Wardell Stephen Curry skews things. For Melt, he’s essentially the best bucket-getter on the team, on paper, and therefore draws the best or second-best defender from each opponent.
For Podziemski, the void makes it enticing to assume the combo-guard role that is usually reserved for guys named Jalen Brunson or Tyrese Maxey. The lack of depth, similar pendulum-swinging by Pat Spencer — more on this in due time, too — and minutes restriction on sharp-shooter LJ Cryer also means Podz has a long leash.
The pendulum has swung something like this:
March 13th at Chase Center: 25-10-2 vs Minnesota with smooth playmaking in Q4, goes on the podium and, when asked by Danny Emerman of the SF Standard what he’s learned about his game and having the ball more in Curry’s absence, says, “That I can do it.”
March 20th at Detroit: At the end of Q1, on a pick-and-pop with Porzingis, takes a sidestep three that leaves a crack on the window over a nice closeout by Caris Levert, with KP standing at the top, open. Btw, Paul Reed had also committed to helping Levert, for some strange reason.
March 29th, Chase Center vs. Denver: At the end of a quarter, does the same thing again to KP, who this time leaves his arms up in exaggerated exasperation. Also could not get the ball to the 7’3” target, guarded by 6’4” Jamal Murray, as two Nuggets closed in on him.
April 2nd, Chase Center vs. Cleveland: only makes two mistakes as the primary ball-handler, racking up 25-4-4. To nitpick, those two mistakes were the hapless drive on Jarrett Allen (got blocked) and shooting a three with 18 seconds on the shot clock. The rest of the game was filled with ball movement and great decision-making.
I did a video essay covering points 1 through 3 above, before the Cavs game:
It’s all about the approach. When you walk onto the court thinking you’re a point guard and wanting to do Chris Paul or Manu Ginobili things, you have made a conscious decision to be unselfish.
Keep it up, BP!
Now that Steph is back, I am quite certain there will be zero guys at the top of the arc throwing their hands up, wondering why they didn’t receive the pass from Podz.
Happy to report that Podz ended the pendulum swing in 30’s absence on the up-and-up. There will still be one back-to-back coming up, though, so we’ll see if we get the Minnesota-Cleveland or Detroit-Denver version of BP.
It took Moses Moody four full years to generally become reliable with consistently more good plays than bad, each and every game — albeit Year One for Moody was a title run with very little playing time, so maybe it only took three years.
Can Podziemski get to that level of consistency by the end of his Year 3?
Oh, and rejoice! His podium after the Cavs performance was much more humble than the one after the Timberwolves. He even took the blame on one of the Max Strus daggers, see below…
00:00 Coach, considering the injury Gui Santos was dealing with, how would you describe his effort tonight?
00:10 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME CLE-GSW: Gui was great. He really battled. He made a lot of plays for us, obviously, scoring 25 points and looked — he didn’t look quite a hundred percent. I could see him moving a little gingerly, but all of our guys just played really, really hard. Just didn’t make enough shots, but our process was really good all night, took care of the ball, a lot of offensive rebounds. We won the possession game. We had our chances, 13 extra field goal attempts, so we just — sometimes just comes down to making a few shots.
00:50 Steve, De’Anthony, 2-of- 12 tonight, just physically kind of where is he at? I know you’ve said in the past he’s kind of beat up right now. Just what are you seeing from him lately?
00:58 Yeah, well, he’s a little bit out of rhythm offensively. I think that’s obvious. His shots aren’t falling right now. We know what he’s capable of. I mean, his, first three quarters of the season has been fantastic, so he’s just in a little bit of a rut and I know that he can get out of it. I know we can do some things to help him do so.
01:21 Strus hits two threes in that final two minutes to kind of put the game away. What sort of happened there in the final two minutes?
01:27 Well, the first one, it looked like we over-rotated to start the play and they got the ball behind us and then we were scrambling. And the second one, BP came over to double Harden and he just came over a half second too soon. And that left one second on the clock and so Cleveland did a great job of spreading the floor. Obviously, Harden puts so much stress on your defense and his ability to score, get downhill, get to the rim. You have to react, you have to help and they’ve got shooting to support.
02:02 Was the goal to double Harden at all costs in those last two minutes?
02:06 Not necessarily. We wanted to stay in front of him, but he got past us and when he gets past you, you’ve gotta bring help.
02:14 How do you think your team handled the stretch in the fourth quarter with the flagrant technical and then technical, technical?
02:22 Yeah, it got a little heated there for a bit, but our team handled it well. I think we took the lead after that and had our chances, but I don’t think that stretch won or lost the game. I think it was just part of a physical game, two teams playing really hard and, again, they made the big shots, Strus with the two threes, Harden the floater. They made some big shots and they deserve credit.
02:51 Draymond, 35 minutes on a back-to-back. You’ve talked about it, just playing without Steph, without Jimmy, how much it affects him with the possibility of Steph coming back to the next game, just what do you, how do you evaluate what Draymond has meant in this period as like kind of the last standing legacy guy while Steph has been out?
03:15 Yeah. I mean, I’m really proud of him. I mean, this is not an easy position to be in. He’s such a proud guy so many guys have been injured and out and he’s really carried a heavy burden, but he’s handled it beautifully. He’s playing big minutes. His defense is still elite. I thought he played a really good game tonight, nine assists and three blocked shots, only a couple of turnovers. Draymond is playing well. It’s just a matter of hoping we can get healthy and not only will that help him on the floor, but I think it’ll help his spirits and lift the locker room if we can get Steph and Al back and Quinten and head into the Play-in healthy and ready to go.
04:04 Steve, we’ve talked a lot about Porzingis and his impact on the offensive end. How much has it changed the dynamics to have a guy like Gui not just scoring 20 a game recently, but a front court player doing that? I mean, you’ve had a lot of guards, but to have a guy with some size scoring the way he’s scoring and it’s not just a few games now, it’s sort of a trend.
04:23 Yeah, it’s a good stretch. He’s playing really well. He gets the ball into the paint probably better than anybody we have. His ability to make quick moves off the dribble, get it into the paint, either score or kick it out, it’s very important. He’s creating a lot of shots for us right now. He’s an excellent player. Thank you.
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04:49 What makes it so difficult to stay in front of Harden?
04:53 GUI SANTOS: Man, he got a lot of stuff he can do, you know? Step back threes and if the plan is sending him down the lane, he gonna drive down the lane and he gonna floater or he gonna throw it up for, they got two guys that can catch lobs, so make it harder for Draymond or QP, no KP, to help. It’s very tough.
05:17 What was your approach and the team’s approach to try to slow him down in the fourth quarter?
05:22 So I was — we were trying to not let him do what he want to do, but it’s very tough, like, you know that he wanna get to his step back left, but he can get it whenever he wants because that’s what he does for — that’s what make him be in a league for a lot of time. Also like the drives, we were like, okay, if he drives, make him drive with the right hand, but he still drive with the right hand and he got a floater, tough floater. There’s not many players that can make floaters like that, so yeah, it’s really tough, too.
05:55 Hey Gui, what are your — two back-to-back games against some quality opponents. What are your kind of takeaways from this stretch of games?
06:03 That is two great teams. Yesterday, we were more shorthanded than today. Today we have a couple more players, but it’s still very hard when you don’t have Steph out there, when you don’t have Jimmy. Been saying that a lot, but that’s the truth. That is great players. Like, that’s what they do, so don’t have them out there with us. It’s tough, but we always trying to find a way to stay in the game, to be battling with them until the end of the game. We did that today, but in a little stretch they got two threes in an important moment and that’s when they opened up an advantage on us.
06:46 I realize it’s only been a couple months now, but what stands out to you the most, playing with Kristaps?
06:55 Man, the fact that he’s in the paint for us, it’s great, on the rebounds, on the blocks, make guys missing layups. And an offense end, he’s just so big and like he can do whatever he wants. He can shoot over guys, he can pass over guys. The guys are doubling on him. He still find the best pass, best that he can and a great thing — and one thing that I love about him is like he don’t care like how many points he got. He don’t care about stats and like nothing like that. He just want to like make the winning play. And every time he’s out there, you can see like doesn’t matter if you have 30 points or he have 10 points, he always gonna take the right decision.
07:38 Gui, what’s the, just, what’s the level of excitement with this, for this team, for Steph possibly being able to come back pretty soon?
07:44 You cannot measure it, brother. Yeah, we very, very happy to have him back. Like, Steph, like I said, for me, he’s the great greatest of all time, you know? So just have a guy like that back on the court with us, even like, you know? Let’s say, because he been out for so long and he’s not gonna be a hundred percent like he was when he stopped playing, but just the fact that he’s on the court opened up a lot of space for everybody else to play, you know? So that’s gonna be great to have him back for us.
08:16 What do you — there’s been a lot of talk about him getting a chance to play with Porzingis for the first time and they haven’t played together at all. Whenever Steph comes back, what do you think that will look like with them on the court together?
08:27 That would be — that would be crazy. Yeah, like, you got Porzingis, like, can do whatever he want in the paint. You got Steph that can do whatever he want on the whole court, so pick-and-roll between both, I don’t know. I don’t know who can guard that. That’s gonna be really, really interesting to watch the next couple games. That’s it? All right.
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08:52 How do you feel like you guys played tonight?
08:55 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: We’re good in spurts, not good in some others. Pretty much been the theme since Steph’s been out. Really haven’t put together a full game of consistency, so just say average tonight.
09:09 What kind of happened in those last two minutes when the, the Cavs kinda pulled away?
09:13 I mean, I think some of the other guys hit shots. I think coming into the game our plan was just makes the other two or other guys out there besides Donovan and James beat us and Strus hit a bunch and then Mobley and Allen got some dunks.
09:33 You and Gui combined for 50 points tonight. How do you see your development together and the feat especially offensively?
09:42 Yeah, I think, to see Gui’s development since Jimmy really went down, has been impressive. Just super-consistent person, work ethic every morning, game days. It’s usually me, him and Draymond that are here in the mornings together. And just to see him do that through the course of the year and finally get rewarded for it, it doesn’t surprise me, but just like all of us, he’s learning. There’s some good, there’s some bad, and we’re all just trying to learn together and grow.
10:15 You mentioned sort of the themes since Steph’s been out. How much is there — how much anticipation is there starting to build? I mean, he’s obviously getting closer, whether it’s Sunday or Tuesday or whenever. What’s sort of the feeling like with him on the brink of coming back?
10:30 Yeah, I mean, him coming back makes everybody’s job easier, the gravity he obtains from other teams is like none other in the NBA. And so I think a lot of us are gonna get a lot more cleaner looks compared to what we’re getting just because of that.
10:49 Brandin, you guys in the fourth quarter actually had a lead a couple of times, a couple of leads, but Max (Strus) hit a couple of big threes and they were pretty open. Is that defensive breakdown or is that just them breaking down your defense?
11:02 Yeah, I think the last one was my fault. I just looked at the shot clock and I just saw Gui up there kind of with a lot of space and I was like, it was at three on the clock and I was like, oh, if I go, I don’t think he’ll have enough time to see me pick it up and throw it and then for him to shoot. And so I’ll take responsibility for that one. And I think the other one he got was, we just gotta find a better way to rotate to guys that we know we’re not trying to allow to shoot catch-and-shoot threes.
11:31 Is there a sense that you guys should have won this game or is it just too close to say?
11:35 Of course. I mean, whoever’s out there, we think we have a chance. Definitely want to win games is important at this time of the year, but I think, more importantly, it’s about building good habits going into that little three-, four-game stretch or how many ever games we have with Steph.
11:53 Hey Brandin, what’s the level of anticipation with the team surrounding Steph’s possible return and has that changed at all in the last week as he’s seemingly got closer?
12:01 I think everybody’s excited. I think it’s been 27 games or something like that and it’ll be refreshing to have him out there. It’ll be something new, like I said, to Ron (Kroichick)’s question, just it’ll make things a lot easier for all of us, but I know he’s not gonna come back with a mindset of just give him the ball all the time. He’s gonna want us to keep playing the way we’ve been playing and his greatness will allow him to do what he does.
12:32 Hello, Brandin. You just talked about Gui Santos and his development, but how did you think about the chemistry you guys build on the court and how did you think that will benefit the team, especially when Stephen will come back?
12:47 Yeah, I think, like I said, it’s just about building the right habits and playing the right way. And I think that’s what we’ve been doing for majority of the games that we played without Steph. And I think the better the habits you build when he’s not out there, the easier it becomes when he’s out there. And so we’re just gonna try to make that transition as seamless as possible when he gets back.
13:09 When he does come back, obviously, there’s only gonna be three or four games to kind of reacclimate. What’s that process gonna look like from your perspective in terms of — because he’s obviously gonna try to be getting used to playing with Kristaps for the first time. You’ve obviously played with him a lot, but how do you sort of approach the connection part of it, I guess?
13:29 I think I don’t approach anything different. Like I said, I think his greatness is gonna allow him to fit in and just make things happen. It’ll be interesting to see how teams guard things like him and Kristaps pick-and-roll, how they decide to do that and so those things we’ll see on the fly and just adapt to it, but I think with any great player in the league, their ability to just fit in and make things happen on their own is something that Steph’s gonna do.
13:53 Podz, similar question, but less about what it might look like once he gets out there in game time action and more about what it’s looked like since he’s kind of been able to be reacclimated to the 5-on-5 in practice. How has the continuity been?
14:05 Yeah, I think he — we haven’t done much kind of live stuff together, but like all the stuff, the sets and stuff, we’ve kind of reacclimated him back into and it’s just all the kind of similar stuff we’ve done before he got injured. But like I said, I don’t assume there’s gonna be any, like, a period of time where we have to acclimate or adjust. I think it’s just gonna happen naturally.
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