LAIE, Hawaii – Brandin Podziemski’s first NBA offseason had a little bit of everything. He saw the business side of basketball with Klay Thompson and Chris Paul moving on to other teams. He went against the best competition as a member of the USA Basketball Men’s Select Team and showed out in the few summer league games he played for the Warriors.
With the most free time he ever has had in his young basketball life, the main advice Podziemski, 21, was told was to find other things he loved outside of basketball. Podziemski listened and traveled with friends, taking in a few Team USA games at the Paris Summer Olympics. He even went back to his baseball roots, throwing out the first pitch at a Milwaukee Brewers game and took batting practice at Oracle Park before a Giants game where he launched one over the right-field wall.
The Summer of Brandin Podziemski expanded the Warriors’ standout rookie going into Year 2, both as a person and player.
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“I’m glad I got to do that, but I also put a lot of time and work into my game, knowing that those two legends have moved on, opportunities are open for someone to take,” Podziemski said in an exclusive interview with NBC Sports Bay Area. “Why not me?”
Those last three words are how Podziemski looks at nearly everything. Nobody expected him to be a first-round draft pick after receiving little playing time as a freshman at Illinois before transferring to Santa Clara and excelling as a sophomore, bolting up draft boards and landing with the Warriors at No. 19 overall. Then the thought was he would spend significant time in the G League with the Santa Cruz Warriors.
Instead, Podziemski became the most trusted rookie ever under coach Steve Kerr, leading to being a First Team All-Rookie selection.
Following success comes greater expectations, and Podziemski believes he’s up to the task, already taking on more of a leadership role going into his second season.
Golden State Warriors
“I’m all-in on those expectations and want to exceed them any way I can,” Podziemski said.
That’s where Steph Curry comes into play. Not as someone placing greater expectations on Podziemski, but as someone the young guard can continue leaning on – whether it’s blocking out offseason trade rumors or being an example of work ethic and how to go about your business.
“Having Steph as a mentor is the greatest thing in sports you can ask for,” Podziemski said. “He’s all the success in the world. Now with his Olympic gold medal, he’s done everything you could want to do as a basketball player.
“Seeing him and seeing how he accepts criticism and seeing how he accepts winning and all his achievements, you just want to replicate that as much as you can. Although I’m far behind him, taking small steps to try and get to that level is something that I strive to do.”
Podziemski’s motivation also isn’t hidden in the darkness. He knows all 18 guys drafted ahead of him. He also takes notes on social media for the whole world to see.
Whether it’s the retweets, quote tweets or liking negative comments about him and the Warriors on Instagram, fuel is always being added to light his fire.
Since high school, he and his father have kept a thread of doubters, added to the long list this summer when the Warriors didn’t add a second superstar to pair with Curry, keeping Podziemski as owner Joe Lacob called him a future All-Star in Las Vegas at summer league.
“It’s always been a motivator for me to prove those people wrong,” Podziemski says. “I have lofty goals that people on the outside might look at me crazy that I believe I can be an All-Star, a multi-time All-Star. Why sell yourself short when you’re in this kind of industry?
“For me, we just use it as motivation and he does a great job of reminding me that people say this, this and this. I go into every day attacking things to prove people wrong.”
Guarding guys like Curry and Jrue Holiday this summer, and looking at Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton as examples going from the Select Team to winning gold for Team USA served as other motivators over the summer for Podziemski. He credits Warriors assistant Anthony Vereen, who led the summer league squad, for pushing him to be a leader on and off the court.
The Summer of Brandin Podziemski is over. Off the court, he became a traveler and took a walk down baseball memory lane. On the court, he has scaled back his floaters and hook shots in the lane for more 3-pointers as someone who will have the ball in his hands a ton and is being pushed to be more of a scoring option. All the little things that made Podziemski stand out in his debut Warriors season also aren’t going away.
Taking charges and diving for loose balls. Having a nose for grabbing rebounds over bigger players. Whatever it takes to win. And now, an offensive explosion is on the way he believes.
As Podziemski himself says, why not?
“I felt like throughout last year I always had more to give,” he says. “And not more to give in the sense of playing harder, but I think I had more that I could have done – however way you want to look at that. Playing hard is something that I’ve always had, no matter the sport. And I’m going to continue to do that if I’m the best player or the worst player on the team.
“You’re still going to see the charges, you’re still going to see the rebounds, no matter if I take five shots or 15 shots. With the elevated role, obviously you’d expect that to be the opposite, but that’s just me.”
There’s nobody else the Warriors want him to be, and now Podziemski is ready to show everybody what Phase 2 is all about.
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