Has Warriors’ Brandin Podziemski grown in Steph Curry’s absence?

Few NBA gamers are as perplexing, or polarizing, as Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski. 

Podziemski can knife into the lane and confound defenses with dogged drives, comfortable floaters and intelligent passes, as he did in three video games this week. He collected 22 factors, 10 rebounds and 7 assists Friday night time in opposition to Washington, a robust encore to his efforts in opposition to Brooklyn (22-6-5) on Wednesday and Dallas (20-10-6) on Monday.

In the earlier sport, a listless loss in Atlanta, Podziemski barely registered. He had solely 5 factors, one help and no rebounds in 24 minutes, bothered by Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, one of many league’s most tenacious defenders. 

Every time Podziemski struggles, social-media critics howl. Why does head coach Steve Kerr stick to him? This man had the audacity to say he needs to be higher than Stephen Curry?

Some of the outsized response to Podziemski little question traces to his bravado, captured by the remark about striving to turn out to be higher than Curry. But the Warriors perceive Podziemski stays a piece in progress, a promising 23-year-old with distinctive abilities and boundless ambition. 

Curry’s lingering knee damage, which has saved him out for 2 months, pushed Podziemski to heart stage. The outcomes have been combined, as Kerr conveyed in an extended, insightful reply to a news-conference query about Podziemski earlier than final Saturday’s sport in Atlanta.

“This is a great experience for Brandin,” Kerr mentioned. “I mean, 20 games (now 24) without Steph. I think where he is in his career, he’s proven he does a lot of things that can help drive winning. That’s been apparent.

“In my mind, he’s really exploring how good he can become and what type of player he wants to become. I think you’ve seen lots of hiccups along the way, where he’s trying things that aren’t working — but playing without Steph for 20 games is going to expose some of that.

“If he’s playing off Steph, off the ball, more of a secondary ballhandler role, he’s really good. He does a lot of things other players don’t do. He’s got a knack. When he tries to be too on-ball, you see him get into some trouble. You see the warts.

“This is all part of being a young player. And then he has to sort through all that and the idea of what it means to be on a team, and explore your own game while also trying to help the team win. That’s a complex thing, so this is a very interesting time for him.”

Kerr was proper on track, in fact: Podziemski does many good issues, impacts profitable in numerous methods … and sometimes will get in his personal approach. He tends to dribble an excessive amount of, for instance, a behavior surfacing extra usually with Curry sidelined and Podziemski beginning at level guard. 

But the positives — much-needed playmaking, rugged rebounding, taking costs — are too plentiful to disregard.

Two nights after Kerr’s impromptu state-of-Podz speech, Podziemski talked to the Chronicle in the guests’ locker room in Dallas. Asked what he has realized about his sport in Curry’s absence, Podziemski widened the scope to incorporate his teammates. 

“It’s not just me, but everybody gets to see what it’s like playing in high-pressure situations against really good players and teams,” he mentioned. “Guys are defending us who normally wouldn’t, because Steph isn’t on the floor. I think all of us get a chance to do something we’re not accustomed to doing.” 

Golden State’s outcomes have been rocky, not surprisingly. The Warriors enter Sunday night time’s sport in Denver at 9-15 since Curry went down, inflicting them to slip to tenth in the Western Conference standings. 

As for Podziemski, even when he performs effectively, as he did Monday in opposition to the Mavericks, some choices clearly exasperate Kerr. Consider two consecutive fourth-quarter possessions in Dallas, with the Warriors nursing an eight-point lead and fewer than 5 minutes left.

First, Podziemski hoisted a 3-point shot early in the shot clock, when endurance made extra sense; Kerr slumped his shoulders when the shot missed. Then, on the following possession, Podziemski dedicated a turnover on a careless cross. 

Kerr, visibility aggravated, pointed to the bench to summon Pat Spencer. Soon thereafter, Spencer misplaced the ball for one more turnover and Kerr went again to Podziemski. He performed all the additional time, turnover-free, to assist the Warriors win. 

In the pregame interview, Podziemski primarily agreed with Kerr’s premise in regards to the added problem of taking part in with the ball extra continuously. 

“It’s hard, but it’s something I also strive to do — a little bit of both (on-ball and off-ball) like Steph does,” Podziemski mentioned. “The big opportunity is to see where you are now, how you can learn and grow. I think it’s going to help every one of us.”

Statistically, at the very least, Podziemski has taken a step ahead in his third NBA season. He entered Sunday averaging a career-high 13.2 factors, up from 11.7 final season, whereas additionally bumping up his rebounding (5.3) and assists (3.8) averages barely in comparison with a 12 months in the past. His taking part in time additionally has elevated, from 26.8 minutes per sport to twenty-eight.4. 

Podziemski acknowledged he’s attempting to not put an excessive amount of strain on himself, an inclination Draymond Green highlighted about him final season. Left unsaid: Podziemski is eligible for a rookie-scale contract extension this summer season, which might heighten his anxiousness and amplify the fragile stability between staff success and attempting to point out he can deal with a featured function. 

“I think I’m a lot more comfortable going out there and competing every day,” Podziemski mentioned. “Not really thinking about too much, just playing free. … When you do that (put pressure on yourself), you second-guess a lot of things and you look slower physically, the way you process things.

“So just being instinctual and living with it, then watching it over and trying to fix it next time, is probably the best way to go.”