4 takeaways from the Golden State Warriors’ Summer League campaign

3. Brandin Podziemski is an elite playmaker…but needs time

Podziemski’s Summer League could be described as fine — he was far from a major standout but you can see why the Warriors took him with their first-round pick, 19th overall, in last month’s NBA Draft.

One element that did shine was his court vision and overall playmaking — Podziemski is a primary point-guard, and he showcased the ball-handling and decision-making aspects with an increased role that came in the Summer League setup.

The 20-year-old averaged six assists per game through five appearances in Las Vegas. He showed nice signs of setting up plays in the pick-and-roll, often finding himself in the paint and effectively dropping off passes to big men, finding cutters, or hitting open shooters on the perimeter.

His own scoring aspect was less impressive, averaging nine points per game on a dismal 26.3% from the floor and 21.7% from three-point range. You can take this with a grain of salt sure, but it still would have been nice to see a more dynamic scoring ability early on. A lack of athleticism is evident but not disastrous – just means he’ll have to recapture his college shooting form and perhaps develop his work in the mid-range.

Based on his Summer League, Podziemski projects as a Warrior-style player who can most certainly become a rotation player at a minimum. However, given his playmaking skills aren’t necessarily a major need on a team that just acquired Chris Paul, there likely won’t be major meaningful minutes for him next season like some may have expected.