Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski has become a lightning rod amongst the fanbase this season for comments he's made. It seems he's a polarizing figure no matter what he does, particularly after recently being criticized for...eating?
Podziemski attended the March Madness contest between the University of Arizona and the University of Arkansas. The game was held in San Jose at the SAP Center, where the San Jose Sharks usually play, and the Warriors were well represented as Draymond Green, Steve Kerr, Mike Dunleavy and Joe Lacob were also in attendance.
Brandin Podziemski catches strays even when he's just watching a game
Yet of course Podziemski was the person who got criticized. He was shown on the broadcast eating and the announcer said, "he's not stopped eating the whole game." Poor Podziemski just cannot catch a break no matter what he does.
Podziemski recently defended himself and said that comments he made before the season about wanting to be better than Stephen Curry were taken out of context. He made more comments recently about how Curry's injury has been a "blessing in disguise" since it has given him more playing time, with those words from the third-year guard criticized as well.
It seems the young player just has a lot of confidence and doesn't always take into consideration how his remarks are going to be perceived by others. He's still learning though but whether it's fair or not, he's going to be polarizing amongst the fanbase.
It's ironic because he has actually played pretty well in recent times. He's had to step up with the injury to Curry, and he's only going to play an even more important role after Moses Moody went down with a season-ending injury.
Many fans want to see him gone, but he's really the only scorer the team can rely on right now who has stayed healthy the entire season. That may speak more to the sad state of the Warriors than it does to Podziemski, but that's the reality as the franchise sits 10th in the Western Conference.
As he gets older, maybe Podziemski will learn to modulate his comments or not be as brash in his public statements. It's okay to have confidence and believe in yourself, but usually players wait until they arrive as regular, solid players until they show it publicly.
Let's just hope the poor guy doesn't catch any more flak for simply eating at a game.