Brandin Podziemski was slapped with the title of "next young Warriors star" pretty early on in his rookie season. After an up-and-down sophomore season, now plenty of Warriors fans don't foresee him in the Dubs future plans at all. But maybe, bear with me, the third-year man from Santa Clara isn't the franchise savior or an irredeemably woeful basketball player. Perhaps he's something in between!
I know that we, as sports fans, often view things in extremes. It's hard not to go into histrionics when a rookie plays as well as Podziemski did, and it's hard not to be disappointed when he follows it up with a somewhat disappointing campaign. But tagging Podziemski as either the guy who will lead the Warriors into the future or someone who should never pick up a basketball again puts him in a pretty tough spot to succeed.
Maybe he's not the cornerstone player he looked like on occasion in 2023-24. But I'm also confident he has a place on this team next year and in future years — if Warriors fans can be satisfied with him settling in as just a good, productive young player.
He was the No. 19 pick in the draft; and so far, he's exceeded the expectations of a non-lottery pick. If you expect the No. 19 pick to perform like the No. 1 pick, you're probably going to be disappointed more often than not. But if we can get to a place where the expectations for Podziemski are tempered a bit, from both fans and the front office, everyone will be so much happier.
I'm not saying Podziemski should be exempt from critiques; like any player, if he plays poorly, he should be held accountable. But maybe the expectations for what "well" means need to be adjusted for Podziemski.
What can we expect from Podziemski in year three?
Podz was awesome in his rookie season. He took a step back in year two — as plenty of guys do, by the way. I think in year three, he bounces back. But, unfortunately, it might be tough to temper expectations for Podziemski when the Warriors roster doesn't have many other options at the position.
Podziemski, Steph Curry, Moses Moody, make up the Warriors backcourt, along with... no one else. Right now, literally no one else. The Warriors will add some guard depth before the season starts, but if you haven't looked at the free agent guard market recently, I can tell you right now it's a bit of a jumpscare.
Hence, it's not just the fans who have unrealistic expectations for Podziemski, it's the front office, too. He's starting in the backcourt next to Steph Curry on a team that, at least ostensibly, wants to compete in the Western Conference. Are we sure he can do that? Are we sure it was ever fair to ask him to do that?