Is Podziemski the Warriors' Next Cornerstone? — Podziemski Interview

Brandin, how would you summarize your season?

Kind of coincides with the team's success, up and down. Slow to start, learned some things when Jimmy and Steph were out that are going to help me in the future. I think I finished strong. March and April were good for me. Had a couple solid games in the play-in. So yeah, just ready to continue and take the momentum from that into next year.

Obviously a significant offseason with you being extension eligible. Do you want to get that done, you know, this offseason and stay here?

Of course. I want to be here for the long term. It's always special having a team drafted you. And so hopefully we can get something done. How do you feel like you dealt with, how do you feel like you dealt with some of the criticism that you faced outside the building and everything? I mean, I don't know. I think you hear it, but it doesn't change who you are as a person or the things you try to provide for the team. Obviously, like I said before, a lot of it is self-inflicted. So can't really do much on that end, but just be a positive light for my teammates. Show up for me each and every night. Do you feel like you kind of learned some things from that experience? Yeah, I do. I definitely did. There's goods and bads to everything, but I definitely, sometimes you need to go through some stuff to figure some things out. And so I think that's kind of what happened to me with that kind of stuff.

Brandin, obviously Draymond and Steph talked after last game about Steve and his future. What has he meant for you in your first 3 seasons being coached by him?

Yeah, definitely full of gratitude. Gave me a big opportunity that, you know, most young guys don't get. And so definitely thankful on that end. But I think Steph said it best, just whatever makes him happy, whatever he wants to do, whatever brings joy to him at this point in his life, that's what we're all here to do. Obviously we would love to have him back, but if his happiness takes him otherwhere, that's, They know that's his choice.

And with the contract extension, was that something that was ever on your mind during the season? How easy was it to ignore that and just let that be what it is?

I think it's pretty easy to just put by the wayside. Just when you think about it coming into the year, if you do at all, you realize the next summer is so far away and there's so much in between that has to go on. That if you live and die by that each and every game, it goes like this. And so for me, I just let my agent, my group handle that and just go out there and try to put my best foot forward every night and just continuously try to get better.

Did Jonathan's situation last summer have any kind of influence on wanting, you wanting to get a deal done now and wanting to avoid restricted free agency at all?

I think, I think both seeing him and Moses do two different things. For me help just seeing the goods and bads to both sides. I don't think, you know, one's better than the other, but seeing that as a teammate and seeing how they handled both situations, I think is going to help me.

Hi, Brandon. How much do you think growth there was by some of the young guys? Quentin was in here earlier and Gee, just forced into bigger roles with so many injuries and, you know, the starting lineup changing almost every night. I mean, it just gave people a chance to be put into some key situations. And I know that Guy kind of tried to find a positive in that growth despite some tough moments.

Yeah, I think that's what I was kind of alluding to when I said it's kind of a blessing. Obviously, we don't want nobody to be out via injury, but it put us in positions that, that if everyone was healthy, we probably wouldn't have gotten. And I think when you look at long-term success, I think it's going to help us down the road. Like you mentioned, Gee, him stepping up, I think me being pushed and put into a situation that I probably wouldn't have been in and seeing different things from different defenses, different defenders. I think it just, it helps us all in the long run, especially when we're all healthy altogether.

How much do you think that experience that we're talking about without, you know, a bunch of the key guys kind of put you in position to thrive in March and April?

I think it's, it was very critical. I think the month of February for me, I just learned a lot. I was seeing a lot of different things I haven't seen at all yet in the league and going through those, you know, setbacks, failures, losing helped me in the month of March and April and in the playing games of just taking the bull by the horns in the moment. And being successful. What's the next step for you and your development this summer? What do you want to work on in the off-season? Yeah, I mean, there's a bunch of things we could talk about. I think if you just look at things from a whole, guys who take leaps or take that next step, you know, the two common factors are their three-point attempts go up and their drives to the rim go up. And naturally with that, you get fouled more, you get to the free throw line, makes you more, efficient. I think Jimmy's a case in point of that. You know, shoots, what, 7, 8 free throws a game. So it makes it a lot easier and it calms the team down. I think towards the end of the year I was able to find that a little bit. Getting fouled a lot more and just learning the nuances of the game, how it's officiated and stuff like that. And so, just continuing to be more efficient, more effective on both ends of the ball. Paz, obviously there's a lot of time between now and October and whenever the decision is made. In your initial conversations with Mike though, do you get the sense that they're open to getting something done as well? We didn't talk about it. We just kind of talked about the season. We talked about the goods, the bads, what he was impressed with, especially towards the back half. But I know when that time comes, I know him and my agent, Bill, will take care of it.

To follow on that, you know, you mentioned the month of February being a critical month for you, obviously a big spike in production down the stretch. What did you find? What were you seeing in March and April that allowed you to, you know, have the success and the efficiency that you had?

Yeah, I think the opportunity that I was given in February allowed me to take advantage of those in March and April. Like I said, getting downhill more, getting fouled more, it makes things a lot easier. Basketball's a game of rhythm. And so when you're able to establish a rhythm at the free throw line, it helps in all facets of your game. And so just being able to take that, understand that there was no Steph, no Jimmy, And the load has to be dispersed throughout a bunch of guys. And me just trying to lead that and show other guys that it's possible to do stuff like that.

Brandon, in what ways did you feel the difference between play-in games and regular season games? Even though play-in games, quote unquote, are not playoff games, the intensity obviously goes up. What difference did you feel?

I mean, it's a lot different. We just played in 2 Game 7s back to back. Win or go home. So the intensity is obviously a lot different. The quality of opponent is probably a lot different, but I think it's just the mindset, the locked in you gotta be to win those games. Obviously we didn't win Friday in Phoenix, but, you know, playing games are none different to me than playoff games. And I treat them as such.

And you mentioned something about how some of the outside noise is self-inflicted. What do you mean by that?

Yeah, I think some of the comments that I said early on, you know, wanting to be better than Steph, things like that. Obviously anybody would want to be better than Steph. I know I'm not going to be better than Steph. You know, he's the only person that can be Steph. And so for me, it's just having that confidence, but understanding that I'm just trying to be the best version of Brandin Podziemski I can be. And wherever that kind of takes me in this career I have, that's where it's going to go.

And do you root for the OKC, I mean the, the Santa Clara guys that are in the playoffs?

Absolutely. Love to see Jaylen succeed. Hopefully he can win another championship, go back to back. It does nothing but good things for our program and the Bay Area. So yeah, wishing them the best.

Just where are you at health-wise? How are you feeling right now?

I feel great. I feel like I can keep playing. I prepared that way. If we were in a series against OKC right now, so I feel like I could play another 82. I feel great. So the lessons I've learned from injuries, from surgeries have helped me through this year and hopefully beyond this.

How nice would that be to have an off season where you're not worrying about 2 surgeries and getting your body right and be able to rest, heal up and do what you need to do?

Yeah, it's a good question. I think, Having those surgeries and having to take time off, being forced to take time off, I think allowed me to play 82 games this year. I think if I approached it similar to I did after my first year, I think there would have been a little bit of a burnout and I would have maybe had an injury or two here and missed some games. But being forced to take time off and understanding my body, I think I really learned that sometimes less is more in those areas. And so— Mm-hmm. I'm gonna kind of take that similar approach that I did last summer in this summer.

This is a bigger picture question, but I remember when you were a rookie, you said that you never wanted to play in the play-in again.

Yeah.

How can you avoid that as someone who is, has more of a prominent role in this team, who is more of a leader going into year 4 now, how can you avoid the play-in?

Yeah, I think for us, we just look at it as two segments, the segment before we get Jimmy and Mo back and the segment when we get them back. And you know, how can we, win games before that comes. And then obviously the hope, you know, organizationally is that we're going to have the same success we did when Jimmy first got here, when they come back. And so for me having a more prominent role, Gi having a more prominent role alongside Steph, how do we find ways to win games? Cause you know, personal success down the stretch for me and Gi is nice, but you know, it takes you so far when you're losing. And so. Thank you. For me, it's just going to be tuning in on those nuanced details of how we can win games.

Great.

Thanks guys. Thanks Brandin.

Appreciate you.

Appreciate it.