Warriors’ Brandin Podziemski Invites a Painful Lesson About the Road to Maturity – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

If a talented player struggling with the sophomore slump shows signs of exiting but then takes detours into sophomore decisions, there will be scolding. It’s the way of the Warriors and most of the NBA. To his credit, Brandin Podziemski took it as intended.

When Warriors coach Steve Kerr addressed Podziemski on Tuesday night during and after a 119-115 loss to the Nuggets at Ball Arena in Denver, it was a sharp appeal that can be summed up in two words:

Grow up.

Podziemski, 21, tries. Sometimes too hard. That got him in trouble. His timing — Golden State was headed for its fifth straight loss — likely made the rebuke even harsher.

The Warriors had the Nuggets upside down, nipping at their heels, and were minutes away from plunging them into a torrent of defeats until a few miscues allowed the Nuggets to recover.

Podziemski made at least five of those missteps. The 6-foot, 200-pound guard fouled Michael Porter Jr. three times while the Denver forward was shooting, once on a deep two-pointer in the first quarter and again on an early three-point attempt In the third quarter, Kerr jumped off the bench and breathed fire into Podziemski’s ear.

“He kind of made me want to do my job and know what to do out there,” Podziemski told reporters in Denver. “And he says, ‘If you can’t do your job, we’re going to pull you out.’

“I think I did a floater after that, a drive-and-kick swing to Wiggs for a wing 3 and then a pull-up jump shot.”

Kerr hit Podziemski with a two-punch combination that most coaches have in their arsenal, followed by a momentous threat.

“He just annoyed me a little bit, which I’m all for,” Podziemski said. “I’m trying to get better and he knows he can take me on and I’m not going to react emotionally. I’m just going to go out there and hoop.”

What troubled Kerr at least as much as those two brain spasms was Podziemski’s lack of mind at crucial moments in the game. With 5:06 to go there was the third foul on Porter. He made the 3-pointer but missed the free throw. In the second quarter, there was an errant lob pass that turned into a turnover, and Denver’s Jamal Murray got a layup three seconds later.

“This league is unforgiving,” Kerr said. “If you think you’re going to end up on a highlight reel and show everyone what a special play you can make, then that’s going to be a turnover. We have to meet singles. We have to make simple decisions. And when we do that, we are really good. But when we try too hard and try to make the plays on our own, we get into trouble and that’s why we had 15 turnovers in a game where we had one in the 20th minute.

“I didn’t feel like they were forced by the defense either. No offense to Denver, but I’ll look at those turnovers and maybe I’ll see one or two of them. But almost all of them were casual.

Murray’s layup was worth two points, and the silly fouls led to free throws for Porter that gave Denver five more points. Kerr mentioned both in his postgame rant.

“Podz is a great player, but he – and I told him this – has to be a smart player,” Kerr said. “He’s one of our guys who can make really good decisions. He had a lob when we were up by 12 (actually 10) late in the second quarter, which was, frankly, crazy. Five against four.”

Not mentioned by Kerr was another misjudged possession in the fourth quarter. With the Warriors up 109-100 with 5:14 left, Podziemski switched to the 7-foot, 284-pound Nikola Jokić and decided he would try to cook the three-time MVP. With Moses Moody, who sizzled in the second half, open to a three-pointer on the left wing, Podziemski – who had missed 22 of his last 27 shots from long range – opted to step back with three misses.

Eight seconds later, Porter hit a three-pointer that pulled the Nuggets within six minutes and also prompted Kerr to pull Podziemski for Stephen Curry. Maybe that was the plan all along, but Podziemski never saw the ground again.

“Part of being a good team is making decisions,” Kerr said. “It can’t just be about talent or whether or not you make shots. It has to be about decision making. We need to become a better decision-making team. That’s what’s frustrating right now. Bad decisions lead to bad possessions, which leads to this losing streak.”

Kerr thinks Podziemski is a potential star, a kind of Manu Ginobili 2.0. Someone who has enough energy and performance that occasional mistakes are allowed.

But Podziemski has a lot of responsibility. He’s a key ballplayer and playmaker, a role that was magnified by the absence of Draymond Green on this night. Every reckless decision he makes and every careless moment is too costly for coaches and teammates to ignore.

Was Kerr tougher than necessary? Perhaps. But a message had to be delivered. Podziemski understands this. Getting better is a process, but tolerance for setbacks decreases with every irresponsible moment.

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