Brandin Podziemski

Offensively, I like Podz.  He kind of reminds me of Donte DiVincenzo coming out of Villanova.  He’s extremely active off ball, constantly moving, but not just looking or jumpers, but cutting to the hole and generally probing the defense for weaknesses like one of the Raptors in Jurassic Park.  He has a nice, quick three point shot and can hit off the dribble, in rhythm, or with some movement.  He’s not especially elusive going towards the hoop, but he has a nice step back and floater and finds ways to get to his shot.  And the threat of his shot forces defenders to play up on him, opening some extra driving lanes.  He ran a lot of P&Rs to get seperation, but even with screens, he couldn’t always get enough of an advantage.  He just doesn’t have the breakaway speed and quicker defenders could recover and catch up to him.  Podz plays with high awareness and is able to make quick decisions on shots, drives, cuts, and passes.  Additionally, he is a good all around passer who is able to hit shooters, bigs, rollers, and cutters off the live dribble.  However, he has a tendency to throw some soft passes that could be picked in college and will certainly be in the NBA.  Though he can probably clean that up, especially in a lesser role.  Then again, some of his good passing was based on reading the defense as they double teamed him.  Will NBA teams need to do that?

Defense is where things get very dicey.  Podz does have good anticipation and has the same high awareness as on offense.  He has decently quick hands and rotates well, which allows him to get steals and provide some help in team defense.  But even then, he has too many physical limitations that hamper him at all levels.  Inside, he doesn’t have the strength, length, or explosion to provide any help other than just being another body to create some congestion.  Rotating outside, he makes good decisions, but doesn’t have the speed or length to heavily contest as many shots as you’d like.  In order to try, he has to sell out and this leaves him vulnerable to drive bys and side steps.  He’s not much better defending the perimeter either.  Podz gives good effort and gets down into his stance, but even some decently quick players can just drive by him.  They don’t even need a countermove.  They can just give the slightest bit of hesitation or make a quick move and if he doesn’t anticipate it perfectly, they are outside of his shoulder and past him.  And once they are past him, he doesn’t have the recovery speed to catch up.  And he doesn’t have the strength to absorb virtually any contact, where from a driving player or defending the post.

Look, we know the players that we want Podz to be.  One of those late draft do-it-all types who were underestimated such as Desmond Bane, Donte Divincenzo, Jalen Williams (at least in projections before Presti made a good choice), Draymond Green, etc.  The problem is that while some of them did face questions about who they would defend, all of them did have some legitimate physical advantages that were dismissed.  Bane had speed, strength, and much better handles (if his wingspan was 3″ longer, he probably goes higher).  Divincenzo has quickness, strength, and lateral speed.  Williams had insane length and strength.  And Dray had absurd lower body strength, length, and thinks basketball in a way that even other high feel players don’t.  So what about Podz?  Even if his offense translates better than someone like Donte D, who does he defend?  I’m not sure he can guard SGs / SFs.   And I don’t think he’ll be able to guard up on PFs.  And while I think the concept of hunting and thinking about the playoffs is a bit overrated.  I do think he’ll be hunted mercilessly.