Way at the bottom below the subscription paywall, I have information for paid subscribers about specifics having to do with Brandin Podziemski and what we might see that’s new from him as early as tonight, plus extra bonuses — all of which I’m sure you’ll like and will consider well worth the $5/month “donation” for my hard work.
As is the case on Substack, when you have articles like this where there’s a partial reveal for paid subs, it ends up that only such subs can comment. Oh well, I don’t make the rules 🤷🏻♂️
Some notes going into tonight’s game:
• Keegan Murray doubtful for the Kings tomorrow. Alex Len out. Keon Ellis questionable. Warriors have an empty injury report. Everyone available. (Anthony Slater, day before GSW-SAC)
• Here is the 9:30AM Injury Report — Sacramento: Ellis Questionable-Left Ankle Sprain, Len Out-Right High Ankle Sprain, Murray Doubtful-Left SI Joint Irritation. (Tim Roye)
• Thunder-Timberwolves tips two hours before Warriors-Kings. Should know the stakes around end of 1Q. If OKC wins, winner of Warriors-Kings moves on. If Minnesota wins (a non-blowout), Warriors must beat Kings by 13+. (Anthony Slater)
Anyways, here below for everyone are the videos and transcripts from practice yesterday, the day before Warriors at Kings tonight, with Klay Thompson, Podziemski, and Steve Kerr, although it all went down with Kerr first, per usual. I have a breakdown video of Spurs-Warriors as well, but we’ll see how that goes and it actually ties in to what Draymond Green said at the podium the day before, which is the previous article.
In the interests of time (per said video upload and insider stuff) I decided not to highlight any of the major quotes or player names, beyond the main characters, in bold font like I usually do, also because all three interviews were well worth the entire read:
0:00 Klay Thompson after practice, day before Sacramento Kings, on how he is feeling coming up on the 20th game of the season: “The season has been (a) great start, kind of mediocre second part after that, but such a long season. There’s no room to get us discouraged, only to keep working. And it’s going to help tremendously, getting Draymond back tomorrow and just a lot to look forward to.”
0:37 on where he gets the motivation for these In-Season Tournament games: “Just trying to be the best teammate I can be and play my hardest and coming out with the winning outcome, so everyone can feel the benefits of winning which would be obviously more money in your pocket, but just another thing to celebrate, the first In-Season Tournament would be a cool thing to win and pretty historic.”
1:35 on if he’s aware of Steve Kerr’s patience and if he values it: “What, do you want him to bench me?” Tim Kawakami: “No, no, no. it’s like, that’s —”
1:56 “Bench Wiggs?” Tim Kawakami: “I don’t think I said that.”
2:00 “Okay. I mean, you can suggest it, that’s fine. But I mean, thanks Steve, I guess. Like, I don’t know, sometimes you earn these things like patience and time to find yourself. I think history will be on our side when it comes to that stuff.”
2:16 on if he’s heard people say that: “I don’t care what people say, like, they don’t do what we do. They can’t do what we do. That’s why they talk. Why would I? C’mon, I don’t care what people say at this point in my life. Next question.”
2:36 on if Brandin Podziemski has picked his brain, especially about shooting and where he’s seen him improve the most from the summer to now: “I love BP and he plays really hard and he comes to work every day with so much joy. And he’s just a great, young player to have around, who is trying to make the most visibility and I know he will and I know he’s gonna have a great NBA career.”
3:13 on if he or Stephen Curry or anybody else has been pushing Podziemski to let it fly if he has an open shot: “I haven’t, but I’ll definitely relay the message. I think that would mean something come from me. So I love BP. I mean, got a great looking jump shot. And he’s a great passer and he’s a great rebounder and he’s just looking like a steal of the Draft.”
3:43 on what he’s seen from Gui Santos: “I haven’t seen him much. I’ve seen him play with Santa Cruz and he’s a really good player. I saw him dominate Canada at the FIBA World Cup. Saw what I needed to see; he’s gonna be a solid pro.”
4:14 on where Moses Moody is right now: “I love Moses, and he’s gonna be playing in the NBA as long as he wants. I think he’s developing wonderfully. So he’s going to help us do what we need to do this year.”
4:38 on how much Podziemski has sought guidance and mentorship from him: “Honestly, we just enjoy being around each other. I enjoy him, his energy; we need that. And I just love hanging around Brandin because he brings it every single day and that’s really hard to do, and it takes a special talent.”
5:16 on why he’s wearing a Tennessee Titans hat: “It was in my closet. And it was cold outside. I was a huge Steve McNair and Eddie George fan, so I’ve supported them ever since.”
5:32 on how Andrew Wiggins has worked his way back: “Wiggs is doing a great job. I mean, he shows up, he plays every night. He’s an incredible athlete. And I just love being his teammate. He’s been awesome to play alongside and he truly is a gamer. I’ve seen him rise to the occasion on multiple times and I don’t care if he is not shooting the ball to his standards right now. I know he’s going to be great for us, especially when we need him most.”
6:23 Brandin Podziemski after practice, day before Sacramento Kings, on Chris Paul and the the differences in sharing the floor with Steph: “Yeah, I think being with him, it’s been a little bit of an adjustment for me, especially going back to college, of me predominantly being on the ball. And with Steph, I get to play more of my natural position and facilitate, whereas with CP I’m more off the ball. When I do get the ball, it’s usually to make a shot. So it’s a little bit different, but it’s what the team needs. So I’m here for whatever.”
7:00 on if he’s had more and more coaches and teammates saying to let it fly: “Yeah, I think since training camp started, I’ve heard that a lot. But for me, I kind of just try to make the right play. I think my last year in college, I didn’t really catch-and-shoot a lot, as much as I was self-creating for myself or others. So it was a little bit of an adjustment, but I think as of late, I’ve been shooting the ball pretty well. And a lot of those have come off catch-and-shoot opportunities.”
7:38 on if there’s a player he has talked to about finding the right balance: “Yeah, I think Steve does a great job talking about the fastball, per se. Steph’s done a great job of just telling me to just let it fly and, ‘We don’t really care if you miss or not, just shoot the best ones because the play’s already been created for you.’ So just kind of those little things.”
7:59 on how much more comfortable he feels now, 6-7 weeks into the season: “Yeah, I feel really comfortable, especially after that In-Season Tournament game. I got to play a lot of minutes in good high-level competition. I feel really comfortable going up against anybody, playing however many minutes I need to play.”
8:17 on how much of a factor in his development is that he’s on a team like this with so many veterans and not expected to play 30 minutes a night and produce right away, than it would be with a team where he was drafted in the top five or 10: “Yeah, I think it’s a blessing in disguise. I think in the long run, you’re gonna see what impact this year is going to have on my career. You know, maybe guys that are drafted top 10 play right away, but don’t get to experience what a winning culture is. And for me, I think this year, I get to experience that, so then years down the road when I’m leading a team, I know what that feels like.”
9:01 on if there is a little internal competition, knowing some of the end-of-bench minutes are not guaranteed: “100% there’s internal competition. You always obviously want to get the team to succeed but you also want personal success for yourself. So for us, I think there’s four or five guys that are just trying to compete for those small amount of minutes with the stars on the floor. And I think we all do a great job. We all kind of bring something different. So I think for Steve, it’s kind of whatever the game calls for and that’s who they’ll go to.”
9:41 on if he expected his confidence to be embraced by the old veteran players: “Yeah, I think so, just because I bring that to the table, but I also understand what lines to cross and not cross and have their respect from guys that have been before me and have done such great things in this league. So I think for me, it has been able to find a great balance of that while maintaining being the person who I am.”
10:16 on how it feels when four-time champions are saying they like his confidence: “Yeah, I think it’s cool. And I think for me, I think I’m pretty good with people. So it’s kind of easy for me to read the room on what they feel. But yeah, it was great to have guys like Stephen be welcoming like that.”
10:35 on if he watched Steph as a 12- or 13-year-old: “Yeah, it was a I think I was 12 or 13. So it was eight years ago. So that was ‘15-16 season for them. So, (that’s) definitely when I started watching them but when I moved out here to the West Coast playing at Santa Clara I watched a lot more.”
10:59 on if he knew Steph dropped 51 on Orlando on his birthday: “Yeah, what was that, 2016?” Marcus Thompson: “Yeah. You didn’t know that!”
11:02 “Hey, but to my defense he had that three-game stretch where he had, what, 40 or more three straight games on the East Coast. It was Miami, Orlando, then OKC, right?” Marcus Thompson: “Alright, alright. You alright.”
0:00 Steve Kerr after practice, day before Sacramento Kings, on anything from the lineup data that is striking to him, such as two-man stuff with Stephen Curry and Chris Paul: “Yeah, I mean, I think we always try to make sure that we get a big enough sample size before we jump to any conclusions. We’ve been looking at the three-man lineup groups. And I think the way I look at our team right now, I really like the roster. I think we have a lot of guys who can play. I think we have really 12, 13 guys who could all be in the rotation. I don’t know that we have roster clarity, if that makes sense. So I like every player. I think we have a lot of good players, but we still haven’t sort of figured out how to use them in which combinations because we are seeing some numbers that are meaningful but we also have to give it a little time.”
1:15 on Chris Paul helping the starter group as well as the second unit, on which side he can add on or if he tries to break it down equally: “Oh, that’s a good problem to have. Like, no matter who we put with Chris, generally it works, so he’s been fantastic as a star or off the bench and it’s really more about who we put with him, especially off the bench. I’d like to get our first group from the last couple of years, now that they’re healthy. I’d like to get them some reps together. Let’s get them back into a groove and then we can figure out the bench rotation from there. So that’s kind of how I’m approaching this.”
2:06 on if Brandin is more of a two-guard or point guard: “I guess. What I love about Brandon is that he’s just a guard. Like, some guys are strictly points. Some guys are strictly twos — he’s a guard. He can play either spot. He connects any group that he plays with.”
2:31 on how he talks to him about staying aggressive offensively while also being within the offense especially as a rookie: “I think this is all a natural part of being a rookie, is figuring out your place in the league, figuring out your identity as a player and then learning how to kind of leverage your game to be able to attack well. So, you know, I’m a baseball fan. It’s like you got to use your fastball to set up your other stuff. And I think with Brandin, he’s got like five different pitches, but he’s got to learn to sequence. He’s a really good shooter. I think he shot 43% from three last year at Santa Clara. But being able to count on that consistently, that should be as fastball. He should knock down the shot if it’s open because he’s got all kinds of other options at his disposal, the way he attacks close-outs, the way he passes the ball, the way he cuts, but he’s still in the early stages of kind of establishing his identity as a player.”
3:52 on how Podziemski has played these last two weeks: “I think he’s played well. He’s a guy like I said, his performance is not dependent on making shots because he does so many other things. Now, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want him establishing the shot when he’s on the floor. The offense flows better because he can dribble pass, shoot and cut. He reads the defense and generally we get better possessions when he’s out there.
4:36 on Gui Santos: “Big fan of Gui. He just knows how to play. Versatile, you can play him multiple positions, guard multiple positions, one of our best cutters and he’s really working hard on his shot. He was 6-for-9 from three the other day in the G League victory a couple days ago in Salt Lake and so that’s the biggest thing for his own development is becoming a very consistent three-point shooter.”
5:15 on what the coaching staff is trying to help Andrew Wiggins with: “Nothing that’s different from what we’ve been preaching since camp began. It’s just be aggressive, be in rhythm, find your rhythm, but when you’re in a little bit of a shooting rut, focus always should be on your defense, in your energy because that sort of tends to iron things out. And I think I’m really happy with the way that Wiggs has been pushing himself defensively on the ball here the last couple of weeks and he’s definitely rounding into form.”
6:03 on how hard it is to have patience in the middle of a tough stretch and if he gets it from Phil Jackson or Gregg Popovich, that these are long seasons and you go with a track record: “Well, I think that having been a player myself, I always wanted my coaches to show confidence in me through a slump. And so I know how much that means to a player when a coach stands by you. And then we just won the championship a year-and-a-half ago with Wiggs and Klay playing a huge role and, obviously, that five-man unit that we talked about from last year, that started all last year. So that’s a big sample size. So I’m really going to believe in that group and believe in those guys who have accomplished so much. For a long time and as a coach, it’s just a matter of recognizing if you have to make a change of some sort. When is that juncture, when is that critical point in the season where, ‘All right, we’ve seen enough, we’ve got to do something different’? So that’s how every season goes with every team you’re on, because this is the business. Ultimately it’s about winning. If you’re team’s winning then you can keep doing what you’re doing. If you’re not winning, then eventually you’ve got to make some decisions.”
7:54 on if it could be that they don’t have a set rotation on the back end: “It’s not ideal to do that. I mean, I think every player feels most comfortable when he knows exactly what his role is. And it’s tough to play one game, not playing the next, is tough on the individual. It’s tough on the team. So I would like to find a regular rotation, but again, it hasn’t materialized to this point. Some of it is the injuries and the suspensions and some of it is, we just haven’t been sharp and some of it is guys haven’t quite separated themselves. So we have to just keep going and keep searching for the best version of ourselves and it has to take shape.”
8:55 on Moses Moody’s season so far and his maturity: “Yeah, Moses is so mature. One of my favorite qualities that he has, just his ability to deal with whatever is thrown his way and a lot has been thrown his way. We started him last game. He’s played well in a lot of different spots off the bench. He’s played well, but he can play better. And so we’re talking to him about the things he needs to improve on. But he’s in that mix where it’s like we’re trying to find the right combinations that satisfy the two-way need, offense and defense too, to every lineup and so he’s in that mix and he’s played very well. But nothing is set in stone for anybody at this point. Again, we’re trying to find those groups.”
10:05 on him saying before that 20 games is somewhat legitimate sample size: “I’ll tell you in three games. We’re not there yet.”
10:25 on keeping the starting five, particularly Looney and Draymond, together with Saric being a guy who could play starting and/or closing minutes, as well as closing with Draymond alone: “Yeah, well with Draymond coming back now, I’d like to see them together and I’d like to see if we can get that five-man unit, that starting unit, back to where they were a year ago and that would be ideal, but we’ll see. If not, Dario is such a crucial player for us given his skill set, especially being so different from Loon and Draymond. He can play with either guy. He can play the 4, the 5, so he does give us the flexibility to make a change if we want to.”
11:24 on what the practical maximum number of guys is to be playing on a regular basis: “I think you can go to 10. We’ve done that in the past. My first couple of years we played 10 quite a bit because we had a lot of depth, and that’s how I feel about this team. On the other hand, you have to feel comfortable with the groups that you have on the floor and we’re still searching for that. Some of the groups that we have, the ball doesn’t move well enough. Some of them, maybe the defense isn’t quite good enough. Others, you don’t have the right mix of shooting and playmaking. So these are all things we’re continuing to look at.”
12:14 on if the minimum in the NBA is eight: “Eight’s the minimum for me. I think nine is a normal rotation. Nine-and-a-half is — you get to the playoffs, so sometimes it becomes eight, eight-and-a-half, but regular season for me, it’s always been nine to ten.”
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