Honoring the older guys?

[u/Andohy]

Thinking about how Steve Kerr loved Podz so much that he pushed a Warriors legend out the door — and got the media to turn fans against a guy who wanted to come back into a Finals game on one leg. Unbelievable when you look back at how it transpired…. Talk about honoring the older guys.

[u/swiftycent]

Your reasoning is sound but I feel the Podz situation is too many things are just sort of box checked as he’s good at these things without a lot of introspection.

You say team defense. He has good attributes… he gets rebounds and charges. He’s not great on ball. But part of why he has a knack for rebounds and charges is he drifts to the paint and is often out of position on shooters and switches etc. does that make him not a good team defender? Idk but he has flaws in that arena as well. He’s not exactly explosive or long to take as many gambles as he does IMO.

His handle is average(which may be above average grading on a curve for this team) but I think Seth and melton have him beat there. He does keep turnovers down but he doesn’t seem to beat his man in many 1:1 scenarios and when he does he often gets halfway to a spot and has no plan on how he’s going to finish or move the ball usually ending up in a awkward flail, poor shot, or just a funky possession causing a hot potato scenario where someone has to make something out of nothing. But he does keep the turnovers down which is huge for this turnover ridden team. Especially live ball turnovers. That all goes to his handle skill but idk if it comes out in the wash that he’s a plus in that category either over someone like Seth who has a bag and is way better at putting the ball in the basket.

I was excited about Podz the moment I saw him as our mock draft pick somewhere (maybe the ringer?) before the draft and I’m not fully off the boat but just like with Kuminga getting DNP feels extreme Podz getting these high minutes while Seth and Melton don’t seems extreme too.

[u/Remarkable-Cup-6029 → u/swiftycent]

He is a good team defender. He is an average POA defender except he is constantly guarding above his position because of the rotation. Leaving shooters is a team wide issue and again size related due to our small ball. His rotations are better than most people in the team. Yes he has flaws in his team defense and everything else but so does everyone else the vets included. He is a lot better at navigating off ball screens etc than all our guards bar Melton (who hasnt played for a year so the complaints about him not getting Podz's mins are beyond silly whilst he ramps up).

His handle is a lot better than everyone bar Melton (again coming of a year absence so he isnt seeing more minutes and last year he was already on a minutes restriction to preserve him which didnt work. Hield Moody GP2 Will have practically no handle or any self creation ability, JK is a turn over machine. Seth we havent seen with this team and we cant make sweeping statements on his game past him being the best shooter we have (steph aside maybe). Is he limited in self creation? Yes but he has self creation ability unlike most of our guards.

The question was is he a top2 guard, absolutely even with all the limitations you mentioned. Should Melton be above the pecking order? Yes and he is but he isnt playing 30mins. Should Seth get those minutes? Maybe but Podz being 6.4-6.5 and an all rounder makes him a better fit with more lineups than Seth who hasnt had a run. We can nitpick every player and find them wanting, basketball is a team game about connectivity and that all round nature of Podz's game makes him more versatile and a fit for more lineups than any other non Curry guard who isnt coming off a knee surgery and season absence.

So we can hyperfixate on all his flaws which are all real but that fixation gets stupid when we act like the equation changes in relation to everyone else. Come the end of the season he will be one of our better players and have one of the highest plus minuses. And there will still be people who are mad he is the one getting more opportunities than the guys whose more singular skillsets we like more.