Kerr's Love Affair with Podz

[Romulus]

Has there ever been anything like it? The worse Podz plays, the more verbose Kerr becomes in praise of Podz's value to the team. Podz, apparently in Kerr's eyes, can do no wrong.

In truth, Podz is having the worst shooting performance in a series in over a decade by ANYONE. Yet, Kerr just went on and on (again) about Podz doing everything so well. According to Kerr, Podz sees the court, plays great defense, connects the team, and contributes in ways beyond any tangible measurement.

WTF? Seriously, what is going on here? Podz is shooting like crap, he pounds the rock endlessly and creates nothing while holding the ball; he also misses wide open guys all over the floor; in addition, he gets absolutely torched and blown by on defense time and time again. His gifts? Hustle and rebounding. But come on, stop acting like Podz is the second coming.

He's a role player. A guy who could be helpful off the bench. He's NOT a starter for a championship team and never will be.

So, it begs the question, what exactly is the DEAL with Kerr and Podz? Does Kerr see himself in Podz? Does he love him like a son? While he's constantly yanking other players around for making one mistake, Podz has an endless rope to hang himself. This is just strange. Bizarre.

Any explanations? Any plausible reason for this coach/player love affair?

[WarriorGM]

Best plus-minus among the starters.

[Romulus]

"[Brandin Podziemski] reads the game, he handles the ball, he passes, he's a great rebounder. He sees things defensively, so he's always in the right spot. The game just connects when he's out there. It just makes a lot of sense for the rest of the group.

That doesn't mean he's perfect, but he does a lot of things that just makes the game make sense. Not every player does that frankly.

Brandin, despite his shooting struggles, continues to connect lineups and make good basketball plays and those are the things that help you win."
-Steve Kerr

[Romulus]

Best plus-minus among the starters.

Have you watched the games? He's killing this team.

[vvoland]

Best plus-minus among the starters.

Have you watched the games? He's killing this team.

Yes, but also, moody has been awful and we have few options beyond that

[Romulus]

Best plus-minus among the starters.

Have you watched the games? He's killing this team.

Yes, but also, moody has been awful and we have few options beyond that

I absolutely agree. But you don't hear Kerr "pretending" that Moody or others are playing well. There aren't a lot of options on this team.

I just think always giving a guy a pass when he isn't playing well is very unfair to the rest of the guys who don't get the same public support.

[WarriorGM]

Best plus-minus among the starters.

Have you watched the games? He's killing this team.

Then that truly is unfortunate because then the data suggests others are killing this team more.

[Onus]

Have you watched the games? He's killing this team.

Yes, but also, moody has been awful and we have few options beyond that

I absolutely agree. But you don't hear Kerr "pretending" that Moody or others are playing well. There aren't a lot of options on this team.

I just think always giving a guy a pass when he isn't playing well is very unfair to the rest of the guys who don't get the same public support.

Who do you want Kerr to play instead of Podz?

[marthafokker]

Yes, but also, moody has been awful and we have few options beyond that

I absolutely agree. But you don't hear Kerr "pretending" that Moody or others are playing well. There aren't a lot of options on this team.

I just think always giving a guy a pass when he isn't playing well is very unfair to the rest of the guys who don't get the same public support.

Who do you want Kerr to play instead of Podz?

How about a few minutes to Santos in the rotation instead? Letting him miss shots after shots is not a solution.

Moody stinks too, but he doesn't get a pass. He got the bench. So why Kerr doesn't play the same rule when it comes to Podz?

[Onus]

I absolutely agree. But you don't hear Kerr "pretending" that Moody or others are playing well. There aren't a lot of options on this team.

I just think always giving a guy a pass when he isn't playing well is very unfair to the rest of the guys who don't get the same public support.

Who do you want Kerr to play instead of Podz?

How about a few minutes to Santos in the rotation instead? Letting him miss shots after shots is not a solution.

Moody stinks too, but he doesn't get a pass. He got the bench. So why Kerr doesn't play the same rule when it comes to Podz?

Because Podz can dribble and pass. Moody can't do either. You want Santos to play pg? You want Santos to guard guards? We have a serious lack of depth in guards because Steph is supposed to play 40+.

[SpreeS]

We need ball handler and he is the best at the moment. Green can't dribble under pressure, Hield walking turnover machine when starts to dribble. Butler would be the best option, but guy has to defend bigger players, rebound, be main scorer and find open players...He has to many responsibilities.

with Minny

Podz in -11 p/m 134min
Podz out -25 p/m 58min

He is bad, but w/o him team is collapsing very fast

[cpower]

I agree with everyone here - Podz is bad if you compare to a star/good starter but as a role player he is doing well for the team because we have like 4 NBA players on this team. (Butler, Hield, Green, Podz)

[superunknown]

all correct, still a SG who cannot shoot is like a goalkeeper who cannot make saves. basically he is useless.
regardless of the outcome of this series, podz (and moody, who has been even worse) cannot be considered starters under any circumstances going forward. they are not.

[Onus]

Most 2nd year players struggle in their first playoffs. Podz is part of that and he won't be the last. Plus he's being tasked with way more than he should be.

Hilarious that people wanted JK to play with an unlimited leash for "development" regardless of outcome. Now Podz is playing with unlimited leash and now it's don't play him at all. Put him on the bench.

[SpreeS]

Better need to look at Davis. Guy played total 9 stints in last 3 games. And only one was positive +2, others -3 -8 -4 -2 -1 -2 -2 -14

Davis -36 49min
Looney -5 49min

Why? What is the point? Davis last game was Jan 22 with SAC, where he was in Kerr rotaion....Guy is out of rythm. He played only 10min with Butler in RS....

[Onus]

Better need to look at Davis. Guy played total 9 stints in last 3 games. And only one was positive +2, others -3 -8 -4 -2 -1 -2 -2 -14

Davis -36 49min
Looney -5 49min

Why? What is the point? Davis last game was Jan 22 with SAC, where he was in Kerr rotaion....Guy is out of rythm. He played only 10min with Butler in RS....

I agree. I think TJD is the much bigger issue and JK should take all of his minutes and Looney can rotate in when Dray sits.

[superunknown]

Most 2nd year players struggle in their first playoffs. Podz is part of that and he won't be the last. Plus he's being tasked with way more than he should be.

Hilarious that people wanted JK to play with an unlimited leash for "development" regardless of outcome. Now Podz is playing with unlimited leash and now it's don't play him at all. Put him on the bench.

man, he's nailed three 3s in 134 minutes. ok the struggle in his first playoff, but this is too bad. he's your starting SG in 2025, this sh** can't happen.

[Onus]

Most 2nd year players struggle in their first playoffs. Podz is part of that and he won't be the last. Plus he's being tasked with way more than he should be.

Hilarious that people wanted JK to play with an unlimited leash for "development" regardless of outcome. Now Podz is playing with unlimited leash and now it's don't play him at all. Put him on the bench.

man, he's nailed three 3s in 134 minutes. ok the struggle in his first playoff, but this is too bad. he's your starting SG in 2025, this sh** can't happen.

He also helped win a game against Houston.

It’s bad yes. But we literally have no other options. If Steph was playing then he’d probably get like 10-20 mpg

[SpreeS]

Better need to look at Davis. Guy played total 9 stints in last 3 games. And only one was positive +2, others -3 -8 -4 -2 -1 -2 -2 -14

Davis -36 49min
Looney -5 49min

Why? What is the point? Davis last game was Jan 22 with SAC, where he was in Kerr rotaion....Guy is out of rythm. He played only 10min with Butler in RS....

I agree. I think TJD is the much bigger issue and JK should take all of his minutes and Looney can rotate in when Dray sits.

In last 3 games

Butler/Kuminga/Green 32min +10.6nrtg with 92.4 drtg (Podz 28min Hield 20min Payton 14min, No Davis No Looney)

F.... maybe we could win this series if not Kerr....

[EvanZ]

Guys, this series was lost when Steph went down. Kerr is just trying to "do things" to make it look like he tried and to give fans some hope. But there wasn't any hope.