SAN FRANCISCO — Former Santa Clara star Brandin Podziemski views himself as cross between Donte DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson. Their toughness and competitiveness, he says, mirrors his own desire to prove people wrong.
“Guys like to underestimate us and our abilities until it’s proven,” Podziemski said.
Podziemski had an opportunity to impress the Warriors Wednesday when he joined five other prospects, including San Jose State guard and Mountain West Player of the Year Omari Moore, at a pre-draft workout at Chase Center.
If Podziemski is being honest, the West Coast Conference Newcomer of the Year didn’t think he would be where he is now a year ago. Last May, Podziemski decided to transfer to Santa Clara after an underwhelming freshman season at Illinois, during which he struggled to crack coach Brad Underwood’s rotation for consistent stretches.
When Podziemski arrived in Santa Clara, he set out to follow in a similar path as former Broncos star Jalen Williams, who went 12th overall in last year’s draft to Oklahoma City and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Orlando’s Paolo Banchero.
“My mindset going in was, like, how can we get this done in two years and make it the same way [Williams did]?” Podziemski said.
It took him only one season to get back on NBA scouts’ radar as he drove his draft stock up with an impressive sophomore season at Santa Clara.
Podziemski became a formidable scoring threat for the Broncos as a do-it-all guard. The WCC Co-Player of the Year averaged 19.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals in 32 starts for Santa Clara.
“Whatever my role is, I always focus on making the right play,” Podziemski said. “I don’t have to score the most points, get the most rebounds, just make the right play. And I think that’s kind of got me to where I am.”
Measured at 6-foot-5 and 195 pounds, Podziemski is projected to be a potential late first- or early second-round pick in the June 22 draft. But if you want his opinion, he would say, “I’m a top-five basketball player in this draft.”
“I can do anything the team asks of me,” Podziemski said. “I can dribble, pass and shoot at a high level.”
That versatility and selflessness, Podziemski believes, makes him the right guy for the Warriors, who have the No. 19 pick.
“The way I play and the way they play kind of meshes, I think it’s a perfect fit,” Podziemski said. “I’m a very unselfish player, as are all the other guys in that locker room. But obviously I can make shots, high-level shooting. … And then you talk about the question of my defense, you got Draymond [Green] and Gary Payton II to learn from.”
Oh, and there’s the Wisconsin connection as well. The Warriors currently have three players who hail from the Milwaukee area. And Podziemski said he played with 2022 first-round pick Patrick Baldwin Jr. at the AAU level.
“It kind of just makes sense,” Podziemski said.
Meanwhile, Moore isn’t as highly rated as a prospect of Podziemski, but he could still find himself in NBA threads at some point.
Moore has come a long way from being the unrecruited guard out of Pasadena. After not receiving a single college offer, he decided to play at San Jose State, where he gradually earned playing time with his defensive prowess before having a breakout junior season in 2021-22.
As a senior, Moore helped the Spartans, who have long been the laughingstock of college ball, to one of their best seasons in recent memory. Moore averaged 17.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 35 games.
Moore has great positional size at 6-foot-6 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, and has elite playmaking and ballhandling skills, but he’s far from a finished product. After shooting 42.9% from 3-point land his junior season, Moore went 33.8% from deep as a senior, though he attempted 3.1 more 3-point attempts per game in his final season at San Jose State.
Moore is projected as a potential second-round pick, though it seems more likely he’ll go undrafted. If that’s the case, though, Moore will continue to push to make his dream a reality.
“The biggest thing that I learned is … with the work you’re going to reap the benefits from it,” Moore said. “At a young age, it’s kind of hard to put in all the work. And you might not feel the results tomorrow but just believing that that work that you’re putting in is going to show for something. So that was the biggest thing for me, just continuing to work and believing in myself and it didn’t really matter who else believed in me because my family did and I believed in me.”