Brandin Podziemski Brings Scrappiness, 3-point Shooting Into Early Second Round
Oklahoma City saw the most recent first rounder from Santa Clara blossom into the second best rookie in the NBA last season, with upside to do even more. Now preparing for another draft, the Thunder could have the chance to draft the next Santa Clara product. Brandin Podziemski has risen up draft boards and has made himself into a projected late first round selection.
Podziemski transferred to the Broncos before last season, so he didn’t play alongside Jalen Williams, but he did have a huge season for the Broncos. He’s 6-foot-5, 205 pounds and can play both point and shooting guard at the next level.
Transferring from Illinois into the Santa Clara program paid dividends for Podziemski. In his freshman season at Illinois he scarcely saw the court playing just 4.3 minutes per game in 16 appearances. For Santa Clara though he was a vital part of their success and NIT berth. Podziemski played in 32 games and led the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and 3-point percentage.
He averaged 19.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.8 steals per game and shot an impressive 43.8% from beyond the arc in his sophomore season. Podziemski plays an old-school scrappy style of basketball that saw him excel at the collegiate level, especially offensively.
While Podziemski can play both guard positions, and did so effectively in college, he’ll likely be used more as a shooting guard as his skill set plays more to a 3-point specialist more than a true facilitating on the ball guard.
He possesses a high basketball IQ and good touch around the rim as well on top of his deep shooting ability. However, it’s not just offensively where he has an impact. Defensively he is scrappy and disruptive or can defend multiple positions and help on the boards.
For Oklahoma City, the roster could use another guard to focus on 3-point shooting and give the offense another scoring threat for defenses to worry about. His high level energy and fairly rounded game could be huge for OKC off the bench.
While Podziemski’s draft stock has fluctuated heavily in the pre-draft process, the most likely chance the Thunder will have to grab him would be with their second round pick. Some mock drafts have him sneaking into the late first, but if he does remain on the board in round two, he could be a huge help for OKC’s bench next season.
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