Warriors Player Named One of NBA's Most Overrated in Anonymous Poll

There's no surprise who came up on the anonymous player poll

Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Draymond Green | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Brandin Podziemski has been a lightning rod for extreme opinions on both ends of the spectrum since being drafted 19th overall in 2023.

Some think he's underrated due in part to his great plus/minus track record.

Others think he's overrated due in part to his struggles scoring in one-on-one situations.

Well, two anonymous players fall into the latter category.

Josh Robbins, Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic conducted an anonymous player poll, and they got 81 responses for the most overrated player in the league.

Podz tied for 11th-most votes with, among others, Dillon Brooks and Domantas Sabonis.

Why Many in Warriors Fanbase Think Podz Is Overrated

Warriors fans on X frequently talk about how overrated Podz is, and it's not hard to figure out why they think this.

Podz was given more minutes in his first season than Jonathan Kuminga played in any single season with the Warriors. Rookie-year Podz was even given starts over Klay Thompson.

Steve Kerr chose not to give major minutes to young players like James Wiseman and Kuminga at times because they presumably made too many mistakes, but when Podz made mistakes, he was given a longer leash.

Essentially, the supporters of Kuminga, Wiseman and Thompson all had similar frustrations about how much Podz was playing. These fans needed to look for reasons to disparage Podz to justify their frustrations, and they correctly noted that his relatively average athleticism and offensive skill are reasons he doesn't have a high ceiling.

Why He's Not Overrated

Over his three-year career, Podz is second on the Warriors in plus/minus at plus-540, trailing just Stephen Curry at plus-577.

Podz has excelled as a team defender, ranking among the leaders in charges taken each season.

He's also an excellent rebounder for a guard, averaging 5.3 per game for his career.

His career assist-to-turnover ratio is almost 3-to-1, which is one reason Kerr refers to him as a connector.

Though he's not a great scorer, he averaged 13.8 points on decent efficiency this past season.

To put it simply, Podz is not one of the most overrated players in the league. He's not overrated at all. If anything, he's slightly underrated.

Players who tend to be most overrated are those who have high scoring averages but struggle to have a winning impact. Paolo Banchero, who received four votes in the poll, is a prime example of this.

Brooks is another good example. He improved his scoring average to 20.2 points per game, but his efficiency waned, as did his impact metrics.