During the glory seasons beginning in 2014-15, with the Warriors rolling into five consecutive NBA Finals, they were appropriately billed as the most talented team in the NBA. Excessively so once Kevin Durant signed on.
Talent can be found in 30 NBA cities. It ensures nothing.
The essence of Golden State’s greatness was its deep rotation of players blessed with a quality coaches and scouts refer to as “feel.” The simplest definition of “feel” is, in this context, basketball aptitude. Someone who knows how to play the game within the team concept.
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That’s what the Warriors sought Thursday morning when they traded for future Hall of Famer Chris Paul. And that’s what they sought a few hours later when using the 19th overall pick of the NBA draft to select Brandin Podziemski and the No. 57 pick to select Trayce Jackson-Davis.
“We feel like these guys fit our makeup, fit our fabric,” said general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., summarizing his first draft. “We’re excited to get them out here and hit the ground running.”
A 6-foot-5 guard, Podziemski is only 20 years old. His resumé is thin, with a fraction of a season at Illinois, followed by one full season at mid-major Santa Clara University. He is a draft “reach” insofar as he almost certainly would have been available later in the first round.
Because more seasoned players with first-round projections were available, Golden State’s decision to draft Podziemski only makes sense if they saw enough on video and in pre-draft workouts to come away convinced he has a chance to earn minutes as a rookie.
Golden State Warriors
Dunleavy did not concede that much but clearly has a high opinion of Podziemski.
“He was much higher than (19) on our board,” Dunleavy said. “Anytime you come away with a player that’s eight or nine spots on your board ahead of where you pick, you feel great about it.
“We picked up a player who fits the way we play. We like his skills, his ability to shoot, his ability to pass and playmake and he’s a tremendous rebounder and maybe, more than anything, he’s a competitor. This guy, he takes it to another level as a competitor.”
Podziemski is two years removed from being named Wisconsin’s Mr. Basketball and four months removed from being a teenager.
He brings remarkable shooting (43.8 percent from distance last season), surprisingly good rebounding (8.8 per game) and, above all, he is heralded for having that rare and valuable component. “Feel.”
The Warriors believe Podziemski is mature beyond his years and, therefore, won’t be the next in their recent procession of draft picks needing several seasons of intense developmental work before they might be trusted during meaningful moments of a game.
To hear Dunleavy tell it, the Warriors are trying to get back to the essence. To players who have “feel.”
“Our focus,” he said last week, “as it has been for the most part, is to be drafting players that are actually good at basketball.”
Players with keen awareness of the entire floor. Players who value the ball. Players who know when to shoot, when to pass, when to screen and when to cut. Players who routinely make the right defensive rotations and understand the significance of transition defense. Players whose real-time judgment might even exceed their physical gifts.
The Warriors, locking in on upside, neither sought nor received much of these attributes in recent drafts.
Podziemski is well short of Jonathan Kuminga on the athletic scale, beneath Moses Moody on the defensive scale, nowhere near Jordan Poole on the comprehensive skills scale and eight inches short of James Wiseman on the tale of the tape measure.
Nor is Podzinski the big body Golden State still needs to become a serious championship contender. The best the Warriors can hope is that he is Andre Iguodala – a fabulous “feel” player – with superior shooting able to offset his inferior athleticism.
The big body belongs to Jackson-Davis, a four-year starter at Indiana University and the son of former NBA power forward Dale Davis. He’s 6-foot-9, 245 pounds with a wingspan that measures an even 7 feet.
“He’s another guy we had pretty high on our board,” Dunleavy said. “We’re a little surprised he made it that far. But you take what you can get. He’s been a four-year college player, a proven player, a skilled player. He can do a lot of things – defend, rebound, finish. And his passing really improved the last year in college.”
Jackson-Davis was a double-double machine as a senior for the Hoosiers, averaging 20.9 points, on 58.1-percent shooting, 10.8 rebounds, 2.9 blocks and 4.0 assists.
Did Dunleavy ace his first draft? Probably not. But his thinking is defensible. Draft players who might get on the floor as rookies and shop the free-agent market for veterans willing to play on minimum contracts.