“He started a whole bunch of games for us,” Lacob continued. “Steve had trouble getting him off the floor. I mean, he had to have him on the floor – he was so good. He does so many things well. He’s ultra-confident.
“He’s got an NBA body, can get to wherever he wants. He obviously can shoot threes, he can drive, he can pass.”
All that is fine. Lacob said each word with plenty of conviction. Then came the ribbon and bow to top it all off. A quote was given to us all at the quiet time of the offseason.
“I mean, what can’t he do? We are really excited. We think we’ve got a future All-Star, we really do,” Lacob concluded.
Lauri Watch, Day Something.
Lacob wasn’t smiling and spouting about Podziemski simply as leverage in a negotiating tactic between he and Utah Jazz CEO of basketball operations Danny Ainge, who wants your appetizers, a four-course meal and dessert to himself in any trade it appears to acquire star big man Lauri Markkanen.
Kerr couldn’t keep Podziemski off the floor. Podziemski does do a number of things well. The lefty has emphasized being more of a scoring threat and shooter over the summer. Podziemski then shot 40 percent from 3-point range in his three summer league games, averaging nearly seven attempts per game.
His stat line from his last game this summer was 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 4 of 8 on threes, 12 rebounds and seven assists. And it’s not hard to imagine those kinds of box scores in the future as his game gets to another level.
Podziemski played 1,968 minutes in the regular season and averaged 26.6 minutes per game. Again, none of that is normal under Kerr.
Through three years under Kerr, Kuminga still hasn’t averaged as many minutes per game as Podziemski just did. Kuminga currently is rookie extension eligible, and Podziemski is due a cheap $3.5 million next season.
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