Warriors come to Brandin Podziemski realization that many fans already knew

After so many expectations of a significant leap entering his second year, it's been anything but for Brandin Podziemski over the first 25 games of the Golden State Warriors season.

Podziemski's poor form has led to a raft of often over the top criticism on social media, but even he himself would acknowledge that his production has been far below his own lofty expectations.

The Warriors have come to a realization on Brandin Podziemski

It must be said that the Warriors haven't helped Podziemski by any means. Sure he may have been given the playing time that so many fellow young players haven't been afforded at the franchise in recent years, but it actually went too far to the point where the responsibility simply didn't match up to Podziemski's skillset and experience.

After choosing to waive Chris Paul and allowing him to walk to the San Antonio Spurs in free agency, Golden State essentially announced their intentions for Podziemski when they chose not to add another veteran point guard.

Not only did they pigeonhole Podziemski into having to play point guard minutes without any prior experience, but they did so without having a safety valve in place that could step in quickly if things went awry.

The fact the Warriors didn't try to protect themselves from such an obvious risk is quite simply mind-boggling, with the below quote from this article on September 6 outlining an almost inevitable issue that was going to arise.

..."At this stage there appears to be little in the way of contingency plans if (Stephen) Curry goes down, or if Podziemski simply proves incapable of running an NBA offense so early in his career."

It took until a quarter of the way through the season, but the Warriors finally came to the realization that they made a mistake. Speaking on Tuesday, head coach Steve Kerr (via 95.7 The Game) admitted that the franchise has put Podziemski "in a tough spot."

"He’s really ideally suited as a secondary playmaker. Not the primary shot creator. I think we’ve put him in a tough spot this year based on our roster and based on our combinations," Kerr said.

The Warriors are actually very fortunate that at the same time they came to this realization, an obvious solution became available via the trade market. There's no coincidence that Golden State traded for Dennis Schroder as quickly as they possibly could, sending out De'Anthony Melton, Reece Beekman and three second-round picks in a deal that became official on Sunday.

It will now be interesting to see how Podziemski plays alongside Schroder in the Warrior second unit, and whether he can rediscover last season's impact without the point guard burden that was initially placed upon him.