出处：https://reurl.cc/eL8N4K (CBS Report)
2023 NBA Draft: Brandin Podziemski goes from bored baseball
standout to fulfilling pro hoops aspirations
By Kyle Boone, CBS Report Jun 22, 2023 at 10:35 pm ET
这篇报导是CBS记者今年6/22选秀大会刚结束时发的。
呼应上篇Podz的Twitter，里面有讲到一些当年的经历。
连结在上面，还有一些Podz那时打棒球的影片，
全文有点长，放在下面，有兴趣可以用Chrome网页点进去，直接翻成中文看。
这边只节录一些重点:
1. Podz家有波兰的血统(难怪名字有点难唸)，
从小在中西(北)部威斯康辛州格林菲尔德长大。
2. 小Podz从小就在多种运动展露天份，包括棒球和美式足球等，但不包括篮球。
他棒球打的很好，尤其展现在投手丘上和跑动速度上。
3. 大概七年级(国一)时，不知道是不是觉得too easy to win (跟乔神一样?)，
开始觉得棒球无聊，无意间看CBS转播篮球比赛被吸引，
开始在课余时间开始打篮球，启蒙是CBS转播的比赛和游戏NBA 2K10。
4. 中二时(八年级)开始跟他爸老Podz说要弃棒从篮，老Podz勉为其难答应，
但私下希望他在篮球路上撞墙然后可以回到棒球男儿的领域。
5. 但一开始对篮球也只是玩玩，一直到高二升高三时才真的觉得热爱，
只是高三时并没有任何一家大学球队有跟他接触，也没有出现在大学球探的目光中，
那时他导师就一棒给他：[啊就没人想要你啊]，脆弱的中二生就哭了，
然后他就悟了，早上5点起来去健身房狂练之类的了，
进步是明显的，而且最终在高四那年获选Wisconsin篮球先生美誉。
6. 最后可能看到他的决心什么的，终于有多所大学向他伸出橄榄枝，
最后在2020年12月接受Illinois大学的招揽，
希望可以在 Brad Underwood 教头对后卫友好的体系中获得发展。
但大一一开始即因为5年级学长后卫 Trent Frazier (后来也没有被选上NBA) 回归，
再加上一些位置重叠的球员加入，Podz并没有得到预期的上场时间，
板凳末端的他在 16 场比赛，总共才打了 69 分钟。
然后Podz就觉得不妙，不能这样下去了，然后就转学到了Santa Clara大学。
7. Santa Clara大学接下来便成为了Podz的应许之地，
转校过来已经大二的他在这边取得爆发性的成绩，
并以场均19.9 分和44% 的三分命中率赢得了Co-WCC 年度最佳球员的荣誉，
并加入学长Nash和 Jalen Williams (2022雷霆乐透新秀)
成为该校校友历史20大NBA(潜力)新星之一。
然后打完大二的Podz就投入今年23年的选秀啦，
看到这篇才想到 Santa Clara 根本就在湾区勇士本家旁边，
勇士球探会不会太舒适点?
没事附近逛逛看几场球赛就回报球团今年首轮选他了这样?
全文在下面:
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2023 NBA Draft: Brandin Podziemski goes from bored baseball standout to
fulfilling pro hoops aspirations
The Santa Clara star kept a promise to his father when he traded the baseball
cleats for basketball sneakers
By Kyle Boone
Jun 22, 2023 at 10:35 pm ET
screenshot-2023-06-20-at-11-12-39-pm.png
Editor's note: This story was originally published on June 21
John Podziemski is a cheery Midwesterner with a peppy spirit and endless
enthusiasm. On a late afternoon in early May, I call him up to talk about his
son, Brandin, a 2023 NBA Draft prospect who had generated second-round buzz
around that time. John answers the phone early on the second ring with a
jolly, "Good morning, Kyle!" It takes all of 79 seconds of small talk before
he's gushing about Brandin's perseverance over the last two years on a road
that took him from four-star recruit to buried bench piece at Illinois to
breakout star at Santa Clara — a trajectory that now puts him on the
precipice of being a first-round pick Thursday night.
John is, by all accounts, a supportive and loving father who is his son's
biggest cheerleader. Deep into our discussion, however, he comes clean and
admits there was a time when he wished Brandin — now one of the fastest
rising prospects in this year's class — would fail at basketball.
"Honestly, truthfully, God as my witness: I wanted him to fail so badly at
basketball," he says. "So, the first thing I told him is 'You have to play
up.' And then he's like, 'OK, deal.' I just wanted him to fail in basketball
so that he would be done and say, 'I'm coming back to baseball.' I just had
baseball in my mind. We knew nothing about basketball. I couldn't believe we
were even trying it. All we knew was baseball and he was so good at it."
The younger Podziemski was a multi-sport athlete growing up who played safety
in football and was an imposing force on the mound in baseball. He was an
uncommon breed who didn't specialize in one particular sport or even at one
particular position within a sport, a strategic choice by his pops which
helped him become a multi-tool baseball talent who batted with power and ran
with reckless abandon in addition to having a great arm.
Baseball was Podziemski's primary sport because baseball was virtually all he
knew growing up in Greenfield, Wisconsin. He was good at it. Good at
football, too; as a punishing safety he loved hitting people. As he grew up,
basketball wasn't really in the picture. It was only by happy accident he
even stumbled into it thanks to a weekend routine that included CBS games at
his mom's house.
"Growing up I always played baseball," Podziemski said. "I would spend
Saturdays with my dad, Sundays with my mom, and there would always be games
on CBS, so I would watch and found it interesting. ... Watching basketball
inspired me to get a video game just because I thought it would be cool, so I
just watched how guys shot and how it made sense. Then I'd try to implement
it during recess at school. I just learned from the video game how to shoot
and how to play, and over time I improved and refined my shot, got some
shooting coaches input."
Podziemski says NBA 2K10 was his video game of choice. It helped spark his
interest in basketball and hone his eventual craft of choice. He played much
of the game as an Indiana Pacer because it allowed him to play with Travis
Diener, a fellow Wisconsinite who, coincidentally, is now helping him prepare
for the draft.
"I remember, I'm working out with Travis Diener up here, and I remember
playing in the video game with him when he was on the Pacers," Podziemski
said. "I was playing a video game as him, and now I'm getting ready for the
draft and he's working me out. It has kind of come full circle."
Eighth grade was the year basketball officially entered the picture for
Podziemski, known best as "Podz" by those closest to him. His father finally
let him play despite his reservations that it may interfere with baseball. A
decision was reached after a conversation the two shared coming back home
from a trip playing travel baseball during the summer in between his seventh
and eighth grade.
"We were coming back from Vanderbilt," John said. "We're driving back and he
said, 'Dad, I've got something to tell ya. You know, Dad, I don't want to
play baseball anymore. It's boring, and it's too easy.' But I always saw him
as a baseball player — and still to this day I do.
"I thought it was just a phase when he told me this," he continued. "Then he
told me he liked a challenge and baseball wasn't a challenge. He told me,
'Don't you wonder how, when I go to pitch and it's a big game, I'd get behind
in the count or I'd load up the bases?' I said, 'Yeah, son, it's because you
didn't have it or you were just warming up.' Then he said, 'No, I did that
intentionally because I wanted to see if I could get out of it.'
"I said, 'That's a gift, Brandin.'"
Still, basketball wasn't exactly love at first sight, even if it presented a
challenge he no longer found in baseball. Brandin picked it up in eighth
grade and stuck with it throughout high school, going on to eventually win
Mr. Wisconsin Basketball in 2021. But playing up against older players
presented real challenges for him and it never became an obsession, at least
not like it is now. Despite his eventual four-star pedigree, he never had
jaw-dropping athleticism or preternatural gifts.
"I started basketball in eighth grade," Podziemski said. "I didn't know if I
really loved it loved it until my sophomore year going into my junior year.
So I kind of played just to play it those first three years."
Thirty-four months ago, basketball offered him no opportunities beyond a new
challenge. He had no scholarship offers. No recruiting service ranked him.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, gaining exposure was challenging for high
school recruits trying to attract coaches whose travel schedules were either
limited or completely non-existent. He played on the Nike EYBL circuit,
typically flush with high major coaches and talent evaluators, but people
weren't showing. On top of that, when he was playing, it wasn't to his liking
… or anyone else's.
"I remember playing absolutely terrible," Podziemski said. "I talked to
Antonio Curro (the Founder of NY2LA Sports and Director of the Phenom
University travel program, who has been a mentor to him) after, and he was
like, 'No one wants you.' A couple weeks later I'm practicing, then I'm still
playing bad. Mentally, I wasn't right. I just kind of cried, let it all out
one day and flipped a switch. I told myself I was going to do this. I wasn't
going to be a bum anymore. I was like, I'm going to do this for real."
The switch-flip within him ignited interest across the country. Kansas
offered. Kentucky offered. No interest quickly turned to overwhelming
interest. Still, he was fueled — pissed off, even — that the interest
didn't come more quickly and that he didn't play well enough to warrant that
interest. So he changed his routine. He started getting up at 5 a.m. to go to
the gym. He asked questions, he made a concentrated effort to improve … and
he did.
"Antonio was like, 'Hey, you're not good enough.'" Podziemski said. "I took
that to heart and it motivated me."
Santa Clara v Brigham Young
Illinois offered Podziemski in December 2020 and instantly became a player in
his recruitment. Less than eight months later, he was signed, sealed and
delivered as a promising young prospect who could flourish in coach Brad
Underwood's high-octane, guard-friendly offense.
The promise didn't last.
Trent Frazier opted to return for a fifth year at Illinois, Alfonso Plummer
joined the team as a transfer, and both Jacob Grandison and Andre Curbelo ran
it back, too. Room for Podz was hard to find. He appeared in 16 games and
played a total of 69 minutes that year before again being told he was not
good enough.
"Coach Underwood kind of just made it known that I wasn't good enough to
play, so I was like, I don't want to risk being 20 and not being able to
play," he said.
Podziemski entered the transfer portal and found a fit and a home at Santa
Clara.
To say the rest is history is to suggest that Podz's destination was the
journey to get to this point. Far from it. After winning Co-WCC Player of the
Year honors as a sophomore while averaging 19.9 points per game and shooting
44% from 3, he is entering rarefied air as a potential top 20 NBA Draft pick
from Santa Clara, which only Jalen Williams (2022) and Steve Nash (1998) have
accomplished. Williams was a massive pre-draft riser who went on to be a
lottery pick a year ago. Podziemski's stock hasn't soared to that extreme,
but in many ways his two-month lead-up to the draft is following a similar
track to Williams. He is one of the few who received a green room invite to
attend the draft in person in New York, along with his family, on Thursday,
indicating he could be selected inside the first round.
The elder Podziemski harkens back to where all of this started.
"I can remember driving back from playing baseball before his eighth grade
year, and he said, "Dad, I promise you, if you let me play basketball, I will
make you so proud,'" he remembers. "And believe me, he has lived up to every
ounce of it. And we've never looked back."
Podziemski is now hundreds of miles away from where his basketball journey
began, both literally and figuratively, on a path that has had twists and
turns thrown at him like a cruel obstacle course. He has navigated it with
grace and executed it in style. And in the city that never sleeps, it's
fitting Podziemski's wildest dreams