So much for the anticipated long player development cycle for Quinten Post, i.e., what I speculated less than 24 hours ago on this website lol. Idk, maybe Steve Kerr read it and didn’t want to be compared to the infamous Keith Smart?
In any case, Post is now in the rotation! To my pleasant shock, he not only got in with the second unit opposite Alex Len, but also later on he went head-to-head with Domantas Sabonis. Not to mention, the little insertion as an offensive weapon alongside one Wardell Stephen Curry for the last play before halftime was probably the closest NBA2K thing that Kerr has ever done.
I know Trayce Jackson-Davis was given impactful minutes as a rookie last year, but the difference is that he was signed to a full NBA contract. Quinten is literally a two-way contract. This just doesn’t happen a lot in a two-way’s first year, especially in Steve’s ecosystem.
Kerr said in the postgame, “It’s a different look for us and I’d like to give him some time here, coming up.”
So, giving us a straight-up look versus the oft-mentioned Nikola Vucevic tonight would be a good litmus test for Post.
Last night was actually the first time Curry actually played with Post. “I don’t think we’ve played together all,” Curry said in the locker room. “Even in training camp, even in practice.”
Cue the angry Twitter Finger kids. Steve, you never even had them play together in practice?
It makes me wonder the process by which QP is now in the rotation. What I do know is, Kevon Looney and Jackson-Davis’s minutes have been shorter bursts for the sake of more energy, per assistant coach Jacob Rubin as told to Tim Roye. Short bursts do open up the opportunity to throw Quinten in there.
The injuries also present an opportunity. You’re playing more young guys like Moses Moody and Gui Santos, anyways. It’s the middle of January, not a seven-game playoff series. The allowance for youngster mistakes goes up in the absence of Draymond Green on the court.
Speaking of which, there still seems to be people who really think the team they are watching right now is the true identity of the Warriors. It’s akin to thinking the New Orleans Pelicans, also decimated with injuries, are truly the 12-32 version they are now. It’s akin to thinking the San Francisco 49ers, fully healthy, are a 6-11 team. Come on, now! It’s a long 82-game season.
The result of having nearly twenty turnovers — numbers like that usually end up in Warrior losses, no matter who’s on the court — is clouding the fact that the current depleted identity is not a very athletic one. So when you put athletes like De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk and Keon Ellis in blitzes, where’s the Green IQ and ball-handling, or the Brandin Podziemski craftiness, or the Jonathan Kuminga downhill pulls?
It is very, very hard for a bunch of second unit guys to maintain Hoosier-like execution for 48 minutes. That they did it for as long as 24 is to be commended. Of course, you demand it. You see it for 24 minutes, so it’s easy to go, Why not 36? Why not 48? The NBA is super-athletic, my friends. It just is.
As I’ve said on every livestream since JK went down, without another gear the Warriors can get to, another weapon, it’s gonna be really, really rough sailing until he gets back.
In the meantime, the rising stocks of Santos and Post might make the return of Kuminga and Draymond and Podz that much better. Their development in meaningful NBA games is exciting to me.
But should the Warriors make a bold trade deadline move? We shall discuss this soon.
Videos and transcripts from the loss at Sacramento below:
00:00 We talked after last game about flushing the Celtics game. Were you guys able to do that or did you take anything away from that game?
00:07 STEVE KERR, PREGAME: No, I just flushed it right down the toilet, computer and everything. Just dumped everything in there.
00:14 This game tonight, rivalry week with the Kings, what does this matchup mean? I know you guys have had a bunch of battles with them over the years.
00:23 It’s fun. I love playing these guys. I love coming to this arena. It’s a great vibe. There’s an electricity in the air and I love not getting on a plane to fly home. And this is always a fun game to play.
00:38 Any word on Gary?
00:39 Not yet. I’m still waiting to hear.
00:41 And then, independently of that, what do you anticipate the 4-spot looking like tonight? I know we saw Gary get the spot for — get the start for Draymond last game, but how has that spot evolved without Draymond?
00:51 Well, it’s just mix and match. It’ll be Gary, Gui, Moses, some combination of that.
01:01 We saw Brandin and Kyle out there at least getting some work in today. Could they, either of them, maybe go tomorrow?
01:06 Potentially tomorrow, yeah, that’s the hope. But they’re both coming along well and we’ll see tomorrow.
01:18 You’ve talked a lot about the puzzle of this team in this roster. How much of that puzzle comes down to so many players who you consider like their best position is the 4?
01:36 I mean, yeah, I mean, it’s — there’s — we have several guys, obviously, Kyle, Draymond, Moses, Gui, several guys who fit into what you’re talking about. Even Gary really is kind of a power forward in a guard’s body. So, trying to put the puzzle together with the injuries is actually easier because you have fewer choices. But we’re definitely searching right now. We’re searching for a spark, something to get us going a little bit offensively, and the lineup choices we make tonight are gonna be based on trying to jumpstart our offense a little bit.
02:31 I guess, what goes in the jump-starting the offense. What do you — what are you noticing that maybe can get this thing going?
02:37 Well, pace is down. It feels like I talk about this every night, but we’ve gotta get our pace up, gotta get the ball down the floor. The ball’s gotta move and we’ve gotta have better spacing. And if we get to our spots and shoot with confidence, we can be a really good team. And we’ve seen that sporadically over the last few weeks. We can have that game, but we’ve gotta stay with it when things don’t go well. We — I think I mentioned this the other night, we played a great first quarter against Boston and we were down 29, 18, cause the ball, The ball didn’t go in the hoop. And you have to be able to play through those stretches when the ball doesn’t go in. And I think we went from with about three minutes left, it was a tie game. and those last three minutes, we sort of hung our heads a little bit. I think we were 1-for-12 from three in that quarter. And so we lost a little bit of confidence. And that affected our overall energy and play. And that’s what we have to be able to play through.
03:48 Have you gotten any clarity on when you might be able to go home to the Palisades?
03:54 I went. I went home Sunday, this past Sunday on our day off.
03:58 What was that experience like?
04:02 Well, it’s great to be with my mom and my family and tough to see the house and the whole neighborhood like that. But it’s important for us to be able to be together to see that.
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04:22 What do you think was kind of the second half issue, particularly turnovers?
04:26 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME Yeah, the whole game was third quarter turnovers that they were trapping in the first half. We handled the traps beautifully, got wide-open looks, knockdown shots and then second half, we lost our poise. They picked up their pressure, but other than maybe two or three plays where they trapped Steph and got a deflection, I thought almost every turnover was unforced. But sometimes when you get sped up, you make poor decisions. And I thought that happened a little bit tonight.
05:00 Steve, what were you looking for, bringing Schroder off the bench?
05:05 Well, Buddy has been great with Steph and their numbers together are really good. It just felt like we get a little more catch-and-shoot with Buddy, a little more space, spacing. And I love Dennis coming off the bench for his ball-handling, his defense. Obviously, he’s gonna play all the non-Steph minutes and then play some with him as well. And so that was the idea behind the lineup change.
05:31 You mentioned it a little pregame, but even playing Quinten, it seems like you’re trying to lean more offense. I mean, is this what you’re trying to do in the foreseeable future here, is to kind of try to find better offensive lineups?
05:43 Yeah, but it changes every night. But yeah, we were planning on playing Quinten Post, regardless of Loon’s illness. You saw, we got him out there in the first half. Playing with a space big is, it’s a luxury and it’s something that gives us a different look. And Quinten’s a really good player. You can see it. He’s tough. He knows how to play. Yeah. It was a great experience for him tonight. And I’m really, really excited about his growth and his development. And it’s fun to see what he can do.
06:19 What’s the balance of playing with pace when you are shorthanded, not having a full complement tonight? Did you feel like fatigue played a role at all?
06:26 Pace is all about just the first three steps, first. The ball changes hands in either direction. First three steps, you go and then you get the ball up the floor. But pace with poor decision-making is not pace. It’s just recklessness. And so, I mean, you look at the fast break points, 28-0 fast break points, so we didn’t really play with pace tonight. We were just reckless and careless with the ball. But the first half you saw, with poise, with execution against the trapping, the game gets easy. And when you’re knocking down shots like we were in the first half, that’s what we’re capable of. But a lot of things changed in the second half and and I’m really pleased with our guys’ competitive fight. I thought there were a lot of good things tonight. But we’ve gotta be able to maintain that level of poise and execution, especially on the road against a really good team. We gotta understand, there has to be purpose to the game and too many just careless passes and careless possessions where it’s like, no, that doesn’t win. That’s not a win in the NBA on the road. That does not win, so we’ve gotta understand what what wins and we’ve gotta execute.
07:46 Are you planning to try to get Quentin out there more often?
07:49 Yeah, I’d like to. I’d like to. He changes the look out there. He can stand out there and make a three. He can pass. You saw how he battled Sabonis in there. It’s a different look for us and I’d like to give him some time here, coming up.
08:05 When a team like the Kings is trapping Steph so brazenly, like, all the way out to half court, how do you want your team to approach that?
08:13 Just like we did in the first half. They were trapping in the first half and we picked them apart. It starts with spacing and, as long as Steph has outlets, he’s gotta make the easy pass. I thought in the first half he made a lot of easy passes to the perimeter, but he also really found the roller. And that led to open three-point shots on the weak side. And then second half, they did a better job in their traps being more aggressive and you saw Steph turn it over a couple times late-third or mid-third. I thought he got a little sped up at that point. But if you have spacing and you get the trap and you get the ball out, this is the NBA. It’s 4-on-3. We’re gonna get a good look and we got a lot of guys who can knock down a shot, make a play. I hope everybody traps us every game. Just makes the game way easier, but you have to handle it and you handle it again with poise and decision-making.
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09:14 Gui, what do you think went wrong, particularly on offense in the second half, especially against Sacramento’s trap?
09:21 GUI SANTOS: I think we stopped moving the ball like we were moving the first half. We are a team that, when we have a good — like, when we movin’ the ball and everybody’s spacing the floor, everybody cutting, we’ve got a good rhythm playing. So I think we stopped a little bit doing that. So that’s why they come back in the game.
09:39 What are the challenges that come with when a defense is trapping like that and trying to speed you guys up?
09:47 The challenge is like keeping doing the good decision-makings. I think we have eight turnovers in the third quarter. So that hurt us and gave them opportunity to run the fast breaks. That’s how they like to play. That’s how they want to play. And that’s put them in the game.
10:11 What was it like being out there again with Quentin? How did him, his presence change the spacing?
10:17 Quentin is a big guy that can shoot the ball and also, like, he’s seven foot, so just because he’s there under the rim, he helps a lot, even on the rebound or the contesting shots. So, having him down there was good tonight, like, helped us a lot, especially when we have the guys driving to the layups. He was always there, even contesting the shot or, like, box out Sabonis.
10:47 That it? Alright, Quinten’s coming in.
10:49 Alright. Thanks.
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10:53 Steve said the plan all along was to get you some minutes tonight. What have your discussions with him and the coaching staff been like, in terms of what they expect of you?
11:02 QUINTEN POST: I feel like, mostly just about effort. Just play my hardest out there, do the little things and don’t overthink anything. Just play the game how I’ve always played it.
11:16 What do you think went wrong in the second half as a team today?
11:22 Turnovers. I think in the first half, we did a really good job of handling their blitzes, their traps on Steph. And in the second half, we just threw the ball over way too much, especially in that third quarter, I think. So, not sure what went wrong, but that’s definitely where, yeah, we need to look back at and see what we can do better.
11:43 What did you notice about the kind of looks that you guys were getting when you were out there with Steph and some of the first unit guys?
11:51 Honestly, the game’s kind of a blur right now, but I think we got some decent looks, like I think probably at the 5, I provide a little more spacing. So it’s definitely a different look out there than with Trayce or Loon. So it’s like both for me, but also for the other guys I think like kind of having to get used to, like, there was one play for example where Steph throws it to the roller which is me, but I popped and it’s a turnover, right? So that’s where, like, we just don’t really know each other that well as a player, so kind of have to figure that out and have to get used to each other. So, definitely a lot of learning points. Hopefully we can build on it.
12:32 What are some ways you try to get on the same page with a guy like Steph, who you don’t practice that much with? You’re not always in the same city.
12:41 Yes, exactly. Honestly, good question. Like, I think, like, that’s kind of part of being a rookie. You just kind of have to figure that out. I mean, obviously what Steph has done for this organization, it’s kind of his organization. So I just have to kind of, I just have to fit in and I’ll figure it out and I’ll talk to him about it. And, but he’s a great leader and he tells me kinda like what he likes in certain actions and, yeah, it’ll just take a little time but we’ll figure it out.
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13:10 STEPH CURRY: We just had a couple of careless possessions in third quarter. We played extremely — we executed extremely well most of the game. Obviously, they were throwing a lot at me and we were able to get the ball moving, get open looks and then you just have to stay as disciplined as possible. If teams are gonna play jump defenses and send traps and double-teams, like, I’m gonna get off of it. We just gotta be able to be sound, make simple plays. It’s tempting sometimes to get a little sped up. You gotta credit them. They had athleticism all over the floor. You could tell that they had a good halftime talk. That’s how they’re gonna try to get back in the game and it worked.
13:59 Steve said he’s gonna play Quentin more. I don’t know how much, but I mean, obviously he provides a different element. How needed is that for you guys to have at least a stretch for him to go to?
14:09 It was interesting tonight. We had, besides the one turnover I had in the third where I thought he was gonna roll and he popped and we got kind of confused, that was like building chemistry. I don’t think we’ve played together all — even in training camp, even in practice.
14:29 That’s the first time he’s ever been on this — ?
14:31 He reminded me of that, so we’ll develop that chemistry for sure, just knowing where he’s gonna be. But there was three other plays I can think of where they sent a double or pulled over and I was able to find him on the perimeter and knocked down some big shots. So he’s getting — he’s gonna get comfortable pretty quick. I know it’s — everybody who plays in the G is kind of big-eyed when you get up here because the pace and the physicality and the skill around the court, but he looked very — it looked like he fit, so it was kind of cool to watch.
15:13 Whether it’s him or outside the organization, how much do you feel like you need, in 2025, more minutes with a stretch big on the floor, you personally?
15:27 Just the way the league is going right now, you having space, having as many shooters as possible, whatever position, the 5, definitely it helps. So I think — I don’t know how many minutes he played in the first half, but it’s just, you have a counter to aggressive defenses. They wanna try and take the ball out of my hands. It should help Dennis a little bit, too, and pick-and-roll type situations where you can — you gotta make the defense decide, are they gonna pull in or are they gonna stay at home and try to get downhill a little bit more and get into the paint and create advantages off of his presence, or a shooter’s presence at the 5. So, it definitely helps.
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