We’ve been getting some inquiries during our game live chats about Quinten Post. Could he be a potential rotation player that moves the needle?
The prevailing wisdom would usually be, nah, he’s in Santa Cruz for a reason, rookie two-ways never get into the rotation, just look at how long it took Gui Santos and Pat Spencer to work their way up to the big squad.
But then again, in six games with SCW, Post is averaging 22.0 points per game, 11.5 rebounds, and and 1.2 blocks per game. Overall, he’s 17-for-40 on threes (42.5%). He’s also improved his turnovers per game and it has tailed off to 2.0 per game now.
So the numbers at a macro level look good and it seems he’s turning the corner on curbing the turnovers, but he’s still liable to shoot blanks on any given night, just like any other shooter. He had 30-and-11 including 4-for-9 on threes against the Valley Suns on January 13, only to tally just 5 points and 0-for-4 on treys, with 6 rebounds and 4 fouls two nights later against Juan Toscano-Anderson’s Mexico City Capitanes. Post is getting up 6.7 threes per game so far in the six games since the New Year. To me, that’s not enough sample size yet.
And it brings me back to my first interview ever, as the credentialed member of GoldenStateMind, back in 2011 with then-Warriors coach Keith Smart on why he wasn’t playing rookie Ekpe Udoh, who was the No. 6 draft pick the summer before.
Oddly, I published the bits and pieces of the talk with Smart for the “game thread” which became the thing for GSOM (and still is), so the thesis of it isn’t even in the original article (🤦🏻♂️). But the bottom line: Udoh wasn’t playing because Smart felt he was too green, in that if Udoh made too many mistakes in extended play, he could develop bad habits, which could lead to confidence issues.
Now, granted, Smart doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation in these parts. He’s probably most well-known for benching one Wardell Stephen Curry in favor of Acie Law in fourth quarters during the Chris Cohan era. During that time, Steph was a second-year player when he was benched for Law, so maybe Smart still has a point, as far as rookie development is concerned.
But also, Post already effectively told us that he’s not ready. On the postgame podium on January 10th in Indiana, he said:
I’m still dealing with some nerves. And so hopefully as I get more experience, I just kind of feel more free flowing out there. And yeah, just try to make the right read, like, if a defense gives you this, then you pop, if they give you another read, then you roll. Yeah, those are kind of things that, with time, it’ll kind of develop, I think.
So don’t expect him to be in the Golden State rotation all that much.
Post also appeared on a Netherlands basketball podcast called “Blockparty” the other day. The entire episode is in Dutch, but I took notes based on the YouTube-generated translated captions. There was a part where they discussed in detail how Kevon Looney is showing Post the nuances and angles of setting a screen, from the teammate involved in the pick-and-roll — although QP obviously adds that “pick-and-pop” dimension that Loon doesn’t have, as Quinten mentioned on the podium — to reading the defender.
How do you even process that? was Post’s inquiry for Looney, so there’s a lot to digest and master, as a screener on the Golden State Warriors. It makes me think that Quinten has a very long road ahead of him, although Kevon himself said at postgame after the Boston loss, “He’s gonna have a long career in his league once he finds his niche, his role.”
It’s gonna be awhile before Post is a regular rotation player and pick-and-pop guy for GSW. Heck, maybe a good reason to bring in Nikola Vucevic would be to have him show Post the ropes? I’ll do a deep dive in a future article, but I should note that the addition of Vucevic likely comes with the subtraction of Looney.
[Full videos, transcripts and notes from 1/10 and 1/20 postgame, as well as the Dutch podcast, are below.]
And Quinten citing his “nerves” seems very cultural in that I can’t ever picture an athlete byproduct of the American AAU system ever using those words. In fact, he referenced it twice on the podium, the second time when asked about the differences between G League and the NBA:
For me, it’s so hard to say right now what are the actual differences because so much of it is just right now nerves and your role. I didn’t — you don’t know when you’re gonna go check in the game. You’re sitting there at the bench and you’re ready the whole time.
But Loon and Draymond Green have spoken about Post’s in-game toughness, although you’d never guess it in the interviews. So maybe there’s a dichotomy with QP on- and off-the-court? It should be fun getting to know him better, as we go along.
Here are the videos and transcripts (or notes, as it pertains to the podcast)…
00:00 Starting lineup tonight?
00:06 STEVE KERR, PREGAME: Not willing to reveal that.
00:07 I can guess it if you want.
00:10 Let’s see if you get it right. I’ll tell you.
00:11 Okay, Buddy, Dennis, Trayce —
00:14 Yeah.
00:14 …will be playing. Okay. Let’s see. Like, I’d almost say Gui after last game. I’m trying to think who’s available.
00:32 Kyle will start at the 4. And so, with one more guy at the 3, so…
00:38 Lindy?
00:38 There you go. You guys got it, so…
00:40 Teamwork.
00:41 Teamwork. Yeah.
00:42 With Steph and Draymond, I assume they’re gonna be fine for Monday?
00:48 I hope so. Yeah. I mean, they are both banged up. I mean, Draymond’s back has been tight and bothersome. Steph still has some fluid in his knee. So they’re gonna be out tonight, but with the idea that these extra few days before the Toronto game, we’ll have them ready for that game. But unfortunately they’re just at the age and at the stage of their careers with so much wear and tear that no matter how you slice it, they’re gonna miss some games. They just are — they’ve — and when they’re injured, we have to be really careful, otherwise they’re gonna miss a month or two and there goes our season. So we’re doing the best we can. And they are in the training room every day, preparing for the next game, over and over again. And it’s not easy, but this is a reality when players get older.
01:58 With Lindy, in particular — obviously you’ve raved about him since training camp — when did it first pop that he could play 0.5-basketball and do the things you ask him to do on both ends of the court?
02:08 We could see it in camp. It’s pretty easy to see right away, like, with Gui last night, you see when a guy has a good feel for the game and the ball moves. The cut is made. Transition, there’s no hesitation, guy sprints out, either direction. Like, all those things we could see in camp and then our very first exhibition game, he makes the game-winning three. I think he made five threes in the second half of that game. So you could see the shooting stroke. So yeah, we’ve liked him from the beginning last year.
02:43 You were here and I asked about your observations working with Tyrese the first summer. Now that you have the Olympic experience, anything else that you could draw upon that you observed or interacted with him during that time?
02:54 Well, he’s just a wonderful person to coach and to see every day. That’s part of coaching, is you’re a family with your group and you see each other constantly. And Tyrese is someone you just look forward to seeing every day. I thought the way he handled not playing, not being in the rotation, was awesome, just the way he supported the group, the way he handled it with humor, and just loving being part of the whole thing, despite not playing much, showed his character. But yeah, I love Tyrese. He’s a brilliant player and a great, great human being.
03:40 Moses is available tonight?
03:42 Moses is available, yeah. Yeah, and then Quinten will be in uniform, too, so ten available, yeah.
03:52 I mean, you have Looney, so do you think Quinten could — ?
03:56 I mean, we’ll see how the game’s going. I mean, it was great last night to get Looney back out there. I think I mentioned, this happens every year, but when we don’t play Loon, we lose some of our intelligence or IQ or grit. He generates so many extra possessions with his offensive rebounding and then he’s rock-solid defensively. So it’s great to have Loon back and we’ll keep doing what we did last night, four-or five-minute stretches for Trayce and Loon just back and forth, back and forth, so that they can continue to run the floor hard, play with extreme effort and energy and then get a blow and then come back and that’s how we’ll play it again tonight. But look, if we’re having trouble scoring and we need to space the floor, I won’t hesitate to go to Quentin and have a pick-and-pop threat out there.
04:57 What is kind of the key tonight?
05:02 Yeah, I mean, the whole focus is just, we gotta keep winning these individual battles, these little battles. And I know this is kind of my new metaphor, catchphrase, whatever, however you want to put it, but it’s what wins and if you’re supremely talented, you can win without winning some of those battles, not at the highest level, but you can win games. If you’re injured like we are tonight and short handed, no way can you win a game against a really good team like Indiana without taking care of those battles. So that’s what we’re looking for. And shots may go in, shots might not, but are we executing? Are we flying around? Are we rotating and boxing out? Are we generating extra possessions like Gui and Loon did last night? That’s what we have to do tonight.
06:01 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME: Great effort. Shorthanded back-to-back. Guys did a great job of really hanging in there. We just needed to have a little stretch, make three or four threes in a row and get over the hump. I think it was 86-81 and we’re right there. but they took care of business, knocked down some shots and we couldn’t quite get there. But I’m proud of the group and a lot of guys played well and keep moving forward.
06:35 What did you make of Pat’s performance tonight?
06:38 Yeah, Pat was great, aggressive, really attacked the paint and wasn’t afraid to let it fly. He’s a really good player. The game makes sense when he’s out there. There’s a flow to it. And it was fun watching him play. It was fun getting Quentin his first real minutes at a time where we’re still in the game, just to see him come out there and space the floor. You see what the impact is of having a space big. You just go pick-and-pop and, all of a sudden, the whole lane opens up and that’s a nice look for us. It’s something we don’t normally have. And so we’re generating a lot of our offense through our movement and split cuts and all that. But yeah, if Pat or if Quentin can can develop, he could be a real threat for us and give us a totally different look offensively.
07:36 You haven’t had that kind of look from the 5 position very often in the past however many years. How nice might it be to have someone like Quentin in the mix?
07:48 Yeah, it’s something that Mike Dunleavy and I talk about, periodically. We’ve had guys who have helped in that regard, maybe not from the 5-spot, but Otto Porter and Beli (Bjelica) in ’22. Both guys really stretched the floor for us and you could feel the difference. And, but those guys aren’t easy to find and that’s why we drafted Quentin, to see if he could develop. He’s a really good player. He’s got experience, five years of college, shoots it well. You can see, put it on the floor and had a little left-handed layup. It didn’t go, but you can see the skill is there and so we’ll continue to work with him and get him back to Santa Cruz for a lot of reps, but yeah, that’s — it’s something that we’re trying to develop.
08:47 Do you think you’ll have Wiggins back Monday?
08:50 Not sure yet. Not sure yet. Yeah. Gary is hopeful. I just talked to him. He thinks he’s gonna be ready to play in Toronto, but training staff has to clear him and then Wiggs will just be day-to-day based on his circumstances at home. I’m sorry?
09:10 Brandin, is there any chance — ?
09:12 Yeah, not sure. He’s not sure if he’s gonna be ready or not.
09:17 It looked like Schroder might have twisted an ankle in the fourth. Is he doing alright?
09:21 Yeah, he said he was okay, yeah, after the game. Heavy minutes the last two nights. He’s played a lot of minutes since he’s gotten here and has not missed a game. And it’ll be good to have a couple of days for him to rest up. Thank you.
09:36 (How did it feel to) get out there today?
09:37 QUINTEN POST: Yeah, I mean, it felt really good. They told me to just be ready today, anything can happen. So, glad to get some minutes.
09:46 When did you get the call to find out you were joining the team?
09:49 I think yesterday about 11AM or something. I just got back to Santa Cruz. We were in Iowa. So, hopped on the first flight and joined the team here.
10:02 Is there a direct flight from Iowa to Indianapolis?
10:05 No. So no, that’s what happened. I first came back to Santa Cruz, actually. I was in the snow in Iowa. I saw some sun in Santa Cruz, but it was short-lived. Now we’re here.
10:16 You went from Iowa to Santa Cruz to here?
10:18 Yeah, I know. It’s kind of, yeah, that’s kind of, that’s how it goes.
10:22 Extra miles.
10:23 Extra miles, yeah.
10:26 First career three-pointer, what did you notice just about the way that the defense changed when you came into the game, with your ability to space the floor and shoot?
10:35 Yeah, I think they started switching pretty fast after I made that, the one three. So yeah, for — I mean, from here on, like, obviously, like, I’m still dealing with some nerves. And so hopefully as I get more experience, I just kind of feel more free flowing out there. And yeah, just try to make the right read, like, if a defense gives you this, then you pop, if they give you another read, then you roll. Yeah, those are kind of things that, with time, it’ll kind of develop, I think.
11:07 Does it feel good to get that first one out of the way?
11:09 Feels good, yep, 100%. Like, still getting some firsts out of the way, so it really feels good to get that done.
11:18 You put up some huge numbers recently in the G League. What are some of the biggest differences between playing down there and up here, just maybe the pace of the game and just the talent levels?
11:30 I feel like, for me, it’s so hard to say right now what are the actual differences because so much of it is just right now nerves and your role. I didn’t — you don’t know when you’re gonna go check in the game. You’re sitting there at the bench and you’re ready the whole time. And now in the third quarter you get called and in the G League, I’m starting. And you just kind of know what is expected. And that also took some time. So besides that, obviously, everybody is better, faster, shoots the ball better. So, I don’t know, I’ll have a better answer hopefully in some time if I get some more reps.
00:00 Obviously, things did not go as you might have wanted, but was it — that kind of offensive stall there at the end of the first quarter into the second, do you think that was kind of the start of everything?
00:12 STEVE KERR: I thought I thought we played a really good first quarter. I think late in the quarter we had seven assists, no turnovers, we were getting a lot of good looks, we were competing defensively, but the ball wasn’t going in. I think we were 1-for-12 from three in that first quarter, so didn’t feel like the right result for us, the way we played in that quarter, to go into the second quarter down 11. It just it felt like we had played better than that. And I think our guys lost a little confidence and Boston, obviously, played a great game and made twenty 3s and overwhelmed us from that point on.
00:54 You have, at this point, I think, it’ll be seven in the next eight at home. How large a stretch do you kind of view this for your season, trying to survive without Draymond and Jonathan? And just, like, how big is it to kind of, I guess, stabilize here?
01:09 I don’t even think of the season in those terms. We just, we kind of take it week by week. And we’ve got Sacramento on Wednesday and we’ve gotta flush this one down the toilet and get ready for Sac. We’ve been very competitive all year and our guys have fought, but we’ve had a handful of these where we just get blown out and these are demoralizing. So, most important thing to me is for our guys to forget this one, have a day off tomorrow and then be ready to roll in Sacramento on Wednesday.
01:50 Steve, the last time you talked about confidence, you described it as a crisis of confidence. Do you see this as a continuing trend or do you view this game as a — ?
01:58 No, we’re coming off of two wins where we played well and competed and — but the way the NBA works these days with so many people launching threes, I mean, we took 53 of them tonight, if you make a bunch of them, you’re in great shape. And if you don’t, the other team makes a bunch, you can be reeling quickly. The game has these huge swings and you’re more vulnerable than ever, the way the game is played on nights like tonight when the ball doesn’t go in, especially against the defending champs, a great team. So, it happens. And we just kind of, like I said, turn the page and get ready for the next one.
02:48 You talked about both teams launching threes like that. When they’re not going, would you rather your team drive to the hoop more, maybe find some mid-range shots or is the three-pointer such a staple now that you want to keep shooting it?
02:59 I mean, the biggest thing for me is, I want good shots. I want rhythm shots. I didn’t feel like the ball moved side to side very well in the second quarter and felt like we got stuck on one side of the floor. And so it’s never about the number of threes we take, it’s more of the quality of the offense. We’re not a team that gets layups or free throws. It’s just not in our DNA. And so we have to shoot a lot of threes and we will continue to do so. But, like, nights like tonight where they don’t go, it’s, yeah, it’s a tough road.
03:41 You mentioned that you probably did more pick-and-rolls against the Wizards than you had all season. I might be wrong, but it didn’t seem to be as much involvement in the pick-and-roll tonight. Was there — the way Boston was playing you or Boston’s personnel, it just wasn’t a pick and roll, maybe — ?
03:54 It’s tough to run a lot of pick-and-roll against them because they have such a switchable lineup. So you get into ball screens, they switch, they’ve got size at every position and they’re able to thwart that initial advantage that you can gain from running pick-and-roll. So you try to get the ball moving, you try to play with pace. I think we only had two fast break points for the whole night. And so we just couldn’t get any pace or any rhythm to the game.
04:30 Andrew’s been playing so well and it seemed like Dennis had been finding his groove a little bit. What felt different about them tonight? Obviously, without Draymond and Jonathan, it seems like you very much need those two guys.
04:41 Yeah, I mean, they both had tough nights. It happens. Like I said, I didn’t think the ball moved very well in the second quarter and we got a little stagnant. And I think that was where the game started to go south for us, offensively.
04:58 It’s not a new question, but obviously Steph was working incredibly hard just trying to get a shot, with maybe some of the guys who were not shooting it real well maybe not wanting to shoot it that much. As you watch Steph go through this in the heart of a season, do you begin to worry about where this is headed for him, just physically?
05:17 Not any more than just what’s actually real. He’ll be 37 in a few weeks, I believe, and he’s got a lot of mileage and we’re trying to manage his minutes as best we can. And there’s nothing injury-wise that I’m worried about. So we are where we are and we’re fighting every night and we’re obviously relying on him heavily. But we’re also doing everything we can to manage his fight against Father Time.
05:54 I know this is probably a Rick (Celebrini) question, but he said he’d like to get to the point where he can play back-to-back. So you got this back-to-back coming, home-road-home. Would you think there’s a chance that he’s playing in both those games?
06:04 There’s definitely a chance. Like I said, he’ll have tomorrow off. The whole team will have tomorrow off and we’ll see how he’s doing after that Sacramento game and hopefully he’s healthy and ready to go and Rick gives him the okay. So there’s a chance, but we don’t know. It’s kind of a game to-game-thing.
06:26 So he’s definitely playing the Sacramento game?
06:28 Yeah, I anticipate — I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t. Thank you.
06:33 Loon, Steve described this as a demoralizing loss and that it’s one that you guys need to turn the page on. When you lose a game like this, what are the challenges of moving on?
06:50 KEVON LOONEY: Just the noise, outside noise. And just the confidence when we get beat like that and kind of a prime time game on TV, you gotta bounce back, get your confidence back, realize that’s not the team that you are, that you’re better than that. So just confidence and then blocking out the outside noise and finding yourself and see where you can get better, hold yourself accountable.
07:15 Steve liked the ball movement for the most part in the first quarter, but mentioned that it stagnated a little bit in the second half. What changed — or in the second quarter, rather — what changed in the second quarter? Was it something they were doing defensively or something that you guys changed offensively?
07:29 I think It was a little bit of both. They were switching everything. They was being real physical with us. I think also we wasn’t getting as many stops when we had to play more in the half court. So when we had to play in the half court, they’re a pretty good team, a great defensive team. So we kind of just slowed down. So we talk about playing on pace all the time. I think the second quarter we wasn’t getting stops and weren’t able to push the ball like that.
07:54 Kevon, you guys have a lot of outside noise all the time around this team and with the All-Star Game coming up, you’re gonna have a lot of people scrutinizing the team, coming in to town. I’m just wondering, how do you shut out the outside noise?
08:10 It’s part of the job. It’s what we sign up for. You just gotta focus on how you can be better, how you can improve. We’re a tight-knit group. We know what we need to do to win. We know what we need to do to get better. So we can’t just let the outside affect what we’re doing. We just gotta not give up, stay tight, tighten it, and just know we need to get better as a group and try to execute as best as possible. But that’s part of the NBA. That’s what makes our league grow and makes us make a lot of money. So we just gotta go with the flow.
08:48 You mentioned confidence. Steve mentioned confidence, especially when it comes to shooting. Can confidence be contagious either in a positive way or a negative way tonight, especially with the three-point shooting? It felt like stuff started a spiral.
09:00 It definitely can, but we can’t play basketball that way. We can’t let our our shots affect the way we compete. We talked about that all year. It’s gonna be halves where you don’t make shots. It’s tough to win that way, but you still gotta play hard. We still gotta compete. You still gotta bring a certain level of energy to win games. And that can depend on whether you make shots or not because if you depend on that, it’s gonna be a lot of games where you’re gonna lose. But if you can depend on your execution, depend on your physicality, depend on your energy and your team principles, you should be able to compete and be in close games.
09:39 As good as Boston is, was it kind of jarring or unsettling to have a game that uncompetitive considering you guys had won two in a row? It seemed like you had found a little bit of your footing the last couple games.
09:51 I mean, whenever you lose by that much, it’s unsettling. It’s not good. But the way this league is right right now, the way guys, teams shoot the ball, it can get out of hand quick. We didn’t make none of our shots. They made almost all of theirs. So the score can get out of control quick. We gotta forget about it, remember who we are and next game compete at a different level.
10:23 You guys took 53 threes, made like 20 percent, I believe. As a big man yourself, how do you find a little more balance in the offense overall?
10:38 I think those are shots we kind of wanted. Especially when you get down early, you kind of trying to catch back up. You’re trying to get the three ball in to hopefully try to cut leads down and try to go on a run that way. I think usually we do a better job of balancing it out and putting more pressure on the paint and touching the paint and kicking the ball out. I mean, once we got down, I think we kind of, we just tried to take shots, tried to get back in the game. But for us, our offense, we want to shoot a lot of threes. We want to play fast and put pressure on the rim. So we’re gonna have games like that. Just hopefully we make more shots.
11:18 Kevon, this was our first kind of extended look at Quinten Post. You practice against him. It looks like he’s got an outside shot, got some offense. What do you like about him? How would you describe his game?
11:31 He’s definitely a stretch big. He can make shots. He has a mean streak with him. He’s a guy that can get down there and he can mix it up. He’s not scared to be physical. He’s seven-foot-plus, so I think he’s gonna have a long career in his league once he find his niche, find his role. I think down in Santa Cruz, he’s shown he can score the ball. He’s shown that he can rebound the ball. So it’s just about him getting reps and really learning how to play at this level. But I think he has a bright future.
12:02 For you, every time I see you guys play the Celtics, I think of June 2022. How long ago does that seem to you?
12:08 Seems like an eternity ago. We done had a lot of different iterations of the team since then. Each year, each season brings on a new challenge. And so that year seems further and further away. But hopefully we can get back to that feeling of being a champion. So we’ve got a long way to go, but we still gotta remember those times so you can know what you’re shooting for.
2:30 was told he should’ve shot more 3s, as he was open, but he said he didn’t want to be a ball hog
6:30 says Draft day was chaotic in that he didn’t really know what team he was going to, although he was elated that he was drafted
7:15 didn’t know at all he’d be drafted, had an interview the day before with the Pistons, also he was injured at the time so he couldn’t do some workouts which was stressful
8:15 five minutes before being drafted his agent called him to say he’s gonna see his ugly face on TV
8:45 he didn’t think it was realistic while in college four years prior
9:30 last two weeks before the Draft he knew he would actually have a chance at the NBA (as a two-way)
11:00 parents went through a major divorce when he was 15 and his body was growing “incredibly” and he had some hip issues; the year before he’d played with a lot of pain; then he played on his father’s team; after that he played with Jessie Edwards; then won the Dutch championship and felt the passion for the game again
14:00 his dad sent a Facebook DM to the Berlin coach; also got recruited by Barcelona and Mega Serbia, but the plan was to go to America all along
17:15 training camp actually “didn’t go very well” from a “basketball perspective”
18:00 Draymond texted Quinten for the rookie to bring him some water to his room in Hawaii
20:45 had to learn like 70 new names of people in the Warriors organization and he had to figure it out himself, from personal chefs to guys helping him with film study
21:30 has asked Looney, “How do you process the moment you’re gonna set a screen?”
22:00 Loon taught him a lot of different nuances depending on the situation and type of player he’s screening
23:00 Steph goes 100% in workouts and makes “absurd” shots
24:15 Rik Smits left him an IG comment on a post to “keep going”
🫶💙💛