Sorry fellas but Quinten Post is not a starting center

[EvanZ]

I'm writing this up the morning after the loss to Dallas, the night Kyrie goes for 40+. I'm seeing a lot of Kerr haters blame him for playing Buddy too much and Quinten Post *not enough*. They are half right (and maybe you dear reader fall into this mistaken bunch too). Sorry. I feel the need to explain how basketball works enough so you understand the error here.

Dallas is literally missing 3 centers. LITERALLY (and I mean it in the real sense of the word) they do not have an NBA-caliber center on their active roster right now. Kylor Kelly is a GLFL (G-Leaguer for Life). He got 2 minutes as LITERALLY the only center that can play right now. That should tell you something. So, Dallas was going small no matter what. Kidd has no choice right now.

Now, there are apparently a **** ton of Warriors fans and STEVE KERR the coach who think that if a team is forced to go small you must play LITERALLY ANY 7-footer that you happen to have on your roster to combat that. As if that's a great matchup for you. Sigh.

It's such idiot box thinking or coaching. And to Kerr's tiny tiny credit he did realize this in the second half but it was already too late. The damage was already done. The problem with starting Post in this situation is that he is a stretch big. He literally provides no additional value other than shooting, but he doesn't "stretch" anything when the other team is ALREADY GOING SMALL. Did you see that Dallas put Klay Thompson on Post? That should tell you everything you need to know. Kerr did them a favor.

Post does not rebound. He does not protect the rim. He's not running an offense. He's not even setting good screens right now. He's a G-Leaguer. The fact that he's 7-foot tall does not mean it's a matchup advantage.

Do you know what? There might have been *some* smidge of advantage if Kerr had started TJD last night. At least TJD can finish lobs over smaller players (not legit centers, but as we know there wasn't one). He can provide some rim protection against smaller players (not legit centers though!).

Last night was not the situation to start Post. That was a self-own by Kerr. I said it immediately in the game thread. Starting Buddy makes things even worse. What Kerr should have gone to and what worked last night but took Kerr 4 quarters to realize is this lineup:

Steph
Podz
Moody
Butler
Draymond

That should have been and should be the starting lineup. Quinten Post shouldn't be anywhere near it. I'm not sure he's an NBA player long term. I think he ends up in Europe where his game can work. He just doesn't do enough at the NBA level. And he's already 26.

Sorry. Not sorry. Someone has to tell you guys these things.

[EvanZ]

You know when you might want to play Post some minutes? Against a legit (but smaller) slow-footed center like Sengun. You might be able to bring him away from the basket. But then again, Houston has so many dudes they might just put someone like Tari Eason on Post. Or someone even smaller. In order for Post to give you a matchup advantage it has to be more than just one-dimensional spot-up shooting. That just never works. Not for long anyway.

[sonnyhill]

The sample size is still "'too-small' and 'too-soon'" to make a definitive proclamation on Quinten Post.

Because of injuries, Dallas went small with their last night's lineup, and Kerr reciprocated, to the Warriors' detriment. Also, Curry had a subpar game and just could not matchup against anyone on defense.

Having an inside presence on defense (still yet-to-be-determined if Post can play interior and help defense) hurt the Warriors. Green made a few "All World" defensive plays while defending the interior, as did Moody, too; yet, last night might have been a night where TJD could/should have gotten some playing time (he is more athletic than both Looney and Post).

Your Warrior lineup suggestion for last night's game might have resulted in a Warrior win; however, the lack of an athletic, "point-of-attack" defender would still give Irving too many open looks and open lanes to the basket.

[DutchManDanFan]

He turns 25 in March (don't lie), he's a rookie and he started playing basketball much later than most American guys do.
Does he need to improve (a lot)? Sure. Just like all rookies.
Will he improve enough? He improved from being a late 2nd round pick (g-league) to an NBA starter in a very short time.
There are lots of rookies that don't get good chances. And most fans hate that. If you give a rookie a chance you have to live with the mistakes. If he doesn't learn (enough) from his mistakes the judgement can be harsh and right. But your judgement is just too soon. But you might be right.

[DAWill1128]

I like Post, though he is more matchup dependent. If a team is just camping a center in the paint defensively because they do not care where Looney or Dray are catching the ball then Post is a great curveball/change of pace. The teams lack of shooting makes Post valuable, pick and pops and a center stretching the floor is valuable. Imo Post is our guy until we find a shooting center that's better, I see no reason for him to not be on the roster as currently constructed.

TJD is the guy who should've got run last night because the Mavs played a 6-7 small forward at center all night. The Mavs guarded us air tight and chased us off the line, TJD catching lobs at least would've kept the defense honest. The Mavs playing smaller helped them get downhill and TJD vertically could've cleaned up a lot, at least created the idea in the attacker that we could contest. TJD on the other hand doesn't bring much outside of lobs offensively and defensively he is not great on ball or in the post defending guys posting up.

Looney I thought played alright. Looney is the best team defender and post player defender. But the pace was faster than Looney would want to play last night.

[CDM_Stats]

Warriors only have 2 guys who should start at C and only one was a 2nd round pick… 13 years ago

[GQ Hot Dog]

Post has the mentality and frame to be a rugged big tgat does a lot of dirty work on one end, while setting screens and knocking down shots on the other.

But he doesn't look like he's lifted weights in his life and because he's so big it affects his balance. Once he gets stronger he'll be able to move and change direction much more fluidly which will help him immensely.

He'll be much improved and our starting center after an off season of working on his body. Book it.

[TB]

The use of Post (to start, and then bringing him back in 4th quarter) and the use of Buddy (after he was like 1/9 and -20) over GP2 on Kyrie were two of the most obvious awful coaching decisions of the season. The type of decision that makes me feel certain that the 6th seed is unattainable with Kerr at the helm of this team.

I really don't think that game is even close if all of the Post minutes go to Dray/Loon at center and the minute breakdown of Buddy/GP2 are swapped. Dubs win by double digits.

Against a team that small, it was the perfect chance to 1) let dray play only center without beating him up, and 2) use a rebounder like Loon to overwhelm them inside. The one things you 100% do not need is a stretch big against that team. The fact Kerr thought a stretch big was the thing we needed is just mind-blowing.

As for Post in general, he can definitely be useful as a stretch big in certain scenarios... we have seen that this year. This was not one of those scenarios.

[DonaldSanders]

Post should not start, but I think he can come in for bench scoring 12-14 minutes a game.

[Nvnervous45]

Post should start. Looney provides almost nothing on offense.

[Twinkie defense]

Too much importance is put on who happens to be out on the court at tipoff - the first minute is no more important than the 28th minute and usually not important as the last minute. That said, Quinten Post has some NBA-level skills and he is going to get on the court, and whether that is to start or come off the bench is not that important.

However I agree 100% that you don't counter a team going small by going big. Players who can dribble, drive, and shoot - usually these are the smaller players - lick their chops when they see a lumbering big man come out to the three point line to guard them... or fall back into drop coverage leaving them to shoot wide-open jumpers. Warriors no longer have the luxury of having one five-man unit that is clearly the best lineup, and that is going to be the main lineup night in and night out. The lineups are going to change based on the opponent and on who's hot. And sometimes that means QP should start.

[Twinkie defense]

What Kerr should have gone to and what worked last night but took Kerr 4 quarters to realize is this lineup:

Steph
Podz
Moody
Butler
Draymond

Read on Twitter

[DonaldSanders]

What Kerr should have gone to and what worked last night but took Kerr 4 quarters to realize is this lineup:

Steph
Podz
Moody
Butler
Draymond

Read on Twitter

Yeah I think this is probably our best lineup. Hope it works out tonight, we need this win!

[Swift21]

Who cares. It's a late second round pick. Just be happy if they offer any value.

[EvanZ]

What Kerr should have gone to and what worked last night but took Kerr 4 quarters to realize is this lineup:

Steph
Podz
Moody
Butler
Draymond

Read on Twitter

Praise Jesus

[GQ Hot Dog]

Bump. Just for fun.

[vvoland]

He's starting to convince me they should start him for the rest of the year just to see if there's anything there. I'm sure they won't even though he turned the game around tonight, despite the 56 Steph dropped. Post was his Batman tonight, and his rim defense was decent against a very big/mobile team.

Even if he won't start, I hope he plays enough to show whether or not he can play 10-15 mins in the playoffs, even if only as a shooter, in short stints. The game is still too fast for him and it'll only get faster come April and May. He's been catching up fairly quickly but needs to keep his minutes to continue doing so.

This all gets tough when JK comes back

[Coxy]

Quinten Post is the new Brook Lopez.

[DonaldSanders]

I think it's match up dependent whether Post would be useful as a starter. The Magic are huge and he really helped with his height, wingspan, and floorspacing. Against other smaller teams, there is less of a role for him.

As he grows, even during this shortened season, it seems like he will earn more minutes. Instead of a 12-15mpg guy off the bench he could become a 20-25mpg guy who sometimes closes.

But I wouldn't change our new Jimmy/Moses/Podz/Dray/30 starting lineup just yet based on 1 game, it's been so good.

[vvoland]

I think it's match up dependent whether Post would be useful as a starter. The Magic are huge and he really helped with his height, wingspan, and floorspacing. Against other smaller teams, there is less of a role for him.

As he grows, even during this shortened season, it seems like he will earn more minutes. Instead of a 12-15mpg guy off the bench he could become a 20-25mpg guy who sometimes closes.

But I wouldn't change our new Jimmy/Moses/Podz/Dray/30 starting lineup just yet based on 1 game, it's been so good.

Post has been really solid on offense for about a month now. I agree his size is more useful against bigger teams but his shooting is useful against all of them.

I think that lineup is unlikely to be the one we ride through the playoffs. Either a center (loon? Post?) or jk (if he can shoot 3s after two months off) will take the place of either podz or moody, depending on who shoots and defend best.