Golden State Warriors: Grading each player in the first round
Quinn Cook: D
Playing in his first NBA postseason run, Quinn Cook didn’t do too bad. Averaging 5.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 17.4 minutes, Cook never looked completely out of his league, remaining perfectly composed in each of his appearances.
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Additionally, Cook shot 40.0 percent from the field, 30.8 percent from behind the arc and 83.3 percent from the free throw line.
The only real issue I had with Cook offensively didn’t have anything to do with the way he played; rather, I felt the coaching staff completely misused him, playing him alongside KD while also taking the ball out of his hands.
I would understand why the team would like Shaun Livingston or Andre Iguodala to bring up the ball and run it from up top, but I wasn’t a fan of KD bringing it up instead of Cook. Cook is very much a ball-dominant, score-first guard, so limiting his opportunities to make decisions with the ball hurt his rhythm a bit, in my opinion.
However, Cook certainly leaves something to be desired defensively. Opposing guards seemed to always go at him whenever he was on the floor, and Cook’s offensive struggles didn’t help balance that out.
Statistically, opponents tended to shoot better with Cook on the floor (44.7 percent) than off (39.3 percent), and the team posted a better defensive rating with him off the floor (99.2) than on (102.2 — 5th worst).