Golden State Warriors: Quinn Cook deserves significantly more minutes

The Golden State Warriors backup point guard, Quinn Cook, has arguably been the team’s most efficient player and deserves to receive minutes as such.

There aren’t many players on the Golden State Warriors roster that can make an argument that they deserve more minutes. However, former four-year Duke standout Quinn Cook can, and it’s an extremely strong argument as well.

After signing a two-year minimum salary last April, Quinn Cook has flown under the radar as one of the Warriors better second unit players. Although down 1.9 points per game, Cook’s 7.6 per game leads the Warriors second unit which is bottom-five in points per game.

It’s not just that Cook is the team’s fourth-leading scorer. It’s more on how he’s getting his buckets. Shooting over 46% from the field, Cook is the third-best of any non-center, only behind Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.

When we break it down a bit further, Cook’s shooting becomes even more impressive. Cook is shooting 45.5% from three-point land. The highest percentage on the team, Cook has been shooting light out from downtown.

For some reason, although he’s averaging a career-high per 36 minutes, he’s averaging far fewer minutes per game. Most stats any fan cares about, Cook’s improved this season. Steals, rebounds, blocks and points are all higher per 36 minutes than they were a season ago.

Then why does he average almost seven fewer minutes per game? His 9.6 player impact estimate, four-best on the team, shows that he’s making a reasonable impact on the game, which continues to mind-boggle many fans on why he’s stuck on the bench for most of any game.

The only reasonable explanation for a lack of minutes is that Cook and Curry are both solely point guard options with each playing the two guard very little throughout their career.

That limits Cook’s minutes when Curry is averaging nearly 35 minutes per game. What the Warriors haven’t tried are many lineups that feature both Curry and Cook.

Assuming a smaller two-guard is on the other side of the ball, Curry’s defense would more than likely hold up against a bigger shooting guard. That’d unlock a new dimension to the Warriors already limitless offensive sets.

That’s the next play for the Warriors moving forward. Get Cook and Curry together and see if they can be stopped. Cook has been far too good in limited minutes no to warrant more, so something must change in the near future.