While Kristaps Porzingis remains away from the Golden State Warriors, that problem has only been made to look worse by Quinten Post's early impact with the Memphis Grizzlies to open the season.
Many raised eyebrows when the Grizzlies offered Post a three-year, $30 million deal as a restricted free agent, but the Warriors may be regretting not placing themselves in a better position to be able to match it after what's happened since.
Quinten Post is making Kristaps Porzingis problem worse
Memphis have been arguably the surprise story of the league through the first 10 days, having won all five of their games which included an incredible comeback victory against the Warriors at Chase Center last Friday.
Post hasn't been a star by any means, but he's certainly playing his role on what's emerging as a sneaky playoff contender when many thought the Grizzlies would be one of the bottom three teams in the Western Conference.
Memphis took a gamble on Post combining the three-point shooting we saw in his rookie year, with the improvements as an interior defender in year two. The early signs are certainly encouraging on that front -- he's ranked fourth in defensive rating on a Grizzlies team that's fourth in the league in defense, while also shooting 41.7% from beyond the arc on nearly 2.5 attempts.
Post is averaging 7.6 points on over 60% shooting from the floor. The shooting percentages won't necessarily maintain throughout the entire season, but the Grizzlies are undoubtedly getting early return on their investment.
Warriors could really do with Quinten Post right now
Golden State couldn't afford to keep Post while staying under the second apron, and they wouldn't have wanted to pay a third center $10 million anyway. What they didn't account for was Porzingis being completely away from the team, and therefore the potential of Post elevating into a starter even if his minutes remained around 20 per game.
Draymond Green has fared well as a small-ball five against Nikola Jokic and Rudy Gobert over the last two games, but whether it's sustainable over a long season is up in the air. Steve Kerr doesn't appear to trust Charles Bassey or Graham Ike in such situations, perhaps because of their inability to stretch the floor which makes for an awkward offensive fit with Green.
Things would be all well and fine if Porzingis was on the floor and available, but Post's departure is being felt significantly by the fact the former All-Star may never play professional basketball again.
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