Quinten Post has had an incredible first year with the Golden State Warriors, surpassing all expectations placed on the 52nd overall pick as a rookie center.
Yet as the Warriors season hangs on life support after back-to-back losses to the Houston Rockets, Post is becoming a growing problem for Steve Kerr which was again showcased in Friday night's 115-107 home defeat.
Quinten Post has been a dismal answer to the Rockets size
As Golden State look to match the size the Rockets are throwing on the floor with Alperun Sengun and Steven Adams, the seven-foot Post is becoming all the more important, particularly given Kerr appears reluctant to compromise the offense with non-spacing threats like Kevon Looney or Trayce Jackson-Davis.
The problem is Post isn't really up to the task, with the rookie more like a shooting guard trapped in a center's body at this point of his career. While Sengun and Adams combined for six offensive rebounds and 19 overall in Game 6, Post had just one in his 18 minutes during the eight-point loss.
The issue was evident late in the third-quarter when Adams missed two free-throws, only for Sengun to easily out-manoeuvre Post under the rim and get a put-back layup that extended his team's lead to seven.
Aside from recording 12 rebounds in a promising performance in Game 3, Post has 10 total rebounds in the 89 minutes across the other five games. Combine that with his defensive limitations and there's little surprise as to why the Warriors are a -29 in his minutes so far this series.
Is it his fault? Not really. These are the issues that are likely to face any rookie center, let alone one that was a late second-round pick. If Post was a strong rebounder, strong interior defender and also shot 40% from beyond the arc, there is no way he would have slipped to Golden State's 52nd pick in the first place.
If anything there should be optimism that Post has been so effective in his first year while holding significant limitations, giving him obvious aspects to work on in what will be an incredibly crucial offseason.
The bigger problem is that the Warriors didn't see this coming, and didn't try to get out in front of it by upgrading the Looney spot to an experienced big man who could provide bigger impact right now. Would Nikola Vucevic have been helpful in this series? His own defensive issues would have been a problem, but the 2x All-Star would have also likely grabbed more than the 10 rebounds that Post has excluding Game 3.
So, what do Golden State do in Game 7? Hold faith in Post, lean into Looney/Jackson-Davis, or dive more into small-ball minutes with Draymond Green at center? There really isn't a perfect answer, leaving Warriors fans anxious on their team's chances of limiting Houston's size and ultimately prevailing in a series decider on the road.