Posts ‘Hectic’ Warriors Draft Experience Could Lead to Dutch History originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – The only way Quinten Post can best describe his experience in the 2024 NBA Draft is “completely hectic.”
Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy, after a maze of maneuvers and formalities, managed to reacquire the 52nd pick to select Post, a 7-foot-1, big player, just hours after Golden State had earlier traded the selection to the Oklahoma City Thunder for shooting guard Lindy Waters III.
Post didn’t know whether or not he would be drafted until about five minutes before the Warriors were scheduled to play, when his agent told him to make sure he was near a TV. The 24-year-old Boston College product wasn’t even officially home yet.
Post, born in the Netherlands, watched the draft with his girlfriend who lives in Puerto Rico. When reality hit and the party started, Post immediately called his parents back in Amsterdam.
“I was quiet at first. I don’t think I had any words,” Post said Monday at Chase Center. “I didn’t really know what to say. It was beautiful. My parents were both crying and my little sister was there. It was just beautiful, that’s all I can say.”
The Warriors trained Post privately at Chase Center for the draft. His maturity and ability to stretch the floor stood out immediately, a reflection of the extensive film they had on him and their background work.
“You know what, smart kid,” Dunleavy said Thursday after the second-round draft pick. “Knew the game really well. We sat down with him and watched some film. We interviewed him and talked about things, and that’s probably a reflection of his age.
“He’s 24 and probably a little more mature. We just felt like he’s a guy who gets it. You have a guy who you’re good with at that level, good with the skill set and it just felt like it made a lot of sense to try to draft him.”
Dunleavy could add a prospect for the second straight draft who shouldn’t be a project. The Warriors traded down to the second round a year ago to take Trayce Jackson-Davis, a guy who was unfairly drafted because of his age after spending four years as the starting center at Indiana. Post actually has more college experience than Jackson-Davis. He spent five years in college, playing his first two seasons at Mississippi State before transferring to Boston College for his final three years.
Over the past two years, Post’s ability to run defenses behind the 3-point line as a true pick-and-pop threat has shone through. Post shot 42.6 percent from three in 2022-23 as he was named the ACC’s Most Improved Player, and that number jumped to 43.1 percent from three this past season. His effective field goal percentage of 57.2 ranked fourth in the ACC his final season, and Post had the ninth-best true shooting percentage (60.7 percent) in one of college basketball’s top conferences.
But Post says his 3-point shot at Boston College isn’t a standout. Instead, it’s more a reflection of how he played in Europe rather than the beginning of his American basketball career.
The green light to let it fly from Boston College head coach Earl Grant gave Post the confidence he needed. Post admits he was taking the ball way too far back on his shot in his early college days. Now he wants to show he can be more than just a stationary shooter.
“That’s not something I added to my game. It’s more something I added at a high level,” he said. “I feel like in college I didn’t really shoot a lot of movement. I was more spotting.
“I think even with my size, I can kind of shoot when I’m moving, when I’m coming off the screen. That’s definitely something I think I can show in the Warriors system, but also improve on.”
Post didn’t start playing basketball until he was 11 years old, when he was immediately drawn to watching arguably the greatest 7-footer in the game: Dirk Nowitzki. If Post can emulate Nowitzki’s shooting at his size, he should be able to find the court for Steve Kerr and the Warriors sooner rather than later. He’d also be making history.
The same year the Minnesota Timberwolves passed on Steph Curry twice in the 2009 draft, they also took Henk Norel in the second round of the draft – No. 47 overall. That was the last time a player from the Netherlands was drafted before Post heard his name called.
Norel never played a game in the NBA. Dan Gudzeric, selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2002 draft, was the last NBA player to represent the Netherlands. Gudzeric played 10 seasons in the NBA between four teams, including 28 with the Warriors in the 2010-11 season.
Between the Warriors who drafted Post and other teams that signed after the draft, four players from the Netherlands signed NBA contracts last week.
“The Dutch, we are the tallest people in the world, but basketball just hasn’t grown as much as it has in other places,” Post said. “I think the four of us are hoping that it will send a wave through our country.
“I am personally very proud to represent the Netherlands.”
Post is currently nursing a minor injury to his left leg, ankle/calf, which he sustained while training for the draft. He flew to the Bay Area on Sunday night and is already working with the Warriors’ training staff. Post does not expect to play in the summer league of the California Classic and hopes to be part of the team’s games in Las Vegas.
When Post gets to wear his number 21 Warriors jersey in a game for the first time, he hopes to become their newest talent ready for professional football, while at the same time playing for a whole new generation of Dutch basketball players.
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