Transcript: Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr explains getting Quinten Post and Lindy Wells III and all the moves on draft day

A present to paid subscribers

Here is MDJ’s draft day press conference. It’s all pretty interesting and covers some details like what they like about the new guys, about leaving Quinten Post’s contract status open (two way or minimum) and who’s playing Summer League, a hopefully minor Post injury, and free agency with Chris Paul and Klay Thompson. Plus plenty of other topics.

First, some self-congratulations

This interview also resolved one enduring mystery to me, which was that I was convinced that Quinten Post was the perfect Warriors draft prospect due to statistics, draft projection, and team needs. EXCEPT… he never had a publicly announced draft workout, so I wondered if GSW had identified a problem with his profile.

It’s pretty obvious that GSW needs a stretch 5 (since Draymond and Kuminga both don’t get guarded at the 3 point line). The standout was Quinten Post, who was also popping with BPM, a simple statistical measure. BPM thought he was the #31 most productive college player in the country out of 5,000+ players.

Because he wasn’t mocked to be drafted, I marked him as a GSW priority undrafted free agent in a public mock draft at the end of May — except for the fact that he hadn’t worked out, so I elevated Branden Carlson (the other notable stretch 5 in the class) who did have a GSW workout. And regardless of the lack of workout, I left him in the 2024 DNHQ Draft Tourney and then again called on GSW to make him a priority.

And… lo and behold, he was drafted. And then… Dunleavy confirms that he actually did have an unannounced draft workout and interview. I feel very proud of identifying Post even without the visible evidence. Kind of like inferring the existence of Pluto from basic principles.

After a streak of three years where I was absolutely the opposite of GSW’s drafters and GSW drafted my last choice, it is now two years in a row where GSW drafted the exact guy(s) that I predicted them to target. I feel that under MDJ there has been a marked turn toward the analytics-friendly approach, for better or worse.

The interview

As a present to paid subscribers, I have transcribed the interview here. But let’s have all commentary in the free post.

• Discussion post

Press Conference Transcript

Mike: I mean, I can summarize the day, and then I just don't want to break any rules. But essentially, you know, draft, you know, you're always looking to add players. We were able to do so today, not only through the draft, but also through trade, using draft assets. So I think we're excited about that. Add a couple guys that we think can play and help us. And, you know, it's like a weird, long process to go through throughout the year, getting ready for these couple days now. And so much debate, so much discussion in the room. You're building a board and all that stuff. And it, you know, comes down. We only had one second-round pick, which we traded, and then we decided we really needed to get it back. And we were so desperate to do so. We were able to pull it off. And like I said, coming out of the day with a couple good players that we like.

Question: Just could you explain the process of those trades as much as you can? Did you know that when you made the initial trade with the Thunder that you would end up getting that pick back at the time?

Mike: No, I think we looked at it like, had an opportunity to acquire a player in Lindy that we've liked for a long time. The skill set that we look for. Size, shooting, does some stuff on the court, just more than shooting. Can play both ends, good cutter, and plays the style we want to play. So, there in Oklahoma City, didn't play a ton, but we felt like versus the 52nd pick, this is a player that we feel would be better than 52. From that point, we decided, alright, now we're out of the second round and thus out of the whole draft, and decided that we wanted to get back in 'cause there were some players we liked. Lo and behold, 52 was available, and we really liked it again, and so we got back in. So, it was a bit odd, but there was no original plan to make it all work together, but eventually it did, and ended up making that pick with Quinten, who we really like. Same type of deal, skill set, we identified as a guy that can shoot the ball, stretch the floor, he's got really good size, but more importantly, you know, you want players that can do more than one thing, and we think he rebounds, you know, we think he can defend at a level at the rim that's, you know, NBA acceptable, and good passer, so fits a lot of things we look for. And, you know, we'll see. We'll see how it plays out, but we're excited.

Question: On Waters, had you scouted him when he was a draftable player? I mean, is he somebody you've followed for a while, or is he just somebody who popped up on your radar recently?

Mike: No, he's a guy that we sort of always identified as a guy that if ever, you know, especially on a team with OKC, who has so much depth, if he were able to shake free on the open market or via trade, you know, sort of an under the -- maybe under the table -- not under the table, but kind of like just kind of a buy-low guy. And so he was able, I think, with our pick this year, it was something that worked for them and worked for us. And so I think looking at his production in the G League and then some of the games that he was able to play at the NBA level, we felt like, well, him still being a young age, like this is the right guy to bet on at this point. And that was kind of the thought process in going to that.

Question: Did you plan to roster Quinten?