Golden State Warriors: Who should be cut to make room for Quinn Cook?

Quinn Cook’s stellar play with Stephen Curry out brought to light a longstanding Golden State Warriors roster deficiency. Signing Cook for the postseason, however, means somebody else has to go.

With Stephen Curry set to return to the Golden State Warriors on March 23 against Atlanta, the team will get its uber-valuable point guard back.

His most recent absence, however, has not been as negative as those prior. The Warriors’ record has suffered (3-4 since Curry went down), but now, essentially locked into the No. 2 seed, they have benefitted in a more important way. They have found Quinn Cook.

Ever since Jarrett Jack left as a free agent in 2013, the Warriors have lacked a traditional backup point guard. Jack’s departure was a result of the team adding Andre Iguodala, a far superior overall player who was supposed to double as the new de-facto backup point guard.

The signing was a great success, but not that aspect of it. Desperate for something behind Curry, the Warriors tried everything. Toney Douglas, Nemanja Nedovic, Kent Bazemore, Jordan Crawford and Steve Blake were all considered the answer at times during the 2013-14 season, but needless to say, none were.

The Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa signings the following summer were massive upgrades, but neither was a traditional 1. The Warriors cruised to a title with a healthy Curry, and to nearly two more over the next two years.

More from Golden State Warriors

As Curry became more durable and his game more dominant, a traditional backup seemed less necessary. But as his ankle problems have crept back, a new reality has come to light. Livingston and Iguodala are aging. Barbosa is gone, and was never replaced. Even with Kevin Durant, the offense relies on Curry more than ever. Golden State’s offensive rating is 120.5 with Curry on the floor, and 106.1 without him.

Suddenly, the need for a reasonable Curry facsimile is of the utmost importance.

Enter Cook. After struggling in spot minutes during his first couple call-ups, the G League superstar is producing on the NBA level. While he isn’t posting 25.8 points and 8.1 assists per game on absurd .524/.437/.950 splits like he was in Santa Cruz, Cook has averaged 16.3 points with a Curry-esque 62.9 true shooting percentage since being inserted as the starter in Oakland.

More importantly, he operates in a fashion similar to Curry. He is creative in transition. He can bury off-the-dribble 3s coming off screens, and snakes his way into comfortable mid-range spots where he’s shooting an absurd 59 percent. He’s equally comfortable setting up teammates as he is moving off the ball and being set up.

The fact that the Warriors found that type of player on a two-way contract is both a testament to their terrific front office and to their uncanny luck, the two factors seemingly at play with every decision the franchise has made over the last half decade-plus.

Now, it is general manager Bob Myers’ chance to do what he does best: capitalize, in the form of adding Cook to the playoff roster.

Doing so will require a tough decision. A player currently under contract will have to be cut, and no one stands out as a great option. However, Cook’s value as at least an insurance policy and potentially an antidote to the poor offense when Curry sits makes him more valuable to a title run than half a dozen guys.

Omri Casspi, Nick Young, Patrick McCaw, JaVale McGee, Kevon Looney and Damian Jones are all either less impactful or more superfluous than Cook. Failing to add the point guard to the playoff roster would be indefensible.

Of those six, three guys should be safe. McCaw is the Warriors’ youngest player, and the only cost-controlled wing on the roster. He has too much long-term value to consider parting with. While Young and McGee are both older free agents-to-be who leave much to be desired in the defense and decision-making departments, they are safe as well. Each guy brings too much offensive firepower and spacing—be it horizontal or vertical—to throw away. Besides, Cook needs scoring threats alongside him to run an effective bench-unit offense.

That leaves three options.

Omri Casspi

Due primarily to a strange unwillingness to shoot 3s, Casspi has developed a bad reputation in Warriors circles. While it is odd that the career 36.9 percent shooter has only taken 0.4 triples per game, the rep is undeserved.

More from Hoops Habit

Casspi is super efficient. He ranks fifth on the Warriors in true shooting percentage, behind only Curry, Durant and two pure dunkers in McGee and Jordan Bell. This is because he has traded his 36.9 percent 3-point shooting for 70.5 percent shooting at the rim, where 105 of his 174 shots have come from.

Other than Klay Thompson, Casspi has become the best cutter on a team whose offensive philosophy is predicated on cutting. He could find a better balance, but to criticize Casspi’s offensive game is to misunderstand the principles of Steve Kerr‘s system.

Casspi is also a far more active defender and rebounder than Nick Young. He’s a better passer too, and if it wasn’t for Young’s superior health and apparently strong relationship with his teammates, he’d be the one the chopping block.

That being said, health is a legitimate concern. Giving a valuable playoff roster spot to a guy that has not been able to stay on the court is dicey. Still, he plays a position of need, with Iguodala as the team’s only other natural 3 off the bench. It would be riskier to cut Casspi and leave that position thin than it would be to cut one of the team’s six big men and risk Casspi getting hurt.

Damian Jones

Clearly, Jones is the player least essential to this year’s title run. He will see a grand total of zero playoff minutes barring multiple—like three or four—injuries to players in front of him. He’s appeared in 15 games for 96 minutes during his two-year career, and has underwhelmed in just about all of them.

That said, Jones is under contract for next season. Cutting him would cost the Warriors money and cap space, and would take away one of the three rookie contracts the team controls (along with Bell and McCaw).

It is unclear whether Jones is worth keeping around long-term, but waiving him now does not make a whole lot of sense.

Kevon Looney

Looney is a much more useful player than Jones at this point in their respective careers. He is unlikely to see consistent playoff minutes, but he does have a niche role on the fringes of Kerr’s rotation.

His ability to switch, protect the rim, rebound, run the floor and finish distinguishes him from McGee (who doesn’t switch, protect the rim consistently or rebound), West (who doesn’t run or rebound well as a 5) and Pachulia (who doesn’t do any of those things well other than rebound). Jordan Bell is in many ways a better version of Looney, but his health makes him difficult to pencil into playoff minutes.

However, Looney is going to be a free agent this summer. The Warriors declined his fourth-year option this past fall, essentially choosing the younger, higher-upside Jones. They may have chosen differently if they could go back, but at the end of his second year, Looney looked a lot like Jones does at the end of his.

Who’s got to go?

My sense is that the Warriors will cut Casspi. Myers may want to mulligan on Looney and bring him back, while also hedging his bet on Jones. Given that Casspi has been in and out of Kerr’s rotation this year, this decision can be rationalized, even if it weakens the team’s title chances more than cutting one of the two bigs would.

If it were me? I would cut Looney. He provides less potential value than Casspi this postseason, while also having zero guaranteed money for next year. Jones’ potential should not be discarded yet, and cutting him would be sloppy from a roster building/salary cap perspective. If the Warriors really do want Looney back, they can still re-sign him this summer.

Whatever Myers and Kerr end up deciding is best, one thing is clear: Someone needs to be cut, because Cook needs to be signed.

Next: 2017-18 Week 23 NBA Power Rankings

All stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball-Reference.com, and Cleaning the Glass.

Home/Golden State Warriors

Golden State Warriors: Quinn Cook must be on playoff roster, so who’s out?

By Simon Cherin-Gordon | Mar 22, 2018