Quinten Post Scouting Report
A switchable seven-footer with the fundamentals of a veteran. That's Post in a nutshell. But what is the NBA intrigue? How will his potential role look like? Find out in this in-depth piece below.
Versatile pick-and-roll defense is the base of a long-term NBA piece. That’s an area where Post played himself to NBA radars as an ACC veteran. While improving his jumper, the Dutch native worked on getting good at multiple ways to find his points. At 24 years old, it’s crucial to be ready to contribute on day one due to a lack of jerseys and the pool of big men growing with each year passing by.
As a fifth-year senior, Post finished his collegiate career in style as he earned All-ACC Second Team honors. At 17 points on 43.1% shooting from three, he solidifies his case to impact a team’s offense while keeping its defense rating on par. This scouting report will solely focus on areas of his NBA role and how we can stick in the league for years to come.
Physical Profile
As a true seven-footer in socks, Post has a strong upper body with broad shoulders. His fluid hips and decent upper-leg strength give him the mobility to move his feet quickly. With most European big men learning the game by mastering the fundamentals first before ball skills start to matter, Post earned a starting spot at Boston College in his junior year.
He’s a good rebounder due to his great positioning combined with boxing out hard resulting in him collecting rebounds. That’s the base for his NBA success and supporting a team’s offensive rating as he’ll be a positive with his impact on the glass, where he ranked sixth in the whole ACC.
At 244 pounds, Post bulked up throughout the years while maintaining good foot speed. He doesn’t have light feet, but his footwork makes it easy for Post to create both angles on the offensive end and help him slide his feet well when he goes over screens, his biggest trait outside of classic drop coverage defense.
Defense
That’s his most important NBA role. In a pick-and-roll heavy NBA game, the classic drop-coverage center is changing toward more versatility on that end. Where most teams use switches to keep their center inside the arc, Post offers a team more room to operate in answering opposing schemes that have the goal of luring the big man out of his comfort zone. And that’s where Post is convincing with his defense.
In the second and fifth play below, the ball handler switches onto Post who uses his positioning very well to force them to beat him off the dribble. With pull-up threes being less effective than executing a playmaking read after breaking the defense down, both plays focus on Post keeping the scoring pressure at the ball handler. Despite the jumper in the second possession going in, that’s a good defensive play where he remains enough distance that he can cover up with his 7’2.50” wingspan.
At a 27-inch vertical leap, his bounciness doesn’t stand out. But that is less relevant due to his excellent positional size. With it being likely an NBA team will use him in classic drop-coverage schemes as well, we see Boston College play in NBA-styled four-out defenses, using Post as their anchor in the paint. That’s visible in the first play below, where Post closes out timely to contest the midrange jumper. An important detail before his shot contest is his using his pivot foot well to pressure the ball handler to either attack him off the dribble or bail him out with the jumper.
Against better decision-makers off the dribble in the NBA, Post does well to answer timely in forcing ball handlers to try and seal against him. In the third and fourth plays below, two examples are shown where the ball handler again drives to the midrange, where Post steps out aggressively with his pivot foot to force the jumper or initiate contact. In both cases, his value as a rim deterrent leads to his opponent’s settling for jump shots.
An important nuance here is that in college, guards are often under-sized compared to NBA guards in general. That’s why it’s crucial to start his NBA role with him showing he’s able to impact a scorer’s decision-making, where defenses will gladly give up a pull-up jumper compared to a lay-up closer to the basket.
Against cutters, Boston College often schemed in a way where Post defended the interior in a more European-styled way. Due to no defensive three-second rule in FIBA-organized games, Post brought his habit of ground coverage as a seven-footer to the ACC. He’s very well at roaming the paint due to his advanced footwork, keeping him in feet-slide mode at all times.
At 2.2 blocks per game, most of his stops at the rim come as the help-side defender or when rotating to the play-finisher after dump-off passes, as shown in the first play below.
In the second play, Post shows his defensive awareness by timely helping against the dribble penetration. His teammate under the basket had to rotate to the big, which didn’t happen, whereafter Post had to commit with hard contact, leading to him picking up a personal foul. At 2.9 personal fouls in 35 minutes per game, he plays in control more often than not. However, an important nuance to the foul numbers is his having to pick up rotational mistakes as his team’s de facto leader under the rim.
In the third play below, we see another important flash of Post’s good positional feel. Upon dribble penetration, he immediately puts a foot in the paint to be able to launch as the help-side defender when he needs to. As a result, he gets dunked on near the rim, which is not an issue to it showing his toughness and drive to garner stops near “his” rim. An NBA decision-maker won’t have issues with this play, as toughness and not shying away from contact is one of the important areas they look for in filling their depth at the center position.
The NBA wouldn’t be the NBA without showing the need to guard the perimeter from all five positions. Therefore, switches continue to force Post to get out of the paint and not get too comfortable staying there. That’s an area where his footwork continues to stand out.
However, an area of development for Post is despite his strong upper body and overall frame, he often gets brought out of balance when scorers meet him near the rim. In the third play below we see an example. NBA-level scorers will focus on forcing the big man to underneath the basket, limiting the impact of their shot contest via jumps. And that’s what led to the scorer finishing the play via the second-chance opportunity.
While having four or more fouls in 11 of his 35 games this season, Post got into foul trouble this season. Therefore, he had to focus on being careful to not pick up unnecessary fouls early on in games. This led to him giving up the points in the above-mentioned play, as the game was only two minutes in. With a lack of depth at center, Post was forced to play heavy minutes, thus teams, especially during conference play, targeted Post to put him into foul trouble. That’s an important nuance in the evaluation of his defense against catch-and-drive sets.
However, in a reduced role on an NBA floor, Post will foul less. In the first two plays below, we see him show good signs of decision-making in how to defend closeout attackers. In the first play, Post doesn’t bite on the jab step, forcing the ball handler to attack the strong side via the midrange. Despite being forced slightly out of position before the spin move, he does well to correct and use his length to alter the shot away near the rim.
In the second play, Post shows his good habits of rotating timely after his teammate took over his assignment. By dropping to the paint to eventually meet the ball handler, he forced him to a tough lay-up, where the opponent got bailed out with a cheap call by the referee; something that’s expected less on an NBA floor as they usually allow more contact than the average referee in the ACC.
When picking up ball handlers outside the paint, Post shows the ability to slide his feet well, showing off his footwork with aggressive pivot foot placements while maintaining his balance. His habits of forcing ball handlers to decide and not biting on fakes or jab steps make him an effective rim protector, even when he’s guarding in space against dribble penetration. Footwork while not overcommitting in his shot contests is a combination NBA decision-makers will value in determining how well a defender does in guarding in space.
When it comes to Post guarding against spot-up shooters, he’s often caught closing out too late. That’s an area to work on. He’s much more comfortable in guarding against midrange jumpers, as shown in the third and fourth plays below. The paint is his comfort zone and despite Post often getting out of the paint to respond to switches via the pick-and-roll, his reactionary speed on unexpected passes is below-average.
In the first play below, Post uses his pivot foot well to force a fadeaway jumper, where the ball handler got rid of the ball with a bailout pass to the elbow. Hereafter, Post reacted too slowly despite having light enough feet to continue to close out the play. His body language speaks to him knowing and acknowledging the mistake while nonchalantly tagging the shooter, instead of getting into defensive box-out mode. An area an NBA decision-maker must work on with his coaching staff to develop a habit of Post using his feet to his advantage in these plays.
We see a better closeout on the second play below, where Post is caught with two feet deep inside the paint, making it tough for himself to cover the space to the corner—on a better-spaced NBA floor, that’s likely giving up a wide-open three, as a help-side defender shouldn’t overcommit that much in their rotations. No red flags, but attention points where an NBA coaching staff will have to put time and effort in together with Post in improving his positioning against dribble-drives where he plays as the help-side defender.
Offense
At 43.1% on 3.3 attempts per game, Post is an above-average three-point shooter among his peers. He took almost the same amount of threes as a fifth-year senior (116) than his four prior years combined (129). That’s the feasibility test showing the jump in volume shows realistic returns when comparing it to an NBA standard.
This makes the adjustment to the NBA three-point line much easier for Post. Despite 43.1% being a way above-average number, it’s projectable that he starts his career as an average shooter, with room to grow into a plus-shooter for his position. The numbers are supported by his consistent shooting mechanics.
Despite a slower release, Post does well to keep the ball at the level above his waist. Hereafter, he doesn’t fully bend his needs, as she’s strong enough to power up for the jumper while maintaining a high release point. With a 2.5-inch plus wingspan, his length helps him to minimize the risk of getting blocked, limiting the impact of his slow release, with the first play below being an example.
Getting to his spots is also a crucial area of his NBA game. Due to him being a paint presence, recognizing dribble drives ignites his relocations to the perimeter, as shown in the second play below. He sets his feet quickly after relocating to where the pass needs to be. Again, he doesn’t bend his knees fully while keeping the ball high for the release. This opens room for Post to grow into a movement shooter if an NBA team sees the need to develop that to support their shooting depth off the bench.
In the third and fourth play below, we see his activity as a screener coming to the place to help him create separation. He leverages his screening to be creative and put out fake screens (third play) or tag his assignment before popping out to his spot, as shown in the fourth play below.
At 2.9 assists per game, he almost doubled that number compared to his last season while transitioning to a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. After testing the draft waters last year, he worked on the feedback he has gotten from NBA scouts to improve his passing to continue to leverage his paint presence to serve as either a ball-mover or playmaking hub inside the arc.
The first play below shows signs of him growing into a short-roll passer. After receiving the ball in the far midrange, he doesn’t hesitate to dish the overhead bullet pass to the cutter inside the arc. He needed one second to execute his read. Despite it being a basic read, his execution speed stands out.
We see a similar execution on his read in the second play below, where he immediately sees the backdoor cutter after forcing the rotation with his roll after the handoff pass. With short-roll playmaking being one of the most wanted but less available traits, Post solidifies the offense value of his profile due to him serving as a playmaking hub who can execute basic reads quickly to find high-quality looks—thus helping a team maintain its offensive rating.
In the third play below, he responds to a good defensive closeout by keeping the ball moving. Again, the pass is close to a touch pass in terms of his execution speed. Making the extra pass instead of forcing the closeout attack speaks volumes to the maturity of his game. The same applies to the fourth play, where NBA decision-makers can see how Post responds to the team’s scheming him out of the paint with him hitting the cutter quickly after posting up far away from the basket.
The overall package of passing creativity makes it likely an NBA team focusing on ball movement and motion finding a suitable backup big man in Post.
As a play-finisher via cuts, it’s clear that Post has studied the Gasol brothers in how he executes plays. In the second play, he keeps the ball high after receiving the dump-off pass, instead of lowering the ball to power himself back up for the finish. Despite being heavily contested, he responds with his physicality to still finish the play.
At 64.7% on close to six attempts per game near the rim, Post shows consistency as a play-finisher making it likely that he can contribute right away even when his jumpers aren’t falling. With NBA teams not reserving many attempts to big men, it’s important to evaluate whether the attempts are forced or the team’s scheme offensively to serve big man production. In Boston College’s case, Post’s activity inside the arc with timely cuts responding to dribble penetration makes him so effective in getting into position to get easy buckets.
Whether it’s the roll in the first play or stepping out of the paint in the second play after the defense collapses; Post puts himself in easy scoring opportunities. In the third play below, we see him smartly relocating away from his assignment after the dribble-drive via the corner, making it easy to two-step and finish via the bounce pass through the middle.
In the fourth play, Post had to work harder against two bodies down low. The most important detail there is his excellent hip mobility leading to a fluid turnaround before trying to power it down. After the miss, he keeps his balance and composure while positioned underneath the basket, leading to him still earning a trip to the free-throw line where he’s an 82.1% shooter. That’s crucial in determining a role to close out games in the NBA, as he shows consistency after shooting 86% from the line last year.
Ultimately, an NBA team would like to see Post increase his offensive scoring load. Therefore, making plays out of closeouts as a fifth option on the floor will bring comfort and versatility to a team’s offense, adding the likeliness to improve an offensive rating with him on the floor. That will make it more likely Post can earn himself a second NBA contract in the future.
As a closeout attacker, Post shows enough creativity via his jab steps to power himself to the rim via straight-line drives. He has a loose handle, but it’s good enough considering his size and lack of on-ball responsibilities. Developing his handles is a swing skill that can help him ascend quicker once he’s fully embraced his future NBA role.
In the first play below we see an example as described above. The impressive part is his touch at the rim. He’s an accurate finisher while putting himself into trouble by getting his layups off too late. In this particular play, he has to lay the ball up earlier than when he’s already fully under the basket, toughening the finish for himself.
And that’s okay for now, despite him being a 24-year-old, NBA teams should still see the untapped potential to help develop, and for Post, that's to fix his late layups. That got in his way on the second play where he was forced to push the ball with power after initiating the contact and creating some separation with the bump.
In the third play, we see him put on a straight-line drive far away from the basket. As a quick passer after the catch, we don’t see a similar thing when he’s self-creating his looks. The dump-off pass after getting two opponents up in the air should have been the execution, instead of going for the tough finish. The process itself made sense, but the execution was lacking. And that’s not a red flag by any means, more an indicator to NBA decision-makers that they should focus on his playmaking qualities in certain situations.
And that investment is feasible to give good returns. The fourth play below shows good offensive creativity for his position by using his pivot foot well on the jab step before launching for the drive. After the hesitation move against the two defenders in the middle, Post creates a finishing angle for himself and rewards the play with a lay-up.
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NBA Draft Projection
Post is a surefire candidate to land a two-way contract at worst. With the draft being ten days away, he has had multiple workouts just like last season. Compared to then, he improved his passing, three-point shooting, and overall court vision.
On the defense end, he further matured his game while standing out as a pick-and-roll defender and leader who helps his teammates while picking up their lack of rotations. He fits in the modern NBA due to him switching out to the perimeter and sliding his feet effectively, giving him a complete package to potentially help a team neutralize their defensive rating with him on the floor from the jump of his career.
On offense, adding a reliable three-point shot is being proven with the volume being almost as high as his first four years combined. Even with the shot not falling, his smart cutting and active rolling will give him enough scoring opportunities based on his activity.
The complete his profile, his feel for the game, and his maturity will lead to teams likely not waiting until after the draft. It’s almost certain he will get his name called in the second round, while potentially earning a guaranteed contract rather than settling for a two-way contract.