One thing for sure....He has good bench manners. If he played and at the same level as GS days,I would drink warm beer for a night.
I don't doubt that at all, but O'Quinn is what he is, a backup. There's not much upside with him. I get that he'll help us win more than any rookie at 23, but we'd also be passing on an opportunity to take a swing at a young, cheap, potential starter, no matter the odds.
He's only available because he's buried behind Porzingas and Hernangomez (and to a lesser extent Joakim Noah). He was available at the trade deadline and will be available again this summer. He is truly an elite level rim protector. He runs the floor well and has good instincts. He had 104 BLKs in spite of playing only 1229 minutes. That's good for 12th in the entire league in BLKs in spite of being 238th in minutes played. That level of rim protection alone makes him the perfect back up to Nurk. We would see no drop off in interior defense when Nurk sits. Throw in the fact that he's also an elite level rebounder, a surprisingly capable passer and can either play on the low block or step out and knock down a mid range jumper makes him a good fit next to either Nurk or Vonleh. He doesn't have 3-point range, but after watching Meyers, is that what we really want from our back up PF? He has good range on his jumper out to nearly the 3-point line and that, combined with his passing, should be enough to create space for Nurk and Vonleh to operate down low. Plus, he's cheap - for now. BNM
Assuming we can get a rookie that's a potential starter (big assumption - it's also an assumption that the CLE pick will be at 23), will that rookie be ready to contribute before Dame turns 30? It's not like O'Quinn is old. He's less than 4 months older than Dame BNM
