The 2021-22 Golden State Warriors season-in-review: Jonathan Kuminga
Kuminga's surprise entry into the rotation in November, the clash between his efficiency and mediocre impact stats, his impressive offensive playtype numbers, and more.
Jonathan Kuminga: B
After a shaky stint in the inaugural season of the G-League’s Ignite team, Jonathan Kuminga was something of a mystery going into the 2021 NBA draft. Kuminga shot below 40% from the field and just 25% from three in the G-League and his team had a meager 90 ORTG when he was on the floor. Those are not numbers that inspire confidence, but Kuminga’s physical gifts were so tantalizing that he remained a consensus top-5 prospect by most credible draft evaluators. I am typically skeptical of the hype given to physically gifted prospects who don’t have the numbers or on-court performance to match their draft stock. Scouting reports like these made me quite upset when the Warriors picked Kuminga and did not then use that pick in a trade on draft night:
Decision-making: He gets flustered when his first read isn’t available and ends up jacking a ton of contested shots instead of looking for a pass or creating a higher-quality shot for himself.
A ball stopper who needs to be better at playing within the flow of the offense.
Inconsistent shooter who’s never had good percentages despite looking comfortable and confident from deep range, both off the catch and dribble. Has subpar touch away from the basket.
Aloof defender who finds himself out of position on rotations and often doesn’t put in effort on rotations. Also bites on pump fakes.
Here are some other weaknesses of Kuminga’s highlighted by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic:
Kuminga is not a good defender right now. It’s all tools with some spectacular highlights. No possession-by-possession consistency. His approach was bad in the G League. Not enough consistency in his stance, and he often decided not to lock in. A lot of standing around when on the ball, where he thought his defensive tools would allow him to chase down and recover to contest. Some lazy lunging and reaching as opposed to staying solid in his stance and in position. Doesn’t know how to navigate ball screens. Really avoided contact on a lot of them and died on the vine. Also, was a bad off-ball defender. Falls asleep way too often. Still not really understanding how and when to read guys coming off screens away from the ball. Those two factors led to a lot of bad closeouts. He needs to play with better balance across the board, and defense is an example.
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The biggest hindrance to his game right now is horrible shot selection and decision-making. Takes some ridiculous midrange shots that just have no shot of going in, especially out of that mid-post game and when he gets bodied as a driver. A lot of off-balance moves. Needs to slow down and become more patient. That also applies to his decision-making as a passer. You like that he plays with real aggression and forces the issue to put pressure on the defense, but it goes too far. Goes into one-on-three scenarios in transition regularly. Throws some really wild passes. Had an even assist-to-turnover ratio despite real flashes as a passer. In part it’s because he’s still working on his overall craft. He’s a raw player. His handle isn’t particularly tight and not particularly creative.
You can imagine, then, my surprise when Jonathan Kuminga got first-quarter playing time early in the season against the Chicago Bulls in mid-November. At that point in the season, fellow rookie, Moses Moody, had already received a brief shot at rotation minutes and done little with it and the Bulls had the best record in the Eastern Conference. Kuminga, who was expected to be more raw than Moody, not only got meaningful minutes against one of the better teams in basketball — he held his own on defense against elite wing talents like DeMar Derozan and Zach Lavine:
In that same game, the Warriors put the ball in Kuminga’s hands later in the game and had Steph Curry set a screen for him at the top of the key. That play ended in an eye-opening dunk for Kuminga:
From that game on, Kuminga never sat more than two games in a row. His physical gifts were obvious and when he applied them to defense, cutting, and running the floor, it was clear that he could help the Warriors. At various points in the early season, Draymond Green spoke quite highly about Kuminga. After that fateful game against the Bulls, Draymond said this:
I have no doubt in my mind that he can check just about anybody. He has the size, strength, quickness and length. Everything you want in a defender, he kinda has. He is going to be a hell of a defender. As he figures out angles, and where guys like to get to, he’ll continue to get better and better.
“He did give us life," Draymond Green said of Kuminga. "Hopefully, he can build on that, we can build on that, continue to get him more minutes. I think I have spoken on that before. I think in order for us to go far, he is going to have to play a part in that. He just has some things that none of us other guys bring to the table. Some of the things, the tools that he has as a basketball player as far as his quickness, his speed, his athleticism, his strength, and youth -- the majority of us don’t have that.
The Warriors’ roster construction and injury issues in the frontcourt gave Kuminga a clear path to minutes that he might not have received for another contender. Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr. both needed load management; the former missed more than half of the season; James Wiseman didn’t play a single minute this year opening up minutes at the 5; Draymond Green missed over 40 games. Steve Kerr made it clear in public what Kuminga needed to do to keep earning minutes — play hard. Here’s an article Anthony Slater wrote on Kuminga and the coaching staff imploring him to take on a Shawn Marion-style role, only days after Draymond Green tweaked his disc in the lower back:
Kerr brought film to this meeting. He wanted to show Kuminga several examples of the type of half-effort plays that still have him on the fringes of the Warriors’ every night rotation. Too many times this season, Kuminga’s focus and energy have been too spotty.
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But the Warriors’ veterans will point out when it’s going well for Kuminga, it’s when he is flying around with an attentive ferocity, “using his gifts,” as Kerr said.
“You can kind of throw him out there with any lineup,” Steph Curry said. “It’s just effort and intensity at the end of the day for him. He’s so athletic and has unbelievable upside. But what he does well shines when he plays hard.”
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“The only thing we’ve been emphasizing is running the floor hard,” Kerr said. “Using his gifts, both ways. Every time, sprint the floor hard. When I was in Phoenix as a GM, we had Shawn Marion. One of the best athletes in the league. Every night, he’d just run the floor hard. He wasn’t the greatest 3-point shooter, wasn’t the greatest passer, wasn’t the greatest ballhandler. But he was an All-Star because he just played hard. By running the floor, all kinds of good stuff would happen.
“That’s the first step for JK. To understand his gifts are so unique athletically. They jump out even in an NBA game. Taking advantage of those gifts now allows him to build a foundation, then from there, his shooting will improve, understanding of the game will improve, overall skill level will improve. But what I liked about the last two nights is it’s the hardest I’ve seen him run the floor on consecutive nights.”
Here’s another Slater article, written only two days after the Kuminga/Marion by which time the Warriors learned Draymond Green would be out for the foreseeable future:
The Warriors flew a day early to Memphis, and their G League team happened to be scheduled for a game that night 15 minutes down the road. They assigned Moses Moody and Kuminga to Santa Cruz that night. An electrified Moody scored 37 points. A dull Kuminga floated to 11 inefficient points on 3-of-11 shooting, looking uninterested in defending or even being in the arena. The Warriors were upset with him. They sat him in the Memphis game with knee soreness.
“Yeah,” Kerr said. “He didn’t run the floor hard. It was disappointing. We talked to him about it. He understood and responded well. This is all part of the process for JK. There’s a lot to absorb and learn.”
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