This is simultaneously an urgent moment in the Stephen Curry Era and a pretty compelling period in Jonathan Kuminga’s career, combining to lead into quite a dramatic 2023-24 season for all Warriors’ hopes and plans.
On one side, Steve Kerr and the rest of the team’s decision-makers know exactly what they’re getting from Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson at least for a little while longer. They know how important it is to push forward with that championship group and how different it’ll be when that run is over for good.
On the other side, the Warriors’ leaders understand that Kuminga represents their best chance for a breakthrough upgrade next season — and how necessary it is if they want a fifth title in this era. But they don’t know if that’s actually going to happen.
So as the Warriors work through their second-round loss to the Lakers and wait for Bob Myers to decide whether he’s leaving the franchise, and while the remaining principals sift through the draft and offseason question marks (including Draymond’s own contractual situation), it’s hard to stop thinking about Kuminga’s future and the Warriors’ future with him.
Kuminga, 20, had some good moments in his second NBA season when he flashed the brawn, athleticism and unique skills that might’ve played well against the Lakers. But Kuminga’s erratic play early in the playoffs and his overall inexperience convinced Kerr to keep Kuminga out of the rotation in the late stages of the victory over the Kings in the first round and all the way through the Lakers series.
It got complicated. It’s still complicated. So … how does this set Kuminga up for next season?
“I think JK had a really good year,” Kerr said on my podcast Friday. “You look at the regular season and he had a lot of good moments. The last 30 games or so with (Andrew) Wiggins out, it really thrust JK into a more prominent role. And he took advantage of that. He played well, helped us win some games.
“I think the main thing that happened in the playoffs was that Wigs was back and we had Gary Payton and those guys basically were filling the role that JK had been filling while they were gone. And there’s just more experience and more, I think, intuitive knowledge of the NBA and awareness from those guys, as you would expect; they’re much older and they’ve got a lot more experience.
“So I just went with the guys who I thought could impact winning more. It doesn’t mean that we stopped believing in JK by any means. It just means that those were the guys we thought would help us win.”
Continued below
K1setsu
I so dearly hope the JK part is correct. If JK can develop well he can really pop into 3, and ease moody into the 2 that he actually play much in college. This would allow some PBJ minutes that could help develop him and through that give him reps as a big, since currently he is the tallest player on the team and with KD like shooting can actually be really useful in the team going forward. So like this he and JK can go interchangeably at 4 should they play small, with a defensive line-up of Curry ( for a wee bit offence), moody/GP2, wiggins, JK/PBJ and dray/looney, so our core can stay rested during some plays. Defence defence defence. Our defence has been good but sloppy for most of the part, probably due to exhaustion. Using JK, moody and PBJ often allows some youth to be slotted in, and as younger players desperate to fit into rotation they will crash the boards more often, quite obvious from moody this year, and a bit of JK and PBJ, though i feel both of them have to be more aggressive in rebounds and offensively in the paint
typesett
Man our start to the season basically ruined so much
the season
the development
the vibes
​
i have mixed feelings about draymond. Sigh. We were the defending champs
billymartinkicksdirt
I flinched at the positional talk. They played him at the 5, they had him backup Wiggins two years in a tow and he looked his best, he improved defensively, does it matter if they think he’s a 3 or 4?
They need a 4 more, but they also need to let players evolve into who they’re going to be. He’s obviously a forward and they need him to develop similar to PBJ where he could play point for minutes at any given time, and just has all around court skills. Look at GP2, doesn’t find a role if Kerr sits around worrying about positions, he’s out there taking away JK’s playing time when he’s officially a guard.
4 Comments
Pt. 1
This is simultaneously an urgent moment in the Stephen Curry Era and a pretty compelling period in Jonathan Kuminga’s career, combining to lead into quite a dramatic 2023-24 season for all Warriors’ hopes and plans.
On one side, Steve Kerr and the rest of the team’s decision-makers know exactly what they’re getting from Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson at least for a little while longer. They know how important it is to push forward with that championship group and how different it’ll be when that run is over for good.
On the other side, the Warriors’ leaders understand that Kuminga represents their best chance for a breakthrough upgrade next season — and how necessary it is if they want a fifth title in this era. But they don’t know if that’s actually going to happen.
So as the Warriors work through their second-round loss to the Lakers and wait for Bob Myers to decide whether he’s leaving the franchise, and while the remaining principals sift through the draft and offseason question marks (including Draymond’s own contractual situation), it’s hard to stop thinking about Kuminga’s future and the Warriors’ future with him.
Kuminga, 20, had some good moments in his second NBA season when he flashed the brawn, athleticism and unique skills that might’ve played well against the Lakers. But Kuminga’s erratic play early in the playoffs and his overall inexperience convinced Kerr to keep Kuminga out of the rotation in the late stages of the victory over the Kings in the first round and all the way through the Lakers series.
It got complicated. It’s still complicated. So … how does this set Kuminga up for next season?
“I think JK had a really good year,” Kerr said on my podcast Friday. “You look at the regular season and he had a lot of good moments. The last 30 games or so with (Andrew) Wiggins out, it really thrust JK into a more prominent role. And he took advantage of that. He played well, helped us win some games.
“I think the main thing that happened in the playoffs was that Wigs was back and we had Gary Payton and those guys basically were filling the role that JK had been filling while they were gone. And there’s just more experience and more, I think, intuitive knowledge of the NBA and awareness from those guys, as you would expect; they’re much older and they’ve got a lot more experience.
“So I just went with the guys who I thought could impact winning more. It doesn’t mean that we stopped believing in JK by any means. It just means that those were the guys we thought would help us win.”
Continued below
I so dearly hope the JK part is correct. If JK can develop well he can really pop into 3, and ease moody into the 2 that he actually play much in college. This would allow some PBJ minutes that could help develop him and through that give him reps as a big, since currently he is the tallest player on the team and with KD like shooting can actually be really useful in the team going forward. So like this he and JK can go interchangeably at 4 should they play small, with a defensive line-up of Curry ( for a wee bit offence), moody/GP2, wiggins, JK/PBJ and dray/looney, so our core can stay rested during some plays.
Defence defence defence. Our defence has been good but sloppy for most of the part, probably due to exhaustion. Using JK, moody and PBJ often allows some youth to be slotted in, and as younger players desperate to fit into rotation they will crash the boards more often, quite obvious from moody this year, and a bit of JK and PBJ, though i feel both of them have to be more aggressive in rebounds and offensively in the paint
Man our start to the season basically ruined so much
the season
the development
the vibes
​
i have mixed feelings about draymond. Sigh. We were the defending champs
I flinched at the positional talk. They played him at the 5, they had him backup Wiggins two years in a tow and he looked his best, he improved defensively, does it matter if they think he’s a 3 or 4?
They need a 4 more, but they also need to let players evolve into who they’re going to be. He’s obviously a forward and they need him to develop similar to PBJ where he could play point for minutes at any given time, and just has all around court skills. Look at GP2, doesn’t find a role if Kerr sits around worrying about positions, he’s out there taking away JK’s playing time when he’s officially a guard.