Subscribe
Follow Us
Jonathan Kuminga is the Golden State Warriors' biggest question mark this offseason. With Kuminga officially a restricted free agent, the Warriors will have to decide whether or not he fits in with their veteran core of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler. But based on Kuminga's inconsistent playing time throughout the Dubs' playoff run, it looks like it's the latter.
On The TK Show podcast, Warriors insider Tim Kawakami asked Steve Kerr about the coaching staff's frustrations with Kuminga's fit with the rest of the roster. Kerr rejected the notion that the staff views the Kuminga situation with frustration, but did describe the situation as “tricky.”
“All I do is I coach the team every year and try to put the puzzle together the best I can. It's a tricky one because Jonathan obviously is gifted. [He] wants to play a bigger role and wants to play more.” Kerr said honestly. “For me, I've been asked to win. Right now, he's not a guy who I can say I'm going to play 38 minutes with the roster we have with Steph, Jimmy, and Draymond, and put the puzzle together that way and expect to win.”
Kerr's statement gets at the main reason why Kuminga caught multiple DNPs in the postseason. He did not feel like he could maximize every precious playoff minute of Curry, Butler, and Green with Kuminga next to them. And because the trio played a majority of their minutes together, there were no minutes where Kerr could mathematically slot him into the rotation.
But Kerr emphasized it's less about Kuminga's skill as a player and more so his fit on this specifically constructed roster.
“[It] doesn't mean he's not a really good player, doesn't mean he's not talented. It just means the fit, and with the roster that we have, it is tricky,” Kerr said.
Warriors HC Steve Kerr's comp for Jonathan Kuminga
In the same podcast, Kerr also shared his vision for Kuminga's development.
“I've always felt like the player JK needs to be is, I've mentioned this in the past, Shawn Marion,” Kerr said. He cited Marion and Kuminga's similar athleticism, fastbreak abilities, offensive rebounding, and deadliness at the rim.
“To me, that's what he's built for. And we've pushed him in that direction. Sometimes I think with young players, there's a process. Aaron Gordon is a good example. He spent years in Orlando, where he wanted to be the scorer and lead guy. [He] had some success like JK has, but maybe didn't find his role and find himself until later.”
The big thing about Gordon was that he reinvented himself with the Denver Nuggets. Not the Orlando Magic. He was slotted next to a player like Nikola Jokic, who could maximize all the things Gordon was better suited for. All of the off-ball stuff Kerr talked about with Marion.
That's the main point Kerr was emphasizing with these comparisons was that not every young player needs to become a ball-dominant scorer. Maybe that's with the Warriors, maybe that's with another team. The lesson from the Gordon story might be that a change of scenery is the best way for a player to find themselves.
“On a team with Steph and Jimmy, honestly, Steph's going to have the ball, Jimmy's going to have the ball,” Kerr stated. “What JK and I've talked about a lot and what we've tried to hammer home with him is: sprint the floor, rebound, and be complimentary to those guys. That's how you can find your role and find more minutes. Hopefully that will click and we'll find that place where he can start to do those things.”
