Back-to-back 34-point games has momentarily staved off notions of an incongruent fit between player and team.
In the Golden State Warriors’ much needed 109-105 win over the Phoenix Suns — a game where growth was symbolized by constant displays of power — it was on a typical showcase of finesse and flair by Steph Curry that showed perhaps the biggest indicator of growth for the polarizing Jonathan Kuminga.
Driving inside and drawing two defenders — one of which was former teammate and fellow “OG” Kevin Durant — Curry skips to Kuminga in the corner. Despite making a couple of looks from beyond the arc, Kuminga taking a three in this situation would’ve been something the Suns’ defense would’ve preferred, considering his career mark of 33.7% on threes and 32.0% mark this season on nearly four attempts per game. Consider also the time: choosing to pull up for a three with 14 seconds left on the shot clock would be a blatant miscalculation of the situation at hand.
In past situations where Kuminga gets passes like the one Curry dishes to him, he would often keep possession, hesitate, and decide to pound the ball in isolation, either off the dribble or in the low post. While such decisions are warranted against favorable matchups where an advantage is there for the taking, Kuminga possesses little-to-no advantages against Durant in a theoretical isolation situation. As such — with Curry in prime position to move after giving up the ball — Kuminga generates an even better look for his team with a simple extra swing up top, followed by a pin-in screen:
While Curry misses a shot he would make more often than not, it was the process behind the shot that should be lauded — one that has Kuminga’s fingerprints all over it. Steve Kerr made sure to single that possession out in his praise of Kuminga after the game.
“I just think he’s turning the corner, I just think he’s seeing pictures well,” Kerr said. “He made a play late the game where he swung the ball to Draymond, immediately pinned in for Steph, and Steph got a three. He didn’t make it, but that’s the play where you have to recognize Steph’s your teammate. You see he’s cutting through the lane, swing the ball and go set a screen for him. Those are the type of plays that, if he makes and he’s doing what he’s doing — getting downhill, getting fouled, getting to the rim — now the mix, the blend of Steph, Draymond, JK, now it starts to really get powerful.
“I’m so impressed with JK and it just feels like he’s turning the corner. Played so hard last night and again tonight. The rebound at the end just before he got fouled, he came out of nowhere along the baseline to make that play. I think he had about seven boards in the second half. He was fantastic and this is exactly what we’re looking for and it’s fun to see him deliver.”
Kuminga’s fit within Kerr’s system — one that not only demands assertive decision making but also quick decision making akin to their core principle of “0.5” basketball — has been questioned ever since he was drafted seventh overall in the 2021 NBA Draft. A desire to be the central focus of an approach that runs antithetical to what has made the Warriors successful has forced Kuminga to fit into a round hole as a square-ish peg. Both the team and the player have been forced to make adjustments and accommodations to make that fit somewhat feasible — to mixed results.
One kind of accommodation the Warriors have made — and have been making — is having Curry set inverted ball screens for Kuminga through their “Small” half-court set to coax a switch onto a smaller defender. The setup has been there from the Warriors; the rest is up to Kuminga to finish what was started. He does so against Tyus Jones below:
Once more against Bradley Beal (albeit after a slightly different setup):
And against Royce O’Neale, in which he “Barkleys” his way toward the right block:
While against a bigger frontcourt player in Mason Plumlee below, it also counts as a mismatch — and provides a peek into the value of Kuminga in the sense that he can attack mismatches up and down the positional spectrum:
While it may be tough to mix power and finesse together and turn it into something harmonious, it’s not completely impossible to accomplish. Kuminga has shown glimpses of wanting to be that quick decision maker at the power forward position that Draymond Green has been...
...while also being a smashmouth player who provides a rough-and-tumble element to an otherwise beautiful (whenever it works) offense. It’s also a necessary element: along with Gary Payton II, Kuminga is the only non-big on the roster (i.e., other than Trayce Jackson-Davis and Kevon Looney) whose attempts at the rim constitute the majority of his overall shot diet — all while making 72% of such attempts this season. That mark is tied for second best with Moses Moody and is beaten only by Payton’s 82% — two players who have played considerably fewer minutes than Kuminga.
It’s also telling that Kuminga leads the team in free throw attempts per 75 possessions (7.0) and free throw makes per 75 possessions (4.4). He’s been fouled on 15.2% of his shot attempts, which also leads the team by a considerable amount. On a team that is 29th in free throw attempt rate, Kuminga’s ability to draw fouls has been crucial — and made possible by his power game.
That fact makes it paramount for the Warriors to let Kuminga thrive in his comfort zone of powering through — while also aiding his way toward his comfortable spots. Otherwise, Kuminga should know when to be useful off the ball, as he was in the aforementioned pin-in possession. It also involves knowing when to use space created by defenders drawn away by more threatening teammates — defenders who are, as mentioned beforehand, not all too worried about a Kuminga spot-up jumper.
That mindset of playing within the system, playing within the flow of organized chaos, and playing off of the one of the best advantage creators in the league is an opportunity to be rewarded. A drawn-up after-timeout set by Kerr rewards Kuminga — who slips inside after setting one of two staggered away screens for Curry — with two free throws. He pays it forward by making both of them to get the Warriors a lead they would never relinquish the rest of the way, a huge development for a player shooting 63.5% on free throws this season:
The process of empowering Kuminga as a key and necessary cog in this oft-convoluted machine has been an arduous one, filled with ups and downs and performances that have waxed and waned. The push and pull of wanting Kuminga to be kept and the desire to send him off to relatively greener pastures has been an ever-present theme for the past four seasons. It can wear on the mind of a player to be felt wanted, unwanted, and various levels of in-between throughout the course of multiple seasons.
There’s a viable course forward should the Warriors decide to commit to Kuminga as a win-now piece and as a building block for the future. Empowering him involves emphasizing the ‘power’ in his game as a power forward, a position Kerr has penciled him into.
