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Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 7:53 am
by Jax_23
I think everyone's been waiting for a type of game like this from Kuminga. THIS looks like the game is slowing down for him.
He has a high ceiling. Whether he achieves it will be up to him and his competitiveness to be great. He needs to keep betting on himself. The dude just turned 22! Still plenty of room to develop.
Andrew Wiggins was another "high ceiling" player at one time, #1 overall, but he is Canadian nice and he plays Canadian nice. To me that's a bad role model for Kuminga. Kuminga needs some Black Mamba mentality. He needs to get mean and say fk u all I'm scoring 30 tonight.

Take tf over. This would make the Warriors a much more dangerous team. He needs the mentality of "I'm going to dominate every night." He's been the "nice team player" to "make coach happy." At some point, Kerr's gotta let the talent unleash and play through mistakes instead of holding him back with inconsistent minutes.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 8:24 am
by CDM_Stats
All of this would be a nightmare
He can be a proficient slasher who can occasionally hit set-foot 3pt shots. The idea that he needs to be more aggressive all the time is exactly why he's a liability now. Its getting to the point where even when he has a good game, it's brutal because the wild claims come out of the woodwork
He should be a nice team player. Like defending and rebounding. That is what he needs to focus on if he wants to be a winner. That's what fans of the team should be hoping for. Not hoping that a guy who's TS is well below league average needs to take over more because he's got the Rockets' number
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 9:08 am
by Sandy333
This is certainly the kind of defence kuminga excels against, no bigs or rangy defenders. Please ship him when the demand is good.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 2:43 pm
by Onus
Based off this highlight 9/13 shots were on smaller guards (FVV, Reed, Green). He's able to just bully smaller guards.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 2:52 pm
by Crazy-Canuck
We want to change the entire offense and make jk the focal point now?
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 2:53 pm
by cpower
great sell high moment.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 7:05 pm
by B-King
He is still a work in progress. His ability to slash is excellent. Jump shot and ability to score off the dribble definitely have room to improve. Consistent defensive intensity is the other area and I expected it to be slightly stronger at this point.
Last night was great in that he was the focal point and was a dominant force. He has had some bad games coming off the bench where teams were zeroed in on him as the primary threat.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 7:11 pm
by DonaldSanders
Great game but since his main go to is superior athleticism, we need to see how he holds up against bigger more elite defenders. Still, I have seen some growth in him, such as drives where he has more changes of speed making him less predictable. More glass usage, and a bit more active around the rim for rebounds or shot contests.
He's the ultimate mystery box player -- maybe there is an all-star inside, but maybe he'll just excel against certain types of players/teams. Obviously praying for a breakout, but can't get too high or low off of one game.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 7:22 pm
by vvoland
DonaldSanders wrote:Great game but since his main go to is superior athleticism, we need to see how he holds up against bigger more elite defenders. Still, I have seen some growth in him, such as drives where he has more changes of speed making him less predictable. More glass usage, and a bit more active around the rim for rebounds or shot contests.
He's the ultimate mystery box player -- maybe there is an all-star inside, but maybe he'll just excel against certain types of players/teams. Obviously praying for a breakout, but can't get too high or low off of one game.
It's not just his athleticism, it's his finishing package around the rim. He's off to an awful start this season, but during this first 3, his TS and eFG were very good despite shooting poorly from 3 and FT, typical killers in offensive efficiency. He can explode through contact and finish with either hand; he can bounce back off bigger bodies, hang, and use the glass; he has a decent mid range game, when in rhythm. His shot form doesn't look terrible and he's had long stretches (10+ games) where he shot well from deep. He looks to be tightening up his handle and IF that happens, I can see him taking another step. Probably not for this franchise as I expect him to get under 18 minutes tonight against Minny.
Mystery box is a good way to put it but I'd add it's a mystery box where you could have really increased your chance of getting an all-star vs a distressed expiring (forgot who coined it, but well done!). Had they let JK (and moody) cook the last few years, they may be closer the that all-star/2nd option they so desperately need. I looked at Green last night and if JK got ALL those minutes and chances to close games? He was so hyped in the post-game interview w/ Fitz and Buike to just have the chance to close out a team (after 3 full seasons!) and admitted how nervous he was. he looked like a kid at a birthday party who tried cake for the first time. What would he be like if he had 50 of those reps through 3 seasons? He'll never get that development time back and it may already be too late to find out.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 7:27 pm
by HiRez
Kuminga has almost always played better when he's played more minutes, but he needs to figure out how to do this when Steph and Draymond are playing. If he's deferring to Steph, which, of course he has to, to some degree, it sort of neuters his aggressive attacking game. He becomes a bystander on the perimeter. On the other hand, when he's coming off the bench he's not getting the spacing to work with when Steph and Wiggins and Hield are in the game as much, and he can't benefit from Draymond's passing, and that leads to him forcing drives or worse, chucking 3s.
A lot of people won't like this idea but one thing I would like to see tried is to make Kuminga the primary offensive focus (and at times ball-handler) instead of Steph. Kuminga has shown he's pretty good at drive and kick and there's no one in the league more dangerous off the ball than Steph. Kuminga is finding some guys on the perimeter open shots, like Podz and Hield and GP2, but they are clanking those shots where Steph won't as often (Hield probably will come around soon, he's just slumping right now). In other words, have Steph work off Kuminga instead of having Kuminga work off Steph. I know it sounds crazy but Steph is smart enough and skilled enough to adapt to that situation easier than the reverse.
I also have to wonder how much Draymond being in the game with Kuminga hurts him. Not saying Draymond is intentionally excluding Kuminga, but he and Steph have that psychic connection from a decade+ playing together and I think Kuminga gets a little frozen out of that, again relegating him to being an observer instead of a participant. Without Draymond in the game, Kuminga was unburdened and able to focus on getting downhill. Draymond also likes to take the high post position around the foul line to swing the offense, and that might be clogging up driving lanes for Kuminga.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 7:57 pm
by cpower
HiRez wrote:Kuminga has almost always played better when he's played more minutes, but he needs to figure out how to do this when Steph and Draymond are playing. If he's deferring to Steph, which, of course he has to, to some degree, it sort of neuters his aggressive attacking game. He becomes a bystander on the perimeter. On the other hand, when he's coming off the bench he's not getting the spacing to work with when Steph and Wiggins and Hield are in the game as much, and he can't benefit from Draymond's passing, and that leads to him forcing drives or worse, chucking 3s.
A lot of people won't like this idea but one thing I would like to see tried is to make Kuminga the primary offensive focus (and at times ball-handler) instead of Steph. Kuminga has shown he's pretty good at drive and kick and there's no one in the league more dangerous off the ball than Steph. Kuminga is finding some guys on the perimeter open shots, like Podz and Hield and GP2, but they are clanking those shots where Steph won't as often (Hield probably will come around soon, he's just slumping right now). In other words, have Steph work off Kuminga instead of having Kuminga work off Steph. I know it sounds crazy but Steph is smart enough and skilled enough to adapt to that situation easier than the reverse.
I also have to wonder how much Draymond being in the game with Kuminga hurts him. Not saying Draymond is intentionally excluding Kuminga, but he and Steph have that psychic connection from a decade+ playing together and I think Kuminga gets a little frozen out of that, again relegating him to being an observer instead of a participant. Without Draymond in the game, Kuminga was unburdened and able to focus on getting downhill. Draymond also likes to take the high post position around the foul line to swing the offense, and that might be clogging up driving lanes for Kuminga.
he is avg 1.8 AST and 1.4 TOs...wont be pretty...and I thought we have a TO issue?
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 8:04 pm
by whatisacenter
The team is 4-1 without Curry and 0-2 without Kuminga….just sayin
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 8:17 pm
by cpower
whatisacenter wrote:The team is 4-1 without Curry and 0-2 without Kuminga….just sayin
telling that Steve Kerr is pretty terrible. When Curry is playing he tends to play a terrible starting 5 and weak closing unit. When Curry is not there Kerr forces to play more defenders and rotations are better.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 10:12 pm
by HiRez
cpower wrote:HiRez wrote:Kuminga has almost always played better when he's played more minutes, but he needs to figure out how to do this when Steph and Draymond are playing. If he's deferring to Steph, which, of course he has to, to some degree, it sort of neuters his aggressive attacking game. He becomes a bystander on the perimeter. On the other hand, when he's coming off the bench he's not getting the spacing to work with when Steph and Wiggins and Hield are in the game as much, and he can't benefit from Draymond's passing, and that leads to him forcing drives or worse, chucking 3s.
A lot of people won't like this idea but one thing I would like to see tried is to make Kuminga the primary offensive focus (and at times ball-handler) instead of Steph. Kuminga has shown he's pretty good at drive and kick and there's no one in the league more dangerous off the ball than Steph. Kuminga is finding some guys on the perimeter open shots, like Podz and Hield and GP2, but they are clanking those shots where Steph won't as often (Hield probably will come around soon, he's just slumping right now). In other words, have Steph work off Kuminga instead of having Kuminga work off Steph. I know it sounds crazy but Steph is smart enough and skilled enough to adapt to that situation easier than the reverse.
I also have to wonder how much Draymond being in the game with Kuminga hurts him. Not saying Draymond is intentionally excluding Kuminga, but he and Steph have that psychic connection from a decade+ playing together and I think Kuminga gets a little frozen out of that, again relegating him to being an observer instead of a participant. Without Draymond in the game, Kuminga was unburdened and able to focus on getting downhill. Draymond also likes to take the high post position around the foul line to swing the offense, and that might be clogging up driving lanes for Kuminga.
he is avg 1.8 AST and 1.4 TOs...wont be pretty...and I thought we have a TO issue?
It's a concern but the role would be different and the minutes higher, so I don't know those numbers tell us much (also, JK was pretty bad and playing sporadic minutes most of this year). Like Kuminga has been kicking out for 3s a lot to Podz (21.1%), Slowmo (26.5%), and GP2 (18.2%)...Wiggins is the only one who's consistently hitting those shots lately. But if he plays with Steph more, and draws defenders on drives, getting Steph (and Hield) open 3s should pay dividends. And I think Kuminga can limit turnovers if he keeps his dribbling to drives, I don't want him dribbling all over the perimeter. Last night he did a lot of handoff/screen action with Loon at the high post and he was able to exploit it without a ton of dribbling in traffic until he got to the driving part. His handle on those drives does get dicey but last night at least he was able to keep it under control against some pretty long and athletic defenders.
Kuminga's best move this year to me, something that I think is fairly new to his repertoire because I don't recall him doing it much before, is using his speed to get inside where he gets met by the primary rim defender (usually C/PF) and then, instead of trying to go through or over that player, uses his athleticism and long stride to get his hand with the ball around and past the defender, beyond their reach, for a soft lay-in at the rim. You can see him doing that over and over against the Rockets in the above video, but he's also done the same thing this year to some elite bigs like Jokic, Zion, Mobley/Allen. He needs to refine that move, but it's very effective if he can get the ball inside. If the defender doesn't come to meet him and stays at the rim, that's where JK needs to kick out, hit a cutting teammate on the backside, or pull up for a 10-12-footer (still a work in progress, but he shows promise with that shot).
The big X factor is JK's 3-point shot. When he's hitting it, it opens up so many things and he can make the game look easy. I think having a few of those go down early last night helped him on that screening action with Looney. On the nights where his 3 isn't falling, it makes everything more difficult for him and guys can just slough off and pack the paint to cut off his drive lanes, that's where he gets into trouble with his handle, trying to force it through too many bodies and arms.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Fri Dec 6, 2024 11:14 pm
by CDM_Stats
HiRez wrote:Kuminga has almost always played better when he's played more minutes,
This is almost always a player getting more minutes because they are playing better, not playing better because they are getting more minutes. Klay is the lone consistent exception to this.. maybe Podz. Since both of them seemed to get big minutes regardless of how it helps or hurts the team
Kuminga has shown he's pretty good at drive and kick
No, no he hasn't. He's good at downhill passing - meaning finding things that are in front of him. He's not good at driving in and kicking out, and if he were, he'd be way, way more valuable than he currently is. He doesnt even have that good of vision to the perimeter at all on his drives - if his vision were a cone, it mostly gets out to the low block areas. Which is fine - he's not a PG - but the idea that he IS good at drive and kick is not true at all. Its what people hope will become true but there's been almost no progress on that front for years. Mainly because its a PG skill that requires understanding whats going on all around you... and thats not him
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Sat Dec 7, 2024 1:48 am
by vvoland
CDM_Stats wrote:HiRez wrote:Kuminga has almost always played better when he's played more minutes,
This is almost always a player getting more minutes because they are playing better, not playing better because they are getting more minutes. Klay is the lone consistent exception to this.. maybe Podz. Since both of them seemed to get big minutes regardless of how it helps or hurts the team
Kuminga has shown he's pretty good at drive and kick
No, no he hasn't. He's good at downhill passing - meaning finding things that are in front of him. He's not good at driving in and kicking out, and if he were, he'd be way, way more valuable than he currently is. He doesnt even have that good of vision to the perimeter at all on his drives - if his vision were a cone, it mostly gets out to the low block areas. Which is fine - he's not a PG - but the idea that he IS good at drive and kick is not true at all. Its what people hope will become true but there's been almost no progress on that front for years. Mainly because its a PG skill that requires understanding whats going on all around you... and thats not him
I think he's been consistent finding the corner shooters, both strong and weak side, on his drives. He's getting better at seeing cutters when he drives and hitting the guy in the dunker spot. I'm not sure if all these qualifies as low block areas but that's what I see. Kicking out to the wing or top of the key is a struggle.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Sat Dec 7, 2024 2:20 am
by Jester_
whatisacenter wrote:The team is 4-1 without Curry and 0-2 without Kuminga….just sayin
this is the flawless analysis i come to this board for
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Sat Dec 7, 2024 2:21 am
by Jester_
he can't shoot, he can't pass, he can't rebound and he can't really defend
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Sat Dec 7, 2024 2:50 am
by whatisacenter
Jester_ wrote:whatisacenter wrote:The team is 4-1 without Curry and 0-2 without Kuminga….just sayin
this is the flawless analysis i come to this board for
I wrote this for you.
Re: Kuminga is a Future Star if he realizes how good he can be
Posted: Sat Dec 7, 2024 5:24 am
by Jax_23
CDM_Stats wrote:All of this would be a nightmare
He can be a proficient slasher who can occasionally hit set-foot 3pt shots. The idea that he needs to be more aggressive all the time is exactly why he's a liability now. Its getting to the point where even when he has a good game, it's brutal because the wild claims come out of the woodwork
He should be a nice team player. Like defending and rebounding. That is what he needs to focus on if he wants to be a winner. That's what fans of the team should be hoping for. Not hoping that a guy who's TS is well below league average needs to take over more because he's got the Rockets' number
You're misinterpreting what I said. His MENTALITY needs to be what I said. He is the type of raw talent that should be Unleashed, not molded into a "nice team player." This is something that needs to happen internally for him, not from the coach and not from the team. Yes, learning the team game is part of the process, but I'm talking about him and his own mindset. Having the confidence to know he can dominate. It's a realization process and it doesn't happen overnight. I think he's the type of of player "when the light turns on and things just start to click" he'll be dangerous and explosive scorer. Call it confidence, call it growth, but this is something where if he can believe in himself and his talent and his potential, while also continuing to develop (he's only 22 ffs), he can become an all star etc.
/tony robbins speech