Moderators: Marcus, Duke4life831
yoyoboy wrote:Kuminga is the type of prospect who continues to trick GMs into overdrafting him year after year. Raw athlete who you’re just hoping develops all of the basketball abilities later. I wouldn’t take him in the top 10 personally.
Duke4life831 wrote:Big J wrote:Duke4life831 wrote:
I think Kuminga has the physical edge over all of those guys. Culver isn't the same kind of athlete or has the size that Kuminga has. Kuminga has legit size for the 4 while Okoro is a generous 6'6 in my opinion. Knox was also never a standout athlete and just overall I dont think he is in the same tier as Kuminga when talking about just raw potential. While with Wiseman, I dont think his athleticism is all that functional and he plays the 5 without having a great skill set for the 5 in today's game.
And ya Kuminga's athleticism is going to look subpar compared to Green, but that is because Green is a legit 2 guard while Kuminga will be a 3/4 and practically the vast majority of the NBA is going to look subpar athletically when compared to Green. The dude is a flat out freak in that department.
Then when it comes to guys like OG or Pascal, OG had practically 0 on ball ability at this age and Siakam also drastically lacked any perimeter skill set.
I dont think his ceiling is Brown, I think his ceiling is higher than Brown. I just used Brown as an example of the kind of progression arc I can see Kuminga having. I can see him taking a year to adjust to the league and not having a great rookie year (like Brown). Then I think his defense will come first with some flashes of his offense, then I think his jumper will begin to get consistent and his offense will come around.
Again the reason Im high on Kuminga is the foundation that he is working with. His form on his jumper is clean and pretty damn consistent. I dont think he will have an issue becoming a solid shooter. And ya he isn't a dynamic on ball creator but his handle is solid for a guy his size and his age. When looking at his potential, I can see his jumper coming around and with his size and athleticism, I think he will add more to his game to fill it out.
I think he is the biggest project out of the top 5 guys and that is why I think he goes 4 or 5 and not higher. But when talking about celling, I like his as much as anyone in this draft (except for Green). A big 6'8 athletic wing with 2 way potential is pretty much as valuable as a player can be in today's NBA.
If Kuminga is going to follow Browns development arc you have to assume that he has the same work ethic as Brown, which. is. assuming. a. lot. Jalen Brown is one of the most intelligent well spoken young men in the league. It’s obvious that he gets it and is knows that it takes hard work to achieve success. I’m not getting those vibes based on what I’ve heard about Kuminga.
I’ve seen no reason to question Kuminga’s work ethic. If anything people tend to praise his work ethic. Whenever there were big time camps or anything like that, you’d tend to see reports of Kuminga standing out in practice.
When it comes to articulation, of course Brown will be far more articulate than Kuminga. Kuminga has only been in the country for 5 years now. And English isn’t his first language. Plus he is just a quiet guy.
Plus you don’t have to have an outgoing and articulate personality to be someone that has a great work ethic and have good progression in a sport. Also I don’t think Jaylen’s progression is all that crazy, he was taken 3rd overall for a reason.
bon wrote:I remember being high on Brown in the 2016 draft but I'm not seeing the same things from Kuminga to make me excited about him. Doesn't have the same type of fluidity in his movements on the perimeter or the same type of body control around the hoop that Brown did. JK just looks so awkward on the court even though in space he'll produce some high catching highlights.
I get that the G-League competition can be harder than it is in college but it doesn't help his case that Green looked significantly more comfortable than him while playing on the same team.
Catchall wrote:I'd draft Barnes at 5. What does Kuminga do at an elite level?
If I thought I could fix Jalen Johnson's shooting, I might even take him ahead of Kuminga.
Doctor MJ wrote:I don't understand why people jump in a thread and say basically, "This thing you're all talking about. I'm too ignorant to know anything about it. Lollerskates!"
Catchall wrote:Kuminga is athletic and can do a bit of everything. However, I could say the same about Jeff Green.
crows2 wrote:As far as taking him at pick 5, I think it's nearly a no-brainer. Basketball-wise he's absolutely a top 5 prospect in this year's draft. My only question mark on him is his personality/mentality. I seem to remember reading some negative things about him (probably on here) last year, but haven't heard much else. The only thing that'd make me question him at 5 is if any major red-flags surface during interviews.
mademan wrote:I still dont think it's guaranteed he gets past 3. I can see both Cavs or Raps taking him, tbh. Suggs/Green for me, personally, but there's a lot to like with Kuminga. There's not many guys with his physical profile with good mobility and already decent skillsets at 18. If he impresses in workouts and interviews, i can see Cavs or Raps falling in love.
Baseline81 wrote:yoyoboy wrote:Kuminga is the type of prospect who continues to trick GMs into overdrafting him year after year. Raw athlete who you’re just hoping develops all of the basketball abilities later. I wouldn’t take him in the top 10 personally.
Did you say the same of Edwards last year?
gorz wrote:Baseline81 wrote:yoyoboy wrote:Kuminga is the type of prospect who continues to trick GMs into overdrafting him year after year. Raw athlete who you’re just hoping develops all of the basketball abilities later. I wouldn’t take him in the top 10 personally.
Did you say the same of Edwards last year?
Edwards is much more skilled than kuminga. If you watched him from the aau circuits you could tell even back then he could really handle, slice to the rim, and shoot the rock and that carried over to Georgia as well.. he wasn't just an uber athlete and straight line driver he knew how to change speed/direction euro step going full speed.
Ruzious wrote:mademan wrote:I still dont think it's guaranteed he gets past 3. I can see both Cavs or Raps taking him, tbh. Suggs/Green for me, personally, but there's a lot to like with Kuminga. There's not many guys with his physical profile with good mobility and already decent skillsets at 18. If he impresses in workouts and interviews, i can see Cavs or Raps falling in love.
I think the chances that he goes before 5 are less than 1%.
mademan wrote:Ruzious wrote:mademan wrote:I still dont think it's guaranteed he gets past 3. I can see both Cavs or Raps taking him, tbh. Suggs/Green for me, personally, but there's a lot to like with Kuminga. There's not many guys with his physical profile with good mobility and already decent skillsets at 18. If he impresses in workouts and interviews, i can see Cavs or Raps falling in love.
I think the chances that he goes before 5 are less than 1%.
Feels exactly like the type of player GM's fall in love with. Supreme athlete with size and length and a great form on his jumper. Dont think he gets taken in front of Cade/Green, but i wouldnt put it past Cleveland to phuck it up and take him over Mobley
Big J wrote:Duke4life831 wrote:Big J wrote:
If Kuminga is going to follow Browns development arc you have to assume that he has the same work ethic as Brown, which. is. assuming. a. lot. Jalen Brown is one of the most intelligent well spoken young men in the league. It’s obvious that he gets it and is knows that it takes hard work to achieve success. I’m not getting those vibes based on what I’ve heard about Kuminga.
I’ve seen no reason to question Kuminga’s work ethic. If anything people tend to praise his work ethic. Whenever there were big time camps or anything like that, you’d tend to see reports of Kuminga standing out in practice.
When it comes to articulation, of course Brown will be far more articulate than Kuminga. Kuminga has only been in the country for 5 years now. And English isn’t his first language. Plus he is just a quiet guy.
Plus you don’t have to have an outgoing and articulate personality to be someone that has a great work ethic and have good progression in a sport. Also I don’t think Jaylen’s progression is all that crazy, he was taken 3rd overall for a reason.
Jarrett Jack has given glowing recommendations for green, but has told guys behind closed doors that Kuminga doesn't put in the work. I tend to trust Jack based on his stand up reputation when he was in the league.
Dn4sty wrote:Big J wrote:Duke4life831 wrote:
I’ve seen no reason to question Kuminga’s work ethic. If anything people tend to praise his work ethic. Whenever there were big time camps or anything like that, you’d tend to see reports of Kuminga standing out in practice.
When it comes to articulation, of course Brown will be far more articulate than Kuminga. Kuminga has only been in the country for 5 years now. And English isn’t his first language. Plus he is just a quiet guy.
Plus you don’t have to have an outgoing and articulate personality to be someone that has a great work ethic and have good progression in a sport. Also I don’t think Jaylen’s progression is all that crazy, he was taken 3rd overall for a reason.
Jarrett Jack has given glowing recommendations for green, but has told guys behind closed doors that Kuminga doesn't put in the work. I tend to trust Jack based on his stand up reputation when he was in the league.
I seriously doubt this is true. If there is no definitive source, then it’s just wild speculation.
yoyoboy wrote:gorz wrote:Baseline81 wrote:Did you say the same of Edwards last year?
Edwards is much more skilled than kuminga. If you watched him from the aau circuits you could tell even back then he could really handle, slice to the rim, and shoot the rock and that carried over to Georgia as well.. he wasn't just an uber athlete and straight line driver he knew how to change speed/direction euro step going full speed.
Yeah I don't understand the comparison here. Edwards' shooting was lacking but he was still much less raw overall than Kuminga is, and he's built like an oversized runningback. And I hate to bring this up, but it's important to note that Kuminga was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where just 25% of kids are born with birth certificates. It's not out of the question that a guy like Kuminga could be a year or two older than his listed age, and around the time he came over to the US a few years ago, he would've been advised to lie about his age to maximize his odds of being drafted. It's just the smart thing to do. And for a guy who's as raw in development right now as he is, a year or two makes an enormous difference in terms of his potential. I would say each additional year older would drop him 10-15 spots.
People might get upset at that and be willing to take Kuminga's team at their word, but these are things you have to consider if you're going to invest $20-25 million into a player to be a major part of your franchise going forward. Even if we have no reason to doubt his age though, I'm still personally not taking him in the top 10 because I just think generally the unpolished athletes in a similar vein to him tend to bust.