Warriors select Jonathan Kuminga with the 7th pick of the 2021 NBA Draft

Scoots1994 · Post #641 » by **Scoots1994** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:50 pm

Why plan to limit him? Why not try to maximize what he can do for the team?

GunnerWRX · Post #642 » by **GunnerWRX** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:02 pm

I’d say he has the skills but lack experience big time. Euro step off a drive. Change of pace off a full speed drive and finish. Spin move off a dribble penetration. He has all the penetration skills you want for 6-8 230 physical player, despite having a flaky 3-pt shot.

Now, his development is being able to recognize the defense and under what circumstances that he should attack and drive. Or when he should drive, make the defense react, and pass it on. Etc.

Only real reps, studying films, talking to coaches/vets, and having a high bbiq can make this development.

He should get regular minutes but not a complete green light, so he can build up a little bit game by game. He will get more minutes for games where he plays well. For other games he will get his 5-10 minutes if it doesn’t cause us the game.

I agree with the team’s current approach.

and1GS · Post #643 » by **and1GS** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:47 pm

Agree, his driving package is incredibly sophisticated for his age. The issue is that's all he can do on offense. The fact he's still scoring despite that is incredible, but if he can even be slightly below league average from 3 or develop an elbow jumper like Monta did that will change everything for him.

What's great is he isn't a 0 on defense - far from it. He was guarding Van Vleet for stretches! He still gets lost on rotations or stops paying attention, but if there's one thing you can count on Brown/Kerr for it's holding guys accountable for blown assignments. If Poole can look consistently competent on D, a much stronger defender in Jonny Koolminga can look extraordinary.

Scoots1994 · Post #644 » by **Scoots1994** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:08 pm

If we look at other teenaged players in the NBA they all struggle pretty hard to start their seasons. McGrady was 0-fer after 11 games on 3s and shooting .375 overall.

Kuminga's natural gifts is the starting point but what he can do with it is essentially unlimited at the moment. He'll never be the natural shooter Curry is but I think it's incredibly short sighted to assume he can't shoot like Wiggins at least.

GunnerWRX · Post #645 » by **GunnerWRX** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:20 pm

I agree. I didn't mention defense, but his defense is his calling card to keep getting developmental minutes on a team "chasing wins" like us.

GunnerWRX · Post #646 » by **GunnerWRX** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:22 pm

On another note - I am not concerned at all of his 3pt shot. According to a few, it is easy to add a 3-pt shot.

Scoots1994 · Post #647 » by **Scoots1994** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:05 pm

GunnerWRX wrote:On another note - I am not concerned at all of his 3pt shot. According to a few, it is easy to add a 3-pt shot.

hehe. Funny thing is, some people have gone from never shooting them to shooting a lot of them and it works. I don't need him to be a 40% 3pt shooter, if he's at 35% that's a functional level (and he may never get there, but it's certainly not impossible).

ChuckDurn · Post #648 » by **ChuckDurn** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:17 pm

GunnerWRX wrote:On another note - I am not concerned at all of his 3pt shot. According to a few, it is easy to add a 3-pt shot.

I’m going to guess that he develops his 3-point shot somewhere between how David Lee did so and how Jason Kidd did. Somewhere in that range.

Twinkie defense · Post #649 » by **Twinkie defense** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:31 pm

ChuckDurn wrote:
GunnerWRX wrote:On another note - I am not concerned at all of his 3pt shot. According to a few, it is easy to add a 3-pt shot.

I’m going to guess that he develops his 3-point shot somewhere between how David Lee did so and how Jason Kidd did. Somewhere in that range.

The knock on Kawhi coming into the League is he couldn't shoot - Larry Riley famously said the Warriors "couldn't use" a guy like Kawhi in the draft. I followed Kawhi in the Big West and always loved his game. (Our own 2011 pick turned out pretty well, too.) Turns out shooting is maybe one of the easier skills to develop, when you have good shooting coaches, development coaches, and a player's will to get better.

BTW didn't the Warriors try to poach the Spurs' shooting coach?

SpreeChokeJob · Post #650 » by **SpreeChokeJob** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:45 pm

I’m sure Kuminga can develop a below average to average jump shot. It just won’t happen this year with all the other things he has to learn.

Him trying to shoot long range is almost the same as a turnover for the team at this point. The only thing worthwhile for him is try to draw the double teams by driving and posting up, and kick out when help comes. That and rebounding, playing lockdown defense while improving his free throws would be considered a successful year.

GunnerWRX · Post #651 » by **GunnerWRX** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:45 am

If I can choose, I would rather him become a half decent FT shooter i.e. 70-75% instead of his current 64% first, before worrying about becoming a reliable 3-pt shooter (i.e. ~35% 3p%).

The way he attacks, he will get a lot of FTs if he is aggressive and smart.

wco81 · Post #652 » by **wco81** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:08 am

Either the Warriors or Kuminga himself need to hire whoever re-made Lonzo's shot.

a8bil · Post #653 » by **a8bil** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:39 am

I kinda find the naysayers about JK's shot to be pretty funny -- especially those who jumped on the Lamelo bandwagon. IIRC, that was a major question about Lamelo coming into the league... .250% from 3 pt...now he's god and GSW made a huge mistake by not drafting him because...he can shoot? Just let JK develop.

whatisacenter · Post #654 » by **whatisacenter** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:25 am

I'm not worried about his shot. The team has excellent new developmental coaches and his shot doesn't look broken to start with.

shazam_guy · Post #655 » by **shazam_guy** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 7:32 am

Plus his defense and court awareness are better than I'd hoped at this stage. And he's a beast on the drive.

ClutchUp · Post #656 » by **ClutchUp** » Sun Dec 5, 2021 6:24 pm

He's getting more arc on his shot.

Watch on YouTube

whatisacenter · Post #657 » by **whatisacenter** » Sun Dec 5, 2021 9:18 pm

ClutchUp wrote:He's getting more arc on his shot.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

imagining the team's future athleticism with Kuminga and Wiseman is fun!

GSWFan1994 · Post #658 » by **GSWFan1994** » Mon Dec 6, 2021 12:43 am

These highlights are great. Thanks for posting.

You can already notice improvements in Minga's game: footwork, shooting motion... his shoulders look much bigger as well.

The dunk at the end of the 2nd video is amazing: he explodes almost from a standstill position.

Guy's gonna be amazing once he matures just a little bit.

hamncheese · Post #659 » by **hamncheese** » Tue Dec 7, 2021 10:19 am

Read on Twitter

TwoStarz · Post #660 » by **TwoStarz** » Tue Dec 7, 2021 1:35 pm

wco81 wrote:Either the Warriors or Kuminga himself need to hire whoever re-made Lonzo's shot.

Never understand people that say this. You can tell who is a naturally good shooter from their release. Lonzo had a weird wind up but his release was always clean with a great rotation of the ball. He's cleaned it up in terms of developing consistency with release (this is what he struggled with in his first years, confidence issues making his release inconsistent).

Not saying that Kuminga can't develop a shot, but comparing him to a natural shooter who had a couple poor seasons from behind the arc, is a poor comparison IMO.

Lonzo is very much a natural shooter.