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

[HiRez]

I don't think Kuminga would get any more minutes if they scale back DLee. If anything, it would be Moody right now, and then Klay when he's back.

Id say right now it's JTA and Bjelica ahead of him, who have been hot and cold enough to fit some Kuminga minutes in there, and when they DNP-CD OPJ there should be minutes for Kuminga there.

Steph and Draymond are going to have to start resting more if they don't want them burned out when playoffs roll around. So I think that's where Kuminga and Moody are going to get extra minutes. Both these guys should be playing more than they are now but I understand the reasons for it. They're being ramped up slowly. Wiseman will also get some minutes at C but I don't think he's going to play a lot, frankly, maybe 15 or so minutes once he gets back, which is looking like it's not going to be real soon anyway.

[and1GS]

Man I hope Jonny Koolminga starts tonight. Think he'd be a great fit in a starting unit that will sorely need some iso scoring.

[EvanZ]

Moody is 4-25 on 3s. For a guy who's selling point is mostly built around shooting, he needs to get it going at some point. That is why he's not playing most likely.

[sonnyhill]

Man I hope Jonny Koolminga starts tonight. Think he'd be a great fit in a starting unit that will sorely need some iso scoring.

Please humor me with this question...

What do the Warriors lose by having Kuminga starting at center in place of Looney and what does the team gain with Kuminga starting at center?

[and1GS]

Man I hope Jonny Koolminga starts tonight. Think he'd be a great fit in a starting unit that will sorely need some iso scoring.

Please humor me with this question...

What do the Warriors lose by having Kuminga starting at center in place of Looney and what does the team gain with Kuminga starting at center?

I think Looney has been fantastic this year and we'd lose a lot on the boards going from a generally plus team rebounder to a--right now--negative team rebounder. It would also force Draymond to play the 5 for longer and we've seen how much that drains him to guard Ayton sized guys for even 25 minutes. I also think Kuminga wouldn't actually drag that 5 out of the paint so he wouldn't force the other team to go small due to his lack of range at this time. I'd be very surprised if Kerr started using rookies in a PnR and that's the only time the 5 would be force to follow Jonathan out of the paint.

I think the point you're hitting on is 'why not go small most of the game?' and I do think that's the answer with Kuminga at the 4. He can switch 1 through 4 and I think PF is his best position right now at the NBA level.

[sonnyhill]

Man I hope Jonny Koolminga starts tonight. Think he'd be a great fit in a starting unit that will sorely need some iso scoring.

Please humor me with this question...

What do the Warriors lose by having Kuminga starting at center in place of Looney and what does the team gain with Kuminga starting at center?

...I think the point you're hitting on is 'why not go small most of the game?' and I do think that's the answer with Kuminga at the 4. He can switch 1 through 4 and I think PF is his best position right now at the NBA level.

I was thinking more about situations how when the Warriors are on offense how teams are picking up Curry with both double-team defenses as well as immediately after he advances beyond half-court and how to better utilize four Warriors attacking three defenders.

Ideally, and similar to Kawhi's development, Kuminga can improve his offensive perimeter shooting and mid-range game and become a small forward.

[ILOVEIT]

As much as I love JTA, Lee I would love to see Kuminga get their minutes. I've yet to see Kuminga have a major screw up. I'd rather they give him more and more rope and see what he can do now instead of tucking him away for next year.

[HiRez]

As much as I love JTA, Lee I would love to see Kuminga get their minutes. I've yet to see Kuminga have a major screw up. I'd rather they give him more and more rope and see what he can do now instead of tucking him away for next year.

I agree about the risk vs. reward warranting it. Yeah, sometimes he's going to miss a lot of his shots, turn the ball over, and blow some defensive assignments. But guess what, JTA and Lee do that too. On the other side this cat looks like he can drop in 30 on a good night without breaking a sweat and do it in a way that gives a defense fits. That chaos should benefit Steph and everyone else. Plus just getting him time so we might be able to use him in spot minutes in the playoffs (given Covid, having a deep bench is even more important now than it usually is). That's nothing against JTA or Lee, I like them, but we already know what they can do. Let's develop these guys against real NBA competition (well OK, the Kings...) while we have the luxury of doing it, I don't think you can say either Kuminga or Moody has cost us a game yet.

[Onus]

It's kind of funny, now that we are winning, this is probably the time where we can get more minutes to develop kuminga, and yet Kerr can't play him more than 5 min in the first half. The time to not play a rookie is when every win counts for us to make the playoffs, not when we're no 1/2 in the league and have a few games up on 3rd.

[FNQ]

If we're developing Kuminga for a certain role, IDC if he doesnt get many minutes now. Because as fans we want to see the rookie, but a coach needs to give those early opps to the vets, especially since some of them are going to be on the outside looking in, rotation-wise, in about 2-3 weeks.

But they can't be given free reign to **** stuff up. Lee can afford to eat some pine some games in favor of Moody, JTA the same re: Kuminga. It should never be a full extreme, all Lee/no Moody, all Moody/no Lee, etc.. and right now Kerr has favored the vets handily, and hopefully he's seen enough to rethink that stance

Have to wonder if some of the ACs think that way too

[shza]

It's kind of funny, now that we are winning, this is probably the time where we can get more minutes to develop kuminga, and yet Kerr can't play him more than 5 min in the first half. The time to not play a rookie is when every win counts for us to make the playoffs, not when we're no 1/2 in the league and have a few games up on 3rd.

Not sure if you were suggesting it was Kerr’s strategic choice to pull Kuminga, but he left the game at that point with lower-back soreness and spent the rest of the night in the locker room.

[Onus]

It's kind of funny, now that we are winning, this is probably the time where we can get more minutes to develop kuminga, and yet Kerr can't play him more than 5 min in the first half. The time to not play a rookie is when every win counts for us to make the playoffs, not when we're no 1/2 in the league and have a few games up on 3rd.

Not sure if you were suggesting it was Kerr’s strategic choice to pull Kuminga, but he left the game at that point with lower-back soreness and spent the rest of the night in the locker room.

I said this before the game

[KevinMcreynolds]

I can see why Moody doesn’t get any run, he hasn’t done anything. But JK getting limited minutes just feels like a coach not playing rookies cuz their rookies move.

[SpreeChokeJob]

One thing I notice is how disjointed things are when they try to run plays for Kuminga in half court set. It usually results in a turnover.

Plays are poorly designed and executed for bigs on this team because they never had to use them. Usually it’s like Curry is trying to force a pass into Kuminga and it gets picked.

Compared to what is designed for Curry and any outside shooter, the plays for the bigs look like caveman drawings. It makes more sense going forward with Kuminga to create plays where he can make a guaranteed bucket. The coaching staff needs to add something for their interior plays to exploit both the inside and outside of the court. Like a new revised Shaq and Kobe offense for the modern era.

[wco81]

I saw one play the Kings run that the Warriors could use for Kuminga.

They had a wing outside the 3 point line and there were a couple of dribble handoffs. On the last handoff where the first King player dribbled towards the 3 point line, the second King who was outside the 3 point line started cutting in so that when he got the dribble handoff pass, he was going almost full speed towards the basket.

So he either took two steps and was at the rim or took at most one dribble.

Warriors shotblockers didn't anticipate this so they didn't contest in the restricted area nor did anyone slide over to try to take the charge.

Usually the help defense rotates to the restricted area when an offensive player has dribbled a couple of times and they can anticipate the offensive player is going to try to take it to the rim. But this was on off-ball cut and he was already moving towards the rim by the time he had the ball.

Something like that would work really well for JK, have him already go downhill, doesn't have to make much of a move. If weak side help defense comes in, he can kick it out to the weak side corner, just make sure he doesn't commit a pass and crash offensive foul.

[Scoots1994]

Moody is 4-25 on 3s. For a guy who's selling point is mostly built around shooting, he needs to get it going at some point. That is why he's not playing most likely.

Also could be that his skillset is the most duplicated on the team.

[sonnyhill]

Are there any updates on Kuminga's back injury?

[Romulus]

I actually agree with Draymond on Kuminga's development: it's key to getting the team to the level it needs to be (to win a championship). Simply put, he possesses and adds something to the team no one else on the roster does. He's not only athletic, a good defender, but he has great touch and feel around the rim. He could really play a key role in the playoffs. You can't just hope for him to be ready come playoff time. You have to start developing him now.

It's really a shame that he hurt his back when he got the chance to start in place of Wiggins. Let's hope he can play from this point forward and make his move to actually being a key contributor off the bench.

He's really got talent and I think we all see it.

[GunnerWRX]

Are there any updates on Kuminga's back injury?

It’s a small but tough break for Kuminga at what felt like an important moment in his rookie season. He shouldn’t miss much (if any) time for the back issue, but Kuminga was given a spot start after his big 26-point night in Toronto on Saturday and delivered his first real chance to get big minutes next to Steph Curry and Green. But his night was over not long after it started.

<Fingers crossed>

[FNQ]

Back issues are tricky and can be exacerbated… just sayin