Apparently one Wardell Stephen Curry’s attempt to clear some space for Jonathan Kuminga, over a week ago in LA after the Lakers game, have backfired. I wrote about Jerry Stackhouse and his chess against them and the Nuggets, so I didn’t really cover what was said that night, although I did talk about Kuminga in the previous post after JK’s performance versus the Spurs.
Here’s what was asked on April 6th after the Lakers game and what was answered:
When you take into account his effort defensively and then also what he did on offense, passing the ball, scoring, obviously, was this the best game you’ve ever seen JK play?
STEPH CURRY: I think we need to kind of just let this guy play basketball. We don’t have to have a declaration after every game. We don’t have to be in a situation where we’re judging every minute he’s out there. I understand he’s the next in line to come into his own as an NBA player, but I wish my fourth year wasn’t, “It was the greatest game ever, it was a bad game ever, how was his rotation?’ Like, he’s figuring it out. If we’re gonna win at the highest level, he has to be a part of it, so keep doing what he’s doing.
To my knowledge, Curry hasn’t been asked about Kuminga since and — no disrespect to the beatwriter who asked him; they have a job to do to collect postgame quotes and cover portions of the game they feel a newspaper recap needs — maybe it was because it was a rookie/unfamiliar reporter on the beat in a crowded media room in LA, so Steph took advantage of the moment to tell all the media at Crypto.com Arena to back off of Kuminga.
But of course it’s been a whole long week now and and that has left JK exposed to the usual cast of “doom and gloom” characters on social media, who don’t listen to Steph anyways, so let me pound it out for the masses. And, incidentally, I already talked about all of this at the top of the last livestream for the Portland game, so be sure to subscribe:
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Jonathan is a great pickup ball player, but what makes Golden State an elite team in the best league on the planet is the ecosystem around Steph:
If this were a game at the local playground, JK would probably be one of the top picks because it’s just old school pickup ball, guys stand around and watch, horrendous transition defense, and you can iso him in the post and he can do the Kobe Bryant fadeaways and all that good athletic stuff including the bag. Obviously, the NBA is way beyond that level and defenses are too clever to let you do what you want.
At the same time, guys like this are often chosen as rebuilding franchise cornerstones. I mean, you gotta start somewhere, i.e., being an awesome baller in the context of any given pickup game isn’t to be dismissed lightly. We’ll come back to this.
And so for you to win games closing out the 82, or Play-in/playoff games, you focus on his go-to strengths: downhill attacks, physical presence on 1v1 defense. That’s the role he can play right now, coming back into this new identity of the Warriors with Jimmy Butler.
Steve Kerr has already said the combination of JK with Butler with Draymond Green isn’t working (I think it was pregame Spurs), so if you look at the play-by-play from Portland (videos and transcripts below), it’s Kuminga subbing in for Brandin Podziemski with Buddy Hield for Jimmy, while Steph is on the floor along with Draymond and Moses Moody
Then Kevon Looney checks in for Green and either Gary Payton II or Gui Santos (expect more GP2 when he’s healthy) for Moody. I think Santos will be used more if the Warriors happen to be stagnant on offense, kind of like emergency energy — my livestream audience calls him “Ener-Gui” (credit to Cholo) and his offensive rebounds “Gui-bounds.”
Kuminga’s issues right now are establishing force, settling for threes, turnovers, fouls, and standing around watching. Seems like a long list, but they are very doable items because the first domino of physicality makes the others fall quite easily.
There’s no doubt that the scouting report on JK will be “let him shoot.” You have to take away his strength which is downhill ability. He’ll be in a lot of action with Steph to create that. He’ll also need to be in the process of a “run through” on the catch (watch how Podziemski does it), due to the Curry ecosystem — which btw, is largely managed by Steph; you can see him, particularly with courtside footage such as Orlando, pointing to tell teammates where to go or where to initiate the ball movement. He even did this during a fast break (!) and directed at Jimmy, in Portland, in here:
I wrote in the previous article that JK needs to “cut hard”. Basically, it’s a mindset of physicality that prepares the body and mind to perform his role better. Again, the role is not “playground Kobe”, so it’s less about honing in on your bag as it is about honing in on your psyche. If you are seeking physical contact, you’re less likely to settle for wide-open threes. You’ll still want to touch a body even if you catch the ball wide-open in the corner.
JK actually did this the other night in Portland, which is in our behind-the-scenes video embedded above:
So he’s got to continue that, although you can expect the better teams going forward to give up way more space than Sidy Cissoko did — huge factor for LAC btw: Nic Batum is injured. But still, the more collisions you give to the opposition, even on rebounding, the more the defender will have to give off that body language that, “Okay, I’m bracing myself for the contact,” which good refs usually see and call. This is why Jimmy gets calls and, whenever Jonathan is in “settle for threes” or “stand around and watch” mode, does not get those calls when he finally does apply contact.
You have to establish your foundation going into the game as a physical player.
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Kuminga’s minutes are matchup- and performance-based:
There’s not a GM in the NBA that doesn’t understand that Steph, Jimmy and Draymond are the driving forces behind any Warriors run. Anything you get from anyone else is a bonus.
With Podz and Mo contributing to that 15-2 (or whatever it is) starting lineup, JK will have that base foundation of about 18 minutes, which is actually pretty solid for a backup in an established system — as I’ve written, De’Anthony Melton was around 20 as a solid backup on Memphis. It will fluctuate up or down depending on performance and matchup.
For example, if we play the Lakers and his defense on Luka Doncic or LeBron James is effective during the time he’s on the floor, or he’s drawing whistles left and right and making free throws, then you’ll see the minutes trend up. If he’s having a great game whereby the opposition hasn’t figured out how to stop him, JK will finish quarters and could close out, as he did over Moody in that Lakers game.
And so if the Dubs happen to beat the Clippers today then face the Lakers and Jonathan breaks out against them, then what will the Xitter kids say? Why is a prediction like that any implausible than any other prediction about Kuminga you hear on social media? Well, the predictions about JK’s contract being close to $20 million are just implausible, period. Here’s why…
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It only takes one GM to set Kuminga’s market value:
Again, anything can happen in the Play-in/playoffs and you are largely judged by “what have you done for me lately,” but people seem to forget that JK is a restricted free agent.
Like real estate or venture capital Series A funding, you start with comparables. Franz Wagner at $37 million/year is a huge one, drafted just one slot below JK and similar size/build/position. In my opinion and with the Rockets making a name for themselves, Jalen Green ($33M) has emerged as a comparable, although he took a slight discount to make more later — possibly a philosophy another GM might try.
And so I don’t think Kuminga is gonna get offered less than $30 million per year on average, which is what Joe Lacob offered at the outset of 2024-25. And what was Lacob supposed to do back then? It was not fiscally sound salary cap management to offer JK more than that at that time. Due to the comparable of Wagner and Green, it was a good decision by Jonathan to see if he could out-perform Wagner and Green — all moving targets — and that could still happen due to the “what have you done for me lately” rule.
Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints has reminded us that there’s really only one team out there with the cap space to pry JK away: Brooklyn. But you never know. It just takes one GM who values Kuminga more from the paradigm of a pickup game at the playground, Kobe bag, and you go from there.
But people saying JK’s shaky performances will put his salary in the $20-29 million range, I don’t see it. With the comps out there already, if he got that, he’d have to fire his agent and I’ll have to rethink my entire knowledge base of salary caps. Of course, I didn’t think Klay Thompson as a free agent could land with an NBA Finals team last summer, so I learned a lot about the new, more prevalent tool of sign-and-trade — maybe I’ll learn something drastically new this summer based on whatever JK’s contract will be, we’ll see. I mean, the Warriors don’t have a ton of experience with RFAs so it’s kind of new territory for analysts like myself, as well as fans. I keep an open mind (do fans?).
Also, the Warriors should want Kuminga to break out. I would tend to believe a bigger contract would be able to yield more possibilities at potential trade markets, should the need arise. They’re right at the cusp of the second apron, $37 million (ironically) under, with four more slots to fill besides JK’s. Opposing GMs obviously know this. Maybe Brooklyn really wants JK and is willing to offer $39 million — I would think $40M would just be aesthetically insane — to threaten to send GSW into the second apron?
If they reach the Finals or maybe WCF, maybe Lacob will deem it okay to breach that second apron and match? I’m sure this will be a hot topic in June and July. Lacob told Tim Kawakami of the TK Show podcast at the time after the Jimmy trade that there wasn’t another player available at that time that could impact more than Kuminga, especially with his experience in the Kerr-Steph ecosystem.
I’m thinking that will likely still be the case, come July.
Anyways, all JK has to do is cut hard and all the dominoes will fall.
Portland postgame below, which includes Ivica Zubac asked by Law Murray of The Athletic about Draymond, from the Sacramento locker room after the Clippers staved off the Kings:
00:00 What’s Sunday gonna be like, Draymond?
00:03 DRAYMOND GREEN, POSTGAME GSW-POR: Like a playoff game, super-intense, two teams fighting for their playoff lives, expected to be a very physical, high-intelligent, high-level basketball game.
00:18 What do you think about the Clippers and how they’ve looked the last couple months?
00:22 Great. They’ve looked good all year. Just like anybody, they had trying times at certain parts of the year, facing some injuries, when Norm (Powell) was out. Then Kawhi came back and James did an incredible job of keeping the team afloat, in a great position, till Kawhi came back and they look like a complete, really good basketball team.
00:50 With that being said, right, considering how different they look, how different you guys look, how much can you draw from those first three matchups, given that they were in 2024?
00:57 I mean, you take something from them. They’re different when you add Kawhi, for sure, but you definitely take something from them games and see the things that they did, that caused us a problem and where we can be better, for sure.
01:15 How would you characterize just these last couple months that culminate, obviously with tomorrow, just this journey, this group has been on?
01:22 It’s been a complete turnaround. I think after the All-Star Break we were like 26-27 or something crazy like that and here we are at 48-33 with a chance to clinch a playoff berth. So, complete turnaround. I think we did a great job of turning it around since Jimmy’s gotten here. Now we gotta continue to build on that.
01:46 What do you see in Kawhi?
01:48 He looks great, looks spry, bouncy, getting to his spots like he always does. He looks like Kawhi. He looks incredible.
01:58 What would you like to see the team improve or be more consistent on Sunday?
02:03 We gotta make sure we get into our spots and get good things offensively every possession. This team will force you into some shots that you don’t necessarily want to take and we gotta make sure we getting the ones that we want to take.
02:12 Steve was kind of critical of y’all’s rhythm lately, spacing, passing. How do you feel like you’re playing right now, just overall?
02:23 We could be a lot better. I think it’s been too up-and-down as of late. The ball’s sticking a bit, not moving enough, but defensively I think we’ve been pretty good for the most part, for the most part.
02:40 How are you preparing for a team with the size that Zubac has?
02:47 Same way we prepare for everybody else. Zubac is a great player, having an incredible year, but I don’t know what the game plan is yet, so we’ll see.
03:01 What are some factors contributing to the ball sticking a little bit more, being a little bit less connected the past couple weeks?
03:08 That’s what we need to figure out. You just gotta — Steve always said, “Just hit the first open man. You see somebody open, hit him,” and we’re not. We’re not doing a great job of that right now, so gotta figure out why.
03:21 Is that why you guys have maybe an inefficient shooting night like tonight?
03:25 Definitely. It’s no rhythm, so if you’re not — the ball’s sticking and it’s not moving when it’s supposed to move, you’re not getting the ball when you’re supposed to get the ball. Throws off the rhythm and timing of the game, so definitely plays a part in it.
03:38 How — given Steph banged his thumb again — how important would it be to have that full week off to prepare for a playoff series?
03:45 It’d be huge. You’d be surprised at how healthy you can get over the course of a week off. You see how healthy Steph looked coming back from the week off? Like, you’d be surprised, so that week would be big for us.
04:00 How are you feeling after playing the past second half of the season at center, mostly?
04:05 I’m cut out for it. I feel great.
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04:11 How you feeling, Steph? Looked like you banged your thumb again.
04:15 STEPH CURRY: I’m feeling great. I’m ready to play Game 82 on Sunday. I’m excited about it.
04:23 Is this a re-aggravation? I know you’ve had some thumb issues this year or was this kind of something new?
04:29 From what I know, just a re-aggravation, the same thing, but hopefully it wasn’t anything serious.
04:35 You got x-rays on it?
04:36 Yeah.
04:38 Does it impact the shot at all?
04:41 It did a little bit just ’cause it was freshly ringing new pain, but I don’t think it’ll last too long.
04:48 Is it more like a swelling thing or just like the the , the movement of the thumb?
04:53 I’m not really good with the anatomy, so I just know it hurts right now, but I’ll be all right.
05:00 Have you kind of absorbed all the standings ramifications and what the next few days looks like for y’all?
05:09 Yeah, I haven’t really got too wrapped up into it. I just know we had to win the last two games to give ourselves the best chance of safety, getting into whatever seed that’s a playoff series and a week off, so it’s the same situation going into Sunday. The Clippers coming in, they’re a good team. They’re playing well, different than we’ve seen them with Kawhi, so gotta be ready for that challenge. We were watching the Kings-Clipper game down to the last minute or so in the locker room, but we’ve known the situation for a pretty long time, so you don’t get too wrapped up in the drama of it, even though it’s great for the league seeing how it all ends up.
05:55 For a team that’s been in playoff mode for the last month, how important or how big would it be to get just a week off and kind of avoid the Play-in?
06:05 The Play-in is wild. We’ve been in it a couple times, hasn’t gone well for us, but to your point, we’ve had a sense of urgency for a pretty long time and we’ve given ourselves a chance to control some part of our destiny in that respect, so yeah, you want to have a guaranteed series. You want to take advantage of what that schedule looks like and avoid the chaos of a one-game Play-in situation ’cause we’ve been there, done that.
06:38 Given where you guys were earlier this season, just how would you assess the journey this group has been on to get to this point and just these last couple months, in general?
06:47 I’m just trying to develop an identity of what it means to win, play consistently. We’ve had some blips in the radar, but for the most part, where we were 10th or 11th in the standings at one point, it looked pretty bleak and to be in this situation, you gotta take a lot of positives of how we’ve been playing and hopefully we have something to show for it, come next weekend.
07:11 Steve said he feels like you guys might have been — he said you guys were probably in a better place a few weeks ago in terms of connectivity, rhythm, flow. Is that — have you noticed that and why do you think that might be?
07:25 I mean, what, 10 days ago we beat Memphis, LA, Denver in a three-game stretch. It’s really hard to win in this league and, yeah, you have a high standard of how you wanna play and the Houston game, the San Antonio game weren’t our best basketball, but you kind of lock in on the positives of what we’ve been doing and knowing, defensively, we’ve been a very consistent team and our numbers show it offensively. We’ve been kind of hit-or-miss and I think that’s just a little bit of lack of execution, getting organized and things like that. And for a coach, obviously, he’s gonna have a certain viewpoint, which we do have a high standard. We do need to play the way that we expect to play every night and if it doesn’t happen, you try to address the the issues on the fly. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that for a pretty long time, so we gotta have a little bit more in the tank, come Sunday and then rest the way.
08:30 Steph, you said all you wanted was a chance to play meaningful games. How would you describe Sunday?
08:41 I don’t wanna be too dramatic. It should be like a Game 7 kind of vibe. You win and, again, you control your destiny on a guaranteed playoff series. You lose, you roll the dice, so I think I said last game, good teams find a way to win big games like that and that’s what we’re aiming to be.
09:06 Steph, how much practice would you say would you personally want the team to have over the course of maybe the next week?
09:14 As much as we can, as much as the schedule allows. We’re really good with preparation and playoff preparation and being able to get our minds locked in on a certain game plan and strategy against any team, no matter who we play, but you gotta earn the right to get there, so that’s the challenge, first and foremost.
09:35 For you, what consistencies would you — or lapses, inconsistency — would you like to see the team shore up maybe before the next game or even before the playoffs start?
09:45 Well it would probably be before the next game ’cause the Clips are good defense. We’ve struggled occasionally with their size and their defensive kind of principles against us and all that is just for us to counter as ball movement, making the simple play, keeping your turnovers down, creating good shots as much as possible. And I mean, obviously, that’s all offensively and trying to get the pace of the game to where we want it, so if we can control those things, it doesn’t really matter how many shots you make, it’s just the feeling of creating good looks and executing on the offensive end that gives you a chance to build momentum and confidence that you can win.
10:26 How much easier is that now with Jimmy being out there, being another playmaker for you guys, compared to the beginning of the year?
10:34 Our record reflects that, the before and after, so happy to have him.
00:00 Can you even begin — I don’t like talking or I don’t like asking you about the next game after a game tonight, but game is early Sunday and ’cause it’s so big, when do you start thinking about that, when you start studying and getting yourself mentally prepared for a game like that right now?
00:17 IVICA ZUBAC, POSTGAME LAC-SAC: Right now, as soon as I get out of this locker room. I’m sure JVG will be on us. He’s gonna send me a text that’s this long about all the coverages of what we want to do, how they play, and yeah, getting ready right now, so it’s a pretty important game, so it’s gonna be fun.
00:45 So I’ll ask you, Draymond is playing a lot more at the 5 since that Jimmy got there. How does Draymond at the 5 with all those perimeter players kind of change things for you, compared to when you was going up against Trayce Jackson-Davis, Kevon Looney earlier in the season?
01:02 There’s definitely — he’s initiating a lot of their offense. He’s in a lot of handoffs. He’s — gotta be up because Steph is coming off. He’s really good with the keeps and the handoffs. A lot of guys try to overplay him, too, kind of blitz Steph and he’s really good with keeping that, so it’s different when he can pass and he’s a — it’s gonna be different. Defensively, he’s really good. He’s aggressive. He gets into you, into your body and he’s physical, so it’s a way different look than other guys.
01:42 I was gonna say, because it’s been a minute since you’ve played them, does it feel like you guys are playing differently? How much can you take from — ?
01:51 Not a lot.
01:51 Mm-hmm.
01:52 Not a lot. They were playing a bunch of different guys in the rotation than they were playing last time. We’re playing different guys, so one game. Winner gets to the playoffs, so it’s gonna be way different than the games we played earlier in the year. Those three ones that we had early don’t really matter now, so it’s gonna be a totally different basketball game.
02:17 Thanks, Zu.
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02:19 Have you already already kind of sorted through the standings ramifications, postgame?
02:24 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-POR: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
02:26 Seems like win and you’re in, Sunday. What’s your early thoughts on that?
02:31 Well, Mike Dunleavy just said we have three potential home games to get into the playoffs. I think that’s a good way of looking at it. We beat the Clippers, we’re in. If not, beat Memphis, we’re in. If not, we got one more crack. We’re in a great spot and, obviously, we don’t wanna mess around and go to the Play-in, but we’re in a really good spot, so considering where we were two months ago, Mike makes the Jimmy trade, I think we’re like 23-7 since then. We’ve skyrocketed up the standings, but we’re right in this morass with all these other teams and so we are where we are. We’re in a good spot. We’re excited about what’s ahead and we gotta go do it.
03:32 Steph looked like he kind of jammed his thumb there in the first quarter. Do you have any update on that?
03:36 I don’t.
03:38 RAYMOND RIDDER, WARRIORS PR: They did have x-rays. They were negative.
03:40 What are your early thoughts on the Clippers? I know you probably don’t really have time or ability at this point to scheme it out, but I mean, you know who they are.
03:50 Yeah. Yeah, we know them well. They’re a great team, great two-way team. I think they added to their team at the trade deadline and they’re playing at a really high level right now, so I think they’re one of the best teams in the league, so we gotta go out and play a good game to get ’em.
04:08 It’s a 1230 tip Sunday. You’re on the road now. I don’t know if you’ll get, like, will you get a practice in tomorrow?
04:14 No, day off tomorrow. I think the rest is more important.
04:17 So probably, what, kind of a walkthrough?
04:20 Yeah. Walkthrough Sunday morning and right to it.
04:23 Feel comfortable with that?
04:24 Sure. It is what it is, so yeah, we’ve had playoff games that started at 1230, so you just adapt.
04:34 How valuable would getting the 6th seed be compared to having to go through the Play-in rounds?
04:41 I mean, the rest would be great. The preparation would be great, so you absolutely wanna win that game and keep things simple, but like I said, we got multiple possibilities here and the fact that we are in this spot, 48 wins with one to go, given where we were midseason, I’m really proud of the team, the whole group. They’ve just gone on a phenomenal run here, last couple months.
05:16 Blazers still have some size, despite missing some guys tonight.
05:19 I’m sorry?
05:20 Blazers still have size despite missing guys tonight.
05:22 Yeah.
05:22 How do you feel about your smaller units with Jimmy and Draymond at the front court against teams over the past month or two with teams with size like that?
05:31 Well, we’ve been really good starting Draymond at the 5. I was thrilled to get Quinten Post back tonight because when we can put him out there with Draymond, it just relieves Draymond from that responsibility to guard the other 5, for tonight, 15, 16 minutes. We need to be able to play big, too. Looney has been really good this last month, so we’ve got options, but our best lineup has been the starters. They’ve put together a really good won-lost record, but we’ve got options after that, to go bigger.
06:12 Where does GP kind of fit into that in terms of — ?
06:14 GP?
06:15 In terms of a guy who can play bigger than his size, when it comes to defense on-ball.
06:19 Gary’s a very important player to us. He has been for years, huge part of the ’22 championship with his defense and diving, his ability to finish, connect the game. A wonderful player and thrilled that he was back tonight and hopefully we can keep him healthy, because he’s a very important player for us.
06:41 There’s a moment in the fourth quarter that Brandin take a charge and then you basically have no hesitation and just go take the challenge. With that trust you talked about before the game, what’s your expectation of him taking his role in the playoff or in the — ?
06:56 Brandin?
06:57 Yeah, Brandin.
06:58 I have a lot of faith in Brandin. He’s an excellent player and I don’t know how many charges he’s taken this year. I know he led the league last year, but he makes all kinds of plays like that during the game to make us better.
07:12 Coach, what do you take away from a night tonight that wasn’t the most efficient shooting night, but what do you think you needed to improve on and what’d you like from the team?
07:19 We got the job done. We got the win. Obviously, they had most of their team out, so this was the expected result, but we needed to get it done and to put ourselves in a great position which we’ve done. But the game has to connect. There has to be a rhythm to both ends of the floor and I didn’t see that much tonight. 10, 15 minutes of that and the other 35 or so, not good basketball. Game’s gotta flow. We have to pass the ball better. We have to get spaced better. We have to develop a rhythm. We were in a better place, I think, a few weeks ago. We were playing with more rhythm, more flow, more two-way connection and we have to get back to that. The last couple weeks have been a little choppy.
08:08 And does that worry you at all about being a little choppy or inconsistent as you guys get down the stretch?
08:13 It’s my job to worry about that, so yeah, I have to address that and hopefully we can find that rhythm on Sunday, take care of business and then it’ll be great to actually, practice for a few days. It’s a rare occurrence in the NBA that anybody gets to practice anymore and we need some.
08:34 What are some factors that are contributing to that choppiness over the past couple weeks?
08:38 Spacing and passing, the biggest thing. Just not much rhythm to the game and, again, I gotta find the best lineups to create that and now that we are where we are, we’ve gotta be very particular every minute of every game now, in terms of who’s out there and how we find that rhythm, that groove.
09:07 Steve, do you feel like Sunday’s a completely different game between you and the Clippers ’cause you haven’t seen them since December, I think? You didn’t even see Kawhi. They haven’t seen Jimmy.
09:14 Yeah, they haven’t seen Jimmy. It’s a very different game, but they pose a lot of threats. I mean, I think Zubac is one of the best centers in the league and James Harden is still James Harden. He makes everybody better. Their defense has been consistent all year, Top Five. so they’re a formidable team.
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