This bugs me. As a professional, you should be invested in the season whether you play 28 minutes or 30 or 32 or 34, etc.

20 comments

  3. It’s not a question of investment. He’s playing for a contract of course, but he wants to be a great player. I think that is obvious watching him. Sometimes that leads to frustration and pressing. He’s still young after all. But his heart is in it.

    There is just a balance between giving him more run, or leaning on Wiggins, Green, Looney etc. to try and win games in the short term. Kerr has a very difficult job.

    Then you get a guy like Waters too, who can drain open 3s and never turns the ball over. Hard for a coach to resist. His career per 36 is 15 points and 0.7 turnovers.

  4. kuminga is not a shooter who can come off screens in this team’s actions, he’s not a plus passer, he’s not a strong rebounder despite his size. His best skill, driving, doesn’t reach its full potential because his dribbling/ballhandling isn’t so strong. He’s also not locked in on defense all the time.

    so why does Kuminga deserve over 30 minutes a game if he’s little than a one dimensional role player?

    this team’s only chance of winning is by doing all the little things well and having excellent defense.

    All those people trashing Podz forget that Pods regularly outrebounds Kuminga, just as he did in this recent game against OKC, is a better defender, passer, and ball-handler.

  5. That turnover he made late in the 4th quarter was a killer. He passed the ball to nobody.

  6. Yes he should. On the other hand, he’s only 22-year old playing for his next contract. After watching how Klay struggled last year, I don’t blame him if he lets playing time get into his head.

  7. Its more about playing scared vs playing with confidence. You will play much better knowing you have 30 minutes to work with being flawless for 15

  8. All these considerations towards Kuminga’s minutes, the need to get him engaged, invested, in a rhythm, whatever you want to call it forces one huge question: is it all worth the trouble? Quite frankly, after three-and-a-quarter seasons I still struggle to find any evidence it is. There is very little I have seen from Kuminga that any other volume scorer in this league can’t give us without needing to jump through all these hoops. The words “sunk cost fallacy” always comes to my mind when this topic is discussed, same as with Moody.

  9. I feel strongly that this team needs to sort out the Wiggins/Kuminga/Moody situation, ASAP. Probably via a trade. They all play essentially the same position and none of them (including Wiggins) are really getting the minutes they need.

  10. I feel like I hear this so much with Moody/Kuminga but I can’t really think of many players who were meh at 16 minutes a game and then just got way better because they got an extra 10 minutes.

    Players have made leaps and *then* been given more minutes, but all this reasoning about why giving more minutes would make them more invested seems flimsy to me.

    You gotta earn those extra minutes by playing hard in the 16 minutes you get, not the other way around. Also it just sets a bad precedent for the team where if you sulk you get extra minutes.

  11. Sort of yes sort of no. Outside of Loon it feels like Dubs have done a subpar job at developing their young guys. Even guys that were touted as high floor types like Jacob Evans and Moody. But that’s the reality of competing for championships.

  12. not sure how he’s regularly getting 28 minutes when the season averages say otherwise.

    As far as JKs play. The man needs to let the guys know what he wants. Whether it’s the post up, backdoor cut. Or ISO at the top. They seem to have no clue what he wants in an offensive set.

  16. Having a high capital pick and asking him to “know his role” or fill a role, is a tough situation to be in. When you’re a top 10 pick, you’re usually given more freedom. I don’t think Kuminga’s game will ever be what he thinks it can be, but I’m also not sure I got the warriors philosophy during that draft. I get the idea of wanting these “cheap” rookie contracts to be impact players, but then take Wagner who was clearly more ready to contribute to the team. Warriors tried to thread the needle with raw talent that can make an impact now with high upside and it’s a very tight window.

    I think the most likely scenario is he gets a Wiggins like extension and he gets shipped out next season. I doubt the warriors want to lose him for nothing. I do want him to ball out, but I just don’t think he’s anything more than an explosive player who hasn’t really developed any skills to complement his raw athleticism and can’t fit what Kerr wants.

  17. the fact that he is sulking about this is nuts.

    you go back to all our title teams, no one sulked. no one complained. why? cause the leader of the team aka number 30 didn’t complain.

    play your role and understand the big picture.

    understand greatness.

  18. I love JK, and I have yearned for a Warriors draftee, a homegrown talent, to pop and be ready to ease the load on Steph. I really thought JP would be the guy, and at the start of this year I was convinced it would be JK. And, although I still believe in him, I think its evident that the Warriors are not the best place for his career to flourish. Steve is adamant to play his style, which you can’t argue with because its a style that has won you 4 chips. JK does not fit that style. And if we are serious about giving Steph one last hurrah, before he turns 38 next season. Its time to push in all the chips at the deadline.

  19. You just never know which Kuminga is going to show up on the night and I think this is why Kerr struggles with playing him for longer minutes. When he’s assertive, driving the lane and hustling on defence… The kid looks like an absolute star. But when he’s getting dribbled around like a cone and he’s sitting on the wing settling for catch and shoot 3s, he’s just adding nothing to the team that we couldn’t already get from other guys on the roster. You can’t just give the kid minutes because he might become invested. He needs to buy in and earn those minutes. It’s as simple as that.

  20. i liked what Kuminga did last night, but I wish he was like 20% more aggressive. It was his game to takeover and lead this team with Steph out and I wanted to see him get like 40 with 8 assists. After being aggressive, there were a bunch of plays he just stood in the corner, out of the play. On defense, I wanted to see him say “fuck this, Im guarding Shai and take on that challenge for the rest of the game.

    Kuminga is too nice of a dude, he needs to get angry and become a little bit of an asshole that realizes that he can take anyone to the basket.

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