On the delicate balancing act surrounding Jonathan Kuminga

The need for him to be engaged entails a shift in offensive focus.

As Brandin Podziemski was bringing the ball down at the 1:17 mark of the second quarter, the Golden State Warriors were just about to settle into one of their trademark “flow” sets — less of a structured exercise and more of a randomized dance built on overarching principles drilled within them from the very beginning of training camp. Gary Payton II runs to Podziemski’s immediate right and cuts along the slot area, clearing toward the weak side and letting Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga have the right side of the floor all to themselves.

A pass to Kuminga is met with a pass back to Podziemski, who then realizes that the best course of action would be to pass the ball back to the top and set an away screen for Kuminga. In that regard, the typical course of action if you’re Kuminga would be to accept the screen, try to play off of Podziemski, and attack according to how the defense reacts. If the defense switches, it would behoove Podziemski to slip the screen in order to beat the switch. Expecting such a coverage decision, Podziemski does choose to slip the away screen.

However, Podziemski encounters a slight problem:

As Podziemski slips into space, Kuminga also decides to cut into the very same space — nullifying the effectiveness of both of their cuts simultaneously. Fortunately, Draymond Green decides to play the other way and Payton has the wherewithal to set a screen for Steph Curry, who comes off of the screen and steps into his catch-and-shoot rhythm with Jeremiah Robinson-Earl in drop coverage. But while the possession is recorded as a successful score, the process of the initial action — while irrelevant to the result of the play — provides somewhat of a peek behind the mindset of Kuminga, whose up-and-down play has shined a light on whether he really fits the Warriors’ ethos.

Despite a commanding victory over the Atlanta Hawks last Wednesday, there was a tiny albeit loud subsection of Warriors fans who questioned Kuminga’s minutes. After a rather solid showing in the first half of that game, Kuminga wouldn’t see the floor again till the game was in garbage time. A reasonable rationale for that decision by Steve Kerr was most probably a preference to give Andrew Wiggins the bulk of the minutes and preferring to keep Green on the floor as much as possible. Kerr’s reticence to play Kuminga at the three may have also played a part.

However, one can’t help but wonder if Kuminga — a square peg trying to fit in a round hole and trying ever so hard to shape himself into a form that assimilates more seamlessly — just isn’t going to perfectly fit into what the Warriors are trying to do.

On one hand, reps will remain king when it comes to a player’s improvement. In theory, the more reps Kuminga has within this system, the more he will develop the understanding to exist within it and the willingness to co-exist with teammates who have internalized it. On the other hand, giving Kuminga more reps also runs the risk of possessions like this, where he takes an out-of-rhythm corner look with 17 seconds left on the shot clock:

That kind of shot selection and overall decision-making would be grounds for Kerr to pull Kuminga from the floor and have him sit for a prolonged period. But with Curry having to sit soon and the New Orleans Pelicans refusing to let the Warriors pull away, Kerr needed every source of non-Curry offense on the floor (as well as non-Wiggins, who finished the night with 30 points on 14 shots). Therefore, Kuminga had to stay on the floor, with Kerr giving him an extended run.

Not only did Kerr give Kuminga more burn — he also decided to do away with Kuminga as a cog in the motion offense and feature him in simplified half-court sets. That simplification came in the form of several “inverted” pick-and-roll possessions, with the Warriors’ play call for it being “Small.” Such actions are deemed “inverted” due to smaller guards setting the screen for the 6’7” Kuminga, with the rationale being that it can either give him a favorable matchup against a smaller defender or allow him to turn the corner if there’s a reticence to switch — the latter of which occurs frequently whenever it’s Curry setting the screen:

Kerr’s line of thinking during this stretch is similar to how he has recently elevated Wiggins’ role on offense: make Kuminga’s job easy (and engage him) by putting the ball in his hands and creating downhill situations for him. Unlike Wiggins, however, Kuminga doesn’t possess a passable pull-up jumper; as such, coverages against him will differ, hence the need for smaller ball-screen partners as opposed to Wiggins, who can play off of the bigger Trayce Jackson-Davis because he demands more “over” coverages.

Without Curry on the floor, Buddy Hield acts as a serviceable substitute as a ball-screen partner for Kuminga. Again, the reticence to switch off of a shooter allows Kuminga to turn the corner toward the rim:

Kuminga scoring in this manner — with the ball spending a majority of the time in his hands — empowers him and gives him further confidence to create advantages, something the Warriors are in dire need of beyond Curry. When Kuminga elects to eschew the incoming Podziemski inverted screen altogether to drive in a straight line, he draws enough bodies and possesses the wherewithal to find Kevon Looney cutting baseline:

And while this ended up being a missed shot, it was a good look made possible by Kuminga recognizing Podziemski’s “ghosted” screen to beat an attempted switch:

When the Pelicans do successfully switch the inverted screen, a smaller man defending Kuminga’s drive draws gap help — and allows Kuminga to pass the ball to Hield, who attacks the close-out for a bucket inside:

While the process was by no means perfect — Kuminga missed point-blank shots, turned the ball over on a drive in the paint, did not have the most efficient scoring night, and the Warriors ended up being outscored by a point during his minutes — this may be the only manner through which he is willing to dance to the Warriors’ tune on offense. This sequence of spamming inverted pick-and-rolls for Kuminga can certainly generate buckets in a pinch, but the tradeoffs are still quite glaring. He will still need to attempt to exist and co-exist, which entails minimizing the standstill habits and maximizing his presence on the floor without the ball in his hands.

The Kuminga situation is a delicate balancing act of catering to him and catering to the bigger mission at hand. These two situations don’t need to be mutually exclusive — but if they continue to clash more than they coincide, the decision may need to be taken out of the coaching staff’s hands.