Think of all the things that Warriors of the Golden State I ran out of food and maybe two main things come to mind.
First, the Warriors don’t really have a lot of size across the board. Their tallest player is 6 feet 10 inches (Dario Šarić), while their shortest is 6 feet flat (Chris Paul). Between them are players who are either too small to influence things at the point of attack or in helping situations; wings that suffered a drop in shape or had to fight their way back to a reliable rotation point; and frontcourt players who are vertically handicapped, athletically limited, or a mix of both.
In a league where versatility is the key word, the Warriors have sometimes had too little of it. That hasn’t allowed them to become the stingiest defense – universally accepted as a key factor in becoming one of the league’s top contenders, let alone a championship team. Absent a true rim protector, you’d want multiple switchable bodies, something the Warriors haven’t had since the height of their dynasty.
The lack of athleticism and vertical pop across the board also comes into play when it comes to the other thing the Warriors are really lacking: rim pressure. They are currently attempting 27.1% of their shots at the rim – dead last among 30 teams and six percentage points below the league average.
Intentional pressure at the rim has never really been the Warriors’ play. Any close attempts are always a result of the pressure Steph Curry and Klay Thompson put on defenses from the outside. This “outside-in” approach has always been the bread and butter of their attack; For most of the decade, they had no need to deviate from such an approach.
However, things have changed. Curry and Thompson aren’t getting any younger, especially Thompson, who may no longer have the juice to consistently be the team’s second banana. Curry still needs someone who can ease the scoring burden and also take advantage of the attention he gets from defenses every night.
That’s where Jonathan Kuminga comes in – and what a great job he’s done as the Warriors’ new second base option. He played a significant role in winning the Warriors in 12 of their last 15 games, during which he averaged the following values:
- 18.6 points
- 5.7 rebounds
- 3.5 assists
- 58.2% on two-point shots
- 59.4% TS
The drives were as explosive and violent as ever – but were sprinkled with control and touch, which made Kuminga even more dangerous as a rim attacker in half-court situations.
But Kuminga is at his best as a scorer whenever the Warriors are able to get into a transition situation, mostly through defensive rebounds and forced turnovers. It’s no secret that some of the most effective offensive forms come from such situations, against opponents who are trying hard to get back on defense.
Kuminga scores 1.353 points per possession (PPP) in transition, according to Synergy. He was a weapon the Warriors were determined to use in fast break situations:
Kuminga is poised to become one of the league’s deadliest open-court operators, while also developing the instincts and know-how to attack cross-court plays in transition. He is often too big for the opposing guards facing him, while he is too quick and too agile for the bigger frontcourt players who find themselves facing him on the perimeter.
Smaller confrontations are more pronounced when it comes to post-up situations. Kuminga’s PPP ratings on post-ups (0.972) haven’t been as striking as his transition possessions, but they’ve still been effective in the right situations. Kuminga finds himself in these good situations more and more – that is, against smaller guys who he can bully and take on, while also mixing in a bit of craft using his footwork:
But once again, it was his performances this season that stood out. He can explode at the point of attack at any time, which is inevitable given his athleticism and burst. But the improvement in his ball-handling and handling has allowed him to be exponentially better when it comes to intentionally putting pressure on the rim.
(To learn more about Kuminga impulses, read this article by Charlie Cummings of Swish Theory.)
Kuminga’s growth in several areas has helped him become a key contributor to this Warriors run. But it’s his pressure at the rim and ability to take opponents off the floor in transition that has stood out so far, accompanying lateral movement in one-on-one situations on defense and flashes of exceeding the benefits created.
Never have people been more optimistic about Kuminga’s prospects with the Warriors than what he has shown as of late.
