Do we have a new “pet play” (Wardell Stephen Curry voice) that doesn’t even involve Curry? Jonathan Kuminga isn’t really a one-on-one or traditional pick-and-roll with a big man type of self-starter — neither is Andrew Wiggins, btw — which is, I think, really what casuals are alluding to, even though they don’t know it themselves, when they say Steph needs a “No. 2”.
But the Buddy Hield inverted screen for Kuminga seems to be working. I’ve been asking for this since the “pet play” article I wrote after last year’s Xmas Game. But I understand that sometimes, evolution has to happen out of necessity, which usually means some type of injury, in this case with both Curry and Draymond Green out, as well as De’Anthony Melton lost for the season.
Kuminga explained the simplicity of it: “It was actually for me to just get the ball and run a pick-and-roll with Buddy. So if they switch, I got Buddy open and they trusted me to just have the ball in my hands and to go out there and finish.” [Full transcript and videos below, per usual.]
Steve Kerr had finally tried some of this with Steph as the screen-setter — note: JK isn’t really great off the dribble and as a play-maker with the big man as the screener — at least a week ago and then, more recently, with Brandin Podziemski, but the Hield version is obviously paying more dividends.
I think the reason they waited so long to get JK going like this was because of the morphing of the roster, especially with all the new guys in training camp and then, of course, the unfortunate loss of Melton. You just can’t cover everything at every practice, but a pet play for JK was inevitable, guys. You just have to be patient and let an NBA season take shape.
Which leads me to my ongoing assertion since way back that Kuminga is a keeper and untradeable and worth whatever the market eventually bears as his price (somewhere around the Franz Wagner comparable, if we’re being realistic). But that video and the one where Nikola Vucevic actually makes sense as a trade, for salary cap optionality reasons, are reports I am planning just around the corner.
Alas, all along Kerr was right. Things do come around and an 82-game season is a long one.
Before I head off to focus on the Golden State Valkyries’ Expansion Draft (check our livestream playlist for 3PM on ESPN around the corner today), I just wanted to add that it was fun to see a new quirk of Wiggs on the podium as he not once, but twice, clicked his tongue to think about an answer to a question. Maybe I’ll find some time to make an Instagram Reel of TikTok out of it, maybe I won’t, we’ll see.
Also took a lot of notes during the Rockets-Warriors game, which can be seen in the Comments here, and I also went live on Instagram simultaneously which people seemed to like — so we’ll go on IG every time we go on YouTube live, although YT is still the more engrossing experience with back-screens and commenting…
00:00 Steve, that last play obviously looked like just get the ball to Kuminga and let him attack. How much does it strike you that you’re giving him a ton of responsibility there and how confident were you that he was going to be able to deliver?
00:13 STEVE KERR: Well, he was having a great night and it was a no-brainer to get him the ball. I took the time out in order to get our offensive guys back on the floor. I was going offense-defense with Gary and Buddy and then put Kyle in for the inbound at the end because I trust him to make that pass. And then JK just made the play. I mean, you got a couple of ghost screens, one from Buddy, one from BP, just to try to confuse the switch a little bit. And JK just attacked and that was the play of the game. It was just a beautiful drive and capped off a phenomenal night for him. He was brilliant.
00:55 You’ve kind of talked about, especially lately, you guys have had some bad down-the-stretch offensive play. You’ve talked about the need to find maybe some pick-and-roll, some scoring. Obviously, that’s an example of it.
01:07 Yeah. Yeah.
01:08 I mean, how much of a weapon can that possibly be in those types of situations?
01:11 It can absolutely be a weapon. I think the biggest thing with our team right now is, we can see that we have chemistry, we can see how hard guys play. We just have to find the combinations that we can count on and hopefully get to, night after night. I mean, that’s the only way to really develop chemistry and continuity, trying to close games. But I think the floor has been opened up a little bit the last couple of games for JK, obviously, starting. But can we get him out there more with Draymond, with Loon, but as a four like he’s been playing the last couple of nights. That’s really the key. And we just have a lot of guys. And so we have to sort through all this, but there’s no question we can do more of this. I thought Wiggs, too, got downhill tonight over and over again, made some huge plays for us.
02:10 Steve, I was gonna ask about Wiggins’ second quarter. He really got going offensively, 22 points overall, but the nine rebounds. How engaged do you see him for the full four quarters?
02:19 Wiggs was phenomenal. I don’t even know if he should have played tonight. He had the ankle, but he knew Steph and Draymond were out and he knew how important this game was and he gutted it out. He’s been that way since he’s been here. Ironman. I think the first seven years of his career, he might have missed 15 games. So we know we can count on him night after night to be there for us. And he knew he had a lot of responsibility tonight with Steph and Dray out. And he and JK really both did a great job of providing the offense.
02:58 What did you like about your defense tonight?
03:01 Well, I thought we just played hard. Anytime you’re in a rut and you lose four or five in a row, it’s never gonna end with a 25 three night. It’s gonna end like this, 1990s basketball, and I felt like was gonna be (inaudible). Hold somebody to 90, 93 tonight, dig it out of the mud, get stops. And you can only do that by just playing hard. And that’s what our guys did.
03:36 Steve, back to Wiggins. I mean, he had two four-point plays there late in the second quarter that gave you guys some momentum. I mean, just were those — do you consider those crucial moments?
03:48 Yeah, those were big moments. It was a really slow start for us, 18 points in the first quarter, couldn’t get anything going. I could tell our fans were a little frustrated and sometimes when you’re missing, your best players, it takes a little while in a game to get going and to figure out the rhythm of it. And I thought those two four-point plays from Wiggs changed the momentum.
04:16 Obviously, things have changed when Steph and Draymond are not there, but how much of a pressure release is this game? Or maybe it is more because of Steph and Draymond, I’m not sure. But how much did they need this? And how much kind of does it ease up a little bit?
04:28 Yeah, we needed it. I mean, this is par for the course in the NBA. We lost, I think, our championship year in ’22, we got to March, we lost maybe nine out of 11, five straight at one point, won the championship a few months later. So I never panic in these situations. The main thing you’re looking for is competitiveness. You u don’t want to get blown out. You don’t want to see anybody hanging their heads. And even in the five-game losing streak, I never saw any of that. I mean, every game was close. We just couldn’t close. But I knew this would end because they’re a great group and they compete.
05:12 Steve, what’d you make of Brandin tonight? Not a whole lot of offense, but he really went to work on the boards.
05:16 Yeah, 12 rebounds.
05:18 Dalton (Johnson) kind of commented that he was filling the Draymond Green kind of role tonight.
05:24 Well, Houston is a great defensive team and they were all over Brandin and I thought he handled himself really well. He took care of the ball. The way he rebounded, I mean, he makes one big play after another on the glass. And that’s — Houston is, I think, by far No. 1 in the league in the possession game. They force a lot of turnovers. They don’t turn it over. They get offensive boards. You look up and they’ve got 10, 15 more possessions than you. And that was pretty even tonight because we only turned it over 10 times. Brandin had a lot to do with that. So I thought he managed the game beautifully.
06:06 Looney’s a plus-21. That means, obviously, a lot minus when he wasn’t out there. Do you find yourself almost, like, “I can’t keep playing him”? Like, is there a sub limit? Or, I mean, or did you just say, “I just gotta keep playing this guy”?
06:19 I think, honestly, this is how much I’d like to play him every game. I think he’s a 25-minute-a-night player He just makes winning plays over and over again The way we’re playing, with our roster, playing Draymond at the 4, splitting time with Trayce and Loon, sliding Draymond to the 5. It’s just hard to get Loon this many minutes if we’re healthy, but he’s proven year after year that he makes winning plays. He wins at the highest level, ultimate pro. I wish I could play him this much every game.
07:00 How’d you like having two extra assistant coaches there. I saw both of your Hall-of-Famers kind of walking up and down the sideline throughout that game. Were they chirping, chipping in? What was that?
07:10 Oh, they’re great. They were. Steph and I were discussing the timeout situation, 33 seconds left, up three, I took the time. We were discussing it beforehand. Should we should take the timeout to get our foul shooters in and our — we needed really good offensive possessions, we needed spacing. And so, yeah, I’m talking to Steph about it. Draymond’s talking to our guys in the huddle about what’s going on defensively, talking to Stack (Jerry Stackhouse), talking to CD (Chris DeMarco). So they were very engaged. And, yeah, we needed that.
07:41 Is it scary to take your last timeout knowing there might be more possessions?
07:45 It is. But it’s also scary not getting a spaced lineup out on the floor for the biggest offensive possession of the game. And so I took the one with 33 seconds left and that was it. But I felt like up three, we really needed to make sure that we got a good possession there. Otherwise, we don’t get anything and they have a chance to come down and tie the game. So it’s a little dicey, but you do what you have to do.
08:20 Hello, Coach. How do you think the performance of Houston tonight and especially the growth of these young players over the past few years?
08:30 Yeah, Houston’s tough. They have a great defense. I feel like Ime is the right coach for this group. He’s a defensive-minded guy, gritty, tough guy, and that’s the identity of the team. So they make a lot of sense. They’ve done a great job of drafting and developing and they’re 15-8 for a reason. Great defense and really good young talent. Thank you.
00:00 What was kind of, I guess, going into that final timeout, what was the play design? Was it as simple as give you the ball up top and run a screen or what do you remember about it?
00:16 JONATHAN KUMINGA: It was actually for me to just get the ball and run a pick-and-roll with Buddy. So if they switch, I got Buddy open and they trusted me to just have the ball in my hands and to go out there and finish.
00:31 How, I mean, obviously circumstances dictated it with Steph out, but how nice is it to have a moment like that, a situation late in the fourth where the ball is in your hands?
00:42 I think it’s just a good learning lesson. Obviously, we’re gonna have Steph most of the time. Just having that experience of knowing what you need to do out there, anytime, even when Steph comes back and Draymond comes back, you never know when moments like that will come around. So just having my team and my coaches trusting me in that moment, just learning. We’re just gonna keep building from there.
01:10 Obviously, this is the second game now you’ve started with Draymond out. Is there a rhythm you feel like you get in early when you’re starting, when you know the ball’s coming to you a lot?
01:23 Not really. I love playing with Draymond. Just him not being out there, we miss him. It makes things easy for a lot of people, including me. But I don’t really worry about it if Draymond starts or doesn’t. All I worry about is just go out there and try my best to have a good game and to fit as a player.
01:48 Jonathan, you were talking about this being a learning experience, of being in the position of a end-of-the-game type of scoring and when your team needs a basket. What’s it like before that? Did Steph or Draymond say anything to you in that final minute? I think you scored like five of your points in the last minute, five, or something like that.
02:07 They wanted me to go get the ball. That’s how I got my confidence. They wanted me to go out there and just get the ball and just go from there. They trusted me. And that kind of boosted me. That kind of helped me to just be confident. I took a deep breath and I just went out there and just took care of the ball.
02:29 So are they saying that to you during timeouts? Are they saying to you while you’re on the floor?
02:34 During timeout.
02:36 How ready for those type of reps do you feel?
02:40 I mean, I feel ready. I always work hard. I always learn from my elder, Steph and Draymond. There’s gonna be moments where I’m gonna be the one being in those situations. So I just learn from those guys and I go about my day.
03:00 Speaking of those guys, you finished at that last basket. Then there’s Draymond right there and there’s Steph right there, congratulating you, chest-bumping you. What’s that like to have those two guys be the ones celebrating with you?
03:10 It was like a dream come true. Just having those guys, they always push me every single day. They’re always there, no matter what. And just seeing them cheering for me on that moment it means a lot.
03:27 Kerr said that, yeah, they’ve got to find ways to have you out there, but it’s as a power forward. Do you feel like you’re earning these minutes, or do you feel like you’re expanding what they can expect from you?
03:41 It’s just going out there and playing and doing my best and actually having the coaching staff and my teammates to trust me and I feel like the more I keep playing that way, the more I keep showing that I could be in a situation I’m getting more trust and more playing time.
04:05 Hello, Jonathan. Congratulations for the career highs. You think so far, what is the biggest growth like this season for you?
04:17 I would say just slowing down, taking care of the ball. I think I looked at my number, I cut my turnovers down and I feel like that just helped Coach to trust me with the ball most of the time and drawing plays for me. And I feel like I just grew on defense, learning stuff that I didn’t do last year. I feel like I’m doing more this year on defense, just knowing where I need to be on the floor and I think that’s the biggest growth.
04:48 Great. We got Wiggs ready to come in here.
04:52 Andrew, you looked really, really committed to get to the rim several times tonight. Was that the mindset to start or did you just feel that as it went on?
05:03 ANDREW WIGGINS: Kind of just felt it as it went on and seen some openings. I feel like there’s a lot of drives that I wish I could get back and let them get their hand on the ball a lot.
05:16 Steve said you probably wouldn’t have played tonight if maybe Steph and Draymond weren’t out just because of the ankle. How much is that bothering you right now?
05:25 It was definitely bothering me a little bit. But the training staff worked on it, made it feel better. Definitely playable, so just fought through it.
05:38 How lingering is this ankle thing?
05:42 I feel like it’s going in the right direction. So that’s good.
05:46 Did you do it during a game, or did it just — ?
05:49 I did — I don’t remember which game, hmm, Oklahoma.
06:00 Would you have played — do you think you would have played tonight if, Steph and Draymond were available? Or did you just feel kind of an added burden to be out there?
06:09 I’m not too sure, now that the game is done, but I think I would have played, just ’cause I feel like the training staff got me right, before the game, and had a good pregame shoot, so, up in the air.
06:25 How nice was it tonight to — obviously, you’re out there, you got a large scoring burden without Steph — but Jonathan scores 33.
06:32 Mm-hmm.
06:32 How nice was it to kinda have that second scorer next to you to — ?
06:35 Yeah, it was great. JK is — that’s what he can do, knocking down three-pointers, getting to the rim. The three-pointers is a plus for him, but no one can stop him getting to the rim. He’s too strong, too athletic, too quick, too versatile. When he plays like that, he’s amazing. I know he’s — this is just the beginning for him.
06:57 What was it like kind of living through the five-game losing streak? This team has won a lot, been through a lot of things, but was there some amount of pressure kind of building up?
07:07 Oh, for sure. You lose four, then five in a row. Losing sucks and it’s never fun when you lose. But when you win, everything seems to be okay. And it was a hard game to get out of, but we did it collectively.
07:28 Just like the other games you guys have played, you guys weren’t able to close out those other games, but you guys did tonight. How are you guys able to lock down?
07:35 We did it all together. On the defensive end, we’re all just playing hard. We had each other’s backs. On the offensive end, we were just making plays for each other. And JK took over down the stretch.
07:46 (Inaudible)… You’ve had two four-point plays. Is that right? Can you think of — ?
07:52 Yeah.
07:53 How many have you had in your career, can you think?
07:56 I’m not too sure. I’m not too sure, but two in the same game, never had that before. Pretty sweet. Yeah, feels good.
08:04 You have to make that free throw.
08:06 Yeah, you gotta make that free throw. Did I make both?
08:09 Yes.
08:09 Oh, there you go. All right. Thank you, guys.
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