Here’s the transcript of the Jonathan Kuminga deep dive, as first mentioned in the video report above, by Steve Kerr from morning shootaround. Below that are the transcripts from Kerr and Stephen Curry at yesterday evening’s practice at Portland State University.
All of these notes and quotes have already been on our private Discord (which is why you see the questions listed in the format that you see; the Discord is free for paid subscribers) for quite some time. Obligatory button:
• *Kuminga:* “…And now he’s diving to the rim, which is pulling the defense in and I think better defensive awareness as well. Just naturally seeing patterns and pictures that you see in the NBA and seeing them enough where he’s able to anticipate them now rather than react to them so it’s all added up to a guy who’s just way more prepared for what he’s facing every night.”
• *Kuminga defense:* “…the patterns and recognizing most everybody runs kind of similar stuff and just not being caught off guard by stuff as much as he was earlier in the year. Still moments of kind of rookie forgetfulness, coming over to trap the box and when you’re the bottom weak, bottom low guy weakside guy but much more consistent than he was earlier.”
• *What are some combinations that Kuminga works best with?* “…everybody’s better with Steph for sure. But we’ve kind of messed around with JK at five a little bit, which is interesting because he’s got such an athletic advantage over opposing five men. So that’s an interesting one because it’s sort of jumbles the matchups for the opposing team. Most teams aren’t going to put a five on them. They’re going to try to cross-match a little bit, put a more athletic player on them. So that’s been kind of fun, to move him to the five a bit, but main thing is if he can be out there with some spacing, and there’s a lot of room to drive and cut, he can use his athleticism.”
• *Is there a combination you like with the second unit and Kuminga?* “Well, any lineup that has shooting. When he’s out there with Otto and Jordan, those are good pairings but we don’t have a huge sample size right now of some of these lineups and they’ve changed a bit night to night based on back to backs with Otto and Klay based on Andre being out, Draymond being out, so we haven’t settled into anything but we’re getting a good look at Jonathan which is the bright side of the absences. He’s gotten more of a chance to develop.”
• *Gary Payton offensively:* “Gary is a unique offensive player, you don’t usually see a 6-2 guy score around the basket like he does. So it gives us a different dimension. A dunker in the half court playing behind the defense, transition player getting out off of steals and long rebounds, running the lane and finishing. And then obviously he has shot the three pointer well this year too. So he’s a unique player. He’s different. And he seems to fit well with with our starting group.”
• *Do you feel pretty confident that Gary will help you in the playoffs?* “Gary? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.”
Kerr from practice
1:06, 3 • *Practice overview:* “…Trying to tighten some things up from before the break, but finished off with a scrimmage, 12 minutes, just blow it out. You gotta feel the lungs burn again, feel the ball, get some rhythm. You can’t just throw them out there tomorrow night after a week off. So, a good practice.”
• *Was Wiseman a part of that scrimmage?* “Yeah he practiced. He got into the scrimmage.”
• *Coming out of the break, where coming out of the break wear that do you feel Wiseman is at and is there any plan moving forward with G League?* “Not yet, just day by day so he’ll be with us on the road — actually, I don’t know that for sure, if he’ll go on the road next week. Obviously he’s here and scrimmaged today. We’ll go through shootaround tomorrow. We’ve got a couple of days at home. And we’ll just keep taking it day by day.“
1:21, 2 • *Do you think the break will fix a lot of the issues?* “I hope so but we got to play better too. It’s nice to get the break, everybody deserved it, needed it. When you look at it as a whole, a helluva first 59 games. I try to look at it from the big picture standpoint. And then when you look at the details, we’ve got some things to clean up and hopefully getting a rest and feeling rejuvenated, combined with working on some of the things that have plagued us, we can get on a good run again.”
• *What are the things to clean up?* “Defensively we’ve had a lot of issues and I thought we were better against Denver the other night, much better all in all. But a lot of the basics, just losing back cutters, transition, just our overall shell losing cutters, rebounders. So really tightening things up and taking away the easy points that you can’t give up in this league.”
1:48, 3 • *Any updates on Draymond and Andre?* “Andre did not scrimmage, he went through practice but he didn’t scrimmage. Draymond’s not here with us but continues to rehab…”
• *Do you have any idea of who you want to start in place of Draymond?* “It’s really where we are. I think everything has changed nightly based on matchups, based on how we’re playing. I liked what I saw last game, getting Gary the extra minutes was helpful to us in a lot of ways. He’ll probably start tomorrow. We’d go the same way but we have a lot of options but we need to find some consistency. And that’s a big part of the final 23 is really finding some rotations that make sense and that fit.”
• *Describe the inconsistencies:* “I think the challenge really is we’ve had a lot of fluctuation in terms of who’s available with Klay and Otto not playing back to backs Draymond going out, Andre going out. So it hasn’t felt like we’ve been able to find consistency that we’ve wanted. So some of it, you just hav live with, but as we and we continue to get closer to the playoffs we have to settle on some lineup combinations.”
0:31 • *How did Wiseman look tonight?* “He looked good. Yeah he’s moving well, feeling good. He had a good All Star break. Got away for a couple of days but got some work in too. It’s just great seeing him back out on the floor, see him smiling, seeing him happy. It’s all good stuff but like I said it’s just keep taking it day at a time, no proclamations, no plans beyond the next day and we’ll go from there.”
1:13 • *Over the years how have you seen Steph’s approach change?* “I don’t know that I’ve seen it change a whole lot. Some I got here seven and a half years ago, he was already an all star, he had established himself as one of the best players in the game. He had already established a routine. I think he’s added to that routine and his ritual and continued to search for ways to get better. But as he has gotten older, he’s had to make sure he takes care of his body, takes care of his mind. So, what really helped him and the rest of the all stars was the league extending all star break by few days, so that guys like Steph and Wiggs could get away for a couple of days after the game itself. That was huge. For most of the league’s existence, the stars didn’t get a break at all. They just went right from the all star game back home had to start practicing again. So that’s been very helpful.”
1:34, 2 • *Have you been able to start formulating playoff rotations?* “I’ve thought about it a lot but I think that’s different from formulating them. Part of the all star break is getting away and being able to sort of be introspective in terms of my own job, what I’m doing, what can I do better, how can I help the team, how can I help individuals. So I’ve just spent a lot of time thinking that everything team-related. It was nice to do it on my own time. It was a really good break and I’ve got a lot of thoughts about how we’re gonna move forward but that requires some health and some luck as well, so we’ll see how it all goes.”
• *How much time does it take to solidify the rotation once Draymond gets back?* “I don’t think that long. There fact that Draymond and Klay have played together for so many years, I don’t think they need much time together to really click. But if a guy is coming back from injury for the playoffs, it sure is nice to get a handful of games under that player’s belt and as a group as well. So we’re really hoping that everything works out health-wise for our team and that we have everybody available, but we’ll see.”
0:47, 2 • *You said you plan to start Gary?* “More than likely Gary would start tomorrow. I haven’t made the decision yet.”
• *Is it the defensive versatility that Gary provides?* “Yeah, a little more defensive versatility. It gets Gary on the floor more. I think getting him more minutes right now is important. You can see his impact the other night. So starting him allows us to get to that rotation, to give him an extra rotation at the beginning of the game, which bumps him up closer to twenty minutes, give or take a few. That’ll probably continue but who knows, we’ll see.”
1:47 • *Are the mistakes physical or mental or game plan miscues?* “Mostly focus, mostly focus. So I think we have everything we need physically once we’re healthy, of course. But we’ve had some issues occasionally with some matchups and not having enough size occasionally or whatever, you guys have all covered that. The last few weeks have been challenging in that regard, somewhat. So I’m not worried about that stuff. But the thing that concerns me is missing box outs, letting guys run right by us in transition. We always talk about taking away the easy points and that’s paramount in the NBA. The team with the worst record in the league is going to score more than 100 points every night. So how can you take away those extra 10 or 20 points a night that are the difference between winning and losing? And that’s all the things I mentioned. Box outs, turnovers, transition, keeping your shell tight, not letting back cutters get to the rim for layups. All that stuff matters and that’s where we’ve been lacking.”
Steph
1:00 • *How the all star break helped you reset?* “It’s helpful. It’s a week later than probably it usually so got a long rough patch getting to it but coming out of it, I think we’re all feeling pretty good about where we need to do, where we’re headed. It’s nice to get away from game for me for 48 hours, just be with the fam, get outside, get some perspective and get ready to bring whatever you got focus-wise, energy-wise for the stretch run. Excited about it.”
0:47 • *Did you change your approach with the longer period between preseason and All Star Break?* “Not really. It’s just a smaller segment of the season that you get to really just lock in, I guess. What do we got, 23 games left? So it’s almost like you’re turning the corner for a straightaway and you feel like you’re trying to peak at the right time in terms of individually and collectively as a team. But don’t overcomplicate it either. It’s just another level of focus and commitment that you need to make that happen.”
0:56 • *What number one on the list the team needs to sharpen?* “Probably defensively. I know that includes a lot of different elements of rebounding, making things uncomfortable, one on one defense, stuff like that but if we can get back to a level of defense that we’re used to, not just the numbers but the energy, the attention to detail, just the competitiveness on that side then I feel like we’ll be in really good shape and that requires obviously everybody to step up until Draymond gets back and we’ll see what Wise looks like when he’s ready.”
0:40 • *How much of a waiting game is it for Draymond?* “It’s like every injury. A little different. I guess maybe it’s a floating target when he’ll be back but it doesn’t just necessarily change how we try to get through these last 20-some games without him. But this hopefully small segment will be until he does come back. But that transition will be pretty smooth because we know what he’s capable of doing.”
0:55 • *(mock boos as a teammate, probably Damion Lee, walks by 😂)* “Thank you. Thank you.”
/end