Lakers star LeBron James had a lot of good things to say about his new teammates, Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets. That duo was acquired in a deal with the Nets over the weekend.
“Obviously, they bring experience, they bring toughness,” James said. “They’ve played in big games and have mastered their roles throughout their careers. I’m looking forward to them getting into our system and making an immediate impact whenever their number is called.”
Coach JJ Redick said he expects both of the new additions to play against Cleveland on Tuesday, Mark Medina of Sportkeeda tweets. He’ll use them in reserve roles.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Redick said Gabe Vincent didn’t practice on Monday due to an oblique injury and is questionable for Tuesday’s game, Buha tweets. Jaxson Hayes (ankle) is probable, while Jarred Vanderbilt participated in non-contact portions of practice and remains out.
- Suns forward Royce O’Neale (left ankle sprain) had imaging done on his ankle with promising results but he didn’t practice on Monday, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. Devin Booker (groin) and Grayson Allen (concussion protocol) participated in 5-on-5 drills on Monday. They could both return to action against Memphis on Tuesday. Booker is listed as questionable, while Allen is probable, Rankin tweets.
- Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, a restricted free agent after the season, has pumped up his value in recent games. He’s posted back-to-back 34-point outings against the Clippers and Suns. Kuminga is averaging 21.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest this month. “I just think he’s turning a corner,” coach Steve Kerr told Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
So, what is Aristotle going to complain about now? Kuminga was a starter at the beginning of the season, but he shot horribly. So, he got benched. Off the bench, Kuminga is improving his shooting and getting starter minutes. Kuminga is also learning to look who has a better shot. JK is developing into $30 million a year player. He is becoming a player who can do it for more than just one or two games. You need consistency over 82+playoff games.
Kuminga was a starter for 2 games though, no doubt some “tough love” from Kerr for a young talented player. Fingers crossed that somehow it will all work out for Kuminga and Warriors. As much as I wanted Kuminga to play much minutes the last 3 yrs to develop, he still got to play with 3 Hall of Famers, get to play on national tv, amd play im some meaning gms rather than garbage gms like bottom teams.
Kuminga’s career is hardly over. You do realize, at JKs similar age, Klay, Steph, and Draymond had only played in 30 games. Hell, Steph’s career was still very borderline. Look at how things developed. JK is following a normal developmental path.
Biggest issue for Kuminga is defense, imo. Gets lost in the sauce inside the arc all the time (elbow pullups just go straight over him, for a 59% FG%, stunningly bad for that area), and isn’t impactful on the perimeter at all. You can be an impactful player without a consistent 3-ball. It’s harder, but you can. But Kuminga’s defense is too poor for that to work currently. He needs to buff one skill or the other to be worth that 30 million/year contract he wants. For Warriors fans, hopefully both.
Factually it will also be ok if he’s never a serious all star candidate! Guys way way way way more talented then him have failed to become stars but found their niche as high end. Role players
If anything he should embrace the og and Mikal roles , can make a lot of money !
QEonADS, good stuff, and that’s very interesting about the 59%. Where did you find that? All the SecondSpectrum-based stuff I’ve seen indicates the opposite about Kuminga — he’s extremely effective defensively on the perimeter and in the mid-range. But I’m looking more at # attempts and points allowed, not % per attempt because I consider that less meaningful.
There is one factor about lengthy wing defenders like Kuminga and Wiggins that can be overlooked in some analytics: opposing players tend not to test these defenders, preferring to pass. Kuminga, Wiggins, McDaniels, Herb Jones all heavily discourage shooting attempts merely by their presence/reputation. Interestingly, effective on-ball defenders like GP2 and Van Vleet can have excellent defensive ratings even though their presence leads to unchallenged shooting attempts, especially 3 pointers. SecondSpectrum doesn’t capture that.
That doesn’t mean Kuminga doesn’t make lots of mistakes, of course. But his net effect defensively since the beginning of last season is distinctly positive in all the advanced analytics I’ve seen.
BTW, Kuminga’s defense against KD last game graded as exceptional. I’d say there are ~10 defenders in the league with the strength + length package that can deny KD the ball, force him to give it up, and consistently contest his mid-range (which KD basically said after the game).
Mental mistakes decline over a career, but physical tools do not. JK just turned 22, played his first organized basketball at 15. The defense will improve gradually, year-to-year, by virtue of experience.
NBA’s shot tracking also includes defensive and pass tracking, as well as percentages at different ranges, different shot types, and off passes from different players.
Be real please GIANT. Its not a normal development path for JK because kerr hates JK and JK hates Kerr. Your too old for social media or youd know what JK says about kerr. Same as all young players say about Kerr. Kerr has terrible rep with young players. Kerr never makes young players better and wastes W’s draft picks.
Giants74, That is great that you’ve accepted that Kuminga is a 34 mins per game player.
What’s next? Steve “Kamikaze” Kerr needs to stop destroying the team’s playoff chances. (Kerr wasn’t like this in our Championship years, of course.)
I’ll cite the guidance provided by analytical models, as opposed to my own opinions, and summarize for you in ALL-CAPS, but read no further if you don’t want to know why analytics models show that Kerr is, by far, the worst coach in the NBA this season.
1. PLAY OUR BEST PLAYERS MORE. For example, Andrew Wiggins, like Kuminga, needs to play 34+ minutes, not 28 mins or 24 mins. (Obviously, minutes to Curry and Green are determined by health.)
2. PLAY OUR WORST PLAYERS LESS. For example, Lindy Waters is one of the worst players in the NBA, yet plays 17 mins per game. No other competitive team in the NBA does this.
3. NEVER EXCEED A 10-MAN ROTATION, and, ideally, keep to 9 or 8. Never use a 11- or 12- or 13-man rotation. 40 years of statistical data, across the entire NBA, support why NBA coaches don’t do it: it creates an overwhelming negative point differential.
4. STABILIZE THE LINEUP. We lead the league in different starting lineups and, worse, in the instability of rotations. Statistically, that manifests especially in adverse turnover differential, but it also impacts almost all individual performance stats.
5. START KUMINGA. All NBA coaches start, at least, their top 3 players for the simple reason that it optimizes their performance over 48 minutes because they can be RESTED for a few minutes in each half.
A cardinal rule in coaching rotations is to not play a top player 18 straight minutes in both halves, which is what Kerr is now trying to do with Kuminga. JK played minutes 7-24 and 33-48 against the Clippers and Suns, and was exhausted at the end of those 4 halves. That’s coaching malpractice.
Again, none of these are my observations. The analytics community more broadly is aware of Kerr’s historically awful coaching this season.
Wait Vincent who has barely played in L.A and Milton are your options at the point…..good luck with that.
Lebron will be point now I guess.
My money’s on Reaves, at least on paper. He’s a quality playmaker who can create his own shot as well. LeBron will still probably run the majority of plays, but he and Reaves have great chemistry on-court.