Kuminga on quest to close gap between reality, potential with Dubs

Kuminga on quest to close gap between reality, potential with Dubs originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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SAN FRANCISCO – The clock on Jonathan Kuminga’s choppy voyage to NBA stardom has been ticking for three years, growing louder each season. He hears it. The Warriors hear it, too, yet they remain unconvinced he’ll become a franchise cornerstone.

It’s evident that Kuminga occasionally will deliver the spectacular highlights, mostly through the 22-year-old forward’s variation of dunks. Tip dunks. Dunks off lob passes. Dunks in transition, with him getting downhill and rising above the rim. That part of his game is elite.

What invites a degree of skepticism among Golden State’s shot callers and frustrates Kuminga is his inconsistency with everything else. Decision-making. Defense on and off the ball. Making the game easier for teammates. A 3-point shot that remains a project.

Selected No. 7 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft, Kuminga shows signs of progress and signs of regression, sometimes in the same possession. The encouraging snapshots are not always enough to obscure instances of disappointment.

Kuminga, however, is spending plenty of time in the gym in hopes of polishing his raw skills. He feels he is getting closer to the star he yearns to become. And he is. Is he getting there quickly enough?

“Now that I’m going into my fourth year, a lot of things have slowed down,” Kuminga said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Dubs Talk” podcast released Tuesday. “I could see it better. Sometimes, I don’t think I see it. Sometimes, I don’t think I’m doing the right things. But people that are watching me will say you’re doing so much better. And sometimes I would not accept it because I’d be like, ‘I don’t think so.’ ”

This illustrates the uncertainty behind Kuminga’s veneer of confidence. Warriors coach Steve Kerr and members of his staff are pushing Kuminga to reach his potential. He works closely with his trainer, Anthony Wells, and with player-development coach Anthony Vereen.

“The more we talk about basketball and watch film, we see what I could have done,” Kuminga said. “The work, I’m still going to do because I need to be comfortable with the ball in my hands. And comfortable doing those plays.

“But the more I watch things I’ve done and what I’m going to do and who I’m going to become, it’s making things easier.”

Make no mistake: Kuminga is twice the player he was as an 18-year-old rookie. He’s creeping closer to the level he needs to be for the Warriors to go all-in on his future.

“I would just say I’m more of a playmaker, when it comes to me having the ball in my hand, and seeing stuff that I didn’t see before,” he said. “Knocking shots down. Making small plays. It doesn’t have to be a crazy play. It’s just that little play that will help everything else. I have to go back in the summer and focus on those things. I’m making passes that I couldn’t make before. I’m making certain reads that I couldn’t make before.”

All true.

And all too frequently offset by passes that should be made but are not, offensive misreads that spoil possessions, defensive lapses and fundamental omissions that end up hurting the Warriors.

Kuminga’s early discovery of basketball came during his youth in Democratic Republic of Congo. He played on makeshift courts and watched hours upon hours of NBA clips, his favorite being the late Kobe Bryant. Kuminga’s athleticism is on similar level.

But Kuminga has not approached Kobe’s advanced understanding of the game. That’s what has kept him bouncing in and out of the rotation, in and out of the starting lineup, on and off his track to stardom.

A lack of linear progress was a factor in the Warriors not offering Kuminga a five-year rookie contract extension before the Oct. 21 deadline. They have not seen in him what some other teams are seeing in their 2021 lottery picks.

Each of the seven players drafted before Kuminga received extensions, with four signing for the five-year maximum of roughly $225 million. The Detroit Pistons maxed out No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, the Cleveland Cavaliers maxed No. 3 pick Evan Mobley and the Toronto Raptors maxed No. 4 pick Scottie Barnes.

Perhaps most notable, the Orlando Magic maxed Franz Wagner, who was selected eighth overall – immediately after the Warriors drafted Kuminga.

The Pistons and Cavaliers and Raptors and Magic paid up in the belief they have identified cornerstones if not franchise players.

The Warriors decided to wait, to spend another season evaluating Kuminga before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer. They want to believe. He already does.

“It’s all going to come together, but it’s getting better every day,” Kuminga said. “Just that one percent. Whatever percent it is, that I’m doing better every day.”

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