SAN FRANCISCO — Pressed on his feedback about how the younger gamers on his group want to determine how you can play with Steph Curry and cease taking dangerous midrange pictures early within the shot clock, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr cleared up confusion about who was on the receiving finish.
His feedback had been pointed at Jonathan Kuminga and, to a lesser diploma, Brandin Podziemski. He stated he singled out every of these gamers throughout Golden State’s 113-103 win over the Timberwolves.
“I got on both those two guys and during the game, and I’ve gotten on other guys during the season,” Kerr stated. “The message was really for our whole team.”
Kerr thinks earlier than he speaks, particularly in a setting like a postgame press convention. He’s taken the rostrum 1000’s of instances in his life and is intentional about his phrases. He walked off the rostrum after making a few of his most pointed feedback of the yr, which got here in a decent victory after Curry scored 11 straight factors in clutch time.
“There has to be an aha moment that this is our team,” Kerr stated. “We have Steph Curry, he’s the greatest shooter of all time. He thrives off-ball, Steph. That’s why we pass the ball. So we just have to make sure we are purposeful in our offensive execution and felt like a good time to mention it because of what happened at the end of the game. We need to make that a consistent theme.”
Podziemski, the second-year guard who has come alongside lately after a sluggish begin to the yr, had one among his greatest video games of the season towards Minnesota. Kerr stated he has “been good,” however continues to be attempting to determine who he’s as a participant and must deal with “serving other people.”
“Be that player who everyone loves playing with because you’re constantly looking for them,” Kerr stated. “That’s kind of BP’s lesson”
When relayed Kerr’s preliminary feedback about passing the ball, Podziemski stated he doesn’t assume, he simply performs earlier than including that he clearly is aware of Curry is on the court docket and goes to cross him the ball when he’s open.
After fan backlash on social media, Podziemski issued a clarifying assertion on X.
Kerr’s level was certainly extra directed at Kuminga, anyway.
On the season, Kuminga is taking 23.7% of his pictures 9 or fewer seconds into possessions. He’s capturing 33% on midrange pictures, however is within the ninetieth percentile in midrange quantity, per Cleansing The Glass.
Kerr needs him doing what he does greatest: driving downhill and ending, attending to the foul line, slicing baseline and working behind the protection from the dunker spot. He’s nonetheless one of many Warriors’ most gifted particular person shot creators on the group, and is an possibility late within the shot clock when a possession stalls out.
“There’s a time and place for every shot, and so if it’s the middle of the shot clock, it’s not a great shot,” Kerr stated. “If it’s end of the shot clock and we’ve been trying to get a better shot and nothing’s there, he’s one of the few guys who’s capable of creating an open look for himself.”
The Warriors made a really public, very daring choice earlier this month to raise Kuminga into the beginning lineup in Draymond Inexperienced’s place. He had scored 31 in a powerful win over Houston with out Inexperienced and Curry.
“And I know a lot of people in this organization, including myself, that think he’s next,” Inexperienced stated then. “So if he’s next, at some point we’ve got to see it. For him to do that, he needs the opportunity.”
That experiment lasted a few week earlier than Kerr returned Kuminga again to the bench. In that span, he recorded three straight 20-point video games. Since shifting again to the bench, Kuminga has gone 2-for-12 and 3-for-11.
As a result of Kuminga and the Warriors didn’t conform to a contract extension earlier than the season began, he’s set as much as hit restricted free company on the finish of the yr.
Kerr and Kuminga’s relationship has been a flashpoint for the previous couple years. As essentially the most promising element of the Warriors’ two timeline plan, Kuminga has represented each the group’s push and pull between the current and the longer term in addition to the evolution — or lack thereof — of the group’s model of play.
The top coach stated he talks with Kuminga on a regular basis and admires how badly he needs it. He goes over movie with him and has tried to seek out lineup configurations that put him in positions to succeed.
“I think he’s got so much potential and he’s shown a lot since he’s been here,” Kerr stated. “He has gotten a lot better, but I’m not going to stop coaching him. I’ve got to keep coaching him. The last two games, his field goal attempts, his decision making has been poor and that needs to improve.”
Coach’s room
– Draymond Inexperienced returned after lacking the Minnesota recreation with left ankle soreness. He began alongside Steph Curry, Dennis Schroder, Andrew Wiggins and Trayce Jackson-Davis.
– Gary Payton II (calf) missed Monday night time’s recreation towards the Pacers.
– Moses Moody returned from a four-game absence for knee soreness.
Initially Revealed: December 23, 2024 at 6:52 PM PST
