Watch the NBA | Kuminga, before and after hitting the wall

Kuminga hasn't scored 20 points since his Feb. 11 game against the Suns. With an average of 11.6 points in five games, he ranked fifth with the Warriors in the same period, and only Green, who will be higher than the 11.4 points among starters. In addition to the low production, Kuminga's 51.2% true shooting percentage during this period was not good, and he sent 2 of 9 against the Hornets, officially pulling his season true shooting percentage back below 60%.

But Kuminga's EPM is still in a volatile upward trend, and even as his stats declined in February, EPM did not drop. At +1.1, it ranks fourth on the team, behind Curry, Green and Paul.

EPM of less than a season certainly does not accurately reflect the impact of a player's game, and the performance of non-core players will be more distorted. However, Kuminga has climbed out of the pit of huge impact at the beginning of the season for the second consecutive season. The BPM changes will be even more exaggerated, at the end of November, Kuminga's BPM was a bankruptcy level of -4.8, and now it has been pulled to -0.7.

Kuminga's change in influence is not only a reflection of his personal level and form, but also a microcosm of the ups and downs of the Warriors' season and the way they use people.

Why did Kuminga struggle at the start of the season?

Cole was somewhat "free-range" towards Kuminga at this time.

Kuminga expressed some dissatisfaction during the sabbatical, wanting more time and a bigger role, and not being willing to be a tool man in the Cole system. It is not surprising for a highly gifted young man to have these thoughts. Kuminga has shown the improvement of his own offense in the preseason, and his dashing and shooting look a bit like that. At this time, he has accumulated too much desire and energy, and he can't say it if he doesn't "pick" a few times.

In the 18 games before December, Kuminga's possession rate was 25.1 percent, averaging only 1.1 assists per game, making decisive shots and inefficient shots, with a true shooting percentage of 53.2 percent. Playing an inefficient point of possession on the bench, the effect is not as good as that of Saric in a similar position.

Kuminga "picked", "picked" a mess. It's hard to guess what Cole is thinking at the moment. However, according to Kerr's habit of employing people, there is a player with a high ball possession and inefficient play and isolation, unless this person is named Thompson, otherwise you can hardly believe that Kerr can sit still.

From last year's playoffs to the end of November, the battle between Kerr and Kuminga almost ended in Kerr's victory. At the beginning of the game against the Kings, Kuminga's time became unstable, and in the first half of the game against the Trail Blazers, Kuminga was directly DNP. This is a very explosive choice, the Warriors have to save themselves in a difficult period, and the employment at this time best reflects Kerr's basketball view, and the abandonment of young people like Kuminga who has a rejection reaction to the system can be described as Kerr's heart. It also seems to hint at a countdown to Kuminga's Warriors' career, as Wiseman took the script last season.

But the remnants of the pioneers' gang of young people and marginal people who are messing around unexpectedly changed the direction of the plot. Trailing the team by 7 points at halftime can be said to put the Warriors to death, and only by being in the dead can the broken Kerr be forced out.

In the second half, Kuminga came into play, started to steal and counterattack, and scored 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting in the closing game, helping the team win, and pulling the balance of the game that had tilted in Kerr's favor back to the balance in one fell swoop. On the same side, Peyton, who coincided with Kuminga's positioning, was injured, and Green was mentally worn out and fell into madness and was sealed. The shortage of manpower has allowed Kuminga to get plenty of playing time again.

What's more, at this time, both Kuminga and Cole have changed their mentality.

Kuminga took a big break from work, and the overpower at the beginning of the season prevented him from polishing his skills, and even forgot what he learned last season. Cole was constrained by the shortage of manpower and the pressure of public opinion, and chose to be more tolerant and trusting of Kuminga. Each side took a step back, and the situation began to change.

Since December, Kuminga has been showing off his athleticism and defensive efforts, and with a slight improvement in outside shooting, this Kuminga is more like the Kuminga from last season than Hu Lai at the beginning of the season.

When did Kuminga really take off?

Trade rumors are flying, and Kerr occasionally cuts Kuminga's time against opponents like the Nuggets, which may once again raise Kuminga's concerns about the future. Some discordant voices appeared. But the support of the owner and management allowed Kuminga to further solidify the team's position. After his second loss to the Nuggets, Kuminga has played no less than 24 minutes, averaging 31.1 minutes per game in the same period, second only to Curry, and ranks second on the team.

On the other hand, Curry's continued slump from December to early January made the Warriors' season even more pessimistic. Wiggins slightly reverted to his humanoid form, but still couldn't ramp up production. Thompson has played 3 games in 1 game, unpredictable, and the ups and downs are too great. At this time, Paul suffered another injury, and the Warriors' offense fell into real difficulties.

These plots come together to give Kuminga a real chance to get up to the top - the Warriors have a skewed center of gravity and begin to use forward offense more to relieve the pressure on the backcourt. A typical example is that Curry covers Kuminga, which makes it easier for Kuminga to rush to the basket so that he can get misalignment, and Curry can also get space to shoot outside in the process.

Whether it's for the sake of the game, the trade operation, or the long-term plan to build the team, a change in the style of play is necessary. It just so happened that the Warriors encountered a number of defensive weak teams in a row in January, and these factors were put together to achieve Kuminga's 8 consecutive 20+ games, averaging 20.6 points per game in January, and his true shooting percentage went to 66.5%.

Heading into February, Kuminga's performance has gradually cooled down. It's no surprise that the main opponents, the Jazz, Lakers, and Clippers, all have the basket protectors to restrain Kuminga, and the Hornets have been very strong defensively recently. Kuminga's technical flaws are there, and it is strange what team to play against Torino.

What's more, when a young player plays a little bit of a game, the opponent will change their defensive attitude towards you. The first and second matches with the Hawks are obvious, the first battle Hawks insist on single defense and don't know how to defend it, and the second match has more co-defense, and the timing of Kuminga's next ball is also extremely accurate.

So far this season, Kuminga has scored 1.14 points per round on 1.3 rounds of singles in the basket, 3 times in the low post for 0.95 points per round, and 2 pick-and-rolls with the ball 0.9 times per round. The efficiency is good. Although the output of each individual event is not high, it also has 6.2 times in 100 rounds, which is about the same as secondary attackers such as Bojan and Burks. In terms of the look and feel of the game, Kuminga has a really high grasp of misalignment, and there are some feints when he presses to the basket, and he can go to the free throw line and has shot 78.6% of the free throws since January.

So, now the opponent's defense Kuminga's misplaced one-on-one began to pinch the attack. The basket guard will pay more attention to the recovery protection, and the side swipes will also pay attention to the Kuming plus ball. In this case, Kuminga has no way to ensure that the farm maintains production.

Most of the stars in the league who can increase production rely on holding the ball. Kuminga's projection improvement this season is first and foremost reflected in his improved free-throw shooting percentage. The sports battle jumper relied on the long two points that were released, the rhythm of the rollover and back-leaning after pressing to a deep position, and the three-point shot in the bottom corner with a good chance. The characteristic of these three jumpers is that the opportunity is not what you want, and the long two-point + corner shot together only accounts for 12% of Kuminga's shots. In the near and middle distances, it is necessary to press to a very deep position. Now many opponents see Kuming pressuring in, and they may be pinching and assisting in defense to force him to the ball. As for the ball after covering, a stop-and-go jump shot, and a step-back jump shot, these more advanced techniques have not yet been able to be stably mastered.

So, who exactly does Kuminga look like the most?

The answer Warriors fans would most like to hear is Leonard. Unfortunately, this is a bit wishful thinking.

In terms of shooting skills (and, in terms of footwork and pick-and-roll experience associated with creating shooting space), Kuminga is far more different from Leonard than he is in this area.

At the moment, Kuminga's offense is definitely more like a trumpet alphabet brother. But Kuminga is also very far from the alphabet on this route. Kuminga has shot 7.4 shots per 100 possessions from 0-4 feet this season on 74.7 percent shooting. This basket performance is very good among the forward players, but the alphabet numbers are 14.1 and 78.7%. The letters are taller and stronger, and a pair of large hands like a fan grasp like iron tongs when closing the ball. Talent players can't fight for talent, and they can't go to the height of others by simply walking this track. To try to minimize the gap between the baskets, Kumingard continued to work on his combination technique. The timing of the ball is a matter of science, and Kuminga can watch the video of the fat tiger to reduce the drop of the ball in this link.

Cole mentions Marion when he mentions Kuminga's template.

Let me translate:

That's all it takes for your kid's ball-handling skills and shooting, and I can't afford to wait for you to improve;

You kid have to work hard to handle the ball, and the role of dealer is temporarily harming Green;

You kid's athleticism is exploding, and we really need the puzzle pieces with energy right now. Being a big Payton, eating cake without the ball, defending multiple positions, that's the best way I can think of as a coach at this stage, to use your kid well.

Kerr positioned Kuminga as Marion based on Kuminga's current technical preparation and the Warriors' current needs.

But there are two problems here:

First of all, Kuminga's talent is not the same as Marion's. Although Marion is a 3/4 player, he can really play the athletic stats at the interior level, rebounding, steals, and blocks are all exaggerated, and the gap between the two in the first three seasons is very large, and this kind of stats can often be reached early in the playing career. Kuminga is a great runner and jumper, but Marion has an ape-like body with a shrunken neck and long arms. It can be said that Marion is the best custom-made model in history on the track of energy striker, and Kuminga just happens to be able to take this route;

Some of Kuminga's sporty data

Some of Marion's athletic data, CTG is only as early as 03, and if there are three years ago, it is also all red

The second point is that whether it is from the perspective of Kuminga's personal wishes or the realistic needs of the Warriors, Kuminga cannot be a pure energy character. Thompson can no longer afford to be the second main attacker, and the Warriors have to have one. In the absence of a star brought in, Kuminga is the one with the best chance of taking on some of the burden. At this stage, Kuminga, Wiggins, and Podzemski, whoever has the opportunity will come, and it is also the Warriors' way to solve the second main point of attack in the starting lineup.

Kuminga's really close stencil is the tuba Jaylen Brown. His stats this season are very similar to those of Brown in the fourth grade:

Data every 36 minutes

Data per 100 rounds

The main difference is that Brown's threes are better, which is more reliable as a space point at the time, and can even develop some shooting opportunities by positioning screens. Kuminga, on the other hand, relies more on rushing to the basket and is more aggressive. This distinction means that Kuminga has a harder time with his teammates, needs better ball awareness, and the team gives him ball feeding and space support.

If Kuminga can improve his shooting further in the future and reach Brown's level in this regard, he will have a higher ceiling than Brown. After all, he has a bigger body type, and the aggressive-related areas are already stronger now.

Combining the ball and shooting is a skill that Kuminga needs to hone constantly, and his ball play determines his current chemistry with the team and his future ceiling. In the last four games, Kuminga has delivered a total of 19 assists, and the price of 7 turnovers is acceptable. Observing the defense when encountering pinching, finding someone in the face of the help defense, and even directing the cover and running position at the three-point line, and giving the shooter cards to feed the ball, these are all the ideal forms of Kuminga in Kerr's mind. In the future, Kuminga must do a good job if he wants to avoid falling into the "trap of being the second master". You know what I mean.

Perhaps, there is no need to worry too much about Kuminga's current encounter, young people will inevitably go through one level after another when they grow up, not to mention a player with too distinct technical characteristics like Kuminga. At present, the Warriors, Curry and Wiggins have warmed up, Green and Podemski can see the stitches, and the stage when the Warriors need Kuminga the most has passed.

Kuminga's impact on the game did not fade, the Warriors won by 13 points with 97 points, and Kuminga won by 15 points when he was on the floor, which shows that the team and him have a new key to victory. As Kerr expects, the Warriors want Kuminga's talent on the defensive end first, and the Warriors team wants to get back to where they want to go, and it's the feeling on that end that they want to get back.

What Kerr and the Warriors want to avoid now is going back. There will almost certainly be a time when Kerr will once again think that Kuminga is not a good use, and that he could have more and better options. On some nights, it's okay to use someone to do some fine-tuning. But Kerr also has to realize that Kuminga objectively exists, and how to integrate him with the team now and in the future is the subject that Kerr must solve.

As the most expensive coach in the league, he should take on this challenge.