https://sports.yahoo.com/draymond-green-passionately-defends-jonathan-223345228.html

Draymond Green passionately defends Jonathan Kuminga's 'growing pains'

Ali Thanawalla
Sat, November 26, 2022 at 5:33 PM

A lot was expected this season from Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman and
Moses Moody, but the trio of Warriors' lottery draft picks have
struggled to find their way so far.

Wiseman has been sent to the G League and there's no timeline for his
return, while Moody is on the fringes of the rotation at the moment.
Kuminga is playing but he's not having the impact he expected to have,
at least statistically.

For Draymond Green, he understands how tricky of a situation Kuminga,
Wiseman and Moody are in right now, trying to learn how to play in the
NBA while playing in games that have a ton of meaning.

"One of the things I've spoken about with the young guys is the tough
spot that they're in," Green told reporters after the Warriors' win over
the Utah Jazz on Friday night. "Jonathan Kuminga is the seventh pick,
Moses Moody is the 14th pick, James Wiseman is the second pick. Those
guys are usually on teams that suck and they can do whatever they need
to do to improve. That's not their situation. They're expected to
contribute at a championship level in Year 1 last year and Year 2 this
year, and Year 1 and a quarter for James Wiseman. Like, you're expected
to contribute at a championship level."

Kuminga and Moody were able to accomplish that feat last season, playing
about 15 minutes a game while helping the Warriors win the 2022 NBA
championship.

But with their luxury tax bill growing, the Warriors decided to let Gary
Payton II, Otto Porter Jr., Nemanja Bjelica, Juan Toscano-Anderson and
Damion Lee leave in free agency, hoping the youngsters would be ready to
step up and fill in the gaps.

That clearly hasn't happened yet this season.

"The reality is, if you go find the rest of the guys around the league
that are their age and you try to put them in that situation, all of the
guys where we're like 'Ah, that guy's doing great and he's going to be
this,' " Green told reporters. "The reason we feel like that is because
they are on bad teams and they can grow through their mistakes. It's not
quite the same for those guys. And so, in the long run, it will be
better for them, having played championship basketball and adjusting to
everything they need to adjust to.

"But right now, you have to grow with those growing pains and it sucks,
because quite frankly, we haven't won as much, so then everything is
your fault and it's all coming down on you. And that's where we can make
sure we can continue to do our job to win games so their growing pains
are not so magnified like they have been because they're going to have
them and there's no way around it."

Kuminga played 13 minutes on Friday night and didn't score. He didn't
even shoot the ball once. But he grabbed three rebounds, dished out one
assists and was a plus-2.

With Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole
combining for 92 of the Warriors' 129 points against the Jazz, Kuminga
didn't need to score. As Golden State tries to figure out who can help
them this season, they need Kuminga to play solid defense and rebound.

"He's allowing himself to have a positive impact and not worry so much
about offense," Green told reporters. "And as a young guy in this
league, everyone at home is going to be like 'Hey man, you need to
score, you need to do this, you need to do that.' And the reality is,
scoring is not going to get him on the floor with this team. Now, doing
what he did tonight, it's going to get him on the floor and with the
ability that he has, that will allow him to score.

"But to go in with a scorer's mentality on this team, it's tough because
there are four guys that are going to get the bulk of the shots. So it's
tough to have that mentality and I think he's starting to figure that
out. Just move the ball. If you find shots, you find shots. If not, make
sure you're doing something that positively impacts the game. And I
think I can speak to that from experience, knowing that there are so
many things on the court that need to be done to make sure the team
wins. Someone has to do them. When he's on the floor, he's more than
capable of doing them and he did those tonight. And that's going to
continue to earn him more and more playing time."

Warriors coach Steve Kerr was pleased with what he saw from the
20-year-old against the Jazz.

"It's the total game that we're looking at and his defense was really
key tonight," Kerr told reporters. "And that should be the No. 1
priority for him. He's so athletic and strong and versatile, if he
establishes his defense, the offense will come, the transition buckets,
the rebounds, the game will get easier."

Kuminga wants to make a major impact on the stat sheet right now. But as
Kerr noted in relaying a story to reporters, even for all-time great
players, it simply takes time to feel comfortable in the NBA and figure
out what role suits each person.

"His approach, his attitude, have been great," Kerr told reporters. "I
love coaching him. He wants everything to happen now and it's just not
the way it works. I asked Steph and Draymond the other night after our
game in New Orleans, when did you really feel comfortable, like you
could affect winning in the NBA. And Steph said his fourth year.
Draymond said his third year. And we're talking about Hall of Famers.
And these are guys who went to college for three or four years. I think
it's hard for young players to keep hearing 'It's going you happen, you
need the experience, you need the reps,' but there's no getting around it."

The Warriors are going to be patient with Kuminga, Wiseman and Moody
while also understanding that they can't afford to waste the prime years
of Curry's career. The goal is to win now. The trio of youngsters might
not be able to help as much as initially expected, but Kerr and Green
are going to make sure that their development doesn't stall.

Would Kuminga, Wiseman and Moody be playing more minutes on another
team? Absolutely. But they might also learn bad habits and get used to
losing with those teams. With the Warriors, they are learning how to win
and they are getting to watch what it takes to be great by being so
close to Curry, Green, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins.