What position is Jonathan Kuminga? Entering Year 4, answers still diverge

LAIE, Hawaii — Jonathan Kuminga has played small forward his entire life. It’s the position he knows, and the one he’s most comfortable with.

Draymond Green, one of the smartest basketball minds in the sport, emphatically believes Kuminga is a small forward. The skill-set required to scale up from wing to power forward, he said, is more difficult than many teams in the modern NBA assume.

Steve Kerr, among the most decorated coaches in NBA history and the one ultimately setting rotations, has considered Kuminga more of a small-ball four. Kuminga’s shaky 3-point shot limits Golden State’s comfortability to play him simultaneously with other non-shooters, like Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Kuminga, 21, is entering his fourth season. He made a significant leap last year, bumping his scoring average from 9.9 to 16.1 points per game. Yet the consternation of how to fit him into the Warriors’ lineups — especially a starting-five that has three spots up for grabs in training camp — remains.

“I think he’s a three, that’s always been my opinion,” Green said.

“To play the four, it requires a certain skill-set. So often, people approach the four as if it’s not a position. They think, ‘Oh, I could just move a guy there.’ It’s a position that you have to know how to play. It’s like, you don’t think anybody can play point guard. The four is the same thing. It requires a certain skill-set, a certain knowledge, an understanding of the position to do that. He’s never done it. Can he adjust and learn that? I don’t know. Can a receiver learn how to be a quarterback in two years? You know.”

In the age of positionless basketball, which the Warriors helped revolutionize, much of the nuances of the power forward position have been lost. Teams trying to maximize their spacing have frequently downsized their lineups, using traditional wings as their de-facto power forwards.

What has made Golden State different over the years is Green’s ability to feasibly play both power forward and center. He grew up playing point guard offensively and center on defense. He can protect the rim and defend opposing guards on the perimeter. He can initiate offense and, at his best, finish possessions in the paint.

But Draymond Greens don’t grow on trees.

“That’s why you see teams lose to us,” Green said in a fascinating X’s and O’s lesson. “Year after year. Because so many teams go, “Oh man, that guy’s Draymond’s size or he’s bigger. So he can do that.’ No he can’t. And it has nothing to do with how good or not I am. I just know how to play that position. I know how to play the five. I didn’t just end up being able to slide to the five.”

Green’s Ted Talk is relevant to Kuminga. At 6-foot-8, he has the build of a modern four, but he’s not a natural power forward; the nuances of floor spacing, boxing out, screen-setting and defending multiple positions aren’t as easy as many may think.

Green used Kevin Durant as an example. At 6-foot-11, Durant is as tall or taller than many centers. But his game is closer to a shooting guard than that of a traditional center.

“If you try to put him at the five, he’s going to look at you like you’re crazy,” Green said.

For Kuminga to slot into the three, particularly with how Golden State’s roster is built, he’ll have to hone his 3-point stroke. There’s no mistaking that.

Kuminga has been working on his outside shot this summer, often in three-a-day training sessions. Becoming a more accurate catch-and-shoot option would open up even more driving lanes for a player who’s already lethal when he gets downhill.

“I’m just focused on expanding more of the things that I’m doing already,” Kuminga said at Media Day. “Even get better at shooting. Just try to be a full complete player.”

Kuminga shot 32.1% from deep last year, down from 37% a year prior — on the same low volume. His free-throw percentage improved from 65.2% to 74.6%, which is often an indicator of 3-point accuracy.

“I think JK has enough talent and enough IQ to be both (positions),” guard Brandin Podziemski said. “Obviously, I would assume, JK thinks in the broader scheme of things that he’s a small forward. I think he’s capable of doing both. The way he’s developed his game this summer, with him shooting the ball a little more, he’ll be able to do both.”

With the starting lineup, the terms are relatively simple. Kerr is hesitant to start Green at center full-time, preferring to pair him with a center — likely Jackson-Davis, who thrived next to Green in the second half of last season. If Golden State starts two bigs, the choice at small forward likely becomes either Kuminga or Andrew Wiggins, but not both.

Green started a significant amount of time last year at center, and the league’s trend toward pace and space makes it easier for the Warriors to play him heavy minutes there. But many teams have traditional bigs and Kerr doesn’t “love the idea” of Green starting at center full-time.

“There’s part of me that’s like, 82 games of Draymond playing center, there are teams trying to play bigger now, so I don’t love the idea of Draymond being the starting five and playing heavy minutes there game after game.”

So Kuminga’s ability to shoot and play small forward becomes the key to unlocking more versatile lineups.

Perhaps the most naturally gifted scorer on the roster outside of Steph Curry, Kuminga will have a major role this year — regardless of his position. The Warriors want to play faster, which suits him; he’s already a tremendous threat in transition. The Warriors want to play with more structure, which should help young players like Kuminga who aren’t as conducive to the organized chaos the Warriors have trademarked.

All signs point to Kuminga being featured more and becoming — possibly in a contract year — the Warriors’ best secondary option behind Curry.

All signs except for the fact that the team still doesn’t really know what position he plays.

Notable

– The Warriors split into three groups and ran 5-on-5 scrimmages on Wednesday, successfully implementing some of the new installations from the first day of camp, Kerr said. Kevon Looney ended the scrimmage with a corner 3.

Golden State wants a slimmed-down Looney to keep defenses honest from the perimeter, but in Kerr’s words, he’s not going to be Kevin Love.

“He’s not a pick-and-pop 3-point shooter, right?” Kerr said. “He’s a broken play, he’s on the perimeter, shot clock going down and he’s open, let that thing fly.”

– Andrew Wiggins (illness) got some shots up while wearing a mask, but didn’t practice in full. He missed the team’s first training camp session Tuesday because he was under the weather.

— Trayce Jackson-Davis said he grew a quarter inch over the summer, making him 6-foot-10 in shoes. That makes him the tallest player on Golden State’s roster outside of two-way rookie Quinten Post.