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Jon Krawczynski: Finch on Kuminga (10r, 4B): “We’d be lost without him right now.”
Jon Krawczynski: Wolves beat the Bucks, 112-100. It wasn't always pretty, but it was needed. Ball: 34p 6-13 3s Ayo: 19p, 12r, 8a Gobert: 10p, 10r Lyles: 12p, 4r Kuminga: 8p, 10r
Dane Moore: Chris Finch was asked about this interaction on the bench between Rudy Gobert, Jonathan Kuminga and LaMelo Ball. Finch was unaware of the interaction, as was Gobert when he was asked. "Honestly, I didn't see what you're referring to the other night. It's part of the game. Obviously everything has to stay in a healthy context. But you'd rather have guys talking about things and airing it out than brooding over it and letting things fester. So yeah, I think it's just a normal part of the way things are these days."
At the end of the game, Jonathan Kuminga exchanged hugs and smiles with Curry, Green and several of his former teammates, then headed back to the locker room to start addressing the Timberwolves’ new reality. Despite all the ups and downs in Kuminga’s tenure, his former teammates are still hopeful he finds success. “You root for any of your ex-teammates,” Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski said. “Obviously, the things that happened with him have nothing to do with the players in the locker room. I’m happy for him. He’s found a home; he’s getting to start every game, play the way he wants to play and have success doing it. So, from one player to another, I’m more than happy for him.
Did Kuminga ever have the chances to fail, back in stouter years of Golden State’s roster, that Lendeborg will have this season? “No,” the Warriors source told the Chronicle. “Not even close. Because we were trying to win titles. And we should be. If you can win a title, you just win a title. F— development.”
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“What I would tell him all the time is like, ‘You gotta do some of the things that you don’t want to do to do the things that you want to do,’” Warriors assistant Kris Weems told the Chronicle in October. “And I don’t think he really understood that. Steve wasn’t necessarily — he was asking, like, run the floor, get to the corner, and everything. But JK wasn’t always absorbing how important playing off the ball was for us. “Like, Wiggs figured it out, even though Wiggs didn’t always understand why he was in certain places,” Weems continued, reflecting on former Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins. “But he started to figure out the pin-ins, and how to be able to attack, using (Stephen Curry) as the decoy. JK just was like, ‘Just give me the ball, man.’”
Andrew Dukowitz: Jonathan Kuminga from last night on how film sessions can be used to learn on off days “I think… we all tried to take that seat and be the ones taking shots, including me, pretty much all of us and I think film is going to tell us the earlier we share the ball the better position we’re going to be.”
Nick Friedell: Warriors hang on to win 119-114 in Minneapolis. A nice bounce back at the end of this trip for a team that started slow. Steph finishes with 44 points, eight rebounds and six assists. The Warriors are all around center court hugging Kuminga after the game.
Joseph Dycus: Chris Finch says he expects LaMelo Ball to take on more of a scoring role vs Warriors with Edwards out. Also says Jonathan Kuminga could play more SF than PF.
Jon Krawczynski: "Yes, so what I'm told he's in good spirits. He's obviously disappointed by having to have this procedure. It will take him out of MVP all-NBA consideration and there's financial implications to that as well as competitive implications for the Timberwolves, but I think he's taking it fairly in stride. The one thing that was told to me about this and not just trying to play through it was he looks at the way this team has come together, how quickly they have gelled, his chemistry with LaMelo, how Kuminga is playing, just everything around it and the great start that they've gotten off to, and he really believes that this is a team that can go deep into the playoffs and that can come out of the Western Conference."
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Jon Krawczynski on Anthony Edwards: 'What I'm told he's in good spirits. He's obviously disappointed by having to have this procedure. It will take him out of MVP all-NBA consideration and there's financial implications to that as well as competitive implications for the Timberwolves, but I think he's taking it fairly in stride. The one thing that was told to me about this is one of the the motivations for doing this now and not just trying to play through it was he looks at the way this team has come together. How quickly they have jelled his chemistry with LaMelo Ball, how Jonathan Kuminga is playing, just everything around it and the great start that they've gotten off to. And he really believes that this is a team that can go deep into the playoffs and that can come out of the Western Conference. And so one of the motivations here for him is, hey, let's just get in, get this taken care of as soon as possible.'
“That September gym, I thought at times there was a lot of kind of bad blood there,” Finch said on Friday night after a 115-93 victory over the Orlando Magic. “There were a lot of times I thought it had boiled over. But it was great to see the intensity. Those guys were really going at it. They enjoyed it. They’ve been able to bring that edge into training camp and now the season.” The decision to turn the workouts at Mayo Clinic Square into a sequel for “Fight Club” was entirely premeditated. Over the summer, Minnesota replaced Naz Reid and Julius Randle with LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga. The moves changed the body composition of their roster — 497 pounds out the door and 405 pounds in to replace it. The Wolves were no longer the hulking beasts with a surplus of bigs to out-muscle their opponents. They became leaner and faster, and they knew how everyone would attack them.
Jonathan Kuminga says he has never seen Ball have a bad day. Jaden McDaniels says he can never take his eye off Ball when his point guard has the ball in his hands. Coach Chris Finch says Ball’s infectious energy makes it impossible to stay mad at him. Ball’s early days in Minnesota have gone about as well as anyone could have hoped. The 25-year-old has quickly adapted to his new team, new city and new gym. But this is hardly a new experience for him. “With being a new guy, I feel like I’m good with it, for real,” Ball said. “You know some people, it’s hard to kind of break in or get involved and all that type of stuff. But wherever I go, I just be myself, feel like me, so it’s kind of easy.”
Dane Moore: Jonathan Kuminga talked today about feeling comfortable in Minnesota and what's contributed to him acclimating quickly. "I think I'm very comfortable. I think part of it for me is just being around these guys everyday. I think if it was stuck people, stuck up personalities, I wouldn't be that comfortable. But I feel like everybody's personality is very open and welcoming."
