Is Jonathan Kuminga The Type of Player The Sacramento Kings Need?

Is Jonathan Kuminga The Type of Player The Sacramento Kings Need?

Oklahoma City who has found what his role is on this team, how he’s going to get minutes, and he’s going to play that role. Defense, shooting threes, all that. He’s going to play that role specifically. Jonathan Kaminga has never been interested in taking that on. He was never interested in being I this is just a name I pull because the he’s done this for the Nuggets and kind of revamped his his career. Aaron Gordon. Mhm. He was not interested in being I’m going to play the dunker spot. I’m going to slash. I’m going to knock down some corner threes. I’m going to get really good at shooting threes. I’m going to knock down corner threes. And I’m going to defend whoever they want to throw want to throw me at. And the fact that he’s been unwilling to do that across four years and couldn’t figure that out across four years leads me to believe that Jonathan Kaminga for his entire career is going to be a guy who scores a lot of points when given an opportunity. And he’s not going to do the other little things that affect winning. And I just don’t think that you can build a contender around a player who’s not interested in doing the things that impact winning. Yeah. So, for me, like look, the travesty of the NBA is that there are so many players that have been told their entire lives how great they are at everything and they can’t do anything wrong. And there’s a AAU culture. There’s whatever culture you’re you’re working through as an NBA player, as an NBA prospect. You get to the league and either you are a star right away or you’re not going to be a star. And the only way that you survive in the league is realizing that there is a role for you in the league if you can figure it out and play to your strengths. Yep. And if you can’t, you will never ever ever develop. And you know, again, I think Kaminga is is extremely talented. But I just don’t buy it. I I don’t He still thinks he will be a superstar. And the fact that, you know, it’s somebody else’s fault that he’s not a superstar. it’s not his. And there there comes a point where you have to be a star in your role and not think of yourself as a star. And if you become so good at your role that you become that star, that’s one thing. But like I don’t see a team in the NBA is going to go out and and bring him in unless it’s a team that is so bad that they got nothing else going on. You know, again, a Wizards or Charlotte team that goes, you know what, why not? Let’s just throw everything we got at this kid and give him the keys to the car and see what happens. I just don’t buy it. And even still, he’s got to become that star or he’s always going to be a guy who thinks he’s a star and takes bad shots and and does things that don’t make sense and doesn’t play defense the right way and uh gets caught in bad rotations and stuff. It it’s like a mindset and it’s why it’s so much easier to find a key on Ellis, somebody who is doing exactly what he did as a high school player, as a college player, as a G-League player, and now as a pro player, Mhm. and knows his role and who he should be and how he’s going to stick on the court. so much easier to just go get that guy than it is to go find a star and or to take a someone who thinks they’re a star and try to convert them into something else, which never works. Yeah, I see a lot and this is see a lot of people like, “Oh, he averaged 25 a night when he finally got to take over against Minnesota.” Yeah. And they lost all the games. Yeah, they lost all those games. You talk about I I saw somebody else say in a different system he’ll be No, he wants to be the system. Yep. That’s it. If you’re going to trade for Jonathan Kaminga, which is fine. Maybe that’s what the Kings want to do. They go, “Hey, we’re the team that’s going to that’s going to maximize what he’s you’re going to have to make him the focal point of what you’re doing. You’re not bringing him in alongside Demon Sabonis and Zack Lavine. Hey, and he’s going to do all these things because he’s not.” No, he wants to be a 1A. And maybe he will be someday. Maybe some team’s going to give him the keys. He’s going to go average 25 a night and because of that, he’s going to start playing great defense and he’s going to do all this stuff. He’s going to develop a three-point shot. Uh he’s going to learn to be unselfish and all this stuff. Hope so. Would love that for him. It’d be amazing. He’s still, like I said, he’s 22 going on 23. The room is still there. And that’s why teams are going to talk themselves into him. It’s why the Warriors might talk themselves into him. Yep. because Joe Lacob’s going to go, “Well, Steve Kerr is not going to be here forever and once he’s gone, Jonathan’s gonna maybe it’s just really really difficult to I mean, you look around the the history of the league, there are so many of these players.” Yes. And and I think again, if he gets traded to uh if he goes to another team right now, and again, it’s a bad team and he starts putting up 20 a night and everyone’s like, “Oh, see see what’s happened. Look at their win loss record. That’s that’s realistically all that matters.” So look at the win loss record and then look at efficiency and and you’ll realize very quickly that you know like people here in Sacramento you remember a name like Antoine Carr. Antoine Carr averaged 20 points a night for the Kings because they were bad. Rodney McCrae almost averaged 20 points a game for the Kings because they were bad. There’s always a 20 point per game score on every team. And that’s the problem that you’ll like he will think that he’s fulfilled his potential. he gets up 23 24 points per game. It doesn’t matter if your team is winning 30 games a year. Mhm. You’re just not that. And so he won’t embrace it. And that’s why I don’t think a lot of teams around the league are going to embrace him in in this free agency. I think a lot of teams are going to be very lerary of him as a prospect. Um and they don’t care what numbers he put up in what playoff series or anything else. And I I first of all, R. Jonesy, don’t come at me with you guys don’t follow the Warriors. Second of all, um this is not strictly on the court between the lines during the season stuff. No. Talk to people who are plugged in with the Warriors about Jonathan Kaminga’s offseason workouts. Like this is not strictly related to what he does on the court. There he is not developed the right way. Not not because of how the Warriors have played him. Like they haven’t been playing him because he’s not been doing the stuff they’ve asked him to do. Yeah. And maybe he comes to the Kings and maybe he would be awesome. Like I said, the the upside is crazy. And if you came from the future and you said, “Hey, Jonathan Kamingo is a 10 time all-star and a six-time allNBA guy.” All right. Okay. I would not would not be stunned. I’d be I’d check that. I’d be a little surprised, but I wouldn’t be like if you said, “Hey, Quinton Post is a 10 time all-star six time.” I’d be like, “Get out of here.” Yeah, that never happened. But if you told me that Kaminga developed it, it’s like, “Oh, okay.” Like, “Wow, you did it.” I’m just I I personally don’t want to bet on that upside personally. Yeah. And not only that, but I don’t might be wrong. I don’t think there there is a point where he could become the third best player on a playoff team. He will never understand that he’s the third best player on a playoff team. And that’s always going to be the problem. Like until he gets it and and but Okay, you’re right. Go ahead. Yeah. Until he gets it that like look in order to be great it takes sacrifice and it takes being so good at the sport and working so hard at the nuances of the sport to be that player. Mhm. Like nothing that I’m seeing from his development tells me that the light switch is going to go on. You’re a 30% three-point shooter. You’ve had four years to get better on a team that shoots a million threes. You’re not getting better. So that’s that’s again like there will be a team that pays him. I don’t know if he’s going to get what he thinks he might get, but like I don’t like even if they pay him, it’s probably going to be a bad team. And it doesn’t like whatever he’s doing is like, “Okay, that’s fine. You’re just a player who’s putting up stats on a bad team.” Yeah. I know, man. I’m rooting for him for sure because like I said, it’s not that he’s not a good player. He is. Somebody mentioned the playoffs like, “Yeah, you don’t.” The dude came off not playing, not even being in the rotation, and scores like 18, 30, 23, and 26 in five playoff games. Yeah, it was or playoff games. five five playoff games, whatever it was, he was it was five. He was Yeah, he scor He scored a ton of points. Yep. That’s why you talk about the upside and why it’s enticing. It’s just he’s not I’d put it a little bit on the Warriors for sure. Um he averaged 20.8 points per game in that series, man. Yeah. Really good to play. Really, really, really good player. Yeah. It’s just I don’t think I’m I would want to be the team that bets on it. And it’s tough. Steve Kerr feels the same way and he’s knows more about basketball than I do. Yeah. It’s really brutal because there are a lot of players even like like Isaiah Thomas. I love Isaiah Thomas. One of my favorite kings to ever cover. Super honest at all times. Like, “Hey, why is this happening?” Well, this is why it’s happening. Like he just tell you like, “Oh, okay.” like he he’s a guy who showed up at city council meetings even though he’s from Seattle when the team was trying to relocate. He showed up and and supported Kings fans, right? Loved him, loved him, loved him. He goes to the Celtics and blows up, becomes well, first to, you know, the the Suns who had four point guards and then to the Celtics. Blows up on the Celtics and then he he hurt his hip, but he never really got another opportunity again to be a 1A. And that’s because not a lot of teams want to hand over all of the control of a team to a 5 foot10 point guard who is gonna score 30 a game but probably not be super efficient and all that stuff. So, like we’re talking about that’s it. Like Kaminga, a team is going to have to hand everything to him and say, “Okay, if you think you can do it, go to prove us that you can do it.” And I just don’t think that there are going to be teams out there, unless they’re really bad teams that are going to hand the entire franchise over to someone and say, “Okay, go prove to us that you’re the next I don’t know even even who he like like it’s not LeBron. I don’t know what McGrady whatever whoever it is whoever whoever it is. Uh interesting. This is related to the Kaminga discussion but it’s separate. It’s over here. I do think there’s an interesting thing to watch if and when Kaminga gets moved or if and when he stays and and Steve Kerr retires if a different coach gets through to him a different way because I do think that that matters. I do think coaching matters a lot in that respect. And Golden State has a system that that has worked for the better part of the last decade. And you have to fit into this cookie cutter thing. And maybe he maybe it was that specific cookie cutter that he couldn’t fit into. And maybe he goes to some other coach who says, “Hey, you know what? We’re going to untap your potential in this way.” And it just doesn’t. Yeah. And maybe it is all Steve Kurr’s fault. But when the guy’s won four titles with a team and I’d like to have that Steve Kerr problem. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Not Not too bad. Like I said, rooting for JK though. I I don’t think for the reasons that you said where the a I don’t think Golden State if they’re if they’re doing a signing trade with Kaminga, I don’t think it’s for Demar Rosen. Mhm. Um, and for the Kings specifically, if he had been a if he had been a more consistent like defensive presence on and off ball, um, and if he had been a more uh consistently willing passer, Mhm. or or a more consistent three-point shooter, then I think it it makes a ton of sense because I saw somebody say, “Hey, he’s just got upside. The Kings have nobody with that level of upside. You just get him in the building.” Okay. Like I don’t I don’t hate that. Um but if the Kings are going to try and build something with Zack Lavine and Demon Sabonis, I don’t think that style of player is necessarily what what they’re looking for. Yeah, I I’m intrigued to see what the offers are for him. Yeah, I am. I I want to see if he gets paid like a legitimate star or if he does not. I will I will say this. Uh Drew Down says, “I think he’s improved as a passer.” He has. He definitely has. Like again, I don’t want to he’s gotten better at the sport, just not I think in the ways that the Warriors wanted him to get better at the sport. Yeah. And I wonder if that’s going to ultimately stunt his growth in the NBA. Anyways, that’s James Ham. I’m comats and that’s Joe Dro Brazil. Uh the handoff is My goodness, it’s already 11

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