Draymond Green breaks down Jonathan Kuminga's defensive breakthrough this season after being challenged to focus on that end. Kuminga guarded both Green and James Harden in back-to-back games, using his length without fouling, and Steve Kerr publicly named him a starter.
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What Jonathan Kuminga has been doing, like I wanna talk about. We told him at the beginning of the season, like, if you wanna do it differently, become all defense. And he's taking that challenge. That man guarded the shit outta Draymond Green on Monday night, and then guarded the hell outta James Harden on Tuesday night. That is elite level defending. He's picking up guys full court. He's pressing up and using his length as they get into the paint. Doing a better job of learning to defend without fouling, although he's pressuring. You know, the reads that he's making on the offensive end, the passes that he's making, he's so poised and under control. The rebounding, he's been rebounding the hell outta the ball, skying over everybody to go in and grab rebounds. Man, Jonathan Kuminga is playing incredible basketball. And it was so great to see Steve come out and say, listen, he's a starter. Like— Yeah. He's right there with those guys. We'll figure everything else out, but he's right there with those guys. Do you know what that do for your confidence? So I'm excited to see like how much more confidence J.K. had. Woo!