Kuminga’s Path to Success Lies in the Archetype of Wiggins and Gordon

Kuminga's path to success with the Timberwolves is predicated on scaling down his usage and focusing on ancillaries. Not breaking news. Wiggins and Gordon are the championship models of success.

Both provided a lot of wins on the margin through positional size and defense, which let them warp the geometry of the court and create extra possessions. (KEY)

Both were versatile, low-usage, high-efficiency players.

One of the biggest benefits of Wiggins and Gordon in the champ was their secondary rim protection:

Gordon insulating Jokic a bit and Wiggins helping out with Draymond with no true 5.

That is one of the biggest weaknesses the Timberwolves had last year:

zero rim denial without Gobert on the floor and a lack of quality shot deterrence in general, despite having McDaniels.

Kuminga's path to success with the Timberwolves is predicated on scaling down his usage and focusing on ancillaries. His self-creation attempts should go all the way down. If it's not transition, he should not be taking more than three dribbles. As a half-court scorer he just never developed.

Kuminga, in his best offensive season (23-24), was extremely lazy and ineffective on defense. He has since picked it up during his short stint in Atlanta and the year before, but wasn't as hyper-efficient as he should be. Fewer shots and a higher 3-point rate should move him well past bang-for-bang average.