Steve Kerr makes another huge mistake with his crunch time rotations

Last night, the Golden State Warriors lost to the Denver Nuggets 130-127. But it wasn't just Nikola Jokic's half-court heave that made this possible. Going into the fourth quarter, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made an interesting lineup decision. I.e., not to play Jonathan Kuminga.

Warriors lose, Jonathan Kuminga watches fourth quarter from the bench

Although Kuminga started the game alongside Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney, and Chris Paul, Kuminga played the fewest minutes on the team. While every bench player saw at least 21 minutes of action, Kuminga only saw 19. So... was he playing badly? Nope. In fact, he finished with 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and the highest plus-minus on the team at plus-6. Just take a look at this shot chart.

After the game, Kuminga talked with Michael Wagman of NBC Sports Bay Area about watching the fourth quarter from the bench. He wasn't surprised by this decision, and the young forward says It's been like this since he arrived in Golden State.

“It’s tricky. Since I’ve been here, we don’t have just five guys that we know that they’re supposed to be on the floor whenever it’s closing time,” Kuminga said. “It’s a little, I don’t know how to say it, it’s a little weird. I’ve been here for three years now, I’m used to it. I’m never surprised when I see a lineup change at the end of the game or even in the game. It’s a culture thing.”

Notice how Kuminga used the word 'weird' to describe the Warriors' constant, shifting rotations. Now, if you're a head coach, you can work with "eccentric" or "unorthodox". Weird, however, implies inexplicability. So, it's bad to be weird in this case. 

When asked why Kuminga didn't see the floor in the fourth quarter, Kerr responded, “His normal time to go back in would have been around the five-, six-minute mark,” Kerr said. “[Andrew Wiggins] was playing great, we were rolling, we were up 18, 19, whatever it was. So we just stayed with [the finishing group]." Kerr explained that because Kuminga was sitting for so long at that point, "it didn’t feel like the right thing to do." So, Kerr stayed with the group that was out there, and well, we all know what happened after that. The Dubs fall to 16-18 on the season, and 10-9 at home.

Although he hasn't played as many crunch-time minutes as he would like, Kuminga is still pleased with his improvement over the past couple of games. “I’m very proud of myself,” Kuminga said. “I’ve come so far and I still have a lot of things to accomplish. This is just the beginning of the journey, where things are just changing. Hopefully it changes even more."

Hopefully things change for Kuminga. It's inconceivable that Kuminga has scored double figures in his past 14 consecutive games, but isn't given minutes in the fourth quarter. This is not the first time Kerr has antagonized his young players. We've seen it before with Moses Moody. We'll probably see it again. I understand having a certain sense of loyalty to the guys that have been around the team *cough* Andrew Wiggins *cough* Klay Thompson. However, with most of their stars declining, the worst thing the Warriors could do right now is poison their fountain of youth. By continuing to treat Kuminga and other young players in this manner, the Warriors are only setting themselves up for failure in the long run.