It's pretty widely known that for Jonathan Kuminga to succeed with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he needs to buy into a role. A lot of people have speculated what that could be like, but by far my favorite outcome for what he could be is a scaled-down version of Miles Bridges.
A lot of people have a pretty tainted view of Bridges, but that is (understandably) due to his off-court charges. Bridges is actually a pretty good basketball player, and not only that, he formed a pretty solid duo with the now-Wolves point guard, LaMelo Ball.
Kuminga and Bridges aren't identical players, but they share a lot of similarities, and I think if he played a Bridges-esque role on the Wolves, that would be his best path to success in Minnesota.
Kuminga and Bridges share a lot of on-court traits
Now, the Hornets were never a playoff team with those two leading the charge. However, that's due to a complete lack of talent on the roster and not necessarily the fault of Ball and Bridges.
Bridges' greatest strengths coincidentally mesh perfectly with exactly how LaMelo wants to play. Ball likes to play fast, find shooters, and make electric plays in transition. Bridges has freakish athleticism, which, in turn, makes him a lob threat. Bridges does a lot of his scoring in transition, and he is a good open 3-point shooter, but he struggles off the dribble and with contested looks.
Kuminga is essentially the same player. Pound for pound, Kuminga is probably one of the most athletic players in the NBA. At 6-foot-7, Kuminga is able to get higher on lobs than most centers. Like Bridges as well, he is a capable shooter, but you want those looks to be created for him instead of him playing in isolation.
Kuminga will still need to find a way to scale his role down
The downside of the Bridges comparison is that in the past three seasons, he has shot 16 shots per game. If Kuminga thinks that, with the talent on this team, he's going to get 16 shots a night, he is out of his mind. A number that is a lot more likely is around 10 per game.
A lot of Kuminga's looks should be manufactured for him. There will obviously be times when he's asked to create his own offense, especially if he's playing with the second unit, but for the most part, he needs to be a play finisher, kind of like Bridges was for Ball in Charlotte.
LaMelo will spoon-feed him a lot of looks, and as long as Kuminga converts them at a solid clip, his fit will be seamless. He and Bridges had plenty of highlights; I expect Kuminga and him to see similar results.
Add us as a preferred source on Google