Charlie Cummings

Recent Posts

finding-a-role-quarterly-check-in
December 9, 2024
Last season, I decided to express my interest in player development in writing at a scale I hadn't reached before. It was difficult to fully explore how stars become stars,...
bilal-coulibaly-star-turn
November 15, 2024
What do you know about nothobranchius furzeri? If your answer is "Nothing, Charlie. What the hell are you talking about?" congratulations—you know as much as I did when I wrote...
finding-a-role-peyton-watson
November 8, 2024
Nearly a year ago, I wrote about Peyton Watson as an emerging rotation piece for the Denver Nuggets. If you're not inclined to read it first (though I would highly...
buddy-hield-transition-play
November 1, 2024
If you put up a cloud of words used to describe the 2024/25 Warriors through the offseason, preseason, and first five games, the range of terms would be astounding. Washed,...
tre-mann-finding-a-role
October 24, 2024
Sometimes you need to leave a talented group to shine brightest. When Peter Gabriel left Genesis in 1975, confusion abounded. A highly successful band's frontman striking out on his own...
where-is-this-headed-warriors
September 5, 2024
Folks, put down your magnifying glasses. Stop analyzing the Instagram bios—Laker fans, close that Photoshop window. Steph Curry isn't going anywhere. After signing a 1-year, $62.6M extension, the maximum allowable...
dominic-barlow-finding-a-role
August 5, 2024
Despite being only 21 years old, Dominick Barlow has already secured his place in history. Okay, it's not the history you'll read in social studies class, or even on Basketball...
deanthony-melton-acquisition-grade
July 19, 2024
Well, this is a rare thing to discuss: a Warriors mid-level exception signing. Golden State finally wound down its heinous tax bill with the departures of Klay Thompson and Chris...
two-timelines-of-bad
July 10, 2024
While watching the 2024 draft, a friend called me out of the blue with a thought: are the Jazz, his favorite team, running two timelines of tanking? And it got...
klay-thompson-soup-god
July 1, 2024
Depression is a strange thing. Those who know me are aware I've battled depression for as long as I can remember. It has its way of scaling up and down,...
real-contenders-go-down-swinging
May 26, 2024
This is a postseason rife with new themes and narratives. The youth are here to take over, yes. The old gods are dead and buried. There is no James, Curry,...
pascal-siakam-fears-no-deer
May 6, 2024
When Pascal Siakam was moved to the Indiana Pacers in January, there was much surprise for a multitude of reasons. Pascal being dealt was not a shock; the Raptors were...
rebooting-the-warriors
April 18, 2024
In this age of cinema, very few successful franchises have escaped the ignominy of a terrible reboot. Star Wars has the shameful second and third trilogies (Revenge of the Sith...
brandin-podziemski-rebounding
March 31, 2024
Brandin Podziemski is a rare player, for many reasons. Besides being a lefty who looks like the upper half of a centaur with a funky love of hook shots, his...
sam-merrill-cavs
March 7, 2024
Some guys need a shot. So many NBA-level talents hardly get a chance, and second chances are even harder to find. Making the most of that chance can change the...
kristaps-porzingis-post-ups
February 26, 2024
The Boston Celtics are in a strange form of NBA purgatory. On pace to win 65 games, they are running laps around the Eastern Conference. They hold the best net...
jonathan-kuminga-rise-stardom
February 22, 2024
I will say the two unnameable words around the Golden State Warriors. No, it's not "fire Kerr", "trade Klay", "European bigs" or "affordable housing". It's two timelines. We know it...
nickeil-alexander-walker
January 23, 2024
It has been a short, strange journey for Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the NBA. Taken 17th overall in the 2019 draft, NAW has been the "also, this guy" in three separate...
goga-bitadze
January 4, 2024
It has never been easier to be forgotten in the NBA than it is now. As more and more talent clamors for spots among the 450, leashes grow shorter. Patience...
Sam-Hauser-finding-role
December 13, 2023
If you know anything about the Boston Celtics' Sam Hauser, you know what this article will be about. This will be a lot of shooting film, and I'm not talking...
finding-role-dyson-daniels
December 5, 2023
Aptronym (noun):  a person's name that is regarded as amusingly appropriate to their occupation. Do you ever feel like names are a form of predestination? It's astounding how often athletes with a...
Marcus-Sasser-Finding-Role
November 25, 2023
In the Sasser family, basketball isn't just a means to an end. Basketball is a way of life. Marcus Sasser, the reigning Jerry West Award winner and a consensus All-American,...
aaron-nesmith-pacers-finding-a-role
November 15, 2023
On July 1st, 2022, Aaron Nesmith had a major change in his outlook. After being a lottery choice by the Boston Celtics and beginning to establish a rotation spot at...
peyton-watson-finding-a-role
November 9, 2023
The Denver Nuggets (specifically general manager Calvin Booth) made waves this offseason by being utterly indifferent to Bruce Brown's exit. This was followed by Vlatko Čančar tearing his left ACL...
October 6, 2023
Overview So, here we are. The season hasn't even begun and the Dubs are scrambling to make up for injuries. Couldn't we at least have waited until January? Regardless, this...
kevon-looney-art-of-board
September 7, 2023
The humble rebound. The Mach-Hommy to basketball's Griselda: underrated, ever-present, and thoroughly engrossing. Despite being one of the more critical parts of the game, rebounds are too often treated as...
moses-moody-defense
August 11, 2023
This current iteration of the Golden State Warriors is loaded with outstanding defenders. Draymond Green has arguably been the preeminent defensive player of the whole league for the past decade....
jonathan-kuminga-shooting-development
July 20, 2023
Shooting has a way of presenting itself in the strangest ways. No matter how many indicators we identify and traits we look for, it comes out of left field all...
June 23, 2023
It was a hectic day for the Golden State Warriors roster. Chris Paul is now in Golden State. Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and Ryan Rollins are in Washington along...
June 22, 2023
There are many things that could happen with this pick on draft day, but in all likelihood, the Golden State Warriors will be adding another rookie to the roster with...
Steph-Curry-Defender-Maze
May 2, 2023
Few good ideas come from conversations in the back of a Lyft post-midnight. A few weeks ago, while going from bar to apartment to inevitably discuss cryptids and antigravity technology,...
April 20, 2023
I don't want to take anything away from the Kings, who are incredibly talented and play a beautiful brand of winning basketball. But the first two games felt like the...
jordan-poole-warriors-kings-playoffs
April 15, 2023
Does that thought scare you? It should. The Warriors will play the Kings in their first-ever playoff matchup between division rivals. Both sides are laden with stars: Sacramento boasts one...
March 26, 2023
With Andrew Wiggins bound to miss his 19th straight game tonight, questions abound in Golden State as the playoffs close in. What is going on in his life is clearly...
NBA-Buyout-Bigs
February 11, 2023
With the trade dust finally settled, things are looking up in Golden State. The rocky, possibly suspicious, return of Gary Payton II (which I covered here) all but solidifies their...
welcome-home-gary-payton-ii
February 9, 2023
The prodigal son returns. Minutes before the deadline, the Warriors finalized a trade to bring Gary Payton II back to the Bay. This was made possible by moving James Wiseman...
Kevin-Love-to-Warriors
February 7, 2023
It's been nearly ten years since the Golden State Warriors flirted with trading for Kevin Love, stopping short of including Klay Thompson in a potential deal, leading to his move...
patrick-baldwin-jr-time
January 28, 2023
WHERE HE AT?? WHERE HE AT?? WHERE HE AT?? https://twitter.com/kendra__andrews/status/1618694239126437888?s=20&t=TX9KlRsrFKVUKRpvoNosZw NOW THERE HE GO, THERE HE GO, THERE HE GO!!! (sorry, I really couldn't help it.) Terrible jokes aside, it...
January 13, 2023
In November, I set out to explore what's been happening to Klay Thompson's shot post-injury. I had my hunches and needed the data to tell me what my eyes were...
January 5, 2023
This is the third part of a monthly recap covering all rookie-scale deal Warriors players, looking at the stats, film, and everything in between. To catch up on the first...
December 20, 2022
The Sunday matinee showdown of the Warriors and Raptors felt like two cars swerving off the road into each others' paths. Toronto was reeling, on a four-game skid and 2-6...
December 2, 2022
This is the second part of a monthly recap covering all rookie-scale deal Warriors players, looking at the stats, film, and everything in between. To catch up on the first...
November 26, 2022
So much has been made of the Golden State Warriors' bench unit and "youth movement," as the two are largely synonymous. Figuring out who gets a nightly rotation spot beyond...
November 16, 2022
We're now 43 games into the post-Achilles/ACL tears-era of Klay Thompson's career and he has yet to find his legs, both literally and figuratively. The time off and physical changes...
November 2, 2022
This will be the first part of a monthly recap covering all rookie-scale deal Warriors players, looking at the stats, film, and everything in between. Keep an eye out for...

Scouting Reports

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