Kevon Looney’s Growth In His Seventh Season
Looney has had his ups and downs during his Golden State career. Just back in 2020, Kevon had to deal with a core muscle injury that would end his season. Question marks were surrounding the big man and how much longer his stay in the Bay Area would be. Move forward to the next season and James Wiseman goes down. Looney stepped up in a major way as the lone center available for the team and has succeeded in that role. In April of 2021, Looney had a career-high 15 rebounds in a win against the Philadelphia 76ers and he held Joel Embiid to 4-14 shooting. Jump ahead to Wednesday night and his strong play continued.
Kevon recorded his second career double-double against the Minnesota Timberwolves with 11 points and a new career-high of 17 rebounds, 12 of which were offensive. He was looking very much like Moses Malone.
Kevon Looney 11 PTS 17 REB: All Possessions (2021-11-10)
He has become a much more consistent shooter from the field, something that Dub fans have struggled with in the past. He seems to become more conscious of his shot selection and finding the best possible look when near the rim. I haven’t seen a lot of missed bunnies from Looney this season and that’s an amazing sign of progress in his game. 57.8 FG% on 4.1 shot attempts per game is exactly what I want to see from the 25-year-old at this stage in his career.
Now that Looney seems to be healthy and Wiseman is still trying to make it back to the court, the starting job at the 5 seems to be his to lose. He has started all 11 games for the Warriors in the early stages of this campaign and has played close to 17 minutes per game. It looks like Looney is also on the right track to grab his season career-high in boards (at 6.3 rebounds per game at the moment).
His defense has been very pleasing to watch as well. Karl-Anthony Towns only scored 17 points on an inefficient 6-19 from the field last night and Looney had a big part in that. Watch him check KAT immediately when he gets the ball in the post and not back down at all on multiple possessions. Kevon was a major pest in the paint all night. He even was getting out to the three-point line to close out on an Anthony Edward’s three on the second chance opportunity.
“I thought Kevon Looney was just amazing. That’s one of the toughest matchups in the league in Towns,” Steve Kerr said after the game. “He just brings defensive toughness and intelligence. He’s kind of like a middle linebacker out there.”
Looney should continue to grow and prosper as the season goes along. And when Wiseman does come back, the Warriors’ big men are going to be an intimidating duo for opposing teams. Not something you want to deal with.
Follow Arden Cravalho on Twitter @a_cravalho.
(Photo credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)