Golden State Warriors: How’d Kevon Looney Do At Summer League?

Following the imminent departure of David Lee, the defending champion Golden State Warriors could use a little extra depth in the frontcourt. With the 30th pick in this year’s NBA Draft, Kevon Looney could very well become that replacement.

At the end of the first round, the Dubs were happy to select a raw but talented 19-year-old prospect in Looney. The young UCLA product is dealing with a hip injury that could require surgery at some point, but assuming he’s able to stay healthy, or even if he has to have surgery and has to rehabilitate, the Warriors have to like what they saw from him during the NBA Summer League.

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True enough, Golden State doesn’t need Looney to come in and contribute right away. His value as a lottery-level talent lies in his ability — as a 6’9″ stretch-4 with a massive wing span — to spread the floor as yet another versatile forward on a roster full of multi-dimensional players. The Dubs can take their time developing him as he looks to bulk up and improve defensively.

But in Las Vegas, Looney showed sparks of potential despite a couple of rough offensive outings. Over the Warriors’ six Summer League games, he averaged a respectable 9.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 41 percent from the floor and converting three of his six three-point attempts.

That’s an extremely limited sample size to work with, but by the end of Golden State’s time in Vegas, he had worked his way into the starting rotation and earned more playing time in every single game following a disastrous second outing in which he went 1-for-9 from the floor in a one-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Though he wasn’t a consistent performer for the Warriors, that’s to be expected from a teenage rookie. When he did have a solid game offensively, the potential for greatness — and the notion that the rich may have gotten richer with this draft selection — became pretty easy to defend.

In that aforementioned game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Looney finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and one block. He only shot 6-for-17 from the floor, but he racked up six(!!!) offensive rebounds in his 30 minutes of action.

He also just so happened to do this:

Looney obviously needs to get stronger and improve his conditioning, as it looked like he tired pretty quickly a couple of times. But with that wicked wingspan and rebounding instinct of his, he’s certainly capable of being a major factor on the offensive glass down the line. His defensive rebounding could use some work, but Looney certainly knows how to crash the boards and rack up big rebounding numbers overall.

On the offensive end, Looney is a pretty capable ball handler for a player his size and even though he’s still pretty raw, his three-point stroke doesn’t look too bad. Looney displayed some potential out of the pick-and-pop, even if he looked awkward when attacking the rim as the dive man out of the pick-and-roll. As a shooter, he’s already got a solid base to build upon as an NBA stretch-4.

As far as attacking the basket is concerned, the dunk above seemed to be the exception when it came to beating his man off the dribble, most likely because he’s not very explosive.

Whether that’s due to his nagging hip remains to be seen, but in any event, Looney’s offense will need some serious work, especially since he has zero post moves. Assistant coach Ron Adams will definitely be working with the Warriors rookie on his footwork on both ends of the floor.

That being said, Kevon Looney is already one of the better rebounders in his draft class and with the right development on one of the best defensive teams in the league, he could have a very bright future after a strong Summer League showing.

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