Kevon Looney
Golden State Warriors

Player Facts

Height: 6'9"
Weight: 222lbs.

Wingspan: 7'3.5"

Date of Birth: Feb. 6, 1996
College Experience: UCLA (1 year)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 4
Physical Strength: 8
Positional Size: 7
Positional Wingspan: 9
Paint Scoring: 8
Midrange Scoring: 2
Three-Point Scoring: 1
Dribbling: 4
Passing: 6
Perimeter Defense: 6
Interior Defense: 9
Rebounding: 9

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Looney's Little Things

> Screen-Setting

> Playing Team Ball

> Second-Chance Machine

> Interior Finishing

> Pick-and-Roll D

> Matching Up with Centers

> Rim Deterrence + Boards

> Non-Shooter + Ground-Bound Game

> Defensive Qualms

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of NF & Z.Highlights (YouTube),

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Kevon Looney may be one of the most impactful low-scoring players in the NBA. His contributory areas include paint protection, two-way glass-cleaning, reasonable switchability, intuitive screen-setting, and the ability to finish.

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Looney's Little Things

Loon is undersized and a relatively ground-bound center but has great length and understands how to use angles. His 6-foot-9 height is dwarfed by his own 7-3.5" wingspan. This allows him to play bigger than he is.

An offensive deep-dive for the Milwaukee native mostly entails "dirty work" categories. To begin with, he is one of the best screen-setters in the league – both on-ball and off-ball. He plays his role perfectly within the complex Warriors offensive motion system.

Screen-Setting

Kevon has made real strides since entering the league as a pick-setter. He's now extremely dependable when freeing up dynamos like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Jordan Poole within the half-court.

The UCLA product has become very adept at being a DHO-hub. A defensively well-played handoff action will without hesitation flow into another one with Looney at the helm. His decision-making is more than solid considering his positional expectations.

Playing Team Ball

Kevon reads whether to find his man on the back-cut, look for another off-ball mover, pitch and re-screen, or explore something else. He will give you positive AST/TO ratios year in and year out.

Looney, likely under the tutelage of Draymond Green, has grown in the short roll department. Making rapid choices in the 4-on-3 game after teams blitz Curry is key for the Warriors' on-ball screeners. Kevon has gotten comfortable in these spots.

Second-Chance Machine

More "little things" on offense include his boxing out and offensive rebounding abilities. A lack of vertical pop means that Looney does his work early and uses his frame to get into good rebounding position. He'll then put it up himself or quickly find a re-locating shooter on the scramble play.

Loon was sixth in the Association in 2021-2022 with a 13.5% offensive rebounding percentage. His raw 208 of them collected that year placed him 12th leaguewide. Putback-wise, he tallied more buckets here than Andre Drummond, Bam Adebayo, and Evan Mobley (2021-2022). He upped his board game even further in 2022-2023 - first in total offensive rebounds collected.

Interior Finishing

While scoring isn't a notable part of his game, he isn't a complete zero either. Most buckets come from defensive over-attention on a teammate. He can score inside on rolls after a ball screen or DHO, or be the recipient of a Draymond short roll flip pass.

The scoring volume may not be there but the per-play efficiency is reasonable for Looney. On his 4.3 paint touches per contest in 2021-2022, Kevon shot a 65.3% clip. Zooming out, he converted 68.5% of all at-rim shots on the season then 71.6% in 2022-2023.

Pick-and-Roll D

Kevon Looney is a very strong defensive player. His pick-and-roll defense is as effective as it is malleable. You can play him in a deep drop, high drop, hedge/trap/blitz with him, or altogether switch against certain matchups.

Loon has gotten markedly better when tasked with shuffling his feet in space. For both 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, the former Bruin spent 36%+ checking forwards and 18%+ of his time on guards.

Matching Up with Centers

Looney is still most comfortable in the P-n-R when sticking exclusively to his counterpart big. He moves his feet very well, is strong, and uses his plus-plus reach to contest. 2021-2022 had him in the 80th percentile defending pick-and-roll dive men.

Sticking with guarding fellow bigs, Loon is a helpful post defender too. He remains Golden State's go-to guy against the talented pivots out there such as Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Rim Deterrence + Boards

The undersized big man is a squarely above-average shot-blocker. With his relatively middling size, opposing slashers tend to go straight at him. However, he surprises them with his length, hand-eye coordination, and close-space agility – all being propped up by his well-trained defensive mind.

From 2016-2017 to 2022-2023, Looney caused opponents to shoot below their typical average inside of 6-feet. His interior defensive style does not always manifest as actual blocks so it is best to look at metrics such as this. Lastly, his grasp of how to use verticality allows consistent contesting.

The five-man finishes up his defensive resume via very strong rebounding. Just like on offense, he battles on the ground for optimal positioning. Diligent box-outs allow a teammate like Andrew Wiggins or Donte DiVincenzo to swoop in when Kevon himself cannot corral it.

WEAKNESSES

Non-Shooter + Ground-Bound Game

As a disclaimer, Looney stays within his role neatly – rendering his weaknesses not overly pronounced. With that being said, they should still be touched upon.

His complete lack of a three-ball or even a reliable midranger does hurt the lineup's spacing. He seldom takes nor makes shots beyond the key. Looney's free-throw shooting has also always been a sore spot for him.

Some extra juice as an athlete would allow him to be a much more dangerous roller. Instead, his rolling finishes typically involve a power dribble or two followed by a layup. More bounce would allow for greater vertical spacing as a true lob threat.

As one additional note, he is not much of a post-up scorer either. His complete lack of a three-ball or even a reliable midranger does hurt the lineup's spacing. He seldom takes nor makes shots beyond the key. Looney's free-throw shooting has also always been a sore spot for him.

Defensive Qualms

Defensively, his drawbacks are few. To touch on a couple though, he does not force many turnovers with his more conservative style. He is also vulnerable to first-steppy guards as many five's are. Looney does have some egregious foul rates.

Per-36 minutes, he has cleared the 4.0/36 mark in all but one of his NBA campaigns. These hacks can come from his lack of vertical pop to stymie more athletic players – leading to an urge to foul them closer to the ground.

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Beacon Bacon

Kevon already accrued three championship rings by the age of 26, playing a big role in the Warriors' 2021-2022 run with his defense and rebounding