Kevon Looney was essential to the Golden State Warriors’ success last season. He was their best defensive center, flourishing in guarding the pick-and-roll against smaller wings and guards. On top of his defensive acumen, he may have been the Warriors’ best offensive rebounder.
Looney cannot jump out of the gym but he always had excellent positioning and anticipation of where the ball was going. He showed incredible toughness in the postseason, playing through a painful chest injury during the NBA Finals.
All of these skills endeared him to coach Steve Kerr and the fact that he hardly made any mistakes made him the most trustworthy center.
Any team would be lucky to have him, which created doubt that Looney would return to the team because of his improved play and the lack of money available for the Warriors to spend. But on Monday night, Looney re-signed with the Warriors for three years and $15 million dollars, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.
This is a huge deal for the Warriors and may have been a steal as Looney was expected to earn more in free agency. But Looney will get the opportunity to start at center next season due to the likely departure of DeMarcus Cousins and the inexperience of Damian Jones.
Expect Looney to continue to improve his game, shooting more jumpers and penetrating to the rim often. We may even see Looney shooting threes on a regular basis as Kerr has referred to in the past.
Looney averaged 6.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and almost one block per game in the regular season. It will be exciting to see how he improves his game next season.
