Warriors select Kevon Looney with No. 30 pick in 2015 NBA draft
The Golden State Warriors selected Kevon Looney with No. 30 pick in 2015 NBA draft on Thursday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Looney averaged 11.5 points and 9.2 rebounds in his freshman year at UCLA and was selected to the All-Pac-12's second team.
The 6'9" forward from Milwaukee was highly touted coming out of high school. Looney's 7'3" wingspan and strong rebounding skills attracted NBA scouts during the regular season.
Strengths: The most translatable skill for Looney is clearly his rebounding on both ends of the floor. His stretch-four upside is the key here, and if he becomes a consistent three-point threat, there should be a place for him in the NBA. On the defensive side, his long arms allow him to be disruptive and he should be able to guard his position and switch onto wings situationally. If Looney’s shot develops to the point where his team can deploy him as a small-ball five a la Golden State’s Draymond Green, he’ll be an especially useful cog in someone’s machine.
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Weaknesses: Looney needs to do more than just rebound to earn minutes, and it’s not clear yet how his offensive skills will diversify. In the pros, he’ll face athletes who can outleap him and negate his length advantage. Lacking any semblance of a post game, Looney needs his shots to be created for him in order to be a factor until he expands his arsenal. There are also some questions about his conditioning, and he’s a project who will especially require the right team and development plan to succeed. Right now the D-League is not out of the question, and working in Looney’s favor is the fact he’s 19 years old.
