I’ve been meaning to post this for a month. Back at the end of January, the Golden State Warriors had an otherwise innocuous practice day that didn’t get reported on much, and NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson got to have Steve Kerr reply to a question about Kevon Looney always doing the George Mikan repeated layup drill under the basket at every pregame routine. Here’s a playlist of Looney where you can find old footage of him doing this: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszalip37vKLRgm35G_wb414eq7enqDeJ&feature=shares [Substack’s hyperlinking doesn’t work on mobile browser, sorry.]
A bevy of quotes and praise from Kerr ensued. Johnson posted his story recently (again, Substack’s hyperlinking doesn’t work with the mobile browser I’m thumb-typing on, but go search Dalton’s Twitter for “looney mikan” and you’ll find it).
Well, yesterday at practice, Steve revealed that Loon has been saying “no” to the performance staff whenever they’ve recommended he take a night off. So I am now combining those quotes with the ones from that practice at the end of January. Here’s to having monthly Looney appreciation posts! 🫡
When we were doing livetweeting during games from 2013 to 2021 (or so? Obviously we now are focused on our “second screen ManningCast-ish” YouTube livestreams), either Rebecca Licht or I would often tweet, “[insert name here] SAYS NO!” whenever a Warrior got a blocked shot.
Along with the six straight games of 13+ rebounds Kevon is currently on, he’s also tallied six blocks, or an impressive 1.0 blocks per game during this stretch.
And so when head trainer Rick Celebrini asks Loon to take the next game off, “LOONEY SAYS NO!” 🚯 [That’s right, we used to use the “no throwing trash” emoji for this lol.]
Additionally, when Kerr praised Looney last month, he also made a reference to the Cheesecake Factory when describing Jordan Poole, so I left that in here (scroll down to the practice from 1/30). In fact, Kerr talked about Poole as well again yesterday, as he was seen downstairs having a one-on-one conversation with JP at the practice facility before taking the podium in the interview room — inquiry made by Kerith Burke.
So this post ended up being a combo of Loon-JP, as it turned out. The good news is, other than the Minnesota game and rather than saving the Poole info for later, I’ve now covered literally every podium visit by a Warrior this season; we are nearly caught up.
Be sure to also check out Steve’s reference to Kevon’s impressive assist-to-turnover ratio as well (through the end of January, of course). As my co-host Dean Chambers said on the last livestream, “Looney is a Top-10 center in the league.” I hope the casuals realize he is homegrown and not even Bob Myers can bat 1.000. I’ve already seen the complaints after James Wiseman tallied 23 points and 7 rebounds on 9-for-11 from the floor as a starter in a Detroit Pistons loss to the Charlotte Hornets last night. People forget that Looney is a home run Draft pick. At $8.0, $8.5 and finally $9.0 million per year through the next three seasons including this one, an absolute steal!
The first video below actually has all three interviews from yesterday’s practice: Kerr along with Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome. I’ll post this video again in a separate article with quotes from Lamb and Jerome including coverage from the previous game against the Minnesota Timberwolves:
FROM PRACTICE 2/27 (only Looney/Poole)
• On asking Looney to take a night off: “Yeah, he said no… our performance staff has recommended it a couple times… I’ve gone to him and I have so much respect for Loon and I know how much it means for him to be out there every night… my coach didn’t always play me but I was ready… second longest streak behind Mikal Bridges… where Loon is in his career, taking that away from him.”
• On if he can afford to have Looney take a night off: “No. Great point.”
• On what they need differently from Jordan Poole with so many guys out: “Jordan is just getting the bulk of every game plan, based on injuries… what people are learning about him… that’s the ultimate compliment… like all young players he’s gotta go through new experiences… we’re counting on so much to create and score… more about trying a little less harder… he wants to help us so badly… easing back on the throttle… will really help him.”
• On checking in with players one-on-one like JP today: “when things need to be discussed or when I see something… our staff… helping them through something that they’re going through on the court… particular skill we’re working on.”
• On if he got the feedback from JP today: “Well, the conversations are private… it’s a lot easier to coach people when you know them well… Steph… Draymond… connect with these guys and that doesn’t happen overnight.”
• On what adjustments JP has to make with three bad shooting nights in a row: “Trying a little less hard to make the play… trusting it’ll come back (the ball)… his scoring opportunities won’t be with the defense set up every time… defense scattered… use his speed to get to the rim rather than pounding the ball, high pick and roll.”
• On Poole’s shot selection: “That goes hand in hand with what I’m talking about… taking some shots that are difficult.”
FROM PRACTICE ON OR AROUND 1/30
• On Looney at the rim: “Last year was when he made the breakthrough… Decky has really helped him with that… because he’s smart… angles to get to, using his pump fake… using the rim as protection…early in his career, it was pump fake and go straight up… his footwork has gotten better… Loon is such a breath of fresh air for this team… last night was filled with mistakes, poor execution… Loon has 132 assists and 24 turnovers. Those are shocking numbers but when you watch the tape it makes sense. If nothing is there he picks the ball up and he moves it in. Just making a jump stop and picking it up and moving it is one of the most important skills in basketball. That’s why every basketball camp you go to, you do jump stops and pivot work and footwork. The power in that goes unnoticed by fans and players alike but that’s what Loon is to us. He’ll catch, he’ll pivot, he’ll step through and finish or he’ll move the ball on. The game is so simple when he’s out there. And frankly we need our other guys to learn from Loon because last night was chaotic and we had way too many possessions where we’re not keeping our feet on the ground, we’re just making really difficult decisions that put us in jeopardy. So Loon is a god-send for us.
• On Looney doing the Mikan drills during pregame player workouts: “It’s crucial. And I can tell you from experience that the game is easier when you don’t have as many choices on the menu. It’s easier to order at a restaurant when there’s only five entrees. You go to Cheesecake Factory and there’s 732, idk what to do. Some players like Loon, like myself, there weren’t that many options. If you know what you’re limited to, it’s easy to do those things. When you’re a really talented player and you’ve got a lot of options, it takes experience to learn when to shoot, when to dribble, when to pass because you have the ability to make a bad decision and still score. So finding the balance somewhere in there is crucial. And that’s what a lot of our guys need to re-focus on.”
• On Jordan Poole jacking up the early shot late in the game (leading to Steph throwing the mouthpiece): “i think the league has changed dramatically. I think over the last five or six years — and I think we have something to do with that, just the shooting that our guys have displayed over the years, the range — but the general pace around the league, everybody now is playing fast. Everybody is shooting a lot of threes. Coaches are much more tolerant — I know I am — of quick shots. And so league-wide, you watch it on (League Pass) every night, it’s a track meet and people are launching shots that ten years ago every coach in the league would’ve cringed, maybe taken the guy out, had a huge film session about shot selection. In today’s game, it’s much more wild and open and that’s just the way the game has evolved. And so you get a lot more field goal attempts like that one.”
• On if the shot clock matters as much as it used to: “I will say that the fact the clock resets to 14 instead of 24, you can get into a situation where you get an offensive rebound and you try to run clock and you don’t get anything good. But I always love, on an offensive rebound, a quick swing because the defense is just out of position. That play, I think the right play was to move it on to Steph, attack, move it on again. You probably get an open look and you get a higher percentage shot. But like I said, the league has changed and across the league you’re seeing a lot of quick shots. It’s much more a part of the game now.”
• On the possibility of switching back to the traditional lineup: “Yeah, for sure. Our starting group (when healthy) was the best starting lineup in the league. I believe they’re still the best five-man combination in the NBA. But Wiggins’ injury changed that. And then Steph was out. And then both Wiggins and Steph coming back, trying to get their feet underneath them, that combination struggled a little bit with spacing. So there’s a good chance we’ll get back to that lineup, but everybody’s gotta be clicking in that group for everything to work well. But it’s our best two-way lineup when things are clicking. We gotta get back to clicking.”
• On what is sacrificed when not having Looney out there: “Defense, rebounding, decision making. Picking up the ball and moving it on. Making simple basketball plays.”
👍👍💛💙