Looney more than thrilled to see trade another deadline pass
OAKLAND >> Kevon Looney kept checking his phone Thursday.
As the NBA’s trade deadline approached, the 22-year-old couldn’t help but feel anxious even though he hadn’t heard any rumblings or rumors about being on the trading block.
“It was stressful,” Looney said. “You’re always by your phone, looking at your TV.”
Now that the deadline has passed, Looney, who is in his third season with the Warriors, said the so-called elephant in the room has disappeared.
“There’s a huge sense of relief,” Looney said. “This is a great team and you want to be here. You have a chance to compete for a championship.”
Even though Looney was on edge this week, he wasn’t too freaked out because he trusts Warriors coach Steve Kerr to always tell him what’s on his mind and where he stands with the team.
“Steve always communicates,” Looney said. “Nobody came. So we all felt kind of safe.”
Kerr’s openness with Looney is what’s also kept him sane and secure this season on a team that’s saturated at the backup power forward/center position with David West, Jordan Bell, JaVale McGee and him all vying for minutes.
Before each game, Kerr tells those guys what to expect so, psychologically, they can adjust their expectations.
“It makes it easier on you,” Looney said. “You can get your mind right. There’s no surprises with Steve. He keeps it honest with you and tells you what to expect. You only can respect that.”
Over the last three weeks, Looney has been playing with more regularity because Jordan Bell sustained a sprained left ankle on Jan. 17. The extra playing time has buoyed his confidence and given him a bit more of a rhythm.
“It’s been a great opportunity for me,” Looney said. “I’ve been in and out of the rotation the whole season, so the last couple of weeks I’ve been having a steady role, knowing when I’m going into the game.”
In late October, the Warriors decided not to exercise their fourth-year team option on Looney, making him an unrestricted free agent after this season. Looney is averaging 3.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 11.1 minutes
a game. But much of what he does doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.
He focuses on the defensive end and tries to disrupt shots with his long arms and intimidate opponents from driving down lanes. He wants to model his game after former Warriors’ forward Matt Barnes, who was famous for nagging and hassling guys with his relentless defense.
“Since he’s not here, I want to fill that role,” Looney said. I can’t do things like JaVale and catch lobs. I’m not a guy like that. I want to have my own role, fill up my own lane.”
Looney is focused on finding his niche on this star-studded Warriors team that has been to The Finals three straight years, winning two NBA championships.
“We have guys who score a lot of points and do all of the spectacular things,” Looney said. “They need guys to do the little things and play hard. That’s what I try to focus on.”
Looney’s main goal this season is to stay healthy and earn as many minutes as he can. He had a rocky start to his career, playing in only 58 of a possible 164 regular season games because of two hip surgeries.
Those setbacks had some major reverberations, including preventing him from working on his game the summer after his rookie season.
“Not having a summer to get better, I felt like, ‘Man, I could be a lot better. I know I can do these things, but I can’t do it right now because of my body,’” Looney said. “That was really frustrating for me.”
Finally healthy for much of this past summer, Looney devoted himself to bettering his body. He dropped 30 pounds and spent a month eating only turkey and broccoli. He also spent hours in the gym working on his game.
“That was my first time as pro to be able to do that,” Looney said. “It made a big difference in my game and my confidence.”
Looney, who the Warriors selected as their 30th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, said he’s finally getting a chance to show what he can do even though it’s in small spurts, over limited minutes,
“This is my third year but it’s my first opportunity to really be able to play and be healthy, so whatever minutes I can get I’m excited for,” Looney said.