Today we begin Memorial Day weekend with the first of this year's draft profiles, an intriguing look at the young PF from UCLA, Kevon Looney.
Looney may have played his college ball in Westwood for Steve Alford, but in fact he is a midwestern kid, having played high school basketball for Milwaukee Hamilton High School in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Mr. Basketball a year ago this time, he spurned Coach Bo Ryan's program in Madison for greener pastures and warmer climates in Los Angeles. Measuring in at the NBA combine at a long 6'9 1/4, with a wingspan of 7'3 1/2, Looney easily has the length necessary to be a NBA legitimate prospect. He is skinny and undeveloped with his strength and power, as he weighed in at a svelte 222lbs. Born on February 6, 1996, he enters the draft at only 19 years of age.
Looney led the PAC 12 in offensive rebounding, and overall averaged 11.6 ppg and 9.2rpg playing at UCLA. Today, we put his overall game under the microscope.
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If you are a scout who likes Looney for the pro game, what attracts you to him would be his overall length, upside, character, work ethic, and potential to develop into an ideal modern day PF on both ends. If you are a scout who doesn't like him, you hate how raw he is, how much time he may take to develop and be ready to contribute, and there may be other things about his game that while small, all add up to being problematic. Looney is truly an "in the eye of the beholder" type of prospect.
On the positive side, you have to first mention his length and motor. Looney was a force on the offensive glass in college, using his long reach to get his hands on balls that others simply can't. While certainly not being a great leaper in my judgment, he nevertheless has an athletic attribute that I love, which is often being the first player on tape off the ground. It often isn't critical to be a HIGH leaper, but to be a SUDDEN leaper, and Looney is definitely a sudden leaper. He also is very aggressive on the glass in general and pursues the ball well, definitely being a player who rebounds out of his area. Rebounding is a big plus for Looney's supporters.
However, I don't think he rebounds that well at the NBA level.....at least not immediately and maybe never. I don't think he gets a huge amount of "tough" rebounds, and he can easily be moved with solid blockouts by his opponents or by just being out fought and out toughed. Playing against full grown men at this stage is going to be a tough issue for him. Out reaching a much smaller player isn't always indicative of future success, and I see many of his rebounds being in that vein. Plus, so many of his boards are "finesse" type of rebounds where he slides between people instead of having to physically battling them that I worry that it won't carry over at a higher level.
Looney has a high motor when he is fresh, but I saw lots of drop off in his game when he played in longer stretches against better opponents. When he gets fatigued or winded, I thought his effort level dropped somewhat, which while understandable for someone who is a teenager, still has to be noted. Hustle and length are what made him successful as a rebounder, but I think he may have been close to a net negative when it comes to HOW WELL HE HELPED HIS "TEAM" REBOUND. That analysis would require more study and time than I have access or interest to do....but did UCLA as a group really rebound better when he played vs when he didn't? I tend to doubt it based on what I saw.
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Looney has a strong reputation in many places for being a plus defender, but I didn't see his potential on that end always equate to results.
I have questions about his body type that I would need to be convinced on if I were making decisions for a team in this draft. I think he has a high waist with skinny looking legs....I wrote "weird looking" on several of my game notes about him. To me, that high waist makes him look inflexible and somewhat awkward when he is trying to get in a defensive stance. Sometimes he manages to get low and when he does, he is a plus on ball defender. But he often closes out very high and out of control, with his rear end way up in the air. I would want serious analysis of his body movement structure by my health and developmental staff to see if we could make him more flexible in his hips than he seems to play. Also, he clearly got worse as a defender as the season and game wore on, as fatigue would defeat him.
I clearly do understand why some people would love his defensive potential however. His length is a potential major weapon contesting shots, and if could ever learn to move all of those arms and legs in the same direction, he will be able to switch ball screens, hedge hard, be a perimeter type rim protector, etc etc. I think he has POTENTIAL to be able to do all of those things, and to be an ideal stretch 4 defender.....a position we clearly don't currently have here in Indiana. He does in general contest jump shots with high hands, which is a sign of caring about winning and of being coached well...but he gets out of his stance too often while doing it.
As a post defender, he quite frankly sucks right now. His weird shape and weak lower body allow him to be sealed with ease, and in fact teams did post him whenever they could isolate him. He was easy to seal, easy to trap behind, and like many young bigs he totally relied on his length to bail him out of mistakes. There is no way he could guard any veteran savvy bigger player right now because they'd just blast him right under the rim and score with ease.
I don't think that will ever get fixed. I think he is either a long 3 or stretch perimeter 4 man who has to guard smaller players or players who play just like himself. He is a perimeter defender only in my view....which isn't bad necessarily, but it isn't exactly ideal either.
If you fix his athletic limitations with change of direction, strength, lack of hip flexibility and "sink", add much more functional strength to his game and give him the right defensive players and system around him, then I think he COULD develop into a plus NBA defender....but there are a lot of "ifs" to that sentence.
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Speaking above of some of his athletic oddities, he has another troubling one to me: He can't jump off of one foot very well. He can elevate, but only when he is jumping off of both feet. Going off one foot he is a decidedly below average NBA athlete, which means he has to gather himself in the paint, always will struggle to score in traffic, and will be a guy who gets his shot blocked more than he should. If you got frustrated with Tyler Hansbrough being that way for us, then you might as well get used to being aggravated watching Looney struggle with the same thing. Looney is definitely NOT an explosive leaper during games, no matter what the numbers may say in workouts.
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Offensively he has potential.....which like they say, is a word that can get a coach or scout fired.
If you like Looney, you'll no doubt point to his high 3 point percentage, which in college was 41.5%....a very healthy number. But digging deeper, I see some issues with that. First, that success was accomplished with a very small sample size....he didn't take very many attempts. I will say that his shot selection was very good, and he moved well to get those shots. He has nice footwork as a pick/pop guy and I liked how moved as a screen and face up guy, and even as a cutter. Still, it isn't like he was prolific or anything as he just shot less than 2 3point attempts per game.
Secondly, I think Looney has a slow release that partially explains why he didn't take that many attempts......defenses were able to get to him before he could wind up and shoot! It takes a whole for him to get his lower body properly aligned underneath him, and he has to totally gather himself slowly to get his shoulders square to the rim. He cannot square in the air, he has to do it with the ball prior to leaving his feet. In the NBA, you often don't have that kind of time.
Thirdly, I don't like his wrist action on his perimeter shot. If you watch his shot in slow motion, he thumbs the ball with his right thumb I think, and he follows through with his wrist not going straight down but instead going to the right. This is consistently a flaw in his jump shot, so maybe it is something he has done for a long time I don't know.....but I hate that. Like many shot flaws I am sure it can be fixed with reps and time, but I can't rate Looney as this knock down shooter with all of these evident flaws, despite what the numbers tell me.
Looney as no post game at all at this point, so I would expect teams in the NBA will easily be able to put much slower weaker guys on him with no penalty except for the risk you take on the glass. His footwork as a post player combined with his lack of leg strength and high center of gravity make him a non entity in the paint. Plus, the above mentioned inability to jump off one foot takes away a lot of the little creative types of moves others figure out how to make inside.
He does offer as I see it 2 potential strengths offensively besides his ability on the glass. First, I think he will be able to defeat a bad closeout eventually. To do that, I am assuming whatever team gets him is able to fix his mechanical issues with his jumper. I am impressed with Looney's ability to cover ground with very few dribbles going to his right. As a straight line right hand driver, he can be impressive if he can get all the way to the basket. But, even this has limits.....because his pull up game is bad, he will have to be able to get all the way to the rim....and because he can't jump off one leg well currently, finishing will be a problem. So, if you like Looney, you are assuming you can fix all this in time and make him a guy who attacks bad transition closeouts.
Looney has a terrible left hand currently, so going that direction he will just need to move the ball on the to the next guy and try and get the rebound.
The other strength offensively, and what I like watching the most about him, is his ability to take a defensive rebound and start his own fast break. Looney can go full speed with his right hand in most of those situations, and because he is unselfish and a good decision maker, having him lead your break after a rebound is a great thing for your team. You'd much rather have Looney as a passer than having to actually score himself in traffic on the move, though I do think he will be a nice spot up trailing guy in transition.
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So, what do we have in Kevon Looney?
In summary, I think we can say that we have a high character, smart, hard working young man who is very very raw and a few years away from actually helping a good team win. Being only 19, he has time to fix his numerous flaws, but I think he is 3 years away from being in a good team's regular rotation....so expect to see Looney playing a lot of NBDL minutes this season wherever he may end up.
If he fixes every thing and reaches his peak upside, he could be a nice slightly better than average 4 man someday....but only if he is surrounded by the exact right teammates and system, and only if he is developed properly over a course of several years.
He easily could bounce out of the league and not make his second contract if he is mishandled, but his length is elite, his character is high, and his numerous flaws are not that hard to figure out. I would assume that, as easy as I thought Looney was to scout, that other more professional scouts will come to the same conclusions and not pick him unless they can develop him properly.
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Should Indiana consider him at #11?
In my view clearly clearly not. We do clearly need a more athletic, younger body for our front court, and by the time he would be ready likely we'd have almost all new players for him to play next to. But I think Indiana will have better options at #11 and will easily pass on Looney.
I see Looney going somewhere as high as #15 to Atlanta, even though I think that is way too high for him to land. #28 for Boston is probably his floor. For his own sake, I hope Looney goes to #26 and San Antonio, but I think me makes some for Cleveland at #24. I think he ends up at one of those spots.
To me, this is the kind of player you pass on, but keep aware of his development so when he becomes a young free agent in his mid 20's you can potentially pursue down the line.
NBA comparable: an even more raw Terrence Jones
As always, the above scouting report is my opinion only.
Tbird
Looney may have played his college ball in Westwood for Steve Alford, but in fact he is a midwestern kid, having played high school basketball for Milwaukee Hamilton High School in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Mr. Basketball a year ago this time, he spurned Coach Bo Ryan's program in Madison for greener pastures and warmer climates in Los Angeles. Measuring in at the NBA combine at a long 6'9 1/4, with a wingspan of 7'3 1/2, Looney easily has the length necessary to be a NBA legitimate prospect. He is skinny and undeveloped with his strength and power, as he weighed in at a svelte 222lbs. Born on February 6, 1996, he enters the draft at only 19 years of age.
Looney led the PAC 12 in offensive rebounding, and overall averaged 11.6 ppg and 9.2rpg playing at UCLA. Today, we put his overall game under the microscope.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are a scout who likes Looney for the pro game, what attracts you to him would be his overall length, upside, character, work ethic, and potential to develop into an ideal modern day PF on both ends. If you are a scout who doesn't like him, you hate how raw he is, how much time he may take to develop and be ready to contribute, and there may be other things about his game that while small, all add up to being problematic. Looney is truly an "in the eye of the beholder" type of prospect.
On the positive side, you have to first mention his length and motor. Looney was a force on the offensive glass in college, using his long reach to get his hands on balls that others simply can't. While certainly not being a great leaper in my judgment, he nevertheless has an athletic attribute that I love, which is often being the first player on tape off the ground. It often isn't critical to be a HIGH leaper, but to be a SUDDEN leaper, and Looney is definitely a sudden leaper. He also is very aggressive on the glass in general and pursues the ball well, definitely being a player who rebounds out of his area. Rebounding is a big plus for Looney's supporters.
However, I don't think he rebounds that well at the NBA level.....at least not immediately and maybe never. I don't think he gets a huge amount of "tough" rebounds, and he can easily be moved with solid blockouts by his opponents or by just being out fought and out toughed. Playing against full grown men at this stage is going to be a tough issue for him. Out reaching a much smaller player isn't always indicative of future success, and I see many of his rebounds being in that vein. Plus, so many of his boards are "finesse" type of rebounds where he slides between people instead of having to physically battling them that I worry that it won't carry over at a higher level.
Looney has a high motor when he is fresh, but I saw lots of drop off in his game when he played in longer stretches against better opponents. When he gets fatigued or winded, I thought his effort level dropped somewhat, which while understandable for someone who is a teenager, still has to be noted. Hustle and length are what made him successful as a rebounder, but I think he may have been close to a net negative when it comes to HOW WELL HE HELPED HIS "TEAM" REBOUND. That analysis would require more study and time than I have access or interest to do....but did UCLA as a group really rebound better when he played vs when he didn't? I tend to doubt it based on what I saw.
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Looney has a strong reputation in many places for being a plus defender, but I didn't see his potential on that end always equate to results.
I have questions about his body type that I would need to be convinced on if I were making decisions for a team in this draft. I think he has a high waist with skinny looking legs....I wrote "weird looking" on several of my game notes about him. To me, that high waist makes him look inflexible and somewhat awkward when he is trying to get in a defensive stance. Sometimes he manages to get low and when he does, he is a plus on ball defender. But he often closes out very high and out of control, with his rear end way up in the air. I would want serious analysis of his body movement structure by my health and developmental staff to see if we could make him more flexible in his hips than he seems to play. Also, he clearly got worse as a defender as the season and game wore on, as fatigue would defeat him.
I clearly do understand why some people would love his defensive potential however. His length is a potential major weapon contesting shots, and if could ever learn to move all of those arms and legs in the same direction, he will be able to switch ball screens, hedge hard, be a perimeter type rim protector, etc etc. I think he has POTENTIAL to be able to do all of those things, and to be an ideal stretch 4 defender.....a position we clearly don't currently have here in Indiana. He does in general contest jump shots with high hands, which is a sign of caring about winning and of being coached well...but he gets out of his stance too often while doing it.
As a post defender, he quite frankly sucks right now. His weird shape and weak lower body allow him to be sealed with ease, and in fact teams did post him whenever they could isolate him. He was easy to seal, easy to trap behind, and like many young bigs he totally relied on his length to bail him out of mistakes. There is no way he could guard any veteran savvy bigger player right now because they'd just blast him right under the rim and score with ease.
I don't think that will ever get fixed. I think he is either a long 3 or stretch perimeter 4 man who has to guard smaller players or players who play just like himself. He is a perimeter defender only in my view....which isn't bad necessarily, but it isn't exactly ideal either.
If you fix his athletic limitations with change of direction, strength, lack of hip flexibility and "sink", add much more functional strength to his game and give him the right defensive players and system around him, then I think he COULD develop into a plus NBA defender....but there are a lot of "ifs" to that sentence.
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Speaking above of some of his athletic oddities, he has another troubling one to me: He can't jump off of one foot very well. He can elevate, but only when he is jumping off of both feet. Going off one foot he is a decidedly below average NBA athlete, which means he has to gather himself in the paint, always will struggle to score in traffic, and will be a guy who gets his shot blocked more than he should. If you got frustrated with Tyler Hansbrough being that way for us, then you might as well get used to being aggravated watching Looney struggle with the same thing. Looney is definitely NOT an explosive leaper during games, no matter what the numbers may say in workouts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offensively he has potential.....which like they say, is a word that can get a coach or scout fired.
If you like Looney, you'll no doubt point to his high 3 point percentage, which in college was 41.5%....a very healthy number. But digging deeper, I see some issues with that. First, that success was accomplished with a very small sample size....he didn't take very many attempts. I will say that his shot selection was very good, and he moved well to get those shots. He has nice footwork as a pick/pop guy and I liked how moved as a screen and face up guy, and even as a cutter. Still, it isn't like he was prolific or anything as he just shot less than 2 3point attempts per game.
Secondly, I think Looney has a slow release that partially explains why he didn't take that many attempts......defenses were able to get to him before he could wind up and shoot! It takes a whole for him to get his lower body properly aligned underneath him, and he has to totally gather himself slowly to get his shoulders square to the rim. He cannot square in the air, he has to do it with the ball prior to leaving his feet. In the NBA, you often don't have that kind of time.
Thirdly, I don't like his wrist action on his perimeter shot. If you watch his shot in slow motion, he thumbs the ball with his right thumb I think, and he follows through with his wrist not going straight down but instead going to the right. This is consistently a flaw in his jump shot, so maybe it is something he has done for a long time I don't know.....but I hate that. Like many shot flaws I am sure it can be fixed with reps and time, but I can't rate Looney as this knock down shooter with all of these evident flaws, despite what the numbers tell me.
Looney as no post game at all at this point, so I would expect teams in the NBA will easily be able to put much slower weaker guys on him with no penalty except for the risk you take on the glass. His footwork as a post player combined with his lack of leg strength and high center of gravity make him a non entity in the paint. Plus, the above mentioned inability to jump off one foot takes away a lot of the little creative types of moves others figure out how to make inside.
He does offer as I see it 2 potential strengths offensively besides his ability on the glass. First, I think he will be able to defeat a bad closeout eventually. To do that, I am assuming whatever team gets him is able to fix his mechanical issues with his jumper. I am impressed with Looney's ability to cover ground with very few dribbles going to his right. As a straight line right hand driver, he can be impressive if he can get all the way to the basket. But, even this has limits.....because his pull up game is bad, he will have to be able to get all the way to the rim....and because he can't jump off one leg well currently, finishing will be a problem. So, if you like Looney, you are assuming you can fix all this in time and make him a guy who attacks bad transition closeouts.
Looney has a terrible left hand currently, so going that direction he will just need to move the ball on the to the next guy and try and get the rebound.
The other strength offensively, and what I like watching the most about him, is his ability to take a defensive rebound and start his own fast break. Looney can go full speed with his right hand in most of those situations, and because he is unselfish and a good decision maker, having him lead your break after a rebound is a great thing for your team. You'd much rather have Looney as a passer than having to actually score himself in traffic on the move, though I do think he will be a nice spot up trailing guy in transition.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, what do we have in Kevon Looney?
In summary, I think we can say that we have a high character, smart, hard working young man who is very very raw and a few years away from actually helping a good team win. Being only 19, he has time to fix his numerous flaws, but I think he is 3 years away from being in a good team's regular rotation....so expect to see Looney playing a lot of NBDL minutes this season wherever he may end up.
If he fixes every thing and reaches his peak upside, he could be a nice slightly better than average 4 man someday....but only if he is surrounded by the exact right teammates and system, and only if he is developed properly over a course of several years.
He easily could bounce out of the league and not make his second contract if he is mishandled, but his length is elite, his character is high, and his numerous flaws are not that hard to figure out. I would assume that, as easy as I thought Looney was to scout, that other more professional scouts will come to the same conclusions and not pick him unless they can develop him properly.
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Should Indiana consider him at #11?
In my view clearly clearly not. We do clearly need a more athletic, younger body for our front court, and by the time he would be ready likely we'd have almost all new players for him to play next to. But I think Indiana will have better options at #11 and will easily pass on Looney.
I see Looney going somewhere as high as #15 to Atlanta, even though I think that is way too high for him to land. #28 for Boston is probably his floor. For his own sake, I hope Looney goes to #26 and San Antonio, but I think me makes some for Cleveland at #24. I think he ends up at one of those spots.
To me, this is the kind of player you pass on, but keep aware of his development so when he becomes a young free agent in his mid 20's you can potentially pursue down the line.
NBA comparable: an even more raw Terrence Jones
As always, the above scouting report is my opinion only.
Tbird
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