Player Kevon Looney

[Pantone287]

I'm just curious what would happen if both Jabari and Hood and one of Sulaimon/Cook leave, and we get Looney instead of Winslow. I want to see him play in a real game to see how he actual looks handling the ball on the perimeter. Like, granted this is atrocious defense, but Favors was never this comfortable handling the ball in the open court, especially not as a HS junior.

 

[rhfarmer]

Looney actually reminds me of Deng with his movements.

 

[rhfarmer]

Also, interesting that Looney understands how to keep a blocked shot in play at age 17, and Dwight Howard, the 88 million dollar man, still doesn't understand how to do that.

 

[Pantone287]

Lowlights!



He misses a lot of FTs, but his shot actually looks pretty decent from both levels. I'm almost sold on him being able to play the 3 in 15 months; I mean, he's a more natural ballhandler than Singler was.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

Looney is nothing like Favors IMO. He's a poor, poor, broke man's Durant IMO. Doesn't have the explosiveness nor the refinement of Durant but to me he's in that mold of being able to handle it, shoot it from distance (probably his biggest weakness at this point) and go off the bounce. Looks like a great shot blocker. Probably more post oriented than Durant but closer to a wing than Favors, who is almost exclusively a post player.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Favors hit jumpers and could attack from the elbows in HS, just like Lance Thomas did in HS. I'm positive Looney is going to shed his midrange skills just like Favors did once he starts really getting ready for the NBA against non-HS competition, and especially if he goes to Duke. He's a tall, long natural shotblocker with the ability to score inside - that screams "chain him to the post" to K and every other college coach except Calipari, who can get 4-5 5-star bigs every year. People forget these freak athletes who become starting NBA PFs and Cs could usually do other things when the competition was much weaker and the primary goal wasn't specialization to get drafted. If Looney comes to Duke or goes anywhere but Kentucky, I would bet any amount of money that you never see his wing skills featured again, except the occasional corner 3, maybe.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Basically I don't look at this guy as a wing at all, because I'm viewing it from a Duke perspective. It's like I don't even see the images in front of me when he's doing wing-like things, because there is no way he's around the perimeter at Duke, other than catching and shooting some open 3s. When your strengths are rebounding and shotblocking, and your shot is suspect, you're a big man at Duke. He'd be playing on a team that is likely to have Cook, Jones, Sulaimon and Hood on it. This is a program that on an annual basis contemplates what guys like Amile Jefferson and Alex Murphy could do at center, just because they are capable of grabbing basketballs that bounce off the rim.

 

[Pantone287]

^I don't think there's any question he's a 4 on that team - and a more ideal Duke 4 than three, really - but it's also entirely possible that two of Quinn/Sheed/Hood are gone. That's the scenario I'm curious about - might he be "more better" than Murphy/Ojeleye at the 3 on that team than he would be a JR Jefferson at the 4?

The "five best" in that hypothetical probably includes both Looney and Jefferson.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Ok, I found some stats:
http://www.buckys5thquarter.com/pages/kevon-looney

Kevon Looney, 6-8, jr, G/F, Milwaukee Hamilton: Like Wilson and Fischer, Looney had a good amount of support as the best player in the area .The two-time first-team all-area pick averaged 26.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, seven blocks and 3.1 assists. He made 70% of his shots, including 32% from three-point range, and led a Wildcats squad filled with mostly unproven players to within one victory of the City title. He'll have his pick of the litter when it's time to commit to a college. "He took some guys and made them believe," Washington coach Freddie Riley said. "His maturity level to lead those guys was tremendous. Everyone doesn't have that gift."

26 points, 12 rebounds, 7 blocks, 3 assists, 70% FG, 32% 3PT.

K would turn a guy with that line into Shaquille O'Neal before Kevin Durant. Maybe he'll shoot 40% 3PT when he's not the focal point of the defense and he's taking more wide open 3s, like Rivers did. I see the 70% FG, though, especially considering the 32% 3PT dragging it down, along with the rebounding, and I'm wondering why a coach would let this guy roam around the perimeter on offense. On defense, it's obvious that he has to be around the basket to get max value out of him.

 

[rome8180]

Holy shit at that stat line. Depending on how many threes and midrange jumpers he took, he might have been shooting 80% in the paint.

That's not to mention the seven blocks.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

Favors hit jumpers and could attack from the elbows in HS, just like Lance Thomas did in HS. I'm positive Looney is going to shed his midrange skills just like Favors did once he starts really getting ready for the NBA against non-HS competition, and especially if he goes to Duke. He's a tall, long natural shotblocker with the ability to score inside - that screams "chain him to the post" to K and every other college coach except Calipari, who can get 4-5 5-star bigs every year. People forget these freak athletes who become starting NBA PFs and Cs could usually do other things when the competition was much weaker and the primary goal wasn't specialization to get drafted. If Looney comes to Duke or goes anywhere but Kentucky, I would bet any amount of money that you never see his wing skills featured again, except the occasional corner 3, maybe.

I watched Favors at the TOC for a couple of years and never saw him handle the ball, be it in the full court or the half court, near as much as Looney in the videos I've seen of him.

I guess it depends on what you mean by his wing skills being featured were he at Duke whether I agree with you there. I don't see him ever playing the '3' or 'WF' if he were at Duke, which is what I think of when I hear wing. I do think if he were to come to Duke he could play that 'stretch 4' position and do it well so long as his perimeter shot improves. This position, to me, is essentially a face the basket, perimeter based front court player.

Derrick Favors playing that position at Duke would be a disaster. JMO.

 

[rome8180]

“I think I'm a three,” Looney said. “But if we got three wings out there, I'll go play the four. As a four, I'm in the post a lot more. It changes your role. I have to rebound a lot more. At the three, you can kind of float around. At the four, it's not as much freedom on offense. I like playing off the wing, facing up. That's my favorite thing to do.”


Translation: I don't want to do the things I'm best at.

 

[Topher]

I hate that quote. Sounds exactly like Henson pre-college. "Have to rebound" bugs me because I read it as him claiming it as a burden. Rebounders have to be hungry for them and seek contact.

 

[rome8180]

It's a strange quote. You don't average 12 rebounds a game by not liking to do it, especially not when you're not abnormally tall or athletic.

He should know which side his bread is buttered on, so to speak.

 

[Pantone287]

He does look pretty damn good attacking the rim from the wing, though. He's miles ahead of where Henson was in that respect.

Agree that the rebounding quote is kind of strange, though.

 

[rome8180]

I just feel like he can face up as a four. I don't know where he gets this idea that fours don't have freedom.

 

[best4heisman]

Hopefully watching Jabari this year will sell him on playing the 4 at Duke.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Josh Smith is probably the most accurate current comparison for a guy who can do everything really well except shoot outside the paint.

The knock on Josh Smith is that, unlike guys who can't shoot from any spot (Monta Ellis), Smith actually has amazing finishing talent around the basket, to go along with his really good skills in all other aspects of the game, but Smith wants to be the freelancing face-up guy who shoots from all over the place instead of coming to grips with the fact that he's awesome inside, terrible outside. If he would just be a big man instead of doing what he enjoys on the court, he could be an elite player, on the 2nd team all-NBA level.

I would hate if Looney becomes Josh Smith at Duke. Not because that kind of player isn't valuable (Josh Smith, even with his stupid shot selection, is still very valuable), but because he could be so much better than that.

 

[rome8180]

If Looney really is a "Duke guy" hopefully he'll have the humility and intelligence to understand what he's good at. Maybe not to the level of Battier, because no one does.

 

[rome8180]

This is where our staff should use more advance stats. If they did we'd only see Cook taking layups and threes, Josh Hairston would step back two feet to brick a jumper, and Murphy would fake an injury every time he he had to shoot a FT. (No advanced stats required for the last one, but I needed a third example.)

I think the only person who understands this stuff is Thornton. Is willing to give a foul to stop a layup, only shoots open threes.