Golden State Warriors: Meet This Year’s New Faces

Kevon Looney

Jun 25, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Kevon Looney (UCLA) greets NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number thirty overall pick to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Kevon Looney was the Warriors’ first-round pick, selected 30th overall in this summer’s NBA draft. Looney played one season at UCLA where he was very successful. His performance in college had him fairly high on some team’s draft boards. Some mock drafts had him going as early as the middle of the first round, but he fell to the Warriors, who had the last pick of the round.

Looney played for the Warriors during this year’s NBA Summer League where he averaged 9.3 points and 7.2 rebounds. He even showed signs of developing a long range shot, hitting 50% of his attempts beyond the arc.

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Unfortunately, Looney will be out for a minimum of four-to-six months, after undergoing successful hip surgery during the summer. The Warriors are in no rush to hurry Looney back, however. The luxury of having a deep roster allows the Warriors to let Looney get back to full health before sending him out there. Even when he does return to full strength, the likelihood of him becoming a rotation player may not be all that high. Looney will be competing with

,

, and Thompson for playing time at the backup power forward position.

During his one year at UCLA, Looney averaged 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds, on 47 percent shooting.

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