Kevon Looney: ‘I had the best years of my career learning from Dejan Milojevic’
Kevon Looney, a mainstay with the Warriors during their most successful years, has had various roles throughout his career with the team. His experiences extend beyond the court, too, including a recording session with rapper MAYZIN, where he lent his voice to the single ‘Hot Coffee’.
On behalf of Invisalign, the Warriors’ big man spoke with HoopsHype on the unfortunate passing of coach Dejan Milojevic, the emergence of Jonathan Kuminga, the struggles of the season, and more.
I know it’s been tough on Klay initially to come off the bench. Did you offer him any tips or advice when he first made that transition?
Kevon Looney: Just a little bit. I always tell him to just embrace it. We know who he is. We know what he’s built. We know how special he can be. Since he’s been on the bench, I think he’s embraced the role. He has been carrying himself with a lot of joy, he hasn’t been showing a lot of frustration. I think he’s been playing better, and that’s part of the reason our team has been playing better. He’s been sacrificing with us all year, and I think it will pay off for the whole team.
You’ve seen Jonathan Kuminga here from when he was a rookie. What has been his biggest change in either his game on the floor or his mentality that has led to such a drastic improvement this season?
KL: He definitely has got better. As far as on the court, the talent has always been there. I think his approach, his mentality, his basketball IQ has made a huge leap. Credit to him, he’s been really working hard. He really has been studying the game, studying our team, knowing when to be aggressive, knowing how to pass out of double teams, and different things like that. He’s been special this year.
We came into training camp and you could tell the difference in his game and the way he carries himself. It didn’t come right away to start the year. But like I said, everybody had to kind of make sacrifices, trying to figure out rotations and lineups. But since he’s been unlocked, our team has been at a different level of good. Credit to him, the wait has turned and he has come out there and proved why he’s such a highly touted player. I think his growth is amazing, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Would you say it’s more of a mindset with him rather than what he could do on the court?
KL: Yes, I think it’s more of his mindset. His game has always been there. He’s always been talented. He’s always been an athletic freak. He’s always been a great mid-range shooter, he’s always been putting a lot of pressure on the rim. Our offense isn’t always the easiest offense to learn, especially as a rookie. So much movement, so many things going on, and so much chaos with Steph and Klay creating. Sometimes it’s hard to find a foot into that. I think he’s been doing a great job taking pressure off Steph, taking pressure off Klay, and he’s added another dynamic to our offense.
I think his mentality has been great. He’s been patient and hasn’t been trying to force anything. He’s letting the game come to him, and he’s also been an elite defender. I think that’s been his mindset. Sometimes things didn’t go his way in years past, and he’d be mad at himself, but now he misses a couple of shots, he’s still playing hard, he’s still making the next play, and he’s still talking to the team, and he’s been more vocal.
You mentioned how the Warriors’ offense isn’t the easiest thing to learn, and it might take a bit of time. You guys got two rookies right now in Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski. They’re provided good minutes when they’re on the court this year. Did you see it right away when the season started?
KL: I definitely saw flashes of it in the summertime and our summertime workouts and in training camp. Training camp day was really good. They were on the third team, and they were winning games. That’s tough in this league to do that playing against the guys that we had. So we knew they had great potential, but we didn’t know how fast they were going to learn to pick up everything, they picked it up pretty fast and game tapes for our team.
BP and Trayce have been huge contributors to our team, and are part of the reason that we had a great month in February. We kind of recently turned our season around, so we need the energy, we need their youth, we need their legs, and that joyous energy that they bring to the game. They’ve been picking up things really, really quickly. They’re still developing, they’re still learning, but they’re learning really fast, so it’s great for them in the future.
Being a center yourself, have you given Trayce any pointers of how he should play as a big man in this league?
KL: A little bit. I’ve kind of just talked to him about rebounding, offensive rebounding, certain things on the defensive end, and also about screening a little bit. When we work together, we talk about the small details and those types of things. On this team, the center position, you got to be a great passer, got to be a great screener. You get the chance to kind of run the offense a little bit. We do a lot of sprinting, so I try to talk to him about knowing who to screen for, and things like that. He already got a knack for all those things.
So my thing is to just let him know how Klay likes his screens, how Steph likes his screens, just things like that you kind of end up learning with experience. But he’s got all the basics and fundamentals now, he’s got a knack for the ball, he’s athletic. So just small things we talk about on the offensive end and the defensive end.
What was Dejan Milojevic like as a coach? What sorts of things did you learn from him?
KL: Deki was a great coach. He was brutally honest, but he always had a smile on his face. He’s always joyful. He made coming into work that much better, and that much more fun. I had the best years of my career learning from him, learning different footwork, learning the different nuances of offensive rebounding, and learning how to finish. He wasn’t the biggest guy, but he scored a lot of points overseas, he was one of the best scorers in his league, and he was undersized. So he taught me different things about leverage, pump-fakes, angles, and different things like that.
So I try to keep those messages going. We talked about it with Dario [Saric] and with Trayce. I feel like I’m always pretty honest and I try to keep a smile on my face and try to embody what he did. Try to carry myself in the same manner. So it was a huge loss losing him. Kind of really affected my season and our season as a whole, but life gotta keep going, We keep trying to live the way that he would want us to live.
Losing him and you guys trying to find consistency all season, has this been the toughest season in your career individually and as a team collectively?
KL: For sure. For me, I would say definitely. Having so many role changes and different types of things going on, not having a steady lineup all the time, not knowing what your role is going to be night to night, and then to lose your coach who gave you insight on what was going on and someone that you could lean on and just talk to about life and different things, not being there anymore, we’re trying to make the best of it as a team.
Like I said, I’ve been trying to carry on that tradition of just coming in and working with a smile on your face. Being joyful, being alive, and be able to come to work and work with the people that you love and you love being around. There’s no other place I would want to go to war with by being with the guys that I’m with, the coaches that I’m with. So, just try to remember that life is bigger than basketball sometimes and enjoy every moment. It’s been tough, but gotta keep going, and glad I’m able to get through this with my team.
Can you speak a bit about what you’re doing with Invisalign?
KL: Yeah, I’ve been with them since September. I wanted to fix my smile a little bit, but I wanted to keep my gap, and Invisalign [allowed] me to do both. Been doing it all year, it’s been great. Seeing me out in public, seeing me on the court, you know I always got a smile on my face. I try to carry myself with joy and Invisalign really helped that.
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