Kevon Looney is a top __ center in the league

[parsnips33]

Fill in the blank

Have been thinking on this and really struggling to answer

[Warriors Analyst]

Feeling very vindicated in my belief that Looney is a top 5 playoff center. As for regular season? That's a different thing altogether. But come playoffs, I'm not sure there are many bigs I'd rather have on the court than Loon. I've felt that way for a long time and recall getting laughed at for saying I'd rather have Looney on the court in crunch time in Gobert, but he's really taking it to another level. I've been most impressed by Looney's passing this playoffs. He's looking like late-prime Joakim Noah in this series.

[Bergmaniac]

He should fire his agent, his contract is an absolute steal for the Warriors. How could he not secure a better deal last summer?

[oaktownwarriors87]

He should fire his agent, his contract is an absolute steal for the Warriors. How could he not secure a better deal last summer?

Maybe it's the other GM's that should be fired. I thought he would get at least 15 million a season.

[dk1115]

Around 15-20

[tsherkin]

He is definitely playing well at the moment. Lots and lots of good rebounding for GSW. Big performance on the glass in Game 3 vs the Kings, for sure.

[GSP]

Top 10 or fringe. Hes Mitchell Robinson level I dunno whos better b/w the 2

Jokic
Embiid
Sabonis
Porzingis
Brook
Bam
Claxton
Rudy
Myles

He is better than overpaid soft mentally weak bums bums like Ayton and Jarrett who cant create or do anything at an elite level. Putting up a 17/10 average on spoonfed buckets is cute but not that impactful specially when you play like a high schooler on the glass, cant pass and cant defend at a high level. Looney does all 3 at exceptional levels

[penbeast0]

I remember when he was one of the Wiz board's hoped for draft targets. Interestingly, the knock on him was good offense, no defense big.

[giordunk]

Weird to rank because by conventional metrics he shouldn't be very high, but Looney is kinda like the perfect center to have on your team if you're not expecting any offensive production from your center. I feel like a lot of teams would rather just have a Looney than a center that give them 16 PPG on average efficiency and look for scoring elsewhere.

[trex_8063]

Kevon Looney has long been underrated (just lost in the shadows of all the bigger names on the team), but he's a damn fine player. Doesn't score a lot, but he's an elite-level rebounder, excellent big-man passer with astounding [GOAT-tier] turnover economy, and a better defensive player than his blocked shot numbers indicate.

But the center position is crazy deep these days. Let me think about where he ranks (this is a bit off the cuff)......

C's I'm pretty comfortable saying are better:
Jokic
Embiid
AD
Sabonis
K.Porzingis
Claxton
J.Allen
B.Adebayo
Gobert (though as much as I've been a Gobert fan in recent years, he didn't impress as much this year; maybe just an awful fit in Minny.....but I'd consider bumping him down into the "probably" category)

Probably better:
Vucevic

Maybe better:
B.Lopez
C.Capela
M.Turner
A.Horford
maybe M.Robinson?
maybe J.Poeltl?
J.Valanciunas or D.Ayton??? (I'm kinda doubtful about both, tbh, especially the way Ayton played this year and in the playoffs so far)


I think that's just about it. Nurkic I think was better pre-injury, but he's never fully come back from that (it seems).

So I don't think Looney is a top 10 center in the league, though may be in the top 12-17 range (I might hedge toward the better end of that range). But being middle-of-the-pack among starting centers is pretty good for what is [imo] the deepest position in the league. He's an underrated piece of that team.

[Heej]

Feeling very vindicated in my belief that Looney is a top 5 playoff center. As for regular season? That's a different thing altogether. But come playoffs, I'm not sure there are many bigs I'd rather have on the court than Loon. I've felt that way for a long time and recall getting laughed at for saying I'd rather have Looney on the court in crunch time in Gobert, but he's really taking it to another level. I've been most impressed by Looney's passing this playoffs. He's looking like late-prime Joakim Noah in this series.

He's playing against Domantas Sabonis. Let's cool it here

[Warriors Analyst]

Bump.

[RCM88x]

Judging a player on one playoff series is always a good idea.

[Warriors Analyst]

Judging a player on one playoff series is always a good idea.

We have multiple seasons of Looney being a high-impact playoff performer and he's only getting better. Dating back to 2018 as a third-year player who had only recently started getting rotation minutes, he's been a rock on defense that can't get exploited in isolation, even when it was James Harden and Chris Paul attacking him. In the 2019 Finals, his absence from a broken collar bone hurt the Warriors and then he proceeded to play through the broken collarbone. Prior to that, he'd been the Warriors' best big before and after Cousins went down and played huge minutes in the WCSF against Houston. And then of course, this past playoff run, Looney had an iconic performance with 22 rebounds in the closeout Game 6 of the Memphis series, averaged a double-double against Dallas, and was one of the Warriors' most impactful players by net rating in the Boston series.

[OhayoKD]

I remember when he was one of the Wiz board's hoped for draft targets. Interestingly, the knock on him was good offense, no defense big.

Really? Looney has always been a very good defender since he hit the league. People didn't realize it I think, but having Looney off the bench was a crazy advantage for the Dubs.

[OhayoKD]

Judging a player on one playoff series is always a good idea.

Looney has pretty much always been elite defensively

[JimmyFromNz]

High energy, incredibly good within his limited role and understands that role within the game plan exceptionally well.

On the other hand I think he benefits from having that narrow focus, and its tempting to overlook his limitations especially in the bubble of playoff performances. He is after all regularly a 20-25 mpg player depending on matchup. So around the mid range of NBA centers depending on the weather 15-20th.

This series he rightfully destroyed a small front line with no rim protection or meaningful athleticism - and deserves credit for it.

I think playing the Lakers who pressure the rim far more, and have the size in spades will bring some balance to the conversation.

[iggymcfrack]

Seeing people list centers, feels like he's a top 15 guy that you could go as high as 11 or 12 on.

[rand]

Everyone knows about the offensive rebounding but the stat that highlights how good Looney is at basketball is his 5:1 AST/TO ratio. He must have a tremendous BBIQ to practically always be making the right decision with the ball.

[RCM88x]

Judging a player on one playoff series is always a good idea.

Looney has pretty much always been elite defensively

Not sure about elite but this is pretty much the first series where he's averaged more than 30 mpg. He basically didn't play in the first two rounds last year. I just think it's impossible to make a true judgment of him at this point, coming off of by far the most impactful series of his career.