Warriors’ pick Looney offers healthy rebuttal to injury rumors
Warriors’ pick Looney offers healthy rebuttal to injury rumors
The UCLA freshman forward got to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn about 6 p.m. New York time Thursday for the NBA draft and left the green room about four hours later to stretch, find a bathroom, breathe — anything to get his mind off the fact that he was the last of 19 invited prospects who had yet to hear his name called.
Before he could find any relief for his unexpected drop from a top-20 pick, Looney’s agent informed him that the NBA champion Warriors were going to select him with the last choice in the first round.
After doing a series of interviews in New York, Looney grabbed something to eat and returned to his hotel room about 3:30 a.m. He was picked up 1½ hours later to catch a 7:30 a.m. flight that landed in the Bay Area about 11 a.m.
Joined by his parents and agents, Looney sported a natty blue suit, with a silver tie over a white button-down shirt, and he spoke with equal amounts of soft humility and an emphatic hunger to learn and excel.
The line of questioning that got Looney speaking with the most emotion concerned rumors that hip and back injuries could require surgery that would cost him the 2015-16 season.
Looney, who is 6-foot-9 and 220 pounds and is expected to take his physical in the next couple of days, said that he had a hip injury that was checked before his freshman season at UCLA and that he was cleared to play in all 36 games.
A high school point guard who developed into a face-up power forward at UCLA, Looney has the ability to handle the ball, pass and shoot.
Being a versatile defender with a nearly 7-4 wingspan, he has the ability to guard multiple positions.
The Warriors think they have a functional group of front-office types, coaches and players to show Looney the ways of the NBA.
Chasson Randle, Stanford’s all-time leading scorer, and David Kravish, Cal’s all-time leader in blocked shots, have agreed to play on the Warriors’ summer-league team in Las Vegas.