Is Kevon Looney a Fit For the Phoenix Suns In Free Agency?

Is Kevon Looney a Fit For the Phoenix Suns In Free Agency?

today on locked on suns Kavon Looney in the news has his guarantee date on his contract looms at the end of the month he even admitted he doesn’t know if he’s long for the Golden State Warriors so with the suns in the market for a rotation Center of some kind is there a fit let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and we’re back this is locked on Phoenix Suns part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I’m Brendan clean your host welcome into the show I’m a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons and the host of the just basketball show wherever you get your podcasts a big thank you for anyone everyone out there spending your Wednesday with us making us your first listen to kick off your day we are free and available everywhere including YouTube so hit that follow subscribe button get locked on to the Phoenix Suns stay locked on to the Phoenix Suns each and every day all offseason long we got a lot to hit on newswise as I keep promising you the news does keep rolling in here in Suns land starting with cavon Looney now he has recently appeared on the Draymond Green Show podcast and acknowledged that that he doesn’t know if he will be on the Warriors this upcoming season he said the ball isn’t in my court I don’t have full control so I kind of have to play the waiting game he has an $8 million contract for this upcoming season which is fully non-guaranteed um on the and the decision date is on the 24th the team will have to make its decision about whether to keep cavon Looney by June 24th Which is less than two weeks away and it could go either way truly I I mean I think you might lean that that they just cut him given their financial constraints there’s a lot to mull over in Golden State this off season from Chris Paul’s non-guaranteed contract to Klay Thompson being a free agent to any number of other trades they might want to make to improve things and and all of it after a disappointing season out there and Looney making $8 million a player that frankly look didn’t even factor into the to the rotation down the stretch of the season that’s a difficult thing to stomach at that price tag you know he played uh the final three games of the regular season but got dnps or played very few minutes for much of it um I believe in the playin game may not have played at all $8 million is is Hefty there so income the Suns right and any free agent center that pops up in the NBA Marketplace so to speak like you got to consider the Suns for that player but here’s the thing I like cavon Looney from the standpoint of Versatility on the defensive end we know that he can execute in a variety of different play uh ways he’s only 28 but it’s an old 28 he’s been plagued with injuries for a while and feels like he’s slowing down unfortunately for him so he’s not a rim protector he’s not some sort of crazy athletic center but we’ve seen him switch we’ve seen him you know swarm we’ve seen him drop down into the paint he’s a good re rebounder so I like that I like that he is I mean for all intents and purposes and probably the number one thing you would say if you were thinking the Warriors would keep him around is that as a locker room presence for years now even dating back to when Kevin Durant was in place out there you’ve always seemed to it has always felt like Looney was quietly a major kind of bring people to together guy for that team and so if he were to be let go and the Warriors I guess are fine and comfortable moving on from that that’s huge to get for any team and the Suns certainly need more guys like that especially just the turnover of the roster and everything else the relationship with Durant doesn’t hurt I don’t pretend to know if those guys were best friends or anything but they Looney was at one point compared to KD and they kind of had a a connection there because Looney was a freakish dude in high school and just again those injury sapped him and then of course as teammates you never heard of any problems and Looney is just a respected dude so it could be nice for KD to have a familiar face that always goes a long way now being realistic there’s a reason the Warriors didn’t play him a lot down the stretch there’s a reason that they might cut him off the cord stuff is great the attributes I mentioned are nice to have but Looney is he’s always been undersized he’s never been an incredible athlete since those injuries hampered him at a younger age and these days the offensive game is I don’t want to say you know non-existent or something overly harsh on him but at the same time time reality is he’s not a shooter from Deep he’s not an elite elite playmaker like setting guys up dropping dimes i’ obviously playing in that Warrior system there’s an IQ and a dribble handoff awareness and you know Twan game chemistry that you pick up and so I trust Looney would do that but if you’re talking about a team where Yousef nurkic at times was a negative for the Suns if all of that other stuff was not clicking because he could not consistently put the ball in the basket and be a threat to score I worry that Looney is similar so here’s where I come down I like Looney if nkit were to be traded all right if we’re talking about a world where the Suns really mix up the roster nurkic is not necessarily around and Looney is one of the pieces of a new look Center rotation I think he’s a guy who can still play minutes in the NBA I think on a team with more scoring power more scoring Firepower like the Suns have with Durant and Booker and Beal and and even Allen and you know you would expect maybe Gordon comes back they’re they’re good on offense whereas the warriors with Clay aging and Wiggins taking a step back last year and Steph also obviously aging and everything else they couldn’t always afford to have more of a defensive screener passer rebounder dude out there because they needed every ounce of scoring they could get which is why eventually they bench Looney for you know shich early in the season was getting more minutes Trace Jackson Davis comes along and he’s kind of a lob threat scorer athlete offensive option for them in the pick and roll and they go that direction the Suns could weather that storm better I don’t like it if it’s 48 minutes of an of a scoring question mark like Looney and nurkic would be but I like Looney in place of nurkic Looney is not the best the Suns can do okay even with all that said I would think Andre Drummond is probably a better option there’s some trade targets like we’ve talked about Nick Richards who’s maybe more well-rounded because he has that athleticism and height that Looney doesn’t necessarily have and there’s players in the draft now less proven big big questions there of a a rookie contributing or you know draft players developing at all that that’s a that’s a risk but I think I might like that a few of those guys better based on their pedigree and their traits as players more than Looney too but again if you’re imagining a world where nurkic is gone which is where I think Looney could come into play maybe you get one of those guys in the draft or you get uh Drummond who’s a little bit of a different player or Richards in a trade or a player like those guys and Looney is playing 15 minutes a night for you I love it in that case and I think the sun should not be so I mean this whole off season is going to be about being a little Nimble a little flexible a little bit opportunistic that is part of their draft approach here it seems which is what we’ll get to next but I wouldn’t be thinking about oh no not Looney because he’s too similar to nurkin well what if a nerkish trade comes available what if a different opportunity than you expected you want to do your diligence on Looney and think about how he could fit and be ready to strike on any of these Pathways and if that’s the approach and those dominoes fall Looney would be a really solid addition in the locker room on the court to the center spot for the Phoenix Suns on the wing next the Suns brought in Jaylen Tyson for a draft workout the only first round caliber prospect that we know the Suns have brought in what is Jaylen Tyson as a player and what insights can we get about the Suns how they’re looking at the draft this year based on bringing Tyson in next first Today’s Show brought to you by betterhelp coming in making thy more accessible affordable and convenient for anyone who needs it that’s a mission that I personally think is pretty nice and we love here at the Pod a locked on podcast Network we all carry around different stressors big and small and we keep them bottled up it can affect us negatively therapy though is a safe space to get things off your chest and figure out how to work through whatever is weighing you down better help can be and therapy can be just to share what is going on in your life get that weight 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if you are keeping up and paying attention those guys can pop out and Tyson who started out at Texas went to Texas Tech as a sophomore and most recently was in at Cal as a junior he’s a 21 about to turn 22 6’7 wing and he’s in a an interesting situation where he comes to Cal and his usage just skyrockets so it’s like he barely plays as a freshman but it’s at 19% that year 19% as a sophomore at Texas Tech where he started 31 of 31 games and had a big roll but then this past year at C it jumps up to 30% so he ran a lot of pick and roll he’s he has the ball in his hands a lot he’s you know lob passes and pullup jumpers and a lot of things that when you look at him and his profile as a player I’m not look I first of all I don’t Scout these guys throughout the season cuz I don’t think the suns are going to make a pick uh any they haven’t made a pick for four years I I don’t know if one’s coming anytime soon in the first round so I’m not you know plugged into college basketball that’s the first thing I got to preface all this with but of course the other thing is like players develop so I’m not trying to put a cap on this young man who I don’t know all I’m saying is Jaylen Tyson looks to be a little bit limited athletically compared to a lot of you know Wing prospects in the draft especially guys who might be first round prospects and you know I like the his low center of gravity you watch him on some of these drives and those aren’t always with the ball in his hands you know he can catch the ball and attack a close out and he gets really really low to the ground is able to keep his dribble absorb contact there’s some qualities that I think will translate as a one-on-one Creator score guy but that’s probably not what he would be on the Suns and that’s probably not what he would be in uh you know the NBA at least early in his career so with that said it makes him a little bit hard to evaluate because he was doing things in college that he probably won’t do in the NBA and certainly wouldn’t Pro wouldn’t need to be doing on a loaded offensive star Laden team like this Suns roster is so what do we do with that well I think first off he is a very James Jones type of player in fact for a lot of the reasons that I just said he’s a question mark he also fits how Jones has tended to lean in the draft right guys who can shoot Tyson is a career 37% three-point shooter and 78% free throw shooter in college on 250 three-point attempts so at least feels like he could be an average three-point shooter in the NBA although frankly he took so many pull-ups this year and the the the percentage was still relatively High I could see him maybe on spot ups and Corner shots and things like that as a as a younger player maybe even being above average as a shooter the lack of you know I guess the leaning in his game toward IQ and awareness and reading of the game over pure athleticism is also something we have the SE we have seen the Suns goto whether that is Cam Johnson or Jaylen Smith or even frankly some of the veteran you know younger role players that the sons have targeted over the years as well kab bat deop or Landry shamut you know so I can see it I can definitely see it the ringer Kevin o Conor at the ringer has Tyson as his 31st ranked Prospect and has the comparison as Jared Dudley if you watch this guy’s Clips you can 100% see it one thing to note though is I believe at the combine when Tyson got forly measured um he was 65 and a half instead of 67 which is what he was listed at at cow so you know you’re not talking about a guy with Jason Tatum size you’re talking about a dude who’s you know Royce O’Neal sized that’s diff that does make a difference especially when you’re talking about not an elite athlete he he plays a little smaller than that 67 frame he has a 68 wingspan but so Jared Dudley makes a L of sense there and uh ESPN has him as its 28th ranked Prospect and I believe nbadraft.net which is a really really good website that has all the way tracks these guys from the when they’re in high school and has a lot of info and data on them they have Desmond Bane as a comp which feels crazy to me um but they have him at 19 in their rankings so we talked about a lot of The Bigs we talked about Tyler kch who’s a point guard Prospect has reportedly might have a little bit of a promise from a team in the first round same with drron Holmes we’ve talked about kle wear there’s all sorts of other guys out there that I haven’t touched on I’ll have Zack Cohen of real GM on soon to break down the draft from a sun standpoint but Tyson would be fine Tyson makes sense Tyson seems like a fit and matches what the sun’s like to get in the draft bigger picture since frankly players come for workouts especially with the Suns who have been under James Jones very very tight lipped about who they bring in teams are not obligated to announce who they work out some teams do it for hype and publicity and whatever attention if they’re a bad team that wants to get some fans excited about the next guys or they’re in the lottery and they want to keep the attention going on them sons have never done that we could there could be 50 other players the have worked out and we would we would never know about it so I’m not going to say just because we know Tyson was here for a workout that that means he’s their number one Prospect or anything like that but with the 22nd overall pick it’s I guess my main read is it’s just nice to see the suns are looking at wings and I kind of match it back up to um John Goro’s report from last week which we talked about on Monday’s show on this podcast regarding the Suns looking for not only just a another Wing as one of their main priorities this off season but a young athletic Wing now Tyson’s not the most athletic dude but he definitely obviously would be younger than you know whoever you want to bring up from free agency so that’s nice to see the other thing is just the kind of approach to the draft in general right I’m not going to again because we don’t know the full extent of how the workouts are happening we know the Suns went to the combine but like great it’s what you’re paid to do I’m not going to overreact there all I will say is the suns are not punting on this draft right they’re not just saying we’re trading the pick f it we don’t need to do any you know scouting or work here in the leadup I would like to believe that under M ispia the sons of allocated more resources toward scouting draft prep Big Board development and and having an eye and an awareness on as many players as possible I’ve talked before a workout this time of year an interview a meeting breakdown a Scouting Report from somebody in the front office even if you know you’re trading your pick or you know you have your sights set on a Jaylen Smith at 10 and it’s unlikely anybody’s going to blow past you to go get that guy cam Johnson they were apparently going to pick him as high as sixth 5 years ago in that 2019 draft so maybe they just know their guys even if that’s all true those early the early work the early contact you make with players it can come back to help you in the future so I hope they’re continuing to do that the fact that they are bringing players in bronnie of course being one but guys more in line with who they would actually pick at 22 like Tyson as well that all speaks to a good sign in my eyes that they are approaching this with at least a chance that they make a pick and trying to be ready to make that pick if a trade does not materialize because you can’t force a team to accept a trade you might want such and such or so and so on a different team but if you put all your eggs in that basket and then that player does not ultimately that trade that team that rival GM does not ultimately make that deal with you and you don’t get that player in that trade and now all of a sudden you’re on the clock you know obviously those things happen over weeks but you want to be ready let’s close out talking coaching maybe the biggest news of the day from a pure Sun standpoint is that Mike Hopkins who coached at Washington for many years as an assistant at Syracuse before that he’s joining Mike buen holler’s coaching staff here in Phoenix surprising move what does it mean we get to it next first Today’s Show brought to you by the FanDuel sports book the official sports book of the lock on podcast Network summer time means baseball the NBA finals and more and you can bet on all of it at FanDuel right now new customers get1 $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 200 bucks you can use to bet on everything from the finals MVP to who’s going to hit one out of the park let’s see what FanDuel has cooking for NBA Finals game three on Wednesday night when many of you will be listening to this you can get Luca to score 50 for plus 2,300 that feels a little crazy uh but look what you’re looking for really is Big minus odds to get yourself started and then you go from there so Jason Tatum to score 20 plus is minus 950 now he hasn’t even done that in every game but I like Luca to score 25 plus that’s minus a th000 you’re not trying to win money you’re trying to get your bonus and go to work then you can Bounce Around the WNBA baseball the NBA wherever and get some more adventurous Wagers on your docket visit fanduel.com lockon to try it out and add a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America’s number one sports book closing out the show Mike Hopkins new Sons assistant coach who saw that coming I surely did not but it’s a couple of different Trends coming together in one right first of all obviously the big news of the week in the NBA aside from the finals has been Danny Hurley and the Lakers pursuit of the back-to-back National Champion head coach at Yukon and ultimately Hurley saying no now with how much Chang has happened and coaches like Coach K and um Roy Williams and Jay Wright stepping down at Blue Blood programs around the country lately it’s been a talking point that anytime a coach Nick Sabin of course too steps away oh wow college sports is dying everything’s a mess blah blah blah Mike Hopkins got fired separately from that so I’m not going to put him in that bucket but it is noteworthy right that this week alone the sons of announced two different coaches where um they’ve announced two different college coaches making the leap to the NBA here in Phoenix one was Brian Gregory who I talked about on yesterday’s show who was a most recently a head coach at the University of South Florida coming to be the vice president of player programming kind of a personal development guy behind the scenes under James Jones’s staff and now Mike Hopkins coming to Phoenix to be part of a coaching staff under Mike buholzer it’s just an interesting wrinkle within the basketball world that the suns are clearly taking advantage of if you look in past years the Suns pretty much never looked at the the college ranks for anybody associated with the team they you know had Jeff horachek who was you know former NBA player they had Monty Williams who’s been a NBA player executive coach on and on Down the Line This Never really been how they’ve approached things but whether it’s Tom whether it’s Matt ishia and his relationship with Tom ISO and his connection to the Michigan State program or just more of these guys becoming available it’ll just be interesting to watch how that impacts the world of the Suns James Jones is not a college guy etc etc now it’s here the other part of this that’s interesting is something that Gerald boray of phnx noted that thought was a good point which is that a lot of the player a lot of the people that the sons have hired to join Bud’s staff have been Player Development oriented obviously David fizdale is remaining here he is largely kind of a defensive guy and has the respect as a former head coach to be you know maybe a little higher on the pecking order not in the trenches of skill development and everything else but whether it’s Chad forcier or it’s shaon Randall or now um Mike Hopkins these are guys who have worked either in NBA player development or young player you know out of high school through to potentially pursuing a pro career level as college and NBA coaches I am optimistic I want to believe that the suns are orienting their program overall more in that direction now we don’t know we can’t know how they approach this draft how they approach undrafted free agents two-way contracts the g-league program it’ll tell us a lot as the year continues here Matt ISB is still is only in his first full year as owner but I just like that they are looking that way right you think about Monty Williams’s staff his first staff here it was very I mean honestly it was awesome to see the level of investment that Robert Sarver finally put into that that staff and it was full of guys who had their sights set on becoming NBA head coaches if you just think under Monty Williams the Suns had three different guys who came through here who eventually became head coaches Darko Raj rakovich who’s now the coach in Toronto was zman’s staff year one Willie Green became a head coach in New Orleans of course and then now Kevin young who easily could have gotten the sun’s job last year was up for head coaching jobs in the NBA this year and is now the head coach at BYU that’s pretty impressive Mark Bryan is a respected reputable guy and uh many more so there’s nothing wrong with that but that’s just very much a you know we’re going to develop coaches we’re going to have a bunch of you know strategic and strategic brain power and experience in the league and we’re going to have that carry us here it’s a little bit more let’s maybe approach things more from a base level of guys getting better while they’re here we didn’t see a whole lot of that in Phoenix in past Seasons under Monty under Frank vogle it’s hard to point to a player who wasn’t already you know a high draft pick who got a whole lot better while they were with the Suns between the roster approach from James Jones and the coaching staff approach and obviously just this overall win now mentality the Suns didn’t really have that so my hope is they might be trying to do both at once now of course there’s a bunch of pressure to win I’m not overlooking that that’s number one by a mile it doesn’t really matter if some undrafted free agent gets 15% better if they lose in the first round again nobody would be silly enough to say that but the best teams do all of it the best teams invest in all aspects of building a program building an organization and you can get I know I keep using these examples and they seem silly because it doesn’t feel like they’re difference makers but even if you’re just talking about a salary cap Crunch and the the value of a younger role player the I guess I should say a little bit of a less expensive role player because they’re younger they’re not making as much money that can be really helpful if you turn a second round player into somebody that can contribute that’s huge Tyrese Maxie for the Sixers you know obviously late first round pick but similar thing he turns into an All-Star but he’s making next to nothing you get to have James Harden on your team and now you get all this cap space and and everything else so whatever way you want to look at it turning question mark players late in the draft on the scrap Heap from over sees whatever into real players it can be so important and you really only have to hit on one or two over four five years for it to really reap the benefit I’m getting ahead of myself a little bit none of that’s happened yet there’s a long way to go but that’s the potential when you actually treat that aspect of your organization with purpose and you gear resources toward it and I hope that with Hopkins and Gregory and Randall and for those guys that butd is bringing in and that ish is bringing in can maybe help help the Suns do that a little bit more lastly a little bit of a conspiracy or you know uh reading the tea leaves but hey it’s not bad to have uh an assistant coach who ran a program for many years that has churned out some NBA he was a great recruiter you know you can point to different questionable things here and there with Lorenzo RAR and everything else over at Washington but you know um just in the Mike Hopkins era they had Jaden McDaniels come through they had I don’t believe marel fultz was there but 20171 18 team had te thel of course I mentioned Jaden McDaniels Jaylen Noel from who was uh bounced around was with with Minnesota a little bit Isaiah Stewart so it’s nice to have that I’m not saying you know Marquel folz just because they both have the Washington connection is going to be a son or anything but all those little relationships and familiarities do add up and it does matter and it’s something to just keep an eye on when you’re bringing in college people they’re going to have different ties to different people in the industry and different players and it’s just a new look staff this whole thing has really gotten turned over you know Brian windhorse used the phrase on Pardon The Interruption the other day clean slate the roster is of course going to be turned over quite a bit but everything else is too coaching staff front office everything so we’ll see what that means that’ll wrap us up for the day hit follow or subscribe if you haven’t already Cen pjon will be back tomorrow to talk Hoops with us as he does every week find something good to break down hit follow hit subscribe once again get that episode and more throughout the offseason as the news rolls in and I will catch you guys tomorrow

Kevon Looney could be a free agent this summer, and the Phoenix Suns have a need at center. Does Looney make sense in PHX?

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down Looney’s situation with the Warriors and his fit with the Suns. Then, a closer look at Cal wing Jaylon Tyson, who the Suns brought in for a workout recently ahead of the NBA Draft. To close, what does it mean that the Suns brought in Mike Hopkins from Washington to be an assistant coach under Mike Budenholzer?

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