It's no secret that the younger players on the Golden State Warriors have struggled mightily this season. There is no bigger testament to this fact that 2020 No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman was sent down to the G League.
For his part, Warriors big man Kevon Looney is all too familiar with this situation. He too was once a young stud struggling to make it with the Warriors. He's gone a long way since his earlier years with the squad, but Looney can't help but reflect on his own experience.
According to Looney, a big part of his development revolved around Stephen Curry. The GOAT shooter is obviously the centerpiece of Golden State's offense, so everyone else on the squad had no other choice but to adjust to this notion.
“He might throw it behind the neck,” Looney said, via James Foglio of Basketball Insiders. “He might pass it behind the back. And He might look you off the first two times, then come to you on the third one.
“It ain’t something you just script. Some of his passes be out of nowhere. And I was on a short leash. You turn that mug over; you get subbed out quick.”
Sooner or later, however, Looney was able to get the hang of it. It wasn't easy at all, which is why he felt a deep sense of accomplishment the moment he did:
“I definitely did feel like I earned a graduate degree when I figured it out,” Looney said. “When guys actually started liking to play with me, I knew I made it.
“I understand all their pain. A lot of times you catch the ball, and you feel like you’re wide open and you’re like, ‘I’m gon’ shoot it.’ But nah, nah. Steph is coming around off a screen.”
Looney seems confident about his younger teammates being able to figure things out as well. It's not as if Steph is a bad teammate; it's actually quite the contrary. It's just never easy to play alongside one of the greatest players this game has ever seen. Kevon Looney got through it, though, so guys like Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody should be able to do so as well.
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