Looney’s effort paying off as he nears rebounding goal originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Kevon Looney knows his role on the Warriors is to dominate the boards and in the 2022-23 NBA season, the 27-year-old is doing just that.
Looney came into this season wanting to lead the NBA in offensive rebounds and entering Friday, the Warriors’ big man leads the league in total offensive rebounds (251) and is averaging a career-high 3.3 offensive boards per game.
“It’s just about effort coming into the year; that’s something that I feel I always been pretty good at, but I wanted to take that next step of being elite at it,” Looney said Thursday on 95.7 The Game’s “Steiny and Guru.” “I wanted to be [in the] top five in that category, and I’m right there in the per game.
“So something that takes a lot of effort. It’s not easy to go get off the rebound, especially when teams know you are going to the boards. They want to stop you from getting them. But it’s something I take pride in getting our team extra possessions.”
Furthermore, Looney revealed the work he’s put into being one of the NBA’s top offensive rebounders this season. Moreover, the UCLA product also has dominated the defensive boards, grabbing a career-high 5.8 per game.
“You got to kind of have a knack for finding the ball and different things like that, but there’s definitely a science to it,” Looney continued. “And I think I was pretty good early in my career … learning more of different moves and different techniques and different small things kind of took me to another level.
“So you definitely can learn how to be a good rebounder. You can’t just wake up and be [Dennis] Rodman, but you can learn how to be a good rebounder.”
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Looney will look to carry this improvement on the boards into the NBA playoffs as the Warriors look to make a run at back-to-back championships.
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