Dub Hub: Kevon Looney hopes to expand his game, says ‘it’s time’ to shoot more threes

Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Monday, September 9th.

In today’s Dub Hub:

• In an interview with Scoop B, Kevon Looney says it’s time to shoot the ball more as he looks to expand his game next season.
• Steph Curry has hilarious reaction to seeing Klay Thompson with his new teammate Dereck Lively during the Aces-Liberty WNBA game.
• Jamal Murray and the Nuggets agree to a 4-year, $208 million max contract extension, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Kevon Looney has long been a reliable presence for the Golden State Warriors, but entering his 10th season, the 28-year-old big man is ready to expand his game.

Known more for his defense and rebounding, Looney hasn’t provided the offensive versatility that would maximize his partnership with starter Draymond Green in the frontcourt.This limitation led head coach Steve Kerr to reduce Looney’s minutes last season, even resulting in the end of Looney’s 290-game iron man streak.

Determined to avoid a repeat, Looney told Scoop B that “it’s time” he starts shooting more to add versatility to his role in Kerr’s system.

Via Scoop B:

Not only has the new-look Looney been focusing on his body, the big man’s goal is to have his play match on the court. “I’m going to shoot the ball a lot more,” said Looney.

“It’s something that I’ve been practicing for years, but now it’s time for me to shoot threes, shoot more midranges. Steve wanted me to improve in that area so I mean, I’ve been shooting a lot of shots and feeling good about my game and so it’s going to be a lot of surprises next year.”

As the article mentions, Looney shot 41.5% from three-point range during his lone collegiate season at UCLA. While that hasn’t transferred over to his career in the NBA — 16.7% career shooter from behind the three-point line — a newfound ability to stretch his range and contribute from beyond the arc would be key to unlocking a new layer of the Warriors’ offense and keeping him on the floor in critical moments.

For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Monday, September 9th:

Warriors News:

Kevon Looney Discusses Off Season Workout, Steve Kerr, Jayson Tatum, Steph Curry in the Olympics, Draymond, CP3 | Scoop B

Looney has a track record of sinking deep threes. We’d of course have to revert back to his college days to dig up that math.

For those keeping score at home: Looney shot 41.5% from three-point range during his lone season at UCLA. Also during that 2014-2015 season as a Bruin, Looney averaged 11.6 points and led the team with 9.2 rebounds per game, finishing with 15 double-doubles.

Steph Curry reacts to seeing Klay Thompson with new Mavericks teammate Dereck Lively at the Aces-Liberty game

What Stotts envisions in new Warriors lead assistant coach role | NBC Sports Bay Area

“Getting the younger guys comfortable with moving with and without the ball, setting screens on ball [and] off ball, putting Steph up a little more if we can. He has a knack of getting open anyway.”

Then again, Stotts just wants to add to what Kerr and Co. have built, not subtract.

“But my biggest thing is not to change much of what they’ve done, but I think Steve wants to tweak some things, do some things better, throw away some things and I think that’s what this next month is going to be for,” Stotts concluded.

Do the Warriors Have a Plan to Get Steph Curry Back to the Top? | The Ringer

Kerr has his work cut out for him, but the puzzle pieces should fit. If he can unlock what’s here, normalize his team’s floor balance (last year’s Warriors were uncharacteristically great on the offensive glass and bad getting back in transition), find the right rotation for this new group to coalesce around Curry’s sorcery, and shepherd a general return to the joyful motif that was the wind in Golden State’s sails for so many years, the Warriors could stun the NBA. The absolute best-case scenario here is a boiling-oil offense that flows through enemy territory from behind the arc at a higher rate and accuracy than almost everybody else. And when they aren’t hunting 3s, the Warriors will leverage their spacing for backdoor layups and lobs.

Dāvis Bertāns is no longer expected to audition for a spot on the Warriors, according to NBA insider Marc Stein

NBA News:

Nuggets’ Jamal Murray agrees to 4-year, $208 million max extension | ESPN

Denver Nuggets star point guard Jamal Murray has agreed to a four-year, $208 million maximum contract extension, his agents, Jeff Schwartz and Mike George, told ESPN on Saturday.

The deal — which keeps Murray out of free agency next summer — ties one of the franchise cornerstones to the Nuggets for a total of five seasons and $244 million.

Murray will earn $36 million this coming season before a bump to $46.4 million in 2025-26. He will make $50.1 million in 2026-27, $53.8 million in 2027-28 and $57.5 million in the final year of the deal, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

NBA 2K25 predicts the season: Celtics slip, Luka Dončić is MVP and a new champion is crowned | Yahoo Sports

And the 2024-25 NBA Champion is ...

The Dallas Mavericks.

It was a very chalky road to the NBA Finals, with the top two seeds in both conferences squaring off for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Despite just one win separating the Mavericks and Knicks in the regular season, the NBA Finals were

a complete blowout — with Dallas sweeping New York to take home the second NBA title in franchise history.

Dončić added to his trophy case by securing the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP award, averaging 34.5 points, 13.2 rebounds and 11.5 assists on 50/89.5/46.7 shooting in the first Finals sweep since the 2017-18 season.

Exclusive Behind the Scenes: Donovan Clingan NBA Draft Process

In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:

The Warriors are still in search of an identity

You don’t need a clear strength in the NBA, but it sure helps. Having a clear advantage every game — an area where you know you’ll give your opponent fits, and can win the game on the strength of it alone — goes a long way, especially in the dog days of the season.

For now, that strength, that advantage, that thing that the opposing team has to gameplan for, is simply named Steph (and hey, did you hear that he just signed an extension?).

It’s a damn good fallback plan. But when training camp arrives later this month, I think they’ll have to search for another one, too.

Follow @unstoppablebaby on Twitter for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.