Kevon Looney clearly studied from the great Golden State Warriors bigs before him like…Andrew Bogut and Zaza Pachulia.
In an interview with Complex Sports that ran on Friday, Looney fired back at the complaints that he allegedly sets illegal screens.
“I find it funny,” Looney said of the criticism. “I feel like the refs call a lot of moving screens on me so I don’t think it’s true. If the refs don’t call it, then it is not a moving screen. So that’s how I look at it.
“I learned how to set screens some from some of the best,” Looney added. “They ain’t called it on them. So I think we’ve been doing it right over the last, you know, few years. So I think it’s funny though you know I take pride in my screen-setting. And sometimes you gotta move so it is what it is.”
Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers have griped about Looney’s screen-setting during the team's semifinal series with the Warriors. Even Lakers guard Dennis Schroder has suggested that some Golden State players set illegal picks.
Shall we say, strategic screen-setting has become an interesting art form of sorts for the Warriors’ bigs in the Steve Kerr era. They have been accused of setting dirty picks for years, oftentimes off the ball to free up their shooters when the officials' attention is focused on the on-ball action.
Looney’s defense of his screens essentially amounts to “ball don’t lie,” though, arguing that no screen is illegal unless whistled as illegal by the referees. As such, Looney won’t be changing the way that he plays, putting the pressure instead on the referees to call him for any such violations.
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