The Phoenix Suns should target Kevon Looney this offseason

Phoenix Suns second-year center Deandre Ayton needs a solid backup. The Phoenix Suns should snag current Golden State Warrior Kevon Looney.

On their Phoenix Suns’ roster as it stands, only Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker are guaranteed starter’s spots next season. Each needs a solid backup (although if General Manager James Jones re-signs Troy Daniels, then Booker has one) and any addition of as solid a veteran as possible would be greatly beneficial to a roster so generally un-tested.

Recently, I discussed the idea and merits behind the signing of Golden State Warriors backup point guard Quinn Cook, citing his 3-point shooting and championship experience as two significant pluses that the Phoenix Suns currently lack.

For a backup power forward and center, Jones should continue to pilfer the Warriors’ bench and sign Kevon Looney, who like Cook, is a restricted free agent.

In many ways, Looney should remind some of us older Suns fans of Mark West. Prior to his acquisition in 1987, West had been a career backup who although was never a scorer, he was a solid post body and hard-nosed defender, which made up for his general lack of athleticism.

Should Looney become attached to the Suns, he would serve a similar role (in his seven and a half seasons with Phoenix, West was only the primary starter in four of them), asked only to use his strength and personal fouls to annoy and hassle his opponents for the 15 minutes a game that Ayton is on the bench.

Looney is very much an inside scorer with 96.0% of his field goal attempts coming from three feet and in – in which he made 72.3% of them.

Put backs and alley-oops are what he specializes in (105 of his 217 made field goals in 2018-19 came on slam dunks), all that is necessary from a center on a heavy 3-point shooting team – which I wholly expect the Suns to convert to this season after a year in which Phoenix finished as the worst outside shooting time in the league, for the first time in franchise history.

Although he is only 23-years-old, he has four years NBA experience already, all of which came from the Warriors – which is also championship  experience, for what it’s worth.

As I discussed in my argument for a Cook signing: Looney averaged 18.5 minutes per game for the Warriors this season. Although his basic averages were nothing spectacular (6.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game), they are numbers that would suit the Suns very well from a reserve, especially one who if nothing else has played  on a championship team, even if he was not necessarily the most integral part in the process.

In other words, while some Phoenix Suns fans might want a sexier name to sign, if Looney can average 18.5 minutes per game for an NBA Finals team, why can’t he average those minutes for the Suns – and provide the same level of offense and defense?

The Golden State Warriors have to re-sign Klay Thompson this offseason, set themselves up to extend Draymond Green next offseason, they may be forced to sign Kevin Durant now due to his injury, and as such, might also be forced into re-signing DeMarcus Cousins.

All of this leads to a necessity to save money wherever possible. Looney might be had by simply doubling his current rookie scale salary of $1.5 million, meaning that a two-year deal at $6.0 million could make him the future backup center for the Phoenix Suns.