SAN FRANCISCO — The reigning NBA champs returned to practice Saturday to kick off 2022 training camp.
Perhaps it's no surprise to hear that the Warriors’ championship core wiped the competition to start off the intrasquad action. According to coach Steve Kerr, a group that included Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney absolutely “demolished” the second unit in Saturday’s practice.
“The group that just won the title a few months ago basically dominated practice, as they should,” Kerr said. “The scrimmage, the live stuff, they looked fantastic.”
Kerr added that Green looked to be in great shape on Day 1 of camp. Looney could only laugh when asked about the whooping the starters put on the second team.
"Steph and Wiggs made a lot of shots today,” Looney said.
The gang is back together for 2022-23.
As Kerr told reporters earlier this week, Golden State is built around Steph, Klay Thompson, Draymond, Wiggins, Loon and Jordan Poole. From there, it’s kind of a free-for-all for minutes between veteran free agent power forward JaMychal Green and guard Donte DiVicenzo and upstart youngsters like big man James Wiseman and wings Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody.
Looney, the 26-year-old center, had other suitors in free agency but said he wanted to remain with Golden State’s championship culture.
While Looney played in all 104 games during last season’s championship run – 82 in the regular season and another 22 in the playoffs – he doesn’t feel the need to prove it again this year.
“I still want to do it again, but I never want to compromise myself just to do it,” Looney said. “But if I’m healthy, I’m gonna play. I’m not gonna sit in a back-to-back just because. I’m only 26, I feel good.”
Looney averaged 7.6 rebounds per game in the postseason and dominated in the boards in some key clinching efforts, as he grabbed 22 rebounds in the clincher against the Memphis Grizzlies and another 18 in the Game 5 closeout against the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference FInals.
He inked a three-year, $22.5 million extension this past offseason that will keep him with the squad 2024-25, though only $3 million of his $8 million for the final year of the deal is guaranteed. Looney admitted there was some uncertainty heading into this offseason and said he had some other offers that were in the same neighborhood.
“There was some teams that were close, but it really wasn’t enough for me to want to leave the place I got drafted to,” Looney said. “I wanted to come back here and have another chance at a championship. This is where I really wanted to be.”
Reporters were allowed to view the last few minutes of Saturday’s session at the team facility in San Francisco and Looney could be seen working against Wiseman, the third-year center. Wiseman had a tough time beating Looney one-on-one in the limited action we saw, as the sage veteran seemed one step ahead of the 21-year-old.
Big growth is expected out of the healthy Wiseman this season after he’s only appeared in 39 NBA games so far, all coming during his rookie year in 2020-21. Nearly 17 months after he tore the meniscus in his right knee, Wiseman is finally healthy for his first NBA training camp in three tries.
“Just his feel for the game is getting better,” Looney said. “He’s getting that timing back, the confidence in himself is back. Just seeing him feel more comfortable being out there on the court.”
Looney is hoping that the two big men can sharpen each other in their sparring sessions this season.
“We both gotta go out there and do the dirty work,” Looney said. “We both take pride in that we’ll go out there and do it to the highest level. We’re just going out there and trying to compete and show that we can be one of the best tandems at the position in the league.“
