Kobe Bryant continues to be a huge influence on players across the NBA and sports in general six years after his tragic death in a helicopter crash. Plenty of today's players cite the Los Angeles Lakers great as someone they loved growing up and a player they look to emulate as grown men.
Kevon Looney, a veteran backup center the Lakers signed earlier this summer, is among that group of players. Even though he grew up in Milwaukee, he was a fan of the "Black Mamba" growing up, as he admitted in a video for the Lakers' YouTube Channel.
In this "Get to Know" video, Looney mentioned one of his earliest memories of Bryant and said that the Hall of Famer is still his favorite player.
“Some of my earliest memories of watching basketball was watching the
finals, Lakers vs. Philly,” Looney said. “Watching Kobe play then going in the back yard and emulating Kobe and trying everything that he used to do on the court. He was my favorite player. He’s still my favorite player, so he kinda influenced me to love the game of basketball.”
The big man also said that he looked to model his game after that of Bryant.
“Like I said, Kobe was my guy and he was somebody that competed on both ends,” Looney added. “I wanted to be him and so I played a little bit of everything. I brought the ball up the court, I could post up, block shots. Whatever I needed to do to win, that’s what I would do and it got me to the NBA.”
Looney's attempts to model his game after Bryant didn't exactly translate to the NBA level, but he has always been a tenacious rebounder, a capable defender and someone who is willing to do the dirty work. He has a career average of 5.7 rebounds in 17.1 minutes a game, and he won three championships during his 10 seasons with the Golden State Warriors.
The No. 30 pick in the 2015 draft, his game seemed to decline last year with the New Orleans Pelicans, and he appeared in just 21 games. But he can still board, and even if he doesn't get much playing time with the Lakers, the University of California, Los Angeles product can still help them limit opponents to one shot and gain extra offensive possessions.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Kevon Looney says Kobe Bryant is his favorite player and an influence
