Larry Harris knew what he had to do in the middle of his 14-year career with the Golden State Warriors, specifically at the years when Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole became eligible for the NBA draft.
“You know, living in Milwaukee for 28 years, I told our guys: We had to draft Milwaukee guys,” Harris said.
Light break.
“No, I didn’t say that,” Harris said with a laugh.
He was joking.
But … is it too remarkable to be entirely a coincidence?
Harris was the Milwaukee Bucks’ general manager from 2003-07 and worked in other roles from video coordinator to director of player personnel, director of scouting and assistant general manager during his 19 years with the franchise.
Kevon Looney is from Milwaukee and went to Milwaukee Hamilton and also played for the Milwaukee Running Rebels AAU team.
Jordan Poole is from Milwaukee and played at Milwaukee King.
Now, all three are pursuing another NBA championship ring: Harris as the assistant GM, Looney as a 26-year-old starting center and Poole as a soon-to-be 23-year-old guard and one of the first off the bench .
“I’ve been with the team 14 years. So I’ve seen this thing develop, being a part of it from the beginning of this run that we’re currently on,” Harris.
The draft
Both Looney and Poole were first-round draft picks, but low and late in the round. So low, in fact, that those players typically do not manage long-term NBA careers.
The Warriors took Looney with the 30th pick in the 2015 draft and Poole with the 28th pick in 2019.
“This has been just phenomenal, the front office over the years,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said last week. “Hitting on a lot of picks.
“You think about getting Looney at 30 and Jordan at 28… like this doesn’t happen.
“At the bottom of the first round, it’s about a 10% chance guys actually make it in the league for an extended period of time. We’ve had multiple guys in that draft area not only make it but make huge contributions to the team and become foundational pieces.”
Looney averages 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 6 points a game. Poole averages 18.5 points, 3.4 boards and 4 assists.
Looney will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, while Poole will still be under rookie contract and any extensions agreed to won’t kick in until after next season. Both are looking at likely big paydays, and that is noteworthy for their draft positions to even get a second, much less a third contract.
“It’s probably lower than 10%, Yeah,” Harris said. “It falls off that quickly. It wouldn’t be a third it would be a second contract.”
There was no mystery to finding Looney and Poole. Milwaukee is on the basketball map, and Looney went to UCLA and Poole played at Michigan. It’s not hard to scout the best players in the Pac 10 and Big Ten conferences.
“You have to embrace your path for what it’s worth, and that’s what Jordan has done,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “The 28th pick, didn’t play much, played in the G League bubble and has continued to work. That’s not just some path some guys are going to take – that’s a path that was created by a guy who put an enormous amount of work in.”
For the culture
What became a unique part of the Milwaukee-to-San Francisco migration is how well Looney and Poole fit in to the Warriors culture – NBA champs in 2015, ’17 and ’18 and runners-up in 2016 and ’19. It was up to Looney and Poole to fit in, not the other way around.
“It really starts with our three Hall of Famers and just how important winning is doing it the right way,” Harris said.
“Klay Thompson, Steph Curry and Draymond Green. We really feel our mentality from those three main guys is that, if we’re going to play, let’s try and go win a championship, no matter how many we won in the past.
“The foundation starts really with our players and our coach and we’ve been able to sustain winning, which is important. It’s not, win one year, lose four or five and just kind of get lost in the weeds.”
Looney learned first mostly from Andrew Bogut, Zaza Pachulia, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston – their work ethic, their attention to detail, what they do on and off the floor and just the professionalism that they bring every day.
Poole had to fit in as a young guy with an established veteran group.
“He really saw what Klay and Steph were doing every day and how it looked to be a professional when the cameras weren’t on,” Harris said.
Thanks, Mom and Dad
Credit goes to Looney and Poole, unquestionably, as well as their parents, Doug and Victoria Looney and Monet and Anthony Poole, said Harris.
“We’re thankful for their parents and the upbringing of those two kids,” Harris said. “Both of these kids were very young when we got them, but their maturity level, their mental approach to everything…. they fit in perfectly with our organization.
“We want to thank the parents or anybody who was instrumental in getting them to where they were by the time we drafted them.
“We didn’t know how good they were but they’ve turned out to be better than we thought.”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
When it comes to Milwaukee and Wisconsin athletes, what do you think of? From the NBA sixth man of the year Tyler Herro, to the NFL’s JJ Watt, to Looney and Poole and so many others. There are two readily apparent common denominators. Pride in their roots, and a strong work ethic.
Harris gets it.
He’s been gone from Milwaukee too long –, he hasn’t even been back to see Fiserv Forum yet. And Harris’ wife, whom he married in 2015, wants to see where Harris spent half of his adult life, the Muskego High School where his son graduated, the place where the Bradley Center once stood.
To be honest, Harris probably wouldn’t recognize the downtown area much, there have been so many changes. But it’s there, the bones of it, buried and never forgotten, at least not for those of us who appreciate what once was.
It may be imperceptible to the rest of the world, or at worst, a wishful cliché, but Harris does recognize in Looney and Poole something that he sees in so many young people who grew up in Wisconsin.
“I would say this in generalities: In Wisconsin, they’re very grounded kids in general. There’s a good family base, a good education base. I’m talking in totality in the state of Wisconsin. The family values are very important in Wisconsin.
“I’ve always thought bringing up kids in Wisconsin was a great thing. I think my kids are better off today, emotionally, physically, mentally, socially, because they grew up there.
“So does that translate to basketball players?”
Harris turned over the idea in his mind. He remembers how loyal the University of Wisconsin fan base was, and how fans turned out in support.
Green Bay Packers fans too, in good times and in bad.
“I would always just say about the players they are hardworking,” Harris said. I’ve always found them to always be in the gym trying to better themselves, whether that’s to go to a JUCO to a Division I school, just trying to better themselves. I’ve always found them to always be outside playing on the courts in our park, it’s inside playing in gyms, there’s always the availability of people always playing.
“I remember when we were researching both Kevon and Jordan, through their high school contacts and so on and so forth in the draft process, the two of them. We always got the same feedback: always in the gym, love to play, always wanted to play, always trying to find a way where they could play and get better.”
For Looney, it’s meant recent fan appreciation even bigger than what he’s used to. Fans have been chanting his name, and even “MVP” in the playoffs.
“That’s their recognition of what Kevon has meant the whole year and that he’s been one of the anchors that’s gotten us this far,” Harris said. “That, to me, says a lot about our fans in the recognition given Kevon.”
Message Lori Nickel on Twitter at @LoriNickel, Instagram at @bylorinickel or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChinUpLoriNickel