He's embedded himself in the community here. In theory, he could go the route of Ewing or Olajuwon, but it seems unlikely. Curry has signed on for four more years with the Warriors, which would take him to age 38. Hakeem Olajuwon winding down with Toronto. There are certainly those who would rather forget Patrick Ewing wandering through his final two seasons, with Seattle and then Orlando. The player who stays on one team for his entire career has begun to feel like a relic, given how many players hop from team to team pursuing championships, or simply become late-career journeymen, playing their final, largely ineffective years in unfamiliar confines. Which leads to another example of Curry's uniqueness in today's NBA. At the time of this writing, Curry is in the midst of the greatest defensive season he's ever had, posting his highest defensive rating since he's entered the league (97.8) and also averaging a career-high 5.6 rebounds per game.Ĭurry counts Chris Paul as a mentor, too, but is largely ambivalent about socializing with anyone except his teammates, “my guys,” as he calls them-players he has spent the majority of his career around, building the culture of a single franchise. This stigma has remained from early in his career that he's a weak defender, and I would just ask anyone to watch him night to night.” This bears out statistically. “He's built his body in a way that impacts how he can finish at the rim, how he can get into the paint, and get through screens. “From when I arrived here seven years ago, there's been a huge difference,” Kerr tells me over the phone. That more muscular frame, Kerr says, has changed Curry's ability to be dangerous from everywhere. He's still gaining muscle-he reportedly added five pounds over the off-season-as well as refining his power, his speed, and his quickness. In the words of his current coach, Steve Kerr, much of Curry's constant evolution revolves around how he has taken care of his body and improved it. So that level of insecurity drives me, because it's three months where you're thinking about how do you get better?” “I understand where the bar is at and I've got to keep raising it. “There's a level of insecurity that comes with my personal experience of how I get ready for a season,” Curry reveals. Bracelet, $12,000, by David Yurman.Ĭurry tells me that there's a potential delusion he's in the throes of: the belief that he can still get better, even though he knows there's a point where he'll say that but won't actually feel it. Shorts, $55, tights, $55, sneakers, $160, and socks, $18, by Curry Brand. He was always cheering from the bench, he looked in his coaches eyes, and he never flinched. But never once during that game did he blame an official, or point a finger at a teammate. He threw the ball into the stands, he dropped passes, he dribbled off his foot, he missed shots. I felt pretty good knowing that only a couple of guys were watching him.” McKillop waits a beat before the reveal. There were very few people at the game, and even fewer coaches. “He played in one of the auxiliary gyms, not the main gym. “We went to see him play in Vegas in an AAU tournament the summer before his senior year,” McKillop tells me. Davidson was one of the only schools to offer Curry a scholarship, a choice the program made because of his resiliency, McKillop says. He was a three-star recruit who was all but ignored by Division I colleges, most notably Virginia Tech-alma mater of his NBA-famous father, Dell, and the school Curry had eyed for himself. No dynasty can last forever.Ĭurry's coach at Davidson, Bob McKillop, is one of the few people who can remember when Curry truly was an underdog. There were those who said it was a good run. Thompson tore an Achilles before he even returned from the ACL injury. The pandemic threw the league off course. Durant was off to Brooklyn in the off-season. He was the only star left, fighting back against the inevitable depletion of his team. It seemed that he came to a realization in that moment. A replay showed Curry slamming the ball in frustration, a rare crack in his usually placid demeanor. Kevin Durant had gone out with an injury the game prior, and there is Klay Thompson, barely able to walk, being carried off of the court with what later would be diagnosed as a torn ACL. But in the game itself, they're up by three. The Warriors are down to the Raptors in the series, 3-2. There's an enduring image from late in the third quarter of the 2019 NBA finals. Curry breaking the single-season three-point record, then breaking it again (and again). The first era of the modern Warriors dynasty was staggering: three championships and five straight finals.
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