Post by DrSchadenfreude on Mar 5, 2020 13:43:04 GMT -5
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, a three-time NBA champion, is poised to return to the court after missing four months with a broken hand
Stephen Curry is poised to return Thursday after missing four months with a broken hand, and the basketball world just wasn’t the same without him.
The Golden State Warriors plummeted from the Western Conference’s best record last season to its worst this season. Coach Steve Kerr’s offense fell from the NBA’s best offensive efficiency mark last season to its worst this season. The Chase Center, the brand-new billion-dollar basketball palace in San Francisco, played host to months of forgettable losses, and the Warriors slipped to sixth in merchandise sales. The Sports Business Journal reported that the Warriors’ local television ratings saw the NBA’s second-worst year-over-year drop, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver cited Curry’s absence as a leading cause of a national television ratings decline.
The very best basketball players elevate everyone in their orbits, a phenomenon that was evident throughout Curry’s sensational run of five straight Finals trips from 2015 to 2019. Indeed, after losing Kevin Durant in free agency and Klay Thompson to a season-long knee injury, Curry was the Warriors’ main buffer between success and failure, relevance and irrelevance, and fun and misery. Life without Curry predictably turned dark.
Warriors ownership, once fond of bragging about their “light-years ahead” capabilities, was suddenly left to gamble on D’Angelo Russell and Andrew Wiggins, and to decide who will represent the franchise at the annual draft lottery. Kerr, a genius who crafted the offensive structure and style that helped Curry reach his two-time MVP heights, was powerless to prevent 12 blowout losses by at least 20 points this season. And forward Draymond Green, a swaggering Defensive Player of the Year, was reduced to life as a regular punching bag for TNT commentators Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal.
The past four months confirmed that though the Warriors were the NBA’s emperors for years, Curry had been their clothes. That time off also provided an opportunity to take stock of Curry’s glittery past and less certain future, as he seeks to write a next chapter that could lift his standing among the all-time greats even higher.
Curry is a certified first-ballot Hall of Famer whose individual and team accomplishments already match up favorably with every point guard besides Magic Johnson. His three-point shooting served as the foundation for three titles. His presence and personality established a culture that delivered a 73-win season and attracted an A-list superstar in Durant. Most importantly from a historical standpoint, his style of play prompted a wave of imitators that has made the modern game faster, higher-scoring and more perimeter-oriented.
For all those weighty achievements, Curry is still just 31 years old with plenty of prime play ahead of him.
When Michael Jordan was 31, he was toiling with the Birmingham Barons and hadn’t yet returned to the Chicago Bulls to win three more titles and lay claim to the “Greatest of all Time” tag. When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 31, he had only one ring and the Los Angeles Lakers hadn’t even drafted Johnson. Five more championships would follow.
When Shaquille O’Neal was 31, he was on the precipice of his divorce with Kobe Bryant after winning three titles with the Lakers. He went on to with a fourth title with the Miami Heat and played for seven more seasons. When LeBron James was 31, he led the Cleveland Cavaliers past Curry’s Warriors for the 2016 title. Then he made two more Finals in Cleveland before moving to Los Angeles, where he continues to motor along at an elite level and oversees a growing media empire.
Curry’s thirties will be fascinating. Elite shooting has long been viewed as a fountain of youth, enabling specialists to hang around past their anticipated expiration date. It’s easy to envision Curry still being a useful rotation player in 2030, running defenders ragged off the ball and knocking down catch-and-shoot threes from the corner. That theoretical staying power should enable him to obliterate the NBA record for most career three-pointers.
Of course, there are more immediate considerations: the true legacy-defining measures, like rings and Finals MVP awards. While it might seem difficult to conjure championship talk during such a tumultuous season for the Warriors, James’s Lakers are a prime example of how quickly fortunes can change. Last year, the Lakers were lottery-bound and about to part with their president and coach. This year, they are sitting pretty atop the West’s standings thanks to improved health for James, a blockbuster bet on Anthony Davis and some minor roster moves around the edges.
Curry has plenty of factors working in his favor as he seeks to restore order and pride in Golden State. The Warriors ownership group is unfathomably rich and committed to winning. General Manager Bob Myers is a creative, well-respected and aggressive lead executive. Kerr is a championship coach leading an experienced staff. Thompson and Green are strong complementary stars and known commodities. Wiggins, who was acquired at the trade deadline, is a superior fit than Russell, and there should be more help coming via the draft.
At the same time, Curry’s size and skill profile present some unique challenges. Jordan played out of the post deep into his thirties in a way that simply isn’t accessible to Curry, who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds. James can hide defensively against the opposition’s weakest offensive player even if that player is a big man, an approach that isn’t practical with Curry. Jordan, James and centers like Abdul-Jabbar and O’Neal could all count on regular trips to the foul line to keep their scoring numbers afloat, while Curry’s frame and injury history will make that a trickier proposition as he ages.
March 5, 2020
The Golden State Warriors plummeted from the Western Conference’s best record last season to its worst this season. Coach Steve Kerr’s offense fell from the NBA’s best offensive efficiency mark last season to its worst this season. The Chase Center, the brand-new billion-dollar basketball palace in San Francisco, played host to months of forgettable losses, and the Warriors slipped to sixth in merchandise sales. The Sports Business Journal reported that the Warriors’ local television ratings saw the NBA’s second-worst year-over-year drop, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver cited Curry’s absence as a leading cause of a national television ratings decline.
The very best basketball players elevate everyone in their orbits, a phenomenon that was evident throughout Curry’s sensational run of five straight Finals trips from 2015 to 2019. Indeed, after losing Kevin Durant in free agency and Klay Thompson to a season-long knee injury, Curry was the Warriors’ main buffer between success and failure, relevance and irrelevance, and fun and misery. Life without Curry predictably turned dark.
Warriors ownership, once fond of bragging about their “light-years ahead” capabilities, was suddenly left to gamble on D’Angelo Russell and Andrew Wiggins, and to decide who will represent the franchise at the annual draft lottery. Kerr, a genius who crafted the offensive structure and style that helped Curry reach his two-time MVP heights, was powerless to prevent 12 blowout losses by at least 20 points this season. And forward Draymond Green, a swaggering Defensive Player of the Year, was reduced to life as a regular punching bag for TNT commentators Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal.
The past four months confirmed that though the Warriors were the NBA’s emperors for years, Curry had been their clothes. That time off also provided an opportunity to take stock of Curry’s glittery past and less certain future, as he seeks to write a next chapter that could lift his standing among the all-time greats even higher.
Curry is a certified first-ballot Hall of Famer whose individual and team accomplishments already match up favorably with every point guard besides Magic Johnson. His three-point shooting served as the foundation for three titles. His presence and personality established a culture that delivered a 73-win season and attracted an A-list superstar in Durant. Most importantly from a historical standpoint, his style of play prompted a wave of imitators that has made the modern game faster, higher-scoring and more perimeter-oriented.
For all those weighty achievements, Curry is still just 31 years old with plenty of prime play ahead of him.
When Michael Jordan was 31, he was toiling with the Birmingham Barons and hadn’t yet returned to the Chicago Bulls to win three more titles and lay claim to the “Greatest of all Time” tag. When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 31, he had only one ring and the Los Angeles Lakers hadn’t even drafted Johnson. Five more championships would follow.
When Shaquille O’Neal was 31, he was on the precipice of his divorce with Kobe Bryant after winning three titles with the Lakers. He went on to with a fourth title with the Miami Heat and played for seven more seasons. When LeBron James was 31, he led the Cleveland Cavaliers past Curry’s Warriors for the 2016 title. Then he made two more Finals in Cleveland before moving to Los Angeles, where he continues to motor along at an elite level and oversees a growing media empire.
Curry’s thirties will be fascinating. Elite shooting has long been viewed as a fountain of youth, enabling specialists to hang around past their anticipated expiration date. It’s easy to envision Curry still being a useful rotation player in 2030, running defenders ragged off the ball and knocking down catch-and-shoot threes from the corner. That theoretical staying power should enable him to obliterate the NBA record for most career three-pointers.
Of course, there are more immediate considerations: the true legacy-defining measures, like rings and Finals MVP awards. While it might seem difficult to conjure championship talk during such a tumultuous season for the Warriors, James’s Lakers are a prime example of how quickly fortunes can change. Last year, the Lakers were lottery-bound and about to part with their president and coach. This year, they are sitting pretty atop the West’s standings thanks to improved health for James, a blockbuster bet on Anthony Davis and some minor roster moves around the edges.
Curry has plenty of factors working in his favor as he seeks to restore order and pride in Golden State. The Warriors ownership group is unfathomably rich and committed to winning. General Manager Bob Myers is a creative, well-respected and aggressive lead executive. Kerr is a championship coach leading an experienced staff. Thompson and Green are strong complementary stars and known commodities. Wiggins, who was acquired at the trade deadline, is a superior fit than Russell, and there should be more help coming via the draft.
At the same time, Curry’s size and skill profile present some unique challenges. Jordan played out of the post deep into his thirties in a way that simply isn’t accessible to Curry, who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds. James can hide defensively against the opposition’s weakest offensive player even if that player is a big man, an approach that isn’t practical with Curry. Jordan, James and centers like Abdul-Jabbar and O’Neal could all count on regular trips to the foul line to keep their scoring numbers afloat, while Curry’s frame and injury history will make that a trickier proposition as he ages.
