Golden State Warriors: 15 greatest draft steals in franchise history
To be fair to the teams that passed on Stephen Curry in the 2009 NBA Draft (including the Minnesota Timberwolves doing so, twice), even the most optimistic forecasts for Curry’s career didn’t expect it to be this bright and sunny. For the first three years, it wasn’t.
The opening act of Curry’s career was mired with injuries and questions about which guard position was a more natural fit. He also didn’t mesh with incumbent “star” and fan favorite Monta Ellis on the court, to the point where management had to decide whether to keep Curry or Ellis as the franchise cornerstone.
The team ultimately elected to jettison the inefficient Ellis in favor of Curry and the rest was history. Curry eventually metamorphosed into a league-altering 3-point shooter, while improving as a distributor and finisher around the rim.
This served as the catalyst for some of the greatest offenses in NBA history, a 73-win campaign in 2015-16, three NBA championships and consecutive MVPs for Curry, including winning the award unanimously in 2016.
His numbers more than speak for themselves: 23.5 points, 6.6 assists per game, 23.8 PER (no lower than 21.2 since 2011-12), a 62.4 true shooting percentage and .207 WS/48.
The man’s shooting was so lethal that the NBA 2K video game recalibrated their algorithms in order to make hitting Curry-esque shots possible in the game. That’s right; Curry may be the first athlete in which labeling a “human video game” would be an understatement.
light. Related Story. Golden State Warriors: 15 best sharpshooters of all-time
Curry is the greatest shooter of all-time and that combined with the other point guard stuff he excels at makes him the ultimate coup of 2009 and for the Warriors, even in a draft that included James Harden and Blake Griffin.