Poor Paschall. Dude is a rookie and has to guard AD, Lebron, and Kawhi
A Tattered Dynasty Is Still a Dynasty: Official 2019-20 Warriors Season Thread
- Thread starter G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
- Start date
G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
This was such a great listen. Best interview I've heard in awhile
G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
I've asked for the article in the Athletic thread, but posting the link here in too:
Kawakami: 'I accept that challenge' — Steph Curry's old...
EDIT:
@Dat916nikka
Kawakami: 'I accept that challenge' — Steph Curry's old...
EDIT:
@Dat916nikkaKawakami: ‘I accept that challenge’ — Steph Curry’s old and familiar responsibility to carry the Warriors
By Tim Kawakami Oct 23, 2019
Stephen Curry knows what everybody is expecting and imagining as the 2019-20 season dawns and the most interesting — and dynamic — part is that he’s absolutely expecting and imagining it, too.
Expecting Curry to carry the Warriors once again, after several seasons when it wasn’t always necessary for the two-time MVP to be at his best to win most games because he had Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala beside him.
Imagining what all of this will look like when Curry is fully committed to trying to dominate every game by force of will and far-flung shooting, just like he did in 2015-16, his unanimous MVP season, or maybe more comparatively, back in 2012 or 2013, before the Warriors had achieved much of anything.
Steph Curry vs. the World, all over again and again and again and again. That was fun in 2013. Think of what it could be like in 2019.
But now he’s many years older, the Warriors are in a bit of a transition waiting for Thompson to get healthy, and Curry and Draymond Green are the old-guard royalty trying to maintain a certain standard for this franchise after five consecutive trips to the Finals and three championships.
The defensive and emotional focus is on Draymond, of course. But the offensive and overall rhythm of this depleted roster almost certainly will be under Curry’s control. Without much question, he has to be great this season. He has to play at an MVP-level, if not win the award himself for the third time. (Since winning in 2016, Curry has finished, in order, sixth, 10th and fifth in the MVP voting.)
The one clear thing about the Warriors heading into this season: Curry has to be at the top of his game from start to finish or else the Warriors probably will not be very good.
And over the course of last summer, into training camp and through preseason all the way up to Thursday’s season opener against the Clippers at Chase Center, Curry has been settling into this responsibility. More to the point: He’s relishing it.
“I understand — that’s the challenge, right?” Curry said during his appearance on my podcast earlier this week. “I probably would say in years past maybe I have an inefficient game, don’t shoot the ball well, get a couple assists, whatever, and you kind of judge just my individual performance. We may still win that game because we have experience and talent and whatnot.
“This year if I, for lack of a better term, shyt the bed, it’s going to be really hard for us to win games. So I accept that challenge, for sure, and understand what kind of player I need to be.”
That is about as directly as Curry or anybody else as level-headed as he is can say it. That is Curry communicating something to Warriors fans, his teammates and himself: If you think this is too much for a 31-year-old skinny point guard to handle, just watch.
For Curry’s perspective, let’s consider his career as it has evolved over four clear stages.
Curry Stage 1, 2009-2014: His early career was hampered by ankle injuries and a poor supporting cast but also displayed long and brilliant runs that showed everybody what was possible.
Curry Stage 2, 2014-2016: He won the MVP in back-to-back seasons, including becoming the only unanimous winner in league history and averaging 30.1 points per game in that historic 2015-16 season.
Curry Stage 3, 2016-2019: The scoring averages dropped to 25.3, 26.4 and 27.3 per, his leadership skills expanded, he got dinged up a little in the last two seasons and the Warriors won two of three championships.
Now Curry Stage 4: 2019-?: The Warriors need him to be the central, recurring and overwhelming figure once again and everybody knows it’s a lot to ask but also quite possible.
“I never put that much pressure on myself to say I’ve gotta be MVP, whatever,” Curry said. “Because I know that’s kinda out of your control. I always look at myself and say, when I walk off the floor, did I play well or not? And that sounds cliché … but … if I judge myself on a nightly basis and be real with myself with what I need to do, I’m always in control of the conversation and the narrative.
“Definitely understand if I’m playing the way I’m supposed to play, we’re winning games (and) I should be in that conversation. And that’s what I hope for. And doing everything in my power to make it happen.”
So can you be 2016 Steph again? “Naw,” Curry said, laughing. “I’m going to shoot way more 3s than that guy.”
But seriously …
“It’s different expectations,” Curry said. “Like I have the ball in my hands for whatever amount of possessions the last three, four years, and you’ve got Klay, you’ve got KD, you’ve got Draymond open at the top of the key, you’ve got Andre and Shaun roaming the floor. There’s a lot of options that you don’t necessarily have to shoot the ball every possession. But you’re still aggressive to create plays and create offense. And be efficient in your minutes.
“That’s the same mindset that I would play with this year. Just might mean I take more shots or kind of force the issue a little bit if things kind of get stagnant for us as a team.”
Maybe there will be added motivation from Michael Jordan’s recent reference to Curry not being a Hall of Famer yet, though I think the reaction to Jordan’s comment far outstrips what he actually meant. (Jordan was praising his era of great players, who are all retired and in the Hall of Fame. Curry is still playing and therefore not yet eligible. Of course, he’ll be in the Hall of Fame as soon as he can be voted in.)
But all of this discussion is framed by what happened to the Warriors the last few years: They won a title in 2015 then backed that up with a 73-win season and failed to win the title, then signed Durant and won two of the next three championships. Now Durant, Iguodala and Shaun Livingston are gone, Thompson is out for most or all of this season and D’Angelo Russell is starting next to Curry in the backcourt.
What’s his feel for the team after this uneven period? I asked Curry to fill in the blank: This preseason has made you feel … what?
“I like ‘optimistic’ because I know it didn’t look great, but I think I mentioned something today in practice where I can feel us getting better more than I could in years past,” Curry said. “Years past, the talent we had and the experience, some things just went unsaid. We knew each other were going to be …
“(This season,) we don’t have that quote, unquote luxury. So every marginal gain that we have, you can tell. And you can feel. You can see the confidence, especially in the young guys, start to pick up and those kind of bang-bang reads you have to make on both ends of the floor, we’re making them more and more.”
The point, Curry said, is to bring all of the newcomers into the Warriors’ fold, show them how this team works, and also give the youngsters enough room to grow and learn without feeling overpowered by the veteran holdovers.
“I do remember when I was a rookie and all the mistakes I used to make,” Curry said. “I was nowhere near the type of player I am now. That’s in my mind, but it’s also not to just let stuff slide.
“I think the beauty of the culture that we’ve created here that a young guy can come in here and really get better right away. It’s well documented what my rookie year was like. I kind of had to have tunnel vision. I think now people can buy into what we’re trying to build.”
For Curry, most of that naturally leads into his relationship with Russell, who comes to the Warriors from the Nets with a huge new contract, a past All-Star appearance and a reputation that has gone through some ups and downs.
He’s still only 23, a whole NBA generation or two younger than Curry. Can these two very different players and very different personalities flourish together? That’s the biggest unknown for the Warriors at this point. But Curry says the early signs have all been promising.
“Over the summer, we talked a lot about the opportunity we had to work together in that backcourt obviously with Klay out,” Curry said of Russell. “Him being an All-Star last year and taking that next step in his career just from being a go-to guy and now coming here in a brand-new situation with a team that’s established success. That can be overwhelming for somebody, and I think he’s approached it the right way.
“He’s asking all the right questions. I can tell he’s hungry to still get better. You never know how guys act when they get paid in this league. It’s one of those things where it could go either way, and I think the look in his eye, just trying to take advantage of this opportunity being with our team … I can see that. And he knows just how well we can work together, me and him specifically, with our playmaking ability, shooting ability, to whoever gets the ball in transition just push, we know the other guy’s running the wing. Defensively, we have to figure out how we balance each other in those matchups, things like that. That will come.”
Russell, though, noticeably plays at a slower pace than the Warriors’ sprint in the recent past and at times this preseason seemed a beat or two behind both Curry and Green as they cut and passed and then waited for Russell to make a move.
“I don’t mind it at all,” Curry said. “I know for a defense, that’s where he’s at his best. You never ask a guy like that to change the way he plays, the way he sees the game. Might as well not play at all. Be yourself, understand how you’re going to get your looks and touches in our patterns as we go on offense. I think there’s been a couple times where he’s turned down a shot because he’s used to, like, either pump-faking, getting in the paint, probing, stuff like that. Those are the ones, I’m like, yo, let that fly and that next possession it’ll come back and you’ll kind of get in your bag and do what you do.
“Nobody’s asking him to change. For us, that chemistry… when he gets into that pocket and he’s using his size to probe and find those passing angles and being able to work around it. I got a back cut in the last preseason game where I knew he was going to sit in the paint a little bit and control the possession, I found an open lane to cut.”
OK, on to another topic: Steph, did you recently say at a tech conference that you were going to retire in six years, after the 2024-25 season?
“That may have been a repercussion of Media Day where I got asked so many ‘you’re the oldest guy on the team’ questions,” Curry said. “So then I started to think, I’m 31, cool. I always wanted to play 16 years, at least, because that’s what my dad played. I’m five years off of that. So now it’s: I want to stay in my prime for five more years at the very least.
“So when I said that it was more around the perspective around some of the stuff I’m doing off the court so I kind of take advantage of this next window of my career, just setting up when I actually do hang ’em up. But it would be hard to see myself just kind of willingly walk away after six years. So, might’ve got the cart before the horse when I said that.”
But there’s definitely some nostalgia creeping into Curry’s mind, mostly when he thinks of all his years at Oracle Arena, helping to raise the Warriors up from nothing to the top and enjoying all the weird little features at that old arena.
The main one: Curry’s famous tunnel shot at the end of his pregame routine, always coming off of a pass from security guard Curtis Jones. There is no closely comparable shot available at Chase Center, at least none discovered so far. Curry has taken one from much farther away and a worse angle a few times, which is the Chase tunnel set up. Jones, though, has been trying to come up with an alternative.
“He talked me through it last game,” Curry said. “He pulled me aside, he’s like, ‘hey, looking at this angle, if you stand over here you don’t have to worry about the shot clock or the wires, I can still throw you the ball.’ I didn’t listen, because … I’ve kinda given up on it. I’m still going to randomly shoot that one just to see if it goes in.
“I’m trying to think of an analogy, like you sell a house, you move and you sell it furnished. And you always think about the old La-Z-Boy you had back at the old place, but you didn’t bring it to the new spot. Like it’s OK, I just have that memory of it there. I’ll test out some new situations. But I’m not married to it. That was for a time and place at Oracle for 10 years and I’ll keep it moving.”
There is a time and a place for everything. The MVPs came when the Warriors needed Curry to win them. And then he took a little bit of a step away from that responsibility. Now he has it back, in a new arena with a mostly new roster, and Curry, as always, will shoot his shot.
— Reported from San Francisco
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DragonKnight
Banned
Let it fly Steph. Let it fly like you let it fly in Ayesha
G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
Good looking out on this oneI've asked for the article in the Athletic thread, but posting the link here in too:
Kawakami: 'I accept that challenge' — Steph Curry's old...
EDIT:
G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
"When I got to LA, I didn't know what expensive was," Russell admitted during Wednesday's 'Chase Talk.' Then, I got to Brooklyn and I got another taste of expensive. Then I came here and it was on steroids."
G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
Been saying this....I totally agree.
Bryan Danielson
Jmare007 x Bryan Danielson x JLova = King Ghidorah
sidenikkagawd
We want all the smoke
We need to tank for a young talented SF, throw Steph, Klay, and Dray in some bubble wrap, and load up for next year.
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