Warriors' Stephen Curry named AP Male Athlete of the Year

Roland Coltrane

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I'm just gonna leave this here
my apologies if already posted but I haven't seen it so :manny:

Warriors' Stephen Curry named AP Male Athlete of the Year

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was named the Associated Press 2015 Male Athlete of the Year on Saturday. In the past calendar year, he's become the NBA's Most Valuable Player, led the Warriors to their first championship since 1975 and then, improbably, improved. The version of Curry we've seen in the past few months has been demonstrably better than last season, which is the biggest reason for Golden State's historic 28-1 start.

From the Associated Press:

Curry finished first in a vote by U.S. editors and news directors, with the results released Saturday. He joined LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird as the only basketball players to win the honor in the 85 years of the award. Curry beat out golfer Jordan Spieth, who won two majors, and American Pharoah, who became the first horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown.

While American Pharoah got three more first-place votes than Curry's 24, Curry appeared on 86 percent of the 82 ballots that ranked the top five candidates. More than one-third of the voters left American Pharoah off their list.

"That's a real honor," Curry said. "I'm appreciative of that acknowledgement because it's across all different sports. ... It's pretty cool."



"Steph actually looks different," ESPN analyst Jalen Rose said. "Like the best player in the league usually is also physically opposing — 6-6 plus, scowl on his face, menacing. With the attitude that we appreciated because like a Michael Jordan or Shaquille O'Neal, or Kobe Bryant, you know, just a cutthroat nature. Steph allows us into his living room. We see him on a national stage be a son, a dad, a husband, a father, a brother. And he does all of it while continuing to improve."

Ironically, the news was announced at the same time that Curry's influence on young basketball players has become a topic of discussion. ABC analyst and former Warriors coach Mark Jackson suggested on Christmas Day that Curry has "hurt" the game of basketball because kids just want to shoot 3-pointers rather than developing the other parts of their game. Part of why Curry won this award, though, is how he has inspired fans and become the face of the league.

"The way that I play has a lot of skill but is stuff that if you go to the YMCA or rec leagues or church leagues around the country, everybody wants to shoot, everybody wants to handle the ball, make creative passes and stuff like that," Curry told the AP. "You can work on that stuff. Not everybody has the vertical, or the physical gifts to be able to go out and do a windmill dunk and stuff like that. I can't even do it."

No one has had a bigger impact on basketball in 2015, and I can't come up with another athlete in any sport who has had a year like Curry's. As he and his Golden State team continue to dominate, these acknowledgements and accolades will keep piling up.









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:wow:
 
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Roland Coltrane

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Exactly:mjlol: I think nikkas is obsessed with wondering if Bron is obsessed with Curry:skip: He just wants to win a chip for his hometown against any great player.


LeBron James Just Wishes The Cavs Were As Hungry As The Warriors
"We're just too nice."
11/18/2015 03:20 pm ET
564cd00c1f00002400f3d173.jpeg

JIM MCISAAC VIA GETTY IMAGES
LeBron James in action against the New York Knicks last week.
After two straight losses to inferior Eastern Conference opponents, LeBron James lashed out at his teammates through the media on Tuesday, questioning their hearts and comparing them unfavorably to the 12-0 Golden State Warriors.

We're not a very good team,” James said following his Cleveland Cavaliers’ 104-99 loss to the Detroit Pistons. “It's just that simple ... We have the ability to be a great team, but right now, we're not a very good team.”

While Cleveland currently sits atop the East’s standings, it hasn’t won a game by double digits in two weeks, as it continues to tiptoe around lesser teams rather than sweep by them as it has done in the past. In James' view, the reason for this backslide is a lack of passion -- a complacency that is missing entirely from the reigning champs, the Warriors.

"We haven't done anything," James said. "We didn't win anything [last year]. We lost. We lost in the Finals. So that's enough motivation for myself … And the team that beat us looks more hungry than we are. So it shouldn't be that way."

"You can't play down to the competition at this point, because we're not better than no one in the league,” he added. “We’re not entitled to win … and until we figure that out, we're going to continue to put ourselves in positions to lose basketball games."

X

Starting forward Tristan Thompson and head coach David Blatt each echoed James’ words on Tuesday, citing Cleveland’s need to step up its physical game.

"Teams think they can beat up on us, and that's not acceptable,” Thompson said. “We got to play tougher and meaner … Anything short of that, we're wasting our time."

Blatt, for his part, said that the “toughness” the Cavs showed in their 2014-2015 campaign has been missing as of late. And he’s right. Detroit big men Andre Drummond and Ersan Ilyasova combined for 45 points on 16-of-25 shootingTuesday, and Drummond alone grabbed nearly as many rebounds (18) as the Cavaliers’ entire front line (21).

"We're too relaxed and too nice," James summed up. "We're just too nice."

For years, the main critique of James was indeed that he was too nice -- that he lacked the killer instinct that drove players like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. If this reared-up James is here to stay, verbal lashings and all, then the rest of the Eastern Conference better brace itself for a nightly fight whenever it takes on the King.


:smugfavre:



I supposed that thirty point blowout last night to a Blazers team without their best player had nothing to do with them getting their souls took by the Warriors either :sas1:
 

Illeye buckmatic

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A Buckeye State Of Mind
LeBron James Just Wishes The Cavs Were As Hungry As The Warriors
"We're just too nice."
11/18/2015 03:20 pm ET
564cd00c1f00002400f3d173.jpeg

JIM MCISAAC VIA GETTY IMAGES
LeBron James in action against the New York Knicks last week.
After two straight losses to inferior Eastern Conference opponents, LeBron James lashed out at his teammates through the media on Tuesday, questioning their hearts and comparing them unfavorably to the 12-0 Golden State Warriors.

We're not a very good team,” James said following his Cleveland Cavaliers’ 104-99 loss to the Detroit Pistons. “It's just that simple ... We have the ability to be a great team, but right now, we're not a very good team.”

While Cleveland currently sits atop the East’s standings, it hasn’t won a game by double digits in two weeks, as it continues to tiptoe around lesser teams rather than sweep by them as it has done in the past. In James' view, the reason for this backslide is a lack of passion -- a complacency that is missing entirely from the reigning champs, the Warriors.

"We haven't done anything," James said. "We didn't win anything [last year]. We lost. We lost in the Finals. So that's enough motivation for myself … And the team that beat us looks more hungry than we are. So it shouldn't be that way."

"You can't play down to the competition at this point, because we're not better than no one in the league,” he added. “We’re not entitled to win … and until we figure that out, we're going to continue to put ourselves in positions to lose basketball games."

X

Starting forward Tristan Thompson and head coach David Blatt each echoed James’ words on Tuesday, citing Cleveland’s need to step up its physical game.

"Teams think they can beat up on us, and that's not acceptable,” Thompson said. “We got to play tougher and meaner … Anything short of that, we're wasting our time."

Blatt, for his part, said that the “toughness” the Cavs showed in their 2014-2015 campaign has been missing as of late. And he’s right. Detroit big men Andre Drummond and Ersan Ilyasova combined for 45 points on 16-of-25 shootingTuesday, and Drummond alone grabbed nearly as many rebounds (18) as the Cavaliers’ entire front line (21).

"We're too relaxed and too nice," James summed up. "We're just too nice."

For years, the main critique of James was indeed that he was too nice -- that he lacked the killer instinct that drove players like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. If this reared-up James is here to stay, verbal lashings and all, then the rest of the Eastern Conference better brace itself for a nightly fight whenever it takes on the King.


:smugfavre:



I supposed that thirty point blowout last night to a Blazers team without their best player had nothing to do with them getting their souls took by the Warriors either :sas1:
He made those comments after the champs beat him. What else could he say. And that portland loss had absolutely nothing to do with the warriors. I could easily post the article from the exact same sight you got yours from that explained what our problems are:sas2:
 
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