More mature Curry could be even better
2-time MVP rested, ready after changes in offseason
Sunday night, when Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser drove to Stephen Curry’s house to meet about the upcoming season, he expected to stay 30 or so minutes.
In Fraser’s four years working with him, Curry had kept pre-training-camp conversations brief. But when Fraser arrived for dinner Sunday, Curry was unusually loquacious, peppering him with questions about messaging, drills and strategy. By the time Fraser said his goodbyes, four hours had passed.
As he drove home, Fraser reflected on how much Curry has changed in recent months. There is a maturity to him that he didn’t always possess. Fresh off the birth of his third child, Curry, 30, enters his 10th season poised for what head coach Steve Kerr calls the “second stage in a player’s career.”
It is the period in which he stops being consumed by the day-to-day and starts seeing the bigger picture. That Curry is making this transition without two of his most valued support systems — bodyguard Ralph Walker and head performance therapist Chelsea Lane — only makes it trickier.
However, those closest to Curry have little doubt that he is on the brink of his most dazzling season to date. Unlike previous years, when he crammed workout sessions into a travel-heavy schedule, Curry spent most of this summer at home. With fewer
commercials or promotional tours to sap his energy, he was free to establish a consistent training regimen.
Three days into training camp, Curry is nearing midseason form. The ankle and knee injuries that limited him to 51 games last season, his fewest in six years, are no longer concerns. Back to his dizzying dribbling displays, he comes off screens with a burst and follows up deep three-pointers with his signature shimmy.
“He’s in as good of a place as I’ve seen him,” Fraser said. “Not only is he really happy in his personal life, but he’s fresh and well-rested. I think he’s just hitting his prime.”
It is a scary notion for the rest of the league. This is a player who has already solidified his status as the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history, won two MVPs and helped lead Golden State to three championships in four years.
In June, after narrowly missing out on his first Finals MVP award, Curry met with his agent and mapped out a stress-free summer. During the first five weeks of the offseason, Curry relaxed at home with family and let his body recover. It wasn’t until July 15 — 13 days after the birth of his first son, Canon — that Curry did his first summer workout with his longtime trainer, Brandon Payne.
For three hours a day, six days a week, Payne took Curry through intensive sessions designed to strengthen his core, work on his breathing, improve his lateral quickness and even hone his back-tothe-basket game. Earlier this month, when Curry toured Asia and Europe with Under Armour, Payne tracked down gymnasiums free of autograph-seekers.
“We had the most focused offseason we’ve had in eight years,” Payne said. “We were able to push a lot of things forward, and we were able to operate on a pretty normal, regulated schedule.”
Now that Curry is back with the team, he is settling into a somewhat new routine.
Walker, who has overseen Curry’s security his entire NBA career, retired this summer to spend more time with his four children. Over their nine years together, Curry had come to view Walker as part of his family.
If Curry wanted to grab Starbucks or see a late-night movie, Walker went with him. They stayed on the same floor of hotels and vacationed together. Though Curry has long known that Walker eventually would move on, Curry misses seeing the easygoing former Oakland police officer spring into action whenever a fan got too close for comfort.
It doesn’t help that Lane — the woman responsible for leading Curry’s injury rehab each of the past three years — also left this summer, for a position with the Hawks.
Last season, when Curry missed most of March and April with ankle and knee injuries, Lane stayed in Oakland with him while the team was on road trips. Her minipep talks during treatment helped Curry keep perspective. In those quiet moments, Lane lightened the mood with a joke when she sensed Curry was down.
“It is weird not having her around,” Curry said. “You build a relationship with somebody where every day you come into practice, you come into games, and they know what’s going on before you even tell them.”
Rick Celebrini, the Warriors’ new director of sports medicine and performance, has spent portions of training camp observing how Curry moves. Perhaps best known in NBA circles for his work with two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, Celebrini is a master at helping athletes push the limits of their prime.
“The good thing is that Golden State always seems to make good hires,” Payne said, “but it doesn’t hurt that Steph is also great at taking care of what he needs to take care of.”