Curry inspires NBA’s next generation
depend on size or leaping ability. At 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, he makes the childhood dream of NBA stardom feel more viable.
“You see Steph’s jersey in every arena, so you know that he’s inspiring a whole generation of young kids because they can relate to him,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “What he does on the floor is so amazing that I think tons and tons of kids out there just gravitate toward him, and just try to play like him.”
Curry has revolutionized his sport, using unprecedented range and dizzying dribbling displays to change how strategy is viewed at every level. Nearly a decade after Golden State took Curry No. 7 in the 2009 draft, a generation of players who followed Curry’s blueprint is beginning to reach the league.
None has gotten more attention than Young. He was drafted by the Mavericks and acquired by Atlanta general manager Travis Schlenk — a former Warriors employee who weighed in on the decision to take Curry in ’09 — in part for Young’s parallels to Curry. They’re both slight-framed point guards who play with enthusiasm, hoist deep three-pointers in volume and leave spectators wondering what they’ll do next.
Just as Young started to take basketball seriously, Curry was blossoming into a national sensation. In November 2008, only months after Curry led Davidson to the Elite Eight, a 10-year-old Young watched from the stands at Oklahoma’s Lloyd Noble Center as Curry scored a career-high 44 points in a loss to the Blake Griffinled Sooners.
By the time Curry won his first MVP in 2015, Young had just finished his sophomore season at Norman North, averaging 25 points per game on varsity. Little more than a year later, before Game 1 of the 2016 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena, Young shook Curry’s hand for the first time.
The comparisons to Curry became relentless during Young’s lone season at Oklahoma. In addition to leading Division I with 27.4 points per game, he paced it with 8.8 assists. Not since Curry had any college player so captivated the nation. And Young did it by shooting 328 three-pointers, 29 more than Curry attempted his freshman year at Davidson.
Lost in all the hype around Young, however, was that any comparison to Curry is inherently unfair. Like Jordan and James, Curry possesses a combination of skills that can’t necessarily be duplicated.
“When someone like Steph comes along with those kinds of gifts and that kind of talent, it’s really hard to say, ‘Oh, there’s going to be another one,’ ” said Golden State assistant coach Bruce Fraser, who is in his fifth season working closely with Curry. “I think what it does is it inspires others, and especially the youth, to be like that. So someone else turns out to be amazing in their own way. I think that’s probably the coolest part of it.”
Though Young has shown flashes of promise with the Hawks, his play hasn’t exactly been Curry-esque. He’s shooting 23.9 percent from threepoint range, whereas Curry’s career average is 43.8 percent. Per Basketball Reference, Curry’s effective field-goal percentage of 64.5 is No. 1 among 45 players this season with usage rates of at least 25 percent; Young is last at 42.6.
In their first game against each other Monday night, Curry schooled Young, draining six three-pointers to Young’s zero as Golden State routed Atlanta 128-111 at State Farm Arena. Between media sessions before and after the game, Young fielded 10 questions about his longtime idol. Though Curry was asked only twice about Young, he tried to put an end to the comparisons.
“It’s getting old, to be honest,” Curry said. “He’s his own player. When I was a rookie, Steve Nash’s name was thrown out there a lot. You take that with respect and understand it’s flattering.
“But at the end of the day, that’s not going to carry you in the league. It’s what you do with the opportunity you have in front of you.”