Warriors top Utah, the winningest team in the NBA, 131-119.
After watching Davidson guard Stephen Curry toil through one of the worst shooting performances of his career in a blowout loss to Purdue, Warriors general manager Larry Riley called his boss, Golden State owner Chris Cohan.
“We have to draft this kid if he’s available at our pick,” Riley said.
It was December 2008, and Curry — the nation’s leading scorer — had just struggled with the Boilermakers’ doubleteams as he finished with 13 points on 5for26 shooting (2for12 from 3point range). But what stood out to Riley was that Curry made all the right
passes: lowangle leading assists to cutters, weakside lobs to big men, quick swing passes to shooters.
This was enough to quash any lingering fear Riley had that Curry would become little more than an undersized shooting specialist in the NBA. Contrary to what many scouts believed, Riley was adamant that Curry projected as a point guard. Thirteen years later, with a resume that includes two MVP awards, three NBA titles and seven AllStar appearances, Curry has cemented his status as one of the greatest playmakers in league history.
Though he long will be known for his shooting range, Curry also thrives at processing what he sees on the floor and instantly lacing a pass at the precise speed and angle to find a teammate an open look. Entering Monday night’s game against the Lakers at Chase Center, he is two assists shy of breaking Guy Rodgers’ franchise record of 4,855 — a mark that has stood for 55 years.
This might surprise some, considering that Curry isn’t even the best passer on his team. Draymond Green, the league’s preeminent point forward, often initiates the Warriors’ offense. Curry hasn’t led Golden State in assists since the 201415 season, Green’s first as a fulltime starter.
But thanks to a movementheavy system that spreads the ballhandling responsibilities, the Warriors are on pace to lead the NBA in assists per game for the sixth time in seven years. Curry’s ability to draw defenses toward midcourt and space the floor creates easy shots for his teammates. In recent years, he has gotten better at finding balance between getting his looks and setting up others.
Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser compared Curry’s grasp of angles, timing and pace to Green’s. Just as Curry is about to get swarmed by a double or tripleteam, he threads a quick bounce pass to a cutting teammate or a long swing pass to a corner shooter.
“One of Steph’s great strengths is playing out of doubleteams,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said of Curry, who ranks 10th in career assists among active players. “The StephDraymond connection has been so potent for us over the years, and a huge part of that interaction is Steph actually getting the ball to Draymond.
“A lot of his best passes don’t even lead to an assist. They lead to Draymond’s assist. … What I love about Steph is he’s so willing to get the ball out of his hands anytime people start doubling him.”
This desire to get others involved was ingrained in Curry at an early age. While in high school, he often turned down open looks to feed wideopen teammates — even when those teammates were poor shooters. Stephen’s father, Dell, spent many car rides home after games pleading with him to score more.
Shortly after Curry arrived at Davidson, head coach Bob McKillop started encouraging him to shoot almost every time he had even a foot of space from his defender. For two seasons, Curry played shooting guard, working off screens and taking feeds from passfirst point guard Jason Richards. When Richards graduated, Curry was thrust into a playmaking role as a junior.
Though he showed a knack for fancy passes, he was turnover prone. NBA scouts worried that he was too small to play shooting guard and not a reliable enough facilitator to play point guard.
As Riley watched Curry face a barrage of doubleteams in that loss to Purdue, he took note of Curry’s court awareness. At 20 years old, he was executing the dribble handoffs, higharcing lobs and highspeed bounce passes that vex some longtime NBA point guards.
“They didn’t win the game, but I remember that he made all the passes,” Riley said of Curry, who finished with a gamehigh six assists. “Honestly, I thought his passing ability was as good as his shooting ability.”
Curry, a righty, used his left hand to dribble and pass as a young player so he could smoothly transition into a righthanded shot. But early in his NBA career, opponents factored that into their scouting reports and started stealing many of his lefthanded passes.
Curry spent offseasons practicing dribbling and passing with his right hand to make himself harder to defend. Though he now can make all the tricky passes with either hand, he still struggles at times to decide whether he should look for shots or get his teammates involved.
When Curry had Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson as running mates, he could trust that decent passes would result in a swish. Now, with a newlook supporting cast that’s still figuring out how to play off him more than halfway through the season, Curry has to be more precise with his feeds.
Two weeks ago, after watching Curry defer too much in a loss to the Lakers, Fraser encouraged him to be more aggressive. Curry bristled. Getting everyone in a flow, he explained, was his responsibility.
“He can go get points in his sleep, so that’s not the issue,” Fraser said. “But for the team to be great, all pieces have to be clicking. That’s why he makes such a big point of helping others.”