A decade ago, Curry learned and took lumps
NEW ORLEANS » As Stephen Curry addressed the media with an amalgamation of bandages and braces around his hand, he recalled his rookie season, when he led an injury-plagued, 26-win Warriors team in minutes.
“I think it’s the best thing in the world for a young player to come in and get the opportunity to just play every single night,” Curry said. “You learn so much through these experiences. Especially when I was a rookie when we had nothing to play for and, when we looked at the standings, we were only playing for (former head coach) Don Nelson’s (alltime wins) record. But every night it was always, ‘ How can we get better and take a step in the right direction?’”
Like in Curry’s rookie season, injuries have opened up opportunities for Golden State’s young players. Two-way contract player Ky Bowman, originally intended to spend most of his time in the G League, has spent all of one morning in Santa Cruz this season. Rookie forward Eric Paschall has become a go-to scorer. Rookie guard Jordan Poole, despite a slump, is being given the runway to shoot his way out of it.
However, there’s a key difference between the 2009-2010 Warriors and the 2019-2020 Warriors. The former had made the playoffs just once in the previous 15 years and didn’t have the championship experience of the current edition. Those Warriors had no way to anticipate the success that would eventually come their way.
These Warriors can confidently look forward to being contenders when they are healthy next season. The young players getting an opportunity now can only hope to be a part of it.
With Curry ( hand surgery), Klay Thompson (knee surgery), Kevon Looney (neuropathic condition), Jacob Evans (adductor), Alen Smailagic (ankle), Damion Lee ( hand) and D’Angelo Russell (thumb) all out, coach Steve Kerr’s Warriors aren’t far from the status of Nelson’s 2010 squad. The Warriors (2-12) are limping through a season struggling to win games and stay healthy.
The Warriors have just nine healthy players, and won’t know more about potential reinforcements until Wednesday. In the midst of a four-game trip, Kerr doesn’t even have enough players for a five- on-five scrimmage, instead having to insert assistant coaches to run drills in practice.
The league requires teams to dress eight players for games. A couple more nicks and bruises could put the Warriors in a tough position, but one they’ve been in before.
On April 14, 2010, Nelson’s Warriors were in Portland to play the final game of a season derailed by injuries and resulting in a draft lottery appearance.
The Warriors had only six players available for the season finale against the Trail Blazers, two fewer than the league minimum. So injured players Ronny Turiaf and Anthony Morrow dressed and sat on the bench, technically active, but with no intent to play. The plan was for the five starters to play the entire game. That plan didn’t last long.
Five minutes and 27 seconds into the game, starting center Chris Hunter hurt his knee and went to the bench. Golden State’s sixth player, forward Devean George, checked in. Midway through the first quarter, the Warriors had no more room for error. No foul outs, no ejections, no more injuries.
Somehow, the Warriors played a competitive game against the 50-win Trail Blazers. The rookie Curry would finish with 42 points and guard Monta Ellis 34. With five minutes left in the game, the Warriors led 108-104. That’s when things got weird.
With 4:47 left, George fouled Portland forward Martell Webster. It was his sixth and final foul, an automatic disqualification. Only, the Warriors had no healthy players who could play. The other three players on the bench were all injured — Turiaf and Morrow were listed as active, but they were actually injured, while Hunter got hurt in the first quarter.
NBA rules dictate “if a player in the game receives his sixth personal foul and all substitutes have already been disqualified, said player shall remain in the game.”
Nelson pleaded with the officials to allow George to stay in the game under this rule. However, the officials disagreed with Nelson’s interpretation, and forced Nelson to substitute a player. Hunter entered the game but limped badly. After drawing a charge, he could hardly get up and walk. Nelson took him out of the game and pleaded with the officials again, to no avail. So he got creative.
Turiaf checked in for all of seven seconds before committing a foul and claiming an injury. He went to the locker room. Then Morrow checked in, playing nine seconds before claiming his own injury and leaving the game. That allowed George, who had fouled out, to check back into the game.
With the bench emptied the Warriors went on a 14- 4 run in the final 3:19, with Curry scoring 11 of those points. They won 122-116.
Should any of the nine healthy players — Bowman, Glenn Robinson III, Draymond Green, Poole, Alec Burks, Omari Spellman, Marquese Chriss, Paschall and Willie CauleyStein — get hurt, the Warriors would be in an even more difficult position than when they were in Portland in 2010.
Because of the hard cap triggered due to the signand-trade for Russell, the Warriors have carried 14 players — not counting the two two-way contract players — on the roster all season, one shy of the maximum 15.
Normally when missing half the roster due to injury, a team could apply for the NBA’s hardship exception in order to temporarily create an additional roster spot. However, because the Warriors technically have an open roster spot but don’t have room under the hard cap to sign another player, the exception would not apply to them. This situation is unprecedented.
Should the Warriors be short of the eight- player minimum, general manager Bob Myers would have to talk to the league office and ask for an exception to the hard- cap rule.
Losers of seven straight games, the injury-plagued Warriors are headed to a similar fate.
“I’ve never seen one team as banged up as we are,” Kerr said. “Counting our two- way guys, we have 16 roster players, and only nine available, so seven guys unavailable to play. That’s almost unheard of.”