Stephen Curry Heads West To Golden State
June 29, 2009 – 7:30 am by Michael Bean
After three remarkable years playing at small Davidson College in North Carolina, Stephen Curry will be taking his game to the NBA after the Golden State Warriors drafted him with the number seven overall pick on Thursday night. Curry, who is the son of former NBA gunner Dell Curry, thrust himself and his school in to the national spotlight two years ago when he led the Wildcats to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament.
During his junior year, Curry honed his game by garnering all sorts of attention from opposing teams. He wasn’t able to lead his school on another magical run through March Madness this past season, but he more than proved his game was NBA ready by dealing with a myriad different defensive looks. Curry opted to forego his senior year and enter the Draft. The event is held in Madison Square Garden in New York City, so when the hometown Knicks, who were picking at #8 one spot behind the Warriors, missed out on a chance to draft Curry, the partisan crowd collectively groaned in disappointment, knowing they missed out on a perfect fit for coach D’Antoni’s offensive oriented system.
Curry joined KNBR in San Francisco last Friday to talk about his college career, the experience of being at Madison Square Garden for the event, playing for Coach Don Nelson in the Bay Area, and on how he’s handling the swirling trade rumors that involve him heading to Pheonix.
On the feeling he had when he finally had his name called as the 7th overall pick of the Draft:
“The feeling that I got when I had my name called, you know walking up on stage and meeting the commissioner then hearing all the Knicks fans boo…but I’m just really excited about this opportunity and I’m excited about getting signed.”
On the rumors that Curry had no interest in being drafted by Golden State:
“Well, worst case scenario, that’s totally false…I did go in to the draft with New York on my radar, but if you look at Golden State, they have a very similar system. Coach Nelson is a legendary coach that’s on the brink of becoming the NBA’s all time winningest coach. So this is a great organization and a great situation to be in. There’s lots of talent on the roster now and everything in the past is pretty much history. I’m just excited about what’s going to happen in the next few months.”
On his excitement about playing for Coach Don Nelson in his free-wheeling run-and-gun system:
“It is, it is. What more can you ask for as a rookie but to come in and play in this kind of system, this kind of coach. The learning curve to do what I have to do to be successful in the NBA, I think I have everything lined up to do that. So I’m willing to learn, to make mistakes and learn from them, but Coach Nelson is going to get the best out of me.”
On if he thought he would be a lottery pick in the NBA when he signed with the unheralded Davidson College Wildcats, not an exactly a hotbed of NBA talent:
“Not at all. The first time I thought it was possible was in the Regional after my sophomore year. A reporter asked me after we lost our last game if I was going to go to the NBA. I kind of looked at him sideways. After that I thought it was a real possibility if I worked hard enough to get it. But it’s just amazing that it happened.”
On how he surprised people with his strength, which both improved significantly in the past year and took people aback based on his fairly unimpressive looking frame:
“Yeah, they thought I was 6’1″ and couldn’t kill an ant. So it’s kind of funny a year ago we go to Chicago to do the tests and it kind of opened my eyes. And the next thing you know you go from being a mid-first rounder to being the seventh pick of the draft so it’s kind of cool how these things work and I’m just blessed to be in the situation I’m in.”
Listen here to Curry on KNBR in San Francisco
Tags: Davidson College Wildcats, Golden State Warriors, NBA Draft 2009, Stephen Curry NBA Draft
