By Stephen Curry Thinks Trying to Return Too Early Contributed to His Recurring Ankle Issue Last Year
August 17, 2012 – 9:30 am by Chris Fedor
After looking every bit like a former seventh overall pick in the NBA Draft in his first two seasons, Stephen Curry’s 2011-2012 campaign was extremely frustrating. Curry dealt with a troublesome ankle injury that he re-injured numerous times and forced him to miss essentially 41 games. Curry’s value to the Warriors was on display during those 41 contests where Golden State went 11-30 without him. The pressure will be on this season because at the trade deadline last season, the front office made the decision to move fan favorite Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut and develop a team around their former seventh overall pick. The talent is there, the shooting stroke is as good as it gets in the NBA, but if the new-look Warriors are going to take the next step this season, they need Curry to stay healthy.
Stephen Curry joined KNBR in San Francisco with Tom Tolbert to talk about having to rehab an injury once again this offseason, how close he is to playing five-on-five, whether the doctors told him why his ankle injuries keep happening, whether he would like to play for the 2016 Men’s Olympic team, what he thinks of the new Warriors and what the team is building and how much the addition of Andrew Bogut will help.
On having to rehab an injury once again this offseason:
“Two in a row but it’s something that you have to deal with. I’m going to be a better player next year and be on the court healthy.”
How close he is to playing five-on-five:
“This week I started one-on-one situations just to work my way up to five-on-five. We still have five weeks before training camp starts so we’re really in no rush to get to that point. Just take it step by step for the next month and we will be ready to go.”
Whether the doctors told him why his ankle injuries keep happening:
“Not really. They just ruled out any structural damage or any red flag that would cause further or more serious surgery so the fact that I had so many sprains and didn’t really give it that much time until the last bit of last season, didn’t give it that much time to heal, that was probably the biggest thing. Knowing that I had the last four months to get right there’s no reason I shouldn’t be ready to go by training camp.”
Whether he would like to play for the 2016 US Men’s Olympic team:
“For sure, 2016 in Rio is definitely a goal of mine. I will be I think about 28 at the time so still relatively young and ready to represent the country. Hopefully I get that opportunity to help the team in some way and I can and be a part of winning another gold medal. That’s definitely a goal of mine and looking forward to that opportunity.”
How he thinks the team shapes up this year:
“The depth of our team probably makes me the most optimistic because our practices are going to be intense, they’re going to be competitive and we’re going to become a better team just off that. Then when we get into games knowing that regardless of an injury here and there, a slump or something like that, we have the talent and the depth to get back and still compete consistently throughout the whole season. We have a combination of some veteran guys, some young talent that we got through the draft and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t make the playoffs. I think it’s a real expectation for us in the locker room to go out and make that happen.”
On the addition of Andrew Bogut:
“He’s going to be our anchor. Look at not only his talent, his skill set and what he can do on the floor but then putting him on the floor with David Lee, they’re both probably the two best passing big men in the league behind Pau Gasol maybe but the fact that they can spread the ball, dominate the post, especially defensively as well and just having that presence inside it will be a different look for us and something that we haven’t had here for a while. I think it will be a good look for us on the defensive end to have consistent effort every night.”
Listen to Stephen Curry on KNBR in SF here
Tags: Golden State Warriors, KNBR, NBA, Stephen Curry
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