It’s hard to believe today, but there was a time when many people doubted if Stephen Curry could become an NBA star.
He was the No. 7 pick in the 2009 draft out of Davidson College, not exactly a college basketball powerhouse, and there wasn’t a lot of hype surrounding him.
He lost out on the Rookie of the Year award to Tyreke Evans, a guard who then played for the Sacramento Kings, and he was seen as injury prone in his early years.
In fact, critics had a litany of doubts about Curry in the beginning.
The Golden State Warriors reminded fans of all these slights, and the fact that Curry has risen above it all.
It wasn’t until the 2012-13 season, his fourth in the NBA, that he averaged over 20 points a game for the first time, and the year after, he made his first All-Star team.
At the time, the Warriors were a good team that were routinely in the playoffs, but they would go home early each season.
After failing to unlock their potential, as well as rumors he divided the locker room, head coach Mark Jackson was fired and replaced by Steve Kerr.
Kerr had never been a head coach before, but he saw a way to maximize Curry.
He employed an offense that combined principles of Phil Jackson’s triangle offense with the overall run-and-shoot philosophy of Mike D’Antoni’s “seven seconds or less” Phoenix Suns teams, and one key element was Curry constantly moving without the ball.
It took the guard from good to great, and then legendary, as the result was four NBA championships.
In fact, this season was the first time Kerr’s Warriors had lost in the playoffs without reaching the NBA Finals.
Even at age 35, Curry is still on top of his game and showing no signs of slowing down.