Few teams help their superstar like the Warriors help Curry

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Steinmetz

There’s a phrase we’ve heard forever about a certain kind of great basketball player: “He makes his teammates better.”

It’s the ultimate compliment you can give a player – that he alone can turn so-so players into effective ones and good players into really good ones. I think we can all agree that Stephen Curry is one of those players.

He is playing so well and he demands so much attention from the opposing team that it is simply impossible to pay as much mind to players not named Curry. And because of that, Curry’s teammates thrive.

That dynamic alone can help create a championship team, which it has here in Golden State. But there is a level beyond this, a level some championship teams don’t even reach, and it’s a place the Warriors may be getting to.

And it’s this: Not only does Curry make his teammates better, but general manager Bob Myers has managed to put teammates around Curry that make Curry better. That’s not always with the case with some of the game’s great players. It’s frequently a one-way street, with the star helping the role players but the role players not doing much for the star.

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As shooting guard, Curry takes Warriors, his game to new level

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Steinmetz

Although it’s difficult to fathom, there seems to be a consensus that Stephen Curry — somehow, some way — is having an even better season than he had last year. In case you forgot, Curry was the league’s MVP in 2014-15 and led the Golden State Warriors to their first title in 40 years.

But as wonderfully good as Curry was a season ago, he’s putting last year to shame with the way he’s playing this year — or so most people believe. For example, I believe it; I think Curry’s playing at a higher level this year than last. Through 12 games, Curry is averaging 33.7 points per game on 52.1 percent shooting from the field, including 45.6 percent from beyond the arc. And perhaps the most important stat is that the Warriors are 12-0.

If Curry’s numbers were to hold, they would represent career-highs in points scored (by almost 10 points per game over closest season, by the way), field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage. Curry’s averaging 22 shots per game this year; last year he averaged 17. In other words, Curry is taking way more shots than he ever has, and he’s making them at a higher rate than he has in any other season of his pro career. That’s borderline incredible.

The question, though: Why is Curry playing better? Why has he been able to elevate his game? Why has he increased his efficiency from beyond the arc and inside it and raised his scoring average to a crazy number? There are likely many reasons for this, but perhaps the biggest is that he’s not playing a lot of point guard these days. Let’s face it 33.7 ppg., 5.9 apg., 3.4 tpg., are the stats of a two-guard.

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Warriors uncertain if Bogut will start vs. Raptors; Bogut certain he doesn’t care anymore

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Steinmetz

OAKLAND — Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said he’s not sure whether Festus Ezeli or Andrew Bogut will start at center on Tuesday night against the Toronto Raptors. But in another example of why this whole thing just keeps working and plugging along for Golden State, to the tune of an 11-0 record, Bogut couldn’t care less if he’s on the floor for tip-off tomorrow at Oracle.

That might not have been the case a few years back. But we’re here and now and Bogut isn’t as high-maintenance as he used to be. And that’s a good thing for the Warriors.

“Oh, hell, yeah,” Bogut replied when asked if he would have handled the uncertainty differently earlier in his career. “You’re trying to get paid early in your career. That’s the genuine good thing about being on this team. Everyone is kind of in their second, third, four year or second or third contract. When you’re a young fellow, being drafted and going to a team, you obviously want to play minutes. You want to play 30 minutes, you want to start and you want to establish what you can do.”

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