Even though the Golden State Warriors already had a period of success in the NBA before, it’s safe to say their golden era started in the last decade. And of course, Stephen Curry has been the face of their success.
Selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Steph eventually blossomed into arguably the greatest shooter in league history in front of the Dubs’ eyes. On top of that, he led the franchise to four NBA championships.
Of course, Curry hasn’t done it all by himself. After all, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson have been instrumental for the Warriors as well. But somehow, Steph always managed to stand out from the rest.
In fact, Curry made sure to debunk the myth that he couldn’t succeed without Kevin Durant. Even Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says Curry is the only reason he is still in charge of the team.
Kerr says Steph is the only reason he continues to coach the Dubs
“I thank my stars every day. Literally every day,. The ability to coach Steph right from the beginning, is the only reason I’m still here is because of the human being he is, not just the player and as talented as he is, but the tone that he sets for the whole group. It just makes my job so much easier,” Kerr told SiriusXM NBA Radio.
While it’s hard to discredit a coach who took a team to six NBA Finals in nine years and won four of them, it’s fair to wonder if his results would have been the same without Curry.
Kerr was hired as coach of the Warriors in 2014, when Curry was already making a name for himself in the league and looked ready to take a step forward in his career. From then on, the Dubs enjoyed the most successful era in their history.
Steve Kerr grateful for still coaching Stephen Curry
Though Kerr gets recognition from the NBA world for making this team competitive for so long, the coach only has words of praise for Curry’s talent and work ethic.
“The stability that we have here over a decade, we wouldn’t have that without Steph,” he said. “I’m lucky to coach him, lucky to watch him every day. He’s been incredible in camp. He’s 35, he’s in the best shape of anybody on the team… The guy’s incredible. We are a week into training camp, and he’s out there, 35 years old, just destroying everybody. He’s amazing.”
Even at 35, Curry is still the biggest reason the Warriors continue to have championship aspirations. Last season he took them as far as he could, but his effort wasn’t enough to hide the team’s shortcomings.
The Dubs lacked consistency throughout the regular season and ended up losing to LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals. With Bob Myers gone, Mike Dunleavy stayed busy in the offseason, making a number of changes to see if the team can bounce back.
Warriors aim to redeem themselves in 2023-24
The Warriors made an important move by re-signing Green, which secured their core would stay together for at least another year. But perhaps their biggest decision was trading Jordan Poole for Chris Paul.
SURVEY Will the Warriors be contenders this season?
Will the Warriors be contenders this season?
ALREADY VOTED 0 PEOPLE
Apart from the veteran guard, Dunleavy covered the departures of Donte DiVincenzo and other role players by landing the likes of Dario Saric and Cory Joseph, among others.
