A few months into the 2021-22 NBA regular season, the Golden State Warriors find themselves in a much better spot anyone could have imagined in the offseason. Once again, the Dubs look like serious contenders for the ring.
A lot of that has to do with how Steve Kerr's team has begun to find the consistency it lacked last season. But, of course, this fantastic start wouldn't have been possible without Stephen Curry. The seven-time NBA All-Star is on MVP level again, despite a weak performance against the Suns last time out.
It's not a surprise, of course, considering his outstanding level last season, when he carried the team practically on his own. However, Kerr has often opted to rest Curry a lot more than what fans expected, and he explained why.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr explains why Stephen Curry is playing more this season
Last season was rather disappointing for the Warriors, yet with an MVP-mode Steph they made it to the postseason. But the Dub Nation wasn't pleased to see that Steve Kerr often took him out. Instead, fans were expecting to see Curry play as much as possible.
With the current season well underway, Kerr has addressed those remarks and suggested Steph's game time will be different this year due to the team's title possibilities. "I didn't want to chase wins by playing Steph 40 mins a night," Kerr said in the 95.7 The Game's Damon & Ratto radio show.
"We were not great last year. We were in development mode. I was not going to burn Steph out in a year like that...This is a totally different year. We have a championship contender," Kerr added.
Kerr has a point, the Warriors' championship chances looked really slim last season even with Curry at his best. However, it's still quite surprising that he didn't want to give it a go having a player at such great level. But what's done it's done, and what matters is that the coach is also convinced that his team can fight for the ring now and he might not hold Curry back this time.
