SH Blog: How Curry could have been traded to Suns, Crawford says Jordan should have been an All-Star

When Stephen Curry signed a four year, $44 million contract with the Golden State Warriors last season, some wondered if the money was worth it for the oft-injured point guard.

Fast forward to present time: Curry will be in his first All-Star game this weekend as a starter voted in by the fans. Safe to say, the money was worth it — and then some.

So in honor of his accomplishments this season, lets take a look into his past and see how he got to this point, and what could have prevented him from being in the situation he is in today.

First, here is a detailed article from Tim Kawakami of Mercury News explaining how the guard could have ended up in a different uniform on draft night:

If Curry got to the Warriors’ slot, the Suns were offering to trade (Amare) Stoudemire for the pick and a collection of veterans, including Andris Biedrins.

Nothing was finalized, but…

“I think we felt like from our side that if Steph dropped to seven, where they were picking, that we were going to get a deal done,” Kerr recalled.

Now a TNT broadcaster, Kerr emphasized that he’s speaking about this now because he’s in the media and he believes fans like to know these details.

“We had a lot of discussions, Larry and I did,” Kerr said. “Until something is approved by the league office, you can’t count on it. We felt pretty good about it, though.”

[…]

“It wasn’t until the next morning—I was pretty new to Twitter at the time—and the next morning one person I followed had mentioned it, that the trade was supposed to happen, I guess for Amare Stoudemire,” Curry said.

“The first time I saw him play live was in Anaheim–he was with Davidson and played UCLA in the Wooden classic and he was magical,” Kerr said of Curry.

So Phoenix kept talking to the Warriors leading up to the draft, ready to pounce if Minnesota passed on Curry.

If the Warriors could’ve acquired Stoudemire without giving him a maximum extension, maybe the Suns could’ve nudged the Warriors to pull the trigger.

“They were hopeful that we were in such a bad position that we would like Stoudemire over Curry,” Riley recalled.

“(But) with Stoudemire’s injury history and the fact that his contract was short-term, that one I never could come to grips with where I never even made a proposal to an owner on it.”

Essentially, Stoudemire’s reluctance to join the Warriors was the ultimate factor in preventing the trade from happening. If the power forward was more receptive to the idea, Curry would likely be in Phoenix now and the landscape of the Western Conference would look dramatically different right now as result. Luckily for Golden State, Curry is right where he’s supposed to be.

The second gem about Curry and the history of his feared shot comes from Marcus Thompson of Mercury News. Believe it or not, it took a completely broken shot for him to be where he is now:

As a kid, Stephen Curry didn’t have the strength to shoot traditionally. Like many youngsters, he had to squat, build up momentum, and sort of push the ball from his waist. As he got older, and stronger, his shot didn’t change much. He was still chucking from his waist. “I was a good shooter, but I got my shot blocked a lot,” Curry said. Dell taught Stephen how to shoot from over his head, and he made it second nature by killing him with drill after drill. It took months for the younger Curry to get it down. He described it as one of the worst summers of his youth. The first few weeks, he couldn’t make a shot outside the paint. “I was at basketball camp and people were like, ‘Why is he even here?’ ” Stephen Curry recalled with a smile. “It looked like I didn’t even know how to play. Eventually, it started to click.”

It’s crazy to think that once upon a time, Curry’s shot was bad enough for common kids to question his abilities as a shooter and a basketball player. It sounds like he can thank his father for correcting his shot that ultimately allowed him to become the player he is today.

CLIP OF THE DAY: 

In this fantastic video produced by Grantland, Steve Nash opens up about what it’s like to be a shell of himself due to injuries and how that has affected his mindset.

Baron Davis, featured in the clip, then made a spoof version of the clip above:

OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE: 

• Mess with Joe Johnson, and you might end up with a flick of the forehead.

• Despite trade  rumors, Pau Gasol maintains his desire to remain with the Los Angeles Lakers, from Mike Bresnahan of Los Angeles Times: “My preference would be to stay,” Gasol said Thursday. “That’s what I’ve been saying all year, though the circumstances are difficult right now for our team and nobody’s too happy. But it’s still my team and I still want to be here.” But after so many false starts and trade rumors over the years, does he even feel wanted by the Lakers? “I think I feel wanted. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “The team would have pulled the trigger with prior opportunities that I’m sure had been on the table. I feel like the team appreciates me. It’s just a tough moment, I think, as far as the franchise losses. That always is going to stir things up and you’ve got to look at options and possibilities to get better as a team, a franchise.”
• Anthony Davis says he never expected to have so much success so early in his career, from Jim Rome of CBSSports Radio: “NCAA champion, Olympic gold medalist and now NBA All-Star Anthony Davis had no idea he’d accomplish so much in his basketball career before the age of 21, but says there’s better things to come. “It’s definitely surreal. I didn’t expect to be an All-Star my second year, to be a gold medalist before I even stepped a foot on a NBA floor, never expected to do any of that,” Davis told The Jim Rome Show. “Just knowing everything I did [up to] now, I’ll just do more. The ceiling has no limits for me. I’ve just got to keep working hard, keep playing hard, and keep competing and who knows what’s more to come.”

• According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Oklahoma City Thunder are hoping to add a sharp shooter before the trade deadline: “Armed with trade exceptions, OKC has been active in search for a shooter to fortify them for title run, league sources tell Yahoo.”

• Chris Kaman said some of his teammates don’t know how to win, from Serena Winters of LakersNation: “Our group of guys isn’t used to winning right now, and some of them don’t even know how to win.”

• LeBron James discussed the idea of pressure to win a championship shifting over to Kevin Durant, from Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report: “When does he think the pressure will truly shift to Durant to take the Larry O’Brien trophy? “When I retire,” James replied. “When I retire. They’re still talking about, am I going to win a third? You know…” “But I think, for him, obviously he’s an unbelievable player,” James said. “And I’m one of the guys that just don’t, I don’t believe that winning a championship defines your career, you know. There’s so many greats that never won, and it’s unfortunate that they didn’t.”… “But I don’t know when he’s gonna start hearing it,” James said of his friend. “I hope he doesn’t. I don’t think he should have to go through that.”

• The Bulls expect to stay quiet through the trade deadline, from Joe Cowley of Sun Times: ““You have to put yourself in the other team’s position,’’ Paxson said. “People just don’t give up great players. We obviously talk and keep our eyes and ears open. But to anticipate something is going to happen, I don’t think that’s likely, to be honest with you.’’ That means the Carmelo ­Anthony rumors can stop. At least until the offseason, when they could fire up again.”

• Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders believes Luol Deng could be dealt again before the deadline: Luol Deng, an All-Star over the last two seasons, was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in early January, but he could be dealt again before the deadline… Deng hasn’t been discussed much since he just landed in Cleveland, but with the firing of GM Chris Grant and multiple reports suggesting that he’ll leave as an unrestricted free agent this summer, the Cavaliers have to seriously consider moving him before the deadline. Remember, he supposedly told a close friend that “the stuff going on in practice [in Cleveland] would never be tolerated by the coaching staff or the front office back in Chicago. It’s a mess.” They might as well trade him now and get something back for him, rather than likely losing him for nothing over the summer.”

• Jamal Crawford believes DeAndre Jordan should have been an All-Star this season, from Kennedy of Basketball Insiders: “Without missing a beat, Crawford proceeded to praise Jordan’s development as well. “He should have been an All-Star this year, there’s no question about it,” Crawford said of Jordan. “He should have been an All-Star. He gets 15 to 20 rebounds on any given night. He’s always covering our backs on defense. He does so much for this team. I told him yesterday, every time he even rolls hard, he opens up the floor for our shooters. He spaces the court so well because everybody is scared of how he rolls because they’re thinking about the possibility of getting dunked on. He’s been an All-Star-level player this year and hopefully he’ll win Most Improved Player or be right there at the end.”

• Due to a foot injury, there is a chance that Dwyane Wade could miss the All-Star game, from Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports: “Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade is uncertain whether he will play in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday due to a “bizarre” foot injury. Wade was a late scratch from the Heat’s 111-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night because of a sore left foot. The 10-time All-Star said he had numbness in his left leg in warm-ups before the game after “the nerve kind of shut down” and kept him from having feeling in his left foot. Wade said his injury was “drop foot,” also known as foot drop, which causes an inability to lift the front part of the foot. “It’s one of the most bizarre things…,” Wade said.”

• Stan Van Gundy says Gordon Hayward may get paid a lot more than what he’s worth, from Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune: “There are a lot of people out there that seemed to think this guy was going to go for near max money,” Van Gundy told the Salt Lake City radio station. “I don’t see that, myself. I think he’s a very good player, very athletic, can do a lot of things. But I think the way the game is going, a perimeter guy who is not a good shooter, not a real good shooter, I think that limits his value in today’s game.”… Van Gundy said he believes Hayward is worth “a little bit above the mid-level exception,” or about $6.5 million to $7 million. “But from what I’ve heard, he’s going to get a lot more than that interest-wise,” Van Gundy said.”

• Check out this hilarious childhood story between Jared Sullinger and Trey Burke, from Jonathan Abrams of Grantland: “Though Sullinger was typically a gentle giant, he could be pushed too far. One day, the pair skipped their usual 5-4-3-2-1 matchup and decided to have a slap-boxing match. Trey got too excited and threw a blow that bloodied Jared’s nose. “I could tell he just got enough,” Trey Burke said. “He got mad. So I just ran up the stairs. I was too small to really fight him, so I hid in my sisters’ room.” “He didn’t come back down for about two hours,” Sullinger said. “He knew what it was, and ever since then, he never messes with me like that no more.”

 

James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.