2009 Draft... how does someone like Steph Curry fall to #7, and be the 3rd PG selected in his draft class??

[taikibansei]

And this almost happened.

https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/207027-breaking-news-amare-stoudemire-traded-to-golden-state-in-blockbuster.amp.html

From that article:

Update: The Warriors are unwilling to part with recent No. 7 overall pick PG Stephen Curry in any sort of package trade.

Good call, Warriors!

[Ugalde]

being #7 and becoming great isn’t that weird?

[chyau.00]

If the rules didn't change he wouldn't have been who he is now.

Likewise, if his team didn't become great he also wouldn't have been great himself.

Right place right time for him.

Kind of a theme for his career really.

- without Zaza ruining Kawhi's career and the Spurs franchise, his team wouldn't have progressed that round.

-without the Cavs' finals injuries, he'd have one less ring

-without KD joining he'd have another two less rings.

-if the Nuggets were at full strength he would have lost first round this playoffs...

Pretty funny really.

spotted the hater

[Archerbro]

At the time, he was the fourth PG drafted. Tyreke Evans was a PG back then. Curry went to a small school so that was against him (name another NBA player from Davison). He was scrawny so definitely questions about durability (and his early ankle issues as a pro was why the Warriors had him on a very team friendly 4 year $41 million contract". No one projected him as great as he has become. The most inexplicable choice was drafting Johnny Flynn. The Warriors were set to trade the pick because they thought Curry wouldn't be available. Curry was expected top 6 I believe. It was a deep draft for point guards with some fans thinking they should have picked Brandon Jennings or Jrue Holiday.

Yeah, that was a great PG draft.

Tyreke, Harden, Rubio, Flynn, Curry, Brandon Jennings, Jru Holiday, Ty Lawson, Darren Collison, Roddy Beaubois, Toney Douglas, Sergio Llull (never played in NBA), Patrick Beverly, Patty Mills

Still waiting for Roddy Beaubois to get some adequate playing time. Love that guy

mavs lose to heat in 2011 without roddy IMO.
He pushed Barea to actually become a competent rotation player. Barea was definitely a positive in that series for the mavs.

[Sprewell4Three]

What concerns are people talking about . During that time Steph was killing it in college. Shooting deep 3s and making dudes look foolish. Minnesota was stupid taking a non shooter (Rubio) and Flynn over Steph. People mentioned stephs size yet by pass the stuff he did at Davidson. He was a beast.

Adam morrison and Sean May were beasts in college too. College success doesn't always translate, we have seen this time and time again.

Difference is that Steph grew up around NBA players. His dad was in the NBA. That experience taught him what it takes to succeed and what professionalism looks like. There’s a reason why Steph plays with so much calmness. Rarely gets raddled. Morrison and May were 2 guys that probably were overwhelmed and didn’t know how to react.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[playoffs]

Like others said there were durability and size concerns, but also at that time the prevailing assumption was that shooting doesn't win titles, and that you need a big man to build around, or some athletic freak like LeBron, or at the very least a Steve Nash-esque PG. Shooters were at the bottom of the list. This perception changed only after the Warriors won their first title.

[Bolts]

It’s the Jayhawks fault sorry. The Jayhawks played Syracuse and Johnny Flynn got challenged and dominated in a Syracuse win. Then, KU plays Davidson in the tourney and beat Davidson. Wolves see both games and pick the wrong guy. ( total speculation and probably not true as the the reason )

[raptor jesus]

Rubio had a ton of hype. He was in the mix for #1 overall until Griffin exploded. Back then, many ppl were beholded to the idea of a "true point guard" who would function as a facilitator, and Rubio was exactly that. This also happened to be the big knock on Curry; ppl thought he had to play SG and that he was too small for it. But Flynn wasn't a "true PG either", so I guess the Wolves wanted to pair Rubio with a scoring combo guard and chose the wrong one. Oops.

[Archerbro]

It’s the Jayhawks fault sorry. The Jayhawks played Syracuse and Johnny Flynn got challenged and dominated in a Syracuse win. Then, KU plays Davidson in the tourney and beat Davidson. Wolves see both games and pick the wrong guy. ( total speculation and probably not true as the the reason )

seems actually very realistic possibility when we're talking about David Kahn.

[Shock Defeat]

Curry demanded to be in New York, he wouldn't play in Minnesota. So they picked Flynn

[Bologna Smasher]

I remember Rubio having a ton of hype during his draft. People were looking at him like he was the next Kidd/Nash. Jonny Flynn picked up a lot of steam towards the build up of the draft. Great workouts and interviews. Curry was looked at as being good, but a high floor/low ceiling type of player.

There were also a lot of people questioning if Curry could be a full-time PG in the NBA. Even if the projected Curry to be a SG, they already had a young Randy Foye in the same mold who had just come off of his best season. The Timberwolves at the time also wanted a "true" PG. Rubio was the considered the best one but there was a lot of drama about him refusing to join the Timberwolves. Jonny Flynn was the Rubio insurance policy.

[Wolveswin]

I remember Rubio having a ton of hype during his draft. People were looking at him like he was the next Kidd/Nash. Jonny Flynn picked up a lot of steam towards the build up of the draft. Great workouts and interviews. Curry was looked at as being good, but a high floor/low ceiling type of player.

There were also a lot of people questioning if Curry could be a full-time PG in the NBA. Even if the projected Curry to be a SG, they already had a young Randy Foye in the same mold who had just come off of his best season. The Timberwolves at the time also wanted a "true" PG. Rubio was the considered the best one but there was a lot of drama about him refusing to join the Timberwolves. Jonny Flynn was the Rubio insurance policy.

They didn’t have Randy Foye. He was part of the trade that got them #5.

[Bologna Smasher]

I remember Rubio having a ton of hype during his draft. People were looking at him like he was the next Kidd/Nash. Jonny Flynn picked up a lot of steam towards the build up of the draft. Great workouts and interviews. Curry was looked at as being good, but a high floor/low ceiling type of player.

There were also a lot of people questioning if Curry could be a full-time PG in the NBA. Even if the projected Curry to be a SG, they already had a young Randy Foye in the same mold who had just come off of his best season. The Timberwolves at the time also wanted a "true" PG. Rubio was the considered the best one but there was a lot of drama about him refusing to join the Timberwolves. Jonny Flynn was the Rubio insurance policy.

They didn’t have Randy Foye. He was part of the trade that got them #5.

Good point. That completely slipped my mind.

[Wolveswin]

I remember Rubio having a ton of hype during his draft. People were looking at him like he was the next Kidd/Nash. Jonny Flynn picked up a lot of steam towards the build up of the draft. Great workouts and interviews. Curry was looked at as being good, but a high floor/low ceiling type of player.

There were also a lot of people questioning if Curry could be a full-time PG in the NBA. Even if the projected Curry to be a SG, they already had a young Randy Foye in the same mold who had just come off of his best season. The Timberwolves at the time also wanted a "true" PG. Rubio was the considered the best one but there was a lot of drama about him refusing to join the Timberwolves. Jonny Flynn was the Rubio insurance policy.

They didn’t have Randy Foye. He was part of the trade that got them #5.

Good point. That completely slipped my mind.

Again, to me, biggest mistake they made was not trading 5+6 for 2 or 3 and drafting Harden (and probably getting some other asset back too because 5+6 seems like more value than 2 or 3 back then). They still had 18 (and 28) to draft a pure PG. which BTW:
17= Holiday
18= Lawson
19= Teague
20= Maynor
21= Collison

The rumor was Kahn would only do 5+18 for #2.

[dc]

Curry demanded to be in New York, he wouldn't play in Minnesota. So they picked Flynn

FWIW, Curry's camp directly told the Warriors the same thing they told the T-Wolves: don't pick our guy.

And really, these types of "demands" are empty threats. They're merely trying to steer a client to a preferred destination if they can possibly help it.

The reality is that once a team drafts you, they have your rights indefinitely. If Curry was unhappy with being drafted by the Warriors and went to play in Europe for 4 years, the Warriors would've still held his draft right if he decided to one day come back. That's how it works for all NBA draft picks. It's not like MLB or the NFL where a team's draft rights over a player don't last forever.

Kobe pretty much said the same thing about this when he steered himself to the Lakers. He told everyone he only wanted to play for the Lakers, but it was just an idle threat. Any team drafting him held onto his draft rights indefinitely.

At the end of the day, if teams really wanted Steph or Kobe, they would've drafted them. The "he said he doesn't want to play for us" thing is kind of a cop out. The Warriors wanted Steph, so they drafted him. Didn't matter what his agent told them.

[meekrab]

If the rules didn't change he wouldn't have been who he is now.

Likewise, if his team didn't become great he also wouldn't have been great himself.

Right place right time for him.

Kind of a theme for his career really.

- without Zaza ruining Kawhi's career and the Spurs franchise, his team wouldn't have progressed that round.

-without the Cavs' finals injuries, he'd have one less ring

-without KD joining he'd have another two less rings.

-if the Nuggets were at full strength he would have lost first round this playoffs...

Pretty funny really.

spotted the hater

This whole post is just "if the past was different the present would be different" like no **** bro

[Bologna Smasher]

They didn’t have Randy Foye. He was part of the trade that got them #5.

Good point. That completely slipped my mind.

Again, to me, biggest mistake they made was not trading 5+6 for 2 or 3 and drafting Harden (and probably getting some other asset back too because 5+6 seems like more value than 2 or 3 back then). They still had 18 (and 28) to draft a pure PG. which BTW:
17= Holiday
18= Lawson
19= Teague

The rumor was Kahn would only do 5+18 for #2.

That would've made a lot more sense. Love, Harden & Lawson would've been a good core to build around.

[floppymoose]

I would have taken Rubio over Curry back then too. Flynn on the other hand... I never understood why he was ranked so high.

[dc]

I would have taken Rubio over Curry back then too. Flynn on the other hand... I never understood why he was ranked so high.

FWIW, just before I watched Rubio's highlights for the very first time, I was anticipating some kind of Nash/Kidd/Stockton hybrid from all the type I was hearing. Then I watched the highlights and my thinking was I just saw a pretty solid PG making pretty solid PG plays, but hardly anything spectacular. I was underwhelmed.

But he did kill it vs. Team USA in 2008. Probably one of those guys who was just a better FIBA player than NBA player.

[DreamTeam09]

Back then small schools weren't really taken seriously in terms of top flight prospects. Like if you had a kid at a big name school, and a kid at the small mid major conference school, GMs were going with the big name school 10 outta 10.

I'm a big time Syracuse fan, or atleast I was I should say, and no way on earth should Flynn had been taken top 10. Dude was barely 6ft tall