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

[Knightfall]

Funny part is, no one blames Minny for taking Rubio. He was the choice at that time. But they sure as hell blame them for taking Flynn knowing you could play Rubio and Curry together.

[Optms]

easy question easy answer, obsession and infatuation with the misguided belief that athleticism will OVERCOME weaknesses and has a higher ceiling. hence it is a safer gamble.

both are wrong imo. to begin with every draft is different and should be approahed as such. that is the common sense thing to do.

athleticism doesn't have a higher ceiling. skillset does. skills never go away. also part of "skillset" imo is smarts and smarts gets smarter

however i think the BIGGEST mistakes are made because no one wants to stick his neck out and take a chance because it could mean his job. if you choose as everyone thinks you should then you have a built in excuse.

i think scouts view curry and luka as exceptions to the rule. yes they are EXCEPTIONAL but "the rule" is bad bad one. it's a lazy rule

that being said,,in today's game if you are half-@$$ed decent a player you should succeed because the bar into the nba has set lower and will get lower every year because they will be entertaining more teenagers soon. and the more teenagers begets more teenagers and so on and so on, and the league gets younger and players enter a league filled with other players they played in aau ball. in 5yrs there will be 100 of your top draftees who played each other in high school.

Less to do with athleticism and more to do with what skills those players had. Ricky Rubio would have gone number 2 and he is about as athletic as Curry.

It would be the same as someone wanting to take an athletic low post big in this year's draft in the top 3 (Jalen Duren). That skillset is not valued today anymore, therefor someone like Duren will go late lottery. Back when Curry was drafted, the 3 point shot was not valued like it is today. We didn't know he would change the game. How could we?

[azcatz11]

The draft is a crap shoot, nobody can predict the future. Kobe was drafted 15. Giannis drafted 15 I believe. Joker in the second round. Manu in the second round. Agent 0 second round. Daymond second round. Regardless of how good scouting is it's not perfect and somebody is going to fall through.

I know Curry just won the title and he is a great player but I am kinda tired of these hot take threads popping up about him.

I agree 100% with you. It's a total crapshoot and the only thing that is even remotely likely is the #1 pick has a 60% chance or something like that of becoming an all star. The odds obviously get exponentially worse the farther down you draft.

In Currys' case, you have a player who literally hit his 100th percentile outcome. Similar to Kawhi.

[ibraheim718]

There is no way in hell he doesn't go top 5 is he had played at Duke.. none.

[chrbal]

Small school, not overwhelming athletic ability, kids of former NBA players had mostly not done well.

More importantly how embarrassing is it that the Wolves drafted back to back point guards at 5 and 6, and Steph was the next pick?

Jonny Flynn- 163 career games, maybe a high school coach according to google.

Steph Curry- kind of a big deal.

Good job Kahn

[GrandTheftRondo]

Because teams still saw shooting as a bit of a gimmick and he didn’t fit any traditional mould.

I’m not sure why people are bringing up injuries. He didn’t start with the ankle problems until a few seasons in.

[skones]

He was viewed as a combo guard who didn't have the speed athleticism to play the 1 or the size to play the 2, AND he played for a mid-major missing the tournament his last year at Davidson. There was worry about his ability to create space on-ball at the NBA level.

[Roger Murdock]

Think about how this board treated him over the last 24 months, tons of people called him overrated, a fraud, exposed, flash in the pan, etc

That’s despite him being the second most proven and accomplished player in the league.

Easy to underrate the short, late bloomer who doesn’t fit the mold.

[Antinomy]

The famous lack of athleticism that we see so often when good players drop.

Pretty much everyone knew at the time that the Wolves were being stupid by taking Flynn though. That one was mind boggling.

Yeah I remember right after the draft, there was tons of chatter about them taking a bunch of PGs in the 1st round.

Nobody knew how good Steph would become but it was universally looked at as a stupid decision at the time — and it would become part of the KAHN special.

And yeah, the Rubio pick actually wasn’t that bad — he was looked at as a prodigy w/ Steve Nash comparisons at the time. The Flynn pick was completely absurd.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

UConn and Syracuse had a 6 OT game and it broke the draft.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Flynn was the problem, not rubio.

In another timeline, a rubio/curry back court is the best in the league.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Hope the Twolves fired their scouts

[Bankai]

Their was a stigma that Davidson is not a "strong program" and that Curry had not been tested against "real competition".

I know, I didnt get it either.

[elias808]

Revisionist history.

1. Rubio was considered a great prospect. I'd assume the vast majority of NBA GMs had above Curry at the time.

2. It was a different league. The three point shot wasn't in vogue as it is today. For reference, Curry's rookie year the leader in three point attempt's was Aaron Brooks at 525. Next year Dorell Wright at 516. The year after that Ryan Anderson at 422 (lockout season). From that point forward the league leader never shot less than 600 in a season, and topping out at 1028 in 18/19 Harden season.

3. Small school. Undersized/score first small school players have a history of underwhelming at the next level, if they get there at all. For every Curry there is 100 that are working a 9-5.

Without knowing what we know now, Curry was picked at the correct spot-ish (Kahn). Blake, Thabeet, Harden, Rubio, and Flynn all had a legit argument to go before a small school tweener.

[KG_And1]

Some gems here with GSW fans on the Curry pick from 2009:
https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=919362&hilit=Draft+Curry+2009+draft&start=580

Even GSW fans didn’t like the pick.

This is why it is pointless for us to debate on here. Let’s just shut RealGM down because none of us know what we’re talking about.

[rtiff68]

A few comments…

Steph the prospect had a lot of risk. He was a B athlete, and the concerns over how his game would translate to the next level were warranted. I had him as the 4th best prospect in that class, so going 7 wasn’t egregious.

I never understood the infatuation with Rubio. That year, I had…

1) Blake
2) Tyreke Evans
3) Brandon Jennings
4) Steph Curry
5) DeMar DeRozan

…as my top 5 (just ok). I had Thabeet, Rubio, and Hill as the most likely top 10 busts (pretty good). As many pointed out, Rubio was a B athlete like Steph (albeit with a better frame) who not only couldn’t shoot, he couldn’t score. This was my same beef with Giddey— if your weaknesses include athleticism, defense, shooting, and scoring…what are your odds of succeeding in the NBA?

[LAvision]

Their was a stigma that Davidson is not a "strong program" and that Curry had not been tested against "real competition".

I know, I didnt get it either.

I don't know how people had this opinion, after what he did in NCAA tournament. He was outrageous.

[Tor_Raps]

How does Jokic get picked in the 2nd round and become one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA is by far the most confusing story.

[Blame Rasho]

How does something like that happen?

Steph Curry is going to go down as a top 10 all-time talent. Revolutionized the sport. Incredible legacy. And he's not even finished.


How on earth is this man the 3rd Point Guard selected in his draft???


Was this just very poor draft scouting???

or does Steph Curry not get enough credit for working so hard???

Well Rubio was legit a great prospect, playing on national team at 17 and didn’t look out of place playing opposite Jason kidd. He just never learned how to shoot.

Oh and for the love of god don’t bump this thread since we have so many curry threads but this was the draft thread in 2009.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=916494&hilit=Curry#p19877156

[SpiderX1016]

I think he was picked right. I remember wanting him to fall to the 14th pick so bad and it felt like it was possible. I can't explain Flynn though.
He was undersized, lacked defense and labeled injury prone. He had a jump shot but no one knew it would be this good. Honestly, I didn't think he would compete with Ray/Reg but to see how far ahead he's gotten. That's amazing.