I am concerned about Curry, but he summer league is a bit strange. 4 games in 5 days, sometimes doesn't allow you to make many adjustments, plus he seemed to be focusing on the playmaking side of his game. Still, he should shoot better, he definitely is a bit streaky right now which is always a risky thing. If he can develop a bit more consistency on his shots, I'd definitely be happy because the rest of his game seems decent for a rookie. Too bad Ingles couldn't impress. Martin is a lock to get a camp invite and be a long shot as a backup, but no one else is a standout.
Curry has been shooting from 3 point range with some acceptable percentage of 33%, better than that if you take out the last game. But his 2 point FG% is attrocious. It is worse than his 33% three point shooting. I haven't been able to watch any of the games, but maybe he is having trouble creating separation from his defender. I know he seemed pretty good at getting separation playing off the ball in college. Maybe he is having trouble doing such with the ball in his hands, trying to create stuff for himself. It looks like Curry may be starting off the bench for some time, with Monta at the point, Jackson and either Morrow or Azu at the 3. He may not be starting material right now.
I would say this season is a little different. The team is pretty stacked with players. Not stacked as if they have a ton of great talent (though, we shall see), but stacked like they have a surplus of players. So, I think treating the SL as an extra training camp is good. I don't think the Warriors are looking for new talent this time around. Even though Curry is shooting at a volume pace, everyone keeps saying he's a natural floor general. I wouldn't put too much stock into the FGA nor put too much stock into what people are saying. But, I think it would be bad for Curry's and Monta's development if they brought in another veteran guard. No more guards!!!
I'm with Dr K...I'm not as concerned about Curry. He'll get more open shots with Jax and Monta sharing the ball. And he won't have to shoot as many forced shots with the number of shooters that the Warriors have. I like his passing style. 31% is atrocious, but he should do better in the flow of a real game with people who know where to be on the court.
I wouldn't worry too much about Curry's FG%. This is summer league. Let the kids play and do bad when it doesn't count. He's a ROOKIE. He's going to have a lot of growing pains. With the exception of Morrow, I can't remember many rookie guards that have shot a high FG% in their rookie campaign (this is a general statement with no backup research done).
Oh yeah, good point. Curry's role in the regular season will be much more of a progression and with a supporting cast of veterans, his FG% should be much higher. Summer League is a tough medium to judge how well a player will do in the regular season. They are basically thrown right into the games. I think Curry is throwing the kitchen sink out there and he's done alright.
One more thing, from what I've seen, Curry looks comfortable in traffic. Which I like. As for Anthony. Randolph looks like a beast. Of course in a summer league when people aren't spaced right, he's the exact type of player that can improvise and take over. I'm glad that he is. Also, Randolph looks like the game has slowed down for him. He looks confident and under control.
Forget about Curry's shooting percentage. Look at the long run, his play in the NCAA. He's been a great shooter before, he'll do it again. Yes the NBA is a tougher league, but Curry is going to grow and get better too. People forget that while the NBA is a step up, the players grow and step up too. Curry is going to be fine because he's got a great head on his shoulders, he knows he's got to work and he'll do the work. Summer league is all about experimenting, testing.
I'm pretty much in the same boat as most of you. Yeah 31% is really bad but I'm not going to freak out about it. Like CohanHater said, I've been surprised by how comfortable Curry looks ins traffic and he can get to the rim pretty easily (I thought he wouldn't be much of a penetrator). To be honest hes missing a lot of shots that he made in college but he looks like hes not used to how big, fast, and athletic his competition is here. It seems like he ends up rushing the shot out of his hands half way through his release motion because he didn't expect the defender to be there half the time. Defenders close out a lot more effectively here than they did in whatever conference Davidson is in. That goes for inside shots too where the shotblockers are so much bigger and more athletic. Hes going to have to adjust not only to taking better shots since the W's won't need him to be the man as well as knowing what he can and can't do at the NBA level. His shots aren't falling but I've been impressed with his demeanor, passing, and ability to get to the rim thus far- things that don't show up on the stat sheet. His shot will come, he is Stephen freaking Curry after all.
Honestly a lot of the shots that I saw him take looked good, they just didn't go in. Most of them were just a bit long. He might have been rushing it just a little, and it did seem that the other guys never set him up very well comparatively (he was always at the point when he was on the floor, and the other guys moved the ball well but definitely weren't playmakers). But like everyone else said, he did some pretty good things with the rest of his game, driving alot more than I expected, some very nice passes (a few forced ones, but that's something I totally expect especially in the summer league), very good pick and roll, solid defense, especially transition defense and reading the lanes.
This is my concern about Curry. Granted I have not been able to watch a summer league game; Curry needs to do a lot better job shooting inside the 3 point range. If he is having trouble scoring against NBA summer league bigs, then he's probably going to have trouble doing it in the regular season. His two-point-FG% for each game starting with the most recent have been, 27%, 33%, 36%, 17%. These are more like batting averages than shooting percentages. These are definitely not FG% of a good scoring basketball player. From what I have seen in college, he seems much better at creating open space when he is playing off the ball, not playing as the PG. I mean even his FG% in college went down after he moved to the PG position his junior season. I am not sure how much better Curry will be playing with Ellis and Jackson. Maybe I am underestimating their ability to distribute the ball, but I think Curry and even Ellis and Jackson would strive if there is pure distributing PG on the team. I want to have the hope that Curry is the answer to what we need. But so far he seems to be a shorter Marco Belinelli, as he has been a very streaky shooter who needs volume of FGA to get going, and if his outside shot isn't going then he becomes very limited. But sure, it's still early. Let's see how he meshes when playing with the regular season team...
I think Curry will be fine he just has to adjust. To be honest I think hes also missing a lot of shots that he seemed to make regularly in college. FWIW he has made some pretty 3 pt plays driving to the rack. He seems to rely on contact though so if he doesn't get a call he might throw up a crappy shot a la Mags and endu p looking like a fool because he got no FTs out of it. Its not quite as shameless as Mags though because Curry actually tries to make the shot, hes just not strong enough to finish through tough contact like Monta. I'm still wondering how his game will change when he plays on the big league squad though. He still being smothered pretty well in SL and while he does get a few open shots a game hes also pressured by double teams a lot and not given much room to create shots (he uses picks really well to get some room though). What'll happen when hes playing next to Monta, Jack, Mags, Randolph (assuming his offense picks up this year), Azu, etc. These guys can beat their man off the dribble a majority of the time so defenses will have to pick between helping out on them or staying with Curry/Morrow/Beli on the perimeter. Looks pretty deadly on paper. If defenders have to stay close to Curry/Jack/etc. on the perimeter who the hell is goign to stop Monta one on one? Hopefully its as good in practice as it is in theory. It'll probably make Curry look a hell of a lot better.
Yeah, even acknowledged that 3 rebounds was unacceptable for a guy his size, this kid just gets better and more likable by the day, it's amazing how fast he is maturing. I'm not expecting 42 ppg from him this year, but I expect quite a lot. He should be playing at least 25 mpg (hopefully more) and I'm going to be pissed if Nelson jerks him around for no good reason. The more I see of Randolph, the more I'm convinced he's a natural 4 (and he says this himself), so I don't see any way at this point that Wright surpasses him, in fact it seems inevitable he'll only get pushed more into the background, although having Brandan Wright as your backup PF is not a bad thing at all. If we see Maggette or Azubuike ever playing the 4 this year, something is terribly wrong, that should just never happen IMO.
Me too but I just don't know if he has it in him. AR is more skilled and just turned 20 Wright will be 22 in October. I thought Wright had better post moves/footwork but Randolph has shown some sick moves down low with his back to the basket in SL (especially last game). AR seems stronger, a better rebounder, better handle, better J, more aggressive, now maybe better inside moves, better on the pick and roll (?), better passer, tougher, seemingly more competitive. And hes younger. He works his ass off and hes making tremendous strides. I've read that Wright works hard in practice and whatnot but his development has been somewhat slow (albeit steady as well) and hes got a knack for piling up injuries that don't help his cause. AR is literally still working his ass off every day, hes not at home relaxing or going back to school, hes in Oakland working with coaches, getting his body right and getting his skills better. I don't think Wright is lazy but I also doubt that hes as immersed in basketball as AR seems to be. Wright is still a good prospect but hes been somewhat disappointing in certain aspects. His rebounding is well below par and he hasn't made any noticeable improvement as far as strength/weight gain goes. His offense has been coming around and he is actually fairly skilled for his age, but Randolph just seems superior in nearly every aspect plus hes younger. Its probably not even fair to compare them because very few players have the physical tools and skills that Randolph has at such a young age. Wright did alright as the starter. His jumper is decent and hes got a really nice touch around the rim. Hes probably got an above average handle too, its just nowhere near Randolph's. Wright's deficiencies physically and on the glass will always hold him back though unless he makes big improvements.
I just listened to Keith Smart on KNBR. He obviously was gushing about Randolph's performance and all the work he's put in but he had some great insight on Curry. He acknowledge his poor FG% but says that it's typical for a rookie to go through this phase, especially one that's a shooter. He said that he was most impressed with his leadership qualities: how he quietly communicates to his teammates at every dead ball situation. Smart said that during the game against the Pistons, he addressed the team about their lackadaisical rebounding effort and that Curry was looking straight into coach's eye and knew that the rebounding issue included himself too. Curry ended up with 7 rebounds that game. I'm looking forward to see how he does in training camp when he goes up against Monta and the other regulars.
A reminder, the final game is on right now. Looks like Randolph is not playing, Morrow is going nuts early (7-7). Stream Box score
• Man, summer league announcers are idiots, one guy just said Morrow would be playing the 4 at times. I mean I know it's Nellie but I think that's quite a stretch. • They're interviewing Robert Rowell, he says the Warriors definitely want C.J. back this year. Just a question of matching offers I think. • Holy hell, it's not even halftime and Morrow is 10-12 with 25 points, he may break Randolph's record tonight. • Acie Law looks surprisingly good. I'm not ready to make him a starter, but as a backup backup? Meh, you could do worse maybe. • Morrow getting immediately double-teamed every time down the floor now. Will be great if that starts to happen in real games. He's getting swarmed, drawing all the attention of the other team and he's still hitting shots. I know he wants that record, but I'd love to see him pass out for some layups. • Morrow finally done with 47, new Summer League record! Had a few chances at 50 but some late turnovers prevented it and they took him out so he could get an ovation. Between Randolph and Morrow, it's the Summer of Anthony!
This is the first live action I've seen of SL. Curry looks really good running the point. Totally composed and forcing nothing. His timing on the pick and roll seems really good. Granted, this is the first time I've seen him and only a few minutes, but looks good.
