What If Stephen Curry Went to Knicks?
Doctor Strange's mulit-verse of madness probably would've had nothing on the one where the New York Knicks landed Stephen Curry in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Knicks hardly need to be reminded of those selections, which saw Davidson star Stephen Curry taken off the board one choice before their team's premier selection at seventh overall. While the situation was out of the Knicks' control, Curry's subsequent success, which includes the NBA's all-time three-point mark, is frequently referenced come June thanks to his recurring appearances in the Finals with the Golden State Warriors, which have placed four rings on his fingers to date.
The Curry affair has re-entered the spotlight thanks to Curry's father Dell, who claimed he informed Golden State management that the Curry camp would've preferred a call from the Knicks. The Warriors wound up ignoring that idea and drafted Curry anyway. The rest, of course, is history, albeit stacked against the Knicks.
ESPN superfan and Knicks critic Stephen A. Smith was asked about a Curry-branded Manhattan era in the light of the reveal. Ever the pessimist, Smith remarked that Curry's presence wouldn't have moved the metropolitan needle much had the Knicks come calling instead.
"Steph Curry would not have had the career that he has had if he were in New York City for one reason and one reason only," Smith declared. "(Knicks owner) James Dolan is no (Warriors owner) Joe Lacob."
Smith claimed that Dolan had "taken on a new leaf in some people's eyes" but that his status as a "bad apple" and "the head of the snake" would've hindered Curry's early progress.
"He spent so much time paying attention to headlines and to outside noise instead of leaving the basketball people to run basketball," he said. "I think he would have gotten in the way of the progress of a Steph Curry prematurely and it wouldn't have gotten to this point."
Smith's fellow analyst, Monica McNutt, was a bit more sympathetic to the Knicks' fortunes, theorizing that Curry's arrival was one of several things that simply panned out perfectly in the Warriors' favor, namely calling out the drafting of Klay Thompson two years later.
"I think, as great as Steph is as the centerpiece, what happened in Golden State, those pieces, the way they sort of revolutionized the way basketball was being played at that time, when they went on that dynastic run, in terms of bringing in this idea of small ball, which was counterintuitive to what we were doing in the league at that point, there were so many things to fruition just so in Golden State," McNutt, the Knicks' radio color commentator, said. "Everybody knows that Steph is at the center of it, but I do think we're talking about very different paths if he was a New York Knick originally, because of all the pieces that fell into place in such a beautiful way in Golden State."
New York, of course, wound up drafting Jordan Hill in the immediate aftermath of Curry's selection. The Arizona alum played eight NBA seasons but only the first 24 games were spent with the Knicks, as he was traded to Houston during his rookie season.
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks