Golden State Warriors: Biggest Takeaways from the Warriors' 1st Week
The Golden State Warriors are debunking the idea of a “championship hangover” in the first week of the new NBA season. Their hot start, led by Stephen Curry, has taken over the NBA, with fans now considering him as the league's best player. Thanks to those fans, my novelty idea of “Cheph Curry” can gain even more traction.
Here’s what we know after four games.
The Warriors are the class of the NBA again. If the talk about a fluke last year did anything, it was motivate this team to repeat, and that makes them dangerous, as Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin said, per Dan Woike of the Orange County Register.
Draymond Green took a different route to the same destination, motivated by his team's lack of respect in the basketball world, per Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.
The Warriors picked up right where they left off after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in last year’s NBA Finals. Fans have even taken on intricate pumpkin-carving projects to honor their beloved Golden State.
The Warriors sit at 4-0, beating the New Orleans Pelicans twice, the Houston Rockets and destroying the Memphis Grizzlies by 50, all teams they may face in the playoffs if they want to repeat.
The Warriors haven’t scored less than 111 points and have scored a high of 134.
But, in the center of all their success lies the most electrifying player in the NBA. The draft pick from a mid-major school who ascended into superstardom in such a fashion that he’s the most entertaining player in the NBA. And, while his team gets the credit it deserves, one man stands atop: Wardell Stephen Curry.
Though it’s only the first week, Curry's per-game averages are: 37.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists. He’s shooting 60 percent, 49 percent from three-point range and 96 percent from the free-throw line. He scored at least 20 points in a quarter three times, while the rest of the NBA players have one total. His stats will fall back a bit, but for now, Lord have mercy!
Curry is the talk of the NBA and has become a fan-favorite the same way only a few athletes have. He’s a family man and a humble player who has fun and is comfortable in his own skin, which is rare for players constantly in the spotlight during the age of social media.
Take this video, for example, from Curry’s Instagram account (per @stephencurry30):
How many superstar athletes can lip-sync Frozen and get away with it? Take it a step further. How many superstar athletes can lip-sync Frozen and have his likability increase?
Curry has become such a household name in the league that he’s now doing voice-overs for Family Guy, per @skylinestudios. The NBA’s next great player may be Anthony Davis, but the most popular player right now is Stephen Curry.
Even I've been lost in the Curry sauce.
Curry is so popular that I have an idea for novelty shirts that someone can use to make a ton of money. Simply take the Chef Curry nickname from Drake's “0 to 100” and adjust the spelling to match his name, Cheph Curry. When the money starts piling up, all I ask for is a little kickback. (I know. The idea is terrible, but so are all novelty shirts!)
(By the way, please go back and watch that Frozen video again. It's that good.)
However, where the record skips in my Curry fandom is his being the best player in the NBA. Curry’s takeover was so forceful and fast that it took us by surprise. We overreacted a bit. The forming centralized opinion on Curry is that he’s the NBA’s best player.
Here are some fans’ takes supporting the claim.
Sports fans are prisoners of the moment, so I understand where the hype comes from. It can be misguided, but I certainly understand.
But, in the words of Jalen Rose, "I'm not gonna be able to do it!"
I love Stephen Curry as a person and as a player. If athletes are supposed to be role models, then he is a perfect example to follow. But sometimes we can confuse entertainment with talent. We can confuse how a player makes us feel with who really is the best. There’s no question that Curry is the most electrifying player in the NBA. He’s just not its best player.
I still give that title to LeBron James. We forget that when James was doing what Curry is doing now (with less electricity), we wouldn’t give LeBron the title as the NBA's best because Kobe Bryant was still doing the same damn thing. (Some of the hesitation had to do with LeBron hate.) It wasn’t until a slight drop from Kobe and LeBron’s championships did we change our minds.
(I don't agree with the entirety of the bottom tweet. You can still watch basketball.)
Curry is LeBron in 2010, and LeBron is Kobe. James is still the best all-around player in the NBA and one of the most dominant presences the game has ever seen. I will never diminish the value of Curry’s MVP and championship because that cheapens the brand of sports. People will always find reasons to downplay a run. I don't believe in doing that. Does the lockout-shortened season cheapen LeBron’s first ring? Since the Lakers beat a hurt Isiah Thomas in Game 7 of the 1988 Finals, does that cheapen the title?
But what we're forgetting is when the Warriors won the championship last year, LeBron walked off the floor averaging 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists for the series.
He’s the youngest player to score 25,000 points and has the accolades—four MVPs, two Finals MVPs and five straight trips to the Finals—that Curry just can’t match yet. (I will always argue that Curry got robbed of that Finals MVP, though.) James turns teams into contenders the moment he puts on their jerseys.
Over the span of about two seasons—when Curry turned into a superstar—we're forgetting the 11 seasons from James? Are we going to discount, in my opinion, the second-best player in the world, Kevin Durant, a four-time scoring champ? (I give the slightest of nods to KD, but if the championship swayed you to Curry, then no argument here.)
So let’s love Curry and enjoy Curry. Let’s get "Cheph Curry" started, and let’s watch Curry be the most electrifying player in the NBA.
Let’s just not crown him as the best player in the league … yet.
