(06-25) 21:50 PDT -- It's hard to know just how invested Warriors fans should be in first-round choice Stephen Curry. After all, he may not be here all that long.
Then again, he, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson and Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire may form the nucleus of a dramatically different Warriors team. Not necessarily better, mind you - the franchise history demands low expectations and dismal forecasts - but different.
The Stoudemire trade has been rumored for awhile now, with changing components that swirl around Andris Biedrins, but also include some combination of the draft choice, Marco Belinelli, Kelenna Azubuike and Brandan Wright. That rumor has only grown in intensity since the Curry selection.
Of course, Stoudemire would have to be re-signed, and that total figure would run into a maximum deal of five years and $95 million. Designated general manager more or less Larry Riley described his role in signing a traded player somewhat cryptically. "That's a little outside my comfort zone, as you consider what to do," he said. "But if it was presented to us, it would be a tough deal for me to get convinced of."
This of course means that either the contract decision would be made above his pay grade, would be more expensive that he could sign off on, or that the cap situation is currently too dicey.
But one suspects that the Warriors took Curry, the Davidson guard with the unlimited shot selection and the goods to back it up, with such a deal in mind, realizing that they couldn't entertain a Stoudemire trade without him in some form. Riley could talk all he wanted about Curry's shooting and passing skills, and gloss over the continuing lack of rebounding and defense, but the truth is if they can't make some trade to get a Stoudemire-type player, then the Curry deal is a bit of a baffler.
Curry, for his part, played the unfazed franchise changer to the hilt. He's a Warrior until he's a Sun, and that's how he is playing his hand
"All my information came through my agent," Curry said, referring not to his father Dell, the former NBA player, but to Jeff Austin, "and he was on phone constantly gauging teams' interest, and Phoenix was always interested. It's just (the Suns) picking at 13, there just didn't seem to be a chance. I don't know if that means anything in these trade talks, but as a Warrior, I'm just seeing myself as that right now, so we'll see what happens,"
Having Curry as a backup point guard and occasional shooting guard would fit the general Nelsonian philosophy that you can't have enough shooters or passers, and that rebounds and defense are for artless brutes. Indeed, point guard/shooting guard/designated diva-in-training Monta Ellis would have to accommodate Curry to some extent, something Nelson has been pushing Ellis to do for months.
Still, Stephen Curry doesn't re-tool the Warriors, and let's be frank here, kids - the Warriors need serious re-tooling. A lineup of Ellis, Curry, Jackson, Biedrins and Anthony Randolph would be every bit as porous and rebound-deficient as last year's team, and the year before that, and the years and years before that.
Which is why, ultimately, Curry may turn out to be merely an expendable asset in Warriors history. If he is part of a Stoudemire deal, he will have served the franchise well in the few days he was here. If not ... well, he'll be one of those picks that adds chaos to the always-way-too-fluid Golden State roster.
He could work in glorious tandem with Ellis. He could do exactly what Ellis does and do nothing that Ellis cannot. He and Ellis may clash stylistically. And what about Acie Law, whom the Warriors just picked up in the Get-Jamal-Crawford-Out-Of-Here deal?
So you see, this Stephen Curry thing leaves us more confused about the Warriors than ever. It was either a glorious stroke of luck that Curry didn't go to Minnesota instead, or a superb example of finding the right bait for the right team, or it might be a tribute to Warriors basketball as we have come to know it - a monument to cracking one's head against the same spot in the same wall yet again.
And the beauty of it? Curry is scheduled to arrive here today to field all those questions while holding two different draft caps and making sure the cab is running the whole time. You know, just in case he was destined to merely pass through Golden State like Vince Carter did 11 years ago. He was quickly moved to Toronto for Antawn Jamison, as you remember, and the rest is part of Warriors history.
If you know what we mean, that is, and we think you do.
E-mail Ray Ratto at
[email protected].
