Stephen Curry has answered all the questions about whether he was too slight in stature to shine early in the NBA.
Ya’ll know Stephen Curry is my guy.
Just do a search of his name on my blog to find out.
When making my predictions for the 2009-10 NBA season, I thought the rookie of the year award would come down to Blake Griffin of Oklahoma and Curry, who was the most exciting college player while at Davidson.
Since Griffin, the top pick in the 2009 draft, had a major injury that cost him the season, (Darn L.A. Clippers curse), Curry became my choice by process of elimination.
For months, people have essentially given the award to Sacramento point guard Tyreke Evans out of Memphis, but Curry has been playing better and better as has his team.
The argument against Curry was the Warriors were a bad team. They still are but the Warriors are 5-5 in their last 10 days. The Kings? 1-9. Both teams are 24-54.
Being part of Don Nelson becoming the all-time winningest coach in NBA history will help Curry, but his play should merit enough to take home the honor.
Tyreke Evans has been the most consistent rookie this year.
Evans is averaging more points (20.0 to 16.9) and rebounds (5.3 to 4.3), but Curry is averaging more assists (5.9 to 5.8), steals (1.9 to 1.5). He’s shooting a higher percentage from the field (46 percent to 45.5 percent), the line (87.8 to 74.4) and 3-points line (43.2 to 26.5).
It’s surprising Curry has a higher field-goal percentage because he’s more perimeter oriented than Evans, who is a power point guard who attacks the rim more than Curry.
In correlation with how the Warriors and Kings are ending their respective seasons, Curry is finishing his rookie year strong than Evans is.
In the months of March and April (14 games), Evans has averaged 18.6 points, 7.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds, but has shot 40.8 percent from the field and 28.5 percent from 3-point range.
As for Curry, he’s averaged 20.8 points, 7.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds in 18 games during those two months. He’s shot 44.7 percent from the field and a roasting 48.5 percent from behind the arc during this stretch.
So go ahead and start engraving Curry’s name into the rookie of the year award trophy. Why wait? He’s the winner.
