Stephen Curry has changed the way that modern-day basketball is played. The 4x NBA champion has impacted the NBA by displaying his unbelievable three-point shooting ability.
It goes without saying that the Golden State Warriors superstar will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he decides to retire from the league. But when Steph entered the league, he wasn’t expected to become such a legendary figure in the NBA.
Former NBA player Jeremy Lin talked about his first impressions of Steph and what he expected from him. In an exclusive talk with Sky Sports, Lin talked about several things that he witnessed first-hand when he was part of the Warriors during the 2010-11 NBA season.
Via Sky Sports:
“I did not think he was going to be that good. But I didn’t understand why Steph was treated the way he was in that one season I was there. I felt like he was really, really good. As poorly as he was treated, he still averaged 18 or 19 points. I thought, ‘Imagine when this guy gets a couple more years of experience under his belt, and really gets the reins, the keys to the franchise, what he will be able to do’.
So, I always knew he was going to be great. But I didn’t know he was going to be like legendary, revolutionary, transforming the entire course of basketball. I did not expect all of that.”
In the same interview, Lin also revealed that the then-Warrior coach Keith Smart didn’t believe in Steph’s talent. This was the reason why Curry was benched a lot during the fourth quarter by Smart.
Anyway, coming back to the topic at hand. As Lin mentioned, he always expected Curry to become a great player in the NBA. But even he didn’t expect Steph to blossom into the superstar that he is today.
To be honest, if you had asked someone about Curry’s ceiling a decade or so ago, they wouldn’t have guessed that he would not only lead the GSW to four NBA Championships but change the way that the game of basketball is played.
