Steve Kerr has reflected on Stephen Curry and his need to play without some of the guys that made the Golden State Warriors the biggest force in the league in the past five years.
While noting that it’s important for superstar point guard Curry and newcomer Andrew Wiggins develop chemistry, both on and off the court, he explained the impact that players like Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant made to the team.
“I think it’s important for Steph and Andrew to get to know each other and to play together,” Kerr said, via ESPN. “I think it’s important for Steph to play without all the guys we’ve lost who are not gonna be back next year — Kevin [Durant] and Andre [Iguodala] and Shaun [Livingston].
“Steph, in many ways, has depended on those guys, as sort of a giant security blanket. For a guy who is so skilled and talented, this has still been a team effort over the years, and he’s been blessed with some of the smartest players and most talented players in the league.
“And so it’s gonna be a different look for him, and I think it’s important. He only got three games before his injury, I think it was, so it’s important for him to feel the difference, because it feels different for us. And with all these young guys, we’re trying to teach them on the fly, and a lot of things that we have taken for granted over the last five years, we can’t take for granted anymore. Steph needs to feel that himself. And so that’s a big part of this last quarter of the season that he’s gonna be a part of.”
This season hasn’t been the best for the Warriors, who have a league-worst 12-47 record. This is going to be the first season they will miss the playoffs in the Steve Kerr era after going to five straight NBA Finals.
Curry broke his hand on Oct. 30 against the Phoenix Suns and underwent his first surgery on Nov. 1. Before he got hurt, Steph was putting up 20.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game for the Warriors while shooting 40.9 percent from the field, 24.3 percent from beyond the arc and a perfect 100 percent from the free-throw line.
