Curry traveled tough road to MVP
Repeat ankle injuries threatened career
OAKLAND Stephen Curry stood for more than an hour, thanking his family, his teammates, his friends, coaches and colleagues for playing a part in the MVP campaign that became official inside a hotel conference room Monday afternoon.
It was, in some respects, the same kind of meaningful moment we have grown accustomed to watching this time of year. The Golden State Warriors star has his own unique story, having grown up in Charlotte as the son of an NBA player and made his own way in the NBA.
He choked up when he discussed that path, saying to his father, Dell, “Pop, you were the example of what a true professional is on and off the court. I remember a lot of your career, and to be able to follow in your footsteps …”
Curry took a break to compose himself.
“It means a lot to me, and this is special.”
He credited his faith and his family, from his wife, Ayesha, to his daughter, Riley, his mother, Sonya, and his siblings Seth and Sydel and his grandparents, too. But the up-and-down way in which he got here, this path that could have changed so drastically had things taken a different turn, is the part of Curry’s story that is often overlooked.
The early years of losing with the Warriors. The ankle problems that caused so much concern. Even Curry says he didn’t always see this coming.
ROAD TO GOLDEN STATE By the time June 25, 2009, rolled around, the Warriors knew they wanted Curry. They just didn’t know if they could get him.
The Minnesota Timberwolves had the No. 5 and No. 6 picks, and the key question at the time was whether they would be willing to take two point guards and, potentially, take Curry from the Warriors’ grasp. They took two point guards all right, but Curry wasn’t one of them.
“The day before (the draft), we became convinced that they were actually going to take Jonny Flynn (in addition to Ricky Rubio),” then-general manager and current director of scouting Larry Riley told USA TODAY Sports. “There was a lot of angst before that. Frankly, the next guy taken after that was Jordan Hill, and we would have probably gone in that same direction.”
Once the Warriors decided Curry was their target at the No. 7 spot, they went to work convincing him that it would be a good fit. As Chicago predraft combine interviews go, Curry’s was the opposite of the norm: Rather than the player talking about himself and answering all the relevant questions, Riley spent most of the 18 minutes explaining to him why it would work.
“We’d been bad forever at the time, and we had Monta (Ellis) — another 6-foot-3 guard who was a very good player as well,” said Warriors assistant general manager Travis Schlenk, who also took part in the meeting. “So it was really just convincing him in the interview more than asking questions. We said, ‘If you’re there, we’re going to take you. And it won’t be a bad thing for you, your career or for your family.’ Steph’s a great kid. He was real positive. There was nothing negative about it at all from his standpoint.”
Despite the questions about whether Curry was a point guard or shooting guard, the Warriors — from Riley to Schlenk to thencoach Don Nelson — were determined to make him their centerpiece at the one-spot.
“It seemed like, in spite of the fact that he was a good shooter, a lot of people wondered: OK, is he a point guard? Is he big enough? Is he tough enough? All those kinds of things. And we felt like we got those questions answered to the affirmative,” Riley said. “We weren’t a very good team at that time, and it was a rebuilding process. You had to start somewhere, and our feeling at that time was that here is a young man who we can build a team around and he can be our point guard of the future, and that’s really the direction that we wanted to take.”
THE ANKLE PROBLEMS Curry got off to a good start in the NBA. He surged in the second half of his first season, coming on strong in the rookie of the year race but ultimately losing out to the Sacramento Kings’ Tyreke Evans.
But before Curry’s third season rolled around, a perpetual problem with ankle injuries would threaten his career and made the prospect of an eventual NBA MVP campaign seem far-fetched. The fear reached a peak April 25, 2012.
After missing the last 28 games of the 2011-12 season because of an ailing right ankle (and playing in 26 total), Curry had it examined by Richard Ferkel in Van Nuys, Calif.
There was an element of the unknown that had everyone in the Curry circle on edge, a serious concern that the ankle might require the kind of full reconstruction that — as his agent, Octagon’s Jeff Austin, remembered it — “hadn’t really been done on that type of athlete” and might have forever changed his career.
Riley, who was at the facility with Austin, Dell Curry and Ayesha, was holding his breath with the rest of them that the latest procedure finally would do the trick.
“There were a couple of instances during that year where he just pivoted with nobody around him and sprained his ankle,” Riley said. “For no reason, he’s spraining an ankle. I took Steph to Nike in Portland, and they were working on building a shoe trying to support him a little bit better. We’d done all the rehab, done everything we could do. The next thing was to go see Dr. Ferkel in Los Angeles.”
Once Ferkel told them the reconstruction of Curry’s ankle wasn’t necessary, the future was suddenly bright again.
“Once Dr. Ferkel came out and said, ‘He should be just fine,’ then you cross your fingers and say, ‘Ferkel is a good doctor, so let’s hope he’s right,’ ” Riley said.
Curry, who was more relieved than anyone, finally could get back to playing.
“That summer was huge, just to feel healthy, to get back on the court and have a free mind when I was playing and continue to get better,” Curry said.
“Thankfully, I’ve got great teammates, and I felt like every single year we had a better roster. When that happens, you start winning more, the energy starts to pick up and you have fun again.
“That’s the biggest thing, is having fun and having joy on the court again when you’re playing.”