NBA Draft: Re-drafting the historic 2009 NBA Draft

Re-drafting the 2009 NBA Draft: 1) Stephen Curry, LA Clippers

To be fair to the five teams that passed on Stephen Curry in 2009, the Davidson Wildcats sniper wasn’t projected to the league-altering star that he eventually became. NBADraft.net’s scouting report compared him to former Denver Nuggets guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf — which made sense considering their shooting prowess and slight stature — and posited that his lack of size and elite athleticism would hinder him at the next level.

Even then, it took Curry a few years before he became Steph Curry. He struggled early on transitioning from shooting guard to the point and had to deal with repeated ankle injuries.

After averaging 17.5 points per game on 58.4 percent true shooting and .106 win shares per 48 minutes in his first three seasons, some felt that the Golden State Warriors’ decision to build the franchise around Curry and hand him a four-year extension in 2012 would keep them in a mediocre purgatory.

Needless to say, those concerns proved to be unfounded. Curry blossomed into an NBA All-Star under head coach Mark Jackson. Once Jackson was replaced by Steve Kerr, Curry evolved into human cheat code with a shooting range that was only achievable on NBA 2K with the shooting sliders turned all the way up.

Additionally, Curry drastically improved his playmaking and touch around the rim. With him running the show, Golden State became one of the best offensive teams in league history. For his part, Curry earned All-NBA honors five times, made six NBA All-Star teams, and won the league MVP award in consecutive seasons in 2015 and 2016.

Of course, if he were drafted by the Donald Sterling-era Los Angeles Clippers, chances are that they wouldn’t have exhibited the patience that Golden State did when developing Curry. But given what he’s done in his career, there’s no question that he should have been the top pick.