Reminiscing. It’s always fun when it comes to great memories. For the Minnesota Timberwolves, memories about Stephen Curry might not be that great.
In the 2009 Draft, there were a few teams who could have had a chance to get the soon-to-be two-time NBA MVP. It was reported that the Phoenix Suns were a team willing to trade an All-Star to get that number seven pick from the Golden State Warriors but another team actually had the shot to draft him. They actually had a chance to draft him twice in a row.
The Minnesota Timberwolves had the number five and six pick in the draft and instead of taking Curry, they selected Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynn. Flynn is no longer in the NBA and Rubio’s injury history has been well documented. But there might have been a reason why the Wolves didn’t take Curry. The Timberwolves were told he didn’t want to go.
Following from Paul Coro of the Arizona Central.
“We told Minnesota that Steph didn’t want to go there,” said Dell Curry, the ex-NBA standout who is Stephen’s father and a Hornets television color commentator.
What could have been? Well, if Curry was just accepting to going to wherever an NBA team was located, it could have allowed for a pretty fantastic backcourt in Minnesota. If the Wolves used either of the two picks on Rubio and Curry, it could allow for an interesting pairing. Ricky Rubio isn’t a shooter or a scorer but he is a fantastic passer and solid defender while Curry on the other hand will without a doubt will go down as the best shooter in NBA history and his game is without a doubt top notch. He’s a great passer, fantastic defender and the one thing that could have allowed him and Rubio to work well together is his ability to move away from the ball.
Then again, who knows what could have happened with Curry’s development. We saw what happened when a ball dominant guard, Monta Ellis, played alongside Curry. His growth was stunted and he wasn’t able to become the player he is now until Monta was moved out of the Bay Area.
Who knows how it might have ended up for Curry but with the current success of the Warriors and the bright future for the T-wolves, I’m sure both franchises are pretty content with how things are currently going.
