Stephen Curry's road to NBA MVP not an

easy one
Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports 1:15 p.m. EDT May 5, 2015

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Stephen Curry averaged 23.8 points, 7.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals for the NBA-best
Warriors.(Photo: Kelley L. Cox, USA TODAY Sports)
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OAKLAND Stephen Curry stood up there 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 an Oakland hotel conference room on Monday afternoon.
It was, in some respects, the same kind of meaningful moment that we have grown accustomed
to watching this time of year. The Golden State Warriors star has his own unique story, to be
sure, having grown up as the son of a professional player in Charlotte, N.C. 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, mother Sonya
and siblings Seth and Sydel and 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.

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The early years of losing with the Warriors. The ankle problems that caused so much concern.
Even Curry admits he didn't always see this coming.
"You have big dreams, but you don't know exactly what it will feel like at the end, or what the
end will be," Curry said. "I try to live in the moment as much as possible, (but) there were some
terrible times (where) you question the future a little bit maybe. 'How do I get out of this
situation?' or 'What's it going to take to really make a comeback?' "
As MVP career arcs go, Curry's was different than most. When LeBron James won his first of
four in 2009, it was simply a case of a transcendent player living up to lifelong expectations.
When Kevin Durant pulled it off last season, it was the peak individual moment for a player who
was always considered elite and who had grown better with every passing year.
But Curry's path was different, as he was heralded in college while at Davidson but instantly
questioned in NBA circles when it came to his pro potential. What's more, there were a number
of fork-in-the-road moments that could have changed everything about his story along the way.

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The 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' grasps. 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.
"Up until the day before the draft, we were really having a lot of anxiety about it, and we were in
a position where there wasn't much we could do. We also knew that New York valued him, that
they would have liked him."
It was no secret that Curry's camp had hopes of getting him to New York, and the reasons for
those desires weren't hard to understand: the Knicks coach at the time, Mike D'Antoni, was the
league's resident point guard whisperer, and someone who saw the same elements of a Steve
Nash-type game in Curry's style; the marketing opportunities were certainly in ample supply in
New York more so than in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Curry's East Coast roots (he grew up
in Charlotte, N.C.) made that potential fit even more perfect. The Knicks had the eighth pick, and
the Warriors were concerned that they may try to trade up to take him away.

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Once the Warriors decided he 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 looming questions about whether Curry was better as a point guard or shooting
guard, the Warriors from Riley to Schlenk to then-coach 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?'" Riley said. "'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. And then, as you get over it,
the point was that, 'OK, can we actually build a team around Steph Curry?'

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"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. Obviously Nelly never saw him play he didn't do that kind of thing. But I'd sent him
enough film and stayed in touch with him, and he does bring up the Nash comparison. And I did
see the passing skills that he had. Some people said, 'Well, he's a two-guard.' You would hear that
from time to time. But you could see the passing skills that he had, and I was convinced that he
was tough enough. Our biggest concern during that draft was whether he would be there or not,
not whether we would take him."
They got their man, in the end. But not everyone was excited about it.
The Monta problem
Ellis, who had become a Warriors fan favorite in those previous five seasons with Golden State,
sent a shot across Curry's bow at the start of the 2009-10 campaign when he was asked by
reporters if he could play with Curry as part of an undersized-but-uber-talented backcourt.
"Us together? No," Ellis said then. "Can't. We just can't."
The Warriors, it's safe to say, were worried.
"There were some turbulent times," Schlenk said. "(Ellis' comments) put everybody on edge,
including Steph. But those two guys ended up being good friends."

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The two of them would eventually make it work during their time together, but the Warriors took
another step forward when general manager Bob Myers sent Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for
big man Andrew Bogut in March of 2012. Having never won more than 36 games in Curry's first
three seasons, they were on their way to three consecutive playoff appearances from there.
Before then, though, there was the question of whether or not Curry's body would let him
experience that kind of success.
The ankle problems
Curry got off to a good start in the NBA.
He surged in the second half of his rookie season, coming on strong in the Rookie of the Year
race but ultimately losing out to the Sacramento Kings' Tyreke Evans. But before his third season
rolled around, a perpetual problem with ankle injuries would threaten Curry's career and made
the prospect of an eventual MVP campaign seem far-fetched. The fear reached a peak on 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 Dr. 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 and Dell, was holding his breath
with the rest of them that the latest procedure would finally do the trick.

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"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.
"Everybody was anxious. Steph had to be anxious. No question about that. His family was
anxious. I was anxious. I wasn't sure what was coming. You're thinking, 'What are we going to
hear when this thing is either over or when the doctor comes out?' But the longer it went, the
better it seemed for us in some respects because we're not seeing Dr. Ferkel. But at the same
time, you're thinking, 'Oh gee, has something gone wrong?' You try to be positive, but there was
no point in trying to fool anybody. You knew this was a big day. This is a huge day in Steph
Curry's career. ... It was his career that was on the line, our future as a team certainly was going
to be affected by what happened with him."
Once Ferkel informed them that 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. "As I recall, it was time to get a
sandwich and relax and feel a lot better."
Curry, who was more relieved than anyone, could finally get back to playing.

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"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."
The joy, of course, would only grow from there.
Less than six months later, Curry was signing a four-year, $44 million extension that is now
widely considered one of the biggest bargains in the league. It wasn't at the time, though, as
Curry's ankle problems had persisted even to that point and the Warriors made the decision to
hedge their bets that he would be alright.

"Now it seems so clear that that's what we should have done," Myers told USA TODAY Sports.
"But at the time, it wasn't that clear because he actually was hurt while we were negotiating. He
had sprained in the preseason, a week before, so he wasn't even healthy when we did it and it
was something where we felt a concern in regards to and were hoping it wasn't chronic. We
thought, 'This may not be automatic, but let's bet on him as a guy. Let's bet on him overcoming
this.' And that's where we came to the conclusion of, 'Let's do it.' "

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They've been doing it at a high level ever since, with Curry leading the way during this oncefledgling franchise's dramatic turn. Playoff appearances are now the norm, with talk of a possible
title all over town at the moment as the Warriors battle the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western
Conference Semifinals. There's even talk of a former MVP, the one and only Durant, possibly
joining this Golden State group as a free agent in the summer of 2016 if they can somehow
convince him that this is the place to be.
Curry, his best days seemingly still ahead, has certainly found his way with these Warriors.
"I didn't know much about the organization when I was drafted," he said. "I didn't know the
players or the kind of direction we were headed. I was just happy to be drafted. That's a dream
come true for anybody. As you get established in the league, you get comfortable and understand
what the situation is. It was a little rough my first few years, but I loved playing at Oracle, so that
was always - you go around the league and you see different arenas, that's somewhere you want
to play 41-plus games in every night.
"I thought I could have a huge impact on changing the culture start the end of my rookie year,
and really understanding what it would take to make that happen from a personal standpoint and
the vision of what kind of team that we wanted to try to build here. Obviously the reason my
man, Bob Myers, has an Executive of the Year trophy (from this season), is because he's made all
the right decisions and gotten us to a great place. So that's a big deal. I'm obviously happy to be a
Warrior right now. There is so much good going on, and I feel proud to represent the Bay Area,
and me and my family feel really comfortable here, so we love it."