If Steph Curry and the New York Knicks had gotten their way, the two-time MVP would have been running and gunning for Mike D'Antoni in The Big Apple.
But history had other plans. The Knicks couldn't leapfrog the Warriors in the 2009 NBA Draft and Curry headed to the Bay, where he would win three championships and two MVPs while being a thorn in the side of D'Antoni's Houston Rockets.
While the Steph-D'Antoni pairing that the Currys wanted never materialized, Curry's college coach at Davidson Bob McKillop believes that pairing would have been a basketball sight.
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“[D’Antoni] would’ve been good for Steph,” McKillop told The New York Post's Marc Berman. “Look what he did for [James] Harden and [Steve] Nash. He would’ve thrived. And who doesn’t get enough credit for what Steph’s done is Dell. He’s been the rock-solid foundation on which Steph built his career -- not just from a technical standpoint but emotional standpoint and having him be a great teammate and leader. And once [Warriors coach] Mark [Jackson] gave him the keys to the car, it went down the superhighway to success ever since then.”
There should be little doubt that Curry would thrive in D'Antoni's wide-open, run-and-gun offense. Curry's ability to be an efficient, high-volume scorer would have been put on display in D'Antoni's system. But Curry's wide-array of elite skills allow him to flourish in any system and his unselfish nature makes him the ideal superstar to build a team around.
While they were in the green room waiting for Curry's name to be called, McKillop didn't think the Warriors were that interested in the man who would become the face of their franchise.
“We’re sitting there in the green room anticipating he was going to go 8,” McKillop said. “Golden State had not been engaged in any way that we were aware of. But they had [Don] Nelson as coach who has a unique understanding of the game inverting players. He saw Steph as one of the guys who could create chaos for the opponent. But it never got to the point where that was going to happen.”
Golden State Warriors
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But then-Warriors general manager Larry Riley was in love with Curry and had him as the second-best player in the draft behind Blake Griffin, who went No. 1 overall to the Los Angeles Clippers.
After the Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio with back-to-back picks, the Warriors were free to get their guy.
The Dubs snatched up Curry, D'Antoni resigned from the Knicks and signed with the Rockets, and the rest is history. No doubt D'Antoni wishes it would have panned out differently.
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