Getty Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors season may have ended earlier than they hoped by losing the NBA’s play-in game at the hands of the 8th seeded Memphis Grizzlies. While some expected the Warriors to pull out the win, ultimately they did not. Now, they’ll have to pick up the pieces and see what changes will take place to help build a strong roster.
As some of their players are enjoying their time off, one of their stars is already getting back to work in the gym. Warriors superstar point guard and two-time MVP Steph Curry recently shared a picture of him being back in the gym to prepare for the upcoming 2021-22 NBA season.
Steph’s back in the gym already 😤
[via @StephenCurry30]
Going by the May 21st date that the Warriors’ last game was played on, for Curry to have begun training on June 7th means he only took two weeks of rest. This upcoming season will be important for the Warriors as this could be the first time in the last two seasons that all of their stars will begin the season healthy.
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Curry Received Second Most MVP Votes
GettySteph Curry celebrates after a win.
Going into the 2020-21 NBA season many analysts and fans were clamoring for Steph Curry to have an MVP-like season to ensure that Golden State would be able to make the playoffs. After losing all-star shooting guard Klay Thompson to an Achilles tear before the season began, Curry’s heroics would be the only hope the team had of being competitive throughout the year.
Luckily for everyone, Curry did just that. During the season he averaged 32 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and shot 42.1% from the three-point line per game. To make it simple, when Curry was on the floor the Warriors had a chance to win each game. Without him, it became much more difficult.
As a result of that, Curry was named one of the finalists for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award alongside the Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid, and the Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic. At one point, Curry even commented on how and why he believed the MVP award was his to win.
“Yeah, I do [feel deserving of the MVP],” Curry said to ESPN reporter Ramona Shelburne. “But even if you don’t win it, being in the conversation, top five — those type of acknowledgments show what you’re about, no matter what the situation is, year to year.
“That, in and of itself, is the reward, because we all know how hard it is to actually have everything go right for a season that you actually win it.”
In the end, Jokic did become the recipient of the award. However, Curry shocked many by receiving the second-most 1st place votes for the award with 5. Embiid only received 1.
With the first Kia NBA MVP Award of his career, Nikola Jokić becomes the first player to earn the honor as a member of the @nuggets. He received 91 of the 101 first-place votes.
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Warriors Could Make Many Roster Changes This Offseason
GettySteve Kerr speaks to Steph Curry during a game.
As the season went on the Warriors benefited from their role players gelling more with one another and building chemistry with their starters. It allowed them to come back in games that seemed over and beat teams that had much better records than theirs.
In stretches, this helped them to overcome losing streaks and to build small winning ones. However, this cannot be the case if they are looking to return to their championship-winning form.
One of their key ingredients during their winning seasons was a quality lineup of veterans who understood their roles. No matter if they were coming off the bench of starting for the team, everyone did their job well and didn’t play outside of themselves.
Recently via NBC Sports, their head coach Steve Kerr discussed how important veterans were to their title-winning teams and how the franchise will look to add some this offseason.
“During our five straight trips to the Finals we always had great veteran presence, and that matters. I’m of the thinking and the belief that Klay’s return and our final 20 games (when the Warriors went 15-5) will be very much in the minds of potential free agents when they think about where they want to go.”
“I’m of the thinking and the belief that Klay [Thompson’s] return and our final 20 games will be very much in the minds of potential free agents when they think about where they want to go.”
In order for Golden State to take that next step and re-enter the NBA’s championship conversation, they’ll need to add more consistency in their lineups so that their stars aren’t wasting some of their best years.
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