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After defeating the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals, many people were not only ready to declare Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry one of the greatest point guards of all time but perhaps one of the greatest players ever.
Former Brooklyn Nets guard Mike James is not in that group. During a recent appearance on “The Players Choice” podcast he omitted the four-time NBA champion from his top five point guard list, which was met with harsh criticisms by many NBA fans. But James says that despite his omission he has an unwavering amount of respect for the Warriors star.
“I think I said a lot of controversial things in general because I think outside the box. But for some reason, every time I mention Steph Curry, everybody gets mad, and everybody assumes I don’t like him,” James said on the BasketNews show.
“But I think he’s amazing. To be honest, he changed basketball. Like seven years ago, everybody started shooting threes and playing small ball. Not only because of him. Like 75% of him, and then like the other 25% of the Warriors. I don’t have a problem with him.”
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James Calls Curry ‘One-dimensional’
During that interview, James was asked to explain why he omitted Curry from his top 5-point guard list. The former Nets guard cited his reason as Curry being “one dimensional”.
“Steph, how he plays and how he gets stuff off, it’s just kinda one-dimensional at times,” James said. “He’s not the primary ball-handler a lot, and for a point guard, that kinda bothers me.”
The Warriors star caught wind of James’ comments. While being interviewed at his basketball camp earlier in August, one reporter asked Curry if he would have any mercy on the campers who chose to play him one on one. In his response, Curry hit back at James.
“It’s all bad for them, even as one-dimensional as I am,” Curry said sarcastically (H/T @WarriorsWorld on Twitter).
Royce O’Neal Ready for the Next Chapter
Amid the Durant and Irving drama, the Nets have been able to make other moves to round out their roster. One of those moves included making a trade with the Utah Jazz to land forward Royce O’Neale in July.
O’Neale averaged 7.4 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 38.9% from beyond the arc last season.
Despite the news of his arrival falling on deaf ears in the wake of Irving and Durant’s drama with the franchise, O’Neale says he is excited to see what is to come with the Nets.
“My news I thought was great, and that happened and I was ‘oh.’ I feel like my news went under the rug a little bit. But I’m excited. It’s going to be fun. Brooklyn’s a change from Utah. Definitely going to be a great experience,” O’Neale said to Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
“[I’ll help] anyway I can. Just try to be the guy I’ve been doing, not be anyone I’m not. But I know what got me here and what’s going to keep me being here, so just learning any way I can and doing what I got to do offensively and defensively.”
The Nets have steadily built upon the roster they put around Durant and Kyrie last season. If they can convince their stars to run it back, Brooklyn could have a legit shot to win the NBA title.
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