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Steph Curry was the first player in NBA history to earn a unanimous vote for league MVP, but one Golden State Warriors coach believes his performance last year may have actually topped that season.
Curry bounced back from a season-ending injury in 2019-20 to turn in a pair of MVP-caliber seasons. After he won the scoring title in 2020-21 with a career-high 32.0 points per game, Curry led the Warriors to a title last season with a 25.5 points-per-game average.
As Warriors player development coach Bruce Fraser said, it might have been the best season of Curry’s career when going beyond the numbers.
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Fraser Praises Curry
Appearing on the “Murph & Mac” show on KNBR, Fraser said that Curry showed a great deal of maturity last season as he led a youth-infused squad. The Warriors assistant coach noted how Curry has been able to evolve his scoring, which sets an example for younger players like James Wiseman.
“With Steph, this may have been his best year yet,” Fraser said.
Fraser had already given Curry credit for his performance over this year’s title run, when he averaged 27.4 points, 5.9 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game in the playoffs. Curry capped it off by winning his first-career NBA Finals MVP award as the Warriors dispatched the Boston Celtics in six games.
“This is the most focused I’ve ever seen him on a playoff run. I can just see it,” Fraser told the San Francisco Chronicle back in June. “Without being a horse whisperer, I could see it in his ways: his eyes, his dedication to detail in film sessions, his voice in those sessions, and his focus in our training sessions, and in the games. You could see it.”
Fraser added that Curry’s performance was the result of intense preparation.
“I saw added detail to what he wanted to do before and after practice. … He was very, very mindful of what he wanted in those workouts, and receptive to me adding things,” Fraser said, adding, “I felt a level of focus, I don’t know how to articulate it other than just feeling like his intensity … was going to lead to what he is going to do in the games.”
Curry Racks Up the Praise
Fraser isn’t the only one who has been singing Curry’s praises after this season. After the Warriors won their fourth championship in the last eight seasons, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal said that Golden State is once again the title favorite thanks to Curry’s brilliance.
“[Steph Curry]‘s the best player in the world, by far,” O’Neal said in an appearance on The Big Podcast.
O’Neal went on to say that Curry’s knack for always making his team better and his incredible work ethic sets him apart.
“Nobody plays better than Steph Curry. He’s a tough shot-taker. [A] tough shot maker. I like where he’s brought his career. I love ‘Rocky’ type stories … Steph wasn’t highly recruited, so to be able to work that hard to become the best shooter and one of the best players in the league, he gets my props for that. I love that kid,” O’Neal added.
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